Дембель. Июнь. Год девяносто второй. Утро. Похмелье. Друзья. Плёвое дело, лёгкие деньги. Вишнёвая «шестёрка». Левый ствол. Труп на заднем сиденье, труп в багажнике. Лопата. А позади — проблесковые маячки. Что-то явно пошло не так…

Год девяносто второй. Июль. На голове подживает свежий рубец, в карманах гуляет ветер. Есть друзья и работа, а ещё – проблемы. Да и как иначе, ведь пацан сказал – пацан сделал, а вход рубль, выход – два? Если уж хватило ума связаться не с теми людьми, придётся из кожи вон вылезти, лишь бы только не угодить за решётку или того хуже – в пластиковые пакеты. По частям. А ведь просто собирался немного подзаработать…

Сергей Стрельников — сирота. Бандиты убивают его дядю-лесника. Он мстит им, и убивает обоих. За двойное убийство он отправлен в колонию для малолетних преступников. Но не всё просто. Убив бандитов, он тем самым вмешался в разборку двух крупных воров в законе. Тепeрь один из них приговорил его к смерти, второй же пытается защитить. Никто из них и помыслить не мог, что мальчик сам собирается решать свои проблемы. Сергей совершает побег из тюрьмы и убивает вора в законе, приговорившего его к смерти. С того момента, сам того не осознавая, он начинает путь к самой высокой точке преступного Oлимпа. Прозвище "Стрела" звучит на всех просторах России. У него есть надёжные друзья, появляются люди, которых он почитает за родителей. Девушка…которую он любит. Они с ней собираются пожениться. Свадьба назначена на полдень. И вот московские куранты начинают отбивать 12 ударов. Каждый из них отзываться кровавым эхом в сердце Сергея. Двенадцатый удар…последний…звучит, когда он собирается надеть кольцо на палец невесты…

Этот роман – адская смесь интеллектуального логического расследования и психологического триллера. Всего за один месяц частному детективу Алексею Кисанову надо разгадать 12 убийств, чтобы не допустить 13-е. Все убийства разные, но объединяет их одно – маньяк, который играет с детективом, как кошка с мышкой. Пожалуй, впервые автор представляет нам отрицательного героя, более умного, чем ее главный персонаж. Такого не бывает! Гармаш-Роффе опять идет на риск. От главы к главе читатель несется по сюжету как на американских горках – вот-вот Кисанов достанет невидимого маньяка, и вдруг – бах – полный провал, тупик, надо срочно что-то придумать, новую версию… Счет идет на часы, потом на минуты… Опять надежда… Если вы никогда не испытывали ощущение, когда у вас в процессе чтения замирает дух от перегрузок и невесомости, то это как раз такая книга! Читайте! И не жалейте себя!

Яд — довольно; редкое орудие убийства. А тут Никите Колесову, начальнику «убойного» отдела УВД, и Кате Петровской, сотруднице пресс-центра, пришлось столкнуться сразу с двумя случаями отравления. Следы ведут в экзотический восточный ресторан «Аль-Магриб». Подозреваемых много: продюсер » муж эстрадной звезды Авроры Гусаров, завсегдатай ресторана плейбой Симонов, шеф-повар Поляков… Но прямых улик нет, а убийца меж тем «угощает» ядом третью жертву. Вот они — пряные восточные блюда, убаюкивающие марокканские мелодии, притворные улыбки и коварные интриги… Когда Катя догадывается, кто же он — безжалостный отравитель, звать на помощь поздно — надо действовать, ведь в его руках — четвертая жертва…

Эдуард V и Карл Либкнехт, Улоф Пальме и Григорий Распутин, Джон Кеннеди и Павлик Морозов, Лев Троцкий и Владислав Листьев… Что связывает этих людей? Что общего в их судьбах? Они жили в разные исторические эпохи, в разных странах, но закончили свою жизнь одинаково — все они были убиты. Именно об убийствах, имевших большой общественно-политический резонанс, и об убийствах знаменитых людей пойдет речь в этой книге. На ее страницах вы не найдете леденящих душу подробностей преступлений маньяков и серийных убийц. Информация, предложенная авторами, беспристрастна и правдива, и если существует несколько версий совершения того или иного убийства, то приводятся они все, а уж какой из них придерживаться — дело читателей…

**#1** New York Times **bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with a new riveting novel featuring her vastly popular character forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, who must use all her tradecraft to discover the identity of a faceless corpse, its connection to a decade-old missing child case, and why the dead man had her cellphone number.** It's sweltering in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Temperance Brennan, still recovering from neurosurgery following an aneurysm, is battling nightmares, migraines, and what she thinks might be hallucinations when she receives a series of mysterious text messages, each containing a new picture of a corpse that is missing its face and hands. Immediately, she's anxious to know who the dead man is, and why the images were sent to her. An identified corpse soon turns up, only partly answering her questions. To win answers to the others, including the man's identity, she must go rogue, working mostly outside the... (Temperance Brennan #19)

In 1866, tragedy strikes at the exclusive Windfield School. A young student drowns in a mysterious accident involving a small circle of boys. The drowning and its aftermath initiates a spiraling circle of treachery that will span three decades and entwine many loves… From the exclusive men's club and brothels that cater to every dark desire of London's upper classes to the dazzling ballrooms and mahogany-paneled suites of the manipulators of the world's wealth, Ken Follett conjures up a stunning array of contrasts. This breathtaking novel portrays a family splintered by lust, bound by a shared legacy… men and women swept toward a perilous climax where greed, fed by the shocking truth of a boy's death, must be stopped, or not just one man's dreams, but those of a nation, will die…

“Among the new voices in twenty-first-century crime fiction, Charlie Huston . . . is where it's at.” - The Washington Post “Huston writes dialogue so combustible it could fuel a bus and characters crazy enough to take it on the road.” - The New York Times Book Review Reluctant hitman Henry Thompson has fallen on hard times. His grip on life is disintegrating, his pistol hand shaking, his body pinned to his living room couch by painkillers - and his boss, Russian mobster David Dolokhov, isn't happy about any of it. So Henry is surprised when he's handed a new assignment: keep tabs on a minor league baseball star named Miguel Arenas. Henry has no pity for the slugger and the wicked gambling problem that got him in trouble, but he can't help liking the guy. After all, Henry used to be just like him: a natural-born ball player with a bright future. But hell, that was long ago. Before Henry did some guy a favor and ended up running for his life. Before his girlfriend and buddies got gunned down by someone on his tail. Before he agreed to buy his parents' safety with a life of violence. And when Miguel gets drafted by the Mets and is sent to the Brooklyn Cyclones, Henry must head back to New York, back to the place where all his problems began - and where Henry might find a real reason to keep living, a reason that may just cost him his life. “Huston reminds me of all my favorite writers - Pete Dexter, Robert Stone, Crumley. If there is such a thing as compassionate noir, Charlie has found it. He's a true marvel.” - Ken Bruen, author of The Guards “Charlie Huston is the real deal.” - Peter Straub 2006

1946, the first post-World War II year, finds Tribune police reporter Snap Malek hip deep in a murder case. Someone has stabbed his cousin’s British war bride to death in their Bohemian neighborhood home in Pilsen. As the prime suspect, the meek and self-effacing man is jailed, and Malek, convinced of his innocence, begins a dogged hunt for the murderer. Snap’s rogue investigation takes him into the shadowy blue-collar saloon world of Pilsen, where he encounters a mélange of characters, including cynical and hard-bitten factory workers, a tragic war widow, and a former professional prizefighter — all “bar friends” of the murdered woman. Despite objections from the police, Malek presses on, incurring the anger of one of the bar’s habitués, and fighting for his life in a bare-knuckle slugfest in a Pilsen street. Determined, Malek hires the city’s best defense attorney, encounters legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and deals with the traumatic emotional distraction of reporting on one of the nation’s worst-ever train wrecks that rocked the western Chicago suburb of Naperville. Finally, when Snap turns his attention back to the murder case, he finds multiple surprises and an unexpected and tragic resolution

Crackling, burning death waited for me in that quiet Georgia countryside... But I had to go back for three reasons: To get Lucy, to get the money — and to kill my brother Charlie!

Jack Taylor has finally escaped the despair of his violent life in Galway in favor of a quiet retirement in the country with his friend Keefer, a former Rolling Stones roadie, and a falcon named Maeve. But on a day trip back into the city to sort out his affairs, Jack is hit by a truck in front of Galway’s Famine Memorial, left in a coma but mysteriously without a scratch on him. When he awakens weeks later, he finds Ireland in a frenzy over the so-called “Miracle of Galway.” People have become convinced that the two children spotted tending to him are saintly, and the site of the accident sacred. The Catholic Church isn’t so sure, and Jack is commissioned to help find the children to verify the miracle or expose the stunt. But Jack isn’t the only one looking for these children. A fraudulent order of nuns needs them to legitimatize its sanctity and becomes involved with a dangerous arsonist. Soon, the building in which the children are living burns down. Jack returns to his old tricks, and his old demons, as his quest becomes personal

A new Murder League mystery involving those three reprobate ex-detective writers — Carruthers, Simpson, and Briggs. This time around the redoubtable rogues fall prey to two totally unsuspecting kidnapers — Messrs. Clarence Alexander and Harold Nishbagel of Cicero, Illinois. Needless to say the tables are quickly turned, and the kidnapers soon find themselves at the mercy of their captives especially when the trio enlists the aid of England’s leading criminal lawyer, Sir Percival Pugh, a man who knows just how to implement the chicaneries of Carruthers, Simpson and Briggs... and mete out his own brand of justice at the same time. A high-spirited, lighthearted caper that showcases the peculiarly charming talents of three elderly Englishmen who continue to dedicate their lives to making crime pay

It was a strange combination — blackmail, soybeans and murder!

The bizarre set of circumstances surrounding the case of “the handy death” presents attorney Hank Ross with the nearly impossible job of defending a man who is to all appearances guilty. Billy Dupaul, one-time bonus baby for the New York Mets, is serving time in Attica State Prison for shooting a man. Eight years after the incident, the victim of the assault dies and Dupaul is faced with a trial for first-degree murder. What makes Ross’s task even more difficult is the fact that Dupaul is implicated in a prison riot organized to cover up an attempted escape. Ross must prove that Billy was the victim of a carefully planned and executed setup; he must locate the mysterious “lady” who Billy claims was present at the time of the shooting... and all he has to go on is an eight-year-old trail

When Mark Weir, a Chicago homicide lieutenant, starts investigating a series of murders of army servicemen, he comes on a smuggling “loop” set up by two army sergeants between Frankfurt, Germany, and Chicago. With the help of a striking Chicago newspaperwoman, his ex-wife, Lieutenant Weir begins to fit the pieces together... when he is suddenly gunned down. It is his father, a retired general who wants to assuage the bitterness that divided father and son during the Vietnam years, who decides to avenge his death — by taking on the son’s mission himself, as a matter of honor. Set against the backdrops of Chicago, Washington and NATO Europe, A Matter of Honor races with edge-of-the-seat excitement to a climax as startling as it is original

Will the secrets of a dark night ever be revealed? When rock idol Scott Silver is found murdered, the prime suspect lies dead next to him. For Silver’s killer broke into his mansion home on the South Devon coast and it appears that the rock star’s mesmerising widow Angel killed the intruder in self defence. However, gradually an intense and complex tale of intrigue and deception evolves. Local paper journalist John Kelly, a man with a past which still haunts him, begins to investigate. Soon he finds himself falling under the spell of the beautiful but dangerous Angel. Kelly becomes embroiled in a sexual obsession so overwhelming that it threatens to destroy him. Yet he continues to seek the truth about the night two men died a brutal death

How could a man have been murdered when he was found alone in his study, a gun in his hand, and the door locked from the inside? It had to be suicide, the police figured, for although there was no suicide note there was a letter proving conclusively that Roland Nelson, over the last several months, was being blackmailed. But to his daughter, Ann, whom he had seen only spasmodically since he had left her mother when Ann was a baby, there were unanswered questions. She was convinced that her father could never have killed himself. Before she found the answers, two people were brutally garroted with a wire, one of them in her own apartment. Could she find all the answers before the killer silenced her, too?

In Port City, Iowa, Mallory is a writer of detective stories, not a detective, but once again real-life crime comes to divert him from the fictional variety. In the middle of the night, he gets a call from Sheriff Brennan; the sheriff summons him to the outskirts of town to where Ginnie Mullens’s body has just been discovered. Mallory and Ginnie had grown up together. After high school, however, Ginnie became a prototypical hippie, and when the wave of the sixties receded, she continued to live outside of convention. Ginnie made her own rules. “Best friends” since babyhood, she and Mal have grown almost completely apart. Brennan’s call now brings back a flood of old memories, old resentments, old regrets to Mallory. The sheriff is not satisfied that Ginnie. as it appears, has killed herself; he suspects murder. Unable to act on his suspicion officially, he asks Mallory to sec what he can learn from the people Ginnie has been involved with. Soon, Mal finds himself questioning ex-flower children whose adjustment to the eighties has been to overlay activities like dope dealing with the material trappings of middle-class life. Mallory also encounters Ginnie’s ex-partner and ex-lover, who has bought out her successful boutique; her estranged husband, a gentle poet who is caring for their four-year-old little girl; and some high school classmates in whom the fifteen years has made drastic changes — some for the better. In his search for the real reason behind Ginnie’s death. Mallory comes to see that the dreams of the children of Aquarius have died. What he doesn’t expect to find is the cause of a very immediate threat to his own life as well

When a young woman is found brutally murdered in a parking garage, with a veritable mountain of potential evidence to sift through, it may be the most challenging case former NYPD detective Lincoln Rhyme has ever taken on

The gang was restless, just looking for some idle fun, when they roughed up a man they thought was a homosexual. The game got out of hand; their victim was blinded. It was Paula Halstead’s bad luck to witness the attack and to catch a glimpse of one of the boys. He knows they must track her down and somehow or other make her keep her mouth shut. They find her alone in the house and, in their mindless way, decide that a gang rape would guarantee her silence. In this they are very successful. She commits suicide. When her husband, Professor Curtis Halstead, comes home from a late meeting, he finds her body and a cryptic note. From that moment, he begins to change from the complacent, philosophic, civilized man he has become to a single-minded weapon poised for vengeance. He retrains his body to what it had been when he was a young commando during the war. Slowly, methodically, he tracks down the boys responsible for his wife’s death. In his mind, they are murderers. A cynical homicide detective points out that the law won’t pursue them too diligently because even if they’re caught, their age protects them from severe sentence. He knows their punishment is in his hands and he intends to extract maximum revenge. He can think no further. A TIME OF PREDATORS is a novel of violence and suspense. Beyond that, it poses the perennially fascinating question of moral justification for an individual’s deeds. How far may one go to protect or avenge his own? How deeply do the accumulated layers of civilized training cover man’s aggressive instincts? Can Curtis Halstead, a dedicated teacher of philosophy, premeditate and execute the killing of four teenagers? THE GANG: Eric Dean, nineteen, darkly handsome, a charmer to women young and old, a magnetic leader of a group of four boys who ran around together in high school. His father is an insurance broker, well-to-do. Julio Escobar, eighteen, one of Rick’s followers and vaguely envious of Rick’s leadership. Julio’s parents work in a laundry, are God-fearing Spanish-American folks. Delbert “Heavy” Gander, eighteen, played tackle on the football team of which Rick was quarterback, Julio halfback. Immensely overweight, full of fears and tensions and insufficiencies. His widowed father is a sheet-metal worker, Heavy, a good mechanic. Ernest “Champ” Mather, twenty-one, fourth member of the gang. Quit high school when his football eligibility ended. Very low I.Q., devotedly doglike, but enjoys inflicting pain, extremely powerful. Too dumb for military service, works as a gardener

MATT SCUDDER RETURNS. More than 40 years after his debut and nearly a decade since his last appearance, one of the most renowned characters in all of crime fiction is back on the case in this major new novella by Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Lawrence Block. Well past retirement age and feeling his years — but still staying sober one day at a time — Matthew Scudder learns that alcoholics aren’t the only ones who count the days since their last slip. Matt’s longtime partner, Elaine, tells him of a group of former sex workers who do something similar, helping each other stay out of the life. But when one young woman describes an abusive client who’s refusing to let her quit, Elaine encourages her to get help of a different sort. The sort only Scudder can deliver. A Time to Scatter Stones offers not just a gripping crime story but also a richly drawn portrait of Block’s most famous character as he grapples with his own mortality while proving to the younger generation that he’s still got what it takes. For Scudder’s millions of fans around the world (including the many who met the character through Liam Neeson’s portrayal in the film version of A Walk Among the Tombstones), A Time to Scatter Stones is an unexpected gift — a valedictory appearance that will remind readers why Scudder is simply the best there is

Fredrik Welin is a seventy-year-old retired doctor. Years ago he retreated to the Swedish archipelago, where he lives alone on an island. He swims in the sea every day, cutting a hole in the ice if necessary. He lives a quiet life. Until he wakes up one night to find his house on fire. Fredrik escapes just in time, wearing two left-footed wellies, as neighbouring islanders arrive to help douse the flames. All that remains in the morning is a stinking ruin and evidence of arson. The house that has been in his family for generations and all his worldly belongings are gone. He cannot think who would do such a thing, or why. Without a suspect, the police begin to think he started the fire himself

If you don't shudder with every twist and sudden thrust of these 16 terror tales… if you are able to turn off your bedside lamp after closing this volume and drift off to a deep, dreamless sleep… if you can drink your morning coffee without thinking there just might be a peculiarly bitter taste to it, or turn your back on your spouse or best friend without feeling a funny itching between your shoulder blades… then that lovable old master of menace, Alfred Hitchcock, apologizes and personally guarantees you your full payment in horror. All you have to do is meet him in the cemetery under the next murderer's moon…

In the latest and most surprising novel in the bestselling Leonid McGill series, Leonid finds himself caught between his sins of the past and an all-too-vivid present. Seven years ago, Zella Grisham came home to find her man, Harry Tangelo, in bed with her friend. The weekend before, $6.8 million had been stolen from Rutgers Assurance Corp., whose offices are across the street from where Zella worked. Zella didn't remember shooting Harry, but she didn't deny it either. The district attorney was inclined to call it temporary insanity-until the police found $80,000 from the Rutgers heist hidden in her storage space. For reasons of his own, Leonid McGill is convinced of Zella's innocence. But as he begins his investigation, his life begins to unravel. His wife is drinking more than she should. His oldest son has dropped out of college and moved in with an exprostitute. His youngest son is working for him and trying to stay within the law. And his father, whom he thought was long dead, has turned up under an alias. A gripping story of murder, greed, and retribution, All I Did Was Shoot My Man is also the poignant tale of one man's attempt to stay connected to his family

Scream all you want, no one can hear... Inspector Logan McRae is looking forward to a nice simple case — something to ease him back into work after a year off on the sick. But the powers-that-be have other ideas... The high-profile anti-independence campaigner, Professor Wilson, has gone missing, leaving nothing but bloodstains behind. There’s a war brewing between the factions for and against Scottish Nationalism. Infighting in the police ranks. And it’s all playing out in the merciless glare of the media. Logan’s superiors want results, and they want them now. Someone out there is trying to make a point, and they’re making it in blood. If Logan can’t stop them, it won’t just be his career that dies