Unfortunately, depravity and violence are not unique to large cities. His new home, the quaint little village of Eastdale, seems to have more than its fair share of malefactors.In this collection of Inspector Banks's first three cases in Yorkshire, CWA Dagger in the Library and Edgar Award-winning author Peter Robinson introduces a detective as brilliant as he is complex. These intricately plotted, gritty novels of suspense lay the foundation for a remarkably acclaimed detective series.'The Banks novels are the best series on the market. Try one and tell me I'm wrong.' STEPHEN KING

      Detective Inspector Luke Thanet may be a family man with a soft heart and bad back, but he also has a bloodhound’s nose for murder. With Sgt. Mike Lineham at his side, no mystery is too tough.  The Night She Died: Beautiful Julie Holmes lies dead in her front hall with a kitchen knife through her heart. The perpetrator could have been a burglar, a jealous husband, or a spurned lover, but the real answer may lie in a death that happened twenty years ago.  Six Feet Under: Middle-aged cleaning woman Carrie Birch doesn’t strike Thanet as a likely candidate for murder. But when he digs up the dirt on her, he discovers a surprisingly long list of suspects.  Puppet for a Corpse: Dr. Arnold Pettifer is dead from an apparent overdose, but Thanet isn’t so certain it’s suicide. After he discovers the doctor’s pregnant wife had a lover, he begins to suspect her—but then again, nothing about this case is what it seems.

    district attorney’s office finds a second home at Swanson’s Bar and Grille. Since his resignation from the D.A’s office, he’d done his best with small-time criminal cases. So, finding a place to drown his sorrows seemed appropriate. Lead dancer, Sally Sutton, kept the Mustang Club ahead of its competition. Fully packed until the lights went out, the Mustang Club was popular amongst business men and general party-animals. But ‘Mustang Sally’ hadn’t always lived her life in the limelight. Coming from a small Nebraska farm, her career aspirations had taken her along several small-time roles, before she was noticed. Sally was tight with some of the local police. Particularly Jim Rowinski, a SWAT team specialist who was gearing himself to becoming a homicide detective. Hot-headed and rash, he would do anything to get his way. When Joe Richards, a fifteen-year veteran is shot dead outside the Mustang Club, in Sally’s presence, Juan Javahn Thomas, notorious for his gang-banging lifestyle, is arrested. Homicide Lieutenant Tom Gallagher, Rowinski and Mary Delgado, the only female member of the arrest team, are present at the time of the arrest. To Solomon’s surprise, Judge Burton Lawler and D.A. Simon Lasker appoint him as the public defender in the case of Richards’s murder. Worse still, he was to go up against the prosecutor, Howard Ainsworth, the man who had taken his place as chief deputy, his arch-nemesis! In a bid to redeem himself, Solomon takes on the case. Ignoring all the insecurities that engulf him, he launches himself into the electrifying thrill of the courtroom. Working with his ally, Jimmy Johnson and going up against his former lover, Mary, Solomon’s task is taken up a notch. In the courtroom, as the trial unfolds, Solomon races against his opponent. Determination driving him, the details that unfold point to Sally knowing more than she originally let on. Bringing Sally back in under the heat of scrutiny, she breaks. It is all Solomon needs, yet the outcome is one no one was expecting…Prejudicial Error is a legal thriller filled with suspense that will keep you gripped until the very end. Bill Blum is an experienced attorney. Familiar with the ins and outs, and the pitfalls of criminal procedures, he presents a riveting, hard-hitting and authentic legal thriller, one that offers a fascinating insider’s look at the shifting political dynamics within the criminal justice system. Bill Blum has also written for a wide array of publications, including the Los Angeles Times, ABA Journal, The Nation and California Lawyer , hosted a radio talk show, and lectured widely. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and family.

    The airline CEO calls in a favor from a newly appointed Supreme Court clerk -- a former stripper he put through law school and took as a mistress. To what lengths will she go to secure the swing vote and keep her past a secret?

    So the New York Knicks summon DiMaggio, a former lawyer and onetime minor league baseball player who specializes in the world of sports--a world where drugs, sex, and violence get even more press than the games.

    Everyone loves Skylar Whitfield, Greendown's sexiest charmer. But when it looks like Skylar's the only one who could have killed Mary Lou Simes, the county beauty queen and his longtime sweetheart, Skylar's popularity is put to the test.

    Against the advice of his partners and the wishes of his wife, Wyatt takes on a seemingly unwinnable case: the defense of Marvin White, a young black man with a criminal record who has been accused of seven vicious rape-murders. With the city on the edge of panic, all odds are against White's beating the rap - especially when he is identified at the scene of the latest slaying. The trial will exact a price higher than even Wyatt knows. With the State's entire case resting on the airtight testimony of one key witness, he must assemble his own arsenal of unbeatable legal weapons. His most powerful ally is a black drug dealer who has his own shadowy reasons for offering to help clear White. As he plays for the highest stakes of all in a charged arena where class lines are drawn in blood, sex is used to distort the truth, and erupting racial tensions threaten to divide the city, Wyatt realizes that this is a case that goes beyond one man's innocence or guilt. Forced to question his own hidden motives as his faith and loyalty are put to the ultimate test, he struggles to discover exactly where true justice lies.

    The five novels that Hammett published between 1929 and 1934, collected here in one volume, have become part of modern American culture, creating archetypal characters and establishing the ground rules and characteristic tone for a whole tradition of hardboiled writing. Drawing on his own experiences as a Pinkerton detective, Hammett gave a harshly realistic edge to novels that were at the same time infused with a spirit of romantic adventure. Each novel is distinct in mood and structure. Red Harvest (1929) epitomizes the violence and momentum of his Black Mask stories about the anonymous detective the Continental Op, in a raucous and nightmarish evocation of political corruption and gang warfare in a western mining town. In The Dain Curse (1929) the Op returns in a more melodramatic tale involving jewel theft, drugs, and a religious cult. With The Maltese Falcon (1930) and its protagonist Sam Spade, Hammett achieved his most enduring popular success, a tightly constructed quest story shot through with a sense of disillusionment and the arbitrariness of personal destiny. The Glass Key (1931) is a further exploration of city politics at their most scurrilous. His last novel was The Thin Man (1934), a ruefully comic tale paying homage to the traditional mystery form and featuring Nick and Nora Charles, the sophisticated inebriates who would enjoy a long afterlife in the movies.

    She is his ultimate risk... After losing both her parents, Teresa Dowels' future seems uncertain. Forced to leave the house she grew up in, she finds employment as a governess at the Duke of Rowfex’s mysterious manor. Luke Morton, second son of the Duke of Rowfex, is trying to preserve a well-hidden family secret. But life as he knows it changes the day he saves his younger sibling’s ravishing governess from rape. However, it is only a matter of time before the attacker, a notorious criminal with an ulterior motive, strikes again... When Luke disappears, all pieces seem to connect. With Teresa discovering the ugly truth about his family, time is against her. And only a miracle can keep them both alive... *If you like a realistic yet steamy depiction of the Regency and Victorian era, then An Untamed Governess for the Rogue is the novel for you. This is Olivia's 5th novel, a historical Regency romance novel of 80,000 words (around 400 pages). No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a strong happily ever after. Pick up "An Untamed Governess for the Rogue" today to discover Olivia's amazing new story!

    In a staggering turn of events, Judge Murray finds himself trapped by his love for his new wife and his dedication to the law. His decision, no matter how it turns out, will change the course of his life with everything on the line: his honor, his reputation, his marriage, even his own skin. First as a man, then as a judge, he must confront what is at the heart of justice.

    

    She listens but never talks about herself. She’s friendly but doesn’t have many real friends. She’s become good at keeping people at a distance ever since she left home at eighteen and never looked back.But when Violet is forced to return home to care for her estranged mother Glenys, she quickly finds out that life as a carer isn’t easy. Feeling overwhelmed, she’s forced to turn to the other local carers, including childhood friend Adam, for help. Although returning home still feels like a mistake, maybe it will help Violet right some wrongs. After all, she can’t keep running from her past forever, and in learning to look after others, perhaps Violet can start to finally love herself.

    Set in the Pittsburgh borough of Avalon, these captivating, intelligent mysteries have sold nearly half a million copies worldwide.Set includes Never Kissed Goodnight and Never Tease a Siamese, plus the short story “Never Neck at Niagara.”

    Like a literary game of telephone, Natural Suspect begins with a chapter from Bernhardt. Then each writer contributes a chapter and passes it along to the next. The result is a completely inventive, brilliantly plotted novel of suspense with more twists than a schizophrenic's train of thought. Can you guess who wrote which chapter?NATURAL SUSPECTArthur Hightower made a name for himself and a vast fortune in the oil business. But when the volatile tycoon decides to disinherit his spoiled children and cheating wife, he makes the biggest mistake of his life-- and the last. After declaring his intentions, Hightower turns up on Thanksgiving Day . . . clubbed to death and stuffed in a meat locker, clutching a frozen asset–his wife’s precious pearl necklace. Now Julia Hightower stands charged with the cold-as-ice crime of murdering for millions. While the sensational trial has New York in a frenzy, a curious cast of characters face off in and out of the courtroom. Devin McGee, a small-time lawyer about to hit the big-time defending Julia Hightower-- if her intimate encounter with the prosecutor doesn’t catch up with her . . . Trent Ballard, the quirky assistant D.A., who owns a huge pet rabbit and thinks his tryst with Devin will help him get a conviction . . . Patrick Roswell, a wannabe reporter sitting on a scoop that could turn the trial upside-down, unless a scalpel-wielding clown decides to kill the story-- and Patrick . . . Sissy Hightower, Julia's sex-crazed, air-headed daughter-in-law, who has a suitcase full of secrets . . . Robert S. Rutledge, a powerful Wall Street warrior with a lot riding on the Hightower verdict-- and a lot to learn about messing with the wrong people . . . and Cordelia, the mystery woman that everyone seems to know. All are in for the trial of their lives–but who among them is the true natural suspect?All author royalties will be donated to The Nature Conservancy.From the Hardcover edition.

    Mr Drew's religious fervor holds a dark secret; Jim, the eldest son, is terrified of something from his past; Delia longs to escape from the island and tall, handsome Matthew wants only one thing - Rosa herself. Rosa's background is one of mystery, but Mr Drew knows the secret of Rosa's past - and so do the two mysterious Irishmen who come back to the island after many years to threaten everything Rosa holds dear...