Sam Spade, Dashiell Hammetts archetypally tough San Francisco detective, is more noir than L.A. Confidential and more vulnerable than Raymond Chandlers Marlowe. In The Maltese Falcon, the best known of Hammetts Sam Spade novels (including The Dain Curse and The Glass Key), Spade is tough enough to bluff the toughest thugs and hold off the […]
Being a twice-divorced, happily independent loner has worked like a charm for P.I. Kinsey Millhone-until holiday weekends like this one roll around. What she needs is a little diversion to ward off the blues. She gets her much-needed distraction with a case that places her career on the line. And if that isnt enough to […]
His name was Parnell Perkins, and until shortly after midnight, hed been a claims adjuster for California Fidelity. Then someone came along and put paid to that line of work. and to any other. Parnell Perkins had been shot at close range and left for dead in the parking lot outside California Fidelitys offices. To […]
Every investigation has a nature of its own, but there are certain shared characteristics,” explains private eye Kinsey Millhone in her 13th alphabetic outing. “Heres what you hope for: a chance remark from the former neighbor on a skip-trace, a penciled notation on the corner of a document, an ex-spouse with a grudge, the number […]
A tyrannical old martinet, a mental sadist and the incarnation of evil. These were only three of the character descriptions levelled at Mrs. Boynton, the matriarch who kept her family totally dependent on her. But did she really deserve to die on the excursion to beautiful Petra? Hercule Poirot hears about the murder and feels […]
When Kinsey Millhone answers her office door late one night, she lets in more darkness than she realizes. Janice Kepler is a grieving mother who cant let the death of her beautiful daughter Lorna alone. The police agree that Lorna was murdered, but a suspect was never apprehended and the trail is now ten months […]
In Morality for Beautiful Girls, Precious Ramotswe, founder and owner of the only detective agency for the concerns of both ladies and others, investigates the alleged poisoning of the brother of an important ??Government Man,? and the moral character of the four finalists of the Miss Beauty and Integrity Contest, the winner of which will […]
Both new readers and old fans will welcome this 12th Kinsey Milhone adventure in the “A” is for Alibi series by Sue Grafton. In this case, Kinsey agrees to do a favor for a friend of a friend and gets herself into so much trouble that she promises at the outset never to do such […]
This first novel in the “Alphabet” series introduces the character of Kinsey Millhone, a twice-divorced private eye based in Santa Teresa, California. “A is for Alibi” covers the investigation by Millhone into the death of Laurence Fife. The investigation is initiated by his wife, Nikki Fife, who was charged and convicted of his death. Eight […]
A publishing sensation across Europe??two million copies sold and months at the top of best-seller lists A spellbinding amalgam of murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue. It??s about the disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden . . . and about […]
As they grow up, their seemingly perfect lives are altered by families falling apart, unfortunate mistakes, and losses and victories great and small. Throughout their adolescence, the five are able to turn back to their trusted group to regain their footing and steady their course. But as they emerge from school, their futures seem neither […]
I, Geronimo Stilton, was shocked to find myself back in the Kingdom of Fantasy for a sixth time. I was needed to fulfill the Ancient Gemstone Prophecy! The evil empress of the witches was after the Royal Sapphire. If she united it with her Royal Ruby, it would give her immense power. The entire Kingdom […]
Kay Lansing grew up in Englewood, New Jersey, daughter of the landscaper to the wealthy and powerful Carrington family. One day, accompanying her father to work, six-year-old Kay overhears a quarrel between a man and a woman that ends with the mans caustic response: “I heard that song before.” That same evening, young Peter Carrington […]