Private investigators and detectives Books

The red robe concealed the blood until it made my hand sticky. Father Christmas had been stabbed in the back, and he was certainly dead.The murder of Father Christmas at one of London's great toy shops is just one of many yuletide disasters in this new...

"Now tell us about your crime novel. Take my advice and don't try to be intellectual over it. What the public likes is blood."The Surrays and their five children form a prolific writing machine, with scores of treatises, reviews and crime thrillers...

'Then I felt his warm hand grow cold, it was as if he had been reminded of death. He wasn't looking at me any more, but obliquely, across the restaurant. I turned round.'Sarah has been receiving threatening anonymous letters, seemingly from a former...

'A bookshop is a first-rate place for unobtrusive observation,' he continued. 'One can remain in it an indefinite time, dipping into one book after another, all over the place.' Mr Richard Dodsley, owner of a fine second-hand bookshop on Charing Cross...

'Mr. Anthony Berkeley deserves all gratitude for his energetic efforts to escape from the thraldom of formula... If you are hard-boiled and disillusioned about detectives, you will find this tale very refreshing.' Dorothy L. Sayers At a costume party...

'It almost seemed that the murder, if it was a murder, must have been committed by someone who could rise up unsupported in the air...'When Miles Hammond is invited to a meeting of the Murder Club in London, he is met instead with just two other guests...

'I hate murders and I hate murderers, but I must admit that the discovery of a bearded corpse would give a fillip to my jaded mind.' Vivian Lestrange celebrated author of the popular mystery novel The Charterhouse Case and total recluse has apparently...

E.C.R. Lorac must be seriously considered for the position of leading writer of classic detective stories.' Birmingham PostWhile hot on the heels of serial coupon-racketeer Gordon Ginner, Chief Inspector MacDonald of Scotland Yard receives word of a...

Taking a break from his holiday visiting his nephew, Jim, Athelstan Digby agrees to look after the old bookshop of Keldstone so that his hosts, the Lavenders, can attend their cousin's funeral. On the first day of his tenure, threesuspicious characters...

"Christianna Brand is not merely a purveyor of thrills or a maker of puzzles. She is a novelist." The Daily TelegraphWhile the Blitz bombards London, the boisterous grandchildren of Sir Richard March have descended upon Swanswater Manor in Kent for a...

"Ahoy, my lad!" he bellowed back. "I didn't expect you so early. Come for a dip! The water's fine. Everything is-" Then it happened.Mystery and murder runs amok amidst ominous peaks and icy lakes. In hushed valleys, venom flows through villages...

"It is past the half-hour. My time is coming nearer with every tick of the clock."Horace Manning, scientist, recluse and 'closed book' even to his friends is found dead in his study at 4am, following a dinner in honour of his daughter's engagement. An...

The headline from The Maningpool Telegraph read: TRAGIC DEATH OF SIR NOEL GRAMPIAN shot during performance Symphony Concert Calamity. As a rousing Strauss piece is reaching its crescendo in Maningpool Civic Hall, the talented yet obnoxious conductor Sir...

"A literary pulp fiction that flays and skewers post-Millennial New York and along the way reinvents the American detective novel." -Evan Wright,New York Timesbestselling authorHarry Bloch is a ghost-ghostwriter, that is. He's the man behind your...

A corpse in a country house brings Scotland Yard to an eerily quiet English village, in this tale by a master of British mystery.Cyril Savage has inherited the home of his wealthy and estranged aunt. But before Savage has the chance to discover her...

Two separate murders put CI Littlejohn on a devious killer's twisting path in this long-running British mystery series.Finlo Crennell, the former harbourmaster of Castletown, was reported missing one week ago. Now he's turned up in London, wandering the...

When a serial killer stalks a sleepy English village, a Scotland Yard detective must search for clues among terrified townsfolk in this classic mystery.Samuel Bracknell is found dead in his home with a knife in his back. It's the third murder of its kind...

Emily and Poppy are living happily in the quaint village of Ashton Mead, where every household is friendly - with one exception.Unlike the other villagers, Silas Strang and his mother have a bad reputation. Rude and aggressive, they terrorise their...

A body surfaces off the Isle of Man in a puzzling mystery by the master of the "pure British detective story" (The New York Times).The Manx Shearwater was scallop dredging-but it dragged up a body from the water instead. Considering that the corpse was...

Good breeding simply doesn't pay the rent anymore.And while Miss Melville has bucketloads of breeding, she finds herself somewhat...lacking, shall we say, when it comes to finances. Distinctly lacking. Her rich friends are no help; they think...

A comedy of manners and the odd dead body.London is full of clubs. The Garrick, for example, caters to those with theatrical inclinations, the Athenaeum to eggheads. But the Asterisk may have the strictest membership regulations: Acquitted murderers only...

Here, in one volume, are the stories that transformed Sherlock Holmes into a household name: the fateful first meeting of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson inA Study in Scarlet, the mysterious treasure ofThe Sign of the Four, the formidable Irene Adler of A...

Get ready for a rollicking and irresistible new mystery from award-winning artist and author Paul MadonnaAmsterdam, 2019-following the conclusion of Come to Light. Former rock star turned artist Emit Hopper's life has taken yet another strange turn. His...

AWARDSFINALIST-Fiction: Thriller Adventure, Best Books Awards, 2023 When does the student become the master? At what cost? Grieving the loss of his sensei, the master swordsman Yamashita, Connor Burke struggles with the challenges of recovery from the...

When the FBI can' t help, an unassuming banker takes matters into his own hands to bring his son homeWade, a respected banker in La Jolla, CA, and his estranged wife, Fiona, make the unbearable decision to send their teenage son, Myles, away to an...

A notable archaeologist, close to finding a priceless artifact, meets his untimely demise- Matthew Shane vows to find his murdererMatthew Shane is a law professor in Salem, Massachusetts, where he enjoys a rewarding mentorship with Professor Barrington...

From Audie Award-winning author Ash Bishop"Readers will be eager to see what Bishop does next." -Publishers Weekly". . . filled with realistic scenarios and satisfying twists." -Midwest Book ReviewLeo: You'll step out the door, prepared for a normal day...

Amid a mountain of rain-soaked donations to the Ohnita Harbor Public Library rummage sale, Gabriela Domenici finds a small box that contains an odd-looking cross. When the carved center turns out to be ivory and a clue links the cross to Catherine of...

Kathryn Lasky has written an exciting new adult amateur sleuth mystery set in New Mexico in the 1930s. The sleuth is GeorgiaO'Keefe, who actually did suffer a nervous breakdown in 1933 when her husband Alfred Stieglitz had a somewhat public affair, was...

Agatha Christie meets How We Roll in this entertaining new series.Murder sees double when former pro bowler Billy Gills finds himself summoned to the Partridgeberry County morgue to identify the body of his identical twin brother Bo. Billy is the...

Haunted by the loss of her parents and twin sister at sea, Henna cloisters herself in a Northeastern village where the snow never stops. When she discovers the body of a young woman at the edge of the forest, she's plunged into the mystery of a...

Best friends James Lessor and Skip Moore are hardly on the fast track. While James works as a line cook at Cap'n Crab, Skip spends his days selling - or rather, attempting to sell - security systems to people who (a) have no money, and (b) have nothing...

While their last venture was hardly crowned with success, James Lessor and Skip Moore, (and their white box truck) are back. When Reverend Preston Cashdollar and his traveling tent revival come to town, James and Skip reinvent themselves--as holy rollers...

Susan Lentigo's daughter was murdered twenty years ago - now, at long last, she will witness the killer's execution.But on her journey she discovers shocking new evidence that suggests the condemned man is innocent - and the real killer is still out...

From the iconic houseboats of Seattle's Lake Union to the stunning San Juan Islands, The ComplicationBased on a shocking true story of medical wrongdoing, The Complication is Dr. DeathThe strong female protagonists-a brilliant but chaotic lawyer and a...

Book will have French flaps New title in Feminist Press's Amethyst Editions imprint: American LGBTQ+ books that present queer narratives beyond adolescent coming-out, curated by author and literary organizer Michelle Tea In some ways, this novel tells a...

In the third installment of the Amos Parisman Mysteries series, Amos finds himself on the twisted trail of a dangerous killer as he enters the heart of inequity in his community.Amos Parisman, L.A.'s oldest and most stubborn Jewish gumshoe, has never...

An atmospheric, entertaining new mystery series introducing a plucky heroine and set in the world's most famous hotel.It's 1968. London is in full swing and the Savoy Hotel is at the height of its legendary glitz and glamour, welcoming the rich, famous...

Cover art by Jon Langford of The Mekons An eldritch Western noirAuthor has 2 books out in 2021 building up to this novel in 2022

A device that can save a life is also one that can end itKadence, a new type of implanted defibrillator, misfires in a patient visiting University Hospital for a routine medical procedure-causing the heart rhythm problem it's meant to correct. Dr. Kate...

Thrill-a-minute crime fiction-infused with wry humorRestaurant owner and former professional baseball player Jake Longly is hoping for a few weeks of fun with Nicole Jamison in the warm Orange County, CA sun-The OC, baby. After that, they'll be on their...

National Indie Excellence Award Winner for Legal ThrillerAmerican Fiction Award Winner for Legal Thriller2022 American Fiction Award Winner for Legal ThrillerThe last remaining fragment of truth-hidden in the mire of the Mystic CreekBoston...

End-of-life care-or assisted death When her elderly patients start dying at home days after minor surgery, anesthesiologist Dr. Kate Downey wants to know why. The surgeon, not so much. "Old people die, that's what they do," is his response. When Kate...

Anthony, Shamus, and Lefty Award-winning Author A friend arrested for murder. A vicious killer lurking in the shadows. A world of darkness. Blinded by a gunshot wound to the face while working as a private investigator nine months ago, Rick Cahill is now...

"The gradual but compelling unraveling of this family mystery captivated me." -Naomi Hirahara, Edgar Award-winning author of Hiroshima Boy and Clark and Division "This book is a true delight to the senses!" -Keri Wilt, speaker, historian, and...

"VERDICT: Waters's first novel is an engrossing mix of small-town lack of privacy, quirky friendships, feisty women, and several plot twists that truly do surprise . . ." -Library Journal"The Dead Won't Tell is a remarkable and impressive debut." -Kris...

The new thriller in James Patterson's bestselling Private series, featuring private investigator Jack Morgan A brutal attack. An agent on the run. Private Beijing is left devastated after an attack sees its lead agent, Lee Sheung, captured. With...