В сборник вошли три романа мастеров детективного жанра: «Смерть — штука тонкая» Э. Бокса — о расследовании убийств сыщиком-любителем, «Афера Хавьера» P. Л. Фиша — о судьбе бразильского студента, и «Экстренный выпуск» У. Макгиверна — о журналистах, решивших найти правду во что бы то ни стало.

Переводчики в книге указаны без привязки к отдельным произведениям.

Единственный роман криминального жанра в творческом наследии Джека Лондона.

Роман, идею которого подсказал писателю его друг Синклер Льюис, а закончил его по наброскам Лондона, уже много лет спустя после его смерти, лауреат премии Эдгара По знаменитый американский мастер иронического детектива Роберт Фиш.

Иван Драгомилов – порядочный предприниматель с жестким кодексом чести. Его бюро принимает заказы на убийства любых лиц: от частных граждан до видных политиков, президентов, диктаторов и монархов – и гарантирует качественное исполнение работы. Одно условие: от заказчика требуется железное обоснование, что намеченная жертва в самом деле достойна смерти.

А поскольку профессиональный убийца, несомненно, гибели заслуживает, Драгомилов невозмутимо принимает заказ… на самого себя.

Впрочем, принципы принципами, а своя рубашка ближе к телу, так что честный убийца вовсе не собирается покорно ждать исполнения приговора…

Действие романа Р. Фиша «Убить незнакомца» разворачивается в Рио-де-Жанейро. Высокопоставленные чиновники, решительные полицейские, красивые женщины, наемные убийцы — все есть в Рио…

Данный том серии «Мастера детектива» представляет читателям романы английского писателя Г. Лайла «Успеть к полуночи», американского писателя Р. Пайка «Безмолвный свидетель» и французского писателя Ш. Эксбрайя «Позор семьи».

A small-town sheriff investigates a bizarre disappearance.

Nobody could blame Charley Crompton for wanting to kill his wife. For years she’s made his life hell, but poor old Charley has always been too meek to stand up for himself. One night they have a terrible fight, loud enough for Mrs. Williams next door to hear every word, and the argument is followed by eerie silence. The next thing Mrs. Williams knows, Charley is digging up the peach tree in his backyard and burying it again. When Mrs. Crompton doesn’t reappear, Mrs. Williams has only one thought on her mind: Mrs. Crompton has been murdered.

When the local sheriff knocks on the Cromptons’ door, Charley answers holding a bloody ax. As the circumstantial evidence piles up, the police are forced to decide: Is Charley Crompton a cold-blooded killer? Or has he simply lost his mind?

“Moonlight Gardener” was awarded the Edgar for Best Short Story in 1972.

The arid wilderness of colonial South Africa is the setting for this saga of love and ambition; the duel between two formidable men for control of the legendary Kimberley diamond fields at the turn of the century.

Young Barney Barnato had nothing to lose when he abandoned his squalid existence in London’s East End and set out for the Dark Continent to make his fortune. He built an empire and became a threat to the ruthless Cecil Rhodes, who scorned the pauper-turned-tycoon and tried at every turn to destroy him.

But the ghetto Jew proved to be more than a match for the snobbish Rhodes, who had bought himself a title and craved total control of the diamond trade, where millions were made and lost overnight.

Barnato’s struggle, which took him from unbearable poverty to unimagined riches, from loveless slums to the loving arms of a beautiful woman, always stalked by the malevolent Rhodes, makes for a riveting novel blending history with fiction in the frontier days of nineteenth-century empire building.

Ruth was sitting rigidly, white-faced; Gregor tried the door handles; the doors were locked! Ahead, the edge of the cliff was coming closer and closer as the heavy car picked up momentum, the deep ruts of the worn dirt road keeping the wheels locked on their inevitable juggernaut course, the sea below frothing over rocks beneath a sheer drop.

Suddenly Gregor leaned back in his seat, raising his two feet, jamming his shoes through the glass that divided the empty front seat from the enclosed rear; a moment later he had forced himself through the shards of broken glass still embedded in the frame, unaware either of the ripping of his clothes or the shredding of his skin as he slithered on his stomach across the seat and under the dashboard, pulling with all his force on the emergency brake. The car responded slowly, as if resenting this interference with its unexpected freedom, swaying from side to side as its great weight seemed determined to overcome the demands of the tightening brake bands.

Gregor blanked his mind to the thought of the approaching cliff, or of Ruth sitting petrified and frightened in the rear of the car; he gritted his teeth and pulled on the emergency brake with all his power...