Val McDermid4.5 Winter 1963: two children have disappeared in Manchester; the murderous careers of Myra Hindley and Ian Brady have begun. On a freezing day in December, another child goes missing: 13-year-old Alison Carter vanishes from the isolated Derbyshire hamlet of Scardale. For the young George Bennett it is the beginning of his most difficult and harrowing case: a murder with no body, an investigation with more dead ends and closed faces than he'd have found in the inner city; an outcome that reverberates down the years. Decades later he tells his story to journalist Catherine Heathcote, but just when her book is poised for publication, Bennett tries to pull the plug. He has new information that he will not divulge, and that threatens the very foundation of his existence. Catherine is forced to reinvestigate the past, with results that turn the world upside down. A taut psychological thriller that explores, exposes and explodes the border between reality and illusion in a multilayered narrative that turns expectations on their head and reminds us that what we know is what we do not know...
Энн Перри4.0 Суперинтенданту лондонской полиции Томасу Питту чуть ли не впервые пришлось вести расследование без участия своей жены – Шарлотта уехала на месяц отдохнуть в Париж. А дело, как назло, попалось донельзя странное и, возможно, весьма деликатное. У набережной Темзы обнаружили лодку с мертвым мужчиной. Причем покойник был одет… в роскошное бархатное женское платье, а руки и ноги его были прикованы наручниками и цепями. Кроме того, кто-то засыпал дно лодки цветами. Не без труда Томас установил личность убитого. Им оказался один из самых знаменитых столичных фотографов, признанный гений фотопортрета. Поначалу Питт никак не мог взять в толк, за что можно убить человека столь невинной профессии, да еще таким причудливым образом. Но затем понял: фотографирование может быть не таким уж невинным занятием. Важно, кого и как ты снимаешь. И зачем…
Таффи Кэннон0.0 Colonial Williamsburg turns deadly. Strange things are happening on the History & Gardens of Virginia Tour. Are they odd misadventures? Harmless pranks? Or does somebody have murder in mind? Would-be tour guide Roxanne Prescott may not know how to mollify miffed tourists, but when 'accidents' start happening to her group, this former policewoman has all the skills necessary to separate the real from the illusory. She handles everything from misplaced leeches to murder in a fascinating mystery that will particularly please armchair travelers.
Джо Р. Лансдейл4.0 Великая депрессия, Восточный Техас. Молодой Гарри Коллинс и его сестра случайно обнаруживают чудовищно изувеченный труп женщины, оставленный в низовьях реки. Вскоре в городе находят еще одно тело, а потом еще одно, и люди паникуют, считая, что где-то поблизости бродит опасный безумец. Гарри начинает собственное расследование, ведь он считает, что эти убийства как-то связаны с байками о получеловеке-полукозле, странном существе, которое, по преданиям, обитает недалеко от того места, где обнаружили тело первой жертвы. И вскоре Гарри поймет, что правда куда страшнее любой легенды, а убийца подбирается все ближе к его семье.
Nancy Pickard0.0 "Nancy Pickard pushes at the presumed limits of [crime fiction]" said the "Los Angeles Times Book Review," praising the award-winning creator of the Jenny Cain mysteries. Now, Pickard blurs the line between fiction and reality in a novel of gripping intensity, and premieres a superb new heroine: true-crime author Marie Lightfoot. For her next surefire bestseller, Marie is covering the trial of a Florida killer -- a case that penetrates her own life, layer by disturbing layer. Whether real like Ted Bundy, or imagined like Hannibal Lecter, few killers of our time are in the same league as Raymond Raintree. And as he stands flanked by lawyers in a Florida courtroom, waiting to be convicted for the murder of Natalie Mae McCullen, Marie Lightfoot is taking it all in. A small, gutsy blonde renowned for her true-crime bestsellers, Marie knows the graphic and disturbing case will make her best book yet -- because Raintree's shocking crime, vile beyond imagining, is also impossible to turn away from. But there is something about the case -- and Raintree's involvement -- that bothers her.
No one knows where Raintree, a man as slight and immature as a preteen boy, took Natalie after he abducted her. No one knows how Natalie -- bright, independent, and with no fear of the dark -- could be lured into a stranger's boat on a lonely waterway. And only one witness saw a man who "may" have been Raintree motoring along in a water taxi on the night Natalie disappeared.
Even if the police can't provide answers, Marie intends to leave no loose ends. Starting with a prison meeting with Raintree, the steely-nerved writer follows a twisted path that leads to Natalie's parents, to a coincidencethat doesn't quite gel, and to a place she has resisted all her life: the dark recesses of her own soul, where she hides the secrets of her own lost past.
When Raymond escapes, Marie -- a curious contradiction of celebrity author and introspective loner -- becomes a sitting duck for a killer who just might be smart enough to outwit her. And evil enough to take her to hell before she dies.
A masterpiece of psychological suspense, "The Whole Truth" is a compelling look at our fascination with the horrific crimes of our time. Nancy Pickard's characters are as close to flesh and blood as fiction can get -- and her writing is as close to perfection.
Дэвид Лисс3.7 Англия, 1719 год. Бенджамин Уивер - боксер, за чьими боями следила, затаив дыхание, вся страна, включая особ королевской крови, - оставил ринг. Теперь он частный детектив: разыскивает похищенное и выбивает долги для своих аристократических клиентов. Но вот очередной благородный джентльмен предлагает ему расследовать не что-нибудь, а убийство, причем двойное; и одна из жертв - собственный отец Уивера, биржевой маклер, с которым наш герой не виделся более десяти лет, после того как убежал из дому. На темных улицах ночного Лондона, где зловещие тени сопровождают неосторожного прохожего, и в модных лондонских кофейнях, в шикарных клубах и низкопробных борделях Бенджамин Уивер, ежечасно рискуя жизнью, ведет свое расследование. Он смел и решителен, но этого недостаточно. Раскрыть дело можно, лишь проникнув в сокровенные тайны английской финансовой системы, которая, замерев, следит за смертельным поединком Банка Англии с первой финансовой пирамидой Европы - могущественной и опасной "Компанией южных морей". А в лондонских кофейнях уже вовсю делают ставки - доживет ли Бенджамин Уивер до конца года.
Кейт Грилли0.0 Kelly Ryan has her hands full when a hurricane hits her tropical island home, leaving damaged houses, broken windows -- and a dead body.
Джули Рэй Херман0.0 Greg Whittier was well on his way to becoming fertilizer when Amilou, his long-suffering almost ex-wife, found him. She, Korine and Janey, partners in Three Dirty Women Landscaping, Inc., were busy digging---and slinging a little mud of their own---in the garden of Greg's old flame, Suzannah Graham.
Of course, Amilou is in big trouble. The dead man was her husband and she's the prime suspect. And when it turns out that Greg's love affair with Susannah was heating up again, things look even worse. But Amilou and her friends know Greg's philandering past earned him the spite of more than a few women in town. A killer's out there, ready to be found---by three women willing to dig deep, and get dirty....
Марсия Симпсон0.0 The proprietor of a freight service, Liza Romero has found refuge from her troubled past in Wrangell, a rustic town with a rich history. But after she rescues a young Tlingit boy from certain death, danger begins to plague her every step....
Марвин Лахман0.0 Penzler Pick, February 2001: More than 30 years ago, Marvin Lachman began writing a series of articles for a now defunct mystery fan magazine (fanzine, to the informed), The Mystery Reader's Newsletter. The subject was regional mysteries, which previously had not been written about. When that pioneering newsletter folded, it was picked up by the greatest of all mystery fanzines, The Armchair Detective, under the impressive editorship of Allen J. Hubin. The series required 14 installments, running from February 1970 to October 1977. The impetus for a subject that at first flush appeared somewhat arcane was the realization that the mystery genre had undergone a major transformation after World War II. While fully 50 percent of all American mysteries had traditionally been set either in New York or California, authors had begun to discover new locales in which to set their tales. Equally important, or perhaps of even greater significance, it no longer seemed sufficient merely to mention that a story was set in, say, Boston. Writers began to fill out the description of their locales to bring a greater sense of place and ambience, moving the genre away from mere puzzles to fully developed novels.
While occasional stories from earlier times did evoke a place and time (no better examples come to mind than Melville Davisson Post's Uncle Abner stories or O. Henry's marvelous tales of turn-of-the-century New York), it is Raymond Chandler who receives credit for making locale an integral element of a story. His Southern California is more real to most Americans than the actual place ever could have been.
Is this really a big deal, you might ask. The answer is yes. Mystery novels, not unlike mainstream novels, made a point of becoming more realistic, so various locales no longer served as a convenient setting for a murder in a vicar's garden, but as a real place filled with people of varying socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds who spoke, dressed, and behaved according to the region in which they lived. From these mystery novels, historians and sociologists of the next century will probably be able to have a more accurate view of life in these 50 United States than could be gleaned from the history and sociology texts of our time, with all the biases and agendas toted around by their authors.
The American Regional Mystery is more than a compilation of those 14 very learned and surprisingly comprehensive articles. The past quarter-century has seen a greatly heightened level of regional writing, and the entire project had to be dramatically researched, rethought and rewritten. And what a job Lachman has done. One can only imagine the amount of reading and note-taking he needed to put together this superb tome of more than 500 densely packed pages. If you have any interest whatever in mystery fiction beyond the element of puzzle-solving, this should be a book for your reference shelf. --Otto Penzler
Martin Booth5.0 This entertaining, smart biography of Arthur Conan Doyle presents a modern day interpretation of the man who, contrary to his best efforts, will always be known as the creator of the great detective, Sherlock Holmes. Doyle was, however, much more, as Booth shows us in this intriguing study of a man who thrived on the times in which he lived. While Holmes fans will be captivated by the various tidbits that offer insight into their hero's creation; others will be fascinated by this living embodiment of the Victorian masculine ideal.
Марта Дюбоз, Маргарет Колдуэлл Томас0.0 In this remarkable book, Martha Hailey DuBose has given those multitudes of readers who love the mystery novel an indispensable addition to their libraries. Unlike other works on the subject, 'Women of Mystery' is not merely a directory of the novelists and their publications with a few biographical details. DuBose combines extensive research into the lives of significant women mystery writers from Anna Katherine Green to P.D. James, with evaluations on their work, anecdotes, critical opinions and some of the women's own comments. She takes us through the Golden Age of the British women mystery writers, Christie, Sayers, Marsh, Allingham and Tey, to the leading crime novelists of today, focusing on the women who have become legends of the genre. And though she laments, "So many mysteries, so little time," she makes a good effort a mentioning "some of the best of the rest."
When DuBose writes of the lives of her principal players, she relates them to their times, their families, their personal situations, and above all to their books. The biographies of these women are as engrossing as the stories they wrote, and Martha DuBose has shined a different, intimate, and intriguing light on them, their works, and the lives that informed those works.
This book is so full of treasure it's hard to see how any mystery enthusiasts will be able to do without it. And what a gift it would make for anyone on your list who has been heard to announce "I love a mystery."
Джим Хуан0.0 The Independent Mystery Booksellers Association list of 100 favorite mysteries of the 20th century represents the accumulated wisdom of the most knowledgeable people in the business. These are the books we most enjoy, the books we present to our customers over and over again, and the books that we return to when we want to visit with cherished friends.In this book, we journey through our list of 100, with reviews contributed by booksellers across the US and Canada. The book also features booksellers' lists of titles that did not make the list of 100 but should have, insights about mysteries and what our favorites mean to us, a directory of independent mystery booksellers and, finally, a 100 favorites shopping list.
