Mystery/Crime

Violence interrupts quiet reflection on tragedy when Donald and Timmy visit Washington to view the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Unexpected stories about a disgraced, conservative congresswoman, and a gay Lothario with designs on Strachey are catalysts for Donald's investigation into a memorial to a man who isn't quite as dead as he seems. (Originally published 1998.)

The life insurance money--wasn't that reason enough for Ardis Clinton to kill her husband? That and his annoying neglect of his loving. But Ardis has the plan--with her dimwitted boyfriend and a meat cleaver she'll be on easy street. But sometimes the best laid plans of mice and unfaithful women often go astray.

The girl was scared and wouldn't talk--but her fear tells the Phantom Detective--the world's greatest sleuth--more than words when he investigates a strange and baffling murder at a TV station! Ripped from the pages of the Spring, 1951 issue of "The Phantom Detective Magazine," here is the lead novel--The Video Victims!

Lew Archer didn't like his client, J. Reginald Harlan, M.A. Of course Archer generally didn't like people whose names started with a single syllable. Harlan hired Lew to find his sister. A respectable school mistress that has run off with a bohemian artist type. But he finds more than what he expected when he has a corpse literally dumped on him!

The nightclub, the Long-Malamed, was packed. Peter Chambers was enjoying the show. A great Afro-Cuban drummer with and even greater dancer, Manaja, was on stage. Now, lightning from the spot hit the stage in garish waves as Manaja began her torso-flinging performance. Her copper body had been rubbed with oil, reflecting the bursting flashes of light and loud drums, which proved a perfect distraction for one little bullet to find its way into the nightclub owner's temple. Now Peter Chambers' clie... more info>>

As senior editor of a major publishing house, April Matthews has often read books about murder and mayhem. However, when her brother is accused of murder, her mother goes missing, and an anonymous manuscript describes in detail an event she spent years trying to hide, she is stunned to realize that the man who killed her father is now after her and her family. Caleb McKinley is the arrogant and ambitious assistant DA, and is determined to prosecute April's brother for murder. When he finds the m... more info>>

The case gets personal when hardboiled private eye Denton Dodge finds his best friend dead. Sure it looks like natural causes, but what are the odds that three men die of the same natural causes while playing the same game? Dodge doesn't make much money at the track, but he knows better than to play those odds.

Grooving on the Spineret in a new club in the Village, Marty Bishop was feeling pretty good. He had a date with the gorgeous coat check girl that night and the crowd was enjoying the scene. But when Marty's old flame comes in, all eyes turn to her with her blue-black hair and her sultry good looks. She's got a wad of money in her bra and she wants Marty back. Marty agrees to meet her in his car, but when he shows up and finds her naked and dead, he knows he's in a heap of trouble. Jonathan Craig... more info>>

Parker didn't expect to find his next great magazine story sleeping off a hangover in the back seat of his car. The homeless woman, Cleo, says she never wakes after dawn, which makes Parker curious. His intuition for finding a unique story is buzzing after meeting Cleo, and he decides to interview her to find out what drove her to live on the streets.  Cleo explains how the early death of her first love set the path for her life. She withdraws from the world after he dies, only to re-enter it by... more info>>

When Cornelius McPherson, a former highway maintenance man, finds himself trapped in a tunnel he helped create decades earlier, he's horrified to discover the well-preserved, frozen arm of a fellow worker. McPherson remembers a secret the man whispered to him--that he knew who assassinated John F. Kennedy. When McPherson also turns up dead, CJ Floyd steps in to sort out the details, in the process going on his own hunt for the presidential assassin. CJ's journey is a retrospective trek that has ... more info>>

Shandell "Blackbird" Bird has everything going for him, or so he thinks. Recently selected number two overall in the NBA draft, the 6'8", 250-pound superstar has a gleaming new ride and a salary and athletic shoe contract that make him an instant millionaire. What he doesn't have is the ability to bury secrets from his past. When Shandell is found shot to death at mid-court, his best friend and college teammate Damion Madrid sets out to find the killer. Damion is well meaning but naïve; luckily ... more info>>

Thick sticky heat came gushing from the Indian Ocean, closed in on Ceylon, and it seemed to Clayton that he was the sole target. He sat at the bar of a joint called Kroner's on the Colombo waterfront, and tried vainly to cool himself with gin and ice. It was Saturday night and the place was mobbed, and most of them needed baths. Clayton told himself if he didn't get out soon, he'd suffocate. But he knew he couldn't walk out. If he walked out, he'd be killed. And for what? A glittering sapphire a... more info>>

Imagine you're a young, female private investigator. Now imagine your life being turned upside down by someone who looks an awful lot like Humphrey Bogart.

Matt Cordell was on his way down. Since he lost his license as a detective for attacking his wife and her lover, his goal is seeking oblivion with a bottle. But P. I. work came to him in spite of himself. His buddy's sister-in-law is pregnant and he wants to know who the daddy is. The case takes on extra emphasis when his buddy's sweet sister-in-law turns up dead. With the help of a nympho, Matt finds out the person he's seeking name is Freddie. Now with only about 100,000 Freddies in NY, Matt C... more info>>

The ghost of Janet D'Angelo returns to the house where she was murdered intent on finding her killer and solving the mystery surrounding the tragic disappearance of her teenage daughter. On the day of Janet's funeral, her daughter miraculously returns and tells the terrifying story of her abduction and the amnesia that ended when she saw the newspaper account of her mother's death. Janet soon realizes that her family is in grave danger and though her presence sometimes erupts into frightening di... more info>>

When Joe Boyle delivered the message to Renzo, one of the toughest crime lords in the city, he didn't expect to be beaten to within an inch of his life. But the message was from Vetter, one the most dangerous underworld figures. No one had ever seen Vetter, but all the crime lords knew his reputation―whatever city he came to, he took over to his advantage leaving a pile of corpses in his wake. Joe is going to be lucky to stay alive when they realize that he maybe the only chance the city's... more info>>

Lew Archer was in a dismal mood when he checked into a sleepy motel. He had just lost the man he was trailing and then got into a crazy highway chase with a Cadillac. Now he just wanted to get some sleep. But his thoughts of sleep ended when a screaming brunette woke him with her screams and a hand covered in blood. It looked like a murder, but where was the victim? And Lew Archer only had one suspect―an imaginary blonde that nobody seems to have seen.

Hamilton Cleek, once a London cat burglar known as the "man of forty faces" due to his talent for disguises, was trapped by love and reborn as a detective. In these tales, Cleek used his encyclopedic knowledge of crime on cases that would baffle police.

No good deed goes unpunished. Cally Sue agrees to help her uncle while he is ill. But when a human arm turns up in his trash, Cally''s uncle is suspect #1. The print shop employees act suspicious and Cally, who has a reputation to maintain as a snoop, finds herself getting deeper into trouble all the time. The only plus is that one of the police detectives is a charmer.

Identical twin sisters Goldie and Godiva take a wild and funny romp through the glitzy world of TV chefs--in search of a killer. When Godiva Olivia DuBois, a.k.a. G.O.D.--an advice columnist from Beverly Hills--takes her niece Chili to a taping of the TV cooking show Flirting with Food she's selected from the audience as a food taster--and winds up in the hospital with food poisoning. Chili's mother, Goldie Silver, an 'aging hippie' living in Alaska, already sensed trouble through a psychic bond... more info>>

As Jennet Greenway's wedding to Crane Ferguson approaches, her happiness is shattered when a Good Samaritan deed leaves her without her beloved black collie, Halley.

The high point of the Colorado Fiction Writers Association convention is the body discovered in the auditorium, dressed in clothing belonging to members of the executive board?until the corpse turns out to be real. To complicate matters, the collection of Weapons of Destruction that Lakewood PD Mitch Cameron brought for show-and-tell comes up short a stiletto and a garrote--which he soon discovers wrapped around the corpse's neck. Arthur Upton, association president and a former cop, works with ... more info>>

Two different worlds collide one Christmas when a sidewalk Santa becomes a kidnapper, and life will never be the same for Duncan Wagner, who has a foolproof plan to kidnap Gabriel Booker, the eleven-year-old son of State Representative Winthrop Booker. But the plan goes awry from the start when the boy runs away from his own home, straight into Duncan's car. And Duncan's problems don't end there, as the ransom deal goes sour. Duncan soons finds that Gabriel is a runaway with problems of his own.... more info>>

State Senator "Red" Maddox has a problem, but doesn't want to involve the police. His attorney suggests Homicide Detective Steve Music. A cop can always use a little extra money, but as Music warns his clients: he'll do whatever he can to solve their problem without making waves, but they must remember, he's a cop first, and he can go only so far on an unofficial basis. As murders begin piling up and deceptions and lies turn a simple job into a cop's nightmare, keeping his private job private wh... more info>>

A Lake Winnipesaukee fishing excursion turns deadly--then Angie discovers becoming a murder suspect is only the beginning of her troubles? When a fishing trip hooks more than a few trout, ER nurse Angie Deacon and her husband find themselves unexpected suspects in a murder investigation. Who amongst the other five aboard Little One could have had a vendetta against the boat's owner--especially one strong enough to see Nolan Little dead? Will Angie live to regret her decision to aid Nolan's aggri... more info>>