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.

Assembled by best-selling suspense author Nelson DeMille, The Best American Mystery Stories 2004 contains a spectacular array of stories by mystery veterans and talented newcomers. Follow a chain reaction that saves a woman’s life, visit a house haunted by a husband’s violent killing spree, enter the high-stakes world of Las Vegas gambling, watch the line between reality and dream blur, travel with a bored salesman driven to crime, and much more. Encompassing all aspects of the genre, this year’s selections are sure to quicken pulses, send chills down the spine, and keep readers continually guessing.

Set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine

#1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King’s timeless novella “The Body”—originally published in his 1982 short story collection Different Seasons, and adapted into the 1986 film classic Stand by Me—now available for the first time as a stand-alone publication.

It’s 1960 in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine. Ray Brower, a boy from a nearby town, has disappeared, and twelve-year-old Gordie Lachance and his three friends set out on a quest to find his body along the railroad tracks. During the course of their journey, Gordie, Chris Chambers, Teddy Duchamp, and Vern Tessio come to terms with death and the harsh truths of growing up in a small factory town that doesn’t offer much in the way of a future.

A timeless exploration of the loneliness and isolation of young adulthood, Stephen King’s The Body is an iconic, unforgettable, coming-of-age story.

Stephen King is the undisputed master of horror; but The Colorado Kid is a dramatic departure for the iconic author of innumerable bloodcurdling classics like The Shining, Carrie, Cujo, and Pet Sematary. A pulpstyle mystery about two salty newspapermen and their investigation into the unresolved death of a man found on an island off the coast of Maine, The Colorado Kid will have readers speculating until the very last page — and long afterward.

The final book in King's epic The Dark Tower series, sees gunslinger Roland on a roller-coaster ride of exhilarating triumph and aching loss in his unrelenting quest to reach the dark tower.

Roland Deschain and his ka-tet have journeyed together and apart, scattered far and wide across multilayered worlds of wheres and whens. The destinies of Roland, Susannah, Jake, Father Callahan, Oy, and Eddie are bound in the Dark Tower itself, which now pulls them ever closer to their own endings and beginnings and into a maelstrom of emotion, violence, and discovery.

And as he closes in on the Tower, Roland's every step is shadowed by a terrible and sinister creation. Finally, he realises, he may have to walk the last dark strait alone...

The man in black is dead, and Roland is about to be hurled into 20th-centure America, occupuying the mind of a man running cocaine on the New York/Bermuda shuttle. A brilliant waork of dark fantasy inspired by Browning's romantic poem, "Child Roland to the Dark Tower Came."Synopsis:Part II an epic saga. Roland, the last gunslinger, encounters three mysterious doorways on the beach. Each one enters into a different person living in New York. Through these doorways, Roland draws the companions who will assist him on his quest to save the Dark Tower.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King, the most riveting and unforgettable story of kids confronting evil since It—publishing just as the second part of It, the movie, lands in theaters.

In the middle of the night, in a house on a quiet street in suburban Minneapolis, intruders silently murder Luke Ellis’s parents and load him into a black SUV. The operation takes less than two minutes. Luke will wake up at The Institute, in a room that looks just like his own, except there’s no window. And outside his door are other doors, behind which are other kids with special talents—telekinesis and telepathy—who got to this place the same way Luke did: Kalisha, Nick, George, Iris, and ten-year-old Avery Dixon. They are all in Front Half. Others, Luke learns, graduated to Back Half, “like the roach motel,” Kalisha says. “You check in, but you don’t check out.”

In this most sinister of institutions, the director, Mrs. Sigsby, and her staff are ruthlessly dedicated to extracting from these children the force of their extranormal gifts. There are no scruples here. If you go along, you get tokens for the vending machines. If you don’t, punishment is brutal. As each new victim disappears to Back Half, Luke becomes more and more desperate to get out and get help. But no one has ever escaped from the Institute.

As psychically terrifying as Firestarter, and with the spectacular kid power of It, The Institute is Stephen King’s gut-wrenchingly dramatic story of good vs. evil in a world where the good guys don’t always win.

An unspeakable crime. A confounding investigation. At a time when the King brand has never been stronger, he has delivered one of his most unsettling and compulsively readable stories.

An eleven-year-old boy’s violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City’s most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Their case seems ironclad.

As the investigation expands and horrifying answers begin to emerge, King’s propulsive story kicks into high gear, generating strong tension and almost unbearable suspense. Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy, but is he wearing another face? When the answer comes, it will shock you as only Stephen King can.

Жизнь Олли Франклина, в прошлом графического дизайнера, была долгой и насыщенной. Он не боится смерти — напротив, ждет ее. И неудивительно — ведь за ним смерть явилась в облике молодого, красивого блондина-гея, напомнившего ему о самом ярком, всепоглощающем, не знающем преград и здравого смысла человеческом чувстве — чувстве сексуального голода. Две старые, как мир, вечные темы — секс и смерть — причудливо переплетаются в рассказе, заставляя задуматься — а что на самом деле движет миром и людьми в нём?

Без издательской аннотации.Нью-Йорк, 1959 год. Частный детектив Гарри Энджел получает от таинственного незнакомца поручение найти знаменитого некогда музыканта по имени Джонни Фаворит. Во время войны Джонни забрали в армию. Вернувшись с фронта, он попал в психиатрическую лечебницу, но недавно пропал оттуда…Роман послужил основой для культового фильма Алана Паркера.Содержание:Уильям Хортсберг. Сердце ангела. Роман.Рассказы.Стивен Кинг. Мэнглер.Стивен Кинг. Ночная смена.Стивен Кинг. Баллада о гибкой пуле.Стивен Кинг. Домовой.Эдвард Бейли. Допрос.Джей Стрит. Безо всякой боли.Ричард Деминг. Часы с кукушкой.Джек Риччи. Требуется убийца.Джек Риччи. Пробей свой номер.Эдвард Л. Перри. Осечка.

Без издательской аннотации.Нью-Йорк, 1959 год. Частный детектив Гарри Энджел получает от таинственного незнакомца поручение найти знаменитого некогда музыканта по имени Джонни Фаворит. Во время войны Джонни забрали в армию. Вернувшись с фронта, он попал в психиатрическую лечебницу, но недавно пропал оттуда…Роман послужил основой для культового фильма Алана Паркера.Содержание:Уильям Хортсберг. Сердце ангела. Роман.Рассказы.Стивен Кинг. Мэнглер.Стивен Кинг. Ночная смена.Стивен Кинг. Баллада о гибкой пуле.Стивен Кинг. Домовой.Эдвард Бейли. Допрос.Джей Стрит. Безо всякой боли.Ричард Деминг. Часы с кукушкой.Джек Риччи. Требуется убийца.Джек Риччи. Пробей свой номер.Эдвард Л. Перри. Осечка.

Долан убил Элизабет, учительницу и жену учителя. Школьный учитель решает отомстить за смерть жены. Но это должна быть не просто месть в виде смерти Долана, это должны быть его живые похороны…

«Когда звонит телефон, Энн только выходит из душа, и хотя в доме полным-полно родственников — вон как шумят на первом этаже, нагрянули целой стаей, а уезжать, похоже, не намерены! — трубку никто не берет. И автоответчик не включается, а ведь Джеймс настроил его так, чтобы срабатывал после пятого гудка…»

Американская провинция. Шумный хайвэй. Заброшенная автостоянка с магазинчиком, на которую однажды приезжает загадочный автомобиль неизвестной модели — и застывает, словно в ожидании, словно приманивая жертву. Мимо едут по своим делам люди, самые разные: добрые и злые, раздраженные, уставшие, воодушевленные. Некоторые из них останавливаются и подходят к загадочной машине — и назад к своим автомобилям уже не возвращаются. Пожалуй, только дети способны разглядеть опасность, притаившуюся за перепачканными засохшей грязью стеклами, только дети найдут, что противопоставить ей.Перевод на русский язык, С. Думаков при участии А. Сергеева и М. Замятиной, 2011 специально для портала StephenKing.ru