Mystery/Crime

Winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best mystery novel of the year. With the roar of thunder and the speed of a galloping horse comes the tide to Mont St. Michel goes the old nursery song. So when the aged patriarch of the du Rocher family falls victim to the perilous tide, even the old man's family accepts the verdict of accidental drowning. But too quickly, this "accident" is followed by a bizarre discovery in the ancient du Rocher chateau: a human skeleton, wrapped in butcher paper, be... more info>>

Divorced, disenchanted, and disgusted by a business where good news is no news, television Assignment Editor Casey Brandt admits she's so burnt out a flame thrower couldn't rekindle her. She has zero respect for her bottom-line boss and his decisions about which stories make it to air, and the feeling is mutual. He detests her sarcastic wit and lets her know her job is on the line. When she learns the station's manipulative consultant is shopping for her replacement, Casey decides things couldn'... more info>>

Examine our annual Holmesian issue as the great detective would have, and you won't be disappointed. First up is "Shikari," a highly original Sherlock Holmes pastiche by James Lincoln Warren that puts a new spin on the roles of Watson and Mycroft Holmes. Following it are tales with fresh twists and turns of alibi and motive. The young narrator in Brian Muir's "Floating Ant" relates a campfire incident with a totally unexpected outcome, while the Glauser-winning story "Out There" by Zoë Beck... more info>>

Money may be evil's root, but the wide variety of business deals and financial transactions that go criminally awry yields the bountiful harvest of this month's stories. In Christopher Welch's "The Art of the Pyramid," an art dealer finds himself drawn into another dealer's creative financing schemes, with results that are aesthetically unappealing. When the economy goes south in Doug Levin's "Sheltered Assets," a hedge fund manager and his bleeding-heart wife make do--in their very separate wa... more info>>

There isn't much left of the irascible Albert Evan Jasper, "dean of American forensic anthropologists," after his demise in a fiery car crash. But in accord with his wishes, his remains--a few charred bits of bone--are installed in an Oregon museum to create a fascinating if macabre exhibit. All agree that it's a fitting end for a great forensic scientist--until what's left of him disappears in the midst of the bi-annual meeting (aka the "bone bash and weenie roast") of the august WAFA--the ... more info>>

Peg MacDonald is now married to Detective John Hogan, but George's spirit continues to be a part of her life. As an assistant to the popular advice columnist, Aunt Emma, Peg uncovers a letter listing the names of three people the writer claims to have killed. It is the beginning of a bizarre case with so many twists and turns that it takes Peg, John, and George to make sense of the clues and false leads the killer has put in place to lure Peg and an ex-jockey into dangerous waters.

Mayan ruins in the Yucat�n?a secret room in a tomb?age-old skeletons. To anthropologist Gideon Oliver, the renowned Skeleton Detective, the invitation to join the archaeological excavation of Tlaloc promises two months of paradise on earth. That is, until an ancient series of Mayan curses against desecrators of the site is unearthed. When the first one comes to pass ("The bloodsucking kinkajou will come freely among them"), it's taken by all as a practical joke. But by the time the fourth one... more info>>

The race is on to save Lavinia "Vinnie" Esposito in the third book in the Esposito series. After finding a dead man, Vinnie realizes she has become embroiled in yet another crazy situation involving stolen art, proving her twin brother's innocence, and saving her own neck. State trooper Marcus Richmond and FBI agent Aaron Grant are back to help Vinnie find the culprit while keeping her out of harm's way. That's a task to try the most patient of men, because Vinnie isn't about to let a lead... more info>>

After her favorite aunt is found dead and an alarming box is mysteriously left on the doorstep of her aunt's house now legally hers, Lavinia Esposito wants explanations. But, having cleared the package of explosives, the local cops are dumbounded by the precious stones which came without an explanation, just an address??her Aunt Livvy's. Frustrated by the cops' refusal to share their theories, criminal justice instructor Lavinia Esposito, a.k.a. Vinnie, takes investigation matters into her own h... more info>>

Gideon Oliver expects to be amicably bored when he takes on the role of "accompanying spouse" at a lodge in the magnificent wild country of Glacier Bay, Alaska, where his forest ranger wife Julie is attending a conference. But it turns out to be exactly his cup of tea. There is another group at the lodge: six scientists on a memorial journey to the site of a thirty-year-old glacial avalanche that killed three of their colleagues. Their leader is TV's most popular science personality, the unc... more info>>

Tony Hart's life has been quiet lately. He has good friends and a rewarding teaching job. Then the murdered body of another teacher falls into the elevator at his feet, and Tony's life gets a little too exciting. Jared MacLean is a homicide detective, a widowed father, and deeply in the closet. But from the moment he meets Tony's blue eyes in that high school hallway, Mac can't help wanting this man in his life. However Mac isn't the only one with his eyes on Tony. As the murderer tries to cove... more info>>

Anthropology professor Gideon Oliver would prefer to keep his mind on his beautiful new bride Julie during their English honeymoon, but one intrusive question won't stop nagging at him: Who would want to steal a thirty-thousand-year-old parieto-occipital calvareal fragment? Yet someone has lifted this chunk of prehistoric human skull from a musty museum in Dorchester. Then, thirty miles away, an archaeology student is murdered, increasing tensions and suspicion at a dig that had already seet... more info>>

Les-Eyzies-de-Tayac is known for three things: p�t� de fois gras, truffles, and prehistoric remains. The little village, in fact, is the headquarters of the prestigious Institute de Pr�histoire, which studies the abundant local fossils. But when a pet dog emerges from a nearby cave carrying parts of a human skeleton--by no means a fossilized one--Chief Inspector Lucien Anatole Joly puts in a call to his old friend, Gideon Oliver, the famed "Skeleton Detective." Once Gideon arrives, murd... more info>>

Bill Walker, a man still grieving for his late wife, is confronted with a problem: His small ranch on the Arizona-Mexico border is being used as a stopover by illegal immigrants who use the water from his stock tank to ease their thirst. One morning, while making his rounds, he encounters a Mexican woman near death from hunger, thirst, and exposure. For reasons not even clear to himself, he proceeds to hide the woman from his friends and the Border Patrol. The cops are the least of his worries, ... more info>>

Our winter double issue is full of colorful characters and locales (and their sinister undercurrents) . . . the perfect combination for beating the seasonal doldrums. Crime and mayhem--sometimes supernatural--reign from the mysterious shadows of Stonehenge in James Lincoln Warren's "The Satan League" to the woodlands of Zimbabwe in Tony Richards's "The Very Edge of New Harare." Loren D. Estlemen's "Big Band," featuring the Four Horsemen of the Detroit police department, takes us to a war-era swi... more info>>

When Artie Applegate meets his friend's mother after a long time with no contact, he recognizes Mrs. Henderson because of her incredible long legs. But Artie's pleasure at seeing them--her--again is dashed when she insists he persuade her son to break up with his current girlfriend. If Artie doesn't, then the video Mrs. Henderson captured of him burglarizing her jewelry store will end up at the police station. With that threat hanging over his head, Artie sets out to become reacquainted with hi... more info>>

People are being murdered in Peg MacDonald's neighborhood and her husband, George, wants Peg to investigate. Ever since George died unexpectedly in a small plane crash, his spirit has been haunting Peg urging her to do the investigative work they used to do together. Peg is content to work as an assistant to the newspaper's popular advice columnist, Aunt Emma, but when she discovers a letter that concerns the murders, Peg is suddenly drawn into the investigation. To complicate her life further... more info>>

First time in ebook! The debut of Philly Prep English teacher and accidental sleuth, Amanda Pepper, (and of C.K. Mackenzie, homicide detective) won the World Mystery Convention's "Anthony" for best first mystery. When the body of a colleague is found dead in Amanda's living room, she has to clear herself of suspicion-and make sure she isn't the next victim as well. And all she's got as a clue to the real killer's identity is a locket shaped like Winnie-the-Pooh.

An ancient skeleton tossed in a garbage dump is the first conundrum to rattle Gideon Oliver when he arrives in Egypt. There to appear in a documentary film, he expects an undemanding week of movie star treatment and a luxurious cruise up the Nile with his wife Julie. But when Gideon discovers a tantalizing secret in the discarded bones--and violence claims a famous Egyptologist's life--he is thrust into a spotlight of a different kind. Plying his calipers as the world's foremost forensic anthrop... more info>>

The single mother hasn't been found. And all her daughter, Sarah, has is her uncle. Clueless at parenting, Clint Herald seeks a loving, responsible nanny. What he finds instead is a stranger as mysterious as his sister's disappearance. Mandy Erick is secretive and seems scared, yet she's so good with Sarah that Clint can't help but trust her. In fact, he even enters Mandy in the town's Mother of the Year contest. But attention is the last thing Mandy wants. Her time in the public eye may prove j... more info>>

Gay marriage in Massachusetts is a fine institution--except when it leads to murder, as it does in this taut, suspenseful Don Strachey private eye novel, the ninth in the classic series. Strachey and his loving foil, Timothy Callahan, are back in perfect form in this witty, ripped-from-the-headlines thriller.

'Tis the season for our annual holiday issue, and this year our pages are decked almost entirely with holiday stories--not to mention mystery, mayhem, and a few of our favorite recurring characters. In true Christmas tradition, take a look at the lives of two characters haunted by the past: a department store Santa in Dan Warthman's "Sonny Taylor: A Nontraditional Man" and an overly ambitious businessman in Barbara Westwood Diehl's "God Bless." And don't miss James Powell's annual holiday story... more info>>

When anthropology professor Gideon Oliver is offered a teaching fellowship at U.S. military bases in Germany, Sicily, Spain, and Holland, he wastes no time accepting. Stimulating courses to teach, a decent stipend, all expenses paid, plenty of interesting European travel . . . what's not to like? It doesn't take him long to find out. On his first night, he is forced to fend off two desperate, black-clad men who have invaded his Heidelberg hotel room with intent to kill. And then there's the ... more info>>

The very day Liz Sullivan, freelance writer, returns to Denver to visit her estranged family, her ex-husband's body is dumped at her parents' door. Since Liz had once tried to kill her extremely abusive husband, the police think she's their killer. Liz finds it necessary to do some dangerous sleuthing, if she doesn't want to find herself in prison again--or dead.

When Kim Reynolds, a university reference librarian with clairvoyant ability, is contacted by her friend, Lorette Campbell, a grad student in the English doctoral program, a chain of frightening events unfolds. Lorette, worried that someone is out to harm her, asks Kim to look into the possibility that an inferno collection exists at the library. After Lorette dies, the police initially write it off as a suicide. Kim, convinced Lorette was murdered, begins her own investigation, placing her ow... more info>>