Murder Room – serie

'Donald Thomas introduces us to the slums and fetid courtyards of nineteenth-century London and in doing so provides a sweeping portrait of the vast world that did not accept "Victorian Values". The villainy is outstanding. It is also entertaining. The author has a practised eye for the best anecdotes and presents amazing characters, some of whom come equipped with names that sound positively Dickensian . . . a wonderful profile of Victorian London' The Spectator

George Fraser, a lonely, timid fellow, lives in a dream world of gangsters, gunfights and beautiful women. He begins to imagine himself as the toughest gangster of them all to bolster up his feeling of inferiority. But George boasts once too often - and to the wrong person.From that moment on, harmless George is caught up in a deadly net of intrigue, and finds himself committing the deadliest act of all ...'An intelligent and harshly revealing piece of work with not a little serious penetration and power' The Times

The brilliant new 87th precinct novel from one of crime's enduring legends...Gloria Stanford was very sexy, very rich and very, very dead. Found in her plush, city apartment, she had been shot twice in the heart. All her credit cards and ID were gone but apart from that there seemed no motive at all. It's only when the detective-in-charge, Steve Carella, starts to receive bizarre cryptic notes in the mail that he realises something bigger than a simple homicide is going on. It seems the Deaf Man is back - a notorious crook and killer who has a morbid fascination with puzzles and anagrams. Long thought dead, he's back on the loose and wants his long-hidden millions back.

Another 87th precinct novel from 'the undisputed master - and there's nobody who does it better' DAILY MIRRORIrritating though he was, Lester Henderson had it all when he strode up to rehearse his keynote address in the darkness of a downtown theatre. Widely tipped to be the next mayor and possessing a nice line in catalogue-casual daywear, Henderson stood four-square facing his glorious future. But five shots later and his lifeblood was seeping away - gunned down by person or persons unknown from stage-right... At that point he became Ollie Weeks' problem. But this savage crime is suddenly overshadowed by a deed even more repugnant. Ollie's life's work is his novel. Honed by countless rejection letters, it is finally ready to be released to the general populace. But then the one and only manuscript disappears, leaving Ollie to head off in pursuit of the thief. A thief who is convinced that Ollie's work contains the secret location of a hoard of hidden diamonds...

'Ed McBain effectively invented the police procedural' Observer'The McBain books are among the very best of their kind ... McBain keeps you reading and keeps you guessing ... the book is a winner' Sunday Telegraph'Utterly compulsive' Literary Review'He is the undisputed master and there's nobody who does it better' The MirrorCassandra Lee Ridley is an ex-airforce pilot who now scrapes a living flying low-level contraband over the border to Mexico. But when she gets offered a $200,000 contract to fly what she assumes are drugs, she takes a deep breath and agrees to do it. The job goes perfectly, the deliveries are made and the money paid to the Mexican drug lords. One problem though. All $1.7 million dollars of the payment are fake, the Mexicans soon want their money - and Cassandra is their first stop and first fatality. When her naked body is thrown to the lions in a zoo in the 87th Precinct, New York, it becomes Detective Steve Carella's problem . . .

The brand new 87th Precinct Novel from the master himself - Ed McBain.Diva disappeared . . . This was supposed to be the night that launched a new pop idol into the firmament. Tamar Valparaiso has it all: young and beautiful with the body and voice of an angel. And just as importantly she is going to hit all the right demographics. With a Mexican father she's going to walk the Hispanic market and her Russian mother ensured that her blonde hair will not be scaring off the Britney fans. So, tonight, she is going to make debut performance of her first single - Bandersnatch - on a luxury motor-launch in the heart of the city. But this is when she becomes Detective Steve Carella's problem. Halfway through her performance - and watched by millions of fans - masked men drag Tamar off the stage and into the bowels of a waiting speedboat. Now the city is in uproar and the responsibility of getting her back safely lies on Carella's shoulders . . .

The first in a brand new series from the crime master himself, Ed McBain.ALICE IN JEOPARDY is the first novel in an exciting new series. Each novel is set in a different location featuring a contemporary woman whose life or children are suddenly endangered. The woman must find in herself the resources to save both her children and herself. Alice is a recently widowed young woman living in Florida with her two small children. Utterly devastated by her late husband's death in a boating accident, she is struggling to re-build her life. And as if life can't get any worse, her children are kidnapped. Surrounded by police fighting inter-departmental battles, Alice ultimately has to resort to finding and saving her children herself.ALICE IN JEOPARDY is a truly gripping book, absolutely jam-packed with twists and turns, culminating in a totally unexpected ending.

The character Sam Spade is now the subject of a brand new TV series, MONSIEUR SPADE, starring Clive Owen.One of the greatest crime novels of the 20th century.'His name remains one of the most important and recognisable in the crime fiction genre. Hammett set the standard for much of the work that would follow' IndependentSam Spade is hired by the fragrant Miss Wonderley to track down her sister, who has eloped with a louse called Floyd Thursby. But Miss Wonderley is in fact the beautiful and treacherous Brigid O'Shaughnessy, and when Spade's partner Miles Archer is shot while on Thursby's trail, Spade finds himself both hunter and hunted: can he track down the jewel-encrusted bird, a treasure worth killing for, before the Fat Man finds him?

Six victims. Same gun. No link. The final 87th Precinct novel from the master...It started with the blind violinist - shot twice through the head at point-blank range in the alley outside his dingy restaurant. But it's only when the omelette lady gets shot with the same gun in the same way twenty-four hours later that the 87th Precinct really starts to sit up and take notice.But Steve Carella and the boys at the Precinct always seem to be one step behind the killer, and are unable to prevent the death toll rising. The trouble is, while the gun is the same, none of the victims seem to be related in any way. And why is the killer heard to introduce himself as 'Chuck' before pumping two bullets into their bodies?FIDDLERS is a brilliantly twisting puzzle of a book where nothing is as it seems and the pace never lets up - Ed McBain at his very best.

Corruption, murder, beauty and innocence . . . 'Great crime fiction started with Hammett' James Ellroy'Not just the first of the tough school of crime-writing but the best' THE TIMESNed Beaumont is a tall, thin, moustache-wearing, TB-ridden, drinking, gambling, hanger-on to the political boss of a corrupt Eastern city.Nevertheless, like every Hammett hero (and like Hammett himself), he has an unbreakable, if idiosyncratic, moral code. Ned's boss wants to better himself with a thoroughbred senator's daughter; but does he want it badly enough to commit murder? If he's innocent, who wants him in the frame? Beaumont must find out.

'Not just the first of the tough school of crime-writing but the best' THE TIMESMiss Gabriel Dain Leggett is young and wealthy, with a penchant for morphine and religious cults. She also has an unfortunate effect on the people around her. They die - violently. Is she the victim of a family curse? The short, squat, utterly unsentimental Continental Op, the best private detective around, has his doubts and finds himself confronting something infinitely more dangerous.This is the Continental Op's most bizarre case and a tautly crafted masterpiece of suspense.

'An acknowledged literary landmark' [Robert Graves] from 'The dean of the school of hard-boiled fiction' [New York Times]The Continental Op first heard Personville called Poisonville by Hickey Dewey. But since Dewey also called a shirt a shoit, he didn't think anything of it. Until he went there and his client, the only honest man in Poisonville, was murdered. Then the Op decided to stay to punish the guilty. And that meant taking on the entire town...

I Was Looking For a Street tells the story of Charles Willeford's childhood and adolescence as, orphaned, he moved from railroad yard to hobo tent city to soup kitchen and desert around Los Angeles, and across the United States. The tale is at once a picaresque adventure through Depression-era America and a portrait of the writer as a young man of apparently little promise but great spirit.Written late in Willeford's career, this memoir is the work of a writer at the height of his powers, looking back without nostalgia or regret, and preserving in his clear and forceful prose the great American adventure of his youth.

**MAJOR APPLE TV SERIES!** starring Amy Adams and Javier Bardem'The best of [his] standalone novels ... an acute psychological study of base instinct, terror, mistakes and raw emotion' - Lee Child'The great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller' - Stephen KingA dark, psychological thriller, first published in 1957 as The Executioners and filmed by Martin Scorsese, starring Robert De Niro.'A master storyteller, a masterful suspense writer . . . John D. MacDonald is a shining example for all of us in the field. Talk about the best' Mary Higgins ClarkMax Cady, a brutal rapist, has been in prison for years, nursing his hatred for the man who put him away, attorney Sam Bowden.When Cady gets parole, he begins stalking Bowden's family.As Cady's campaign of terror mounts, the police are powerless to protect the family who must use their wits to survive a psychopath bent on revenge.

Before Jack Reacher . . . there was Mike HammerPI Mike Hammer is out for a late-night walk in the rain when he sees a woman being pursued across a bridge. He deals with the man, but, terrified, the woman jumps to her death. Pat Chambers, Hammer's police department friend, identifies the pair as Communists. Hammer visits a meeting of the local party and is mistaken for a Soviet spy. Into the mix comes Oscar, the insane brother of a political candidate on an anti-corruption ticket, who Hammer must deal with so that the politician's career prospects aren't spiked. But is Oscar really what they say he is?Meanwhile, Velda, Hammer's adored secretary, goes missing, and Hammer soon finds out that the two incidents are linked by a deadly thread . . .

Before Jack Reacher . . . there was Mike HammerOne night, a blonde jumps out in front of PI Mike Hammer's car. She's so scared he doesn't have much choice but to give her a ride. At a police roadblock, he discovers she's on the run from a sanatorium, but he passes her off as his wife. Other people besides the police are after the blonde, and these people play rough. Real rough.The blonde turns out to be the star witness against some big-time mobsters. Mike has blundered into something unimaginably big, but the Feds don't want him involved - and take his PI licence and gun.For Mike, it's a chance to strike a blow against evil on a grand scale. He discovers that something representing a great deal of money, and a lot of power, has gone missing, and that some people will go to any lengths to get it back . . .

Lyncastle is a small town that likes to be dirty: gin joints, gambling dens and brothels make sure of that, and bring in more money than the State Capitol. One night, a man named Johnny McBride returns to the town, and nobody is happy about it. Supposedly he ran away from embezzling and murder charges five years ago - he's believed to have killed no less than the town's DA. But Johnny doesn't scare easily when he's rousted by angry cops, or when harder men try to kill him. He's back to clear his name and settle some scores, and the forces that control the town from its shadows are nervous. But is Johnny really the man everyone thinks he is? Whoever he may be, his road to revenge isn't for the faint of heart . . .

A fast-paced, twisty thriller about an art heist that spins out of control with murderous results...Now a major film starring Elizabeth Debicki, Claes Bang, Donald Sutherland and Mick Jagger'No one writes a better crime novel than Charles Willeford' Elmore Leonard'Stunning' NEW YORKERArt critic James Figueras is a psychotic, an amoral unrepentant killer. Out to make a lasting name for himself, he seeks out the greatest painter in the world, now a hermit in the Florida swamplands. Figueras is after more than the man, however - he wants the work, and something more ... something more horrible than can be imagined.Crossing the art world with the underworld, THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY ranges from the upbeat Florida sunshine to an art collector who doesn't care how his art is collected, even if it involves murder.

Superb, classic thriller from the CWA Gold Dagger award-winning author of Other Paths to Glory, rated 'alongside Le Carre and Deighton' GUARDIANA brilliant young electronics expert is killed by a car bomb seemingly meant for the head of the Foreign Office's Middle-Eastern Section. Intelligence officer Hugh Roskill is sent by David Audley on an investigation that takes him from London clubland to the Hampshire countryside, and deep into the complexities of Middle Eastern politics, to find the answer to two questions: who was the real target of the bomb? And what is Alamut?Against the backdrop of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the period before the Camp David Accords, Dr Audley and Colonel Butler are confronted with an assassin capable of turning the Middle Eastern conflict into Armageddon.

By the CWA Gold Dagger award-winning author of Other Paths to GloryWhen ex-Major Ed Parker of the US Army is pushed over a cliff at Pointe du Hoc following the D-Day anniversary, a crisis is sparked off in British Intelligence. The cream of the Secret Service gather: Dr Audley, Oliver St John Latimer, Commander Cable, Dr Paul Mitchell. But none will take on the case.Why is the investigation left to inexperienced Elizabeth Loftus? Is there any truth in the old rumour that Parker was a KGB double agent?Elizabeth must ponder these and many other questions as she prises the lid off a can of worms forty years old - and suspicion begins to fall on her most respected colleagues.

By the CWA Gold Dagger award-winning author of Other Paths to GloryEven in the era of glasnost a defector is worth having, especially if he is a senior computer specialist in Russian military intelligence. But when the defection goes wrong, the British are left with three bodies and two inadequate clues to the nature of the information they might have been offered, and which now lies buried somewhere in the collective memories of David Audley and his one-time colleague Major Peter Richardson.But what is the secret Audley shares with the half-Italian Richardson, now frightened into hiding somewhere in Italy? For once David Audley has no idea and the race is on to find the elusive Major. But Audley's objective is fast being overtaken by modern political imperatives - ones very different from the black and white certainties of the old Cold War days . . .

By the CWA Gold Dagger award-winning author of Other Paths to GloryA few weeks after D-day the German army in the West is retreating, with the British and the Americans in hot pursuit. But Major O'Conor, ex-liaison officer with the Yugoslav Partisans, is conducting his own private war. As he leads his hand-picked team of ruthless fighters deep behind the German lines, it becomes clear that he regards French Resistance units and British Intelligence agents as more dangerous to his mission than the Germans. So it is unfortunate for him that two interpreters attached to his task force happen to be Second-Lieutenant Audley and Corporal Butler, already revealing the cunning and resourcefulness that, in earlier novels, has taken them to the very top of their field. Major O'Conor's startling objective remains unknown to everyone except himself until the final pages - where a shattering surprise lies in store.

By the CWA Gold Dagger award-winning author of Other Paths to Glory24 May 1940. Why did Hitler stop the Panzers and allow the British army to escape to Dunkirk?Anthony Price provides an answer in this brilliant, compulsively readable thriller of two young officers pitchforked into the chaos of war. The German advance strands them behind enemy lines, where they witness an extraordinary scene: a high-ranking British officer consorting with Nazis. The possible explanations are shattering - not only for them but for the fate of the whole British Expeditionary Force.

By the CWA Gold Dagger award-winning author of Other Paths to Glory'We want you to lay a ghost,' Frances Fitzgibbon is told as she is ordered to investigate the past of her own superior, Colonel Jack Butler's, at a decisive moment in his career. But why?For as Colonel Butler pursues an elusive IRA/KGB assassin, Frances finds herself confronting dangerous questions as more than one spectre is raised from the dark past.

By the CWA Gold Dagger award-winning author of Other Paths to GloryWhat does the chairman of the new Atlantic Defence Committee have to do with the American Civil War? And why was a top CIA trouble-shooter needed as a middleman? And why was that middleman looking for David Audley, senior analyst for British Intelligence?It all seemed very wrong to Oliver St John Latimer, but it did present an interesting opportunity. Unfortunately for the ambitious, and usually desk-bound, Latimer, the opportunity was twice as deadly as it was intriguing.

By the CWA Gold Dagger award-winning author of Other Paths to GloryDavid Roche, a young double agent, is assigned to recruit British Intelligence Chief Dr David Audley into Soviet service. It isn't long before Roche begins to doubt the information he has been given . . . and it isn't long before he sees how he might use than information to free himself of his obligations to both sides.Roche joins Audley and two friends at an ancient tower in the French countryside, and also meets with Lady Alexandra Champeney-Perowne - who shows him why it is so vital that he get out.And out he goes, in an exciting denouement involving the KGB, British Intelligence and - out of the blue - a team of Algerian terrorists.

By the CWA Gold Dagger award-winning author of Other Paths to GloryIn the fourth title of Anthony Price's gripping spy series, British Intelligence officer David Audley slips away to Italy without authorisation, taking his wife with him. Immediately the suspicion arises that he may have defected, and the head of Italian security is also interested in his arrival, particularly as it has flushed from cover a rogue communist. But Audley has his own reasons for leaving Britain, in an investigation that becomes a matter of life or death.

By the CWA Gold Dagger award-winning author of Other Paths to GloryIn the rural peace of modern England a war game recreates the slaughter of the Civil War. But when the battle ends, a real corpse is left it the Swine Brook; and an aristocratic but impoverished revolutionary claims to have found a cache of 'Cromwell's Gold'.When David Audley is called in, seventeenth-century secrets and the deadly game of modern espionage clash in a brilliantly intricate thriller of bluff and counter-bluff.

By the CWA Gold Dagger award-winning author of Other Paths to GloryAn innocent enough advertisement, placed by General Maxwell, retired war hero and beloved squire of Duntisbury Royal, equally innocent hamlet nestled in the English countryside. But the results are explosive...Although it seems obvious that the IRA's stars are rising, there's a more global type of conspiracy in the country air. The CIA and the KGB are suddenly sniffing around, along with British Intelligence Chief Dr David Audley - whose intuition for mischief and espionage puts him right in the midst of the action.