A is for Alibi & J is for Judgment


Sue Grafton - 1993
    In "J is for Judgement", Kinsey Millhone finds herself in danger - on the trail of someone who may, or may not, be dead.

Bored to Death: A Noir-otic Story


Jonathan Ames - 2009
    As a rank amateur who just thinks he can help, this Ames alter ego quickly becomes embroiled in the search for a missing NYU coed. He moves from one scrape to the next, all while trying to escape a life of periodic alcoholism, dead-end relationships, writer’s block, and hours of Internet backgammon. Bored to Death was originally published in McSweeney’s Issue 24 and is the centerpiece of Ames’s collection of essays and fiction, The Double Life Is Twice as Good. Bored to Death Artwork © 2009 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved. HBO® and related channels and service marks are the property of Home Box Office, Inc.

A Candle for the Bag Lady


Lawrence Block - 2012
    The first novel, The Sins of the Fathers, appeared in 1975, and A Drop of the Hard Stuff - the 17th and most recent - was published in 2011. Over the years Scudder has also been featured in 11 short works of fiction; A Candle for the Bag Lady, which first appeared in AHMM in 1977, is the second of them.Out the Window and A Candle for the Bag Lady kept Scudder alive for me after Dell failed to sell the first three books effectively. There seemed little point in trying to interest another publisher in a series that had already proved unsuccessful, but I couldn't abandon Scudder, and wrote the two novelettes for magazine publication. Then I wrote the fourth novel, A Stab in the Dark, and Don Fine published it at Arbor House, and Scudder was back in business.If you catch me in a weak moment, you might persuade me to sing the title song...A Candle for the Bag Lady was briefly retitled Like a Lamb to Slaughter in order to serve as the title story of a collection; it's original was subsequently restored. It is included in The Night and the Music, my collection of all 11 Matthew Scudder short stories, available for Kindle or as a handsome trade paperback.

Before You Leap


Keith Houghton - 2016
    But when Scarlett’s killer is released early from prison with a cast-iron alibi, Greg realizes that his past is about to explode into his present, with terrifying consequences.To expose the truth he must open up old wounds. As a talk therapist, Greg knows all about dark secrets, but when a childhood friendship comes to the fore and the police turn their spotlight on him, the thought of analyzing his own psyche is a disturbing prospect. How far can he trust his own memories?With his life coming apart at the seams, and his grip on reality beginning to unravel, Greg must face the ghosts of his past if he hopes to prove his innocence and live to see another day.

The Hitman's Guide to Housecleaning


Hallgrímur Helgason - 2008
    That is, until he kills the wrong guy and is forced to flee the States, leaving behind the life he knows and loves. Suddenly, he finds himself on a plane hurtling toward Reykjavík, Iceland, disguised as an American televangelist named Father Friendly. With no means of escape from this island devoid of gun shops, this island with absolutely no tradition for contract killing, he is forced to come to terms with his bloody past and reevaluate his future, to tragicomic effect. The Hitman's Guide to Housecleaning is a story of mistaken identity, human destiny, and the forces of good and evil present within us all.

Gypsy at Heart


Ellen Dugan - 2017
    Meet Nilah Stefanik. She’s sassy, smart and fresh out of grad school. With a ton of student debt, she’s taken a “dead-end” office job at the Fogg Funeral Home in Danvers, Massachusetts. It’s a toss-up as to what her family disapproves of more...her current place of employment, or that she has no discernible psychic or magickal talents of any kind. Nilah comes from a long line of Polska Roma fortune tellers, mystics, and psychics. Her grandmother, the incomparable Madame Sabina, is an institution in Danvers. Unfortunately, that talent skipped Nilah...or so the family always believed. Now, paranormal predicaments confound Nilah and draw her into a mystery just in time for Halloween. Deep down, Nilah is a Gypsy at heart, and with a little help from her grandmother and a trouble-making ghost, Nilah may at last uncover the truth about herself and her destiny. *** Previously released in the Welcome to Haven Harbor anthology***

Warwolf


T.R. Pearson - 2011
    Wry, laconic, and more than a little world-weary, Tatum pursues a savage killer through the rural Virginia uplands with the hot-headed assistance of Special Agent Kate LeComte. Warwolf is by turns hilarious and deeply unsettling, and T.R. Pearson’s gift for capturing the true voice of the new south is on conspicuous display. The mountains of Virginia have never seemed so dangerously alive, and there remains no better company in the southern highlands than Deputy Ray Tatum.Ray Tatum also appears in Cry Me A River, Blue Ridge, and Polar -- written to be read in no particular order.

The Rejected Writers' Book Club


Suzanne Kelman - 2014
    This quirky group of women would much rather celebrate one another’s rejected manuscripts over cups of tea and slices of lemon cake than actually publish a book. But good friends are exactly what Janet needs after moving to the small town of Southlea Bay, Washington. Just as the ladies are about to raise a teacup to their five hundredth rejection letter, they receive bad news that could destroy one member’s reputation—and disband the group forever. To save the club, Janet joins her fellow writers on a wild road trip to San Francisco in search of the local publisher who holds the key to a long-buried secret. As they race to the finish line, they’ll face their fears—landslides, haunted houses, handsome strangers, ungrateful children—and have the time of their lives.

The Weapon


Jeffery Deaver - 2009
    Retired Colonel James J. Peterson—head of a covert, illegal, intelligence-gathering operation known as IAS—is briefed on a national security threat that could unleash a weapon capable of “significant damage.” But what kind of weapon is it? Conventional? A nuke? Or something altogether new? And who’s behind the threat? Al-Qaeda? The Koreans? The Iranians? It’s up to Colonel Peterson’s IAS black site operation to find out who’s behind the threat, and to neutralize the weapon before it’s unleashed on the United States. The problem? He only has four days to do it.Don’t miss any of these exciting stories from Thriller 2: The Weapon by Jeffery Deaver Remaking by Blake Crouch Iced by Harry Hunsicker Justice Served by Mariah Stewart The Circle by David Hewson Roomful of Witnesses by R.L. Stine The House on Pine Terrace by Phillip Margolin The Desert Here and the Desert Far Away by Marcus Sakey On the Run by Carla Neggers Can You Help Me Out Here? by Robert Ferrigno Crossed Double by Joe Hartlaub The Lamented by Lawrence Light Vintage Death by Lisa Jackson Suspension of Disbelief by Tim Maleeny A Calculated Risk by Sean Chercover The Fifth World by Javier Sierra Ghost Writer by Gary Braver Through a Veil Darkly by Kathleen Antrim Bedtime for Mr. Li by David J. Montgomery Protecting the Innocent by Simon Wood Watch Out for My Girl by Joan Johnston Killing Time by Jon Land Boldt’s Broken Angel by Ridley Pearson

The Peyton Brooks, FBI Box Set: Volume One: Books 1-5


M.L. Hamilton - 2018
    Over 1,000 pages of action and adventure from San Francisco’s top special agent. The Peyton Brooks, FBI series follows the career of Special Agent Peyton Brooks and her team, the Ghost Squad, as they tackle crimes around the world. This compilation includes titles: Zombies in the Delta, Mermaids in the Pacific, Werewolves in London, Vampires in Hollywood, and Mayan Gods in the Yucatan.

The Jeeves Omnibus


P.G. Wodehouse
    My Man Jeeves 1919Right Ho, Jeeves 1922Death At The Excelsior, Others 1914

The Friend


Teresa Driscoll - 2018
    Two boys are in hospital after a tragic accident. One of them is Ben.She thought she could trust Emma, her new friend, to look after her little boy. After all, Emma’s a kindred spirit—someone Sophie was sure she could bare her soul to, despite the village rumours. But Sophie can’t shake the feeling that she’s made an unforgivable mistake and now her whole family is in danger.Because how well does she know Emma, really? Should she have trusted her at all?Time is running out. Powerless to help her child, still hours from home, Sophie is about to discover the truth. And her life will never be the same.

The Unremembered Girl


Eliza Maxwell - 2017
    It’s all he can do to keep his compassionate but ailing mother and his stepfather—a fanatical grassroots minister with a bruising rhetoric—from ruin. But they have no idea they’ve become the obsession of the girl in the woods.Abandoned and nearly feral, Eve has been watching them, seduced by the notion of family—something she’s known only in the most brutal sense. Soon she can’t resist the temptation to get close. Where Henry’s mother sees a poor girl in need, his father sees only wickedness. When Henry forges an unexpected bond with Eve, he believes he might be able to save her. He doesn’t know how wrong he is.Eve is about to take charge of her own destiny—and that of Henry’s family. As both their worlds spin violently out of control, Henry must make an impossible choice: protect the broken young woman who’s claimed a piece of his soul, or put everyone he loves at risk in order to do the right thing.

What The Lady Wants


Jennifer Crusie - 1995
    He'd envisioned a world of tough-talking detectives and smart-mouthed, stunning dames. Instead he saw case after case of cheating husbands, suspicious wives and unsuspecting mistresses…until she walked through the door.Right down to her stilettos, Mae Sullivan was a knockout with a lethal body and a lethal family to go with it. There was something not quite on the up-and-up about her, but she came with a case he couldn't afford to refuse…and left him with a case of lust he hadn't had since high school. It didn't take long for him to fall for her, hook, line and sinker. But was Mae interested only in catching the double-crossing crooks who murdered her uncle…or did the lady want to catch him?

After Alice Fell


Kim Taylor Blakemore - 2021
    Marion Abbott is summoned to Brawders House asylum to collect the body of her sister, Alice. She’d been found dead after falling four stories from a steep-pitched roof. Officially: an accident. Confidentially: suicide. But Marion believes a third option: murder.Returning to her family home to stay with her brother and his second wife, the recently widowed Marion is expected to quiet her feelings of guilt and grief—to let go of the dead and embrace the living. But that’s not easy in this house full of haunting memories.Just when the search for the truth seems hopeless, a stranger approaches Marion with chilling words: I saw her fall.Now Marion is more determined than ever to find out what happened that night at Brawders, and why. With no one she can trust, Marion may risk her own life to uncover the secrets buried with Alice in the family plot.