Private Investigators Mysteries

Colin Dexter’s Chief Inspector Morse - the cranky, heavy-drinking, and exasperatingly brilliant sleuth of the Thames Valley Police - has become one of the most beloved detectives in fiction. Now, with this collection of 11 short stories, we can savor choice examples of his dry wit, devious cunning, and psychological insight at its best. Colin Dexter tantalizes us with six Inspector Morse adventures, ranging from bite-size morsels of intrigue to longer stories for listeners to sink their teeth into.

A reluctant psychic with a haunted past. A straight-laced FBI agent sworn to protect. A mystery they must solve together. Hailey Arquette uses ancestry rooted in the occult to hide her gifts in the small southern town of Hamchet, Texas. Experiencing a victim’s last moments when touching an object isn’t something she can turn off, but helps her to navigate the shadowy world where betrayal walks hand in hand with a smile. A threat against family forces Agent Trenton Briner back to Texas and into a mystery steeped in whispers of Vodou and magic. At each turn, he finds the raven-haired ...

Sitting in cold cars for hours, serving lowlifes with summonses...being a PI means riding out a lot of slow patches. But sometimes the most familiar paths can lead straight to danger - like at Cass's go-to diner, where new delivery guy Jung Byson wants to enlist her expertise. Jung's friend, Tim Ayers, scion of a wealthy Chicago family, has been found dead, floating in Lake Michigan near his luxury boat. And Jung is convinced there's a murderer on the loose....

When Lily Rowan doesn’t laugh at his jokes, Archie Goodwin knows something’s wrong. Her niece Noreen has been running around with Sparky Linville, a club-hopping bad boy who’s the terror of Manhattan nightlife, and the last time she went out with him, Noreen wasn’t herself when she came home. Springing into action, Goodwin waits for Linville outside of Morgana’s, a chrome-and-glass palace. They nearly come to blows, but Linville’s bodyguard intervenes, and Goodwin retreats to plan his next move. In the morning, Linville is dead, and Goodwin is the chief suspect.

Annie McIntyre has a love/hate relationship with Garnett, Texas. Recently graduated from college and home waitressing, lacking not in ambition but certainly in direction, Annie is lured into the family business—a private investigation firm—by her supposed-to-be-retired grandfather, Leroy, despite the rest of the clan's misgivings.

Archie Goodwin is chipper as he strolls home from his weekly poker game, money in his pocket and a smile on his lips. He has just reached Nero Wolfe’s stately brownstone on West 35th Street when a sedan whips around the corner and two gunshots ring out, nearly hitting Goodwin. It is a warning, and the message is clear: The next bullet will not miss. Rotund investigator Nero Wolfe has made more than his fair share of enemies over the years, and it seems one of them has decided to strike, targeting Wolfe’s indefatigable assistant.

For the men of Madison Avenue, the battle between soft-drink giants Cherr-o-key and AmeriCherry seems heaven-sent. For years now, the firm of Mills/Lake/Ryman has fought to help Cherr-o-key become the nation’s favorite fizzy cherry soda, but each time they come up with a new slogan, mascot, or jingle, AmeriCherry somehow beats them to it. There’s a mole inside the agency, and only Nero Wolfe can ferret him out.

With this follow-up to The Royal Wulff Murders, acclaimed author Keith McCafferty brings back fly-fishing PI Sean Stranahan for a second quirky adventure. When two graves are found on the mysterious Sphinx Mountain, the local sheriff suspects murder and calls on Stranahan to join the case. Then a vintage Gray Ghost lure from a riverside cabin disappears, and Stranahan begins to suspect that a deeper mystery is lurking just beneath the surface.

When Jake Boulder is asked to help investigate the murder of Kira Niemeyer, he soon finds himself tracking a serial killer who selects his next victim in a most unusual manner. As the body count rises, Boulder has to work with the police to identify the killer before more lives are taken. What ensues is a twisted game of cat and mouse. Only Boulder or the Watcher can survive.

Leopoldo Estuardo, detective retirado, es contactado por Inés Polti para que investigue el asesinato de su hermano. Estuardo se hace cargo de la investigación de Jerasmus Polti, un reconocido multimillonario, cuyo presunto asesino confeso es David Polti, su hermano psicópata. Con la ayuda de Nina, su centenial asistente, el investigador tendrá que interrogar a los testigos, hacer sus pesquisas y detectar las pistas y mentiras, sólo a través de una pantalla.

Egypt, 1926. Fiercely independent American Jane Wunderly has made up her mind: she won't be swept off her feet on a trip abroad. Despite her Aunt Millie's best efforts at meddling with her love life, the young widow would rather gaze at the Great Pyramids of Giza than into the eyes of a dashing stranger. Yet Jane's plans to remain cool and indifferent become ancient history in the company of Mr. Redvers, a roguish banker she can't quite figure out.

There are 96 names on the list. They are those of businessmen, judges, and senators - the nation’s wealthiest and most powerful. And they are all going to die. A man named Takahashi has hired the world’s finest assassins to eliminate these men in secrecy and style, crossing names off the list without raising any suspicion. And they are killing ahead of schedule. But someone has noticed the pattern of these seemingly unrelated deaths, and she knows enough to call Blaine McCracken.

This witch cozy mystery set features nine books in the Witches of Enchanted Bay series including: 1. Witches of Enchanted Bay 2. Ax To Grind 3. Killer Twist 4. A Bewitching Murder 5. The Nuts and Bolts of Murder 6. A Riddle of a Murder 7. Strangling Ambition 8. Therapy Can Be Murder 9. Sick of Murder Meg Walton hopes her days of sleuthing are behind her. So when another murder occurs, the secret witch turned sleuth finds her life turned upside down. This time, the case is personal when Meg finds out one of her dearest friends is the victim. Even more, Meg's friend has made enemies of the ...

Philip Kerr crafts a thrilling chapter from his critically acclaimed Bernie Gunther series. In Field Gray, Bernie finds himself imprisoned in 1954—and told he can either work for French intelligence or he can hang. Accepting his new job, Bernie begins interviewing POWs returning from Germany. And things get interesting when he meets a French war criminal and member of the French SS who has been posing as a German Wehrmacht officer.

Hoping to bring some Tinseltown money to the Valley, the mayor lures a movie studio to town to shoot their next production, a big-budget Western in the classic tradition. The star is none other than ruggedly handsome—and notoriously badly behaved—Thad Perry. When the mayor decides that someone needs to keep an eye on Thad so that he doesn’t get into too much trouble, Bernie and Chet are handpicked for the job. The money is good but something smells fishy....

Lucas Carr went to Glenbury Hall, an old country manor house turned hotel. He signed in at reception, took his key, and went upstairs to his room. But he never got there. Somehow he vanished along the way, with not a single clue to suggest what might have happened to him. Lucas belonged to the same mysterious organization that employs Ishmael and Penny, so they are sent in to solve the mystery. But when they arrive at grim and isolated Glenbury Hall, they discover it has a reputation as one of the most haunted old houses in England.

To Miami Jones, fishing is a pastime best done with a cooler of beer and low expectations. So when a cable TV personality hires him to investigate irregularities in a competitive fishing tournament in Spanish Wells, Bahamas, Jones is less than enthusiastic. He expects to find a bunch of old geezers kicking back with lazy rods and a bucket of worms. What he finds is a high-stakes and big money game, where winning is measured not in inches and pounds but in views and sponsorship deals. Before he knows it, Jones finds himself in over his head.

Taylor is the name, John Taylor. My card says I'm a detective, but what I really am is an expert on finding lost things. It's part of the gift I was born with as a child of the Nightside. I left there a long time ago, with my skin and sanity barely intact. Now I make my living in the sunlit streets of London. But business has been slow lately, so when Joanna Barrett showed up at my door, reeking of wealth, asking me to find her runaway teenage daughter, I didn't say no.

When an elderly, world-famous magician is found dead in his Cherringham mansion, there is nothing suspicious about the passing. According to the doctor, it was a heart attack - plain and simple. But the performer's long-time assistant suspects something sinister and she asks Jack and Sarah to investigate. And like the great magician's amazing tricks, it soon becomes clear that his death is anything but simple: in the world of magic, nothing is ever what it seems, and sometimes even illusions can turn deadly.

Ever since Angie Russo woke up from a near fatal run-in with a coffee maker, she's been able to talk to - and even worse, understand - one very spoiled tabby named Octavius. He says his owner was murdered and that she's the only one who can help bring the killer to justice. And, well, that's just the first of the wonderfully whacky mysteries they solve together. Add in a traumatized terrier witness and two murderous Sphynx cats who speak only in riddles, toss on your favorite deerstalker cap, and let's go sleuthing!