George Pelecanos – författare

Privatdetektiv Derek Strange och hans partner, Terry Quinn, driver en detektivbyrå i en sjaskig del av Washington, DC. En dag får de besök av en ung man som ger dem i uppdrag att söka upp hans försvunna flickvän - och så letar Strange och Quinn upp henne.  Ännu en helt vanlig dag på jobbet? Inte riktigt. I denna dunkla värld är inget enkelt. Strange och Quinns utredning får som konsekvens att en ung mamma blir brutalt mördad - en förkrossande händelse som får dem båda att ifrågasätta den moral de lever efter. Och ändå måste de fortsätta sökandet efter ännu en person: En tonåring som rymt hemifrån, dykt upp i en porrfilm och därefter inte setts till igen.  Steg för steg dras Strange och Quinn djupare in i mörkret, där de måste konfrontera illegal vapenhandel, maffialedare och langare - men också vanliga människor som dragits in i kriminalitetens hänsynslösa våld. 

GEORGE PELECANOS [f. 1957] är en av vår tids stora kriminalromanförfattare. Han är också känd som manusförfattare och producent till den prisbelönta TV-serien The Wire och som medskapare och manusförfattare till den hyllade HBO-serien The Deuce.

»Den kanske bästa nu levande kriminalförfattaren.« | Stephen King 

»En av USA:s främsta samtida författare.« | Time Out

 »Pelecanos i toppform!« | San Francisco Chronicle  

»En av de bästa nu levande kriminalförfattarna« | Dennis Lehane

Våren 1968. Solen skiner över ett USA på randen till inbördeskrig. Martin Luther King predikar för fredliga protester, men utan resultat. Washington DC:s getton sjuder av uppdämd ilska.  Mitt i krutdurken står en ung, svart polis, knappt färdig med sin utbildning. Derek Strange är övertygad om att han kan göra skillnad, men hans vänner och familj betraktar honom som en förrädare - en springpojke åt det vita etablissemanget.  Den fjärde april lönnmördas Dr King på balkongen till sitt motell i Memphis, Tennessee. Något som tänder gnistan till en vulkanlik kedja händelser som kommer att lämna landets huvudstad bränd, splittrad och decimerad - och som för alltid kommer att förändra tillvaron för dess arbetarklassmedborgare. 

GEORGE PELECANOS [f. 1957] är en av vår tids stora kriminalromanförfattare. Han är också känd som manusförfattare och producent till den prisbelönta TV-serien The Wire och som medskapare och manusförfattare till den hyllade HBO-serien The Deuce .

»En av USA:s främsta samtida författare.« | Time Out 

»George Pelecanos är en av de kriminalförfattare som överskrider genrens gränser. « | New York Times Book Review

»En underbar, stark kriminalroman som förtjänar att vinna en Oscar.« | Time out

''Perhaps the greatest living American crime writer'' STEPHEN KING

He was curious. It was the cop in him. That flame was still alive.

The neon "Strange Investigations" sign may be flickering in disrepair outside his office, but private investigator Derek Strange is still accepting new cases. When a flashy drug lawyer hires him to prove an alibi for an accused murderer, Strange can''t help getting drawn into the darkness.

In his hunt for answers, he stands his ground against some of Washington, D.C.''s most dangerous criminals, and a police department that doesn''t entirely welcome his interference. As the violence escalates and claims another victim, the raised stakes force Strange to question his own moves. Are his instincts still intact?

The Blue Flame is signature Pelecanos: tough, smart, rich with details of a time and place-and at its core, exposing the good and bad that exist side by side in so-called heroes and villains alike.

A brilliant novel from one of America''s finest literary crime writers...

On a hot summer afternoon in Washington DC 1972, three white teenagers, stoned and fearless, drive a stolen car into a rough, black neighbourhood. Taunting local black kids through the car window, they speed off to what they think is safety.

They find themselves trapped in a dead-end street whilst an angry mob gathers. In the ensuing chaos, two of the white boys manage to escape, but Billy - the third friend - is shot dead.

Thirty-five years later, one of these men reaches out to another, opening a door that could lead to salvation. However, another survivor of that day is now out of prison, and is looking for reparation in any form he can find it . . .

How far will a father go to save his son? A page-turning story of rebellion, greed, and the high price of a second chance from ''one of the finest crime writers in America'' THE TIMES.Hidden beneath the floorboards in a house he''s remodeling, Christopher Flynn discovers something very tempting - and troubling. Summoning every bit of maturity and every lesson he''s learned the hard way, Chris leaves what he found where he found it and tells his job partner to forget it, too. Knowing trouble when he sees it - and walking the other way - is a habit Chris is still learning.Chris''s father, Thomas Flynn, runs the family business where Chris and his friends have found work. Thomas is just getting comfortable with the idea that his son is grown, working, and on the right path at last. Then one day Chris doesn''t show up for work-and his father knows deep in his bones that danger has found him. Although he wishes it weren''t so, he also knows that no parent can protect a child from all the world''s evils. Sometimes you have to let them find their own way home.

The first in a stunning action-packed series from one of the writers of THE WIRE.Spero Lucas has a new line of work. Since he returned home after serving in Iraq, he has been doing special investigations for a defence attorney. He''s good at it, and he has carved out a niche: recovering stolen property, no questions asked. His cut is 40%. A high-profile crime boss who has heard of Lucas''s speciality hires him to find out who has been stealing from his operation. It''s the biggest job Lucas has ever been offered, and he quickly gets a sense of what''s going on. But before he can close in he tangles with a world of men whose amorality and violence leave him reeling. Is any cut worth your family, your lover, your life?

Every man has his dark side... Spero Lucas confronts his own in an explosive thriller from the writer of the award-winning THE WIRE.Spero Lucas is a young Iraq war vet now working as a PI in Washington DC. He''s hired by a young woman to find a painting she lost after being scammed by a super-smooth con-artist. Spero tracks the painting down, but the con-artist is part of a team of ruthless thugs, and the woman who hired Spero is brutally attacked as a warning to stay away.The warning doesn''t work. Spero is angry and he goes on the offensive, taking out the gang one by one. But where do Spero''s remorseless killings sit on the morality scale? Is he defending an innocent woman? Or have his experiences of war turned him into a ruthless killer, no better than the crooks he''s up against?

A great novel from one of America''s finest literary crime writers...They never found the killer.All they knew, back in the winter of 1985, was that someone was taking teenagers, killing them and leaving their abused bodies in public parks. Three victims in all, with no link between them except a oddity of their names. They read the same back-to-front - Otto, Ava and lastly Eve. A lot has happened in the twenty years since. Detectives Gus Ramone and Dan Holiday - two of the leads on the case - have pursued very different paths. Gus has climbed to the heights of Detective Sergeant and built himself a reputation as a very good cop, whilst Dan has been drummed out of the force - his sleaze finally getting too much for his superiors. However, their paths are about to cross again. A boy named Asa - a close friend of Gus''s teenage son - has been found in the public park, his skull shattered by gunfire. Now it seems that both men are once again in the path of this disturbed serial killer.THE NIGHT GARDENER is George Pelecanos''s stunning crime thriller - the story of two very different men united by the maliciousness of a deadly attacker.

''Perhaps the greatest living American crime writer'' STEPHEN KINGWashington, D.C., 1995. What should have been a straightforward restaurant robbery goes horribly wrong. Several workers are shot in cold blood; the gunman''s brother is killed by the police; a young boy is run over by a careering getaway car.Three years pass. Victims and their relatives gather in the aftermath, still trying to come to terms with their grief. But gunman Frank Farrow has other ideas. Now the heat has died down, he is on his way back to Washington, determined to avenge his lost brother - by killing everyone involved in his death.