A girl's stepmother is murdered, and only Lizzie Borden can find the killer .During the summer of 1921, a strange spinster rents the seaside cottage next door to Amanda Burton and her family. The new neighbor dresses in black, does card tricks, and reminisces about a long-ago trip to Paris. Her name is Lizzie Borden, and two decades earlier she was acquitted of one of the most notorious crimes in American history. Although her stepmother warns her to stay away, Ama...

A savage killer haunts the lecture tour of a vaunted Irish playwright.Though a world-renowned dandy, Oscar Wilde is not too refined for Colorado. As he travels across America on the lecture circuit, the famously witty playwright has found much to love about the western states. Whiskey, saloons, and friendly conversation with notables like John 'Doc' Holliday -- Wilde loves it all. There is even, in every town his entourage visits, a sensational murder. In the night...

After an attack on his lover, Croft scours New Mexico for vengeance.Ever since a bullet smashed her spine, detective Joshua Croft has tried to entice Rita Mondragón away from her house. For years the response from his boss and unrequited love has been the same: 'I'll go into town when I can walk there.' When she is finally strong enough to walk, their relationship blossoms into love. Rita and Croft are basking on the patio outside her mountain home when a helicopte...

There are a number of noteworthy articles in this issue of The Magazine.We are fortunate to feature some of the correspondence between two legends of crime fiction, Walter Satterthwait and Bill Crider, both of whom recently passed away. For those who knew Walter and Bill, or were just fans of their work, there is a touch of their personalities that comes through in these exchanges and, at least for a moment, gives us an opportunity to experience their unique voices just a little bi...

Croft combs New Mexico for a Navajo who's been dead since 1866.On a fishing trip in the mountains outside of Santa Fe, private detective Joshua Croft hears pistol fire. He finds an elderly Navajo encircled by a trio of trigger-happy yokels, demanding the old man dance for them. Croft disarms them, sends them packing, and returns to Santa Fe a few days later. He has nearly forgotten about the incident by the time the Navajo turns up in his office to ask him to find ...

A film star begs Croft to find his missing wife and daughter.Hollywood icon Roy Alonzo has just learned that in Los Angeles there is no such thing as a simple divorce. After years of bitterness and jealousy, his wife Melissa leaves him, taking most of his money, property, and five days a week with their only child. When Roy begins dating again, Melissa accuses him of sexually abusing their daughter, and disappears with her. Alonzo asks Santa Fe detective Joshua Cro...

Croft looks for evidence to free a tarot reader accused of killing a satanist.Strong cosmic energy and stunning scenery have long made Santa Fe a destination for New Age enthusiasts. At a gathering of New Mexico's most renowned mystics, known satanist Quentin Bouvier flaunts a priceless tarot card;a few hours later, he is found hanged from a rafter, head bashed in, the card missing. Suspicion falls on Giacomo Bernardi, a tarot reader and owner of the scarf with whi...

A conversation with a jewel thief draws Croft into an insurance investigation.It is April in Santa Fe, and a blizzard draws near. Private investigator Joshua Croft sits bored in his office, hoping he'll get home in time to avoid the storm. Just before closing, a man enters, wearing jeans, a Stetson, and a hard-eyed squint that tells Croft he wears the outfit for work, not fashion. A friend of the cowboy's possesses of a haul of stolen jewels, and wants Croft's help...

After an attack on his lover, Croft scours New Mexico for vengeanceEver since a bullet smashed her spine, detective Joshua Croft has tried to entice Rita Mondragón away from her house. For years the response from his boss and unrequited love has been the same: “I’ll go into town when I can walk there.” When she is finally strong enough to walk, their relationship blossoms into love. Rita and Croft are basking on the patio outside her mountain home when a helicopter...

Sixteen-year-old Amanda is spending the summer with her suave and easygoing uncle John at the Dakota Apartments, opposite the green sprawl of New York's Central Park. When John isn't doing something mysterious with stocks and bonds, he and Amanda enjoy the very best the Roaring Twenties have to offer. However, in a single brutal night, everything changes. Suddenly, Amanda is alone, far from home, and fighting for her life in a city that has abandoned her. Fortunately, there's one person Am...

Detective Carson Ryder faces his most terrifying adversary yet in this nail-biting thriller from the author of Her Last Scream.Carson Ryder thought he’d seen everything …A specialist in twisted crimes, Detective Carson Ryder thought he’d seen the lowest depths of human depravity. But he’s barely started his new job in Miami when called to a horrific scene: a concrete pillar built of human remains, their agony forever frozen in stone.Finding the secret of the pillar ...

A father and his boys have won 'the war': the father's term for his bitter divorce and custody battle. They leave Kansas and drive through the night to their new apartment in Albuquerque. Settled in new schools, the brothers join basketball teams, make friends. Meanwhile their father works from home, smoking cheap cigars to hide another smell. Soon his missteps - the dead-eyed absentmindedness, the late-night noises, the comings and goings of increasingly odd characters - become s...