ORDER HOTLINE: 020 74 74 24 74 CRIME FICTION
There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.
- Arthur Conan Doyle, The Boscombe Valley Mystery
74309 STEEL SPRING by Per Wahloo
Chief Inspector Jensen is a policeman in an unnamed European country where the government has criminalised being drunk, even in private, and where the city centres have been demolished to devote more space to gleaming new roads. Recovering in a hospital room abroad after a liver transplant, Jensen receives a note instructing him to return home immediately.
But when he reaches the airport he discovers that all flights home have been cancelled and all communication from within his homeland has ceased. One of the last messages sent requested urgent medical help from abroad and when Jensen is piloted across the border it soon becomes clear that some kind of epidemic has ravaged the country. An original talent, this master of Scandinavian fiction wrote this book in 1968. Here is 2012 new translation. 200 page paperback. £7.99 NOW £3
74300 MURDER ON THE
THIRTY-FIRST FLOOR by Per Wahloo
Regarded as ‘The Godfather of Scandinavian Crime Fiction’ by Jo Nesbo no less, here is a novel by the author of the Martin Beck series. First published in Sweden in 1964, the author died in 1975 and is credited as inspiring writers as varied as Agatha Christie, Henning Mankell and Jonathan Franzen. In an
unnamed country and sometime in the future, Chief Inspector Jensen of the 16th Division is called in after a publishers receive a threat to blow up their building. When the building is evacuated and no bomb explodes, Jensen is given seven days to track down the letter writer. As his investigation into the identity of the
An Inspector Calls…
74367 JOHNNY UNDER GROUND: Inspector Tibbett Investigates
by Patricia Moyes
Emmy Tibbett goes to her RAF reunion with an inexplicable sense of foreboding. As a naive 19 year old auxiliary officer she has fallen in love with handsome pilot ‘Beau’ Guest. After the reunion Chief Inspector Henry Tibbett suspects
his wife is on the brink of uncovering a dangerous secret, but he can’t prevent her from delving into a past that is dark with menace. First published in 1970, Irish born Patricia Moyes (1923-2000) was Peter Ustinov’s assistant for eight years before embarking on a highly successful career as a crime novelist with 19 novels featuring C.I. Henry Tibbett. Here is facsimile new paperback reprint, 256pp. £6.99 NOW £4
74366 DEATH WALKS IN EASTREPPS: An Inspector
Wilkins Mystery by Francis Beeding Set in a quaint English seaside resort, the complex plot incorporates all the elements of a classic British crime novel - a double identity, a soaring body count, a case of extortion and a dramatic courtroom scene. Pronounced one of the ten
greatest detective novels of all time, it was first published in 1931 and here is in a smart new 254 page paperback reissue. Francis Beeding is the pseudonym for the writers Hilary St. George Saunders (1898-1951) and John Palmer (1885-1944) who collaboratively wrote over 30 crime and thriller novels, five of which have been adapted into feature films. £6.99 NOW £4
74368 LONELY MAGDALEN:
An Inspector Poole Mystery by Henry Wade
The body of a woman is found in a corner of Hampstead Heath. She has been strangled and it is clear from her appearance that she was a prostitute. The police soon have a suspect and several contradictory witnesses, but no proof and little information. With ingenuity and patience, Inspector
Poole pieces together the story behind the lonely Magdalen and why she came to grief. Henry Wade was the pseudonym of Henry Lancelot Aubrey- Fletcher (1887-1969) who had a distinguished military career in World War One and was one of the founding members of The Dection Club in 1930. He wrote 20 novels, this one in 1940. 352pp with map in paperback reprint. £6.99 NOW £4
74589 INSPECTORATES: Set of Three Buy all three paperbacks and save more.
£20.97 NOW £10
author progresses, it becomes clear that the directors and chairman of the publishers have their own secrets, not least the identity of the Special Department on the thirty first floor, which was not evacuated after the bomb threat. With references to telegrams and letters rather than e-mails, and with publishing houses containing 4,100 people, the book has a nostalgic charm of its own (given when it was written). 215pp in Vintage paperback.
£7.99 NOW £3
74311 UNSPOKEN: An Inspector Knutas Investigation by Mari Jungstedt
Two crimes shatter the peace in the quiet holiday island of Gotland. The first body found is Henry Dahlstrom, an alcoholic photographer who has just had a spectacular success at the races, winning 80,000 Krona. The next morning his body, badly beaten, was discovered in his
darkroom. Days later a 14 year old girl is reported missing. A lonely child with few friends, and living with her dysfunctional mother, her only joy was looking after the horses at the local stables. Chief Inspector Anders Knutas must decide if the two crimes are connected and perhaps photographs found in Dahlstrom’s darkroom suggest a sinister link. Another superbly written Scandinavian thriller. 367pp in paperback with fairly large print.
£7.99 NOW £3
74369 MINORITY REPORT by Philip K. Dick In the future, crime can be prevented. The Department of Precrime has cut major crime by almost 100% but how? By looking into the future, arresting potential criminals, sentencing and punishing them before they actually commit the crime. No one doubts the efficiency and fairness of the system until Precrime Commissioner John Anderton finds himself accused. If he is to remain free, he must go on the run as a convicted murderer. Made into a Hollywood blockbuster film starring Tom Cruise and directed by Stephen Spielberg, the original book as reproduced here was first published in 1956. Includes eight other stories including Imposter, Second Variety and War Games in a short story compilation for the bedside.
£7.99 NOW £4
72348 FUNERAL IN BERLIN by Len Deighton First published in 1964. In Berlin during the Cold War era, where neither side of the wall is safe, Colonel Stok of Red Army Security is prepared to sell an important Russian scientist to the West - for a price. British Intelligence is willing to pay provided that their own top secret agent acts as a go-between in Berlin. The events that follow unfold like a game of chess, but to win this match, deadly manoeuvres are essential. Because when a player offers one of his pieces for exchange or sacrifice, he surely has a subsequent move in mind that will give him an advantage. 270pp in paperback. $11.95 NOW £4
72350 KING OF THE BADGERS: A Novel by Philip Hensher
The centre of Hanmouth is sleepy, picturesque, lined by cheese shops and antiques stores, and protected by closed-circuit security cameras. But these have failed to spot the abduction of a little girl called China. Is her blank-eyed hairdresser mother hiding her as part of a moneymaking hoax? The author demolishes the already fragile privacy of Hanmouth’s inhabitants. These include Sam and Harry, cheesemonger and aristocrat, who lead the county’s gay orgies, the quiet husband of the ‘marvellous’ Miranda. 436 pages. £18.99 NOW £3
72942 BLACK MARKET by James Patterson The threat was absolute. At 5.05 p.m., Wall Street would be destroyed. No demands, no ransom, no negotiations. A multiple firebombing, orchestrated by a secret militia group would wipe out the financial heart of America. Faced with catastrophe on an unimaginable scale, Federal agent Archer Carroll and Wall Street lawyer Caitlin Dillon are pitched into a heart-stopping race against time, tracking the unknown enemy through a maze of intrigue, rumour and betrayal. 400pp, paperback.
£6.99 NOW £3.50
73043 WORLD OF TIM FRAZER by Francis Durbridge
Tim Frazer receives a message from erstwhile business partner Harry Denston telling him to meet him at a remote fishing village. Tim keeps the rendezvous but there is no sign of Harry. A series of strange happenings including a Russian shipwreck and a dying secret agent pulls him into the murky world of international espionage and leads him to uncover the truth behind Harry’s disappearance. 222pp in paperback. £6.99 NOW £3.50
73142 RUSH OF BLOOD by Mark Billingham Three couples meet by the pool on their Florida holiday and become fast friends. But, on the last night of the festivities, their revels take a tragic twist. The daughter of another holidaymaker goes missing, and her body is later found floating in the mangroves. When the shocked six return home they remain in contact and, over the course of three increasingly fraught dinner parties, they come to know one another better. Buried beneath these apparently normal exteriors are some dark secrets, hidden kinks, ugly vices. 390 increasingly tense pages. £16.99 NOW £6
73475 THE GREEN MILE by Stephen King The Green Mile: those who walk it do not return, because at the end of that walk is the room in which sits Cold Mountain Penitentiary’s electric chair. In 1932 the newest resident on death row is John Coffey, a giant of a black man convicted of the brutal murder of two little girls. But nothing is as it seems with John Coffey, and around him unfolds a bizarre and horrifying story. Evil murderer or holy innocent, whichever he is, Coffey has strange powers. Paperback reprint of the 1996 original, 433pp.
£7.99 NOW £2.50
73147 THE BONE BED by Patricia Cornwell Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta finds, in her inbox, evidence about a woman who has vanished while digging a dinosaur bone bed in the remote wilderness of Canada. She begins to suspect that the palaeontologist’s disappearance is connected to a series of crimes much closer to home: a gruesome murder, inexplicable tortures, and trace evidence from the last living creatures of the dinosaur age. When she turns to those around her, she finds that the danger and suspicion have penetrated even her closest circles. Scarpetta is tempted by someone from her past as she tracks a killer who is both cunning and cruel. 463 pages. £18.99 NOW £6
73148 THE LIFE by Martina Cole The Bailey brothers are gangsters determined to make their mark in the world. Peter and Daniel are chalk and cheese in many ways but together they are unstoppable. From the late seventies on, they rule London’s East End and, when their sons join the business, it seems that no-one can touch them. However, it’s never easy at the top. There is always someone waiting to take you down, even those closest to you. Lena Bailey is determined to shield her youngest child, Tania, from the Life, but, when a terrible tragedy occurs, Tania’s eyes are opened. 502 pages. £19.99 NOW £3.50
73278 A DARKER SHADE OF BLUE: A Collection of Short Stories from the Master
of British Crime by John Harvey From the killing fields of the East Midlands to the mean streets of London, from the jazz clubs and clip joints of Soho to the barren fenlands of East Anglia, this is a world of broken families and run-down estates, revenge killings and prostitution, drugs, guns and corruption, a world of overstretched police forces and underpaid detectives, men and women who strive nonetheless for a kind of justice, a world in which everything - even friendship - has a price. Featuring characters like Frank Elder, Jack Riley, ex-copper and one-time professional footballer. 366 pages. £18.99 NOW £6
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73295 THE LINEUP edited by Otto Penzler Subtitled ‘The World’s Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives’, here Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, Colin Dexter, Anne Perry, Ian Rankin, Alexander McCall Smith and some of today’s top mystery writers reveal the genesis of their unforgettable characters like Inspector Morse, Precious Ramotswe, John Rebus, Charlie Parker, Rambo et al. These are short stories tucked into the biographies, interviews of the characters, revealing looks into the author’s lives and creative processes. 501pp in paperback.
£7.99 NOW £3
73306 HUE & CRY by Shirley McKay The first in a must-read series of Hew Cullan Mysteries set in 1579 in St. Andrews. Cullan, a young lawyer, returns home from studying in Paris, but it proves to be a cold homecoming. His friend, university regent Nicholas Colp is accused of murdering a 13 year old boy. The boy was a private pupil of Nicholas. A salacious gossip backed up by incriminating letters have him judged, convicted and heading for the hangman’s noose. Hew uncovers a dark tale of duplicity and passion in a world of religious piety and corruption emerges. 325pp in paperback.
£8.99 NOW £3.50
73433 FIDDLERS: An 87th Precinct Novel by Ed McBain
Detective Steve Carella and ‘Fat’ Ollie Weeks are deceptively brilliant sleuths of the old school, and their flaws have made them even more sympathetic to generations of readers. It started with the blind violinist, shot twice through the head at point-blank range in the alley outside his dingy restaurant. It’s only when the omelette lady gets shot with the same gun in the same way 24 hours later that the 87th Precinct really starts to sit up and take notice. Why is the killer heard to introduce himself as ‘Chuck’ before pumping two bullets into their bodies? 229pp, paperback. £6.99 NOW £3
73484 WATERLOO SUNSET by Martin Edwards
Liverpool lawyer Harry Devlin never knew five short lines could be so menacing - someone wants him dead and he has only got seven days to find the killer. IN MEMORY. Harry Devlin. Died suddenly. Liverpool. Midsummer’s Eve. When a mutilated corpse of a young woman washes up on Waterloo Beach, Harry wonders if the premature notice of his demise and the discovery of the dead girl might be connected. He has only got six days to find out. 477pp in paperback. £6.99 NOW £3
72972 DANIEL by Henning Mankell Hans Bengler, a young entomologist, leaves Sweden for the Kalahari Desert, determined to find a previously undiscovered insect to name after himself and advance his career. Instead, he finds a young boy whose tribe has been decimated by European raiders. Accustomed to collecting specimens, Bengler re-names the traumatised child Daniel and brings him home to Sweden intending to ‘civilise’ him. But Daniel yearns desperately for the desert and his real family. Daniel’s isolation and increasing desperation lead to a chilling tragedy. 337pp in paperback. £7.99 NOW £4
73015 PAPILLON by Henri Charrière An immediate sensation upon its publication in 1969, Papillon is one of the greatest true tales of courage, resilience and an unbreakable will. This edition includes a new exclusive essay by Howard Marks. Condemned for a murder he did not commit, Henri Charrière, known as Papillon, was sent to the penal colony of French Guiana. 42 days after his arrival, he made his first break, travelling a thousand gruelling miles in an open boat. Recaptured, his spirit remained untamed - in 13 years he made nine amazingly daring escapes, including one from the notorious Devil’s Island. 560pp in chunky paperback.
£9.99 NOW £4.50
Crime Fiction 11 EARL STANLEY GARDNER
Perry Mason Mysteries 73897 THE CASE OF THE
GLAMOROUS GHOST by Erle Stanley Gardner A third Perry Mason mystery, one of the Original Courtroom novels, first published in 1955 and here in facsimile reprint. There’s some think they saw a ghost. It was a real, live woman in the (mostly exposed) flesh sitting through Sierra Vista Park. Eleanor Corbin has a taste for trouble, and a talent for getting
out of it using the most outrageous means to cover her tracks. Now her scandalised half sister Olga fears Eleanor may be using lascivious antics to camouflage more larcenous acts. Enter Perry Mason, retained by Olga to keep the press at bay while pressing Eleanor for the sordid details of her latest escapade. She cannot recall anything except eloping with a smooth talking gambler and a terrifying car crash. But a hidden cache of precious gems and a murdered corpse come into the picture. 230pp in facsimile reprint paperback. ONLY £3.50
73896 CASE OF THE DEADLY TOY: A Perry Mason Mystery
by Erle Stanley Gardner Only the brilliant courtroom strategist Perry Mason stands between Norda Allison and a sentence of certain death. When Norda saw her husband-to-be slap her young son, she immediately called off the wedding. Now she is terrified. Her ex-fiancé has
beaten up her new boyfriend. Anonymous paper clippings are flooding her mailbox - articles graphically depicting what jilted men do to the women who leave them. Then Norda’s life takes an even darker turn - the discovery of a very dead body. Norda is arrested and charged with a brutal murder. 213pp in facsimile reprint paperback. ONLY £3.50
73898 CASE OF THE HORRIFIED HEIRS: A Perry Mason Mystery
by Erle Stanley Gardner A second Perry Mason mystery in the Original Courtroom novel facsimile reprint series written by the all time number one mystery author who wrote close to 150 novels. Virginia Baxter is the only witness still living who can vouch for the authenticity of Lauretta Trent’s will. Lauretta, a wealthy
widow is also still living, but for how long? Someone has been peppering the spicy food she loves with arsenic. Could it be the same someone who has tried framing Virginia Baxter for drug smuggling? Lauretta doesn’t trust her greedy heirs, but could a scheming servant be behind a master plan to fleece her estate? When she is murdered on the highway, all the evidence points to Virginia. Confused? Just think how Virginia’s lawyer Perry Mason, must feel. 183pp in paperback reprint of the 1964 original. ONLY £3.50
74444 PERRY MASON MYSTERIES: Set of
Three by Erle Stanley Gardner Buy all three and save even more. ONLY £9
73720 ANTHEM FOR DOOMED YOUTH: A
Daisy Dalrymple Mystery by Carola Dunn In a novel evocative of 1920s England, here are all the period accoutrements - cars, cocktails and the delightfully dotty Daisy - whom readers will fondly remember from previous mysteries. The corpses of three men are found in shallow graves off the beaten track in Epping Forest. Each one was shot through the heart. None of the bodies has any identification. Called in to lead the investigation, DCI Fletcher of Scotland Yard is under urgent orders to accomplish two things: to solve the murders quickly and to keep his wife, the Honourable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher, away from the case! As she tries to solve one murder, her husband discovers the link between his three victims. 288 pages. $24.99 NOW £6
73747 FOLLOWING THE DETECTIVES: Real
Locations in Crime Fiction edited by Maxim Jakubowski
Whether it be Wallander’s Ystad, Inspector Morse’s Oxford, or Brother Cadfael’s Shrewsbury, the settings chosen by crime fiction writers are often as important to the books as the detectives themselves. This unusual volume follows the trail of more than 20 of crime fiction’s greatest investigators, revealing the cities and countries in which they work. Here are the sleuths’ regular haunts, such as the Oxford Bar in Edinburgh, where Inspector Rebus - and his creator Ian Rankin - drank, and John’s Grill in San Francisco, where private investigator Sam Spade partook of lamb chops, a baked potato and a sliced tomato. From New Orleans to Nottingham and Boston to Brighton, readers can follow in their favourites’ footsteps. 256 pages, colour and b/w images, maps, and title and location index. £24.99 NOW £5.50
73778 THE GOLIATH BONE: A Mike Hammer
Novel by Micky Spillane and Max Allan Collins On an amateur dig in Israel, two students discover what appears to be the femur of a very large humanoid. It is likely to be the thigh bone of the Biblical giant Goliath. Back in New York they are heading into the subway
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