All just another day in Serge Storms's sun-splashed paradise!
Thanks to the growth of the Internet, America finds itself plagued by a noxious epidemic of ruthless scam artists. Where do they all come from? If you guessed 110 percent of them are spawned in Florida, you win the cigar. . . .
When a new digital scheme goes horribly awry, causing innocents to die and a young woman to go missing, only one person can set things right: obsessive Florida trivia buff and reluctant serial killer Serge Storms.
Aided by his perpetually addled sidekick, Coleman, and latter-day noir private eye Mahoney, Serge launches a crusade to rid his beloved state of predators and save the girl.
But Serge's mission is hampered by one pesky little detail: he's being tracked by a hit man dis-patched from his murky past. And all bets are off when Serge learns the same assassin is responsible for killing the love of his life years ago. It's not long before the two begin tracking each other around Florida in a frenzied M'bius loop.
It's a dance only one can survive, it's the Tiger Shrimp Tango!
On the eighty-fifth floor of a glittering high-rise in Los Angeles, Robert Tarza steps into the lobby of the Marbury Marfan law firm to discover his partner Simon Rafer lying in a pool of blood — an ornate dagger plunged into his back. Robert had worked with Simon for decades, and their relationship was fraught with conflict. But he never imagined he would wind up as the prime suspect for his colleague’s murder. As the evidence stacks up against him with frightening speed, he quickly falls from his respected position to that of a criminal dragged through the tabloids. With a growing suspicion that he’s being expertly framed, Robert digs into the evidence to clear his name. In the process, however, he uncovers a web of fraud among his closest associates. As time runs out, Robert must uncover the real killer or be prepared to go to prison for murder.
Bino Phillips, a tough Texan crime lawyer, links the murder of his seedy underworld client to the assassination of one of the most prominent politicians in Texas. As a result, Bino finds himself the most unpopular man in the state, but this does not stop him digging deeper into the rotten heart of Texas. His search takes him from the halls of Congress to the arms of a sexy FBI agent to the sleaziest bars in Dallas.
“Capturing the reader from the very first line, this is a thriller from a new writer to watch…This first novel is literate and tough-talking entertainment in the mode of Elmore Leonard. It makes a lightning-quick read, full of surprises based on solid character portrayal.”—Publishers Weekly
This hard-boiled tale from A. W. Gray takes its title from its hero, con artist and poker player Sizemore Brandon, a gentle if criminal giant and sidekick to Pecos Jimmy, a Dallas racketeer majoring in gambling. When Size is called to testify against his boss, Jimmy decides the time has come to dispense with his services permanently.
The stakes are high, and Size will have to play his cards right if he is to come out on top in the seamy underbelly of Texas.
“Dope dealers, shysters, hookers, a corrupt lawyer, a used car salesman, and assorted small-time hoods are among the low-lifers who swagger through this vividly realistic trip across the seedy underbelly of Texas. Gray…weds hardboiled dialogue to slambang action in a very busy plot that unfolds in fits and starts like a poker game, full of devious twists and bluffs.”—Publishers Weekly
Following a passionate and troubled love affair with a pretty widow named Jane Holdsworth, Jury finds himself, unaccountably, a suspect in a murder investigation. Detained in London, Jury sends his friend Melrose Plant, former Earl of Caverness, to the Holdsworth family's Lake District home to pose as an eccentric librarian. Plant discovers that his catalogue cards contain less data on Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey than they do on tantalizing questions about the Holdsworths: What happened to Crabbe Holdsworth's first wife? What happened to his son, Graham? What happened to the cook Annie? And what might happen to the two children, favorites of rich old Adam Holdworth, who prefers the ambience of a swank retirement home, Castle Howe, where he and the elegant Lady Cray can drive the staff crazy? Jury and Sergeant Wiggins finally join Melrose at the Old Contemptibles pub, where they arrive at a solution that Jury detests, for no matter what he does, innocence will suffer.
Ever since The Burglar on the Prowl climbed the bestseller lists in 2004, fans have been clamoring for a new book featuring the lighthearted and lightfingered Bernie Rhodenbarr. Now everybody's favorite burglar returns in an eleventh adventure that finds him and his lesbian sidekick Carolyn Kaiser breaking into houses, apartments, and even a museum, in a madcap adventure replete with American Colonial silver, an F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscript, a priceless portrait, and a remarkable array of buttons. And, wouldn't you know it, there's a dead body, all stretched out on a Trent Barling carpet ...
Wolves howl as a riderless horse returns at sunset to the Culpepper Dude Ranch in the Madison Valley. The missing woman, Nanika Martinelli, is better known as the Fly Fishing Venus, a red-haired river guide who lures clients the way dry flies draw trout.
As Sheriff Martha Ettinger follows hoof tracks in the snow, she finds one of the men who has fallen under the temptress' s spell impaled on the antler tine of a giant bull elk, a kill that' s been claimed by a wolf pack. An accident? If not, is the killer human or animal? With painter, fly fisherman, and sometimes private detective Sean Stranahan' s help, Ettinger will follow clues that point to an animal rights group called the Clan of the Three-Clawed Wolf and to their svengali master, whose eyes blaze with pagan fire.
In spring a young man’s fancy will turn to love, and the Honorable Phillip Petrie is no exception. Daisy’s chum is totally smitten with Miss Gloria Arbuckle, daughter of a millionaire Yank. But before the enthusiastic suitor can pop the question, his beloved is abducted. As a distraught Mr. Arbuckle begins assembling the ransom, Phillip enlists Daisy to help him recover his missing sweetheart.
Strictly forbidden to contact Scotland Yard, Daisy must resist the temptation to bring dashing Detective Inspector Alec Fletcher on to the case. But as she closes in on the abductors’ rural hideaway, she begins to suspect that Gloria isn’t the only fair damsel whose life hangs in the balance.
The fifth whodunit in Carola Dunn’s stylish cozy mystery series set in 1923 England once again features British heiress and Town and County writer Daisy Dalrymple.
THE SECOND BOOK IN THE KATE MARTINELLI MYSTERY SERIES
When a band of homeless people cremate a beloved dog in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the authorities are willing to overlook a few broken regulations. But three weeks later, when the dog's owner gets the same fiery send-off, the SFPD has a real headache on its hands. The autopsy suggests homicide, but Inspector Kate Martinelli and her partner, Al Hawkin, have little else to go on: a homeless victim with no positive ID, a group of witnesses with little love for the cops, and a possible suspect, known only as Brother Erasmus, who proves both articulate and impossible to understand.
Erasmus, has a genius for blending with his surroundings, yet he stands out wherever he goes. He is by no means crazy but he is a Fool. Kate begins the frustrating task of interrogating a man who communicates only through quotations. In Laurie R. King's To Play the Fool, trying to learn something of his history leads Kate along a twisting road to a disbanded cult, long-buried secrets, the thirst for spirituality, and the hunger for bloody vengeance.
Adrift in mist-shrouded San Francisco mornings and alcohol-fogged nights, homicide detective Kate Martinelli can't escape the void left by her departed lover, who has gone off to rethink their relationship. But when twelve-year-old Jules Cameron comes to Kate for a professional consultation, Kate's not sure she's that desperate for distraction.
Jules is worried about her friend Dio, a homeless boy she met in a park. Dio has disappeared without a word of farewell, and Jules wants Kate to find him Reluctant as she is, Kate can't say no--and soon she finds herself forming a friendship with the bright, quirky girl. But the search for Dio will prove to be much more than both bargained for--and it's only the beginning.
When Jules disappears while taking a trip with Kate, a desperate search begins...and Kate knows all too well the odds of finding the child alive...
THE FIRST BOOK IN THE KATE MARTINELLI MYSTERY SERIES
In Laurie R. King's Grave Talent, the unthinkable has happened in a small community outside of San Francisco. A series of shocking murders has occurred, the victims far too innocent and defenseless. For Detective Kate Martinelli, just promoted to Homicide and paired with a seasoned cop who's less than thrilled to be handed a green partner, it's a difficult case that just keeps getting harder.
Then the detectives receive what appears to be a case-breaking lead: it seems that one of the residents of this odd colony is Vaun Adams, arguably the century's greatest woman painter and a notorious felon once convicted of a heinous crime.
But what really happened eighteen years ago? To bring a murderer to justice, Kate must delve into the artist's dark pasteven if it means losing everything she holds dear.
Having escaped New York with the hopes of finishing his latest mystery novel in peace in Los Angeles, Ellery Queen is shocked when a knock on his door lands him right in the middle of yet another mystery. Leander Hill, a prominent Hollywood jeweler, recently died of a heart attack after receiving a package containing a dead dog, a sight that literally frightened him to death. Hill’s daughter is convinced the act was premeditated murder and enlists Queen’s help to catch the killer. Now Queen must harness all of his skills to prevail over this unscrupulous mind.
“The Origin of Evil has an abundance of mystery plot…It is a pleasure to read a book focused so strongly on mystery and detection.”--MysteryFile.com
