A collection of 16 original stories from today's foremost fiction writers--including Ed McBain, Jonathan Kellerman, Sara Paretsky, Mary Higgins Clark, Elmore Leonard, James Crumley, John Gardner, Anne Perry, Donna Tartt, Shel Silverstein, Bobbie Ann Mason, Carol Higgins Clark, William J. Caunitz, Michael Malone, and Faye Kellerman--each a brilliant mystery exploring that peculiar area that lies between love and death.
'A Luis Mendoza story means superlative suspense' Los Angeles Times An earthquake shakes Southern California and the Los Angeles Police Department. With no air-conditioning and a temperature around 98 degrees the heat is turned up when there's a triple shooting of a highly respected Doctor, his wife and his nurse. Can Lieutenant Luis Mendoza and his team solve the case while chaos reigns around them?
With the inside eight-page photo section published in black and white, the story of the 2015 capital murder of 96-year-old WW II vet Marty Knell in Texas's semi-tropical Rio Grande Valley just to rob him of the sizeable estate he and his deceased wife had spent decades building, underscores two polar opposites of the human spectrum: total depravity and unbridled heroism. For most of their lives, people like Monica Melissa Palacios Patterson, who was 47 when she committed the dirty deed, have proven to be failures once they move into their adult years after living a relatively pampered existence during their formative years. Their family members may flourish - business, politics -- but they never seem able to match their success. Instead, they leave in their wake failed business ventures, failed personal relationships. Ironically, in the end, Patterson did turn out to be successful at something. It's just that her two talents were illegal, not to mention immoral - murder and theft. As a side gig, the killer was stealing from the McAllen-based "hospice" where she served as its administrator caring for the dying, using some of the stolen money for some fun adventures. Like the time she flew to Vegas with her mother-in-law and married lover aboard the same flight, albeit seated in different rows. With two rooms booked at Caesars, life could be a blast. Then someone had to go to the Texas Rangers and blab about the murder, just because she couldn't keep her mouth shut, and Patterson could only watch as her world began to crumble. Oh, what a tangled web we weave...
Last November, I found a dead body inside the freezer that my roommate keeps inside the garage. My first thought was to call the police, but Jignesh hadn't paid his share of the rent just yet. It wasn't due until the thirtieth, and you know how difficult it is to find people who pay on time. Jignesh always does. Also, he had season tickets for the LA Opera, and well . . . Madame Butterfly. Tosca. The Flying Dutchman . . . at the Dorothy Chandler . . . you cannot say no to that, can you? Well, it's been a few good months now--Madame Butterfly was just superb, thank you. However, last Friday, I found a second body inside that stupid freezer in the garage. This time I'm evicting Jignesh. My house isn't a mortuary . . . alas, I need to come up with some money first. You'll understand, therefore, that I desperately need to sell this novel. Just enough copies to help me survive until I find a job . . . what could I do that doesn't demand too much effort? We have a real treasure here, anyhow. Some chapters are almost but not quite pornographic. You could safely lend this to nana afterward!
THE FIRST IN A NEW BOOK THEMED COZY MYSTERY SERIES You won't be able to stop turning the pages of this small town mystery, which is: Perfect for fans of Ellery Adams and Lorna Barrett A riveting bookclub cozy mystery Full of quirky, Southern charm Not every murder is by the book... As Sugar Springs gears up for its all-class high school reunion, Mississippi bookstore owner Arlo Stanley prepares to launch her largest event: a book-signing with the town's legendary alum and bestselling author, Wally Harrison. That's when Wally is discovered dead outside of Arlo's front door and her best friend is questioned for the crime. When the elderly ladies of Arlo's Friday Night Book Club start to investigate, Arlo has no choice but to follow behind to keep them out of trouble. Yet with Wally's reputation, the suspect list only grows longer—his betrayed wife, his disgruntled assistant, even the local man who holds a grudge from a long-ago accident. Between running interference with the book club and otherwise keeping it all together, Arlo anxiously works to get Chloe out of jail. And amidst it all, her one-time boyfriend-turned-private-eye returns to town, just another distraction while she digs to uncover the truth around Wally's death and just what Sugar Springs secret could have led to his murder. If you love women's murder club books, Amy Lillard's cozy mysteries are just for you!
Society columnist Nora Blackbird is thrust into the world of celebrity tabloid gossip when a billionaire buys the farm…. Nora’s assigned to write a profile on billionaire fashion designer Swain Starr, who recently retired to build a high-tech organic farm with his new wife, Zephyr, a former supermodel. But before Nora can get the story, the mogul is murdered. And now her boss wants her to snap up an exclusive on who killed Starr before the cops do. But solving this murder won’t be easy with a family as colorful as Nora’s. Mick, her sort-of husband, is associating with unsavory characters from his past. Her sister Libby is transforming into a stage mom for her diabolical twins. And Emma, the youngest Blackbird, is mysteriously kicked out of the house by Mick. Nora’s home life may be hogging the spotlight, but there’s also a matter of Starr’s missing pig, which just might be the key to solving this mystery and the way Nora can bring home the bacon….
Vincent Padock is a successful entrepreneur. The journalist Lisa Armond, traumatized by the loss of her close ones, falls in love with the impressive man. Her 15-year-old daughter, Eva, is against the relationship. Vincent Padock is a psychopath, a merciless serial killer. He decides to settle down with Lisa and Eva and start a family life without deaths or blood. But he has to kill once more. As a gift of love! Eva is suspicious. She wants to protect her mother from the uncanny character and hatches an ominous plan that endangers not only her. Meanwhile, the former LKA (State Criminal Office) investigator Will Prenker is after the murderer. His pursuit leads him to the heart of obscurity because the disaster can no longer be stopped and plunges everyone involved into a deadly maelstrom. An incredibly captivating thriller with gruesome and surprising twists, narrated in a disturbingly haunting manner from the perspective of the perpetrator.
Small-town Texas sheriff Dan Rhodes is in for another puzzling mystery in this next in the entertaining, award-winning series Before classes start one morning, the body of English instructor Earl Wellington is found outside the building of the community college. Wellington was clearly involved in a struggle with someone and has died as a result. Sheriff Dan Rhodes pursues and arrests Ike Terrell, a student who was fleeing the campus. Ike's father is Able Terrell, a survivalist who has withdrawn from society and lives in a gated compound. He's not happy that his son has chosen to attend the college, and he's even less happy with the arrest. Rhodes discovers that Wellington and Ike had had a confrontation over a paper that Wellington insisted Ike plagiarized. Wellington also had had a confrontation with the dean and was generally disliked by the students. As the number of suspects increases, it's up to Rhodes to solve the murder while also dealing with an amusing but frustrating staff, a professor who wants to be a cop, and all the other normal occurrences that can wreak havoc in a small town. Bill Crider's Compound Murder is an enjoyable police procedural filled with surprises, chuckles, and a quirky cast that will captivate mystery readers.
This book offers a unique framework for examining the various types of family murder-delving into the commonalities, the differences, and society's misconceptions and providing readers with a comprehensive guide to begin to understand these tragedies.
