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An ex-spy and his sidekick hunt for a rogue assassin of Nazi war criminalsThomas is without peer in American suspense (Los Angeles Times). Nicolae Polscaru, a three-and-a-half-foot-tall dwarf, is tossed into a Hollywood swimming pool by four drunken screenwriters, who take bets on how long he can tread water. Minor Jackson, his OSS training still fresh a year after World War IIs end, beats the bullies senseless and pulls Nicolae from the water. A friendship is born. Jackson is broke, his spying days over, and Nicolae offers him a job. A former spy himself, the globetrotting Romanian has a commission to find Kurt Oppenheimer, an expert assassin of high-ranking Nazis. Kurt wont stop killing, no matter what the bloodshed will do to the fragile world peace, and the Soviets, the British, and the remains of the Nazi High Command all want his head. Jackson will beat them all to finding Kurtunless his new friend betrays him first.

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Mac McCorkle and Mike Padillo team up to help twin bodyguards in a thrilling crime caper fromAmericas best storyteller (The New York Times Book Review). The twins who walk into Mac McCorkles bar look identical, despite their differing genders. Their names are Wanda and Walter Gothar, and from the steel in their eyes its apparent that their business isnt the friendly kind. Theyve come seeking help from Mac and his partner, Padilla, an ex-CIA agent who has skulked in the worlds darkest corners. Anxious for a big payday, the twins took an assignment out of their depth, working as bodyguards for a Saudi prince who came to Washington to sign an oil deal. The job fell apart, and now the twins are being pursued by the worlds two finest killerswho take out Walter without breaking a sweat. Now Mac and Padilla are faced with a choice: Save Wanda, or join her in the grave.

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A murder in a crowded Broadway theater presents a full house of suspectsthe first in this classic mystery series starring Ellery Queen! Despite the dismal Broadway season, Gunplay continues to draw crowds. A gangland spectacle, its packed to the gills with action, explosions, and gunfire. In fact, Gunplay is so loud that no one notices the killing of Monte Field. In a sold-out theater, Field is found dead partway through the second act, surrounded by empty seats. The police hold the crowd and call for the one man who can untangle this daring murder: Inspector Richard Queen. With the help of his son Ellery, a bibliophile and novelist whose imagination can solve any crime, the Inspector attacks this seemingly impenetrable mystery. Anyone in the theater could have killed the unscrupulous lawyer, and several had the motive. Only Ellery Queen, in his debut novel, can decipher the clue of the dead mans missing top hat.

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After a brutal attack on her sister, Maggie MacGowen searches L.A. for the gunmanWhen Maggie MacGowen was a girl, her sister Emily lived the life of a leftist radical on the run from the FBI. Twenty-two years after the FBI finally caught her, Emily lives in Los Angeles, a doctor at a free clinic that tends to the citys down and out. When one of her old radical buddies comes out of hiding and surrenders to the police, their long-ago crimes become front-page news. Emily calls Maggie, now a documentary filmmaker, and asks her to come visit. By the time Maggie arrives in Los Angeles, Emily is nearly dead. The bullet, delivered point-blank in broad daylight, sent Emily into a coma. It seems a random act of violence, but Maggie digs deeper. She finds dark secrets in her sisters past, and a conspiracy that wont end until all those who ask questions are silenced.

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"Merriment, mayhem and a plot that really keeps you guessing" from the Grand Master of Mystery and author of the John Dortmunder novels (Kirkus Reviews).

 


The corpse isn't anybody speciala low-level drug courierbut it has been so long since the organization's last grand funeral that Nick Rovito decides to give the departed a big send-off. He pays for a huge church, a procession of Cadillacs, and an ocean of flowers, and enjoys the affair until he learns the dead man is going to his grave wearing the blue suit. Rovito summons Engel, his right-hand man, and tells him to get a shovel.


 


Inside the lining of the blue suit jacket is $250,000 worth of uncut heroin, smuggled back from Baltimore the day the courier died. When Engel's shovel strikes coffin, he braces himself for the encounter with the dead man. But the coffin is empty, the heroin gone, and Engel has no choice but to track down the missing body or face his boss's wrath.

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 A jilted lover finds himself implicated in a murderWhen John Holland proposed to his girlfriend, Tracy, she imposed a 31-day waiting period before they could see each other again. Its day 30, and Holland travels to her Long Island home for their reunion, only to receive the shock of his life when he meets Tracys fiance, Roger Drake. Tracys mother invites Holland to stay there and win back Tracys love, and within a few hours, Drake is dead. As it turns out, Drake was a private detective hired by Tracy as a test for her belovedand it looks like Holland failed. Meanwhile, Drakes boss, hardnosed detective Sam Crombie, descends on the home, looking to avenge his comrade.

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Flash Casey snaps a photo that holds the key to a corrupt lawyers murderCasey shouldnt have had to go back for more pictures of Stanford Endicott. He was at the court with the other newspaper photographers when the wealthy lawyer was arraigned, and got pictures of him smiling as he put on a hat to hide his bald head. But before Casey can get the negatives developed, a pair of urchins steal his camera case and expose the plates to the sun. At his editors orders, Casey visits Endicotts office for another round of photos. The picture he takes there is altogether more interesting: Stanford Endicott, dead on his office floor. Casey hears a sound in the next room and knows the murderer is close. He gives chase out the front door, and takes a picture just as the killer drives away. Suddenly, Flash Casey has a bigger story than he bargained for.

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One of Kents pictures holds the secret to a wealthy mans deathNo one has seen titan of industry John Caldwell for nine years when he hires Kent Murdock to take his picture. Caldwell is preparing a landmark announcement, and wants Bostons finest newspaper photographer there to document it. Murdock chafes at the stuffy environment of the Caldwell homeparticularly when Caldwells heir instructs him to take only one picture. Using an infrared flash, Murdock sneaks a second shot. Less than an hour later, John Caldwell is dead. Murdock makes a print of his second photo, hoping to find something that explains the strange ways of the Caldwell clan. Before he can examine it, the familys thugs assault him in the dark room, destroying the picture. The photo is gone, but theres no stopping Kent Murdock from learning whats rotten in the Caldwell estate.

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While taking pictures at a society wedding, Kent Murdock stumbles upon a murderEvery society family has skeletons in its closets, but only the Cannings have a fresh corpse. Kent Murdock finds the dead man while taking pictures at the wedding of Patricia Canning and Roger Armington, scions of Bostons most prominentand camera-shyfamilies. Patricia and Murdock have been friends for years, and she invited him to photograph the wedding against her parents wishes. For the killer, Murdocks appearance is very bad luck indeed. The dead man turns out to be Patricias ex-husband, whom she spent three days married to before the family pressured him into an annulment. He traveled to Boston in search of blackmail and found death instead. Whichever Canning killed him had hoped to sweep the murder under the rug. But Kent Murdocks camera has a way of finding the truth, no matter how ugly it may be.

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Hoodlums steal a worthless painting, and Kent Murdock wants to know whyA collection of valuable Italian paintings finds its way to Boston, placed in the care of Professor Andrade. Before passing them to a museum, the professor hires newspaper photographer Kent Murdock to document them. On his way to the assignment, Murdock is stopped by a gunman named Erloff, who steals the reporters identificationand pays his own visit to the professor. But Erloff is not after the expensive stuff. He cracks Andrade on the skull and leaves with nothing but a worthless painting of a green-hued Venus. Murdock is perplexed. Why all the trouble for an ugly piece of modern art? But the jade Venus holds a terrible secretand blood will flow before it comes to light.

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An ex-CIA operative is on the run from his former employers in this brutal, moving thriller from the author of Six Days of the Condor (James Ellroy).   Jud is not too drunk to recognize the assassin. How the hit man found him in this hard-bitten roadhouse, Jud isnt sure, but hes not going down without a fight. His hands shaking too much for close combat, Jud perches himself on the bars roof and drops onto the assassin as he steps out into the darkness. Though Jud only meant to stun, the man is dead. Jud doesnt care.   Quitting the CIA hasnt been easy. Once one of the agencys top killers, Juds skills have been dulled by civilian life, and his only chance of survival is to go into hiding. But before disappearing completely, he calls one of the few people he can trust, DC journalist Nick Kelley. Together, theyre about to take on the deadly rot at the heart of the CIA.   James Grady revolutionized the thriller genre with his CIA analyst codenamed Condor, immortalized by Robert Redford in Three Days of the Condor, and currently portrayed by Max Irons in the all-new TV series Condor. In The Nature of the Game, Grady introduces another complex hero in a brooding, ambitious thriller that offers a wrap-up of everything awful in the spy business (Kirkus Reviews).

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 An old friend of Kent Murdocks is murdered, leaving him to take the fallIts been two years since Kent Murdock saw Sheila, and it only takes a few minutes to remember her flaws. While the Boston newspaper photographer was away fighting in the European war, Sheilas cold ambition took her out of the newsroom and into the studio, to write a radio show thats about to land her in the big time. The wallflower he once knew is now the center of attentionnot all of it pleasant. One night Murdock follows her home for a drink. It proves to be a deadly mistake. A drugged bottle of Scotch knocks Murdock out, and when he comes to, he finds Sheila dead, strangled on the floor. The Scotchthe only evidence of his innocenceis gone, and Murdock is the natural suspect for the beautiful young writers death. Which means hes going to have to find the killer himself.

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To steal a Caribbean inheritance, an American impersonates a prodigal sonThough his name is Duncan Ward, he lands in Barbados with a passport reading Jim MacQuade. The MacQuade family meets him at the airport with open arms, welcoming home the son who left the Caribbean over a decade earlier. Duncan knows Jim from college, and over the years has accumulated enough details of the MacQuade plantation to carry off the fraud. Old John MacQuade is near death, and Duncan hopes to win Jims piece of the disintegrating family fortune. Expecting a broken-down, heavily mortgaged farm, he finds a thriving business, one that is valuable enough for his supposed family to be on their guard. Someone has already tried to poison the old man in an attempt to kill him before he changes the will in Jims favor. If Duncan is found out, the family may not be amused by his lie.

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Edgar Award Finalist: A comical crime caper filled with action and imagination (The New York Times Book Review).  John Dortmunder leaves jail with ten dollars, a train ticket, and nothing to make money on but his good name. Thankfully, his reputation goes far. No one plans a caper better than Dortmunder. His friend Kelp picks him up in a stolen Cadillac and drives him away from Sing-Sing, telling a story of a $500,000 emerald that they just have to steal. Dortmunder doesnt hesitate to agree. The emerald is the crown jewel of a former British colony, lately granted independence and split into two nations: one for the Talabwo people, one for the Akinzi. The Akinzi have the stone, the Talabwo want it back, and their UN representative offers a fine payday to the men who can get it. Its not a simple heist, but after a few years in stir, Dortmunder could use the challenge.

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A marina owner gets caught up in a murder investigationThe girl in the water is unfamiliar to Don MacLaren. This is odd since, as the owner of the islands only boat dock, he knows everyone who steps foot on the small spit of land. He hoists the young swimmer out, and is helping her get warm when Oliver Kingsley, the islands wealthiest citizen, comes to collect her, claiming hes her husband. The girl refuses to leave with Kingsley, resulting in a brawl between the two men. In the morning Kingsley is found dead, and after the cops learn about the fight, they peg MacLaren as their chief suspect. As MacLaren struggles to understand the mystery behind the rich mans death, he finds that even the smallest island can hold deep secrets.

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It doesnt take a genius to see Albert Einsteins life is in danger, but it will take a hard-headed Hollywood PI to save him. Its all relative.   Its April 1942, the world is at war, and LA private detective Toby Peters has been summoned to Princeton, New Jersey, to deal with a situation of the utmost gravitythe worlds greatest physicist is being threatened. Blackmailers claim to have evidence that Albert Einstein has been passing nuclear secrets to Russia, and Nazi assassins want to do away with one of the most famous opponents of Hitlers rule. Sounds like a formula for disaster.   Peters is used to dealing with Hollywoods elitenot exactly a brain trustbut the East Coast is a new beat for him. Soon hes swept up in some serious Manhattan mayhem, trying to keep Einstein from harm but also trying to stay alive himself.   Incorporating cameos from Paul Robeson and Frank Sinatra, Edgar Awardwinning author Stuart M. Kaminsky has such a good time writing, and he so loves the period, that the reader is swept along willy-nilly (TheNew York Times Book Review).

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On the eve of Pearl Harbor, Howard Hughes hires Hollywood gumshoe Toby Peters to find stolen blueprints in the marvelously entertaining series (Newsday).   Millionaire Howard Hughes likes his secrets. He likes to keep themand he definitely doesnt like having them stolen. Hollywood PI Toby Peters has a rep for being discreet. So when the film tycoon and aviation magnate needs a detective to very privately investigate the theft of top-secret blueprints taken from his home during one of his fabulous parties, he summons Peters. But what starts as counter-espionage intrigue turns into a triple murder, and Peters soon finds himself bait for a killer.   As America is pulled into World War II, Peters is just trying to stay alive as a gunman chases him through a deserted television soundstage. With help from some unlikely alliesincluding Basil Rathbone, the silver screens Sherlock Holmes, and gangster/patriot Bugsy SiegelPeters is determined to dodge the bullets long enough to recover the blueprints before they fall into the wrong hands.   The Chicago Sun-Times calls the Toby Peters mysteries entertainment at its best as Edgar Awardwinning author Stuart Kaminsky takes readers on a rollicking tour of Hollywood in the forties.

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Someones gunning for John Wayne in this well-plotted mystery set in 1940s Hollywood featuring a wisecracking private eye (Publishers Weekly).   Something about Lewis Vances story doesnt add up. The guy claims to be John Waynes stand-in, and hes called Det. Toby Peters about a possible job involving the star. But when Peters meets him in a seedy hotel room, Vance slips him a mickey. After Peters comes to, his head pounding, he sees the real John Wayne pointing a .38 at him. Vance was not exactly a dead ringer for the Dukebut he is dead, lying on the hotel bed with a bullet hole drilled in his forehead. And its a dead heat as to whos more confusedthe gumshoe or the movie star.   On screen no one gets the drop on the Duke, but in real life someones trying to kill him. Wayne hires Peters to get to the bottom of things, and soon hes tangled up in a twisted conspiracy that also involves a dubious desk clerk named Teddy Spaghetti, the Russians, and none other than the Little Tramp himself, Charlie Chaplin.   As in the other entries in this series, Kaminskys use of period detail and his appealing renderings of real-life celebrities provide the strongest recommendations for this well-plotted mystery. Publishers Weekly

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Time is running out for surrealist painter Salvador Dali and a 1940s Hollywood PI: Fast-paced, well-plotted, consistently funny (The Philadelphia Inquirer).   Talk about surreal! An ax-wielding monk hacks at a door, while on the other side private detective Toby Peters is running as fast as his recently broken leg will allow, alongside Salvador Dali, dressed in a rabbit suit, repeatedly muttering grasshoppers as they try to make their escape.   It all started when Dali hired a gang of burglars to steal three of his own paintingsa publicity stunt that spiraled out of control when the thieves refused to give the missing masterpieces back. Dali hired Peters to find the artwork, but now it seems the pair may have painted themselves into a corner.   The flamboyant prankster-artist [Dali] holds his own among the heros circle of zany friends in Mr. Kaminskys Technicolor fantasy of 1940s Hollywood. The New York Times   Once again Kaminsky mixes the realin this case the surrealwith the fictional for a quick-paced, clever revisionist Hollywood romp. Publishers Weekly

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In a fun series with shades of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, a 1940s PI must find out whos gunning for Peter Lorre (TheSan Diego Union-Tribune).   Scaly-voiced and bug-eyed actor Peter Lorre has become one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood, especially after appearing in the Sam Spade crime drama, The Maltese Falcon, last year. Yet Hollywood PI Toby Peters still has to contend with his landlady believing the star of Think Fast, Mr. Moto, is Japanese. Whether playing an Asian detective or a weaselly villain, one role Lorre will probably never get is romantic leadexcept apparently in real life. Because the distraught dentist who shares offices with Peters insists his wife has run off with Peter Lorre and begs the detective to find her.   As it turns out, the boyfriend in question is a Peter Lorre impersonatorperhaps an even more bizarre romantic choice. But by the time Peters finds him, the mimic is doing a terrific imitation of a corpse. The bullet was meant for the real Lorre, who has just become the gumshoes clientwhether he likes it or not.   If you like your mysteries Sam Spade tough, with tongue-in-cheek and a touch of the theatrical, then the Toby Peters series is just your ticket. Houston Chronicle