Mystery

For countless readers, Christmastime means a delicious new holiday mystery from New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry. A Christmas Escape, her thirteenth noel to the season, transports us to the Mediterranean island of Stromboli for an unconventional Yuletide adventure--and an unforgettable volcanic encounter.

Lonely Charles Latterly arrives at his small hotel hoping that the island's blue skies and gentle breezes will brighten his spirits. Unfortunately, there's no holiday cheer to be found among his fellow guests, who include a pompous novelist, a stuffy colonel, a dangerously ill-matched married couple, and an ailing old man. The one charming exception is orphaned teenager Candace Finbar, who takes Charles under her wing and introduces him to the island's beauty. But the tranquility of the holiday is swiftly disrupted by a violent quarrel, an unpleasant gentleman's shocking claims of being stalked, and the ominous stirrings of the local volcano. Then events take an even darker turn: A body is found, and Charles quickly realizes that the killer must be among the group of guests.

Captivating in its depiction of untamed nature in all its awesome power, and of the human heart in the throes of transformation, A Christmas Escape gifts readers with Anne Perry's talent for making the season brighter--and more thrilling.

Praise for the Christmas novels of Anne Perry

"Perry's Victorian-era holiday mysteries [are] an annual treat."--The Wall Street Journal

A New York Christmas

"A thoroughly enjoyable mystery set against the wonderful historical backdrop of 1904 New York City at Christmastime."--Library Journal (starred review)

A Christmas Hope

"Very much recommended . . . a wonderful story."--Historical Novel Review

A Christmas Garland

"In Anne Perry's gifted hands, the puzzle plays out brilliantly."--Greensboro News & Record

A Christmas Homecoming

"Could have been devised by Agatha Christie . . . [Perry is] a modern master."--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A Christmas Odyssey

"[Perry] writes with detail that invades the senses."--Lincoln Journal Star

Marriage is proving anything but dull for Commander John Coffin, keeper of the peace in London's Second City. With grande dame of the stage Stella Pinero in his life, Coffin's days lack no drama. When the curtain comes down on opening night in Stella's newly transformed theater, Joe and Josie Macintosh are found stabbed to death in their theater box. A curious note left next to their bodies reveals that Joe and Josie Macintosh have carried out a suicide pact. But the couple's double suicide follows closely on the heels of an unexpected visitor from Coffin's past: Inspector Harry Trent. Coffin worked with Trent years ago, and now Trent is searching for his identical twin brother - a dangerous man; a man who might already have killed a woman; a man Trent fears might have threatened violence to the Macintoshes, the couple who fostered the twins as children. Coffin quickly realizes that the illusions of the theater mean that nothing is as it seems; such is the case in the Macintoshes' apparent suicide. As Coffin investigates the couple's death, he learns he must find not only their killer but also their true identities. And then there is the persistent, looming question: Who is Harry Trent and what is he capable of doing? The answer lies in the past - bizarre, terrifying, and horribly real... Coffin will find Stella's knowledge of the theater indispensable if he is to solve this mystery of Jekylls and Hydes on both sides of the footlights.

From the author of Be Careful What You Witch For, here is the newest Family Fortune Mystery, starring former cop Clyde Fortune, who--snowbound with her kooky family in a creepy castle--is climbing the walls and combing the halls, looking for a cold-blooded killer...

After their flight to Mexico is cancelled, Clyde and her detective boyfriend, Mac, end up snowed in with their families at a supposedly haunted hotel. Clyde's tarot card reading mother, Rose, is making dire predictions for the weekend, and self-proclaimed pet psychic Aunt Vi is enchanted by the legend of the hotel's ghost--until the power goes out and a body turns up.

With a hotel full of stranded suspects, Clyde will have to draw on all her skills--both the police ones she'd rather forget and the psychic ones she'd rather ignore--to solve the bone-chilling mystery before someone else gets iced...

A note found next to a murdered police officer read, Ask Coffin. But what is John Coffin, Commander of London's Second City Police, supposed to know? The victim was investigating counterfeit pharmaceuticals and internal police corruption. As Coffin probes into his colleague's investigation, he makes a connection to the disappearance of four schoolboys.

An alarming rise in violent crime puts Morrissey on the path to a conspiracy as obscene as it is lethal, linked by the most passionate of motives, the desperate desire for a baby. Martin's Press.

When a bright young heiress with a flair for romance and one too many enemies is found brutally murdered, Nero Wolfe and his sidekick, Archie, find themselves embroiled in a case that is not as black and white as it first appears.

Susan Brooke has everything going for her. Men would have killed themselves to marry her, and, in fact, one did.

Susan came to New York to find love and fulfillment, and ended up dead on a tenement floor. The police say her black fiance did it, but Wolfe has other ideas. Before he's done, he'll prove that good intentions and bad deeds often go hand in hand and that the highest ideals can sometimes have the deadliest consequences.

Traveling secretary and dilettante detective Hattie Davish is bringing her talents to a small New England town whose wealthy residents have more secrets than they do money. . .

When Hattie Davish's job takes her to Newport, Rhode Island, she welcomes the opportunity for a semi-vacation, and perhaps even a summer romance. But her hopes for relaxation are dashed when she learns that members of the local labor unions are at odds with Newport's gentry. Amidst flaring tensions, an explosion rocks the wharf. In the ensuing turmoil, Mr. Harland Whitwell, one of Newport's most eminent citizens, is found stabbed to death, his hands clutching a strike pamphlet. All signs point to a vengeful union member bent on taking down the aristocracy, but Hattie starts digging and finds a few skeletons in the closets of the impeccable Whitwell mansion. As she strikes down the whispers spilling out of Newport's rumor mill, she'll uncover a truth more scandalous than anyone imagined--and a killer with a rapacious sense of entitlement. . .

Praise For A Lack Of Temperance

"Delightful. . .cozy fans will eagerly await Hattie's next adventure." --Publishers Weekly

"This historical cozy debut showcases the author's superb research. Readers will be fascinated. . .this is a warm beginning." --Library Journal

The new John Cuddy novel by Shamus Award-winning author Jeremiah Healy (Shallow Graves). It's springtime in Boston, and John Cuddy has two clients--a petite, determined widow and a cagey young man--united by a missing girl and a shocking murder. Author autographings.

The welcome return of Leonid McGill, Walter Mosley's NYC-based private eye, his East Coast foil to his immortal L.A.-based detective Easy Rawlins. As the Boston Globe raved, "A poignantly real character, [McGill is] not only the newest of the great fictional detectives, but also an incisive and insightful commentator on the American scene."

In the fifth Leonid McGill novel, Leonid finds himself in an unusual pickle of trying to balance his cases with his chaotic personal life. Leonid's father is still out there somewhere, and his wife is in an uptown sanitarium trying to recover from the deep depression that led to her attempted suicide in the previous novel. His wife's condition has put a damper on his affair with Aura Ullman, his girlfriend. And his son, Twill, has been spending a lot of time out of the office with his own case, helping a young thief named Fortune and his girlfriend, Liza.
Meanwhile, Leonid is approached by an unemployed office manager named Hiram Stent to track down the whereabouts of his cousin, Celia, who is about to inherit millions of dollars from her father's side of the family. Leonid declines the case, but after his office is broken into and Hiram is found dead, he gets reeled into the underbelly of Celia's wealthy old-money family. It's up to Leonid to save who he can and incriminate the guilty; all while helping his son finish his own investigation; locating his own father; reconciling (whatever that means) with his wife and girlfriend; and attending the wedding of Gordo, his oldest friend.

ER nurse Darcy Cavanaugh is sailing the high seas again–adrift as a bridesmaid on a wedding cruise complete with raucous firefighters who have a taste for practical jokes and raunchy ties. Cruising up the West Coast, Darcy tries not to panic about one curious ring-sized box hidden in her boyfriend's pocket. But a poet-stalker obsessed with her feet, a stressed-out wedding planner, and her hunky ex-boyfriend are keeping Darcy on alert for more than the free mimosas!
When the prankster firefighters start dropping like flies, "I do" becomes "I didn't" as the entire wedding party is held onboard and questioned one by one. Between bouts of killer staples, interrogations by the FBI, and one mortifying polka-dot bridesmaid dress, Darcy wonders if she'll ever be ready for the tumultuous tides of marriage.
Click here to download Book Club Questions for "Aye Do or Die," prepared by author Candy Calvert!

Ellie Bernstein is still a fan of the TV series M*A*S*H*. So are a lot of other people in Colorado Springs. Years ago they all attended the M*A*S*H* bash to watch the show's finale, and everyone came as their favorite character. Now, fifty-five pounds lighter, Ellie sure looks a lot more like Hot Lips, but that claim to fame might be dangerous. There's a killer on the loose, and it seems that the show's look-alikes are being murdered. What's the motive? Ellie's dying to see the ending of this serial killer's saga -- she's just praying that she's not part of the final episode.

The most popular duo of detectives to prowl Victorian London since Holmes and Watson are back on the case--their 12th, to be precise. Inspector Thomas Pitt and his wife Charlotte rise once more to the occasion when foul murder rears its head in the fashionable circles of Belgrave Square.

Stone Barrington lands in hot water in this thrilling adventure in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.

Newly ensconced in his Santa Fe abode with a lovely female companion, Stone Barrington receives a call from an old friend requesting a delicate favor. A situation has arisen that could escalate into an explosive quagmire, and only someone with Stone's stealth and subtlety can contain the damage. At the center of these events is an impressive gentleman whose star is on the rise, and who'd like to get Stone in his corner. He's charming and ambitious and has friends in high places; the kind of man who seems to be a sure bet. But in the fickle circles of power, fortunes rise and fall on the turn of a dime, and it may turn out that Stone holds the key not just to one man's fate, but to the fate of the nation.

The gentleman tied to the lamppost on Westminster Bridge is most elegantly attired--fresh boutonniere, silk hat, white evening scarf--and he is quite, quite dead, as a result of his thoroughly cut throat. Why should anyone kill Sir Lockwood Hamilton, the kindest of family men and most conscientious member of Parliament? Before Inspector Thomas Pitt can even speculate on the reasons, a colleague of Sir Lockwood's meets the same fate in the same spot. Public indignation is boundless, and clever Charlotte Pitt, Thomas's wellborn wife, can't resist helping her hard-pressed husband, scouting society's drawing rooms for clues to these appalling crimes. Meanwhile, the Westminster Bridge Cutthroat stalks another victim.

After her husband is killed, Minnesota police officer Claire Watkins and her 10-year-old daughter, Meg, move to a small Wisconsin town. Nine months later the crime is still unsolved, but Claire is slowly rebuilding her life. Two things are about to shatter her fragile peace: the murder of her neighbor and the discovery that Meg has a secret -- she saw who killed her father. Someone else knows Meg's secret, too...and he's followed them there....

Reginald Hill introduces a new series and a winning new character in Joe Sixsmith, a black, balding, middle-aged, laid-off lathe operator who has used his severance pay to set up shop as a private investigator. Is the industrial English town of Luton ready for a private eye who isn't a martial arts expert, doesn't like guns, and would rather use an abacus than a calculator? Joe thinks it is - even though his match-making Aunt Mirabelle and disdainful cat Whitey think he's crazy. Joe may be sane, but his clients don't appear to be. One seems to be confessing to the brutal murder of his entire family, another thinks she's found a witch, and two more manage to involve Joe in a smuggling mix-up. An apparent bumbler, Joe nevertheless has a real gift for his chosen line of work. With goodness, mercy, and a whole lot of serendipity, Joe proves to be a shining exception to the old cynic's rule that nice guys finish last.

Uncommon valor in the line of duty and unconditional devotion in the name of love are the salient qualities of the daring men and women who risk it all in the heart-pounding thrillers of New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Brockmann. Crafted with precision and power, her characters come alive with a depth of emotion few writers have achieved. Now, with Breaking Point, Brockmann breaks even further through the pack and delivers a stunning payload.
As commander of the nation's most elite FBI counterterrorism unit, agent Max Bhagat leads by hard-driving example: pushing himself to the limit and beyond, taking no excuses, and putting absolutely nothing ahead of his work. That includes his deep feelings for Gina Vitagliano, the woman who won his admiration and his heart with her courage under fire. But when the shocking news reaches him that Gina has been killed in a terrorist bombing, nothing can keep Max from making a full investigation-and retribution-his top priority.
At the scene of the attack, however, Max gets an even bigger shock. Gina is still very much alive-but facing a fate even worse than death. Along with Molly Anderson, a fellow overseas relief worker, Gina has fallen into the hands of a killer who is bent on using both women to bait a deadly trap. His quarry? Grady Morant, a.k.a "Jones," a notorious ex-Special Forces operative turned smuggler who made some very deadly enemies in the jungles of Southeast Asia . . . and has been running ever since. But with Molly's life on the line, Jones is willing to forfeit his own to save the woman he loves.
Together with Max's top agent Jules Cassidy as their only backup, the unlikely allies plunge into a global hot zoneof violence and corruption to make a deal with the devil. Not even Jones knows which ghosts from his past want him dead. But there's one thing he's sure of-there's very little his bloodthirsty enemies aren't willing to do.
Count on the intense action and raw honesty that Suzanne Brockmann consistently delivers, as she goes for broke in Breaking Point-and never looks back.

Defence attorney Andy Carpenter has been successfully avoiding taking on new cases until his sometime friend and newspaper owner, Vince Sanders, calls and asks him for a favour. Andy thinks the case will be a piece of cake, but then the accused is found unconscious next to the killer's latest victim.

Halloween is coming to Tinker's Cove, Maine, and local reporter Lucy Stone is covering the town's annual Giant Pumpkin Fest for the Pennysaver. There's the pumpkin-boat regatta, the children's Halloween party, the pumpkin weigh-in...even a contest where home-built catapults hurl pumpkins at an old Dodge! But not everything goes quite as planned...

Lucy's getting very annoyed that her husband Bill and his friend Evan have been working seemingly nonstop on their potentially prize-winning pumpkin catapult. But when the day of the big contest arrives, Evan is nowhere to be found...until a catapulted pumpkin busts open the trunk of the Dodge. Amid the pumpkin gore is a very deceased Evan, bashed in the head and placed in the trunk by someone long before the contest started.

Bill is on the hook for the Halloween homicide--he was the last one to see Evan--so Lucy knows she's got some serious sleuthing to do. The crime's trail seems to always circle back to Country Cousins, the town's once-quaint general store that's now become a big Internet player. Though the store's founder, Old Sam Miller, is long gone, his son Tom and grandson Trey now run the hugely successful company. But whispered rumors say things aren't going well, and Lucy finds that this case may have something to do with an unsolved, decades-old Miller family mystery...

With each new lead pointing her in a different direction, Lucy sees that time is quickly running out. If she wants to spook the real killer, she'll have to step into an old ghost story...

Castlemere is terrorized by a killer who demands a ransom of one million pounds from the town. Superintendent Frank Shapiro and Inspector Liz Graham must reduce the hysteria while Sergeant Cal Donovan is on holiday. When Donovan's abandoned boat is found, the sergeant is is believed to have been killed by the blackmailer. Yet stranger twists are still to come. Martin's Press.

When Spenser's closest ally, Hawk, is brutally injured and left for dead while protecting bookie Luther Gillespie, Spenser embarks on an epic journey to rehabilitate his friend in body and soul. Hawk, always proud, has never been dependent on anyone. Now he is forced to make connections: to accept the medical technology that will ensure his physical recovery, and to reinforce the tenuous emotional ties he has to those around him.
Spenser quickly learns that the Ukrainian mob is responsible for the hit, but finding a way into their tightly knit circle is not nearly so simple. Their total control of the town of Marshport, from the bodegas to the police force to the mayor's office, isn't just a sign of rampant corruption-it's a form of arrogance that only serves to ignite Hawk's desire to get even. As the body count rises, Spenser is forced to employ some questionable techniques and even more questionable hired guns while redefining his friendship with Hawk in the name of vengeance.