It is essentially a racy crime thriller full of gritty suspense. Act one builds up slowly to result in a crescendo of conflicts between personalities and ideas finally to end with an unnatural death before the interval. Is it a suicide or a murder? Act two evolves through a series of incisive interrogations to unravel the truth, which is deeply disturbing and affecting. As the play unfolds into a very well crafted situational thriller, underneath is the debate about using land for agriculture or for industry, the ethics of a working author and the nexus of a modern state all wonderfully enmeshed into its storyline and the personal lives of its subtly etched out characters. The highpoints of the play are its central conflict between a mother and her daughter and its female sleuth – Renuka.

    The author of the enormously popular series featuring Baltimore P.I. Tess Monaghan as well as three critically lauded stand-alone novels, Lippman now turns her attention to short stories—and reveals another level of mastery.Lippman sets many of the stories in this sterling anthology, Hardly Knew Her, in familiar territory: her beloved Baltimore, from downtown to its affluent suburbs, where successful businessmen go to shocking lengths to protect what they have or ruthlessly expand their holdings, while dissatisfied wives find murderous ways to escape their lives. But Lippman is also unafraid to travel—to New Orleans, to an unnamed southwestern city, and even to Dublin, the backdrop for the lethal clash of two not-so-innocents abroad. Tess Monaghan is here, in two stories and a profile, aligning herself with various underdogs. And in her extraordinary, never-before-published novella, Scratch a Woman, Lippman takes us deep into the private world of a high-priced call girl/madam and devoted soccer mom, exploring the mystery of what may, in fact, be written in the blood.Each of these ingenious tales is a gem—sometimes poignant, sometimes humorous, always filled with delightfully unanticipated twists and reversals. For people who have yet to read Lippman, get ready to experience the spellbinding power of "one of today's most pleasing storytellers, hailed for her keen psychological insights and her compelling characterizations," (San Diego Union-Tribune), who has "invigorated the crime fiction arena with smart, innovative, and exciting work" (George Pelecanos). As for longtime devotees of her multiple award-winning novels, you'll discover that you hardly know her.

     Coke with a Twist (A Mercy Watts Short) Mercy Watts' P.I. father ropes her into another investigation, this time to find the truth behind a young woman's attack. The case takes her from a dive bar to sorority row to the gutter, and unless she solves it fast, the case will be her last. A Good Man Gone (Mercy Watts Mysteries Book 1) It’s summer in St. Louis and Mercy Watts is on vacation from her parents. The great detective and his nosy wife are on a cruise and Mercy thinks she’s off the hook for doing any investigating for them. But when a family friend has a fatal heart attack, Dad has one of his famous feelings and orders Mercy to look into it. Mercy tries not to get sucked in. She really does, but she’s her father’s daughter. Soon Gavin’s death leads to a more grisly one, the death of a bride on her wedding day. Can the two be connected? Was Gavin murdered? Now Mercy can’t stop. You do for family. That’s all there is to it. Diver Down (Mercy Watts Mysteries Book 2) A sunny place for shady people. Vacations can be murder, especially when you’re Mercy Watts. She’s trying to get away from it all, including her godmother’s lawsuit and a certain situation with the mafia. So she heads to Roatan, Honduras, a place known for scuba diving and lawlessness. Mercy’s on the island less than twenty-four hours when she discovers that she hasn’t gotten away from anything. Her problems hitched a ride and increased tenfold. The deeper she dives, the more dangerous her vacation becomes. She must stop a murder or she’ll be the next on the hit list. Double Black Diamond (Mercy Watts Mysteries Book 3) Commit a crime. Save a child. Mercy Watts is off to Colorado for a ski trip with her boyfriend and his parents. She thinks her biggest problem will be pretending to be a normal girlfriend. A girlfriend that doesn’t know how to pick locks and absolutely never gets her face on the national news. But a desperate friend asks a favor that cannot be refused. Mercy figures she can fit it in between trips up the lift and dips in the hot tub. Simple, right? Not quite. Before she has a chance to do much of anything a brutal crime is committed and Mercy becomes a suspect. Before she knows it she’s saddled with a pint-sized partner, a stalker, and a ticking clock. All she has to do is solve a crime in order to commit a crime. A child’s life hangs in the balance. No pressure.

    Having walked the beat in the early eighties in some of London’s most fractious communities, he worked on a variety of specialist teams dealing with murder, fraud, witness protection and surveillance before becoming a Detective Inspector responsible for investigating the most serious cases of police corruption.

    Never before published, it features her ex-Special Forces soldier turned self-defence expert and bodyguard, Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Fox.In Across The Broken Line, we follow Charlie through a fragmented timescale of cross and double-cross as she fights to keep her principal alive – whoever that might be.

    Two guilty secrets. A memory that won't stay buried ... When Charlotte and Will Grayson return to the seaside resort where they met as teenagers, they hope it'll help to heal the wounds in their marriage. But visiting the dilapidated holiday camp where their relationship began brings terrible memories back from the past. The man who'd once made their lives hell has come back to find them - only, the last time they saw him, they'd left him for dead on the beach. As the threats to their new life become more severe, Charlotte and Will discover that they were mistaken about what happened to Bruce Craven on that fateful night. And now he's returned to finish off what was started thirty years ago. Sometimes the past is best left alone Circle Of Lies Five powerful men. One desperate woman. A seaside town rocked to its core ... When Charlotte Grayson discovers a local author dead in her seaside guest house she’s determined to find out what drove such a successful man to take his life at the pinnacle of his career. After an old newspaper cutting is sent linking the writer to a powerful group of men in the town, Charlotte starts to suspect it wasn’t suicide. Joining forces with a local newspaper reporter, Charlotte soon finds that the sleepy resort conceals many dark secrets. As more bodies are found it seems the resort is at the mercy of a serial killer hellbent on taking revenge. But the truth lies closer to home and Charlotte must confront her own past first before she can remove her family from danger. How far would you go to protect your family’s darkest secret? Truth Be Told An evil man. A quest for revenge. A woman who will do anything to save her family. A truth that must be told ... Charlotte Grayson is caught up with something bigger and more dangerous than she could ever have imagined. What appeared to be a run-down seaside resort has become a living nightmare for her and her family. Now living under the threat of a violent reprisal, Charlotte discovers help where she least expected it. The seaside town has been at the mercy of a powerful group of men for several decades - but that's all about to end. As Charlotte fights to protect her daughter from a vile corruption, she must finally put to rest the demons of her past. This is one night in Morecambe that she'll never forget. In the final reckoning, the full truth must be told ... Buy the entire Morecambe Bay trilogy in one collection!

    Its purpose is one of certitude with a little dash of homage thrown in for good measure. For some, it may just be seen as an extended or alternate ending. For others, it may be taken as Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse's final will and testament. Your choice...

    politics. From heady ideals to sexual blackmail, it makes one wonder—when do they have time to govern? The fine line between fact and fiction blurs so quickly, you may think you are reading today's headlines instead of one of the best new novels to break onto the political scene.You will get to know the characters in Robinson's novel so well; you will be surprised not to see their names on the ballot at the next election. The Maximum Contribution is fast paced, spellbinding and one you don’t want to miss.