He Died With His Eyes Open


Derek Raymond - 1984
    Our narrator must piece together the history of his blighted existence and discover the agents of its cruel end. What he doesn’t expect is that digging for the truth will demand plenty of lying.

Hail Storme


W.L. Ripley - 1993
    He reports violent incident confidentially to the local Sheriff...who is murdered the next day. Storme believes there's a connection and starts asking questions, unraveling a deadly conspiracy of corruption, drug-trafficking and organized crime... and making himself someone that just about everybody wants dead.

The Last Kind Words


Tom Piccirilli - 2012
    Upon the razor-thin edge between love and violence lives a pair of brothers, their bonds frayed by betrayals and guilt, their loyalty to each other their last salvation.Raised to pick a pocket before he could walk, Terry Rand cut free from his family after his older brother, Collie, went on a senseless killing spree that left eight dead. Five years later, only days before his scheduled execution, Collie contacts Terry and asks him to return home. Collie claims he wasn’t responsible for one of the murders—and insists that the real killer is still on the loose.Dogged by his own demons, Terry is swept back into the schemes and scams of his family: His father, Pinsch, a retired cat burglar, brokenhearted because of his two sons. His card-sharp uncles, Mal and Grey, who’ve incurred the anger of the local mob. His grandfather, Shep, whose mind is failing but whose fingers can still slip out a wallet  from across the room. His teenage sister, Dale, who’s flirting dangerously with the lure of the family business. And Kimmie, the woman Terry abandoned, who’s now raising a child with Terry’s former best friend.  Terry pieces together the day his brother turned rabid, delving into a blood history that reveals the Rand family tree is rotten to the roots, and the secrets his ancestors buried are now coming furious and vengeful to the surface.A meditation on how love can confine a person just as easily as it can free him, juxtaposing shocking violence and sly humor, The Last Kind Words is the brilliantly inventive family saga that only a singular talent like Tom Piccirilli could conjure.

Solomon's Vineyard


Jonathan Latimer - 1941
    In this classic noir novel, a private eye from St. Louis, who likes his steak rare, his liquor hard, and his women fallen, arrives at the small town of Paulton to protect his wealthy client's daughter from a suspicious religious cult. Throughout the span of the case, he confronts Paulton's mob boss, avenges his partner's death, and falls for a classic femme fatale named Princess.

The Big Sleep


Raymond Chandler - 1939
    He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. This is the Code of the Private Eye as defined by Raymond Chandler in his 1944 essay 'The Simple Act of Murder.' Such a man was Philip Marlowe, private eye, an educated, heroic, streetwise, rugged individualist and the hero of Chandler's first novel, The Big Sleep. This work established Chandler as the master of the 'hard-boiled' detective novel, and his articulate and literary style of writing won him a large audience, which ranged from the man in the street to the most sophisticated intellectual.

Nightmare Alley


William Lindsay Gresham - 1946
    Young Stan Carlisle is working as a carny, and he wonders how a man could fall so low. There’s no way in hell, he vows, that anything like that will ever happen to him.And since Stan is clever and ambitious and not without a useful streak of ruthlessness, soon enough he’s going places. Onstage he plays the mentalist with a cute assistant (before long his harried wife), then he graduates to full-blown spiritualist, catering to the needs of the rich and gullible in their well-upholstered homes. It looks like the world is Stan’s for the taking. At least for now.

Pursuit


James Stewart Thayer - 1986
    . . Brutal, brisk, and believable . . . . The finale sings." -- New York Daily News.A strategy born of desperation: an assassination to end the war. Only one event can turn the tide. Hitler believes that the death of one man—Franklin Delano Roosevelt—will save Nazi Germany. From a prisoner of war camp near Fort Lewis, Washington, where 50,000 German soldiers are interned, Wehrmacht Captain Kurt Monck—a man of frightening resources with ruthless intelligence whose devious determination is sparked by Berlin’s orders via secret channels to escape the camp and head east. Monck’s trail is picked up by U.S. Secret Service agent John Wren, who hunts Monck as the German nears Franklin Roosevelt’s armored train en route to the Democratic Convention in Chicago. Monck’s only aid comes from his reluctant accomplice Margaret Bayerlein, a widow who provokes a haunting triangular relationship. Pursuit evokes the American home front during the war, as well as historic figures such as J. Edgar Hoover and President Roosevelt. The manhunt crosses the country, and Monck, Wren, and Roosevelt finally meet in an electrifying conclusion.Heart-pounding suspense for readers who love the taut thrillers of Jeffrey Deaver and Frederick Forsyth.“I simply could not put it down.” -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Hoodtown


Christa Faust - 2004
    Evolved from lucha libre, the family gimmick is sacred, and the mask is the sole expression of one’s identity. Now, Hood prostitutes are turning-up murdered and worse, unmasked, and the ‘Skin’ establishment is as much help as a paid-off ref. Enter X, former luchadora with a bruised past, a bum knee and no time to play Santo. She’s no hero, but there’s nobody else to tag-in, as her hunt for a killer uncovers a conspiracy that could take down all of maskedkind. Like Casablanca with wrestling masks, Hoodtown is vintage pulp noir with a lucha libre pop culture twist.

Burn: A Sam Jameson Thriller


Lars Emmerich - 2017
    A shadowy figure from Sam Jameson’s past. They invade Sam’s self-imposed exile to deliver shocking news: Alexander Wells, the man who murdered a five-year-old girl and framed Sam to take the fall, didn’t die in the fiery blast that almost claimed her life. Wells is alive. And he’s recruited a team of hardened criminal operatives with just one target in their sights: Sam Jameson. Sam soon finds herself at the mercy of forces with unthinkable reach and resources. With rogue government elements, a brutal organized crime family, and the world’s most powerful clandestine cabal all lined up against her, Sam must escape a terrifying fate at the hands of a madman to make the most difficult choice of her life. And along the way, Sam must reconcile her growing feelings for an old friend with her heartbreak over the loss of Brock James, the man she planned to spend her life with. BURN is the most explosive installment yet in Amazon #1 Bestselling Author Lars Emmerich’s runaway international hit Sam Jameson series, loved by fans of espionage, conspiracy, and crime thrillers from masters such as James Patterson, David Baldacci, Nelson DeMille, Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, Catherine Coulter, and Daniel Silva. Interview with #1 Bestselling Author Lars Emmerich
 Q: Who are your influences?
 A: Too many to list! I started out years ago as a Tom Clancy addict, and I thoroughly enjoy many of Nelson DeMille’s novels. I regularly read David Baldacci, Vince Flynn, Barry Eisler, Michael Connelly, and John Grisham. James Patterson has redefined what it means to be a working author, and I read his stuff as well. My top picks are usually espionage and private detective novels, any of the thousands of thrillers and mystery best sellers, and, of course, books featuring classic pulp heroes. And I’m greatly influenced by all sorts of nonfiction, as well. I read all the time, and I’m a bit of a magpie about the topics — science, economics, finance, politics, history, mathematics, engineering, biomechanics, medicine… It’s a big world out there, and I love learning more about it. Many of those topics find their way into my fiction, so I can justify it all as “research.” 

 Q: The Sam Jameson series has become quite a phenomenon. What do you think has been the driving force behind the books’ success?
 A: I think Sam has something of a unique voice. She says the things we all wish we could say, and she gets away with it about half of the time. The other half of the time, not so much. I think she’s also a very human heroine. She has plenty of flaws and weaknesses, yet she accomplishes some amazing things. She’s like every one of us in that regard, which resonates.

 Q: You have developed personal relationships with your readers over the years, which is a little unusual in the publishing business. Was that a conscious choice?
 A: Absolutely. Books are intimate things. They occupy a person’s mind and thoughts for hours at a time. Good books leave a lasting impression, and great books might even change the way we think about things, but all books are a relationship. I always wanted a conversation. I wanted to learn from my readers, to hear what was on their minds, to listen to their criticism and hopefully improve the books I write. It’s been extremely rewarding, and I’m hopeful it can continue for years to come.
 BURN genre information: Spy thriller, spy thrillers kindle books, best crime thrillers, conspiracy thrillers, espionage thrillers, mystery thrillers and suspense best sellers, female spy books

Cop Hater


Ed McBain - 1956
    But when his partner becomes victim number two, it looks like open-and-shut grudge killings. That is, until a third detective buys it.ED MCBAIN'S FIRST 87th PRECINCT NOVEL

The Butterfly


James M. Cain - 1947
    Cain uses his favorite form of narration, the first-person confessional, in relating this unusual tale of deceit, incest, and murder.Jess Tyler is a church-going mountain man. One day out of the blue, his estranged daughter, Kady, shows up at his cabin and starts throwing herself at him in a most undaughterly way. At least that's the way Jess tells it. Cain leaves a few hints that Jess may not be 100% accurate as a narrator. For example, he claims to be a God fearing teetotaler. Yet he quickly shows himself to be a seasoned expert when it comes to constructing and operating a commercial still.

Fifteen Digits


Nick Santora - 2012
    Five walks of life. Every day they come together at the white shoe law firm Olmstead & Taft. But they’re not lawyers. They’re “Printers”: blue-collar guys consigned to the dark basement of the firm charged with copying, collating and delivering the mountains of paperwork that document millions of dollars of sensitive legal secrets.Until the five are approached by an ambitious young attorney who teaches them what they have: insider information. Together they make a plan: take the classified documents that pass through their hands every day and use them to get rich. They create a joint account to deposit the spoils. An account with a safeguard-each one only knows one section of the access code.Which means that for all five conspirators, there’s no way out. But as too much money piles up to go unnoticed, the Printers will discover there’s one thing even worse than being an outsider: being in too deep.“FIFTEEN DIGITS is a taut, gripping thrill-ride that appeals to the white collar criminal in all of us. I couldn’t put it down.”–Terence Winter, Creator and Executive Producer of Boardwalk Empire, Executive Producer and Writer of The Sopranos“FIFTEEN DIGITS reads like John Grisham and Martin Scorsese’s nasty love child. Brimming with unique, indelible characters, it’s a cautionary tale of greed, jealousy and vice.”–Shawn Ryan, Creator and Executive Producer of The Shield

Black Water Lilies


Michel Bussi - 2011
    'A work of genius ... jaw-dropping' Daily Express.Ends with one of the most reverberating shocks in modern crime fiction' Sunday TimesThis is the story of thirteen days that begin with one murder and end with another. Jérôme Morval, a man whose passion for art was matched only by his passion for women, has been found dead in the stream that runs through the gardens at Giverny, where Monet did his famous paintings. In Jérôme's pocket is a postcard of Monet's Water Lilies with the words: Eleven years old. Happy Birthday. Entangled in the mystery are three women: a young painting prodigy, the seductive village schoolteacher and an old widow who watches over the village from a mill by the stream. All three of them share a secret. But what do they know about the discovery of Jérôme Morval's corpse? And what is the connection to the mysterious Black Water Lilies, a rumoured masterpiece by Monet that has never been found...'This elegant crime mystery shimmers as delicately as the paintings of Claude Monet that lie at its heart . . . A bestseller in France, it is a dazzling, unexpected and haunting masterpiece' Daily MailAn enchanting tale that kept me absolutely hooked as Bussi cleverly breaks all the perceived rules of plotting in a story containing riddles within riddles . . . stunning' Daily Express

The Harlem Cycle: A Rage in Harlem; The Real Cool Killers; The Crazy Kill (Harlem Cycle, #1-3)


Chester Himes - 1996
    Renowned for their meanness and always armed with their legendary nickel-plated colts, they patrol the streets of Harlem and attempt to keep some semblance of law and order.

Falling Angel


William Hjortsberg - 1978
    For Harry Angel, a routine missing-persons case soon turns into a fiendish nightmare of voodoo and black magic, of dizzying peril and violent death. Many people feel that Falling Angel is the greatest American supernatural horror novel of the 20th century.With a new foreword by Ridley Scott, an introduction by the late James Crumley, and a new afterword by the author and a bonus short story, plus a letter from Stephen King, the first time that the letter has ever been published in its complete form.The hardcover edition is limited to just 300 copies and is signed by William Hjortsberg. Bound in cloth with a dustjacket with the original Stanislaw Zagorski wraparound dustjacket printed against a black background with spot varnish.