The Midas Murders


Book Description

DIVIn the second novel by the international bestselling Pieter Aspe, Inspector Van In races against the clock to thwart a series of terrorist plots One quiet snow-covered Sunday morning in Bruges, a prominent business executive is found dead in the streets, apparently due to an alcoholic hemorrhage, but for Inspector Van In, there is something about the autopsy that does not add up. When he questions the businessman’s friend, a Dutchman, he too is found dead the next morning, burned to death in a house fire. When there is an explosion in the middle of a popular tourist area in downtown Bruges, Van In strives to find the connection between the three incidents, but no one is coming forward to claim responsibility for this terrorist attack. Just an anonymous letter to the police, threatening more bombings—unless they cooperate with a series of demands that would undermine the entire city government. Aided by the spunky and beautiful assistant DA, Hannelore Martens, Inspector Van In finds himself enmeshed in the case that threatens not just the lives of countless innocent people, but the heart of the city he loves. /div




The Pieter Van In Mysteries


Book Description

Four gripping police procedurals set in Bruges, starring “a brusque cop with every bad habit you can think of” (Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review). Featuring the bad-tempered, libidinous, alcoholic but skilled police investigator Deputy Commissioner Pieter Van In, these four gritty crime novels from a #1 international bestselling author reveal the darker side of the beautiful Belgian city of Bruges. The Square of Revenge: The perpetrators who broke into an elite jewelry store in Bruges stole nothing, but dissolved a fortune in priceless gems in jars of powerful acid—a perplexing crime that entangles Deputy Commissioner Pieter Van In and his beautiful colleague, assistant district attorney Hannelore Martens, in a wealthy family’s darkest, deadliest secrets. The Midas Murders: Two suspicious deaths and an explosion at a popular tourist site lead Van In and Martens into the heart of a terrorist nightmare that could leave their beloved Bruges in ruins. From Bruges with Love: The discovery of a thirty-year-old skeleton during the restoration of a farmhouse pits Van In against high-level Belgian officials determined to prevent the detective from digging too deeply into the house’s sordid and terrible past. The Fourth Figure: In this novel, nominated for a Hercule Poirot Award, Deputy Commissioner Van In’s investigation of a young woman’s bizarre death is a prelude to a massacre, and it places him in the rifle sights of a sinister satanic cult. In the vein of Georges Simenon’s Inspector Maigret, “Aspe’s writing is crisp and his characters memorable” (Booklist).




Killer Looks


Book Description

Going home is murder for reporter Kate Kelly. On a trip to her parents' home in Williamsburg, Virginia, Kate is involved in a hit-and-run accident which spirals into a web of mistaken identity, murder, and old family secrets. Before she knows it, bodies pile up and accusing fingers are pointed in her direction.




The Last Bling King


Book Description

Can fame be switched off? A group of revolutionaries called the League for the Liberation of Nobodies have concocted an ingenious plan and they've targeted the year's most glittering celebrity occasion: Oscar Night. The Last Bling King is the story of how ordinary men and women rose up against celebrities and the super rich, became the people they wanted to be, and changed the world forever. This is the 21st Century antidote to "Atlas Shrugged", Ayn Rand's best selling paean to wealth.




Mystery Women


Book Description

Edgar- and Agatha-nominated author Colleen Barnett here updates her essential reference for readers and writers of mystery, examining women who detect, women as sleuths, and the evolving roles of women in professions and in society.




The Real-Town Murders


Book Description

Alma is a private detective in a near-future England, a country desperately trying to tempt people away from the delights of Shine, the immersive successor to the internet. But most people are happy to spend their lives plugged in, and the country is decaying. Alma's partner is ill, and has to be treated without fail every 4 hours, a task that only Alma can do. If she misses the 5 minute window her lover will die. She is one of the few not to access the Shine. So when Alma is called to an automated car factory to be shown an impossible death and finds herself caught up in a political coup, she knows that getting too deep may leave her unable to get home. What follows is a fast-paced Hitchcockian thriller as Alma evades arrest, digs into the conspiracy, and tries to work out how on earth a dead body appeared in the boot of a freshly-made car in a fully-automated factory.




The Fourth Figure


Book Description

Nominated for the Hercule Poirot Award: Commissioner Pieter Van In must find the link between members of a satanic conspiracy and a young woman’s death A young woman is found dead in the canal outside her Bruges apartment building. But what seems like a clear-cut suicide evolves into something much more complex when Commissioner Pieter Van In uncovers the girl’s involvement in a satanic sect. Who is the mysterious Venex, and why does he inspire such devotion from his disciples? Complicating the investigation further, Van In’s boss allows beautiful journalist Saartje Maes to profile the case, sparking tension with the commissioner’s expectant wife, District Attorney Hannelore Martens. As a horrific tragedy shocks the city, Van In seems to be surrounded by secrets. And though exposing them will lead him to the truth, it will also pit him against the very police force to which he’s devoted his life. A Belgian national bestseller, The Fourth Figure has been reprinted in Dutch seventeen times. It is the 4th book in the Pieter Van In Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.




The Square of Revenge


Book Description

The #1 international bestselling crime thriller that introduces Belgian detective Pieter Van In, “a brusque cop with every bad habit you can think of” (The New York Times Book Review). The beautiful medieval architecture of Bruges belies the dark longings of her residents. When the wealthy and powerful Ludovic Degroof’s jewelry store is robbed, nothing is stolen, but the jewels have been dissolved in jars of aqua regia, an acid so strong that it can melt even gold. In the empty safe is a scrap of paper on which a strange square has been drawn. At first, Inspector Van In pays little attention to the paper, focusing on the bizarre nature of the burglary. But when Degroof’s children begin to receive letters with this same enigmatic square, Van In and the beautiful new District Attorney, Hannelore Martens, find themselves engaged in solving the mystery of a complex web of Latin phrases, a baroness’ fallen family, and Degroof’s unsettling relationship with a hostage grandchild, who is being ransomed for a priceless collection of art.




Sequels


Book Description

A guide to series fiction lists popular series, identifies novels by character, and offers guidance on the order in which to read unnumbered series.




Who Killed...? Pittsburgh, Pa


Book Description

Who Killed...? Pittsburgh depicts 20 of Pittsburgh's most notorious, heinous, and mysterious unsolved murders. Through laborious research and interviews with investigators and families of the victims, investigative reporter Jack Swint has laid out particulars of these unsolved crimes. These chapter-length sketches provide a glimpse into twenty unsolved murders: from the frustrations of law enforcement officials, to grieving family members, to the coping of local communities trying to make sense of the random acts of madness. As a whole, Who Killed...? Pittsburgh reveals the dark underbelly of Pennsylvania communities still struggling to diffuse the rage and brutality that so many of its inhabitants possess.