Given its extraordinary span, its international scope, and its variant styles and groundbreaking stylists, A Century of Great Suspense Stories is a singular achievement. A bestselling master of suspense himself Jeffery Deaver had the enviable task of selecting from the thousands of stories written over the past one hundred years those which best represented the classic form, as well as the justly celebrated authors whose ironic twists and stunning payoffs left a lasting, vivid, and unnerving impression. The result is a triumph. In this ambitious anthology you’ll revel in the sardonic, overtly amoral plotting of Patricia Highsmith. You’ll rediscover the strangely poignant and surprising turns of Stanley Ellin, and the profoundly underrated Margaret Millar, a genius who mixed savage social satire with brooding horror. You’ll be treated to Stephen King at his chilling best. You’ll find yourself on the violent urban streets of Ross Macdonald and Mickey Spillane, and seeped in the ominous regional flavor of Sharyn McCrumb and Tony Hillerman. You’ll marvel at the cunning webs spun by Lawrence Block, Ruth Rendell, Anthony Boucher, and Sara Paretsky, all of whom defy expectations as they reinvent the genre. And you’ll understand the awesome reputations of those authors who set the standard, such as the legendary Harlan Ellison, Fredric Brown, the master of the twist ending, and James M. Cain, uncannily skilled at knowing what went on between men and women behind closed doors. (The darker the room the better.) Delivering everything from the one-two punch of the detective story to the ingeniously precise trappings of the police procedural, from the disquieting corners of the criminal mind to sheer dread-inducing horror, A Century of Great Suspense Stories is a rich anthology of this popular literary genre, a stunning tribute to the art of storytelling, and to the men and women who have done it best

An anthology of stories An all-new mystery anthology edited and featuring a new story by #1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris Nighttime is the perfect time for the perfect crime. #1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris edits and contributes an all-new story-set in her Sookie Stackhouse universe-to this anthology from the Mystery Writers of America. Other authors include: Steve Brewer Dana Cameron Max Allan Collins and Mickey Spillane Barbara D'Amato Brendan DuBois Terrie Farley Moran Jack Fredrickson Parnell Hall Carolyn Hart S. W. Hubbard Toni L. P. Kelner Lou Kemp William Kent Kreuger Harley Jane Kozak Margaret Mahon Martin Meyers Jeffrey Somers Elaine Viets Mike Wiecek

From Publishers Weekly One of a handful of novels he was working on at the time of his death, this fine, perhaps final, work from hard-boiled fiction icon Spillane (1918–2006) was prepared for publication by Hard Case vet Max Allan Collins. In it, NYPD detective Jack Stang receives word that his old fiancee, Bettie, who supposedly died in a kidnapping-gone-wrong 20 years earlier, is still alive and residing in a small Florida coastal community. The good news is countered by the fact that, in the car crash that was supposed to have killed her, she lost her eyesight and all her memories. Even worse, the men who had her kidnapped in the first place have perfectly good memories and are still looking for her—and willing to kill for the information locked in her damaged brain. This is a more sentimental Spillane than readers might expect, but the women are still dolls, the bad guys are still louses, and the hero still packs a helluva punch (along with his trusty .45, natch). Spillane always said he wrote for his fans, not for the critics, but both should be pleased with this late addition to the writer's canon. Product Description THE FINAL CRIME NOVEL FROM THE KING OF PULP FICTION! For 20 years, former NYPD cop Jack Stang has lived with the memory of his girlfriend’s death in an attempted abduction. But what if she didn’t actually die? What if she somehow secretly survived, but lost her sight, her memory, and everything else she had… except her enemies? Now Jack has a second chance to save the only woman he ever loved – or to lose her for good

His name was Regan. They called him the killer cop. He was accused of taking a bribe, and then murdering the man who gave it to him. The jury said he wasn't guilty — but his friends and his colleagues weren't convinced. So Regan had to prove it all over again — starting with the broad who poured him into a cab that fateful night. She was a big, beautiful redhead from a high class bordello, and when he found her, she was dead as doornails

When Joe Boyle delivered the message to Renzo, one of the toughest crime lords in the city, he didn't expect to be beaten to within an inch of his life. But the message was from Vetter, one the most dangerous underworld figures. No one had ever seen Vetter, but all the crime lords knew his reputation―whatever city he came to, he took over to his advantage leaving a pile of corpses in his wake. Joe is going to be lucky to stay alive when they realize that he maybe the only chance the city's underground has of striking Vetter first. Joe's only chance may lie in the arms of the beautiful lounge singer Helen Troy

What are the ingredients of a hard-boiled detective story? “Savagery, style, sophistication, sleuthing, and sex,” said Ellery Queen. Often a desperate blond, a jealous husband, and, of course, a tough-but-tender P.I. the likes of Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe. Perhaps Raymond Chandler summed it up best in his description of Dashiell Hammett’s style: “Hammett gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it... He put these people down on paper as they were, and he made them talk and think in the language they customarily used for these purposes.” Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories is the largest and most comprehensive collection of its kind, with over half of the stories never published before in book form. Included are thirty-six sublimely suspenseful stories that chronicle the evolution of this quintessentially American art form, from its earliest beginnings during the golden age of the legendary pulp magazine Black Mask in the 1920s, to the arrival of the tough digest Manhunt in the 1950s, and finally leading up to present-day hard-boiled stories by such writers as James Ellroy. Here are eight decades worth of the best writing about betrayal, murder, and mayhem: from Hammett’s 1925 tour de force “The Scorched Face,” in which the disappearance of two sisters leads Hammett’s never-named detective, the Continental Op, straight into a web of sexual blackmail amidst the West Coast elite, to Ed Gorman’s 1992 “The Long Silence After,” a gripping and powerful rendezvous involving a middle class insurance executive, a Chicago streetwalker, and a loaded .38. Other delectable contributions include “Brush Fire” by James M. Cain, author of The Postman Always Rings Twice, Raymond Chandler’s “I’ll Be Waiting,” where, for once, the femme fatale is not blond but a redhead, a Ross Macdonald mystery starring Macdonald’s most famous creator, the cryptic Lew Archer, and “The Screen Test of Mike Hammer” by the one and only Mickey Spillane. The hard-boiled cult has more in common with the legendary lawmen of the Wild West than with the gentleman and lady sleuths of traditional drawing room mysteries, and this direct line of descent is on brilliant display in two of the most subtle and tautly written stories in the collection, Elmore Leonard’s “3:10 to Yuma” and John D. MacDonald’s “Nor Iron Bars.” Other contributors include Evan Hunter (better known as Ed McBain), Jim Thompson, Helen Nielsen, Margaret Maron, Andrew Vachss, Faye Kellerman, and Lawrence Block. Compellingly and compulsively readable, Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories is a page-turner no mystery lover will want to be without. Containing many notable rarities, it celebrates a genre that has profoundly shaped not only American literature and film, but how we see our heroes and ourselves

Here's Mickey Spillane and Mike Hammer in their roughest and readiest--a double-strength shot of sex, violence, and action that is vintage Spillane all the way. It's a tough-guy mystery to please even the most bloodthirsty of fans!

The guns, the punks, the whores were dying too fast. A wise guy was speeding up the underworld’s death rate with a .38 Special. Lt. Joe Scanlon manhunts the tawdry dives and deadly alleys of the slum jungle... his cover, a gorgeous lady cop who plays sex-bait... his target, a one-shot assassin who’s killing off the killers

A beautiful woman's cold-blooded murder has the mark of the Mafia. Although warned to stay away, Hammer won't stop until he gets revenge

On a lively night at the Victory saloon in Trinidad, New Mexico, Sheriff Caleb York interrupts his poker game to settle a minor dust-up that raises the stakes into major trouble. The wounded miscreant he ushers to the hoosegow spills the secret behind the mysterious disappearance of a certain stage coach. Bound for Denver, the stage carried three important passengers — beautiful ranch owner Willa Cullen, lovely temptress Rita Filley, and wealthy banker Raymond L. Parker. The two women are rivals for the lawman’s love, while Parker is a key investor in Trinidad’s future. But all are gone, with only the corpses of fellow passengers as bullet-ridden clues. York follows a trail of blood to a ghost town known as Hell Junction. To rescue his lady friends and the banker, he must infiltrate an outlaw den... and pray no one among the thieves, killers, and kidnappers will recognize him. With only his desert rat deputy to back him up, York must free the captives, round up the badmen — and, whenever necessary, send them straight to Hell

After Mike Hammer witnesses Wall Street superstar Vincent Colby getting clipped by a speeding red Ferrari, the shaken victim’s stockbroker father hires Hammer to find the driver. But the toughest private eye of them all soon is caught up in a series of bizarre, seemingly unconnected slayings marked by a forbidden martial arts technique

A walk on the wild side! In this series of collections of gritty Noir and Hardboiled stories, you’ll find some of the best writers of the craft writing in their prime

This anthology features some of the most famous authors writing at the peak of their careers!

ME, HOOD! YOU, CORPSE! The bodies were piling up like basketball points, but the name of this game was Mafia Murder. The punks, the junkies and the hookers were running scared, and the police weren’t far behind them. Then some smart cop got an idea which would either make him Commissioner or get him kicked off the force: Con the coolest hood in New York onto the Department payroll and send him out to do his own violent thing in the name of law and order. The bait: ten grand, a beautiful bitch begging to be tamed — and a license to bag all the corpses he can shoot... DOUBLE-BARRELLED SPILLANE: ME, HOOD! and RETURN OF THE HOOD, two new pulse-racers never before published in the U.S. They’re vintage Spillane — brutal, sexy, unbeatable

Hammer is summoned to a meeting with Jamie Winters, United States Senator from New York, and Jamie’s lovely, very smart wife, Nicole, considered by many to be the power behind the throne. Winters is being blackmailed, and Hammer is given a list of suspects who may be behind the threats to the Senator’s contemplated White House bid. But when the suspects begin to drop like flies, Hammer realizes there is more to this case than just a salacious tape. Dragged into the cutthroat world of politics, can Hammer solve the case before the Senator’s secret comes out?

Nobody ever walked across the bridge at night. But on the foggy night that Hammer took that chance, his encounter with a gun-toting thug and a girl on the lam ended with both strangers dead. Soon Hammer is caught in a web of sinister gangsters and beautiful women the likes of which he's never seen -- and his only way out is to kill and kill again...even with his bare hands

Here, collected for the first time, are the earliest short stories bylined Mickey Spillane... all written between 1941 and 1942

Enter a world of seedy nightclubs, dangerous, dimly-lit street and cool, wisecracking dicks pitting themselves against armies of ruthless gangsters. This is pulp fiction, a genre spawned amid the disillusionment of post-World War I America — and now reaching new heights of popularity.　 Writers like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett turned that unique blend of rapid-fire action, violence and cynical humour into an art form that is being recreated by a fresh wave of young writers whose stories have all the drama and atmosphere of their predecessors’.　 This page-turning collection, brought together by a true aficionado of the hardboiled story, includes, of course, Chandler and Hammett, but also Mickey Spillane, Ross MacDonald, Ed McBain and James Hadley Chase from the vintage years and from the current generation James Ellroy, Elmore Leonard and Quentin Tarantino, to name just a few of the twenty great writers featured here. Even Stephen King, doyen of the world of horror, has turned his hand to pulp fiction and is represented in this book.　 The world of the hard-drinking, fast-action, apparently indestructible private eye, personified by Chandler’s creation, Philip Marlowe, was never more vibrant. It’s all here, and more, in a book that no fan of the genre can afford to miss

A legendary and retired police chief lies in a New York hospital bed, visited by two strangers: the first is ex-cop-turned-PI Mike Hammer, whose life was saved more than once by the old man. To the detective, the chief gives a mysterious key. The second visitor murders the chief, mere days before he would have died from natural causes. Someone is trying to tie up loose ends, and Mike Hammer is the only one with the evidence and calculation to ferret him or her out

The master of hard-boiled detective fiction is back — and better than ever — with Something’s Down There, a blade-sharp thriller set among the islands of the Caribbean. To the casual observer, Mako Hooker looks like any other grizzled fishing-boat captain trawling the Bermuda Triangle. He’s content with his nets in the water and a beer in the cooler, but he’s hardly your typical fisherman. Hooker is in fact a retired government operative taking a much-needed respite from his highly secret, highly lethal career in the States. But when local fishermen begin to fall prey to a mysterious sea creature the islanders dub “the eater,” he discovers the truth in that old saw about the spy game: You’re not retired from the Company until you’re dead. Is the monster a prehistoric beast rising from the depths? Or mines from a sunken WWII destroyer, only now shaken loose by the U.S. Navy’s depth charges? Or the work of someone with an agenda even more deeply undercover than Hooker’s? Hooker quietly begins to investigate with the help of his unwitting fishing partner, Billy Bright; a local movie heiress, the seductive Judy Durant; and Hooker’s old nemesis, Chana Sterling. The Company sent her as backup, but Hooker doesn’t trust power-hungry government agents too far — especially Chana, who once put a bullet in him for no good reason. As more boats arc mauled and the islanders begin to panic, the action heats up and the players multiply: a Hollywood film company arrives on the scene, eager to turn live footage of “the eater” into box-office payoff, and the heavyweight film executive in charge looks suspiciously like Tony Pallatzo, a Brooklyn mobster from Hooker’s violent past. As he moves steadily closer to the truth, Hooker realizes that someone (or something) is plotting to stop him, and only his rusty instincts will save him this time. A riveting story of criminal intrigue, greed, romance, and the mysteries of the deep, Something’s Down There showcases Mickey Spillane at his best

The murder of Lippy Sullivan earned very little news space. Lippy was a loser and a pickpocket whose only claim to fame was his acquaintance with Mike Hammer. But was that reason enough for someone to torture and kill him? By the time Hammer figures out that the wrong man was killed, it's almost too late. Containers of a viral bacteria are already hidden around the country. Hammer tracks down clues, but instead of leading him to the canisters, they lead to another corpse

In his introduction to the The Best American Noir of the Century, James Ellroy writes, 'noir is the most scrutinized offshoot of the hard-boiled school of fiction. It's the long drop off the short pier and the wrong man and the wrong woman in perfect misalliance. It's the nightmare of flawed souls with big dreams and the precise how and why of the all-time sure thing that goes bad.' Offering the best examples of literary sure things gone bad, this collection ensures that nowhere else can readers find a darker, more thorough distillation of American noir fiction. James Ellroy and Otto Penzler, series editor of the annual The Best American Mystery Stories, mined one hundred years of writing - 1910-2010 - to find this treasure trove of thirty-nine stories. From noir's twenties-era infancy come gems like James M. Cain's 'Pastorale,' and its post-war heyday boasts giants like Mickey Spillane and Evan Hunter. Packing an undeniable punch, diverse contemporary incarnations include Elmore Leonard, Patricia Highsmith, Joyce Carol Oates, Dennis Lehane, and William Gay, with many page-turners appearing in the last decade

From New York Times bestselling authors Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins — the legend of Caleb York continues as the renowned gunslinger fights to bring justice to the blood-soaked streets of Trinidad, New Mexico. Caleb York has made up his mind and packed his bags. He’ll be on the next stage, bound for San Diego and a new life as a Pinkerton man. But before Caleb can say a proper goodbye to his sweetheart, Willa, a peaceful morning erupts into blazing gunfire. Someone has to bring law and order to the wild little town of Trinidad, even as a band of outlaw brothers rides the vengeance trail and a new cattle baron sets his sights on more land... and on Willa, too. Looks like Caleb will be staying on for a while. With his Colt loaded for justice, and a sheriff’s badge on his chest, Caleb York emerges as a classic Western hero who knows just how to stand up to the deadliest of enemies — and win

Mickey Spillane’s larger-than-life lawman Caleb York is back — in the latest tough-as-nails Western novel from New York Times bestselling author Max Allan Collins. This time Caleb may be outnumbered... but not outgunned. The Santa Fe Railroad wants to build a spur through Trinidad, New Mexico, linking the town to the cattle trade. Only one man stands against it — rancher George Cullen. At the request of the town council, Sheriff Caleb York rides out to the Bar-O to reason with his old friend. Even Cullen’s daughter Willa, Caleb’s former flame, is for the railroad. But the stubborn blind rancher won’t budge. Cullen’s former partner, Burt O’Malley, has recently returned from a twenty-year stint in the pen for manslaughter. And hired gun Alver Hollis, the much-feared Preacherman, has also shown up with two cronies, claiming they’re in town for the biggest poker game in the territory. With murder in the wind, the whole town’s in danger. Who will be the next target? To bring a killer to justice, and protect the woman he loves, Caleb York must strap down his Colt .44, enter the big game, and bet his life on the turn of a card... and the speed of his draw

In his first book in almost nine years, Mickey Spillane proves conclusively that he is still the unequalled master of the style he invented. The Deep has all the elements that made Spillane the bestselling mystery writer of all time: dramatic scenes, splashed with color; a masterful new protagonist; a beautiful and desirable girl; and all the action and violence Spillane’s most ardent fan could ask. Deep was back in town after a twenty-five year exile — to inherit an empire and avenge a death. He and Bennett had made the inheritance pact when they were kids — blood brothers in crime. They had known then that even New York was too small for them both to share, and so they had tossed a coin to determine who would stay and who would build his organization in another town. Deep had lost and gone. But now Bennett has lost — been murdered in his own home — and Deep is ready to prove lie is strong enough to take over. Deep wants Bennett’s killer; the others want Bennett’s job. And all too many of them — including the beautiful Irish — want Deep dead. The Deep is the mastermind in one of the most exciting stories Spillane has ever written — a breathtaking tale of violence in action

Mickey Spillane’s latest mystery features a new and special type of hero — a man assigned a government mission because he is so outstanding a criminal. Morgan the Raider, so called because his audacity compares to that of the famous pirate of old, stands convicted of having stolen $40,000,000. He is good at stealing himself out of jail, too; he has already escaped from custody once. Now he is offered a chance for a reduced sentence — but at the risk of his life. For he must get himself Into Latin American escape-proof prison, a granite torture fortress known as the Pose Castle, in order to find and free an important scientist. A beautiful American agent is assigned the job of accompanying — and watching — him, and he is scrutinized a lot less pleasantly by the Latin American rulers and an unknown assailant. Mickey Spillane introduces Morgan the Raider in a novel which is at once an exciting mystery and a wonderfully colorful adventure story

Dogeron Kelly, a walking bomb of a man, and Sharon Cass, a bright and beautiful girl old enough to know her own mind — and that mind is set on saving her precious gifts for the right man — are the star-crossed lovers of this new blockbuster by one of the world’s most popular writers. All the rest is sex, violence, intrigue. A baronial old-family manor, high-level international illegal traffic, paid mobsters, café society, the rich and the beautiful, the vicious and the criminal, all are part of the fast-moving plot of the best Spillane ever. This is gripping entertainment if ever there was: colorful, expert, impossible to put down. It is the first major Spillane novel that isn’t a Mike Hammer detective story, but the Spillane fan will recognize the touch of the master

In this book Hammer's secretary, Velda, has been missing for seven years, but she's still alive if Hammer can reach in time

"I rammed my elbow back and felt teeth go under it and the back of my head mashed the guy's nose who was holding me." Mike Hammer is back, and after almost 20 years, he's as psychotically hard-boiled as ever. Here, there's a dead man in Hammer's office chair. He has been horribly tortured; a note on the desk reads "You die for killing me," signed "Penta." Hammer's longtime secretary and sometime love interest, Velda, has been knocked unconscious and Hammer (no mellower despite the years), goes a-hunting. Gorgeous assistant DA Candace Amory warns Hammer off the case; he changes her mind. Penta turns up on government files as an assassin for hire, a billion dollars in drug money is missing and renegade CIA agents and mobsters are looking for Penta, while gunning for Hammer. Spillane's ( Kiss Me, Deadly ) dirty rain, mean streets, leggy broads, etc. have made him one of the all time best-selling authors--but many things, including present-day New York city, have changed since the '50s and Spillane has, for the most part, failed to notice. Readers will catch the bad guy 50 pages before Hammer does. $100,000 ad/promo. 

the sub-chieftain of East Side prostitution died on silken sheets in a high rise apartment building whose door he thought was absolutely pick-proof. Nobody heard a shot. Nobody saw an intruder... With that, Spillane’s high-octane prose zeroes in on the no-holds-barred story of Gillian Burke, The Gill, an ex-cop who loves hard and hates hard. Mainly he hates the syndicate. Ever since the syndicate maneuvered him off the force, he’s made it his business to know what the syndicate was up to. When some of the syndicate’s most important operators are put out of business, violently and permanently, by a mysterious assassin, Gill is persuaded to put his badge back on and see if he can find the killer before any innocent people get hurt. His investigation has hardly begun when he becomes involved, in unforeseen dangerous ways, with a ruby-lipped cop’s daughter in the pay of a syndicate higher-up and with Helga, a luscious Swedish blonde. The scenes of passion have a vivid frankness unheard-of in previous Spillane mysteries. Explosive sex and top-notch suspense guarantee to keep the reader gasping till the satisfying and surprising end

In this first novel in a bold new Western series, crooked Sheriff Harry Gauge rules the town of Trinidad, New Mexico, with an iron fist. His latest scheme is to force rancher George Cullen into selling his spread and to take Cullen’s beautiful daughter Willa for his bride — whether she’s willing or not. The old man isn’t about to go down without a fight. He sends out a telegram to hire the west’s toughest gunslinger to kill the sheriff. But when a stranger rides into Trinidad, no one’s sure who he is. Wherever he came from, wherever he’s going, it’s deadly clear he’s a man who won’t be pushed — and that he’s a damn good shot... With stirring authenticity and heart-racing drama, Spillane and Collins add Caleb York to the roster of unforgettable western heroes

Gentle Reader: You’ve probably never been suspected of embezzling a bank of two hundred thousand bucks, or of murdering a D.A., and I sure hope you never have been. I was suspected of having done both. That was six years ago, in Lyncastle, a small town in the Middle West. It was too much for me at the time and, while nothing was ever proved either way, I lit out of town for the West and wound up in the oil fields of Oklahoma. At least that’s the way Johnny McBride told it to me, and we became great buddies. The funny thing about it was that we looked exactly alike — nobody could tell us apart. It was pretty confusing for a while, but it was sort of run, too. We had some great rimes together, and I decided I’d come back to Lyncastle to see what I could find out about this mess. Knowing Johnny as well as I did, I was pretty sure Johnny wasn’t guilty. Well, I found our all right. I found out plenty! It’s a good thing I can take it because by the time I got through I had taken just about everything chat Lyncastle could hand out. But it wasn’t altogether one-sided on char score; I can dish it our, too! If you like things rough and tough The Long Wait is for you. You won’t have as long a wait to get your satisfaction as I had to get mine. Signed, Johnny

In touristy Peachtree Heights, Georgia, a string of presumably accidental deaths of area physicians rouses the suspicions of Police Chief Blake Cutter. But the former big-city cop’s attempts to warn Dr. Roy Ryan are viewed by his estranged wife as an attempt to muddy the waters of a custody battle over the couple’s young son, Richie. Too late to do anything more, a small, incredibly powerful creature emerges from the night to brave the walls of the doctor’s compound, terrorizing the family and any and all police guarding them. The menace is suddenly real, and those physicians’ deaths are anything but accidental. And when young Richie’s archeologist uncle gives the boy a grisly birthday present — an actual Aztec mummy! — the child begins to think the long-dead corpse is his friend, one who is still-breathing

Pulp fiction has been looked down on as a guilty pleasure, but it offers the perfect form of entertainment: the very best storytelling filled with action, surprises, sound and fury. In short, all the exhiliration of a roller-coaster ride. The 1920s in America saw the proliferation of hundreds of dubiously named but thrillingly entertaining pulp magazines in America: Black Mask, Amazing, Astounding, Spicy Stories, Ace-High, Detective Magazine, Dare-Devil Aces. It was in these luridly-coloured publications, printed on the cheapest pulp paper, that the first gems began to appear. The one golden rule for writers of pulp fiction was to adhere to the art of storytelling. Each story had to have a beginning, an end, economically-etched characters, but plenty going on, both in terms of action and emotions. Pulp magazines were the TV of their day, plucking readers from drab lives and planting them firmly in thrilling make-believe, successors

A tough-guy mystery to please even the most bloodthirsty of fans!

“The Tough Guys” contain three Spillane short stories that came out in men’s magazines in the early sixties. All are solid Spillane high caliber yarns , with a guy ready to tackle injustice with violence, always with a clip in the gun and a broad by his side

A kidnapping case links Hammer to a fourteen year-old mystery and the most venomous killer the private eye has ever faced

The word “legend” truly applies to Mickey Spillane, whose mystery novels have endured as bestsellers for more than half a century. This unique book collects several of his first-rate stories that have never appeared in a Spillane book before. Three of the stories center on Spillane’s love of flying and his experiences as a pilot. “Hot Cat” — under the title “The Flier” — was the title novella of a rare British paperback. A typical macho mystery, it’s vintage Spillane. “I’ll Die Tomorrow” is another real find. Unseen since it was published in the January 1953 edition of Cavalier, it’s one of Spillane’s toughest, purest crime stories — no nice-guy P.I. here. “Affair with the Dragon Lady” is an uncharacteristically warm, nostalgic piece. And “The Veiled Woman” is the controversial science fiction yarn that had input from another great pulp writer, Howard Browne. “The Night I Died” is a Mike Hammer story, with all the classic Spillane ingredients: betrayal, sex, gangsters, and revenge. Two real-life vignettes — “Toys for the Man Child” and “The Chinatown Man” — round out this collection of “lost Spillane.” A true delight for crime fiction fans, this edition is sure to become a collector’s item

He was a nice guy. Now he's dead. That's all Hammer knows about the stiff in the hotel room. But that isn't enough because Hammer suspects murder while the cops are calling it a suicide. Without a license or a gun, Hammer is pushing his way through a swirl of sex-and-game clubs, high priced models and not just a little blackmail. Someone is working hard to frame Hammer and he's working hard to find out why. Everywhere he turns, he keeps coming up against a blonde beauty named Juno. She holds the key to the crime wave that could unlock the mystery behind the nice guy's murder

Mikijs Spileins Čūskulēns Detektīvu klubs Bagātais un ievērojamais profesors Rūdolfs Jorks noalgo privātdetektīvu Maiku Uammeru, lai tas atrastu viņam nolaupīto četrpadsmit gadus veco dēlēnu Rastonu. Šis puisēns ne ar ko īpaši neatšķiras no saviem vien­audžiem, izņemot to, ka viņš ir… brīnumbērns, ģēnijs. Maiks Hammers aktīvi iesaistās šai lietā, bet tad sagriežas vesels asiņainu un mīklainu noziegumu karuselis… Nolaupīšana, slepkavība, pazušana. Māja pilna ar izdzimteņiem. Brīnišķīgs puisēns, izbijusi striptīza dejotāja aukles lomā ; šoferis" — izbijis kriminālists.  līdz trakumam nonācis tēvs kas bāž roku slēptuvē aiz kamīna un neko tur neatrod.. Viņš dodas nogalināt bet tiek nobeigts pats turklāt ne sevišķi delikātā veidā. Lezbiete kuru viņš gribēja nošaut, ir pazudusi, un var gadīties, ka ari viņas vairs nav starp dzīvajiem. Šajā juceklī pats velns kāju nolauzīs! Noskanējis grāmatu un failu izveidojis Imants Ločmelis imantslochmelis@inbox.lv Albatross, 1996 tulk. H.Jubels

„Аз, единакът!“ представя на любителите на острите криминални сюжети героя на Мики Спилейн — Райън, супермен-единак, „изплувал“ от подземния свят заради задача, свързана с националната сигурност, но непосилна за цялата полицейска машина. Райън е сам срещу огромната мощ на мафията. Но той няма какво да губи, а неговите методи на действие са не по-различни от тези на организираните престъпни групи. Може би са само по-брутални… ИК „Д. ЯКОВ“

На глазах Майка Хаммера плачущий парень с младенцем зашел в бар, поцеловал своего ребенка, вышел на улицу и оставил его сиротой. Детективу не понравилось произошедшее, и он взялся за расследование без заказчика, от своего имени. Следы привели его в подпольные букмекерские конторы, к гангстерам, ставкам на скачках и большому шантажу…

Вы не прочь проникнуть в тайны крупнейших финансовых сделок и фантастического обогащения? А может вас увлекает профессионализм и азарт следователей, раскрывающих маниакальных убийц? Тогда роман Дэвида Александера «Бродвей», в котором жизнь человека порой не стоит ломаного гроша, для вас. Лучшим традициям крутого детектива соответствует повесть признанного мастера этого жанра Микки Спиллейна. Волею случая инспектор уголовного розыска Дик Стэн попадает в дом Деррика и сталкивается с происшествием — непрошенные гости: очаровательная женщина обыскивает связанного сторожа. На стакане, в который было подсыпано снотворное, найдены отпечатки пальцев убийцы. Как разоблачить преступника? Об этом роман корифея детективов Эдгара Уоллеса «Мания»

Книга и тайна, книга и преступление – истории, вошедшие в этот сборник, связывает книжная тема. Вы узнаете о незваном госте, явившемся к Зигмунду Фрейду, о том, как знаменитый Коломбо разоблачил убийцу из книжного магазина, как любовь к книге сгубила главу мексиканского наркокартеля и как Лондонская библиотека оказалась хранилищем смертельно опасных тайн… В эту антологию, составленную по инициативе Отто Пенцлера, лауреата премий «Эдгар», «Эллери Куин» и «Ворон» за вклад в развитие и пропаганду детективного направления в литературе, вошли оригинальные работы известных мастеров остросюжетного жанра. Среди авторов и такие «крутые» авторы, как Кен Брюен, Рид Фаррел Коулмен, Лорен Эстлеман, Микки Спиллейн, Макс Аллан Коллинз, и создатели книг-бестселлеров Нельсон Демилль, Энн Перри, Джеффри Дивер, и лауреаты премии «Эдгар» Чарльз Дж. Бокс, Томас Кук, Лора Липпман