A Hot and Sultry Night for Crime


Book Description

TEMPERS FLARE IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT… …And the wrong move, the wrong word, even the wrong look can set off any man or woman already driven past their boiling point. A Hot and Sultry Night for Crime, edited by internationally-bestselling author Jeffery Deaver, features 20 stories of people not just the torrid weather, but all different kinds of heat. From a retired police chief pitching in on a missing dog report that leads to him solving a murder to a mystery of Southern manners that proves the heat brings out the worst in everybody to a Los Angeles gumshoe who goes to a movie to cool off, but finds a still-warm body inside the theater, these mystery stories all prove that when the temperature rises, anyone can go crazy from the heat, and the most cold-blooded crimes can be committed during the hottest, darkest nights… This volume contains the following award-winning or nominated stories: “Lady on Ice” by Loren D. Estleman, winner of the 2003 Shamus Award for Best Short Story; “Green Heat” by Angela Zeman, selected for The Best American Mystery Short Stories 2004, edited by Nelson DeMille and Otto Penzler; and “War Crimes” by G. Miki Hayden and “Child Support” by Ronnie Klaskin were both nominated for the Best Short Story Macavity Award. Jeffrey Deaver David Handler Ronnie Klaskin Toni L.P. Kelner Suzanne C. Johnson Loren D. Estleman John Lutz Gary Brandner Mat Coward Angela Zeman Robert Lee Hall Tim Myers G. Miki Hayden Jeremiah Healy Alan Cook David Bart Ana Rainwater Sinclair Browning Marilyn Wallace Carolyn Wheat




A Choice of Murders


Book Description

WHEN IT COMES TO MURDER, THERE'S ALWAYS A CHOICE… The only thing more varied than how people are killed is the many, many ways people try to get away with this terrible crime. Now masterful mystery writer Dorothy Salisbury Davis brings together 23 classic stories of crime and suspense, whodunits and detective stories from some of the finest authors of the 1950s. Ross Macdonald’s classic P.I. Lew Archer takes a chilling case in California, where the mob isn't the only deadly thing under the West Coast sun. Margaret Millar brings us the tale of the couple next door who ensnares their neighbor in a tangled web of love and deception. Margaret Manners invites us to a bar for a drink and a quick little story of a con man who got what he deserved—and how the man accused of his murder walked free. And Michael Gilbert's brilliant detective Gladwyn Hughes must get to the bottom of an ambassador assassinated in front of forty-five witnesses before a war breaks out in Europe over the murder. Twenty-three stories of criminals, victims, and always, always multiple choices of murder… Featuring stories by: ROBERT ARTHUR LAWRENCE G. BLOCHMAN ANTHONY BOUCHER WENZELL BROWN ANDREW CARVE MIGNON G. EBERHART STANLEY ELLIN ANTHONY GILBERT MICHAEL GILBERT RYERSON JOHNSON HELEN KASSON JAMES A. KIRCH ROSS MACDONALD MARGARET MANNERS STEPHEN MARLOWE MARGARET MILLAR STUART PALMER JOHN BASYE PRICE ELLERY QUEEN MARC SEYMOUR RUTHVEN TODD LAWRENCE TREAT ROBERT TURNER




The Crime of My Life


Book Description

A VERY SPECIAL MYSTERY ANTHOLOGY FEATURING THE BEST BY THE BEST… In 1984, Mystery Writers of America brought together a roster of authors that has rarely been equaled before or since. Every living MWA President (including several who were also Grand Masters) was asked to select one of their own published stories and write a brief introduction as to why it was their favorite one. The resulting volume, edited under the keen eye of author and screenwriter Brian Garfield, contains some of the finest crime and mystery stories of the previous 50 years. Dorothy Salisbury Davis delights with tale of a most unusual art “heist.” Master of the macabre Robert Bloch is in fine form with a story of a con man who takes advantage of lonely women, until he meets his match in deception. Helen McCloy goes to the other side of the world for her engrossing story of 19th century China. John D. MacDonald introduces us to a salesman suffering from the wickedest of hangovers, and bestselling French author Georges Simenon tells a cat-and-mouse tale between a mild-mannered tailor and the serial killer he believes is living across the street from him. Thirteen masterful tales of mystery and suspense, selected by the people who know them best—the authors themselves.




Odd Partners


Book Description

Unlikely pairs join forces to crack a slew of intriguing cases in an anthology edited by New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry, featuring original stories by Jacqueline Winspear, Jeffery Deaver, Allison Brennan, Charles Todd, and many more, including Perry herself. Throughout the annals of fiction, there have been many celebrated detective teams: Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. Nick and Nora Charles. Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings. Thomas and Charlotte Pitt. That last pair is the creation of beloved mystery writer Anne Perry, who, as the editor of Odd Partners and in conjunction with Mystery Writers of America, has enlisted some of today’s best mystery writers to craft all-new stories about unlikely duos who join forces—sometimes unwillingly—to solve beguiling whodunits. From Perry’s own entry, in which an English sergeant and his German counterpart set out to find a missing soldier during World War I, to a psychological tale of an airplane passenger who wakes up unsure of who he is and must enlist his fellow passengers to help him remember, to a historical mystery about a misguided witch-hunt and the unlikely couple that brings it down, each story deals in the wonderful complexities of human interactions. And not just human interactions: Honey bees avenge the death of their beekeeper, a wandering cat brings home clues to a murder, and a gray wolf and a fly fisherman in the Minnesota woods try to protect their land from a brash billionaire. Featuring work by New York Times bestselling authors, Edgar Award winners, and up-and-coming members of the Mystery Writers of America, these tales of friends, enemies, and pairs who lie somewhere in the middle will satisfy every type of mystery reader. With each author’s signature brand of suspense, these stories give new meaning to the word “teamwork.” Featuring stories by: Ace Atkins • Allison Brennan • Shelley Costa • Jeffery Deaver • Robert Dugoni • William Frank • Georgia Jeffries • Lou Kemp • William Kent Krueger • Joe R. Lansdale • Lisa Morton • Claire Ortalda • Anne Perry • Adele Polomski • Stephen Ross • Mark Thielman • Charles Todd • Jacqueline Winspear • Amanda Witt




Blood On Their Hands


Book Description

VIGILANTE? VICTIM? VILLAIN? Where is your breaking point? Would you defy the law in pursuit of justice? How far would you have to be pushed before you got…blood on your hands? Nineteen gripping crime and mystery stories reveal the transgressions ordinary people commit when they feel they have no other choice. What should be a marriage of wealth and privilege contains only dark secrets of the heart. A long-ago crime of passion on the lake returns to haunt everyone involved. A widow plots a unique revenge against the man who indirectly killed her husband. And an amateur detective tries to solve the murder of two exotic dancers…and finds a killer hiding in plain sight. Edited and with a new foreword by New York Times-bestselling author and Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Lawrence Block, Blood on Their Hands features these and other tales of men and women who have crossed that line between law and lawlessness. Read on to find out who gets away with it…and who doesn’t…




Crime Hits Home


Book Description

*An Anthony Award 2023 Finalist* The newest anthology from Mystery Writers of America explores the theme of home and the crimes that endanger it, with stories by Ellen Hart, Naomi Hirahara, Walter Mosley, Sara Paretsky and more. Everyone comes from someplace. Everyone has somewhere they feel safe. Some people have found their home and are content where they are. Others feel trapped and yearn to go somewhere else. Many are somewhere else and yearn to go back. But evenin these safest of places, sometimes…crime hits home. What happens then? In this volume, MWA brings together some of today’s biggest crime writers—and some of our most exciting new talents—to consider this question. Each writer has defined home as they see fit: a place, a group, a feeling. The crime can come from without or within. What happens when crime hits home? Featuring stories from: Naomi Hirahara David Bart Sara Paretsky Susan Breen Gary Phillips Neil S. Plakcy Renee James Connie Johnson Hambley Gabino Iglesias A.P. Jamison Walter Mosley Tori Eldridge Ellen Hart G. Miki Hayden Jonathan Santlofer Jonathan Stone Ovidia Yu Bonnie Hearn Hill Steve Liskow S.J. Rozan




The Lethal Sex


Book Description

THE FAIRER SEX? NOT THESE LADIES… The female of the species is absolutely deadlier than the male in these 14 cunningly-crafted tales of suspense, crimes of passion, and murder, all by women writers. Edited by MWA Grandmaster and bestselling mystery author John D. MacDonald, these bone-chilling stories show the depths both men and women will stoop to get what they want. Christianna Brand brings us a story of two sisters who engage in the ultimate cat-and-mouse game, with the prize being their lives. A woman accustomed to the finer things appears in Margaret Manners’ twisting tale of a socialite who will go to any lengths to keep what’s hers. Carolyn Thomas spins a tale of long-overdue revenge in the balmy Caribbean. From Veronica Parker Johns come the story of a cheating wife who’s too clever for her own good. And Juanita Sheridan delivers a marriage slipping toward disaster amid the tropical paradise of Hawaii. Fourteen tales of scheming women (and even a few dangerous men) told by the very best classic women mystery writers as they reveal…The Lethal Sex.




Crimes by Moonlight


Book Description

A winning mystery collection edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris—featuring an original Sookie Stackhouse story. Nighttime is the perfect time for the perfect crime—especially in the realm of the paranormal. Featuring fascinating, frightening, and sometimes funny stories by Mystery Writers of America including Carolyn Hart, Barbara D'Amato, Margart Maron, Max Allan Collins and Mickey Spillane, and Elaine Viets, Crimes by Moonlight is your portal to the dark side and all its wonders.




The Goodbye Man


Book Description

THE INSPIRATION FOR THE CBS ORIGINAL SERIES TRACKER In this twisty thriller from the New York Times bestselling master of suspense, reward-seeker Colter Shaw infiltrates a sinister cult after learning that the only way to get somebody out...is to go in. In the wilderness of Washington State, expert tracker Colter Shaw has located two young men accused of a terrible hate crime. But when his pursuit takes a shocking and tragic turn, Shaw becomes desperate to discover what went so horribly wrong and if he is to blame. Shaw's search for answers leads him to a shadowy organization that bills itself as a grief support group. But is it truly it a community that consoles the bereaved? Or a dangerous cult with a growing body count? Undercover, Shaw joins the mysterious group, risking everything despite the fact that no reward is on offer. He soon finds that some people will stop at nothing to keep their secrets hidden...and to make sure that he or those close to him say “goodbye” forever.




Roadside Crosses


Book Description

When a troubled teenager is pushed over the edge by cyber-bullies, leading to a series of vengeful murders, body-language expert Kathryn Dance and Deputy Michael O'Neil pursue the teenager when he disappears.