Steve Hamilton – författare

Prize-winning crime author Steve Hamilton''s hugely commercial mainstream breakout tells the extraordinary story of a safe-cracker trying to unlock the key to his past.

Michael hit the headlines once before, a seven-year-old kid the papers called The Miracle Boy on account of how he survived the terrible incident that took his parents. But although his escape was miraculous, it left him unable to speak. Taunted as a freak, school becomes a fresh nightmare, until Michael discovers he has a special talent that makes people sit up and take notice: he can open locks.

But a teenage prank, breaking into the house of a rival school''s quarterback, lands him in hot water, and despite his best intentions, Michael soon finds himself on a downward slope that ends with expert instruction on how to open safes. And unless he agrees to put his newfound skills to use, the mob are going to kill the father of the girl he now loves.

So begins an extraordinary life of crime - at once terrifying and exhilarating - while all the while, Michael plots how to turn the tables on his employer, win back Amelia, and find the key to unlocking his traumatic childhood memories.

It''s a beautiful place to die...The latest superb novel from EDGAR AWARD-winning author of THE LOCK ARTIST.In the dead of winter a young man is found hanging from a tree on a remote shore of Lake Superior known as Misery Bay. There''s no evidence of foul play. Nothing to suggest it''s anything other than a tragic teenage suicide. Devastated and unbelieving, the boy''s father just has one question: why?Finding the answer is not a job ex-cop Alex McKnight relishes, but loss is something he understands only too well. When he starts to question the local cops about the suicide, Alex''s instincts instantly tell him something is very, very wrong. And that he''s unwittingly opening a door into a nightmare world of madness, murder and twisted revenge...

A superb stand-alone thriller from Edgar Award-winning author Steve HamiltonJoe Trumble is a probation officer with a tragedy in his past. Two years ago his fiancée Laurel was brutally killed three days before their wedding. No one has yet been caught. As the story opens, Joe is heading for a blind date with Marlene, a jewellery designer, his first encounter with a woman since Laurel''s death. The evening is a success, but the next day Marlene is reported missing. Two days later her body is found. As the last person to see her alive, Joe is at the very least a material witness and, as the evidence mounts and another body is found, suspicion begins to centre on him.

A superb new Alex McKnight thriller from this popular Edgar Award winnerIt''s the most miserable summer anyone can remember in Paradise, Michigan. Alex and his occasional partner Leon are outside the local casino waiting to see the 4th July firework celebrations when they witness a spectacular boat crash. They drag four men from the wreck and revive them. When Alex''s friend Vinnie is later beaten up by four strangers, it doesn''t take Alex long to figure out who they might be. Vinnie suspects that these strangers have been preying on some of the local tribes people, pressuring them to make fraudulent claims for medicine, which the men then sell on at street value to drug addicts. When Alex and Vinnie begin to investigate, the men are forced into desperate action. One of them winds up dead, while the others are determined to prevent Alex and Vinnie from cutting off their drug supply. These dangerous newcomers receive a warm welcome from one quarter though - the criminal fraternity. At least Alex can be certain that his cop girlfriend, Natalie, is safe in Toronto, working on a long-term undercover operation against a group of gun-runners. But Alex doesn''t realise the true nature of the op and its link to the drug-traffickers; nor is he aware that Natalie is perilously close to having her cover blown. Then she comes face-to-face with three men who could be used to redefine the word vicious...

''That summer, it was all about secrets... I already had one bullet inside me. I knew I didn''t have room for another.'' A superb Alex McKnight novel from award-winning Steve HamiltonAlex McKnight rarely ventures out from his home these days, even to spend time at his friend Jackie''s Glasgow Inn. Even as he lets Jackie force him out one night for a poker game at a stranger''s house, Alex is certain it''s a bad idea. And when the genial atmosphere rapidly deteriorates, he starts to think maybe he was right. Then three masked, armed robbers burst through the door, and things get a whole lot worse. Soon Alex''s three closest friends are implicated in the robbery, and Alex finds himself the object of hostile attention from the victim. As events spin out of control, it becomes clear that somebody is not telling the truth, and has put them all in terrible danger...

In the hunt for a missing person, Alex McKnight is stranded in the wilds of Ontario. But he''s not alone...It is October in Paradise, Michigan, and Alex McKnight is rebuilding one of his cabins with help from his neighbour Vinnie LeBlanc. They''re interrupted when Vinnie is called away to deal with a family emergency: his brother, Tom, has not returned from a hunting trip to Canada. He is already four days overdue. Alex and Vinnie decide to retrace Tom''s steps, but when they arrive at the lodge, they are told that the men had already been flown back from the outpost, and had promptly left to return to Michigan. But something is not right. Alex discovers a terrible secret and now he''s miles away from civilisation, with no food and no weapons. And there''s someone out there who does not want him to make it back alive.

A superb new Alex McKnight novel from Edgar award-winning author Steve Hamilton.It is February in Paradise, Michigan, and for the first time since moving there, Alex is taking a hard look at his life. This is what happens when a middle-aged solitary guy falls in love. The woman is Natalie Reynaud, an officer from the Ontario Provincial Police whose partner has recently been killed. As far as the OPP are concerned, Natalie is responsible for her partner''s death. She needs a break - from the past as well as the present. Alex and Natalie spend a romantic weekend together, but just as everything seems to be going so well, they are disturbed by someone who knows all about Natalie, and about a dark episode buried in her family''s past which still drives men to violence.As much as Natalie doesn''t want Alex to get involved, there''s no way he can let her face this danger alone. After all, he''s been beaten up and shot at, all to help a friend in need. How much further would he go for the woman he loves?

A breathtakingly chilling novel of suspense from the author of A COLD DAY IN PARADISEIt''s winter in Paradise, a small town in Michigan''s Upper Peninsula on the frozen borders of Canada. After ploughing the new snow from his drive every morning, Alex McKnight is content to stay warm in front of the fireplace at the Glasgow Inn with a bottle of his favourite Canadian beer. Once a catcher in the minor leagues, later a Detroit police officer, Alex gave the private eye business a try and it ended up being the ''second worst'' mistake of his life. So when a young native American woman of the Ojibwa tribe comes to him for help, Alex is reluctant to become involved. Nor does he want anything to do with goofy Leon Prudell, who wants to get back in the PI business and has fixed on Alex as his partner. But before you can say ''storm warning'', events have spun out of Alex''s control. Soon he''ll have to deal with an entire team of drug-crazed hockey goons, two mysterious men wearing guns and hunting caps, and a cold-blooded killer from the other side of the world. Perhaps Alex needs that new partner after all...