Behind the velvet ropes and closed curtains, buried in the back lots, you’ll find the darker side of the spotlight. It’s where stars are created overnight, and burn out just as quick. Where deals are made to be broken, and fame and fortune are paid for in blood. With an outstanding ensemble cast of today’s brightest talents, Mystery Writers of America presents this collection of all-new short stories of movies, music, murder, and mayhem will take you from vaudeville to Vegas, from the bright lights to the back alleys, and make it chillingly clear that in the world of entertainment, if you want to make it, you may have to step on some people—or over their dead bodies.
These all-new short stories of movies, music, murder, and mayhem by today's brightest talents will take you from vaudeville to Vegas, and make it chillingly clear that in the world of entertainment, if you want to make it, you may have to step on some people-or over their dead bodies... Includes first-run stories from € Carolyn Wheat € John Lutz € Elaine Viets € Parnell Hall € Stuart M. Kaminsky € Edward D. Hoch € Annette Meyers € Angela Zeman € David Bart € Bob Shayne € Mark Terry € Gary Phillips € Suzanne Shaphren € Libby Fischer Hellman € Charles Ardai € Gregg Andrew Hurwitz € Steve Hockensmith € Shelley Freydont € Robert Lopresti € Mat Coward
Sequel to the author's mystery debut, "The Morning show murders." Professional chef turned amateur sleuth Billy Blessing finds himself in hot water, when a brutal killing cancels a TV show -- and its host -- during it debut. -- Dust jacket.
“Burlesque is the background . . . [and] the background is perfect. Recommended for the readers who feel better when their eyebrows are raised.” —The New Yorker A mystery set in the underworld of burlesque theater, The G-String Murders was penned in 1941 by the legendary queen of the stripteasers—the witty and wisecracking Gypsy Rose Lee. Narrating a twisted tale of a backstage double murder, Lee provides a fascinating look behind the scenes of burlesque, richly populated by the likes of strippers Lolita LaVerne and Gee Gee Graham, comic Biff Brannigan and Siggy the g-string salesman. This is a world where women struggle to earn a living performing bumps and grinds, have gangster boyfriends, sip beer between acts and pay their own way at dinner. Femmes Fatales restores to print the best of women’s writing in the classic pulp genres of the mid-20th century. From mystery to hard-boiled noir to taboo lesbian romance, these rediscovered queens of pulp offer subversive perspectives on a turbulent era. Enjoy the series: Bedelia; Bunny Lake Is Missing; By Cecile; The G-String Murders; The Girls in 3-B; Laura; The Man Who Loved His Wife; Mother Finds a Body; Now, Voyager; Return to Lesbos; Skyscraper; Stranger on Lesbos; Stella Dallas; Women’s Barracks. “[Lee’s] novel is a rich and lusty job, brimming over with infectious vitality and a hilarious jargon of her own.” —Life “A lurid, witty and highly competent detective story . . . Rich show business vocabulary and stage door gags make her book almost a social document . . . The G-String Murders builds up to a hair-raising climax.” —Time
Wollie Shelley, the plucky amateur sleuth Kirkus Reviews called “funny, brave, smart, and altogether the fetchingest crime heroine since the early Stephanie Plum,” returns to face suspect lovers and unlovable suspects in this hilarious sequel to Dating Dead Men. Wollie Shelley is a greeting card artist struggling to keep afloat financially and to pursue—despite a series of recent disasters—the search for the love of her life. She reluctantly agrees to be a contestant on the reality television show Biological Clock. The show’s premise: Six eligible singles date each other, and the audience votes on which couple would make the best parents. Alas, Wollie isn’t having much luck finding a man she’d like to date “off the air,” much less father her child. As her own biological clock ticks away, Wollie gets caught up in a much more pressing demand on her time. Her friend Annika has vanished into thin air, and Wollie is convinced that she’s in grave danger. When Wollie reports the disappearance to the Los Angeles Police Department, however, the detective assigned to the case seems more interested in dating Wollie than in finding her friend. So Wollie springs into action—and lands right in the middle of an FBI investigation into an international drug cartel. She soon finds herself being stalked by an assortment of threatening characters, including her fellow television contestants, who will stop at nothing to beat the clock. With Dating Is Murder, Kozak delivers another sparkling treasure, a laugh-out-loud-funny, literate mystery for readers of Janet Evanovich and Sue Grafton and for Kozak’s own growing legion of fans.
History, mystery, murder, and mad science accompany plucky Victorian newspaper reporter Nellie Bly when she travels to the haunted moors of England to investigate the mysterious death of another journalist alongside H.G. Wells, Oscar Wilde, and Arthur Conan Doyle.
When Libby and her sister Bernie cater a vampire-themed high school reunion in honor of best-selling author Laird Wrenn, they find themselves knee-deep in murder when Wrenn drops dead after dinner and Libby stands accused of the crime, forcing the dynamic duo to whip up the truth. 10,000 first printing.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • LOOK FOR THE NETFLIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY SERIES • “Both an American tragedy and [Grisham’s] strongest legal thriller yet, all the more gripping because it happens to be true.”—Entertainment Weekly John Grisham’s first work of nonfiction: a true crime masterpiece that tells the story of small town justice gone terribly awry. In the Major League draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the state of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A’s, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big league glory. Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits. He began to show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept twenty hours a day on her sofa. In 1982, a twenty-one-year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with capital murder. With no physical evidence, the prosecution’s case was built on junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to death row. If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you. Don’t miss Framed, John Grisham’s first work of nonfiction since The Innocent Man, co-authored with Centurion Ministries founder Jim McCloskey.
After Jackson Dubuisson, a client of her housecleaning service, is found murdered in his study, Charlotte LaRue finds herself unwillingly drawn into the mystery when those who knew the victim insist on confiding in her.
