______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Perfect Crime Books titles
have been nominated for Edgar, Shamus, Anthony and Agatha awards.
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Back in Print . . .
and Literate and Scary as Ever!
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"One of our finest contemporary short story writers regardless of genre."
Jon L. Breen Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
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NOIR 13
Publishers Weekly: "Gorman showcases the darker side of his talents in this solid collection."
Richard Laymon: "He seems to have, in the words of Robert Frost, 'a lover's quarrel with humanity.'"
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SCREAM QUEEN
"A new collection of short stories by Ed Gorman is definitely a reason to celebrate. The 14 tales range from straight-up crime to peeks into a bizarre future. What will really shock some readers will delight others. I love how in some stories the leads seem so normal until Gorman takes that one little turn and we see the real truth in these characters. Two of the tales are definite must-reads. 'Cages' is a near-future work of a young boy who sells something, much to his mother’s disgust, while 'Beauty' is officially one of the coldest and most brutal pieces I’ve ever read." Bruce Grossman Bookgasm
"This enticing collection from Shamus Award–finalist Gorman features 14 short stories across a variety of genres, shifting effortlessly from 'The Brasher Girl,' an homage to Stephen King, and 'The Scream Queen,' a violent coming-of-age story, to 'Angie,' a noir examination of parenthood, and 'Famous Blue Raincoat,' a dark tale of destructive love. Although his stories are often grim, frequently horrific, Gorman is not without sympathy for his flawed characters or those unfortunate to be in close proximity to them; were the central figures not so human these tales would not be nearly as effective as they are." Publishers Weekly
"Gorman is best known as a mystery writer, but his fans know he can handle pretty much any genre like an expert. This short-story collection showcases his versatility and his skill at creating complex, compelling characters." David Pitt Booklist
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Edgar-winner Joseph Goodrich casts an eye on some of Mystery's finest.
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"Entertaining and very informative collection."
Ted Hertel, Deadly Pleasures
"I started to make a list of all the books mentioned in this collection that I wanted to add to my TBR pile, but then gave up when I discovered I wanted to read just about every book. I decided it was easier to keep the volume on the shelf and refer to it when wondering what I should read next. You'll want to do the same."
A celebration of Mystery's great, almost-great and near-forgotten by Edgar-winning playwright Joseph Goodrich.
Profiles and appreciations of Dashiell Hammett, Rex Stout, Ellery Queen, Nicholas Meyer, Lucille Fletcher and many more.
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"Splendid collection!"
CADS (Crime and Detective Stories), U.K.
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More recognition for UNUSUAL SUSPECTS
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Jon L. Breen in Mystery Scene
"Goodrich’s work is always accurate, informative, and a pleasure to read."
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"Filled with gems!" S J Rozan
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"Warmly loving and personal homage." Rupert Holmes
190 pages Photos $12
Trade Paperback and ebook
"Beware. This book will cost you. It will make you want to buy
every novel, play, and video mentioned." Tom Straw
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Arthur Vidro's excellent periodical Give Me That Old Time Detection carries a nice plug for Joseph Goodrich's new collection of profiles of some of mystery's greats. Not only is the book featured on the cover of Issue #54 but also Arthur reprints the fine introduction by Martin Edwards, recent winner of Britain's Diamond Dagger award.
If you're a fan of classic mysteries, subscriptions to Give Me That Old Time Detection are a well-spent $18 for three issues, by PayPal or the old-time way: 2 Ellery Street, Claremont, NH 03743.
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2013 Anthony Nominee Best Nonfiction
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2013 Malice Domestic Agatha Award Nominee
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150 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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"What a treasure! . . . literally a blow-by-blow account of
the creation of three of the strongest Queen novels."
Francis M. Nevins
The writing team of Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee (better known by their joint byline of Ellery Queen) produced some of the most ambitious mystery novels of the mid-20th Century. Yet their relationship was acrimonious, marred by pain, financial and professional dependency and mistrust.
Here, culled from the Dannay archives by author and dramatist Joseph Goodrich, is the selected correspondence of these two volatile men during a period of their most important creative achievements.
With a Foreword by longtime television producer-writer
William Link (Columbo, Ellery Queen, Murder, She Wrote).
"A superlative book . . . jaw-dropping revelations."
William Link
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"Highly recommended!"
I Love a Mystery
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Nominated: Play a Cold Hand receives Shamus nomination
Nominated: Judges & Justice & Lawyers & Law Edgar Finalist
Nominated: The Honky Tonk Big Hoss Boogie Shamus nominee
Nominated: Blood Relations receives Anthony nomination
Nominated: Blood Relations receives Agatha nomination
Nominated: Long Pig receives 2012 Shamus nomination
Nominated: Murder Unscripted gets Shamus nomination
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2015 Edgar Finalist in Criticism
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The rivals of Perry Mason
Two-time Edgar winner Francis M. Nevins explores the role of law in crime novels, cinema and TV in this mammoth scholarly work. From early tales of frontier justice to the courtroom dramas of Perry Mason and Atticus Finch, we see the role of timely legal issues in shaping mystery fiction and popular culture.
By the author of Ellery Queen: The Art of Detection
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A wide-ranging review: early Arthur Train, frontier justice films, Erle Stanley Gardner and much more.
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JUDGES & JUSTICE & LAWYERS & LAW
Exploring the Legal Dimensions of Fiction and Film
466 pages Photos Index Trade Paperback and Kindle
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Also by Francis M. Nevins
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Publishers Weekly:
"Considering the wealth of professional and personal information, it's tempting to call this definitive."
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372 pages Photos and Index
Trade Paperback and Kindle
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Steve Steinbock in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine:
Four Stars "A fully satisfying account of the life and career of Ellery Queen . . . with humor and affection."
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Jon L. Breen in Mystery Scene Magazine:
"There is more biographical material on the Queen team than has appeared in print anywhere else, drawing on files of their correspondence, 12 pages of photographs, plus a full novel-by-novel, story-by-story critical survey. Also given full coverage are editorial work; film, radio and television adaptations, and the ghost-written paperbacks of the 1960s. Appended are 'EQMM: The Dannay Years' and 'At Work and Play with Fred Dannay,' an account of Nevins' personal relationship with Ellery Queen's editorial half. A 35-page primary and secondary bibliography and a 24-page index round out this meticulously researched, highly readable, and important book."
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My Life With Ellery Queen:
A Love Story
Rose Koppel Dannay
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A remembrance of the brilliant writer and editor Fred Dannay.
With many photos. Edited with Introduction by Francis M. Nevins
154 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
"Most who knew Fred at that time would have agreed . . . that
Rose saved his life."
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The Top Writers . . . The Sharpest Private Eyes . . .
The Toughest Cases
The SHAMUS WINNERS
America's Best Private Eye Stories
"If you're a fan of private eye short fiction,
these books are must-have items."
James Reasoner
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Also by Jesse James Kennedy
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"Impressive storytelling chops" *
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Jesse James Kennedy lives up to his first and middle names in Missouri Homegrown. It features a lot of crime and a lot of violence. His characters — even the FBI agents — fire off enough F-bombs to leave craters, and they fire off enough gunshots to qualify as ground combat. "
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A Mexican drug lord thinks the McCray boys
in rural Missouri will be a pushover when their lush marijuana crops cut into the cartel's business in St. Louis. But the McCrays live by guns and blood, and it hardly matters that they've got not only cartel soldiers to deal with but also FBI undercover agent Jill Murphy. Here's a book as fast and brutal as anything Jim Thompson or Elmore Leonard ever dreamed up, steeped in local color and infused with characters drawn from life.
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Jesse James Kennedy lives
in Arnold, Missouri.
Visit him on Facebook.
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*Publishers Weekly: "Kennedy shows some impressive storytelling chops in this high-action, heavy-body-count page-turner. . . . Not for the faint of heart, this book should appeal to Don Winslow fans."
Booklist: "Fast-moving, wildly violent . . . Kennedy's novel is vivid and rich in character. Strong, well-realized country noir, much in the manner of Daniel Woodrell's Give Us a Kiss."
Bill Crider: "The two opening chapters of Missouri Homegrown are as brutal as anything I've read, and Jesse James Kennedy is just getting warmed up."
READ the full review HERE.
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Also by Jesse James Kennedy
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The McCrays vs. Tijuana
and Booklist is ready for the rumble:
"Mean as ever . . . stepping over the bodies--a lot of them. . . . Kennedy's involvement with his material has deepened. . . . In heightened language, he explores the odd bond between cops and criminals, the poisonous tension between father and son. . . . These are gripping, beautifully executed scenes, and there's still plenty of the McCray business-as-usual: robbing corpses, chopping off arms, pushing lit cigarettes into open wounds. . . . How do McCrays handle competitors? 'We kill them.' "
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Jesse James Kennedy’s debut novel about the drug-dealing McCray family, Missouri Homegrown, was met with resounding critical praise. Booklist lauded the book as “fast-moving, wildly violent . . . vivid and rich in character. Strong, well-realized country noir.” And Publishers Weekly reported, “Debut novelist Kennedy shows some impressive storytelling chops in this high-action, heavy-body-count page-turner. . . . Not for the faint of heart, this book should appeal to Don Winslow fans.”
Now the McCrays are back, all three of them plus their sexy cousin Tracy. While Tracy combats poachers trying to steal the weed crop in rural Missouri, her fugitive cousins take the pot-dealing war to the enemy’s hometown, Tijuana. With FBI agents on their trail—including Jill Murphy, who may have a thing for one-eyed Jay McCray—the Americans square off with the Tijuana Cartel in a ruthless game that gives new meaning to the phrase “paint the town red.”
Tough-minded, vividly written, and sharply observed, here is a worthy second installment in the McCray saga.
buy at amazon
243 pages Trade Paperback $15
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2012 Shamus Nominee
Private Eye Writers of America
Best Novel Originally Published in Paperback
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LONG PIG
James L. Ross
350 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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The President's dirty little secret is deadly.
Hayes Rutherford did his stint in Vietnam, flying a rescue chopper that earned him the nickname "Last Chance." And he was a standup guy forty years later when someone had to take the fall for a Pentagon billing scandal. After 18 months in a federal pen, Hayes figures he's done with the Washington crowd. Working for his daughter at a Hollywood P.I. firm, his biggest challenge is keeping the talent's nose out of the candy.
But when rumors ping the White House that somebody is shopping an ugly movie script about the war-hero President, Hayes looks like suspect number one. Good thing he's in Hollywood, where anything goes, including a scheme to shake down the President who wants to kill him.
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Publishers Weekly: "Snappy mystery. Ross generates an enjoyable noir vibe with his snarky hero. He has also crafted a fine puzzle that doesn't require a deep understanding of high finance to appreciate."
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There's no plunge-protection team waiting when an ex-hedge fund manager goes off a hotel balcony. Nor is there anyone to rescue stockbroker sleuth John McCarthy and his wife if they make a misstep in exposing a massive financial crime.
As for the markets and the economy, what's holding them up?
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"Charming thriller . . . chases across Europe and tightly written gun battles. A delight for anyone who enjoys French crime cinema from the 1970s."
Publishers Weekly
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THE LAST CRIMES
OF CHARLES MISTINGUETT
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A retired criminal, who wants nothing more than to be left alone to enjoy his ill-gotten gains . . . Charles Mistinguett would never claim to be innocent of all things, only of the charges laid against him by the French government:
Murder. Extortion. Terrorism.
Useful lies if agents of the state plan to execute a man without trial.
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Booklist:
"Charles is everybody's fall guy, but he's not quite ready to fall--and definitely not ready to see his mistress, daughter, and son fall with him. This slick thriller combines the noirish cool of French cinema (think Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samourai) with an almost jaunty, witty charm (Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief and Charade). Stylishly written and cleverly plotted crime fiction."
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286 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
Twenty top-flight mystery writers, including Max Allan Collins, John Lutz, Parnell Hall, Reed Farrel Coleman, Gary Phillips, Robert S. Levinson, Warren Murphy, Christine Matthews and others, portray New York City's Times Square through a century of murder and mayhem. A score of original stories. Edited by Robert J. Randisi.
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| Robert J. Randisi ranks among the most prolific contemporary fiction writers, with more than 600 novels to his credit in the mystery, western and other genres. Here's a crime novel tough as a .38 slug.
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Jake Gilmartin's pals on the NYPD are out to kill him. The only man he can turn to is his son . . . who hates his guts.
the bottom
of every bottle
Robert J. Randisi
186 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
at amazon
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"No fat on its bones. Never slows down."
Bill Crider
" Rockets along. A good, tough cop thriller."
James Reasoner
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"IMPRESSIVE Debut"
Publishers Weekly
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Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine:
"Matthews's finely crafted stories specialize in unexpected turns. . . . One of my favorites, "For Benefit of Mr. Means," invites the reader to guess which real 1920s celebrity at a house party will turn detective." Jon L. Breen
Bookgasm:
"These tales reminded me of the later Lew Archer stories, where it's more about the characters than the detection. Really great stuff." Bruce Grossman
Publishers Weekly:
"This impressive debut collection from Matthews brings together 11 previously published and two new stories that might be called 'thinking mysteries.' Matthews doesn't merely follow convention by offering surprise endings or unexpected twists but makesreaders reexamine their initial assumptions about characters. . . . One of the gems of the volume is 'Dr. Sullivan's Library,' a darkly humorous tale in which [a] psychiatrist . . . classes patients by genre--biographies, westerns, thrillers, etc.--as he searches for a particular kind and a particular purpose. In an afterword, Matthews talks about writing stories in various genres, including horror and western."
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PROMISES MADE AND BROKEN
Christine Matthews
210 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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Love and Murder in Key West
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Six long stories from Alfred Hitchcock's and Ellery Queen's magazines
Tropical storms come and go, but human nature remains deadly all year long. Young Meggie Trevor, cast adrift emotionally -- and into jeopardy -- by the apparent death of her CIA agent father, takes on all the villains that rowdy Key Wasted has to offer: money-launderers, murderers, double-dealing gamblers and even a literary thief. Meggie proves she's every bit her father's daughter in an end-of-the-road city where anything goes. Includes "Last Island South," best short story finalist of both the Private Eye Writers of America and the International Thriller Writers.
190 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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240 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
| 240 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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"Boland scores big with this tale of complicated money maneuvering and family strife."
Kirkus on Rich Man's Blood
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BRONX NOIR
Jay Stringer interviews Uriel E. Gribetz about Bronx private detective Sam Free for the excellent DoSomeDamage blog (where you can also read about Graham Greene on Capri and the dangerous Friedrich Durrenmatt). Read HERE.
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Hunts Point
Uriel E. Gribetz
202 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
buy at amazon
A dead girl in a blood-soaked basement and a young loser wrongly accused of murder. Private eye Sam Free faces crooked cops and judges in a tale as gritty as a Bronx back alley.
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| Fifteen top crime writers take us on a tour of Hollywood through the decades. Dead starlets, crooked cops, jaded private eyes
. . . and Moe Howard cracks a case.
"Entertaining anthology." Publishers Weekly
HOLLYWOOD AND CRIME
edited by Robert J. Randisi
206 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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Edgar-winning playwright
Joseph Goodrich
presents nine short noir plays
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Author-dramatist Joseph Goodrich's
drama PANIC won an Edgar from the
Mystery Writers of America in 2008
for Best Play. Here Goodrich offers a
selection of short early plays that draw
on the traditions of modernism and noir.
The episodes seethe with violence and
desperation. "There are no happy
endings," says Goodrich in his introduction.
SOUTH OF SUNSET
Nine Plays
Joseph Goodrich
134 pages Trade Paperback
and Kindle
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13 stories both bizarre and humane
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"Tracy Knight is what
so few other writers, even
the great ones, are . . . an
original," says Ed Gorman
in his introduction.
"His fascination with human
beings of all stripes linked with
his skills as a writer and poet
combine to shape the voice
and form of his stories."
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A young intern is assigned to deal with an outcast man who suffers psychotic episodes every Father's Day. A man sets out to murder both himself and his deformed daughter, who can't tell him she loves being alive. The bulbous-headed nursing home patient has absorbed more human grief than a visitor to earth can bear . . . and it's all spilling out.
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TRACE ELEMENTS
Tracy Knight
230 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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Booklist likes Tracy Knight:
"Knight takes us deep inside his characters. . . . Compelling pieces of short fiction, with gripping, often unsettling tales to tell. . . . Reading them as a whole gives a stronger sense of the author's gifts as a storyteller, especially his ability to create characters who seem uncomfortably familiar, making us wonder if we, too, may one day join society's damaged and marginalized. An excellent collection." David Pitt
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The Guilt Edge
15 stories by "one of the last true pulp writers" (Booklist)
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"He's one of the best."
Michael Connelly
"A masterful writer."
James W. Hall
"Skillful, uncompromising."
John Lutz
THE GUILT EDGE
Robert J. Ramndisi
232 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
buy at amazon
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2018 SHAMUS NOMINEE
Terence Faherty
PLAY A COLD HAND
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"Engrossing read!"
Bev DeWeese, Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine
"This sixth novel in the Scott Elliott mystery series, by Shamus-winning Faherty, is another engaging, well plotted recreation of Hollywood movie culture during the 40's, 50’s, and 60’s. His very likeable P.I., Scott Elliott , knows Hollywood and Los Angeles history—and many of its secrets—very well. For movie fans especially, this mystery is a winner." Read the full review HERE.
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"A masterpiece." Steve Steinbock, Ellery Queen's
* * * *
"Terence Faherty’s new novel about Hollywood P.I. Scott Elliott is a masterpiece of hardboiled narrative style. The Scott Elliott series, including numerous short stories that have appeared in EQMM, has covered a period spanning decades, beginning shortly after WWII. Play a Cold Hand opens in 1974 as Elliott learns of the murder of his mentor, Paddy Maguire. Elliott’s investigation takes him to a series of very personal crimes going back three decades. Faherty’s book is finely tuned Southern California noir filled with half a century of Hollywood allusions and illusion."
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Two-time Shamus winner's Hollywood detective takes on a case that should have remained buried in a gangster's lurid past.
PLAY a COLD HAND
A New Scott Elliott Hollywood Mystery
TERENCE FAHERTY
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Readers cheer PLAY a COLD HAND
Booklist loves it! "Early on, a woman purrs to the hero, 'I love it when you talk like a B-picture detective.' We know at once we’re reading a movie-drenched detective novel, echoing the look and sound of 1940s gumshoe flicks. The story is set in 1974, but even the premise, which sees L.A. PI Scott Elliott summoned to the home of a hot-shot young filmmaker, serves to rush us further into the past. The movie guy wants to learn more about a sting Elliott helped orchestrate on a racketeer back in the fifties. It connects to a puzzling mystery involving the unsolved murder of a big-band singer, killed in a nightclub part-owned by Errol Flynn. Now the singer’s sister, who’s been searching for the killer for years, is herself murdered. Overcomplicated? Yes. But did you ever figure out how the Sternwood chauffeur got into that canal in The Big Sleep? Readers will know to relish the pack of Luckies and the Rexall drugstore with a phone booth. And the allusions. Aren’t PIs big drinkers? 'Ever since Nick Charles,' Elliott laments, 'we’ve been trying to cut back.' " Don Crinklaw
So does James Reasoner: "[I]n the Raymond Chandler/Ross Macdonald vein, all the way down to a late reference to a Chandler novel that provides a clue. The plot is properly convoluted, involving mobsters, a con game, a beautiful torch singer, movie stars, blackmail, black marketeering during World War II, and numerous secrets bubbling up from the past to cause trouble in the present. To put it simply, this is a wonderful book. . . . Don’t let anybody tell you they don’t write ’em like they used to." Read the full review HERE.
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Terry Faherty honored
at Magnum cum Murder
READ HERE
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John L. Breen in Ellery Queen's: "Good writing and plotting."
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Two-time Shamus winner Terence Faherty discusses Hollywood noir in a new Introduction to this collection of Scott Elliott detective stories set in Postwar Tinseltown.
THE HOLLYWOOD OP
Terence Faherty
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Terence Faherty explains how the Scott Elliott short stories came about in this 2011 article for the late Ed Gorman's great blog. Read HERE.
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As Hollywood's Golden Age wanes, PI Scott Elliott digs among the ruins. Eight stories in this two-time Shamus-winning series demonstrate once again author Terence Faherty's sharp eye and keen ear for characters living on broken dreams.
Includes the never-before-published "Sleep Big," in which Elliott cracks a case that famously eluded both Philip Marlowe and his creator.
In "Garbo's Knees" a paving slab signed by the reclusive screen legend has gone missing. But was it Garbo's slab the thief was after?
Chasing stray actresses, hot jewelry, and a gun that may have started a war, Faherty's sleuth takes us on a tour of Hollywood as the sun sets.
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"Cynical and perverse under the skin."
The New York Times on The Neon Smile
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BLUE BAYOU
| THE NEON SMILE
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"Dick Lochte is a superb craftsman. . . . The Neon Smile, with its tantalizing blend of past and present, is Lochte at his best."
Sue Grafton
"The Neon Smile is as colorful and entertaining as any police thriller ever inspired by the Big Easy."
Joseph Wambaugh
"Chockful of dark humor, wordplay and subtle clues, the novel is rich enough to reward multiple readings."
Publishers Weekly Starred Review
"I couldn't put The Neon Smile down. Terry Manion grabbed me . . . and pulled me deeper and tighter with every passing line! Dick Lochte is an artist; the book is literate, intelligent, funny, loving and a helluva good read."
Robert Crais
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Publishers Weekly: "Impressively creepy jump scares . . . bravura set pieces
. . . well-crafted moments of suspense."
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Deceiver
Max Gersh
164 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
buy at amazon
Kathy Bell's bad day at the office is about to get worse. On the twenty-third floor, a man with a knife is being transformed into something awesome.
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Dirty work in Havana and Paris
"Boland knows the game as well as John le Carre. He knows, too, the deeper irony. . . . Pour a single malt and savor." Booklist "Downbeat and low-key, . . . [the stories] pack a remarkable amount of plot, incident, character insight, and background detail into a limited space. The Edgar-nominated 'Marley's Revolution' may be the best, but all are notable." Jon L. Breen in Ellery Queen's
"A nicely nasty tale of betrayal and revenge."
The Short of It on "Marley's Habit."
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THE SPY WHO KNEW NOTHING
Eleven Stories
John C. Boland
206 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
buy at amazon.com
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Publishers Weekly:
"Fans of hard-edged spy novels will hope that this outing for disgraced Wall Street banker Patrick McCarry is but the first of many from Ross (Long Pig). Twists straight out of John le Carré [and ] sardonic wit."
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Patrick McCarry, a down-on-his-luck Wall Street banker, can't expect much sympathy back home. A hedge fund has blown up, and McCarry looks just the right size for a federal prison cell. Hanging out in Europe, he hooks up with a folksy Midwesterner who wants help picking through failed businesses. Chester Holt and his ample wife Charity have a homily for every occasion. One of them is "Don't be a doom and gloomster!" That means: If you're right on the doorstep of the Balkans, pretty soon somebody is going to want to buy guns from you.
DEATH IN BUDAPEST
JAMES L. ROSS
180 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
buy at amazon.com
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F. Paul Wilson says:
"One of the great joys of reading is stumbling across a good book that neither you nor anyone you know has ever heard of. I'd never heard of Boland (though he's written a slew of books over the last quarter century) and never heard of this novel despite a starred review in PW. I picked it up because I'm interested in evolutionary genetics and the title caught my eye. I'm glad I did.
"I love a good science thriller and this one is a helluva read--a ballsy book that keeps taking unexpected turns. It's got a booby-trapped, centuries-old crypt with 3 lead-lined coffins, archaeological secrets, mind-boggling genetic mysteries, many murders and even a few explosions, a mysterious foundation, a relentless NIS investigator, and much more. I might have hesitated to tackle such a combustible farrago, but Boland plunges in and brings it off. As a lagniappe, I learned a few things. Recommended."
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Publishers Weekly Starred Review:
"Superior science thriller. . . . Boland's taut atmospherics are top-notch, and the evolutionary themes he explores are easily accessible to nonscientists."
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine:
4 Stars "A tightly written thriller."
Mystery Scene Review:
"A riveting scientific suspense novel on the order of the popular Preston and Child thrillers. Boland makes complicated theories about DNA and genetically linked illnesses easily understood. And in contrast to many science-heavy suspense novelists, Boland also has the ability to create three-dimensional characters. [The hero's] love life is a mess; Silas Merton, the island's mayor and only clergyman, is also the town drunk; and even brutish Luther turns out to be much, much more than your average killer. . . . Hominid never fails to make for entertaining reading." Betty Webb
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Publishers Weekly:
"A mix of old-line Commies, red-diaper babies
and more recent Russian emigres. . . . Engaging."
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THE MAN WHO
KNEW BRECHT
John C. Boland
200 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
buy at amazon
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"Tamar Gillespie, a young artist with a disabled husband, lives in a rural Connecticut village . . . and paints dog portraits for a living. The village population includes Ultra-Orthodox Jews as well as old Communists and red-diaper babies who consider Prague Spring a betrayal. When the community board offers a run-down house to a family of Jewish refugees from the new Russia, old political feuds reappear. . . . Historical-mystery readers who enjoy political debates will find much to appreciate here." Booklist
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Murder in the Markets
"Very much in the Dick Francis tradition."
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine on Easy Money
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240 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
| 222 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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Money and murder from Wall Street to Jerusalem.
"Entertaining whodunit. Great fun!"
USA Today on Easy Money
"Roars along like a BMW in heat."
Kirkus on Death in Jerusalem
"Hang on around the corners."
Washington Times on Death in Jerusalem
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Novice sleuth Meggie Trevor is so broke
she'll take on any client who pays cash. . .
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LAST ISLAND SOUTH
JOHN C. BOLAND
International Thriller Writers finalist
Two-time Shamus nominee
244 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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Meggie's new client aims to be Porn King
of the Florida Keys.
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OUT OF HER DEPTH
JOHN C. BOLAND
International Thriller Writers finalist
Two-time Shamus nominee
255 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
buy at amazon
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" . . . style, substance, and versatility."
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
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24 chilling stories from
Hitchcock's and Ellery Queen's
mystery magazines . . .
30 YEARS IN THE PULPS
JOHN C. BOLAND
346 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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The Perfect Crime titles below are out-of-print,
but you may find used copies, as well
as new editions from other publishers.
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Did the Government
kill Jimi?
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Publishers Weekly: "Action-driven crime novel . . . with German thugs, drug dealers, and an ex-CIA agent who claims that the U.S. government wants Jimi dead. Hendrix fans may enjoy Mertz's portrait of the iconic musician."
Gravetapping: "Nicely executed action scenes, a few twists, and big ideas: friendship, loyalty, betrayal." READ the full review HERE.
Evan Lewis: "Sex, drugs, rock and roll, ass-kicking, and murder. They're all here. . . . You'll have a mighty hard time putting it down." READ the full review HERE.
James Reasoner: "Fast-paced, full of action and plot twists and interesting characters. A vivid depiction of the London music and club scene during the Sixties. Highest recommendation!" READ the full review HERE.
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Jimi After Dark
Stephen Mertz
304 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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Mystery Scene says:
"Most people might think of MWA Grandmaster Bill Pronzini as a novelist, but he's also had a long and distinguished career as a writer of short fiction. The Cemetery Man and Other Darkside Tales brings together 19 stories from five decades. Many of them are quite dark, but the title story offers a glimpse of humanity where it's not expected. . . . An excellent introduction by Ed Gorman." Bill Crider
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THE CEMETERY MAN
And Other Darkside Tales
BILL PRONZINI
238 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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These stories "lean toward noir, horror, domestic malice and satisfying twists, demonstrating the broad-ranging talent of a versatile writer." Jon L. Breen Ellery Queen's
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RIP: Edward Gorman
(November 2, 1941 - October 14, 2016)
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Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine:
"One of the best short story writers around . . . the terrific title story, rich in movie-lover nostalgia, was new to me." Jon L. Breen
Publishers Weekly:
"Enticing collection . . . Although his stories are often grim, frequently horrific, Gorman is not without sympathyfor his flawed characters or those unfortunate to be in close proximity to them; were the central characters not so human, these tales would not be nearly as effective as they are. Tom Piccirilli supplies an appreciative introduction. In addition to an afterword, Gorman provides brief editorial comments on each entry that leave the reader wanting more. This volume will appeal both to those familiar with his fiction and those who have yet to discover it."
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SCREAM QUEEN
AND OTHER TALES OF MENACE
Ed Gorman
230 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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2014 Shamus Nominee (Best Paperback):
The Honky Tonk Big Hoss Boogie
Congratulations to Robert J. Randisi!
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| "He's one of the best!"
Michael Connelly
182 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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"A slick plot, fresh characters and a fascinating look at a giant industry and the city that's home to it . Randisi at his absolute best."
Ed Gorman
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THE HONKY TONK BIG HOSS BOOGIE
Robert J. Randisi
Auggie Velez is a struggling "session man" in Nashville. That means he will play for anyone who needs a guitar. When his other business as a private detective faces lean times (which is almost always) Auggie will take on jobs that a guy with good sense would avoid. But when a big record producer offers $5,000 to deliver a little package, it isn't just the money luring Auggie. It's the chance to get his own music recorded--to finally "make it" in the music business.
Randisi, the man Booklist called "one of the last true pulp writers," launches a new private eye series set in a city where big dreams come to die.
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5 Joe Keough Serial Killer Mysteries
"Understated gems." Booklist
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Joe Keough, a cop with a sharp instinct for what makes killers tick, takes on a string of tough cases in these classic tales by Robert J. Randisi, winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America.
Moving from Keough's original haunt in New York to the Midwest, the novels track not only the brutality of serial predators but also the conflicted life of the protagonist.
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A Deadly Woman
"The author is a true storyteller. . . . It is nearly impossible to put this book down."
Cherie Jung, Overmydeadbody.com
"Kim Reynolds makes a thought-provoking heroine."
Sara Paretsky
"Seewald provides enough red herrings and action to keep the pages turning, including an exciting climax."
Gumshoe Review
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| Reference librarian Kim Reynolds is looking for a little romance, but this guy's "ex" is trouble even when she's dead.
216 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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Randisi's Brooklyn P.I. Trilogy
"This is the hard-boiled detective story as it ought to be: tough, fast, savvy, with a touch of sentiment."
Dean Koontz
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Brooklyn private eye Nick Delvecchio walks a narrow line between his Mob family and desperate clients in this series steeped in the atmosphere of New York. "The final entry in Randisi's Brooklyn trilogy is dark, brooding and thoroughly compelling [with] . . . clever plotting and an engaging narrative voice. Randisi has written hundreds of crime stories and earned numerous awards. This is among his finest." Starred Review, Booklist (Wes Lukowsky)
Trade Paperback and Kindle
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The Gil & Claire Hunt Mysteries
"Two delightful sleuths." Publishers Weekly
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Book dealer Gil Hunt and his wife Claire stumble onto one crime after another in this charming series by husband-wife writing team Robert J. Randisi and Christine Matthews. A murdered author, a serial killer with a grudge against TV shopping, a battle of voodoo priestesses . . . and death waiting at every turn for our amateur sleuths.
Trade Paperback and Kindle
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"If [it] moved any faster you'd have to nail it down
to read it." Elmore Leonard on Eye in the Ring
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A boxer hangs up his gloves to become
a private eye . . . and the real rough stuff begins.
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"Randisi's Jacoby is a chip off Lawrence Block." Boston Globe
"Each of Randisi's novels is better than its
entertaining predecessor." Booklist
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A thinking man's Mike Hammer
Four private eye novels featuring Chess Hanrahan, a hard-nosed sleuth who reads books, laments a decaying culture, and can't stand contradictions--in people or events.
"A great character!"
Booklist
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A philosophy professor is dead. Prowling university halls, Hanrahan uncovers crimes worse than murder.
152 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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"Exceptionally strong . . . firm characterizations . . . a striking tale."
Allen J. Hubin The Armchair Detective
A brilliant novelist wins a literary prize and disappears. Hanrahan finds envy and love equally deadly.
198 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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A cabal of social scientists think they can reshape American thought. They and their Russian friends haven't met Hanrahan.
198 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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Starred review in Booklist
"Fans of detective fiction will love this novel--and all of Cline's work."
One impossible fact, a bawdy screenplay by a man who couldn't have written it, sets Hanrahan on the trail of a killer.
168 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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In the woods, a Voice
"One of suspense fiction's best storytellers."
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
"Gorman's writing is strong, fast and sleek as a bullet."
Dean Koontz
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CAGE OF NIGHT
Ed Gorman
192 pages Trade Paperback
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In the deep woods, a well. In the well, a Voice . . .
The Voice speaks of lust and blood and murder to any who listen. Under the spell of Cindy Brasher, almost every young man will listen.
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"Fun through the last wry line."
Publishers Weekly
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Two capers by the suave (and if he does admit it, handsome) scam artist Milo Turner, who has been entertaining readers of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine for decades.
In The 120 Hour Clock, the love of Turner's life (a scamstress, of course) dies in the middle of a complicated scheme. Suspecting murder, Milo sets out for revenge . . . and money.
In The Ninety Million Dollar Mouse, Milo Turner takes on a religious cult, hoping to prove a high-tech mogul's handwritten will is a forgery. All he has to do is walk into the cult's home town and snatch a bundle of love letters the mogul supposedly wrote as a teenager. Easy enough. It's not as though anyone would try to kill him . . .
These new editions contain Afterwords by the author, two-time Edgar winner Francis M. Nevins, as well as reprints of the early short stories that inspired the novels.
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15 stories from the Jazz Age by a master craftsman, Cornell Woolrich, collected for the first time, edited with notes and an introduction by Francis M. Nevins.
192 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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THE PINK TARANTULA
A Novel in 9 Episodes
Tim Wohlforth
174 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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"Like a great twelve-bar blues--the comfort of a familiar form
jazzed by a fresh key and an exciting new voice."
Lee Child on No Time To Mourn
Crip and Henrietta aren't your typical California private eyes. Crip's real name is Tom Bateman. His sometime sidekick with body piercings and spiked green hair, Henrietta, calls him "Crip" because he rides a wheelchair. When she isn't mocking him, Henrietta grows marijuana, hangs with jailbirds, and brings in cases that reek of trouble--and weed--at first sniff.
In nine closely related episodes, we watch their relationship grow as both characters struggle to bridge chasms of bitterness and mistrust.
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"Gorman showcases the darker side
of his talents in this solid collection."
Publishers Weekly
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"One of our finest contemporary short story writers, regardless of genre."
Jon L. Breen
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
NOIR 13
Ed Gorman
250 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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13 dark tales of murder and revenge
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Two-time Edgar-winner Nevins's 28 tales
of mystery and suspense
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"Whimsical . . . stark and brutal."
Publishers Weekly
NIGHT FORMS
Francis M. Nevins
378 pages Trade Paperback and Kindle
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Ranging from classic whodunits to bone-chilling suspense, here are twenty-eight adventures of Nevins’s popular series characters: lawyer-sleuth Loren Mensing, scamster Milo Turner, lady cop Gene Holt, along with a bevy of stand-alones, including “Open Letter to Survivors.”
Fittingly, as many of the stories appeared first in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Nevins provides an introduction recalling fondly his early mentoring by EQMM’s founding editor Fred Dannay. The author adds historical notes in an afterword to each story.
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"No fat on its bones. Never slows down."
Bill Crider
" Rockets along. A good, tough cop thriller."
James Reasoner
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"There's nobody better at the American crime novel
than Max Allan Collins." The Big Book of Noir
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Nolan wants a piece of the American dream . . .
and he'll take it at gunpoint.
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"Witty, hardboiled prose." Entertainment Weekly
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Other Perfect Crime editions
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