Comedy Crime Fiction

Two crims. One schoolgirl. Someone's in trouble. Two dumb, wannabe criminals bite off more than they can chew when they abduct a schoolgirl from a particularly modern, angular suburban house. In the mould of Elmore Leonard or early Tarantino Blockhouse Blues and the Elmore Beast is a distinctly Australian story about kidnapping, obsession, and architecture.

Aspiring actress Elizabeth Smart lands her centre-stage role: her mutilated body is found dumped in North London's red light district. Clasped in her hand is a piece of human hair belonging to an unidentified body of a woman murdered two weeks ago. PC Donal lands himself a place on the murder squad just as his unconventional brother, journalist Finton, unearths the secret double life of Elizabeth. The bodies mount, each clinging to the strands of hair belonging to the previous victim.

'Are you waiting for Monsieur Bellivier, madame?' Helena Folasadu should of course say no. She doesn't know the man talking to her, she doesn't know Monsieur Bellivier, and she certainly isn't waiting for him. But, bored of life, and sparked by a whim, she says yes. The go-between leads her to a deserted floor in an office building and offers her a large sum of money to sit at a computer and forward emails to Monsieur Bellivier.

Paranoia-fuelled Zack Walker has trouble convincing his loved ones to obey his rules for keeping them out of harm's way. He's even uprooted his family and headed for the tranquillity of the suburbs. But then Zack stumbles upon a body, and a trail of deceit and murder leads right back to his own front door. Suddenly the 'burbs is not looking nearly so safe.... With a killer roaming around their neighbourhood and Zack's overactive imagination in overdrive, he's sure things can't get any worse.

IRS agent turned PI Mortimer Angel is relaxing in a hole-in-the-wall bar in a Reno casino when an attractive young girl hires him to find out who left her a cryptic message demanding a million dollars. At the girl’s house, Mort finds the body of missing rapper Jonnie Xenon - Jo-X to his legions of fans - hanging from the rafters with two bullet holes in him. Mort is shocked when he learns the identity of the girl’s father - and even more shocked when the father hires him to investigate the murder.

Was ist gut? Was ist böse? Diese skurrile, von schwarzem Humor angehauchte Komödie stellt so manche vermeintliche Gewissheit auf den Kopf. Zwei ältere Schwestern, Judy und Titty, leben mit ihrem Mops Filippo in einer etwas heruntergekommenen toskanischen Landvilla. Judy, die etwas Jüngere von beiden, war bereits in ihrer Jugend nach Italien ausgewandert, um dort als Wedding Planner zu arbeiten; ihre kettenrauchende Schwester Titty heiratete indes einen Engländer und zog erst nach dessen Tod in die Villa.

In a former life, Nick Lutz, sold cars in the Golden State. He had a wife and a young son, and they struggled along until Nick was shot in the head when a potential customer hijacked the car he was demonstrating. The incident sets off a bad-luck domino fall, and he loses an eye, his job, his family, and, eventually, his self-respect. With nothing left, Nick heads for Mexico, where he sheds his former self among an eclectic group of expats and locals, who fondly name him “Pirata” on account of his eye patch.

Hettie Bagshot has bitten off more than any cat could chew. As soon as she launches her No. 2 Feline Detective Agency, she's bucketed into a case: Furcross, a home for slightly older cats, has a nasty spate of bodysnatching, and three of the residents have been stolen from their graves. Hettie and her sidekick, Tilly, set out to reveal the terrible truth. In a haze of catnip and pastry, Hettie steers the Furcross Case to its conclusion, but will she get there before the body count rises - and the pies sell out?

Whatever happens, don't tell anyone what you did to Bee Larkham.... Jasper is not ordinary. In fact he would say he is extraordinary.... Synaesthesia paints the sounds of his world in a kaleidoscope of colours that no one else can see. But on Friday, he discovered a new colour - the colour of murder. He's sure something has happened to his neighbour, Bee Larkham, but no-one else seems to be taking it as seriously as they should be.

This thrilling, unpredictable, yet sometimes hilarious quest takes you from the fashionable London restaurant scene to the wild untamed jungles of the Cardamom Mountains, where an English baker and a Cambodian refugee search for a missing family and try to find a mythical plant, source of an incredible and unique spice.

In the style of Dashiell Hammett, ex-IRS agent turned gumshoe-in-training Mortimer Angel is approached by a beautiful hooker, Holiday, in a casino bar in Reno. Mort first met Holiday two months ago, but now learns that she's not really a hooker. She's a college engineering student, searching for her younger sister, Allie, who disappeared three months ago. Having seen Mort in the news, Holiday knows he's a PI who finds missing persons.

Ben, wandering hungry through the foggy back alleys of Limehouse, is spooked by news of an old man murdered in Hammersmith - and runs! He crosses a plank, slips through an iron door, and goes to sea with the coal. But so does the man who did the murder...and a very pretty lady who did not. On the way the Atlanta loses a stowaway, a pickpocket, a murderer, a supercrook, a wealthy passenger, the third officer and a lifeboat. And that is how Ben gets to Spain....

In seventy-two hours, a blockbuster expose will reveal Victoria Stevens's multibillion-dollar startup as a massive fraud. And Victoria has gone missing. Has she faked her death, leaving her husband, Guy Sarvananthan, to face the fallout—and potential jail time? Should Guy flee to his native Sri Lanka, an outcast and a failure? Or embrace denial? Opting for the latter, he takes the corporate jet to a private Caribbean island, where the 0.0001% have gathered to decide which one of the world's biggest problems to "eradicate forever."

Wilt Fusarium, a clueless American ad executive, unwittingly finds himself in the middle of political intrigue and revolution on the tiny island of Costa San Rica, while trying to save the ad agency's Choad Banana account. Complications and misunderstandings abound, as the island's despot leader thinks Wilt is a revolutionary, the revolutionaries think he's a government agent, the banana company thinks he's CIA, and the CIA, well, they don't know what to think.

Ellis Coldwater is a pretty easy-going bank robber. Wendy Larkin is a pretty woman—a little shy, a little nervous, and a little married. What happens when these two get together “on the job”? Whose recipe for living life will lead to the most happiness, the most laughter, and the least amount of jail time? Our tale jumps in immediately as this novel adroitly rolls up its sleeve to expose the funny bone of crime, love, right, wrong, the pursuit of money, happiness, the vagaries of humanity that gives life meaning.

Mi chiamo Grace Bernard e, con ogni probabilità, il mio nome non vi dice proprio niente. Nessuno mi conosce perché languisco dietro le sbarre per l’unico crimine che non ho commesso. Eppure, se devo dire la verità nient’altro che la verità, ho ucciso diverse persone, alcune in modo brutale, altre con maggior delicatezza – vale la pena specificarlo, perché fa un’enorme differenza agli occhi giudicanti della gente. Quando ripenso a ciò che ho fatto, avverto persino una punta di tristezza, giusto una fitta trascurabile, al pensiero che nessuno verrà mai a conoscenza del mio strabiliante piano.

It's her first day as a rookie... but will it be her last? The Peace Force is an intergalactic crime-fighting organisation with a fearsome reputation, boundless resources, and legions of well-trained officers. Harriet Walsh, 21, doesn't care about any of that. To her, it looks like a steady job with real wages, and the invitation to join could not have come at a better time. But why is the invite printed on the back of an old junk food flyer? And how come she's never seen a Peace Force officer? With the crumpled invite in hand, Harriet heads for the local branch... and discovers there's a ...

Book 1: Pairs: This Dating Site Will Be the Death of You A woman searching for love. A string of online suitors. A deadly end. When a young woman’s body is discovered, Detective Ned is drawn into the murky world of online dating. The suspects? Every man in her dating history on the app Pairs. Each profile photo hides a secret: the suave charmer with a shady past, the awkward loner with an unhealthy obsession, or the too-perfect match with everything to lose.. In this sharp and satirical mystery, you hold the power to uncover the truth. Will the killer be caught in the web of lies?

A delicious burger. A horrific murder. What can the waiters of the Midnight Owl do to solve the mystery? On a foggy Friday night in Los Angeles, a diverse group of young and sexy waiters discover a gruesome and horrific murder in the kitchen of L.A.’s hottest new restaurant, The Midnight Owl. Stunned by what they witnessed, the attractive gang embark on a pulse-pounding, high-octane, thrill-ride, tracking down other members of the Midnight Owl’s staff to uncover the evil truth.

After 30 years at St Oswald's Grammar in North Yorkshire, Latin master Roy Straitley has seen all kinds of boys come and go. Each class has its clowns, its rebels, its underdogs, its 'Brodie' boys who, whilst of course he doesn't have favourites, hold a special place in an old teacher's heart. But every so often there's a boy who doesn't fit the mould. A troublemaker. A boy with hidden shadows inside.