Book picks similar to
If You Can't Stand the Heat by Lawrence Block


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The Sun Never Rises in the Big City


Jeremy C. Shipp - 2011
    A hard-boiled tale of gritty dystopian noir. "The Sun Never Rises in the Big City" received an honorable mention in Best Horror of the Year, Volume Three."The Sun Never Rises in the Big City" is a short story of 5100 words.Jeremy C. Shipp is the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of books such as CURSED, SHEEP AND WOLVES, VACATION, and FUNGUS OF THE HEART. ----------------------Praise for Jeremy C. Shipp:"This is intriguing, challenging, literate, provocative....I recommend it to those who find reality boring; it may make them see it in new ways."—Piers Anthony, the Xanth Series"Jeremy Shipp is a very good drug. I hope this book gets banned in high schools soon!"—John Skipp "This is an unforgettable work—a must read you’ll savor long after the final page."—Lisa Mannetti, Bram Stoker Award winner"A diverse, unpredictable, and intelligent read. Two thumbs up!”—Midwest Book Review

Jo Nesbø Collection 3 Books Set: The Redbreast, Nemesis, The Devil's Star


Jo Nesbø - 2010
    Then a former soldier is found with his throat cut. Next, Harry's former partner is murdered. Why had she been trying to reach Harry on the night she was killed?"""Nemesis: "A man is caught on CCTV, shooting dead a cashier at a bank. Harry begins his investigation but after a dinner with an old flame, wakes up with no memory of the last 12 hours. Then the girl is found dead and he begins to receive threatening emails: is someone is trying to frame him for her death?"""The Devil's Star: "When a young woman is murdered in her Oslo flat and a tiny red diamond in the shape of a five-pointed star is found behind her eyelid, Harry is assigned the case alongside his long-time adversary Tom Waaler. On notice to quit the force, Harry is forced to drag himself out of his alcoholic stupor when it becomes apparent that Oslo has a serial killer on its hands.

Number One: The Funeral Photographer


Colin Cotterill - 2017
    Fans of Jimm know her from the four novels where, with the help of the members of her strange family, she usually solves the crime. Move over Miss Marple, Jimm Juree does it for the 21st Century. In this story, Jimm, exiled from the north of Thailand and just about surviving in the south, finds a new career by accident. Being Jimm, a crime is never far away. We will be adding to this short story series every couple of months. Collect them all.

Drive


James Sallis - 2005
    Sallis combines murder, treachery and payback in a sinister plot with resonances of 1940s pulp fiction and film noir. Told through a cinematic narrative that weaves back and forth through time and place, the story explores Driver's near existential moral foundations, intercut with moments of bloody violence.

Blood & Tacos #1


Johnny Shaw - 2012
    Next to the Louis L’Amours, one could find the adventures of The Executioner, the Destroyer, the Death Merchant, and many more action heroes that were hell-bent on bringing America back from the brink. That time was the 1970s & ’80s. A bygone era filled with wide-eyed innocence and mustaches.Those stories are back! The new quarterly magazine Blood & Tacos is bringing back the action, the fun, and the adventure. Also, the mustaches.In each issue of Blood & Tacos, some of today’s hottest crime writers will choose an era and create a new pulp hero and deliver a brand-new adventure. Each issue will include 5-6 stories featuring action-packed mayhem written in the style of that bygone era. The stories might not always be politically correct, but whether satire or homage, they will deliver on every page. Fast and fun, action and adventure, Blood & Tacos.If the stories weren’t enough, Blood & Tacos will also feature fine pulpy art, reviews of some of the fine (and not so fine) novels from the same period, and maybe even a recipe or two.So enjoy this serving of Blood & Tacos. And remember, if it’s too cheesy, it’s a quesadilla.***Blood & Tacos is the brainchild of Johnny Shaw, screenwriter and author of the novel Dove Season: A Jimmy Veeder Fiasco. When he’s not writing or teaching, he is usually in an undisclosed warzone working as the demolitions expert in the mercenary group, The Bushmasters. He also enjoys badminton. His website can be found at Johnnyshaw.net. Or follow him on Twitter at @BloodandTacos.Blood & Tacos is published by Creative Guy Publishing, the company that brought you such fine books as Amityville House of Pancakes (Vols 1-3), Stays Crunchy in Milk, Installing Linux on a Dead Badger, Brine, and many others with odd titles but excellent stories.

Tangled Dreams


Jennifer Estep - 2011
    It’s told from the points of view of Jo-Jo Dev­er­aux and her sis­ter, Sophia Dev­er­aux. When a car­jacker fol­lows an injured Gin back to Jo-Jo’s beauty salon, Jo-Jo and Sophia join forced to elim­i­nate the threat.

No Doors No Windows


Harlan Ellison - 1975
    Some tales, such as "Toe the Line" and "Ormond Always Pays His Bills," are simple pulp crime yarns; others are masterful examples of psychological terror and, in the case of "Whipped Dogs," mystical fantasy. Excellent. Originally published in 1975.Contents:9 · Blood/Thoughts · in 41 · The Whimper of Whipped Dogs · ss Bad Moon Rising, ed. Thomas M. Disch, Harper & Row, 1973 61 · Eddie, You’re My Friend [as by Jay Solo] · ss The Saint Detective Magazine (UK) Mar ’65 67 · Status Quo at Troyden’s · ss The Saint Detective Magazine Nov ’58 81 · Nedra at f:5.6 [revised from “The Hungry One”] · ss Gent Feb ’57 91 · Opposites Attract [“Mad Bomber”] · ss Caper Nov ’57 103 · Toe the Line · ss The Saint Detective Magazine Jun ’57 113 · Down in the Dark [as by Ellis Hart] · ss Adam Bedside Reader #30 ’67 123 · Pride in the Profession · ss Adam Aug ’66 137 · The Children’s Hour [as by Wallace Edmondson] · ss Fantastic Universe Jul ’58 145 · White Trash Don’t Exist [“Murder Bait”] · ss Mantrap Oct ’56 159 · Thicker Than Blood · ss Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine Feb ’58 169 · Two Inches in Tomorrow’s Column [as by Ellis Hart] · ss Adam Bedside Reader #21 ’65 177 · Promises of Laughter · ss Adam Nov ’69 187 · Ormond Always Pays His Bills · ss Pursued Jul ’57 193 · The Man on the Juice Wagon [as by Cordwainer Bird] · ss Adam Bedside Reader #14 ’63 211 · Tired Old Man · ss Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine Jan ’76

The Bobby Gold Stories


Anthony Bourdain - 2002
    After nearly ten years in prison, he's no sooner out than he's back to work breaking bones for tough guys. His turf: the club scene and restaurant business. It's not that he enjoys the job-Bobby has real heart-but he's good at it, and a guy has to make a living. Things change when he meets Nikki, the cook at a club most definitely not in his territory. Smitten, he can't stay away. Bobby Gold has known trouble before, but with Nikki the sauté bitch in his life, things take a turn for life or death. A fast, furious, pitch-perfect story of food, sex, crime, and mayhem, The Bobby Gold Stories is Bourdain at his best.

Getting Off


Jill Emerson - 2011
    She goes to bed with him, and she likes that part. Then she kills him, and she likes that even better. On her way out, she cleans out his wallet. She keeps moving, and has a new name for each change of address. She's been doing this for a while, and she's good at it.And then a chance remark gets her thinking of the men who got away, the lucky ones who survived a night with her. She starts writing down names. And now she's a girl with a mission. Picking up their trails. Hunting them down. Crossing them off her list...

Theatre of Cruelty


Terry Pratchett - 1993
    Investigating the incident in his typically direct manner, Carrot Ironfoundersson discovers the truth...

Keller's Adjustment; Forever


Ed McBain - 2006
    In the Aftermath of 9/11, Keller is questioning his life and the choices he's made, dealing out philosophy and murder on a meandering road trip from one end of the America to the other."Forever" by Jeffery Deaver: Talbot Simms is an unusual cop. He's a statistician with the Westbrook County Sheriff's Department. When wealthy county resident's begin killing themselves one after another, Simms begins to believe that there is something more at play. And what he discovers will change his life . . . forever.

Legion


Brandon Sanderson - 2012
    As the story begins, Leeds and his 'aspects' are drawn into the search for the missing Balubal Razon, inventor of a camera whose astonishing properties could alter our understanding of human history and change the very structure of society"--From publisher's description

Fox Five


Zoë Sharp - 2011
    All feature her ex-Special Forces soldier turned self-defence expert and bodyguard, Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Fox.In A Bridge Too Far, we meet Charlie before she’s become a professional in the world of close protection. When she agrees to hang out with the local Dangerous Sports Club, she has no idea it will soon live up to its name.Postcards From Another Country has Charlie guarding the ultra-rich Dempsey family against attempted assassination – no matter where the danger lies.A finalist for the CWA Short Story Dagger, Served Cold puts another tough woman centre stage – the mysterious Layla, with betrayal in her past and murder in her heart.Off Duty finds Charlie taking time away from close protection after injury. She still finds trouble, even in an out-of-season health spa in the Catskill Mountains.And finally, Truth And Lies puts all Charlie’s skills and ingenuity to the test as she has to single-handedly extract a news team from a rapidly escalating war zone.Also included: Excerpt from KILLER INSTINCT: Charlie Fox book one, Meet Charlie Fox, Meet Zoë Sharp, info on the other books in the Charlie Fox series.

Manhattan In Reverse


Peter F. Hamilton - 2011
    Peter Hamilton takes us on a journey from a murder mystery in an alternative Oxford in the 1800s to a story featuring Paula Myo, Deputy Director of the Intersolar Commonwealth's Serious Crimes Directorate.

Honey in His Mouth


Lester Dent - 2009
    Original.