A collection of storiesIn this Spur Award-winning story, a Pinkerton detective, a couple on the run, a wanted man, and a traveling salesman with mysterious wares all converge on the banks of Crucifixion River to take shelter from an impending storm.

Garrett's newest visitors are a pack of lovelies led by his main squeeze Tinnie Tate and her friend, Alyx Weider, the spoiled daughter of the largest brewer in town. Her father needs Garrett'shelp-his workers are being attacked by everything from giant insects to ghosts. Garrett takes the case. After all, working for the Weiders means free beer. But it also means serious danger.

An abandoned infant on her doorstep is the last thing Manchester private eye Sal Kilkenny needs. Sal's client Libby Hill is trying to put her life back together after the brutal killing of her lover and the conviction of petty criminal Damien Beswick, who confessed to the murder. But now Beswick has retracted his confession – exactly what game is he playing? As Sal investigates, things get up close and personal, and there are further bombshells to come, which threaten everything Sal holds dear.

Matt Scudder fue policía de Nueva York. Ahora es un detective sin licencia que saca las castañas del fuego a sus amigos. Se divorció de su mujer, y ahora vive en un modesto hotel del West Side. Pero su verdadero hogar se encuentra en cualquiera de los bares de su zona, la clientela habitual forma su familia. Corre el verano de 1975, y Matt anda comprometido con varios favores a amigos. En primer lugar, debe salvar de sospechas a Tommie Tillary, un hombre de negocios de ropas estridentes cuya mujer ha sido asesinada. Matt Scudder no dejará de beber ni un instante, pero se mantendrá lo suficientemente lúcido como para encontrar la solución, hallando la inspiración en el fondo de la botella.

Tras ser abandonados por su madre, un chico y su hermano pequeño terminan en la red estatal de hogares de acogida. Sin embargo, quienes a partir de entonces tenían que cuidar de ellos los dejan a su suerte. Y años después…Reed Solliday tiene más de quince años de experiencia en el cuerpo de bomberos de Chicago, luchando contra los incendios y, sobre todo, investigando su origen. Pero nunca había presenciado nada parecido al reciente estallido de fuegos provocados por alguien frío, meticuloso y cada vez más violento. Cuando en la última casa incendiada aparece el cadáver de una mujer asesinada, Reed se ve obligado a colaborar con la policía. Y la detective de homicidios Mia Mitchell es una mujer impetuosa, más acostumbrada a dar órdenes que a recibirlas, y se niega a aceptar que los motivos habituales puedan ser la causa de un odio tan calculado. Algo más se esconde detrás de todo ello…Una intriga absorbente por una de las autoras con mayor éxito de ventas en Estados Unidos, Gran Bretaña y Alemania.

Thomas Lynley vuelve de su permiso tras la muerte de su mujer porque su equipo no se fía de la capacidad de la nueva jefe del departamento, la inspectora Isabelle Ardery, cuyo estilo a la hora de liderarlos parece molestar a todos y cada uno de los componentes del equipo. El conflicto empieza cuando se encuentra el cadáver de una mujer apuñalada en un aislado cementerio de Londres. Mientras que Lynley empieza sus pesquisas en la ciudad de Londres, sus anteriores colegas Barbara Havers y Winston Nkata siguen la pista hacia el sur de la ciudad. Allí descubrirán que las pistas se dirigen hacia el hermoso bosque llamado New Forest. Lo que no saben es que más de un oscuro secreto acecha en el bosque y que la investigación va a llevarlos a un final que es tan sorprendente como terrible.

Joseph Wambaugh, maestro del thriller policíaco, ha vuelto con una adictiva novela focalizada una vez más en los oficiales de la Hollywood Station del LAPD; en concreto en el papel que desempeñan los «cuervos», nombre popular dela Oficina de Relaciones Comunitarias (CRO), formado por policías que no están satisfechos en las calles y que se sienten más seguros velando por la «calidad de vida» de los vecinos.

Dixie Hemingway knows first-hand that many things in life are worse than a dirty litter box. Once happy as a Florida sheriff's deputy, she lost everything when senseless tragedy shattered her world. Now Dixie laces up her sneakers, grabs some kitty treats, and copes with one day at a time as a pet-sitter. Her investigations deal strictly with "crimes" such as who peed on the bed . . . until she finds a dead man face down in an Abyssinian's water bowl. With the local cops stymied—including a handsome detective who catches her eye—she decides to clip a leash on a lead

or two and go sleuthing herself. Dixie soon finds out that the Abyssinian's pretty owner has vanished and left behind a shocking past, a lonely cat, and a chilling reason for Dixie to start

running when she's out walking the dogs.

When librarian Kathleen Paulson

moved to Mayville Heights,

Minnesota, she had no idea that

two strays would nuzzle their

way into her life. Owen is a

tabby with a catnip addiction and Hercules is a stocky tuxedo

cat who shares Kathleen's

fondness for Barry Manilow. But

beyond all the fur and purrs,

there's something more to

these felines. When murder interrupts

Mayville's Music Festival,

Kathleen finds herself the prime

suspect. More stunning is her

realization that Owen and

Hercules are magical-and she's relying on their skills to solve a

purr-fect murder.

When Donald Lam and Bertha Cool cut in on a deal, they CUT THIN TO WIN.

The man’s name was Clayton Dawson. The Cool-Lam Agency was so well known he’d come from Denver for help on a highly confidential matter...

After adjusting to the fact that “Cool” was a woman (a “Big Bertha” as it turned out) and “Lam” looked like he couldn’t hurt a fly (an outrageous deceit), Dawson shelled out a fat retainer and put his cards on the table.

The question was: Were they from a marked deck?

Adam Dalgliesh, wyższy oficer policji, postanawia się wybrać do prywatnego ośrodka dla nieuleczalnie chorych, dokąd zaprosił go zaprzyjaźniony stary pastor. Na miejscu okazuje się jednak, że pastor kilka dni wcześniej zmarł.Adam zatrzymuje się w ośrodku na pewien czas, by uporządkować odziedziczony po przyjacielu księgozbiór, i poznaje pensjonariuszy oraz łączące ich stosunki, z pozoru tylko proste i bezkonfliktowe. Wydarzenia, które później następują, utwierdzają go w przekonaniu, że w ośrodku dzieje się coś złego…

The first retrospective of the CWA’s Dagger Award winners, brings together some of the greatest names in crime fiction to deliver a cutthroat collection of serial killers, grizzled detectives, drug dealers and master forgers.

Observe as a Senior Curator at the Tate Gallery constructs the perfect crime in Ian Rankin’s “Herbert in Motion”. Watch an unlikely romance sour into a deadly obsession in Stella Duffy’s “Martha Grace”. Face parents who discover their child has committed the unthinkable in Denise Mina’s “Nemo Me Impune Lacessit”. And in Jeffery Deaver’s “The Weekender” an intense hostage situation hits its peak in the most unlikely conclusion.

Keep your secrets close, and your daggers drawn.

This is one of some 30 Miss Silver mysteries which Patricia Wentworth wrote during her lifetime. It concerns money motivated marriages and has a complex plot, full of suspense. The author has a large and devoted readership in both Britain and America.

No one can hurt you like your own family.A mother’s love should be the most natural and sustaining thing in the world. But when that love twists into obsession, and from obsession into control, the consequences can be devastating.When glamorous party-planner Viktor Algard is found murdered at one of his own glitzy events, suspicion falls immediately on to a wife spurned. But if Inspector Anders Knutas has learnt anything from his years in the Gotland Police Force, it is that there is no such thing as an open-and-shut case. A second attack confirms that things are not as they first appeared.Knutas’s investigation will take him into the dark and hidden corners of another family’s tragedy – but if he is to catch the killer, he is going to have to face some family secrets of his own.

A superintendent in the Thames River Police, William Monk is on a patrol boat near Waterloo Bridge when he and his men notice a young couple standing at the railing, apparently engaged in an intense discussion. The woman places her hands on the man's shoulders. Is it a caress or a push? He grasps her. To save her or kill her? Seconds later, the pair plunges to death in the icy waters. Has Monk witnessed an accident, a suicide, or a murder? The ensuing investigation leads him toward a conspiracy that reverberates into the highest levels of Her Majesty's government.

Evil has awoken in Asheville, North Carolina, and Terra Rowan must prepare the Ladies of the Biltmore Society for battle. With her familiar, Pixel, a crooked leg fluffy orange cat, and her apprentice Abigail Oakhaven, a stubborn teenage girl with a bloodline dating back to the beginning of time, she begins their journey. The witch hunters have come to the Appalachian Mountains in search of the last witch of Salem. The magic of the mountains can no longer protect her and her coven. She must travel to the one place on earth that holds the secret to save mankind – Dark Corner.

Combining elements from different cultures, Appalachian folklore, Celtic legends, Native American mysticism, Dark Corner continues its new witch mythology while staying true to the realm of cozy mystery.

Terra Rowan is a witch trapped between worlds and lost in time.

Hannah, her sisters and fourteen-year-old niece Julie set sail from Baltimore on a bonding cruise, and have a dramatic first night when Pia Fanucci, a bubbly bartender magician's assistant whom Hannah befriends, narrowly escapes injury during an illusion. But while Pia may make light of the incident, it's no laughing matter when Julie suddenly disappears. Has she gone overboard, or is she injured somewhere on the enormous ship?To make matters worse, Hannah meets David Warren, a grieving father whose twenty-two-year-old daughter vanished without trace from an earlier cruise. With claims of a proper investigation proving to be an illusion too far, Hannah teams up with David and Pia in desperation. Can they see through the ship's smoke and mirrors to reveal the identity of a dangerous sea-faring predator?

This collections of eleven crime/mystery stories, with an introduction by the author, contains such classics as Dark Muse, False Idols, The Man in the Long Black Sedan and Dark Whispers.

DARKER — российский литературный онлайн-журнал (вебзин) посвященный «темному» фэнтези, мистике, литературе ужасов и хоррор-культуре в целом. Создан в 2011 году на основе pdf-журнала «ТЬМА». Выходит с периодичностью раз в месяц. Публикует жанровые рецензии, статьи, обзоры, а также рассказы и повести отечественных и зарубежных авторов.В данный сборник вошли избранные рассказы зарубежных и отечественных авторов (от классиков до современных), опубликованные в онлайн-журнале «DARKER» в течение 2011–2015 года.Многие произведения публикуются на русском впервые.*Внимание! Присутствуют произведения категории 18+.Сайт онлайн-журнала: http://darkermagazine.ru/[Электронное издание, 2015]