Hard-boiled Mystery

A government agent from the Treasury Department is sent undercover in Philadelphia to infiltrate and break up a brilliant counterfeiting ring. He is soon involved in double- and triple-crosses as his cover is compromised and he crosses paths with a deadly femme fatale.

In Iran’s Islamic Republic, Darius Bakhtiar is an alcoholic in a country where intoxication is punishable by whipping, and a homicide detective in a society that sees death as an opportunity for martyrdom. In Teheran, a young prostitute is found murdered, and Bakhtiar’s superiors tell him to make only a cursory inquiry. But what he uncovers points to a sickening hypocrisy at the heart of the fundamentalis.

Hammer accompanies a conservative politician to Moscow on a fact-finding mission. Arrested and imprisoned by the KGB on a bogus charge, he quickly escapes, creating an international incident by getting into a fire fight with Russian agents. On his stateside return, the government is none too happy with Hammer. Russia is insisting upon his return to stand charges, and various government agencies are following him. A question dogs our hero: why him?

Reporter Adam Jordan comes across the biggest story of his life when he is first on the scene of the murder of a beauty pageant contestant on the beach near Atlantic City. The story, set in the pulp world of the early 1950s, is the first published book by mystery writer Joseph Koenig in 20 years.

Jack Starr is the vice president of a New York City comic book publisher at the very time in the 1950s when comics are under siege from all directions, including Congress, as being dangerous to children. When a prominent expert against the industry is killed, Jack has to find out who did it in this hardboiled novel inspired by real historical events.

Esau Till’s race is almost run. After pleading guilty to a series of homicides, he sits on death row, awaiting lethal injection. And writing his life story. But his memoir is no case study in tragedy --- it’s his one last chance to protect his brother Tory after he’s gone.

In Donald E Westlake's final unpublished novel, the year is 1977, and an aging, legendary Hollywood comedian is kidnapped by a revolutionary cell desperately trying to reignite the 1960s. The tension builds as the comedian struggles to survive, but nothing in this noir tale is as simple as it seems.

This much-anticipated debut consists of three full novels with separate stories covering a 20-year period, each written in the style of a great noir author. Two characters appear in all three as Ariel S. Winter tracks the rise and fall of a famous American author and his beautiful movie star wife.

In Rusty Santoro’s neighborhood, the kids carry knives, chains, bricks and broken glass. And when they fight, they fight dirty, leaving the streets littered with the bodies of the injured and the dead. Rusty wants out --- but you can’t just walk away from a New York street gang. And his decision may leave his family to pay a terrible price. WEB OF THE CITY is acclaimed author Harlan Ellison's first novel, now back in print after three decades.

In 1972, Derek Strange has left the police department and set up shop as a PI. His former partner, Frank "Hound Dog" Vaughn, is still on the force. When a young woman comes to Strange asking for his help recovering a cheap ring she claims has sentimental value, the case leads him onto Vaughn's turf, where a local drug addict has been murdered, shot point-blank in his apartment.