Hard Crime

Artemus Black doesn't believe in fate...but even a hardened Hollywood PI can question destiny when cases turn ugly. With an assistant who mocks him relentlessly, an obese cat that loathes him, a romantic life that's deader than Elvis, money problems, booze, nicotine, and anger management issues, how much worse can it get? The answer is plenty, and Black finds himself in a web of deceit, betrayal, and murder - and bad hair days.

An innocent family are the latest victims of a grisly series of hideous sacrificial killings that no one understands, and no one can stop. Nobody lives to tell of the unimaginable carnage. Only the blood-stained walls bear witness. All hope rests on Special Agent Will Graham, who must peer inside the killer's tortured soul to understand his rage, to anticipate and prevent his next vicious crime. Desperate for help, Graham finds himself locked in a deadly alliance with the brilliant Dr. Hannibal Lecter, the infamous mass murderer.

It's their usual Thursday girls' night in, and best friends Skye, Elena, and London are enjoying hanging out at Skye's house in New Mexico, eating junk food, drinking wine, and playing with Skye's little children, Carter and Abigail. Until the intruders arrive. Hearing the horrific screams from Elena and Skye, London hides the children, tiptoes out to see what has happened . . . and disappears. After Carter raises the alarm, Detective Alyssa Wyatt is called in to investigate a bloodbath that appears to have no motive, no evidence, and worse still—no sign of London.

When a troubled model falls to her death from a snow-covered Mayfair balcony, it is assumed that she has committed suicide. However, her brother has his doubts, and calls in private investigator Cormoran Strike to look into the case.Strike is a war veteran - wounded both physically and psychologically - and his life is in disarray. The case gives him a financial lifeline, but it comes at a personal cost: the more he delves into the young model's complex world, the darker things get - and the closer he gets to terrible danger...

Feared and disliked for both her poison pen and her ice queen persona, bicoastal gossip columnist Amanda Dart finds the tables have turned. The unwitting victim of an anonymous gossipmonger who is faxing to national opinion makers an outrageous scandal sheet revealing the details of her ongoing indiscretions with a nationally known takeover artist, Amanda enlists the help of New York lawyer and investigator Stone Barrington to learn the identity of the faxer. Everybody is a suspect in the world of tabloid journalism.

He was a cop. She was his daughter. One of them wasn’t walking away. James Bradford wore the badge in St. Isidore for thirty-five years. He cleaned up alleyway brawls, chased down punks with knives, and never once had to pull the trigger. Until the night his daughter came home. Amanda Petrocelli had a record longer than Main Street, a husband with blood on his hands, and two kids caught in the crossfire. When she and her killer husband came knocking—guns drawn and hearts cold—James didn’t call for backup. He reached for his gun safe. In a town where loyalty is currency and regret ...

A Bullet for Cinderella is one of John D. MacDonald's earlier works but nonetheless is a brilliant piece of writing. A POW in the Korean War, Tal Howard returns to find himself restless and haunted by the tale told to him by a friend who didn't make it home: a stolen fortune hidden away in the soldier's hometown with the only clue a girl named Cinderella. Tal decides to leave everything behind and go and try and find the money.

A Philadelphia narcotics cop is shot dead in his home. A bar owner's wife and partner are gunned down during an attempted robbery. And in a beautiful mansion, a young woman dies of a heroin overdose. At first the crimes seem unconnected. But these four deaths are about to trigger a massive convergence of corruption, cops, and the mob that could tear the Philadelphia Police Department apart from the inside out. All the way to the top...

Git O'Rourke is from the wrong side of the tracks - even if, in the depressed Rust Belt town of Baxter, it's not always clear where that designation begins. A single mother, she works hard to support her daughter, Charlie, but still finds time to cut loose every once in a while, to go to a local bar, drink martinis, and find a companion for the night. Which is exactly how she ends up in a hotel room with a strange man passed out on heroin and how she comes to possess the bag of money and guns that he left open as he got his fix.

This Christmas, one cop is about to discover that some knots are harder to untie than others... Meet Ingrid McPain, a New York cop so tough, her leather jacket has its own bulletproof vest. A former Marine Sergeant with a tongue sharper than a freshly honed Bowie knife and a penchant for, well, unconventional situations. She was just trying to reconcile with her ex-husband, Tom (poor Tom), in a gleaming corporate tower. But instead of mistletoe, she found herself tangled in a plot more twisted than a pretzel at a contortionist convention. Enter a ruthless, surprisingly agile gang of extreme...

As summer winds down in Chicago's Levee District, the crime rate continues to soar. With the murder of an entire prominent family, in what appears to be a robbery, Patrick Moses must look for a killer who had left very few clues. With the prosecution of the Old Lady Murders still looming, Moses finds his time is limited and his nerves are frayed. On top of that, someone has started brutally murdering Chicago's street cops.

Recker finally reaches his boiling point and confronts Jones about his lack of progress in finding Agent 17. The professor, feeling guilty about not locating him, admits to a secret he's been hiding. As Recker is trying to find Agent 17, Mia launches her own investigation into her friend's death, frustrated that the killer still hasn't been brought to justice. Her lack of experience causes a major mistake - one that may cost the life of both her and Jones. Recker must not only find Agent 17, but save the lives of his friends before it's too late.

A shattered detective, a cold case that won't stay buried, and enemies on both sides of the law. In Lie Down With Dogs, Kiwi author Syd Knight delivers a gritty, pulse-pounding thriller that follows Detective Kyle Williams on his increasingly desperate search for redemption and revenge. Still reeling from a near-fatal gunshot wound and the tragic loss of the woman he loved during an undercover operation gone wrong, Kyle finds himself drawn into a cold case that promises more than just redemption – it just might hold the key to the case that still haunts him. As the investigation deepens, ...

When reports come in that the Kingpin and a police officer have been killed and that Frank Castle (aka the Punisher) has turned himself in for it, Matt Murdock senses holes in the narratives the media and the streets are quick to run with. Both criminals have been Matt’s nemeses when he dons the cowl of the Daredevil, and there’s no denying that New York is better off without its Kingpin and with the Punisher behind bars. And yet ... while the Punisher is a murderous vigilante, he doesn’t kill cops. And he doesn’t turn himself in.

Science fiction adventure and space opera at its best. An addictive, fast-action, edge-of-your-seat journey. . . the Empire wants them dead and doesn't care about collateral damage. “Greetings. I’m former Sergeant Hutheen Bozon. You may have read about our exploits. I’m a female, feline Hoganthan warrior. I’m an elite sniper and the weapons officer on our warship corvette, HSS Valkyrie. The Empire has made a huge mistake - they’ve ruled we are to be executed on-sight. If they really want to try that, they need to send more of their pretty ships for us to carve up and destroy. We ...

She thought she was chasing a killer. She didn’t realize the case would chase her back. FBI agent Briana can’t let the past rest—especially when it refuses to stay buried. Assigned to a reopened case alongside her partner, Buck, she dives into the mysterious death of Terry Russo, a case once closed under suspicious circumstances. Terry’s father had powerful ties to the Bureau’s Director, and now Briana finds herself sifting through dusty files, questionable autopsies, and a widow who’s hiding more than grief. A pizza delivery boy confessed… then disappeared. Anonymous tips ...

Drew Maclane was a star agent - until the day the killing had to stop. He withdrew, and for six years lived the life of a hermit in a monastery. But someone has tracked him down, leaving a trail of corpses...someone who knows all about him, who knows how to draw him back into that electrifying world where no one is as he seems, and where life's most horrifying and harrowing game is played.

Witnessed by a throng of gaping spectators, a charismatic Marine sergeant is murdered under a Bangkok bridge inside a bolted-shut Mercedes Benz. Among the witnesses are the only two cops in the city not on the take, but within moments one is murdered and his partner, Sonchai Jitpleecheep - a devout Buddhist and the son of a Thai bar girl and a long-gone Vietnam War G.I. - is hell-bent on wreaking revenge. On a vigilante mission to capture his partner’s murderer, Sonchai is begrudgingly paired with a beautiful FBI agent named Jones....

500 years in the future, technology has changed. Humanity has not. One man’s fate lies in the hands of a team of corrupt prosecutors bent on making their prosecutorial mark for personal gain. Standing in the path of injustice is Inspector Thomas Sullivan and an acquaintance from the past. Murder, political corruption, greed, and scandal combine for danger in Capital City on the frozen world of Beta Prime. At stake is a man’s life, the very souls of others, and the integrity of the entire Planetary Alliance’s justice system. Join Sully and his team as they try to free An Innocent Man!

Jay has never forgotten the photo once sent to him of his young fiancée - naked in the arms of another man. Now on his deathbed and convinced the photo was a fake, the hunt is on for a modern-day witchfinder. And Amos Walker is the man for the job.