Death Is a Lonely Business


Ray Bradbury - 1985
    Trying not to miss his girlfriend (away studying in Mexico), the nameless writer steadily crafts his literary effort--until strange things begin happening around him.Starting with a series of peculiar phone calls, the writer then finds clumps of seaweed on his doorstep. But as the incidents escalate, his friends fall victim to a series of mysterious "accidents"--some of them fatal. Aided by Elmo Crumley, a savvy, street-smart detective, and a reclusive actress of yesteryear with an intense hunger for life, the wordsmith sets out to find the connection between the bizarre events, and in doing so, uncovers the truth about his own creative abilities.

Mygale


Thierry Jonquet - 1984
    He has an operating theatre in the basement of his chateau and keeps his partner Eve imprisoned in her bedroom, a room he has equipped with an intercom and 300-watt speakers through which he bellows orders. Eve is only allowed out to be paraded at cocktail parties and on the last Sunday of each month, when the couple visit a young woman in a mental asylum. Following these outings, Lafargue humiliates Eve by forcing her to perform lewd sexual acts with strangers while he watches through a one-way mirror. In alternating chapters, Jonquet introduces seemingly unrelated characters - a criminal on the run after murdering a policeman, and an abducted young man who finds himself chained naked in a dark chamber, forced to endure all manner of physical torture at the hands of a mysterious stranger, whom he calls 'Mygale', after a type of tropical spider. All of these characters are caught in a deceitful web, doomed to meet their fate.

Mary Page Marlowe (TCG Edition)


Tracy Letts - 2017
    In a series of elegant, nonchronological scenes spanning the years from 1946 to 2015, the play hopscotches through Mary Page Marlowe’s quiet existence as an accountant from Ohio—complicating notions of what it means to lead a “simple life.”

Found Money


Charlie Carillo - 2012
    Where did it come from? Whose is it? Those questions will be answered in an overnight drama that’s also a journey into the past - a saga of love, lust, greed, double-crossing, prison, betrayal and redemption on that long, crooked road to the truth. Found money looks like easy money, but looks can be deceiving.

The Talented Mr. Ripley


Patricia Highsmith - 1955
    In this first novel, we are introduced to suave, handsome Tom Ripley: a young striver, newly arrived in the heady world of Manhattan in the 1950s. A product of a broken home, branded a "sissy" by his dismissive Aunt Dottie, Ripley becomes enamored of the moneyed world of his new friend, Dickie Greenleaf. This fondness turns obsessive when Ripley is sent to Italy to bring back his libertine pal but grows enraged by Dickie's ambivalent feelings for Marge, a charming American dilettante. A dark reworking of Henry James's The Ambassadors, The Talented Mr. Ripley—is up to his tricks in a 90s film and also Rene Clement's 60s film, "Purple Noon."

The Affair of the Blood-Stained Egg Cosy


James Anderson - 1975
    Inspector Wilkins is called in to investigate, but it's going to take some intricate sleuthing to uncover who killed whom and why.

The Fantasticks


Tom Jones - 1968
    Recommended for all collections." - Choice

In Cold Blood


Truman Capote - 1965
    There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues. As Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers, he generates both mesmerizing suspense and astonishing empathy. At the center of his study are the amoral young killers Perry Smith and Dick Hickcock, who, vividly drawn by Capote, are shown to be reprehensible yet entirely and frighteningly human. In Cold Blood is a seminal work of modern prose, a remarkable synthesis of journalistic skill and powerfully evocative narrative.

Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives: Stories from the Trailblazers of Domestic Suspense


Sarah Weinman - 2013
    Few know these characters—and their creators—better than Sarah Weinman. One of today’s preeminent authorities on crime fiction, Weinman asks: Where would bestselling authors like Gillian Flynn, Sue Grafton, or Tana French be without the women writers who came before them? In Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives, Weinman brings together fourteen hair-raising tales by women who—from the 1940s through the mid-1970s—took a scalpel to contemporary society and sliced away to reveal its dark essence. Lovers of crime fiction from any era will welcome this deliciously dark tribute to a largely forgotten generation of women writers.

Cape Fear


John D. MacDonald - 1957
    He lived only for the day he would be free—free to track down and destroy the man who had put him behind bars.Murder was merciful compared to what Cady had in mind—and what Cady had in mind was Bowden's innocent and lovely teenaged daughter...."A powerful and frightening story." —The New York Times

Choke Hold


Warren Murphy - 2007
    Pity poor tobacco tycoon Edgar Rawly.  Thanks to lawsuits, government meddling and the inexplicable deaths of many of his best customers, his megabucks industry is gasping its last breath.  That is, until the introduction of the Cheyenne Smooths, Rawly's latest product.  Not quite tobacco, not quite legal, more addictive than crystal meth.  Suddenly customers are once more beating a path to his door.  That's when the bodies start piling up.  Seems people are not only dying to taste the flavor of a Cheyenne Smooth, they're killing for it.  Enter Remo Williams, the Destroyer, and Chiun, the deadly Master of Sinanju.  They've been sent to kick some butt, but wind up in danger of being snuffed out themselves. Turns out Edgar Rawly is not the only shady character to recognize the value of the Cheyenne Smooths, and things really start to heat up when Remo bumps into a cult of ancient Chinese assassins, an Asian crime lord, and a worldwide addiction that just might send civilization up in smoke...and dump the Destroyer on the ash heap of history.

The Stranger House


Reginald Hill - 2005
    Sam Flood is a young Australian post-grad en route to Cambridge. Miguel Madero is a Spanish historian in flight from a seminary. They have nothing in common and no connection, except that they both want to dig up bits of the past that some people would rather keep buried. Sam is looking for information about her grandmother who left Illthwaite courtesy of the child migrant scheme four decades earlier. The past Mig is interested in is more than four centuries old.They meet in the village pub, the Stranger House, a remnant of the old Illthwaite Priory. They can find nothing to agree on. Sam believes that anything that can’t be explained by math isn’t worth explaining; Mig sees ghosts; Sam is a fun-loving, experienced young woman; Mig is a 26-year-old virgin. But once their paths cross, they become increasingly entangled as they pursue what at first seem to be separate quests, finding out the hard way who to trust and who to fear in this ancient village.The action is fast, there are clashes physical and metaphysical, and shocks natural and supernatural, as the tension mounts to an explosive climax. But fans of Reginald Hill’s will not be surprised to find a few laughs along the way. And very loyal fans might even recognize a ghost from the very distant past. . . .From the Hardcover edition.

Hangover Square


Patrick Hamilton - 1941
    London 1939, and in the grimy publands of Earls Court, George Harvey Bone is pursuing a helpless infatuation with Netta who is cool, contemptuous and hopelessly desirable to George. George is adrift in hell, until something goes click in his head and he realizes that he must kill her.

Sins of the Father


David Harrison - 2006
    If it comes out, the tabloids will have a field day: Eddie Randall was a popular comedy actor in the 1960s. Nick goes in search of the truth and unexpectedly finds it impacts on a major insurance scam he is investigating. Then his estranged wife is found dead - and Nick realises that an unknown enemy is stalking him..."Occasionally brutal, but very readable... this writer seems to me to have real potential. I look forward to his next book." Martin Edwards, TANGLED WEB"Sins of the Father is a wonderful, exciting read full of twists and turns... This is a sterling effort from a new face on the crime scene."Chris Simmons, CRIMESQUAD"Sins of the Father is a rattling good read... a writer to watch for sure."Sharon Wheeler, REVIEWING THE EVIDENCEPraise for David Harrison (writing under the name TOM BALE):"What truly sells SKIN AND BONES is Bale's almost cinematic storytelling style, along the lines of what Lee Child does with his Jack Reacher series."Jim Winter, JANUARY MAGAZINE

The Ghost of Jeopardy Belle (The Ghosts of Summerleigh Book 2)


M.L. Bullock - 2018
    Supernatural sightings at the old house increase along with Jerica's terror. As the former nurse ponders her future, she has to work to help other ghosts at Summerleigh...and save herself. The Ghost of Jeopardy Belle is Book Two in The Ghosts of Summerleigh series. Scroll up and grab your copy of this haunting tale today! The Ghost of Jeopardy Belle is Book Two in The Ghosts of Summerleigh series.