Val McDermid Books In Order

The Distant Echo

The bestselling, award winning author of A Place of Execution delivers her most stunning story yet an intricate, thought provoking tale of murder and revengeFour in the morning, mid December, snow blankets St. Andrews School. Student Alex Gilbery and his three best friends are staggering home from a party when they stumble upon the body of a young woman. Rosie Duff has been raped, stabbed, and left for dead in the ancient Pictish cemetery. The only suspects are the four young students stained with her blood. Twenty five years later, police mount a cold case review. Among the unsolved murders they re examining is that of Rosie Duff. But someone else has his own idea of how justice should be done. One of the original quartet dies in a suspicious house fire. Soon after, a second is killed in what looks like a burglary gone sour. Alex fears the worst. Someone is taking revenge for Rosie Duff. He has to find out who it is before he becomes the next victim. And it might just save his life if he can uncover who killed Rosie all those years ago.

A Darker Domain

The superb new psychological thriller from Britain’s most controversial crime writer mixes fiction with one of the most symbolic and exceptional moments in recent history. 1984, Fife: Heiress Catriona Maclennan Grant and her baby son are kidnapped. The ransom payoff goes horribly wrong. She is killed while her son disappears without trace. 2008, Tuscany: A jogger stumbles upon dramatic new evidence that re opens the cold case. For Detective Sergeant Karen Pirie, it’s an opportunity to make her mark. But it’s an opportunity that comes with a high risk price tag. 1984, Fife: At the height of the politically charged national miners’ strike, Mick Prentice abandons his family to join the strike breakers down south. Labelled a blackleg scab, he might as well be dead as far as his friends and relatives are concerned. 2008, Fife: A young woman walks into a police station to report Mick Prentice missing. And since Karen Pirie’s already immersed in 1984, another inquiry with a cold trail ends up on her desk. Past and present intertwine in a dark novel of psychological suspense that explores the intersection of desire and greed. / Requires internet enabled mobile phone 3G recommended

Dead Beat

Re release of the electric debut of Kate Brannigan, a Manchester, England based private detective whose hobbies include Thai kick boxing, computer hacking, and a misadventurous relationship with her journalist boyfriend, Richard. It’s no thanks to Richard that Kate agrees to take on a strange missing persons case as a personal favor to a rock star, and no thanks to Richard that she is immediately reminded of why such cases are best avoided. Every rock star is on the hunt for a good lyricist, but Kate’s celebrity client is determined to have only Moira Pollock his partner in sex, drugs, and rock and roll. That is, until Moira vanishes. But who could have expected that solving the mystery of the missing lyricist, and restoring her to her former life, would prove prelude to murder.

Kick Back

Kate Brannigan s…
a whirling dervish of tough toes and fine prose. The Washington Post Kate Brannigan is investigating the bizarre case of the missing conservatories. Before long, she’s up to her neck in crooked land deals, mortgage scams, financial chicanery and murder. Then a favor for a friend puts Kate s own life in danger.

Crack Down

‘Crime writing of the very highest order ! Kate Brannigan has turned into the most interesting sleuthess around’ The Times There was only one reason Manchester based private eye Kate Brannigan was prepared to let her boyfriend help out with the investigation into a car sales fraud nothing bad could happen. But by now Kate should know that with Richard you have to expect the unexpected. With the unexpected being Richard behind bars, Kate seems to be the obvious choice to look after his eight year old son who proves even more troublesome than his father. Kate finds herself dragged into a world of drug traffickers, child po*rnographers, fraudsters and violent gangland enforcers! bringing her face to face with death in the most terrifying investigation of her career.

Clean Break

Manchester based, kick boxing PI Kate Brannigan takes on the hard men of European organised crime as she battles to recover a Monet in a case that stretches love and loyalty to the limits. Manchester based private eye Kate Brannigan is not amused when thieves have the audacity to steal a Monet from a stately home where she’s arranged security. She’s even less thrilled when the hunt for the thieves drags her on a treacherous foray across Europe as she goes head to head with organized crime. And as if that isn’t enough, a routine industrial case starts leaving a trail of bodies across the Northwest, giving Kate more problems than she can deal with. Cleaning up the mess in Clean Break forces Kate to confront harsh truths in her own life as she battles with a testing array of villains in a case that stretches love and loyalty to the limits.

Blue Genes

Private eye Kate Brannigan confronts betrayal and cold blooded greed as she investigates the alien world of medical experimentation and the underbelly of the rock music business. Kate Brannigan’s not just having a bad day, she’s having a bad week. Her boyfriend’s death notice is in the paper, her plan to catch a team of fraudsters is in disarray and a neo punk band want her to find out who’s trashing their flyposters. And her business partner wants her to buy him out. Fine, but private eyes with principles never have that kind of cash. Kate can’t even cry on her best friend’s shoulder, for Alexis has worries of her own. Her girlfriend’s pregnant, and when the doctor responsible for the fertility treatment is murdered, Alexis needs Kate like she’s never done before. So what’s a girl to do? Delving into the alien world of medical experimentation and the underbelly of the rock music business, Kate confronts betrayal and cold blooded greed as she fights to save not only her livelihood, but her life as well!

Star Struck

There is no one in contemporary crime fiction who has managed to combine the visceral and the humane as well as Val McDermid…
. She’s the best. The New York Times Book Review McDermid has a sharp ear for the dialogue and intrinsic humor of the Manchester dialect…
. She manages, as always, to combine her wit and exuberant writing with a careful and clever plot and oodles of perceptive social observation. The Times LondonBodyguarding had never made it to Manchester PI Kate Brannigan s wish list. But somebody s got to pay the bills at Brannigan & Co., and if the only earner on offer is playing nursemaid to a paranoid soap star, the fast talking, computer loving, white collar crime expert has to swallow her pride and slip into something more glam than her Thai boxing kit. Soon, however, offstage dramas overshadow the fictional storylines, culminating in the unscripted murder of the self styled Seer to the Stars, and Kate finds herself with more questions than answers. What s more, her tame hacker has found virtual love, her process server keeps getting arrested, and the ever reliable Dennis has had the temerity to get himself charged with murder. Nobody told her there d be days like these…

Report For Murder

Lindsay Gordon, Scottish journalist and amateur sleuth, was the first creation of international bestseller Val McDermid. Report For Murder introduced the United Kingdom’s first lesbian detective, and the series has been perennially popular ever since. Lindsay is tenacious to the point of stubbornness, intrepid to the point of stupidity, and loyal to the point of laying her life on the line. With the support of friends, family, and lovers, she takes on the world with wit and brio, unraveling criminal conspiracies and unmasking murderers. She s feisty, feminist, and funny. Each novel plunges Lindsay into a different milieu. Report For Murder is set against the backdrop of an exclusive girls boarding school; Common Murder features a women s peace protest, where feelings run deadly; Deadline for Murder forces Lindsay to confront the darker side of her own world of journalism; Conferences Are Murder explores the deadly underbelly of trade unionism; Booked for Murder lifts the lid on publishing, showing it s no longer a gentleman s game; and Hostage to Murder brings Lindsay face to face with child custody battles and the gangsters who inhabit the world of terrorism. The hallmark of McDermid s novels is a compassionate understanding of human relationships and a shrewd insight into contemporary society. The Lindsay Gordon novels have been published to great critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Booked for Murder, the fifth Lindsay Gordon mystery, was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award. McDermid has been praised for the way her storytelling interweaves the various elements of the novel into a seamless, balanced whole. I don t write about issues, I write about characters, McDermid says. The books have won a wide general readership among fans of the mystery genre. Val McDermid grew up in a Scottish mining community and read English at Oxford. She lives in northern England.

Common Murder

Lindsay Gordon, Scottish journalist and amateur sleuth, was the first creation of international bestseller Val McDermid. Report for Murder introduced the United Kingdom’s first lesbian detective, and the series has been perennially popular ever since. Lindsay is tenacious to the point of stubbornness, intrepid to the point of stupidity, and loyal to the point of laying her life on the line. With the support of friends, family, and lovers, she takes on the world with wit and brio, unraveling criminal conspiracies and unmasking murderers. She s feisty, feminist, and funny. Each novel plunges Lindsay into a different milieu. Report for Murder is set against the backdrop of an exclusive girls boarding school; Common Murder features a women s peace protest, where feelings run deadly; Deadline for Murder forces Lindsay to confront the darker side of her own world of journalism; Conferences Are Murder explores the deadly underbelly of trade unionism; Booked for Murder lifts the lid on publishing, showing it s no longer a gentleman s game; and Hostage to Murder brings Lindsay face to face with child custody battles and the gangsters who inhabit the world of terrorism. The hallmark of McDermid s novels is a compassionate understanding of human relationships and a shrewd insight into contemporary society. The Lindsay Gordon novels have been published to great critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Booked for Murder, the fifth Lindsay Gordon mystery, was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award. McDermid has been praised for the way her storytelling interweaves the various elements of the novel into a seamless, balanced whole. I don t write about issues, I write about characters, McDermid says. The books have won a wide general readership among fans of the mystery genre. Val McDermid grew up in a Scottish mining community and read English at Oxford. She lives in northern England.

Final Edition / Open and Shut / Deadline for Murder

Lindsay Gordon, Scottish journalist and amateur sleuth, was the first creation of international bestseller Val McDermid. Report for Murder introduced the United Kingdom’s first lesbian detective, and the series has been perennially popular ever since. Lindsay is tenacious to the point of stubbornness, intrepid to the point of stupidity, and loyal to the point of laying her life on the line. With the support of friends, family, and lovers, she takes on the world with wit and brio, unraveling criminal conspiracies and unmasking murderers. She’s feisty, feminist, and funny.

Each novel plunges Lindsay into a different milieu. Report for Murder is set against the backdrop of an exclusive girls’ boarding school; Common Murder features a women’s peace protest, where feelings run deadly; Deadline for Murder forces Lindsay to confront the darker side of her own world of journalism; Conferences Are Murder explores the deadly underbelly of trade unionism; Booked for Murder lifts the lid on publishing, showing it’s no longer a gentleman’s game; and Hostage to Murder brings Lindsay face to face with child custody battles and the gangsters who inhabit the world of terrorism. The hallmark of McDermid’s novels is a compassionate understanding of human relationships and a shrewd insight into contemporary society.

The Lindsay Gordon novels have been published to great critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Booked for Murder, the fifth Lindsay Gordon mystery, was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award. McDermid has been praised for the way her storytelling interweaves the various elements of the novel into a seamless, balanced whole. ‘I don’t write about issues, I write about characters,’ McDermid says. The books have won a wide general readership among fans of the mystery genre.

Val McDermid grew up in a Scottish mining community and read English at Oxford. She lives in northern England.

Union Jack / Conferences Are Murder

Lindsay Gordon, Scottish journalist and amateur sleuth, was the first creation of international bestseller Val McDermid. Report for Murder introduced the United Kingdom’s first lesbian detective, and the series has been perennially popular ever since. Lindsay is tenacious to the point of stubbornness, intrepid to the point of stupidity, and loyal to the point of laying her life on the line. With the support of friends, family, and lovers, she takes on the world with wit and brio, unraveling criminal conspiracies and unmasking murderers. She’s feisty, feminist, and funny.

Each novel plunges Lindsay into a different milieu. Report for Murder is set against the backdrop of an exclusive girls’ boarding school; Common Murder features a women’s peace protest, where feelings run deadly; Deadline for Murder forces Lindsay to confront the darker side of her own world of journalism; Conferences Are Murder explores the deadly underbelly of trade unionism; Booked for Murder lifts the lid on publishing, showing it’s no longer a gentleman’s game; and Hostage to Murder brings Lindsay face to face with child custody battles and the gangsters who inhabit the world of terrorism. The hallmark of McDermid’s novels is a compassionate understanding of human relationships and a shrewd insight into contemporary society.

The Lindsay Gordon novels have been published to great critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Booked for Murder, the fifth Lindsay Gordon mystery, was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award. McDermid has been praised for the way her storytelling interweaves the various elements of the novel into a seamless, balanced whole. ‘I don’t write about issues, I write about characters,’ McDermid says. The books have won a wide general readership among fans of the mystery genre.

Val McDermid grew up in a Scottish mining community and read English at Oxford. She lives in northern England.

Booked For Murder

Lindsay Gordon, Scottish journalist and amateur sleuth, was the first creation of international bestseller Val McDermid. Report for Murder introduced the United Kingdom’s first lesbian detective, and the series has been perennially popular ever since. Lindsay is tenacious to the point of stubbornness, intrepid to the point of stupidity, and loyal to the point of laying her life on the line. With the support of friends, family, and lovers, she takes on the world with wit and brio, unraveling criminal conspiracies and unmasking murderers. She’s feisty, feminist, and funny.

Each novel plunges Lindsay into a different milieu. Report for Murder is set against the backdrop of an exclusive girls’ boarding school; Common Murder features a women’s peace protest, where feelings run deadly; Deadline for Murder forces Lindsay to confront the darker side of her own world of journalism; Conferences Are Murder explores the deadly underbelly of trade unionism; Booked For Murder lifts the lid on publishing, showing it’s no longer a gentleman’s game; and Hostage to Murder brings Lindsay face to face with child custody battles and the gangsters who inhabit the world of terrorism. The hallmark of McDermid’s novels is a compassionate understanding of human relationships and a shrewd insight into contemporary society.

The Lindsay Gordon novels have been published to great critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Booked For Murder, the fifth Lindsay Gordon mystery, was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award. McDermid has been praised for the way her storytelling interweaves the various elements of the novel into a seamless, balanced whole. ‘I don’t write about issues, I write about characters,’ McDermid says. The books have won a wide general readership among fans of the mystery genre.

Val McDermid grew up in a Scottish mining community and read English at Oxford. She lives in northern England.

Hostage To Murder

‘One of my favorite authors, Val McDermid is an important writer witty, never sentimental, taking us through mean streets with the dexterity of a Chandler.’ Sara Paretsky

‘There is no one in contemporary crime fiction who has managed to combine the visceral and the humane as well as Val McDermid…
. She’s the best we’ve got.’ The New York Times Book Review

‘Val McDermid is one of the bright lights of the mystery field.’ The Washington Post

‘McDermid’s a skillful writer comparisons with such American novelists as Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton are appropriate. Clever, absorbing and lots of fun.’ Chicago Tribune

Lindsay Gordon investigative journalist, tenacious sleuth and unashamed lesbian is facing a midlife crisis. Back in her native Scotland after a long absence, she has no job, no friends and no desire to even think about her girlfriend’s worrying preoccupations. A chance encounter with freelance reporter Rory McLaren offers her an irresistible invitation to open a new chapter in her life. From there it is just a short step to political corruption and other juicy stories all welcome distractions from Lindsay’s problems at home. But when a local car dealer’s stepson is kidnapped, Lindsay and Rory trade journalism for detection. The trail leads them to St. Petersburg and a dangerous snatch back operation that will test Lindsay to her absolute limits in every area of her life.

Val McDermid grew up in a Scottish mining community and read English at Oxford. After 16 years in journalism, she became a full time writer in 1991. An international bestseller, she’s published over 20 books. Her many awards include the Gold Dagger, the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the Anthony. Val McDermid lives in the north of England.

The Mermaids Singing

Award winning psychological crime thriller from Val McDermid, ‘Manchester’s answer to Thomas Harris’ Guardian You always remember the first time. Isn’t that what they say about sex? How much more true it is of murder…
Up till now, the only serial killers Tony Hill had encountered were safely behind bars. This one’s different this one’s on the loose. In the northern town of Bradfield four men have been found mutilated and tortured. Fear grips the city; no man feels safe. Clinical psychologist Tony Hill is brought in to profile the killer. A man with more than enough sexual problems of his own, Tony himself becomes the unsuspecting target in a battle of wits and wills where he has to use every ounce of his professional nerve to survive. A tense, brilliantly written psychological thriller, The Mermaids Singing explores the tormented mind of a serial killer unlike any the world of fiction has ever seen.

The Wire In The Blood

Young girls are disappearing around the country, and there is nothing to connect them to one another, let alone the killer whose charming manner hides a warped and sick mind.

Nobody gets inside the messy heads of serial killers like Dr Tony Hill. Now heading up a National Profiling Task Force, he sets his team air exercise: they are given the details of missing teenagers and asked to discover whether there is a sinister link between any of the cases. Only one officer, Shaz Bowman, comes up with a concrete theory a theory that is ridiculed by the group…
until one of their number is murdered and mutilated.

Could Bowman’s outrageous Suspicion possibly be true? For Tony Hill, the murder of one of his team becomes a matter of personal revenge, and, joined again by colleague Carol Jordan, he embarks on a campaign of psychological terrorism a game where hunter and hunted can all too easily be reversed.

The Last Temptation

Mapping the minds of murderers is what Dr. Tony Hill does better than anyone. So when a twisted killer starts targeting psychologists across Northern Europe, Hill is the obvious choice to track the executioner’s mental and physical journey. Except that Tony, still bearing the scars of past cases, doesn’t want to do this anymore. But the killer is about to strike uncomfortably close to home. The next victim is a friend and colleague. And Tony’s former partner, Detective Carol Jordan, is directly in the murderer’s path, working undercover in a world where human life means less than the smallest drug deal. She needs Tony’s help as much as the beleaguered European police officials do. Now the danger is closing in. Confronting the worst of modern crime and struggling to unravel roots that lie deep in the tormented past of Na*zi atrocities and Stasi abuses, Tony and Carol are forced to battle for survival against overwhelming odds. In this morass of double cross and double dealing, they have no one to trust but each other. Deftly merging the dark terrain of forensic psychology with the brooding, crime streaked world of post Cold War Europe, McDermid’s latest is an unrivaled tour de force that takes Tony Hill further into the mind of a killer than he’s ever dared to go before.

The Torment of Others

Stunning new psychological thriller featuring Tony Hill, hero of The Wire in the Blood, from one of Britain’s bestselling novelists: ‘Val McDermid has become our leading pathologist of everyday evil! The subtle orchestration of terror is masterful’ Guardian Clinical psychologist Dr Tony Hill and Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan face the toughest challenge of their careers when they are confronted with an ‘impossible’ series of murders. Back in Bradfield after her traumatic experiences in Berlin, Carol is surprised to find Tony has followed her there to take up a post in the local secure mental hospital. When a prostitute is murdered in a particularly grotesque and stomach churning way, she turns to him for help. Bizarrely, this killing matches in every detail a series of murders that took place a couple of years previously. A series of murders for which Derek Tyler was tried, convicted and sentenced. There has never been any doubt about his guilt. But now the ghost of his crimes has risen again. A second prostitute murder soon follows and the team are struggling. While Tony tries to crack Tyler, the police decide to mount an undercover operation that goes horribly wrong. The decoy is taken, presumably by the killer. As the tension mounts, a mixture of psychological insight and dogged detective work leads inexorably to a terrifying climax where Tony faces one of the most perverse killers he has ever encountered.

Beneath the Bleeding

Published in the U. S. for the first time The residents of Bradfield are devastated when their star midfielder dies, the victim of a bizarre, seemingly motiveless murder. In a hospital, recovering from injuries, criminal profiler and psychologist Dr. Tony Hill struggles to make sense of the fragments of information he can gather in order to help his ally, Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan, bring a killer to justice. Then an explosion rips through a soccer stadium, leaving dozens dead and many more injured, and Jordan finds herself pushed to the margins of the investigation by the intelligence services. Despite the dark places in their relationship, Tony and Carol remain the best hope for uncovering the truth about an ever increasing series of unspeakable crimes. Are they terrorist attacks, a personal vendetta…
or something even more sinister?

Fever of the Bone

‘You should have been a detective. If there’s one thing the last year has proved, it’s how good you are at finding things out. Not simple things. Hard things. Things that nobody is supposed to be able to find out. Things that are buried so deep nobody even thinks twice about them. The sort of things that turn people’s lives inside out once they’re exposed.’ Meet Tony Hill’s most twisted adversary a killer with a shopping list of victims, a killer unmoved by youth and innocence, a killer driven by the most perverted of desires. The murder and mutilation of teenager Jennifer Maidment is horrific enough on its own. But it’s not long before Tony realises it’s just the start of a brutal and ruthless campaign that’s targeting an apparently unconnected group of young people. Struggling with the newly awakened ghosts of his own past and desperate for distraction in his work, Tony battles to find the answers that will give him personal and professional satisfaction in his most testing investigation yet.

The Retribution

Val McDermid is a world class crime writer whose books have sold millions worldwide. Now joining the Atlantic Monthly Press list for the first time, she is back with a chilling, high velocity thriller featuring her immensely popular creations, clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill and detective Carol Jordan. Tony Hill has had a good run. He and detective Carol Jordan have put away scores of dangerous criminals at a rate that colleagues envy. But there is one serial killer who has shaped and defined their careers, and whose evil surpas*ses all others: Jacko Vance, ex celebrity and sociopath whose brilliance and utter lack of remorse have never left Tony’s mind in the ten years since his imprisonment. Now Jacko has escaped from prison even more twisted and cunning than before, he is focused on wreaking revenge on Tony and Carol for his years spent in prison. Tony and Carol don t know when Jacko will strike, or where. All they know is that Jacko will cause them to feel fear like they ve never known. A chilling, utterly gripping tour de force, The Retribution is the ideal introduction or re introduction to the world of Tony Hill and Carol Jordan. It is an unforgettable read.

The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 1

More than 200,000 words of great crime and suspense fictionEach year, Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg, editors of The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories, have reached farther past the boundaries of the United States to find the very best suspense from the world over. In this third volume of their series they have included stories from Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom as well as, of course, a number of fine stories from the U.S.A. Among these tales are winners of the Edgar Award, the Silver Dagger Award of the British Crime Writers, and other major awards in the field. In addition, here are reports on the field of mystery and crime writing from correspondents in the U.S. Jon L. Breen, England Maxim Jakubowski, Canada Edo Van Belkom, Australia David Honeybone, and Germany Thomas Woertche. Altogether, with nearly 250,000 words of the best short suspense published in 2001, this bounteous volume is, as the Wall Street Journal said of the previous year s compilation, the best value for money of any such anthology. The A to Z of the authors should excite the interest of any mystery reader:Robert Barnard Lawrence Block Jon L. Breen Wolfgang Burger Lillian Stewart Carl Margaret Coel Max Allan Collins Bill Crider Jeffery Deaver Brendan DuBois Susanna Gregory Joseph Hansen Carolyn G. Hart Lauren Henderson Edward D. Hoch Clark Howard Tatjana Kruse Paul Lascaux Dick Lochte Peter Lovesey Mary Jane Maffini Ed McBain Val McDermid Marcia Muller Joyce Carol Oates Anne Perry Nancy Pickard Bill Pronzini Ruth Rendell S. J. Rozan Billie Rubin Kristine Kathryn Rusch Stephan Rykena David B. Silva Nancy Springer Jac. Toes John Vermeulen Donald E. Westlake Carolyn Wheat.

The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 2

More than 200,000 words of great crime and suspense fictionEach year, Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg, editors of The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories, have reached farther past the boundaries of the United States to find the very best suspense from the world over. In this third volume of their series they have included stories from Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom as well as, of course, a number of fine stories from the U.S.A. Among these tales are winners of the Edgar Award, the Silver Dagger Award of the British Crime Writers, and other major awards in the field. In addition, here are reports on the field of mystery and crime writing from correspondents in the U.S. Jon L. Breen, England Maxim Jakubowski, Canada Edo Van Belkom, Australia David Honeybone, and Germany Thomas Woertche. Altogether, with nearly 250,000 words of the best short suspense published in 2001, this bounteous volume is, as the Wall Street Journal said of the previous year s compilation, the best value for money of any such anthology. The A to Z of the authors should excite the interest of any mystery reader:Robert Barnard Lawrence Block Jon L. Breen Wolfgang Burger Lillian Stewart Carl Margaret Coel Max Allan Collins Bill Crider Jeffery Deaver Brendan DuBois Susanna Gregory Joseph Hansen Carolyn G. Hart Lauren Henderson Edward D. Hoch Clark Howard Tatjana Kruse Paul Lascaux Dick Lochte Peter Lovesey Mary Jane Maffini Ed McBain Val McDermid Marcia Muller Joyce Carol Oates Anne Perry Nancy Pickard Bill Pronzini Ruth Rendell S. J. Rozan Billie Rubin Kristine Kathryn Rusch Stephan Rykena David B. Silva Nancy Springer Jac. Toes John Vermeulen Donald E. Westlake Carolyn Wheat.

The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 3

More than 200,000 words of great crime and suspense fictionEach year, Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg, editors of The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories, have reached farther past the boundaries of the United States to find the very best suspense from the world over. In this third volume of their series they have included stories from Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom as well as, of course, a number of fine stories from the U.S.A. Among these tales are winners of the Edgar Award, the Silver Dagger Award of the British Crime Writers, and other major awards in the field. In addition, here are reports on the field of mystery and crime writing from correspondents in the U.S. Jon L. Breen, England Maxim Jakubowski, Canada Edo Van Belkom, Australia David Honeybone, and Germany Thomas Woertche. Altogether, with nearly 250,000 words of the best short suspense published in 2001, this bounteous volume is, as the Wall Street Journal said of the previous year s compilation, the best value for money of any such anthology. The A to Z of the authors should excite the interest of any mystery reader:Robert Barnard Lawrence Block Jon L. Breen Wolfgang Burger Lillian Stewart Carl Margaret Coel Max Allan Collins Bill Crider Jeffery Deaver Brendan DuBois Susanna Gregory Joseph Hansen Carolyn G. Hart Lauren Henderson Edward D. Hoch Clark Howard Tatjana Kruse Paul Lascaux Dick Lochte Peter Lovesey Mary Jane Maffini Ed McBain Val McDermid Marcia Muller Joyce Carol Oates Anne Perry Nancy Pickard Bill Pronzini Ruth Rendell S. J. Rozan Billie Rubin Kristine Kathryn Rusch Stephan Rykena David B. Silva Nancy Springer Jac. Toes John Vermeulen Donald E. Westlake Carolyn Wheat.

The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 4

More than 200,000 words of great crime and suspense fictionEach year, Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg, editors of The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories, have reached farther past the boundaries of the United States to find the very best suspense from the world over. In this third volume of their series they have included stories from Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom as well as, of course, a number of fine stories from the U.S.A. Among these tales are winners of the Edgar Award, the Silver Dagger Award of the British Crime Writers, and other major awards in the field. In addition, here are reports on the field of mystery and crime writing from correspondents in the U.S. Jon L. Breen, England Maxim Jakubowski, Canada Edo Van Belkom, Australia David Honeybone, and Germany Thomas Woertche. Altogether, with nearly 250,000 words of the best short suspense published in 2001, this bounteous volume is, as the Wall Street Journal said of the previous year s compilation, the best value for money of any such anthology. The A to Z of the authors should excite the interest of any mystery reader:Robert Barnard Lawrence Block Jon L. Breen Wolfgang Burger Lillian Stewart Carl Margaret Coel Max Allan Collins Bill Crider Jeffery Deaver Brendan DuBois Susanna Gregory Joseph Hansen Carolyn G. Hart Lauren Henderson Edward D. Hoch Clark Howard Tatjana Kruse Paul Lascaux Dick Lochte Peter Lovesey Mary Jane Maffini Ed McBain Val McDermid Marcia Muller Joyce Carol Oates Anne Perry Nancy Pickard Bill Pronzini Ruth Rendell S. J. Rozan Billie Rubin Kristine Kathryn Rusch Stephan Rykena David B. Silva Nancy Springer Jac. Toes John Vermeulen Donald E. Westlake Carolyn Wheat.

The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 5

More than 200,000 words of great crime and suspense fictionEach year, Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg, editors of The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories, have reached farther past the boundaries of the United States to find the very best suspense from the world over. In this third volume of their series they have included stories from Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom as well as, of course, a number of fine stories from the U.S.A. Among these tales are winners of the Edgar Award, the Silver Dagger Award of the British Crime Writers, and other major awards in the field. In addition, here are reports on the field of mystery and crime writing from correspondents in the U.S. Jon L. Breen, England Maxim Jakubowski, Canada Edo Van Belkom, Australia David Honeybone, and Germany Thomas Woertche. Altogether, with nearly 250,000 words of the best short suspense published in 2001, this bounteous volume is, as the Wall Street Journal said of the previous year s compilation, the best value for money of any such anthology. The A to Z of the authors should excite the interest of any mystery reader:Robert Barnard Lawrence Block Jon L. Breen Wolfgang Burger Lillian Stewart Carl Margaret Coel Max Allan Collins Bill Crider Jeffery Deaver Brendan DuBois Susanna Gregory Joseph Hansen Carolyn G. Hart Lauren Henderson Edward D. Hoch Clark Howard Tatjana Kruse Paul Lascaux Dick Lochte Peter Lovesey Mary Jane Maffini Ed McBain Val McDermid Marcia Muller Joyce Carol Oates Anne Perry Nancy Pickard Bill Pronzini Ruth Rendell S. J. Rozan Billie Rubin Kristine Kathryn Rusch Stephan Rykena David B. Silva Nancy Springer Jac. Toes John Vermeulen Donald E. Westlake Carolyn Wheat.

A Place of Execution

Winter 1963: two children have disappeared off the streets of Manchester; the murderous careers of Myra Hindley and Ian Brady have begun. On a freezlng day in December, another child goes missing: thirteen year old Alison Carter vanishes from her town, an insular community that distrusts the outside world. For the young George Bennett, a newly promoted inspector, 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 anonymity of the inner city, and an outcome which reverberates through the years. Decades later he finally tells his story to journalist Catherine Heathcote, but just when the book is poised for publication, Bennett unaccountably tries to pull the plug. He has new information which he refuses to divulge, new information that threatens the very foundations of his existence. Catherine is forced to re investigate the past, with results that turn the world upside down. A Greek tragedy in modern England, A Place of Execution is a taut psychological thriller that explores, exposes and explodes the border between reality and illusion in a multi layered narrative that turns expectations on their head and reminds us that what we know is what we do not know. A Place of Execution is a 2001 Edgar Award Nominee for Best Novel.

Killing The Shadows

A killer is on the loose, blurring the line between fact and fiction. His prey the writers of crime novels who have turned psychological profilers into the heroes of the nineties. But this killer is like no other. His bloodlust shatters all the conventional wisdom surrounding the motives and mechanics of how serial killers operate. And for one woman, the desperate hunt to uncover his identity becomes a matter of life and death. Professor Fiona Cameron is an academic psychologist who uses computer technology to help police forces track serial offenders. She used to help the Met, but vowed never to work for them again when they went against her advice and badly screwed up an investigation as a consequence. Still smarting from the experience, she’s working a case in Toledo when her lover, thriller writer Kit Martin, tells her a fellow crime novelist has been murdered. It’s not her case, but Fiona can’t help taking an interest. Which is just as well, because before too long the killer strikes again. And again. And Fiona is caught up in a race against time, not only to save a life, but to bring herself redemption, both personal and professional. Rich in atmosphere, Killing The Shadows uses the backdrops of city and country to create an air of threatening menace, culminating in a tense confrontation between hunter and hunted, a confrontation that can have only one outcome.

The Grave Tattoo

In a novel reminiscent of The Rule of Four, The Dante Club and The Historian, suspense master McDermid spins a psychological thriller in which a present day murder has its roots in the eighteenth century and the mutiny on the H.M.S. Bounty. After torrential summer rains uncover a bizarrely tattooed body on a Lake District hillside, long discarded old wives’ tales takes on a chilling new plausibility. For centuries, Lakelanders have whispered that Fletcher Christian staged the massacre on Pitcairn so that he could return home. And there, he told his story to an old friend and schoolmate, William Wordsworth, who turned it into a long narrative poem a poem that remained hidden lest it expose Wordsworth to the gallows for harboring a fugitive. Wordsworth specialist Jane Gresham, herself a native of the Lake District, feels compelled to discover once and for all whether the manuscript ever existed and whether it still exists today. But as she pursues each new lead, death follows hard on her heels. Suddenly Jane is at the heart of a 200 year old mystery that still has the power to put lives on the line. Against the dramatic backdrop of England’s Lake District a drama of life and death plays out, its ultimate prize a bounty worth millions.

Trick of the Dark

‘Val McDermid is one of the bright lights of the mystery field.’ The Washington Post ‘She’s the best we’ve got.’ The New York Times Book Review Barred from practice, disgraced psychiatrist Charlie Flint receives a mysterious summons to Oxford from an old professor who wants her to look into the death of her daughter’s husband. But as Charlie delves deeper into the case and steps back into the arcane world of Oxford colleges, she realizes that there is much more to this crime than meets the eye. Val McDermid has published twenty four novels. An internationally best selling author, her books have been translated into thirty languages. She has won more than a dozen major awards, most recently the 2010 Crime Writers’ Association Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for outstanding achievement in the field of mysteries.

A Suitable Job for a Woman

‘But down these mean streets must go a man who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished or afraid.’ When Raymond Chandler wrote these words in his classic The Simple Art of Murder, he drew a blueprint for the male private eyes who descend from Philip Marlowe to populate the world of crime fiction. But what if the private eye is a woman? And what if she is not a character in a novel but a real, working investigator testing not only the meanness but the absurdity of life on seamy streets? Who will tell her story? Enter Manchester’s Val McDermid, herself a skilled writer of the P.I. novel but for years a professional journalist. In an effort to plumb the real world of working women and throw new light on her own craft she has interviewed women private eyes from both sides of the Atlantic and assembled their stories with an eye for the absurd and a keen grasp of the gritty nuts and bolts of the profession. As fascinating as fiction, A Suitable Job for a Woman is, in the words of Edgar winning author Nevada Barr, ‘a concise and eye opening trek through the competence, humor, and humanity of women.’

Stranded

‘One of my favorite authors, Val McDermid is an important writer witty, never sentimental, taking us through mean streets with the dexterity of a Chandler.’ Sara Paretsky

‘Val McDermid is one of the bright lights of the mystery field.’ The Washington Post

‘There is no one in contemporary crime fiction who has managed to combine the visceral and the humane as well as Val McDermid…
. She’s the best we’ve got.’ The New York Times Book Review

White nights of passion and revenge in St. Petersburg. A bingo hall tyrant trapped by masked intruders. The sleazy flipside of the international publishing scene. An author succumbing to the deadly lure of cybersex.

Stranded demonstrates yet again the scope of Val McDermid’s imagination, her versatility as a stylist, and her immense powers as a storyteller. As well as McDermid’s popular series character, PI Kate Brannigan, this diverse collection contains narrative voices, both female and male, from different continents and an eclectic range of backgrounds. McDermid has chosen the short story form to probe not only the motivations of the criminal underworld but also the nature of crime itself, all the time playing with crime writing and pushing it to its limits. There are even occasions where McDermid defies the genre altogether. The collection is framed by two stories that show a writer exploring fresh territory.

Grit, sex, glamour, intrigue, and unexpected turns: Stranded is a showcase of trademark McDermid that will strike a few surprising chords amongst even her most devoted readers. Foreword by Sara Paretsky.

Val McDermid grew up in a Scottish mining community and read English at Oxford University. After 16 years in journalism, she became a full time writer in 1991. An international bestseller, she’s written over 20 books.

Naked Came the Phoenix

The promise of discretion and pampering and a longer overdue reconciliation with her mother draws Caroline Blessing, the young wife of a newly elected congressman, to the fancy Phoenix Spa. But after her first night in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, Caroline wakes to find the rich and famous guests in turmoil and under suspicion: the spa’s flamboyant and ambitious owner has been murdered. As the secrets come out and the body count rises can Caroline keep herself from becoming the next victim? In the tradition of such collaborative classics as NAKED CAME THE MANATEE and THE FLOATING ADMIRAL, each chapter in this serial novel is written by one of today’s most talented mystery novelists. NEVADA BARR’s ninth and latest in her Anna Pigeon series is BLOOD LURE. J.D. ROBB is the New York Times bestselling author of the futuristic romantic suspense series featuring Lieutenant Eve Dallas. Her most recent titles include BETRAYAL IN DEATH and JUDGMENT IN DEATH. NANCY PICKARD is the author of the popular Jenny Cain mystery series. LISA SCOTTOLINE is a New York Times bestselling author of legal thrillers, most recently THE VENDETTA DEFENSE and MOMENT OF TRUTH. Author of five New York Times bestselling novels, PERRI O’SHAUGHNESSY is really two sisters, Pamela and Mary, who collaborate on a series of legal thrillers and short stories. J.A. JANCE writes two police procedural series: twelve books featuring Detective J.P. Beaumont and nine with Sheriff Joanna Brady. FAYE KELLERMAN is the New York Times bestselling author of the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus mystery series. Her most recent novel is THE FORGOTTEN. MARY JANE CLARK is a producer and writer at CBS News and the author of three media thrillers, including LET ME WHISPER IN YOUR EAR. MARCIA TALLEY is the author of UNBREATHED MEMORIES and the award winning SING IT TO HER BONES. She is also the editor of Naked Came the Phoenix. ANNE PERRY, author of the acclaimed Victorian Series starring William Monk and Thomas and Charlotte Pitt, has written over thirty novels, including THE ONE THING MORE. DIANA GABALDON’s THE FIERY CROSS, fifth in the Outlander series, is due to be published late this year. VAL McDERMID has published fifteen novels and one work of non fiction and has won the Gold Dagger and the Grand Prix des Romans d’Aventures. Her most recent novel is A PLACE OF EXECUTION. LAURIE R. KING writes two crime fiction series as well as stand alone novels, most recently FOLLY.

Tart Noir

These are the bad girls we’ve been waiting for. They’re tough enough to take on thugs, tender enough to be moved to tears. Half Philip Marlowe, half femme fatale, their morals are questionable and their attitudes need adjustment. They’re tarts. And they are the hero*ines of this collection with stories by: Jessica Adams Jen Banbury Liza Cody Martina Cole Jenny Colgan Stella Duffy Liz Evans Sparkle Hayter Lauren Henderson Vicki Hendricks Lisa Jewell Laura Lippman Sujata Massey Val McDermid Denise Mina Karen Moline Katy Munger Chris Niles Jenny Siler Karin Slaughter

Like a Charm

Desire leaves a man destroyed…
A young girl’s curiosity reveals secrets better left hidden…
Jealousy drives a woman mad…
An obsession with numbers precipitates a deadly revenge…
Ambition leads to a curious exchange…
An uncanny likeness changes two lives forever…
The hand of fate lies buried in the past…

An unforgettable novel in seventeen parts by some of the most prestigious crime writers working today.

One bracelet, seventeen charms…

From nineteenth century Georgia, where the bracelet is forged in fire, to wartime Leeds, the seedy underside of London’s Soho, a Manhattan taxi, the frozen cliffs of Nova Scotia, and back to Georgia, each writer weaves a gripping story of murder, betrayal, and intrigue.

Criminal Tendencies

Val McDermid, Reginald Hill, and Peter James are just some of the 24 top selling crime writers who have contributed stories to Criminal Tendencies, an exciting new crime short collection. Alongside the big names will be stories from first time authors Chris Nickson and Caroline Shiach, winners of Criminal Tendencies 2009, Creme de la Crime’s latest international search for new crime writing talent.

The Library Book

‘Hill provides us with a reading list the equal of any degree course.’ The Times LondonIn pursuit of a book on her shelves, Susan Hill encountered dozens of others that she had never read, forgotten she owned, or wanted to read for a second time. The discovery inspired her to embark on a year long voyage through her books in order to get to know her own collection again. Susan Hill is the winner of numerous prestigious literary awards. She is the author of a highly successful crime series as well as the famous The Woman in Black.