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The Storm Without (Doug Michie, #1)
by Tony Black<p> <em>"This is an elegiac noir for the memory of a place, delivered in a prose as bleakly beautiful as the setting."</em> <strong><em>--The Guardian</em></strong></p> <p> Still recovering from the harrowing case that ended his police career, Doug Michie returns to his boyhood home of Ayr on Scotland’s wind-scarred west coast. He hopes to rebuild his shattered life, get over the recent failure of his marriage and shed his demons, but the years have changed the birthplace of the poet Robert Burns.</p> <p> When Doug meets an old school-days flame, Lyn, he feels his past may offer the salvation of a future. But Lyn’s son has been accused of murder and she begs Doug to find the truth.</p> <p> Soon Doug is tangled in a complicated crimeweb of corrupt politicians, frightened journalists and a police force in cahoots with criminals. As he uncovers illicit smuggling activities at the town’s port and falls firmly on the wrong side of eastern European ganglords, the problems he left behind in Ulster are now the least of his worries. Only Burns’ philosophical musings offer Doug some shelter as he wanders the streets of Auld Ayr battling The Storm Without.</p> <p> <em>The Storm Without </em>is a 45,000-word novella, first serialised in the Ayrshire Post.</p> <p> "This is the Great Scottish Novel, got it all and just a wee shade more ... Classic."<br /> —Ken Bruen, author of <em>Headstone</em></p> <p> "highly entertaining, fast paced and tightly, almost sparingly, written"<br /> —Undiscovered Scotland</p> <p> "a thrilling piece of crime writing"<br /> —Scottish Field</p> <p> "cracking stuff"<br /> —You Would Say That, Wouldn't You?</p> <p> Praise for Tony Black</p> <p> "Black's dialogue and atmosphere crackle with authenticity."<br /> —The Times</p> <p> "If you're a fan of Rankin, Mina or Welsh this is most certainly one for you."<br /> —The Scotsman</p> <p> “Tony Black’s first novel hits the ground running, combining a sympathetic ear for the surreal dialogue of the dispossessed with a portrait of a city painted in the blackest humour.”<br /> —The Guardian</p> <p> “The enigmatic Dury continues to be the punk rocker of the Scottish crime scene – anarchic, rebellious and never afraid to shove his Doc Martens where they’re not wanted.”<br /> —Daily Record</p> <p> “Tony Black is my favourite British crime writer and Gus Dury the genre’s most interesting protagonist. Like his previous books, <em>Loss</em> has the power, style and street swagger that makes most of his contemporaries a little bland by comparison.”<br /> —Irvine Welsh</p> <p> <strong>About the author:</strong></p> <p> Tony Black is Irvine Welsh’s favourite British crime writer. The author of six critically acclaimed crime novels, his works include the Gus Dury PI series: <em>Paying For It</em>, <em>Gutted, Loss</em> and <em>Long Time Dead</em>. His police inspector series, featuring DI Rob Brennan, includes the titles <em>Truth Lies Bleeding</em> and <em>Murder Mile</em>. A heist novella, <em>R.I.P Robbie Silva</em> is also available from Blasted Heath.</p> <p> Before turning to the novel, Black was an award-winning national newspaper journalist covering subjects as diverse as crime and nightclub reviews.</p> <p> </p>
Stormy Weather: A Charlotte Justice Novel (Charlotte Justice Novels)
by Paula L. WoodsFollowing the much-acclaimed Inner City Blues, a journey through Los Angeles's mix of politics and police corruption, secrets and lies. Los Angeles is in the midst of rebuilding in the aftermath of the Rodney King riots when Detective Charlotte Justice of the LAPD's elite Robbery-Homicide division takes on a high-profile case. The victim is pioneering black film director Maynard Duncan, a show business contemporary of her father. Charlotte, fueled by a desire to see the job done right and out of respect for a great man's memory, plunges badge-deep into the murky relationships between the director, his family, caregivers, business associates, and an elusive young man who seems to hold the key to unlocking the crime. Even when storm clouds gather, Detective Justice won't give upputting her career, her personal relationships, even her own life on the line.
Strange Bird
by Anna Jansson Paul Norlen"Cold shivers run down my spine after reading just a few pages ..."-Göteborgs TidningenRuben Nilsson stepped outside into the dusk of a summer's evening, knocked his pipe against the veranda railing and looked around the garden. Had he known how short was the time he would be allowed to live, he might have been less leisurely.As the bird flu pandemic reaches Gotland Island, panic spreads among the inhabitants who are frantic for an elusive cure. In the desperation that rises, the hunt for scapegoats begins, and extremist and anti-immigrant groups gain ground. Meanwhile, nurse Sandra Hägg makes a gruesome discovery at the health clinic where she works-a discovery that will cost her life. Soon Detective Inspector Maria Wern is assigned to solve the murder. Strange Bird, the first novel in the Maria Wern series in English, showcases Jansson's mastery of both hair-raising crimes and the inner lives of her beloved characters.
The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton (The Laurence Bartram Mysteries #2)
by Elizabeth Speller&“Combines a Ruth Rendell–like psychological realism, an Agatha Christie–like plot and a Dickensian feel for life&’s roulette . . . Pulse-pounding&” (The Wall Street Journal). When Great War veteran Laurence Bartram arrives in Easton Deadall, he is struck by the beauty of the crumbling manor, the venerable church, and the memorial to the village&’s soldiers. But despite this idyllic setting, Easton Deadall remains haunted by tragedy. In 1911, five-year-old Kitty Easton disappeared from her bed and has not been seen since. While Laurence is visiting, a young maid vanishes in a sinister echo of Kitty&’s disappearance. And when a body is discovered in the manor&’s ancient church, Laurence is drawn into the grounds&’ forgotten places, where deadly secrets lie in wait. &“Speller&’s follow-up to her acclaimed debut, The Return of Captain John Emmett, is a well-crafted mystery with intriguing historical details and measured pacing that creates suspense. Fans of Jacqueline Winspear&’s Maisie Dobbs series and readers who enjoy well-drawn characters in historicals will add this to their wish list.&” —Library Journal &“Leisurely and absorbing . . . a series to be savoured.&” —The Guardian
Strange Fire: A Novel
by Melvin Jules Bukiet"Savagely funny....Never was Jewish wit put to better or more urgent use."--Chicago Tribune, a Favorite Book of 2001 Blind, homosexual, Russian émigré speechwriter Nathan Kazakov has enough problems even before his left ear is obliterated by a bullet presumably meant for the Israeli prime minister. Determined to solve the mystery, Nathan begins exploring a web of conspiracies involving messianic orthodox settlers, Arab terrorists, and the Israeli secret service. Was the bullet intended for Nathan after all? or perhaps for the prime minister's son Gabriel, an archaeologist who shuns his father's politics? One trail leads to Leviticus, another beneath the Temple Mount. Strange Fire is "a stunning literary achievement" (Miami Herald) fueled by Bukiet's singular imagination. A Washington Post Book World 2001 Rave, a Chicago Tribune Favorite Book of the Year, and a Booklist Editors' Choice. "Corrupt, violent, zigzagging atmosphere...a raucous vituperative attack on every kind of political hypocrisy."--Los Angeles Times Book Review
Strange Flesh: A Novel
by Michael OlsonIn this debut thriller for fans of Neal Stephenson and the Millennium Trilogy, a troubled hacker finds himself at the center of a high-stakes revolution in virtual reality.James Pryce, a hacker at Red Rook Security in Manhattan, has just received his most personal assignment yet. Blythe Randall, the woman who broke his heart in college, has hired him to locate her missing brother, Billy, whose increasingly violent stunts threaten to bring down their family's billion-dollar media empire. To do so, James must infiltrate Billy's last known whereabouts: GAME, a programming collective where a group of designers are at work on a top-secret invention that promises a revolutionary advance in sexual technology. James has to find Billy before his final plan is set in motion, but when the GAMErs invite him to their inner circle, his investigation takes a tantalizing--and much more dangerous--turn.
Strange Flesh
by Michael OlsonTHIS IS A STORY ABOUT SEX AND GAMES. "The only clue we have to our brother's whereabouts is this place that doesn't really exist." Ten years ago, Blythe Randall broke James Pryce's heart. Now she needs his help. Her enigmatic appeal lures the elite hacker into his most tantalizing, and most personal, assignment yet. A Harvard dropout employed by Manhattan-based RedRook Security, James makes a living finding people who don't want to be found, pursuing their digital tracks around the globe, flushing out criminals, and exacting creative high-tech revenge on behalf of his clients. But this time he's following his target--billionaire multimedia artist Billy Randall--into an exotic and treacherous world: a virtual one. Capping off an erratic, increasingly violent series of stunts meant to plague his family's media empire, black sheep Billy sends a video of his own suicide to his older siblings, aristocratic twins Blythe and Blake. In it, Billy "jacks out," reanimating onscreen as an avatar in a decadent online world called NOD. The performance is pure Billy--he has always been obsessed with "the Bleed": the moment when real and virtual selves intersect, where actions in one life breed consequences in another. Blythe uses her influence to install James at GAME, a downtown media collective and one of Billy's recent haunts. Posing as a documentarian, James gains access to a small band of artists and programmers--contemporaries, and in some cases enemies, of Billy Randall--whose top secret project represents the holy grail of virtual reality. Meanwhile, James learns that as part of his most recent scheme, Billy himself has designed a lavish alternate reality game, an escalating, high-stakes virtual landscape of strange flesh. In order to find him, James must play along.
Stranger In The Room: A chilling murder mystery to set your pulse racing (Keye Street #2)
by Amanda Kyle WilliamsIn Creeklaw County the bodies are piling up...Stranger in the Room sees the return of the brilliant Keye Street as another deeply disturbing case puts her detective skills to the ultimate test. Amanda Kyle Williams' gripping Keye Street crime series will enthral fans of Lee Child and Karin Slaughter. 'Readers of this fast-paced thriller will be eager for the next Street tale' - Publishers WeeklyKeye Street, ex-FBI profiler and private detective, always looks out for those closest to her. But sometimes looking after herself is quite enough to handle. She's teetering on the brink, not quite sure if she's winning or losing in her battle with herself. But when her cousin, Miki Ashton, sees a stranger inside her house, it's time for Keye to lend a hand.Meanwhile, Keye's mentor, Lieutenant Aaron Rauser, is embroiled in a disturbing case. When a dog returns alone from its walk, the hunt is on for the missing boy. As the mystery deepens and the bodies pile up, Rauser needs Keye's expert profiling skills to unravel the killer's bizarre signature - tears. Battling her demons takes up a lot of Keye's time. But on top of that she's battling the bad guys. If she can ignore the voice from her past, that is...What readers are saying about Stranger In The Room:'Keye is feisty, funny and very believable. The location is also very vividly described - we can almost feel the steamy heat of Atlanta. The novel is quirky with a lot of humour, some of it quite dark. Undoubtedly an exciting read' 'Thrill a minute action and a rollercoaster of a ride to the end''Streets ahead of other thrillers. Contains plenty of humour amongst the gore and the police procedural elements - this book is well worth a read'
Stranger In The Room: A chilling murder mystery to set your pulse racing (Keye Street Ser. #Bk. 2)
by Amanda Kyle WilliamsIn Creeklaw County the bodies are piling up...Stranger in the Room sees the return of the brilliant Keye Street as another deeply disturbing case puts her detective skills to the ultimate test. Amanda Kyle Williams' gripping Keye Street crime series will enthral fans of Lee Child and Karin Slaughter. 'Readers of this fast-paced thriller will be eager for the next Street tale' - Publishers WeeklyKeye Street, ex-FBI profiler and private detective, always looks out for those closest to her. But sometimes looking after herself is quite enough to handle. She's teetering on the brink, not quite sure if she's winning or losing in her battle with herself. But when her cousin, Miki Ashton, sees a stranger inside her house, it's time for Keye to lend a hand.Meanwhile, Keye's mentor, Lieutenant Aaron Rauser, is embroiled in a disturbing case. When a dog returns alone from its walk, the hunt is on for the missing boy. As the mystery deepens and the bodies pile up, Rauser needs Keye's expert profiling skills to unravel the killer's bizarre signature - tears. Battling her demons takes up a lot of Keye's time. But on top of that she's battling the bad guys. If she can ignore the voice from her past, that is...What readers are saying about Stranger In The Room:'Keye is feisty, funnyand very believable. The location is also very vividly described - we can almost feel the steamy heat of Atlanta. The novel is quirky with a lot of humour, some of it quite dark. Undoubtedly an exciting read' 'Thrill a minute action and a rollercoaster of a ride to the end''Streets ahead of other thrillers. Contains plenty of humouramongst the gore and the police procedural elements - this book is well worth a read'
Stranger In The Room: A chilling murder mystery to set your pulse racing (Keye Street #2)
by Amanda Kyle WilliamsKeye Street, ex-FBI profiler and private detective, always looks out for those closest to her. But sometimes looking after herself is quite enough to handle. She's teetering on the brink, not quite sure if she's winning or losing in her battle with herself. But when her cousin, Miki Ashton, sees a stranger inside her house, it's time for Keye to lend a hand.Meanwhile, Keye's mentor, Lieutenant Aaron Rauser, is embroiled in a disturbing case. When a dog returns alone from its walk, the hunt is on for the missing boy. As the mystery deepens and the bodies pile up, Rauser needs Keye's expert profiling skills to unravel the killer's bizarre signature - tears. Battling her demons takes up a lot of Keye's time. But on top of that she's battling the bad guys. If she can ignore the voice from her past, that is...(P)2012 Headline Digital
Stranger in the Room
by Amanda Kyle WilliamsFresh from her debut, The Stranger You Seek--which Publishers Weekly called "an explosive, unpredictable, and psychologically complex thriller that turns crime fiction clichés inside out"--Amanda Kyle Williams delivers a second thrilling Keye Street novel, perfect for fans of Karin Slaughter and Patricia Cornwell. That bullet was meant for you. Summer is smoldering through Atlanta on Fourth of July weekend, as fireworks crack through the air and steam rises from the pavement on Peachtree. Private investigator and ex-FBI profiler Keye Street wants nothing more than a couple of quiet days alone with her boyfriend, Aaron--but, as usual, murder gets in the way. I will find her. A.P.D. Lieutenant Aaron Rauser is called to the disturbing scene of the strangling death of a thirteen-year-old boy. Meanwhile, Keye must deal with not one but two of her own investigations: In the hills of Creeklaw County, there's a curious case involving chicken feed and a crematorium, and in Atlanta, Keye's emotionally fragile cousin Miki is convinced she is being stalked. Given Miki's history of drug abuse and mental problems, Keye is reluctant to accept her cousin's tale of a threatening man inside her house late one night. But as a recovering alcoholic herself, Keye can't exactly begrudge a woman her addictions--especially since Miki drives Keye to near-relapses at every turn. And yet, Miki is family, and Keye must help her--even if it means tempting her own demons. I always find her. All hell breaks loose when another murder--the apparent hanging of an elderly man--hits disturbingly close to home for Keye. And though the two victims have almost nothing in common, there are bizarre similarities between this case and that of Aaron's strangled teen. Is there a single faceless predator, a calculating murderer targeting his prey at random? Only a skilled profiler like Keye Street can help the A.P.D. find him. With the threat of more deaths to come, Keye works on pure instinct alone--and soon realizes that a killer is circling ever closer to the people she loves the most. Praise for Amanda Kyle Williams's The Stranger You Seek "An exceptionally smart and harrowing character-driven debut by a welcome new thriller writer."--New York Times bestselling author Karin Slaughter "A creepy, suspenseful, breathtaking ride . . . [Keye] Street is a unique and worthy addition to the rich tradition of damaged and tough private detectives."--Associated Press "[Williams] keeps the suspense taut and the humor snarky, with an ending that will have you slapping your foreheard over clues you missed."--The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "With its shocking triple-twist climax, this is the best private eye debut since Dennis Lehane's A Drink Before the War."--The Plain Dealer "An explosive, unpredictable, and psychologically complex thriller."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "A dark, gritty thriller, The Stranger You Seek is a sensational debut. Readers will relish this story's many captivating, powerful, and compelling layers."--New York Times bestselling author Julia Spencer-FlemingFrom the Hardcover edition.
Strangers on the Beach
by Josh PahigianBillionaire Ferdinand Sevigny is brave, bold, and brash. But his latest stunt--to sail blindfolded, single-handed, across the Atlantic--goes horribly awry, depositing him onto the summer tourist town of Old Orchard Beach, Maine. His sudden arrival triggers a series of sinister events that even he cannot forestall: a naked woman washes up on a beach; a confused teen-aged boy stumbles upon a crime; a naive policeman struggles with a deadly conflict of interest. Now, Sevigny, and all those whose lives he touches, must make decisions that will define them forever.
Strangeways to Oldham
by Andrea FrazerFrom the author of the Falconer Files, a series featuring a pair of amateur sleuths and a delightful outpouring of English upper-class eccentricities - with the odd murder thrown in. Lady Amanda Golightly of Belchester Towers is a person in complete contrast to the stereotypical image of one of her breeding. She is short, portly, and embarrassingly forthright. If she wasn't calling a spade a shovel, it was only because she was calling it 'trumps'! On a visit to a local nursing home where an old business partner of her father's is residing, she unexpectedly discovers a long-lost friend, Hugo Cholmondley-Crichton-Crump - and stumbles upon murder as well. Installing Hugo in the more civilised and comfortable surroundings of Belchester Towers, the pair turn to sleuthing after Lady Amanda reports her appalling discovery to the local police inspector and is incensed when he treats her as a silly old biddy with an over-active imagination. Her outrage prompts her to teach the impertinent young whipper-snapper a lesson, and she and Hugo (Zimmer frame in tow) embark upon their first investigation, only for murder to become a distressingly frequent occurrence ...
Strangeways to Oldham: Belchester Chronicle (The Belchester Chronicles #1)
by Andrea FrazerFrom the author of the Falconer Files, a series featuring a pair of amateur sleuths and a delightful outpouring of English upper-class eccentricities – with the odd murder thrown in. Lady Amanda Golightly of Belchester Towers is a person in complete contrast to the stereotypical image of one of her breeding. She is short, portly, and embarrassingly forthright. If she wasn’t calling a spade a shovel, it was only because she was calling it 'trumps'!On a visit to a local nursing home where an old business partner of her father's is residing, she unexpectedly discovers a long-lost friend, Hugo Cholmondley-Crichton-Crump – and stumbles upon murder as well.Installing Hugo in the more civilised and comfortable surroundings of Belchester Towers, the pair turn to sleuthing after Lady Amanda reports her appalling discovery to the local police inspector and is incensed when he treats her as a silly old biddy with an over-active imagination. Her outrage prompts her to teach the impertinent young whipper-snapper a lesson, and she and Hugo (Zimmer frame in tow) embark upon their first investigation, only for murder to become a distressingly frequent occurrence …
Strangeways to Oldham: Belchester Chronicle (The\belchester Chronicles Ser. #1)
by Andrea FrazerFrom the author of the Falconer Files, a series featuring a pair of amateur sleuths and a delightful outpouring of English upper-class eccentricities – with the odd murder thrown in. Lady Amanda Golightly of Belchester Towers is a person in complete contrast to the stereotypical image of one of her breeding. She is short, portly, and embarrassingly forthright. If she wasn’t calling a spade a shovel, it was only because she was calling it 'trumps'!On a visit to a local nursing home where an old business partner of her father's is residing, she unexpectedly discovers a long-lost friend, Hugo Cholmondley-Crichton-Crump – and stumbles upon murder as well.Installing Hugo in the more civilised and comfortable surroundings of Belchester Towers, the pair turn to sleuthing after Lady Amanda reports her appalling discovery to the local police inspector and is incensed when he treats her as a silly old biddy with an over-active imagination. Her outrage prompts her to teach the impertinent young whipper-snapper a lesson, and she and Hugo (Zimmer frame in tow) embark upon their first investigation, only for murder to become a distressingly frequent occurrence …
The Straw Men: Being the Twelfth of the Sorrowful Mysteries of Brother Athelstan
by Paul DohertyJanuary, 1381. Guests of the Regent, John of Gaunt, Brother Athelstan and Sir John Cranston have been attending a mystery play performed by the Straw Men, Gaunt's personal acting troupe, when the evening's entertainment is rudely interrupted by the sudden, violent deaths of two of Gaunt's VIP guests, their severed heads left on stage. The Regent orders Athelstan to find out who committed such a heinous act, leading Athelstan to tackle his most baffling case yet.
Stray Bullets (Detective Ari Greene Ser. #5)
by Robert RotenbergStray Bullets is Robert Rotenberg's third intricate mystery set on the streets and in the courtrooms of Toronto.In The Guilty Plea and Old City Hall, critically acclaimed author Robert Rotenberg created gripping page-turners that captured audiences in Canada and around the world. Rotenberg's bestsellers do for Toronto what Ian Rankin has done for Edinburgh and Michael Connelly for Los Angeles. In Stray Bullets, Rotenberg takes the reader to a snowy November evening. Outside a busy downtown doughnut shop, gunshots ring out and a young boy is critically hurt. Soon Detective Ari Greene is on scene. How many shots were fired? How many guns? How many witnesses? With grieving parents and a city hungry for justice, the pressure is on to convict the man accused of this horrible crime. Against this tidal wave of indignation, defense counsel Nancy Parish finds herself defending her oldest and most difficult client. But does anyone know the whole story?
Stray Bullets (Old City Hall #3)
by Robert RotenbergIn The Guilty Plea and Old City Hall, critically acclaimed author Robert Rotenberg created gripping page-turners that captured audiences in Canada and around the world. Rotenberg's bestsellers do for Toronto what Ian Rankin has done for Edinburgh and Michael Connelly for Los Angeles. In Stray Bullets, Rotenberg takes the reader to a snowy November evening. Outside a busy downtown doughnut shop, gunshots ring out and a young boy is critically hurt. Soon Detective Ari Greene is on scene. How many shots were fired? How many guns? How many witnesses? With grieving parents and a city hungry for justice, the pressure is on to convict the man accused of this horrible crime. Against this tidal wave of indignation, defense counsel Nancy Parish finds herself defending her oldest and most difficult client. But does anyone know the whole story? Stray Bullets is Robert Rotenberg's third intricate mystery set on the streets and in the courtrooms of Toronto.
Stray Bullets (Detective Ari Greene Ser. #5)
by Robert RotenbergStray Bullets is Robert Rotenberg's third intricate mystery set on the streets and in the courtrooms of Toronto.In The Guilty Plea and Old City Hall, critically acclaimed author Robert Rotenberg created gripping page-turners that captured audiences in Canada and around the world. Rotenberg's bestsellers do for Toronto what Ian Rankin has done for Edinburgh and Michael Connelly for Los Angeles. In Stray Bullets, Rotenberg takes the reader to a snowy November evening. Outside a busy downtown doughnut shop, gunshots ring out and a young boy is critically hurt. Soon Detective Ari Greene is on scene. How many shots were fired? How many guns? How many witnesses? With grieving parents and a city hungry for justice, the pressure is on to convict the man accused of this horrible crime. Against this tidal wave of indignation, defense counsel Nancy Parish finds herself defending her oldest and most difficult client. But does anyone know the whole story?
Street of No Return: A Library of America eBook Classic (Vintage Crime Ser.)
by David GoodisFor the first time, the best work of a distinctive master of American noir is available in authoritative e-book editions from The Library of America. In Street of No Return (1954), David Goodis presents a skid row odyssey in which a famous crooner scarred by violence descends into dereliction. From its opening in the freezing wind of a November street corner through its explosive ending, it is imbued with Goodis's deep identification with "the unchartered society of the homeless and the hopeless." Other David Goodis novels available as Library of America E-Book Classics include: Nightfall, Dark Passage, The Moon in the Gutter, and The Burglar.
Strict and Peculiar: The Falconer Files - File 7 (The Falconer Files #7)
by Andrea FrazerIn the village of Steynham St Michael, the old Strict and Particular Chapel is, at last, undergoing renovation, to the delight of the local inhabitants, who believe it will prove useful as a tourist attraction for the village. The renovations, however, have been dogged by the sightings of mysterious hooded figures, and tributes of flowers, left here and there on the site. The newly painted interior is then found defaced by a mysterious message in red paint, and this last prompts a call to the police. DI Falconer and DS Carmichael of the Market Darley CID make an initial visit, and believe that the unexplained events at the Chapel may be the work of a small cult, believed to originate from the college in Market Darley. When a new DC, on secondment, arrives, Falconer immediately sends him undercover as a student, spending his own time trying to lay his hands on a local drug dealer. Then, a body is found on the stone altar table in the Chapel, and events begin to spiral out of control.
Strict and Peculiar (The\falconer Files Ser. #7)
by Andrea FrazerIn the village of Steynham St Michael, the old Strict and Particular Chapel is, at last, undergoing renovation, to the delight of the local inhabitants, who believe it will prove useful as a tourist attraction for the village. The renovations, however, have been dogged by the sightings of mysterious hooded figures, and tributes of flowers, left here and there on the site. The newly painted interior is then found defaced by a mysterious message in red paint, and this last prompts a call to the police. DI Falconer and DS Carmichael of the Market Darley CID make an initial visit, and believe that the unexplained events at the Chapel may be the work of a small cult, believed to originate from the college in Market Darley. When a new DC, on secondment, arrives, Falconer immediately sends him undercover as a student, spending his own time trying to lay his hands on a local drug dealer. Then, a body is found on the stone altar table in the Chapel, and events begin to spiral out of control.
Strictly No Flowers
by Graham HurleyA writer attempts to find out the truth about a war crime and forgets the truth about himself. A witty and fast-moving thriller from the author of the Faraday and Winter novelsScott Plenty (not his real name) writes crime thrillers. His gruesome serial killer novels have taken him to the cusp of the big time. There is a massive new contract in the offing, glory (and the Late Review) beckons. But Scott wants more. He wants the truth. And when he reads about the death of 5,000 French civilians at the hands of Bomber Command in WWII he thinks he's found a truth it would really be worth writing about.He travels to France and begins digging. And finds himself in the midst of a passionate affair with a French woman. Even as the truth about the war crime proves more elusive the affair becomes more intense until he loses himself in it.And then, out of the blue, he is set up in a drugs bust, stopped by the police in possession of 2 kilos of cocaine. In prison on remand he wakes to a nightmare. The drug dealers in the prison see him as a crazy 'anglais', an amateur, foolish enough to try and invade their patch. He's a marked man. Easy meat. Until he is befriended by a killer,a French gangster entranced by the idea that here is a man who can tell his story.So, chapter by chapter, day by day, Scott's account of his search for the truth becomes a realtime literary quest for survival. If he's to survive until the trumped up charges are overturned he has to keep writing. But who set him up and why? And does Scott really want to know the truth about the sort of man he is?
Strong Conviction
by Trevor ScottTrent Strong is back home in his northern Minnesota lake community after spending ten years working on a Chicago daily newspaper as an investigative journalist covering heinous crimes and traveling to war-torn countries. Sick of all the deaths, and content with returning to a slower pace, Trent buys the local weekly newspaper. But Trent is in town for only one week when an old friend asks him to investigate the Mammoth Paper Mill, which he suspects is polluting a small trout stream beyond EPA standards. Since the mill employs over half the town, the friend hasn't made many friends with his claim. The next day, a woman is found stabbed to death in a lakeshore motel. For personal reasons, Trent is compelled to investigate her death, as well as the paper mill. Are the two related? As Trent investigates, he runs across many people from his past. Some are potential suspects, and others make him question if his move back home was the right one. He starts a relationship with the motel manager, but even wonders if she is somehow involved with the murder. Trent must investigate around a small town sheriff and county attorney running for re-election, out-of-state thugs who want to shut him up, and an entire town that would like the whole thing to go away. What he finds will change his life forever...
A Study in Scarlet
by Arthur Conan DoyleDoyle, unsuccessful in his medical practice and in need of money and a more satisfying career, had already sold a number of magazine stories when he wrote the novella, "A Study in Scarlet," the first Sherlock Holmes story, which, after many rejections, was published in Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887. Doyle got twenty-five pounds for all rights to the story. He never received another penny for it, although fortunately, in one of those little contractual details that could have changed literary history forever, he retained rights to the character. Here is the book, A Study in Scarlet, that introduced the world to Sherlock Holmes and his faithful side kick Dr. Watson.