Science Fiction Detective

This sublime collection dips into the wit and wisdom of the man behind The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, uncovering his unique comic musings on everything from his school-trousers to malt whisky and from the letter Y through to his own nose, via atheism, hangovers and fried eggs. These hilarious collected writings reveal the warmth, enthusiasm and ferocious intelligence behind this most English of comic writers; a man who was virtually an unofficial member of the Monty Python team.

The Mystery of Scarlet Lake, the 13th Rick Brant novel, was published in 1958. In this thrilling story Rick and Scotty go to work on a project at a secret experimental rocket installation in Nevada with Spindrift Island scientist Dr. John Gordon in order to help stop the sabotage that has been plaguing the project. Only two men at the base know their real mission: to track down the saboteur who calls himself Homo Terrestrialis : “The Earthman”.

The name's Burnside, and I always get the weird cases. I built my detective career taking down the strangest bad guys in Earth Sector. No matter how crazy the case, I always managed to get it off the books. After 20 years of pounding my beat, I was ready to pack it in, and I'd called it a day. Then these killings started, weird to the point of freaked-out PD Chiefs, and only one person who fit the case. So much for retirement. The story I'm going to tell you covers two years of my life, and took me from one end of human space to the other.

Detective Sergeant of Miami PD was thrust violently out of 1999. Held in a life sustaining coma, a subject of experiments and bold attempts for hundreds of years, her brain remained alive. Alive yes, but not aware through it all. Two centuries later, though the medical community was demanding she be unplugged, a very specialized Doctor of Cybernetics, a relatively new field in the late twenty second century, made a daring decision. Valerie Harper endured some terrifying times, some dreadful therapy, and eventually, she walked out of the Grogain Institute of Cybenetics, a new woman… inside...

I gasped in horror. Would it be my friend's dreadful fate to perish in the swirling torrent below? "Take care! Take care!" I shouted. But my worst fears were realized. Ratigan went over the edge, dragging the detective with him!

More than 50 years after publishing his first story, Hugo Award-winning author Asimov remains one of the great names in science fiction. Almost single-handedly he transformed the field from the romantic and Gothic legacy of Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs into the rational, clear-minded genre that exists today. This selection of some of Asimov's most enduring and unforgettable stories is read by the author himself. These vintage tales encompass the full range of Asimov's versatility, while displaying his puckish sense of humor.

Brynna “Brinnie” Lane has always lived a quiet life under the watchful eye of her hovering mother - until she’s sent off for the summer to live with an uncle she didn’t know she had. She soon finds that Wraithwood Estate, her uncle’s creepy old mansion, holds as many secrets as the man himself. When Brinnie is warned not to explore any of it, her curiosity only grows. As unnatural events take place and Brinnie hears whispers of a hidden war, she must unravel the truth about her family’s mysterious past if she wants to survive.

The dead carry their secrets with them.... At least until they end up at Riley Smith's door. Her latest spectral visitor is a murdered bride with a need for revenge, and not necessarily for the person who killed her. Never mind that killer is about to strike again. Riley's determined to help, but is missing Hayden, the hot, ghostly boy who's always had her back. Living, breathing Hayden is awake, which means his spirit isn't around to flirt with Riley anymore. Worse yet, the "real" Hayden doesn't remember her.

The Stuff that Dreams are Made Of . . . When private detective Rick Bailey is hired by the exotically beautiful and outrageously wealthy Princess Nora, he thinks it'll be easy money. Escaping from her rebellion-torn kingdom, the princess has lost her handmaiden, Lores: the only person who knows how to find the hidden royal jewels. But when his search for the equally lovely Lores turns deadly, Bailey realizes that there is more to this case than it first seemed. When someone tries to kill him, he discovers that the roots of evil run deep. With his own set of values and sense of honor, Bailey...

It is 1890, and in the days before Christmas, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson are visited at Baker Street by a new client. Eve Allerthorpe, eldest daughter of a grand but somewhat eccentric Yorkshire-based dynasty, is greatly distressed, as she believes she is being haunted by a demonic Christmas spirit. Her late mother told her terrifying tales of the sinister Black Thurrick, and Eve is sure that she has seen the creature from her bedroom window. What is more, she has begun to receive mysterious parcels of birch twigs, the Black Thurrick’s calling card.

Would you kill to save a life? In order to save those closest to him, Tristan has stepped closer to darkness. In order to save Tristan, Simon must do the impossible. When Monty uses blood magic, he enters a schism - which puts him, and everyone close to him, in mortal danger. His use of blood magic has alerted the Black Orchid, a mage sect tasked with apprehending and eliminating dark mages. Now, Simon, with help from Monty’s closest allies and family, must find a way to stop him from going over to the darkness.

Sweets Porter is having a tough time between keeping her grades up at the Paranormal Institute for Witches and running Bailey’s Bakery and Sweets while Char and Mr. Bailey are off on their honeymoon. When things take a shocking turn after the Bailey’s welcome home party, the Witch Squad is forced to intervene.

Ashira Cohen takes great pride in the detective agency she’s built from scratch. It may be small, but she has big dreams. None of which involve a stakeout gone wrong. Or finding a mysterious tattoo hidden on her scalp. Or discovering it’s a now-broken ward intended to suppress dangerous supernatural powers that she should not possess. Don’t even get her started on the golem. The only bright spot is that her unruly powers nearly kill her long-time nemesis, Levi, the uptight leader of the magic community. No, right… that’s a bad thing.

Crack open your spell book and enter the world of the illustrious Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary. There's been a murder on campus, and it's up to the students of Galileo to solve it. Follow 18 authors and 18 students as they puzzle out the clues and find the guilty party.

When the NYTF reports that a golem, a large rock creature, is terrorizing parts of the city and destroying hubs of power, Ezra calls on Montague & Strong to investigate and stop the creature. Their first reaction is to refuse. Except there’s one problem. No one refuses Ezra, a personification of death, without grave consequences. Now, Monty and Simon, together with Ursula of the Damned, must uncover how the golem was created and who would use it to destroy hubs of power, without being crushed in the process.

In the first book of the Shaw Confessions, the companion series to the New York Times best-selling Mara Dyer novels, old skeletons are laid bare and new promises prove deadly. This is what happens after happily ever after. Everyone thinks 17-year-old Noah Shaw has the world on a string. They're wrong. Mara Dyer is the only one he trusts with his secrets and his future. He shouldn't. And both are scared that uncovering the truth about themselves will force them apart. They're right.

Meet Simon Strong, an immortal detective about to enjoy a night out on the town. He’s planned this date for weeks and tonight is the night. When Tristan Montague, Simon’s partner and resident cranky mage, advises Simon against this course of action, Simon declares his freedom to see whomever he chooses. There’s only one problem. Her name is Michiko and she doesn’t share well.

The Baker Street Heroes Two Harry Houdini, Professor Challenger And his good friend Conan Doyle Travel to Cairo. Where their sense of sanity and stability Are turned upside down and inside out By a cult of street thugs, who worship Kali, a blood thirsty goddess of destruction. What they learn about the thugs and the horrors they perpetrate they choose To stop is not only frightening, but brewing with A magic of dark dimensions even Harry Houdini, a power wizard, has not Dealt with before.

It’s the year 2054 and Mrs. Wiggle’s elephant figurines are disappearing from every shelf and table, but then magically reappearing the next day. The police think she’s crazy, “crying wolf,” they say. Every time they come to investigate a disappearance all they find is a reappearance. So eventually they stop coming. In a last-ditch effort to find out what’s really happening with her figurines, she calls detective after detective to find someone willing to take the case. Eventually she works her way down the alphabet to Red Owl Investigations, and that’s when everything changes...

[Original Novella Version, now replaced by the novel length Extended Version] Detective Richard Burnside is a long way from Earth system. For two years he's been tracking a serial killer, and finally he falls only hours short of preventing the next kill. Avon PD are as much use as any other PD when it comes to this killer, but this time, has the killer finally slipped up? Thinking you know the next target doesn’t help much unless someone will believe you. General Price introduces Burnside to Captain Jane, and with Janet's help, they set a trap for the killer on Hunter's Redoubt. But is ...