A new Murder League mystery involving those three reprobate ex-detective writers — Carruthers, Simpson, and Briggs.This time around the redoubtable rogues fall prey to two totally unsuspecting kidnapers — Messrs. Clarence Alexander and Harold Nishbagel of Cicero, Illinois. Needless to say the tables are quickly turned, and the kidnapers soon find themselves at the mercy of their captives especially when the trio enlists the aid of England’s leading criminal lawyer, Sir Percival Pugh, a man who knows just how to implement the chicaneries of Carruthers, Simpson and Briggs... and mete out his own brand of justice at the same time.A high-spirited, lighthearted caper that showcases the peculiarly charming talents of three elderly Englishmen who continue to dedicate their lives to making crime pay.

The bizarre set of circumstances surrounding the case of “the handy death” presents attorney Hank Ross with the nearly impossible job of defending a man who is to all appearances guilty. Billy Dupaul, one-time bonus baby for the New York Mets, is serving time in Attica State Prison for shooting a man. Eight years after the incident, the victim of the assault dies and Dupaul is faced with a trial for first-degree murder. What makes Ross’s task even more difficult is the fact that Dupaul is implicated in a prison riot organized to cover up an attempted escape. Ross must prove that Billy was the victim of a carefully planned and executed setup; he must locate the mysterious “lady” who Billy claims was present at the time of the shooting... and all he has to go on is an eight-year-old trail.

When Mark Weir, a Chicago homicide lieutenant, starts investigating a series of murders of army servicemen, he comes on a smuggling “loop” set up by two army sergeants between Frankfurt, Germany, and Chicago. With the help of a striking Chicago newspaperwoman, his ex-wife, Lieutenant Weir begins to fit the pieces together... when he is suddenly gunned down. It is his father, a retired general who wants to assuage the bitterness that divided father and son during the Vietnam years, who decides to avenge his death — by taking on the son’s mission himself, as a matter of honor.Set against the backdrops of Chicago, Washington and NATO Europe, A Matter of Honor races with edge-of-the-seat excitement to a climax as startling as it is original.

Will the secrets of a dark night ever be revealed?

When rock idol Scott Silver is found murdered, the prime suspect lies dead next to him. For Silver’s killer broke into his mansion home on the South Devon coast and it appears that the rock star’s mesmerising widow Angel killed the intruder in self defence.

However, gradually an intense and complex tale of intrigue and deception evolves. Local paper journalist John Kelly, a man with a past which still haunts him, begins to investigate.

Soon he finds himself falling under the spell of the beautiful but dangerous Angel. Kelly becomes embroiled in a sexual obsession so overwhelming that it threatens to destroy him. Yet he continues to seek the truth about the night two men died a brutal death...

In Port City, Iowa, Mallory is a writer of detective stories, not a detective, but once again real-life crime comes to divert him from the fictional variety. In the middle of the night, he gets a call from Sheriff Brennan; the sheriff summons him to the outskirts of town to where Ginnie Mullens’s body has just been discovered.

Mallory and Ginnie had grown up together. After high school, however, Ginnie became a prototypical hippie, and when the wave of the sixties receded, she continued to live outside of convention. Ginnie made her own rules. “Best friends” since babyhood, she and Mal have grown almost completely apart. Brennan’s call now brings back a flood of old memories, old resentments, old regrets to Mallory.

The sheriff is not satisfied that Ginnie. as it appears, has killed herself; he suspects murder. Unable to act on his suspicion officially, he asks Mallory to sec what he can learn from the people Ginnie has been involved with. Soon, Mal finds himself questioning ex-flower children whose adjustment to the eighties has been to overlay activities like dope dealing with the material trappings of middle-class life.

Mallory also encounters Ginnie’s ex-partner and ex-lover, who has bought out her successful boutique; her estranged husband, a gentle poet who is caring for their four-year-old little girl; and some high school classmates in whom the fifteen years has made drastic changes — some for the better.

In his search for the real reason behind Ginnie’s death. Mallory comes to see that the dreams of the children of Aquarius have died. What he doesn’t expect to find is the cause of a very immediate threat to his own life as well.

When a young woman is found brutally murdered in a parking garage, with a veritable mountain of potential evidence to sift through, it may be the most challenging case former NYPD detective Lincoln Rhyme has ever taken on.

The gang was restless, just looking for some idle fun, when they roughed up a man they thought was a homosexual. The game got out of hand; their victim was blinded.It was Paula Halstead’s bad luck to witness the attack and to catch a glimpse of one of the boys. He knows they must track her down and somehow or other make her keep her mouth shut. They find her alone in the house and, in their mindless way, decide that a gang rape would guarantee her silence.In this they are very successful. She commits suicide.When her husband, Professor Curtis Halstead, comes home from a late meeting, he finds her body and a cryptic note. From that moment, he begins to change from the complacent, philosophic, civilized man he has become to a single-minded weapon poised for vengeance. He retrains his body to what it had been when he was a young commando during the war. Slowly, methodically, he tracks down the boys responsible for his wife’s death. In his mind, they are murderers. A cynical homicide detective points out that the law won’t pursue them too diligently because even if they’re caught, their age protects them from severe sentence. He knows their punishment is in his hands and he intends to extract maximum revenge. He can think no further.A TIME OF PREDATORS is a novel of violence and suspense. Beyond that, it poses the perennially fascinating question of moral justification for an individual’s deeds. How far may one go to protect or avenge his own? How deeply do the accumulated layers of civilized training cover man’s aggressive instincts? Can Curtis Halstead, a dedicated teacher of philosophy, premeditate and execute the killing of four teenagers?THE GANG:Eric Dean, nineteen, darkly handsome, a charmer to women young and old, a magnetic leader of a group of four boys who ran around together in high school. His father is an insurance broker, well-to-do.Julio Escobar, eighteen, one of Rick’s followers and vaguely envious of Rick’s leadership. Julio’s parents work in a laundry, are God-fearing Spanish-American folks.Delbert “Heavy” Gander, eighteen, played tackle on the football team of which Rick was quarterback, Julio halfback. Immensely overweight, full of fears and tensions and insufficiencies. His widowed father is a sheet-metal worker, Heavy, a good mechanic.Ernest “Champ” Mather, twenty-one, fourth member of the gang. Quit high school when his football eligibility ended. Very low I.Q., devotedly doglike, but enjoys inflicting pain, extremely powerful. Too dumb for military service, works as a gardener.

MATT SCUDDER RETURNS.

More than 40 years after his debut and nearly a decade since his last appearance, one of the most renowned characters in all of crime fiction is back on the case in this major new novella by Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Lawrence Block.

Well past retirement age and feeling his years — but still staying sober one day at a time — Matthew Scudder learns that alcoholics aren’t the only ones who count the days since their last slip. Matt’s longtime partner, Elaine, tells him of a group of former sex workers who do something similar, helping each other stay out of the life. But when one young woman describes an abusive client who’s refusing to let her quit, Elaine encourages her to get help of a different sort. The sort only Scudder can deliver.

A Time to Scatter Stones offers not just a gripping crime story but also a richly drawn portrait of Block’s most famous character as he grapples with his own mortality while proving to the younger generation that he’s still got what it takes. For Scudder’s millions of fans around the world (including the many who met the character through Liam Neeson’s portrayal in the film version of A Walk Among the Tombstones), A Time to Scatter Stones is an unexpected gift — a valedictory appearance that will remind readers why Scudder is simply the best there is.