Best of
Mystery-Thriller

1985

Word of Honor


Nelson DeMille - 1985
    But a lifetime ago Ben Tyson was a lieutenant in Vietnam.There the men under his command committed a murderous atrocity and together swore never to tell the world what they had done.Now the press, army justice, and the events he tried to forget have caught up with Ben Tyson. His family, his career, and his personal sense of honor hang in the balance. And only one woman can reveal the truth of his past and set him free."

The Sherlock Holmes Mysteries


Arthur Conan Doyle - 1985
    These 22 stories show Holmes at his brilliant best.A scandal in bohemia --The Red-Headed League --The Boscombe Valley mystery --The five orange pips --The adventure of the blue carbuncle --The adventure of the speckled band --The adventure of the copper beeches --The crooked man --The resident patient --The Greek interpreter --The naval treaty --The final problem --The adventure of the empty house --The adventure of the Norwood builder --The adventure of the dancing men --The adventure of the solitary cyclist --The adventure of the six Napoleons --The adventure of the priory school --The Musgrave ritual --The man with the twisted lip --The adventure of the second stain --The adventure of the Abbey Grange.

Break In


Dick Francis - 1985
    But trouble hits close to home when a grudge between his family and his sister's in-laws turns into a blood feud.

If Tomorrow Comes


Sidney Sheldon - 1985
    Tracy Whitney is young, beautiful and intelligent - and about to marry into wealth and glamour. Until, suddenly, she is betrayed, framed by a ruthless Mafia gang, abandoned by the man she loves. Only her ingenuity saves her and helps her fight back.

When the Bough Breaks


Jonathan Kellerman - 1985
    It's a good one!We meet Dr. Morton Handler who practiced a strange brand of psychiatry. Among his specialties were fraud, extortion, and sexual manipulation. Handler paid for his sins when he was brutally murdered in his luxurious Pacific Palisades apartment. The police have no leads, but they do have one possible witness: seven-year-old Melody Quinn.Psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware's job is to unlock the terrible secret buried in Melody's memory. As the sinister shadows in the girl's mind begin to take shape, Alex discovers that the mystery touches a shocking incident in his own past. This connection is only the beginning, a single link in a forty-year-old conspiracy. And behind it lies an unspeakable evil that Alex Delaware must expose before it claims another innocent victim: Melody Quinn.

Until Proven Guilty


J.A. Jance - 1985
    Beaumont's kid, and the determined Seattle homicide detective won't rest until her killer pays dearly. But the hunt is leading Beaumont into a murky world of religious fanaticism, and toward a beautiful, perilous obsession all his own. And suddenly Beau himself is a target -- because faith can be dangerous...and love can kill.

The Beiderbecke Affair


Alan Plater - 1985
    This book was adapted into a television drama by Yorkshire Television in the 1980s.

Flood


Andrew Vachss - 1985
    Burke's newest client is a woman named Flood, who has the face of an angel, the body of a high-priced stripper, and the skills of a professional executioner.  She wants Burke to find a monster for her—so she can kill him with her bare hands.In this cauterizing thriller, Andrew Vachss's renegade investigator teams up with a lethally gifted avenger to follow a child's murderer through the catacombs of New York, where every alley is blind and the penthouses are as dangerous as the basements.  Fearfully knowing, crackling with narrative tension, and written in prose as forceful as a hollow-point slug, Flood is Burke at his deadliest—and Vachss at the peak of his form.

The Anvil


Ken McClure - 1985
    Its manufacturers have withdrawn it but now seem hellbent on eliminating everyone concerned with its development. Dr Sean MacLean would like to know why but, as he was head of the surgical team using it, he finds himself in the firing line. His life has become the stuff of nightmares.Ken McClure is the internationally bestselling author of over twenty medical thrillers such as The Lazarus Strain, The Gulf Conspiracy, White Death and Dust to Dust. His books have been translated into twenty-three languages and he has earned a reputation for the accuracy of his predicitions. McClure's work is informed by his background as an award-winning research scientist with the UK's Medical Research Council.

Blood Ties


A.J. Quinnell - 1985
    On the high seas they are destined to meet on a voyage that spans continents. A captivating novel of quest, adventure and love.

The Goat Castle Murder


Sim C. Callon - 1985
    international high society... eccentric behavior... bitter anger...Murder.What sounds like the basis of a best-selling novel isn't fiction at all.It's fact.And it happened in Natchez - and episode that shocked the world.