"The best book of its kind. . . . An exciting omnibus volume. . . . delivering memorable revelations about the mystery genre and its different incarnations." —Janet Maslin, New York TimesA great recurring character in a series you love becomes an old friend. You learn about their strange quirks and their haunted pasts and root for them every time they face danger. But where do some of the most fascinating sleuths in the mystery and thriller world really com...

This ebook also includes an extract from Judy Nunn's new novel, Sanctuary.For eight years now Oskar the Pole has been a widower. As a homeless vagrant, pushing a supermarket trolley through the streets of life, he cuts a lonely figure.But Oskar has a talent. He can play chess, and he can play it well.Every afternoon, at the giant chessboard in the park, Oskar becomes a star, a master, the undefeated champion . . .The second ...

Hit the jackpot with stories from Michael Connelly, Laura Lippman, Walter Mosley, Alexander McCall Smith, and more superstars of mystery.In "One Dollar Jackpot," Michael Connelly's curmudgeonly Harry Bosch finds himself going toe-to-toe with a professional poker player. Jeffery Deaver offers up "Bump," a tale of a has-been actor trying to make it big by hustling cards. "Hardly Knew Her" by Laura Lippmann showcases a young woman learning about bluffing the hard way, ...

This "impressive crime anthology" presents a century of American greed, crime and comeuppance by some of the genre's greatest authors ( Publishers Weekly, starred review).James Ellroy, the author of such noir classics as The Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential, joins forces with award-winning editor Otto Penzler to present this treasure trove of stories. Ranging from the 1920s to the present day, this collection represents noir at its best...

Tempting the Cowboy: A Paint River Ranch Book by Elizabeth OttoAfter taking a job on a quiet Montana dude ranch, ex-cop Rylan Frederickson finds herself surrounded by unbelievably sexy cowboys. Too bad the one she wants is her boss...and the single dad of a four-year-old. It doesn't matter anyway, because after a recent tragedy, there's simply no more room in her heart.Letting a new woman into their life is the last thing Cole Haywood wants for him and his daughter, Birdie....

'We lived on a bunk built for four but in times of overcrowding, it slept seven and at times even eight. There was so little space on the berth that when one of us wanted to ease his hip, we all had to turn in a tangle of legs and chests and hollow bellies as if we were one many-limbed creature, a Hindu god or a centipede. We grow intimate not only in body but also in mind because we knew that though we were not born of one womb, we would certainly die together.'Alex Ehren...

Sherlock Holmes's most famous case: An irresistible blend of Gothic horror and intricately plotted mysteryThe curse of the Baskervilles dates to the seventeenth century, when the wicked Hugo Baskerville chased a farmer's daughter across the pitch-dark moor of Grimpen with vile intentions. The poor girl died of fright, but Baskerville's fate was worse—a giant black hound, eyes afire and jaws dripping with blood, tore out his throat and devoured it on the spot. Since ...

The lawyer who inspired the HBO series unravels a mystery surrounding a back-from-the-dead banker in "one of the best of the Perry Mason tales" ( The New York Times).Helen Kendal's woes begin when she receives a phone call from her vanished uncle Franklin, long presumed dead, who urges her to contact criminal defense attorney Perry Mason; soon after, she finds herself the main suspect in the murder of an unfamiliar man. Her kitten has just survived a poiso...

‘I have no family,’ Adam said, the blue eyes in the baby face now ice-cold. ‘I have no mother and I have no father.’Adam is just fifteen years old when he stumbles upon the Otto Bin Empire, a community of homeless men and women who gather at the colourful wheelie bins down near the docks.The teenage runaway is fleeing from his violent, alcoholic father, and now has one goal: to stay lost.But parents can come in all shapes and sizes - as Adam is about to dis...

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'Why did I survive when so many others did not?'Otto was just nine years old when his family was captured in Berlin. All around him, Sinti and Roma families were being torn from their homes and broken up, many of them disappearing altogether.When Otto arrived in Auschwitz, he, as so many others, suffered unimaginable humiliation and suffering, and witnessed horrific violence and dehumanisation of his fe...

Twenty great whodunnits from the first decade of this series, edited by the award-winning editor and founder of the Mysterious Press.This anthology collects the top twenty stories from the first decade (1997–2006) of The Best American Mystery Stories, selected and introduced by Otto Penzler. Contributors include Russell Banks, Jeffrey Deaver, Louise Erdrich, Brendan DuBois, Dennis Lehane, Elmore Leonard, Lou Manfredo, Ed McBain, Joyce Carol Oates, Scott Tu...

'Writing that easily equals that of the Booker-winning Richard Flanagan...[and] as readable and gripping as any thriller.' - The TimesI've gone. I've never seen the water, so I've gone there. I will try to remember to come back.Etta's greatest unfulfilled wish, living in the rolling farmland of Saskatchewan, is to see the sea. And so, at the age of eighty-two she gets up very early one morning, takes a rifle, some chocolate, and her best b...