If you like all your characters living at the end of a story, this may not be the book for you." -- from the introduction by Scott TurowBest-selling author Scott Turow takes the helm for the tenth edition of this annual, featuring twenty-one of the past year's most distinguished tales of mystery, crime, and suspense.Elmore Leonard tells the tale of a young woman who's fled home with a convicted bank robber. Walter Mosley describes an over-the-hill private detective and his new client, a woman named Karma. C. J. Box explores the fate of two Czech immigrants stranded by the side of the road in Yellowstone Park. Ed McBain begins his story on role-playing with the line "'Why don't we kill somebody?' she suggested." Wendy Hornsby tells of a wild motorcycle chase through the canyons outside Las Vegas. Laura Lippman describes the "Crack Cocaine Diet." And James Lee Burke writes of a young boy who may have been a close friend of Bugsy Siegel.As Scott Turow notes in his introduction, these stories are "about crime -- its commission, its aftermath, its anxieties, its effect on character." The Best American Mystery Stories 2006 is a powerful collection for all readers who enjoy fiction that deals with the extremes of human passion and its dark consequences.

    Almost all the stories are specially written for the collection and the cases are presented in the order in which Holmes solved them. The result is a life of Sherlock Holmes, with a continuous narrative alongside the stories which identities the gaps in the canon and places the new and hitherto unrecorded cases in their correct sequence - plus there is an invaluable, complete Holmes chronology.(back cover)

    Not for the first time, the collapse of the Catholic Church in Ireland brings to mind the fall of another powerful ideology--East German communism. While Germans are engaging earnestly with their past, Scally sees nothing comparable going on in his native land. So he embarks on a quest to unravel the tight hold the Church had on the Irish.He travels the length and breadth of Ireland and across Europe, going to Masses, novenas, shrines, and seminaries, talking to those who have abandoned the Church and those who have held on, to survivors and campaigners, to writers, historians, psychologists, and many more. And he has probing and revealing encounters with Vatican officials, priests, and religious along the way.The Best Catholics in the World is the remarkable result of his three-year journey. With wit, wisdom, and compassion, Scally gives voice and definition to the murky and difficult questions that face a society coming to terms with its troubling past. It is both a lively personal odyssey and a resonant and gripping work of reporting that is a major contribution to the story of Ireland.

    There’s the time the FBI showed up at her door because of something she tweeted about Game of Thrones. The pop songs that have been the soundtrack to the worst moments of her life. And of course, the pivotal day when Orange Is the New Black hit the airwaves and broke down the door to Jill’s own sexuality. In these honest examinations of identity, desire, and self-worth, Jill explores perhaps the most monumental cultural shift of our lifetimes: the mainstreaming of lesbian culture. Dusting off her own personal traumas and artifacts of her not-so-distant youth she examines how pop culture acts as a fun house mirror reflecting and refracting our values—always teaching, distracting, disappointing, and revealing us. Girls Can Kiss Now is a fresh and intoxicating blend of personal stories, sharp observations, and laugh-out-loud humor. This timely collection of essays helps us make sense of our collective pop-culture past even as it points the way toward a joyous, uproarious, near—and very queer—future.

    In a selection of eighteen stories discovered by one of L'Engle's granddaughters, we see how L'Engle's personal experiences and abiding faith informed the creation of her many cherished works. Some of these stories have never been published; others were refashioned into scenes for her novels and memoirs. Almost all were written in the 1940s and '50s, from Madeleine's college years until just before the publication of A Wrinkle in Time. From realism to science-fiction to fantasy, there is something for everyone in this magical collection.

    W. Dunne's and Albert Einstein's views on time and relativity, and the lives and works of Saint Augustine and James Joyce, both of whom have speaking parts in the novel. Bewildering? Yes, but as O'Brien insists, "a measure of bewilderment is part of the job of literature."

    This companion edition to the highly successful Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunits contains a wealth of fictional detectives, including Brother Cadfael, cowboy sleuth Ben Snow, and newcomers to the profession such as William Shakespeare and Hans Christian Andersen.

    It is the JFK assassination, Area 51, the moon landing, the surveillance state. It is a French spy posing as Abraham Lincoln, it is a video game designed by the CIA, it is "Suicide Mickey." It is Adolf Hitler and it is Elvis Presley. In this short story collection, today's top fiction authors pull back the curtain on the biggest conspiracies of all time. Who really killed JFK? What happened in Roswell, New Mexico? Is Elvis still alive? With stories that run the gamut from touching to thrilling to utterly deranged, Tinfoil will take you on a tour of paranoia you won't soon forget. Twelve short stories, twelve conspiracy theories, twelve twisted rabbit holes.Hold on to your hats.

    But in the dim light frost shimmers, stars twinkle and hearths blaze as we come together to keep out the chill. In spite of the season, life persists: visiting birds fill our skies, familiar creatures find clever ways to survive, and the world reveals winter riches to those willing to venture outdoors.In prose and poetry spanning seven hundred years, Winter delights in the brisk pleasures and enduring beauty of the year's turning. Featuring new writing from Patrick Barkham, Satish Kumar and Anita Sethi, extracts from the work of Robert Macfarlane, James Joyce and Kathleen Jamie, and a range of exciting new voices from across the UK, this invigorating collection evokes the joys and the consolations of this magical time of year. “A carefully selected compilation of undeniably gripping extracts and specially commissioned pieces … the final book in a fantastic series designed to celebrate the seasons”—LandLove magazine“Be inspired on a winter walk by writers who adore the frosty season” – Country Walking magazine“To open its covers is to open onto a landscape which you have not yet crossed and to feel yourself beckoned in. It might be an intellectual landscape – littered with strange formations of thought-rocks you have never encountered. It might be an emotional landscape – bathed in the colour of an unfamiliar sky. It might even be a spiritual one, animated by the sound of an unheard yet strangely familiar melody. … This book will take you from mountain heights to urban jungle, and from the back of a cow shed to the slippery deck of an 18th Century sailing ship. … If you want a book to help reduce your heating bills this Winter, this could be it. The cosy effect of curling up with it will work wonders.” -- Richard Littledale, blogger“Packed with good writing … a good mixture of familiar and unfamiliar” – Mark Avery“Just adorable… it’s the most beautiful writing. Makes you feel in keeping with the seasons” – Karen Gimson, BBC Radio Leicester“Alive and vibrant, both in the imagery it evokes and in the feelings it arouses. Without doubt Winter, that most enigmatic of seasons, comes gloriously alive in this lovely anthology. The editor, Melissa Harrison, has done a commendable job of keeping this quartet of anthologies completely relevant, with each seasonal interpretation allowing a heartening and thoughtful meditation into the true meaning of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter” – jaffareadstoo.blogspot.co.uk

    Butler82 • Blued Moon • (1984) • novelette by Connie Willis113 • A Message to the King of Brobdingnag • (1984) • novelette by Richard Cowper135 • The Affair • (1984) • shortstory by Robert Silverberg153 • Press Enter [] • (1984) • novella by John Varley207 • New Rose Hotel • (1984) • shortstory by William Gibson219 • The Map • [Solar Cycle] • (1984) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe232 • Interlocking Pieces • (1984) • shortstory by Molly Gloss239 • Trojan Horse • (1984) • novelette by Michael Swanwick269 • Bad Medicine • (1984) • novelette by Jack Dann291 • At the Embassy Club • (1984) • shortstory by Elizabeth A. Lynn301 • Pursuit of Excellence • (1984) • novelette by Rena Yount319 • The Kindly Isle • (1984) • shortstory by Frederik Pohl341 • Rock On • (1984) • shortstory by Pat Cadigan350 • Sunken Gardens • [Shaper/Mechanist] • (1984) • shortstory by Bruce Sterling365 • Trinity • (1984) • novella by Nancy Kress409 • The Trouble With the Cotton People • (1984) • shortstory by Ursula K. Le Guin420 • Twilight Time • (1984) • novelette by Lewis Shiner440 • Black Coral • (1984) • novelette by Lucius Shepard466 • Friend • (1984) • novelette by James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel484 • Foreign Skins • (1984) • novelette by Tanith Lee511 • Company in the Wings • (1983) • shortstory by R. A. Lafferty524 • A Cabin on the Coast • (1984) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe536 • The Lucky Strike • (1984) • novelette by Kim Stanley Robinson569 • Honorable Mentions: 1984 • essay by Gardner Dozois

    Psychological warfare. Spies, double agents, femme fatales, and dead drops...The Cold War–a terrifying time when nuclear war between the world’s two superpowers was an ever-present threat, an all-too-real possibility that could be set off at the touch of a button–provides a chilling backdrop to this collection of brand new short stories from today’s most celebrated mystery writers.Bestselling authors Jeffery Deaver and Raymond Benson–the only American writers to be commissioned to pen official James Bond novels–have joined forces to bring us twenty masterful tales of paranoia, espionage, and psychological drama. In Joseph Finder’s “Police Report,” the seemingly cut-and-dry case of a lunatic murderer in rural Massachusetts may have roots in Soviet-controlled Armenia. In Joseph Finder’s “Police Report”, the seemingly cut-and-dry case of a lunatic murderer in rural Massachusetts May have roots in Soviet-controlled Armenia. In “Miss Bianca” by Sara Paretsky, a young girl befriends a mouse in a biological warfare laboratory and finds herself unwittingly caught in an espionage drama. And Deaver’s “Comrade 35” offers a unique spin on the assassination of John F. Kennedy–with a signature twist.From Moscow to New York—and everywhere in between—these twenty tales of intrigue will transport you back to a terrifying time when nuclear war between the world’s two superpowers was an ever-present threat, an all-too-real possibility that could be set off at the touch of a button...

    As two pals wander the streets of Belfast in search of something better--a better pint, a better job, a better woman, a better now--readers are treated to their hilarious misadventures, political intrigues, and outlandish schemes.

    “Real Women Write about Real Sex” in Sugar in My Bowl, as such marquee names as Gail Collins, Eve Ensler, Daphne Merken, Anne Roiphe, Liz Smith, Naomi Wolf, and Jennifer Weiner, to name but a few, join together to speak openly about female desire—what provokes it and what satisfies it. In the free, unfettered spirit of The Bitch in the House, Sugar in My Bowl explores the bedroom lives of women with daring, wit, intelligence, and candor.

    Twelve mysteries.Twelve authors.One challenge: can YOU solve the crimes before the heroes of the stories?These are twelve brand-new short stories from twelve of the best children's crime writers writing today.These creepy, hilarious, brain-boggling, heart-pounding mysteries feature daring, brilliant young detectives, and this anthology is a must for fans of crime fiction and detection, especially the Murder Most Unladylike Mysteries, The Roman Mysteries and The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow.

    D. James. Fast on the heels of her latest best seller: a new, fiendishly entertaining gathering of previously uncollected stories, from the author of Death Comes to Pemberley and The Private Patient.It's not always a question of "whodunit?" Sometimes there's more mystery in the why or how. And although we usually know the unhealthy fates of both victim and perpetrator, what of those clever few who plan and carry out the perfect crime? The ones who aren't brought down even though they're found out? And what about those who do the finding out who witness a murder or who identify the murderer but keep the information to themselves? These are some of the mysteries that we follow through those six stories as we are drawn into the thinking, the memories, the emotional machinations, the rationalizations, the dreams and desires behind murderous cause and effect.