Hard Crime

When Robin Nevins, the son of Hawk's boyhood mentor, is denied at an exclusive university, Hawk asks Spenser to investigate. It seems the denial is tied to the suicide of a young gay activist, and as Spenser digs deeper, he is nearly drowned in a multicultural swamp of politics: black, gay, academic, and feminist. At the same time, Spenser's inamorata, Susan, asks him to come to the aid of an old college friend, K.C. Roth, the victim of a stalker. Spenser solves the problem a bit too effectively when K.C. turns the tables and begins to stalk him.

Jim Thompson's classic The Grifters is one of the best novels ever written about the art of the con, an ingeniously crafted story of deception and betrayal that was the basis for the critically acclaimed film by Stephen Frears and Martin Scorcese. To his friends, to his coworkers, and even to his mistress Moira, Roy Dillon is an honest hardworking salesman. He lives in a cheap hotel just within his pay bracket. He goes to work every day. He has hundreds of friends and associates who could attest to his good character.

FBI Special Agents Kim Otto and Carlos Gaspar will wait no longer. They head to Houston to find Susan Duffy, one of Jack Reacher's known associates, determined to get answers. But Duffy's left town, headed for trouble. Otto and Gaspar are right behind her and powerful enemies with their backs against the wall will have everything to lose.

Charlie's novel is being filmed as a movie ... Then the star is kidnapped. Charlie McGinley's latest novel is being filmed on location in New Mexico. Everything is going great, until Scott Lassiter, the hard-drinking star of the film, disappears. Vanessa Tanner, the female lead in the movie, is married to Scott. She quickly becomes the primary suspect in the case. Charlie, who was once engaged to Vanessa, reluctantly agrees to help her. Then, it gets really strange... Can Charlie find Scott, save the movie, and not get knocked off, while trying to convince his wife that he's not having an ...

FBI agent Rachel Walling finally gets the call she's dreaded for years, the one that tells her the Poet has surfaced. She has never forgotten the serial killer who wove lines of poetry in his hideous crimes - and apparently he has not forgotten her. Former LAPD detective Harry Bosch gets a call, too - from the widow of an old friend. Her husband's death seems natural, but his ties to the hunt for the Poet make Bosch dig deep.

In the future, as humanity spreads throughout the galaxy, the ideals of justice for all, integrity, and honesty are nothing more than outdated concepts to many who have benefited as members of the wealthy, elitist ruling class. To the incorruptible lawman, Thomas Sullivan, these ideals are all he has left to cling to. Betrayed by those he respected and admired, the very institutions he served, Sullivan has paid a heavy price. The loss of his mentor, friend, and woman he loved are just the beginning. In a shadowy future, where the dark ideals of greed, lust for power, and a sense of ...

"I LOVED THE IMAGINATION OF THIS AUTHOR!" ~ Satisfied Kindle Reader "FIVE STARS!" ~ Multiple Fans "ALICE CROWLEY IS ONE OF OUR GREATEST LIVING WRITERS!" ~ G. Taylor Donna McBride has just gotten busted hard by her no-good, two-timing jealous corrupt cop husband during an illicit extramarital encounter in the restroom at a salad café in West LA. Escaping corporal punishment, Donna ends up over at her best friend Lorraine's pad -- only there is another guest present too. It's Jasper, the Tantra Yoga coach Lorraine has been raving about trying to get Donna to try a hot and heavy petting ...

Kate Bishop is in a world of trouble. In the wake of several inexplicable and brutal murders, Kate is thrust into a police inquiry that reveals shocking family secrets. Suddenly exposed to a shadowy network of global evil, her life takes a dramatic turn with the arrival of Jack Raines, an author with a mysterious past who says he has the answers to her questions. What's more, he suggests that Kate herself might be the solution.

Los Angeles, 1958. Killings, beatings, bribes, shakedowns - it's standard procedure for Lieutenant Dave Klein, LAPD. He's a slumlord, a bagman, an enforcer, a power in his own small corner of hell. Then the Feds announce a full-out investigation into local police corruption, and everything goes haywire. Klein's been hung out as bait, "a bad cop to draw the heat", and the heat's coming from all sides.

Dive into the chaotic, scandalous, and unbelievably true story of the Mozes family, a saga that proves truth is stranger – and far more entertaining – than fiction. Zack Mozes lays bare his family's spectacular rollercoaster of betrayal, legal battles, and epic bad decisions that would make even the most seasoned reality TV producer blush. From a seemingly idyllic life in California to a cross-country fugitive hunt, this memoir chronicles a family's descent into chaos. Witness the collapse of a once-thriving business, a father's vanishing act, a mother's shocking alliance with the ...

Spenser is forced by loyalty into an alien world where violence is a way of lie and outsiders enter at a lethal risk. When Spenser's cohort Hawk is hired by the tenants of a gang-plagued Boston housing project known as "Double Deuce," he enlists his friend's aid. A friend's girl and her infant daughter have been gunned down. Though the act at first appears to be an accidental drive-by shooting, it soon becomes clear that it was premeditated murder.

In The Lady in the Lake, hard-boiled crime-fiction master Raymond Chandler brings us the story of a couple of missing wives - one a rich man's and one a poor man's - who have become the objects of Philip Marlowe's investigation. One of them may have gotten a Mexican divorce and married a gigolo, and the other may be dead. Marlowe's not sure he cares about either one, but he's not paid to care.

Frank "Dolly" Dillon has a job he hates, working sales and collections for Pay-E-Zee Stores; a wife named Joyce he can't stand; and an account balance that barely allows him to pay the bills each month. Working door-to-door one day, trying to eke money out of folk with even less of it than he has, Dolly crosses paths with a beautiful young woman named Mona Farrell. Mona's being forced by her aunt to do things she doesn't like, with men she doesn't know - she wants out, any way she can get it.

When Deputy Coroner Mattie Winston and her boss/best friend, Izzy, are called to the home of waitress and part-time model Shannon Tolliver, they find the ghoulish Halloween decorations a bit too authentic. Among the fake blood and skeletons is the corpse of Shannon herself. Since the whole town knows Shannon recently had a very public spat with her estranged husband, Erik, he's suspect number one. But Mattie happens to know Erik truly loved his wife and is simply incapable of the brutal act - even if he owns the exact same caliber handgun as the murder weapon....

Commissario Guido Brunetti's career is under threat when his professional and personal lives unexpectedly intersect. In the chill of the Venetian dawn, a sudden act of vandalism shatters the quiet of the deserted city, and Brunetti is shocked to find that the culprit waiting to be apprehended at the scene is a member of his own family. Meanwhile, he is also under pressure from his superiors to solve a daring robbery with connections to a suspicious accidental death. Could the two crimes be connected? And will Brunetti be able to prove his family's innocence before it's too late?

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.

Once again, Kinsey Millhone, America's favorite female P.I., embroils herself in a complex and entertaining Alphabet Murder Mystery. When Wendell Jaffe, mastermind of a real-estate scam, disappeared at sea, no body was found. Now, five years later, he's declared legally dead, and California Fidelity has to pay up on his life insurance policy to the tune of half-a-million dollars. Soon after, the tune slides off-key when Jaffe is spotted in Mexico and Fidelity hires Kinsey Millhone to sort things out.

A wealthy Pasadena widow with a mean streak, a missing daughter-in-law with a past, and a gold coin worth a small fortune - the elements don't quite add up until Marlowe discovers evidence of murder, rape, blackmail, and the worst kind of human exploitation.

Private investigator Kinsey Millhone is back, sassy and self-reliant as ever. Visiting a small town in the Sierras, Kinsey aids a recent widow, Selma Newquist, who believes that her detective husband did not die of a heart attack, as reported, but from foul play. Kinsey sifts through the paper trail Tom Newquist left behind, trying to discover what he was investigating before he died.

The woman on the bed was barely out of her teens. She wasn't exactly beautiful, but she'd tried to make the most of her looks. And now, alone in a seedy beachfront motel, she was dead. Paradise Police Chief Jesse Stone doesn't know her name. Whoever she is, she didn't deserve to die. Jesse starts digging, only to find himself caught in the crosshairs of a bitter turf war between two ruthless pimps. And more blood will spill before it's over.