Book picks similar to
The Deed by Gerold Frank


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The Kind One


Tom Epperson - 2008
    According to the fellas, he used to pull all kinds of shoot-ups and shenanigans...but damned if he can't remember a thing from before last year, when he got hit over the head with a lead pipe. Sadistic mobster Bud Seitz — known to friends and enemies alike as "The Kind One" — seems to have big plans for him, but truthfully, Danny can't stomach the dirty work. His aim is off, the other wiseguys laugh at him, and he'd gladly trade in the drunken parties and the endless broads for a day at the movies with his colorful and mysterious neighbor Dulwich and eleven-year-old Sophie, whose deadbeat mother delivers an endless stream of emotional and physical abuse. But when Bud's beautiful girlfriend Darla begs Danny to help her escape the Kind One's dark, brutal world, Danny must confront a dangerous test of loyalty that could irrevocably change his future — and his past — forever.

Aleister Arcane


Steve Niles - 2004
    But Aleister has left a little gift behind -- will Jackson ever be the same?

Collected Plays: Volume 1: A Dance of the Forests; The Swamp Dwellers; The Strong Breed; The Road; The Bacchae of Euripides: 001 (Includes a Dance of ... Breed/the Road/the Bacchae of Euripides)


Wole Soyinka - 1973
    This two-volume collection of his plays includes A Dance of the Forests, The Swamp Dwellers, The StrongBreed, The Road, and The Bacchae of Euripides in the first volume, and The Lion and the Jewel, Kongi's Harvest, The Trials of Brother Jero, Jero's Metamorphosis, and Madmen and Specialists in the second volume.

Mrs. Ted Bliss


Stanley Elkin - 1995
    Ted Bliss tells the story of an eighty-two-year-old widow starting life anew after the death of her husband. As Dorothy Bliss learns to cope with the mundane rituals of life in a Florida retirement community, she inadvertently becomes involved with a drug kingpin trying to use her as a front for his operations. Combining a comic plot with a deep concern for character, Elkin ends his career with a vivid portrait of a woman overcoming loss, a woman who is both recognizable and as unique as Elkin's other famous characters.

The Telling of Lies


Timothy Findley - 1986
    The body of wealthy Calder Maddox is found on the beach, the stately Aurora Sands Hotel supplies the suspects, and amateur sleuth and photographer Nessa Van Horne investigates a grisly murder and man's inhumanity to man.

Elliot, a Soldier's Fugue


Quiara Alegría Hudes - 2008
    DramaFull LengthCast: 3 men, 1 woman: 4 totalSetting: EXTERIORTHE STORY: Tracing the legacy of war through three generations of a Puerto Rican family, the play focuses on nineteen-year-old Elliot, a recently anointed hometown hero who returns from Iraq with a leg injury and a difficult question: Will he go back to war a second time? While on leave, Elliot learns the stories of his father and grandfather who served in Korea and Vietnam before him.

Death Sentence


Jerry Bledsoe - 1998
    When she “accidentally” shot her husband, popular high school coach, Russ, the police were inclined to believe her—until they learned that ten years earlier, her first husband had died in a strangely similar way. Sgt. Rick Buchanan’s relentless investigation into Stager’s life revealed a stunning vortex of compulsive lying, obsessive spending, and sexual promiscuity. With every new discovery, more of Barbara’s impeccable image unraveled. But the greatest shock—a damning piece of evidence Russ Stager left behind—revealed the nightmare truth about Barbara. With “the fine-toothed-comb reporting of [an] ace crime journalist,” this book takes us deep into a spellbinding case of double life, lethal lust, and almost perfect murder (Kirkus Reviews).“A shocking and well-written portrait of a dangerous woman.” —The New York Times“Mesmerizing.” —Ann Rule, New York Times–bestselling author of The Stranger Beside Me “This account of manipulation, compulsive spending, lying, promiscuity, and murder is made even more chilling by the fact that appearances are often deceiving.” —Library Journal“A profile of evil . . . Fascinating.” —The Baltimore Sun“Jerry Bledsoe is the master of true crime, the conclusion to what Truman Capote began. . . . Another stunning success.” —Patricia Cornwell, New York Times–bestselling author of Chaos

Exceptional Clearance


William J. Caunitz - 1991
    By the author of One Police Plaza. Reprint. K.

The Devil's Pearl


Jennifer Haymore - 2013
    And desire her he did—especially after she disappeared, leaving him alone and longing for her touch. Now, Devlin will do anything to get her back. Even kidnap her…Julia Beaumont will never forget the man who unlocked her deepest desires and made her crave things no decent woman should. Fearing she would never be more than his mistress, she left, vowing never to see him again—until one reckless night, when a stranger in black appears from the shadows and sweeps her away to his bedroom chamber. Now, she will be his courtesan, his captive, his slave. Can she free herself from Devlin’s thrall, or will their passion be her ultimate undoing?

The Weirdo


Theodore Taylor - 1991
    A hunting ban on the Powhatan is about to expire. The environmentalists want to protect the wildlife; the hunters are oiling their guns. Then someone completely unexpected comes forward to spearhead the conservation effort--the weirdo. Includes a reader's guide.

Death at Charity's Point


William G. Tapply - 1984
    He is fond of Mrs. Gresham—unflappable, uncouth, and never tardy with a check—and he has seen her through her husband’s suicide and her first son’s death in Vietnam. But he has never seen her crack until the day her second son, George, leaps into the sea at jagged Charity’s Point.The authorities call it a suicide, but Mrs. Gresham cannot believe her son, like his father, would take his own life. As Brady digs into the apparently blemish-free past of this upper-class prep school history teacher, he finds dark secrets. George Gresham may not have been suicidal, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t in trouble.

Cursed


Jeremy C. Shipp - 2009
    The harder you struggle, the more you suffer. Your words mean nothing, your actions backfire, and one by one everybody you know is sucked down with you. You are: 1) Nick 2) cursed 3) afraid all the time That's because: a) someone or b) something is after you with a vengeance. Even with the help of other cursed people, you don't stand a chance because you're all, you know, cursed. That means you and everyone you know will: 1) suffer 2) die 3) amuse your tormentor That is, unless you figure out how to manipulate the person behind this and turn their power against them. Check your list a second time because they're probably on it. The only thing left to do is scratch them off.

American Morons


Glen Hirshberg - 2006
    A woman chases the ghost of her neglectful father to a vanished amusement park at the end of the Long Beach pier. Two recently retired teachers learn just how much Los Angeles has taken from them.In these atmospheric, wide-ranging, surprisingly playful, and deeply mournful stories, grandkids and widows, ice cream-truck drivers and judges, travelers and invalids all discover -- and sometimes even survive -- the everyday losses from which the most vengeful ghosts so often spring.

The Caveman's Valentine


George Dawes Green - 1994
    He once was a devoted husband, father, and musician with a bright future. He now forages for food in the trash cans of the city's better neighborhoods and wages a strenuous one-man war against Cornelius Gould Stuyvesant, an evil -- and imaginary -- power broker who is responsible for society's ills, as well as the sinister Y- and Z-rays that are corrupting humankind. Then one wintry night, Rom finds a corpse at the mouth of his cave that rouses his well-defined sense of ethics and launches him on an obsessive quest for answers. Forced to reconnect with society, Rom leaves his world and journeys through a spiraling web of clues and hunches, straight into a sinister den of money, temptation, and murder--otherwise known as the "civilized" world.

Crossfire


Jodie Bailey - 2014
    Josh may have saved her from one attack, but drug smugglers are desperate to get information about one of Andrea's patients—a patient who's disappeared without a trace. Despite the danger, the beautiful counselor refuses to hand over confidential files. Now Josh and Andrea have no choice but to battle on for their lives—and their love—or they'll be the latest casualty to get caught in the crossfire.