Prefaced by the famous Atlantic Monthly essay of the same name, in which he argues the virtues of the hard-boiled detective novel, this collection mostly drawn from stories he wrote for the pulps demonstrates Chandler's imaginative, entertaining facility with the form. From the Trade Paperback edition.

How well do we really know those we love? That is the question Irene Duncan asks herself after her father’s brutal murder and the secrets she later discovers.Following a painful betrayal from her life-long friend, Maxwell Frost, Irene flees to her aunt’s home in Paris to escape. Six years later, Irene’s father, the honorable Judge William Duncan, is murdered, and the investigation grows cold when no arrest is made. Confident key clues in the case have been overlooked, Max, now a renowned journalist, tracks Irene down in Europe and persuades her to return to Boston to help unravel the mystery surrounding her father’s death. Will Irene have the courage to face her past as well as the secrets she may uncover about her father’s life? And can she trust Max again? With the help of some close friends, Max and Irene begin to put together the missing pieces of the crime. Yet will they be able to reveal the truth in time, or will their probing set them up as the next target?

The second novel by Donna Tartt,  bestselling author of The Goldfinch (winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize),  The Little Friend  is a grandly ambitious and utterly riveting novel of childhood, innocence and evil. The setting is Alexandria, Mississippi, where one Mother’s Day a little boy named Robin Cleve Dufresnes was found hanging from a tree in his parents’ yard. Twelve years later Robin’s murder is still unsolved and his family remains devastated. So it is that Robin’s sister Harriet—unnervingly bright, insufferably determined, and unduly influenced by the fiction of Kipling and Robert Louis Stevenson--sets out to unmask his killer. Aided only by her worshipful friend Hely, Harriet crosses her town’s rigid lines of race and caste and burrows deep into her family’s history of loss. Filled with hairpin turns of plot and “a bustling, ridiculous humanity worthy of Dickens” (The New York Times Book Review), The Little Friend is a work of myriad enchantments by a writer of prodigious talent. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Matthew Bannon, a poor art student living in New York City, finds a duffel bag filled with diamonds during a chaotic attack at Grand Central Station. Plans for a worry-free life with his stunning girlfriend Katherine fill his thoughts--until he realizes that he is being hunted, and that whoever is after him won't stop until they have reclaimed the diamonds and exacted their revenge. Trailing him is the Ghost, the world's greatest assassin, who has just pulled off his most high-profile hit: killing Walter Zelvas, a top member of the international Diamond Syndicate. There's only one small problem: the diamonds he was supposed to retrieve from Zelvas are missing. Now, the Ghost is on Bannon's trail--but so is a rival assassin who would like nothing more than to make the Ghost disappear forever. From "America's #1 storyteller" (Forbes) comes a high-speed, high-stakes, winner-take-all thrill ride of adrenaline-fueled suspense.

A new series of global proportions -- from master of intrigue, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Ally Carter. This exciting new series from NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Ally Carter focuses on Grace, who can best be described as a daredevil, an Army brat, and a rebel. She is also the only granddaughter of perhaps the most powerful ambassador in the world, and Grace has spent every summer of her childhood running across the roofs of Embassy Row. Now, at age sixteen, she's come back to stay--in order to solve the mystery of her mother's death. In the process, she uncovers an international conspiracy of unsettling proportions, and must choose her friends and watch her foes carefully if she and the world are to be saved.

Forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan returns in a chilling eBook original novella from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs. In the prequel to Reichs’s upcoming thriller Bones Never Lie, Tempe takes a much-needed vacation—but murder follows wherever she goes. Although a trip to Florida is supposed to be about rest and relaxation, there’s no such thing as a day off for Dr. Temperance Brennan. She has come to visit her friend, a dedicated ornithologist who’s researching the threat that intrusive Burmese pythons pose to indigenous bird species in the Everglades. While sorting through the stomach of an eighteen-foot specimen, they make a disturbing discovery: bones that are unmistakably human. And when Tempe spots the telltale signs of murder by a very different kind of predator, she’s drawn into a case with its roots in the darkest depths of the swamp. Features a preview of the highly anticipated new Temperance Brennan novel, Bones Never Lie!   Praise for the novels of Kathy Reichs “[Reichs is] a genius at building suspense.”—New York Daily News “Reichs, a forensic anthropologist, makes her crime novels intriguingly realistic.”—Entertainment Weekly “Tempe Brennan is the lab lady most likely to dethrone Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta.”—USA Today “Every minute in the morgue with Tempe is golden.”—The New York Times Book Review “Reichs always delivers a pulse-pounding story.”—*Publishers Weekly*

Love Bites (Vampire Kisses, Book 7)

Seit der ehemalige CIA-Agent Jack Morgan die Privatdetektei seines Vaters übernommen hat, ist daraus ein florierendes Unternehmen mit Kunden aus den höchsten Kreisen geworden. Selbst das L.A. Police Department bittet PRIVATE um Unterstützung bei der Suche nach einem Serienmörder, der seit Jahren immer wieder Mädchen im College-Alter tötet. Die Agentur steht Kopf, als ein weiterer Mord geschieht. Und dann bekommt Jack auch noch einen verzweifelten Anruf eines Freundes: Andys Frau ist brutal ermordet worden, und er selbst steht unter Verdacht. Jack setzt alle Hebel in Bewegung, um Andys Unschuld zu beweisen ...

Newbery Medalist and master storyteller Avi returns to Scholastic with a tantalizing prequel to his bestselling medieval mystery MIDNIGHT MAGIC. A plot to overthrow King Claudio is brewing in the Kingdom of Pergamontio. Scholarly Mangus the magician -- along with his street-smart and faithful new servant boy, Fabrizio -- have been marked as easy scapegoats for the traitor lurking within the king's court. Together, these two unlikely partners must gather clues to solve the mystery and prove their innocence before the stroke of midnight. . . or face death! Intricate plotting, surprise twists, and lively prose make for another suspenseful page-turner that stands alone or sets the stage for MIDNIGHT MAGIC!

In Kindle County, a woman is killed in an apparent random drive-by shooting. The woman turns out to be the ex-wife of a prominent state senator and an old acquaintance of Judge Sonia Klonsky, on whose desk the case lands. As the pursuit of justice takes bizarre and unusual turns, Judge Klonsky is brought face-to-face with a host of extraordinary personalities and formidable enemies bent on her destruction.

Stewart Dubinsky knew his father. David, had served in World War II, but had told very little about his experiences. When he finds, after his father's death, a packet of wartime letters to a former fiancee and learns of David's court-martial, Stewart is driven to uncover the truth about the enigmatic distant man he never knew. Using military archives, old letters, and David's own notes, he discovers that David, a JAG lawyer, had pursued a maverick U.S. officer in Europe, fallen in love with a beautiful resistance fighter, and fought in the war's deadliest conflicts. In reconstructing the terrible events and agonizing choices his father faced on the battlefield, in the courtrfoom, and in love, Stewart gains a closer understanding of his father's secret past and of the brutal nature of war itself.

An illusive Chinese mastermind and his henchman have already killed one socialite and they hold a mysterious sway over many of London's elite. What is the secret of their power? Follow the trail with Sax Rohmer's famous detectives Gaston Max and Inspector Dunbar as they chase the international gang of hoodlums and their leader, the evil Dr. King.

**In the new Carpathian novel from #1 *New York Times *bestselling author Christine Feehan, a woman falls prey to the seductive allure of the past—and a vampire warrior’s intoxicating embrace...** ** ** The moment Charlotte Vintage walks into his club, Tariq Asenguard’s blood is set on fire. The ancient Carpathian had given up hope of finding his lifemate, but now he will do anything to make Charlotte his own. What Tariq doesn’t know is that Charlotte is using herself and her best friend as bait—to try to draw out the bloodthirsty killers who have already murdered Charlotte’s brother and mentor. Charlotte is familiar with Tariq. Not only is he one of the richest and most eligible bachelors in the city, but he’s also a renowned collector of old carousel horses, which Charlotte restores. Their shared passion opens Charlotte up to trusting him with her life and with the desire she can no longer control. But it also makes her vulnerable to a centuries-old curse that will unite her and Tariq in a war against the enemies of humans and Carpathians alike...

The Queen of Mystery has come to Harper Collins! Agatha Christie, the acknowledged mistress of suspense—creator of indomitable sleuth Miss Marple, meticulous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and so many other unforgettable characters—brings her entire oeuvre of ingenious whodunits, locked room mysteries, and perplexing puzzles to William Morrow Paperbacks. Tommy and Tuppence Beresford return in Christie’s classic Postern of Fate, to investigate a deadly poisoning sixty years after the fact.

The family next door has a very dark secret. The Sanderson family has been forced into hiding after one of them stumbled upon a criminal plot. Or so they think. No one will answer their questions. And the terrifying truth may come too late.... BookShots LIGHTNING-FAST STORIES BY JAMES PATTERSON Novels you can devour in a few hours. Impossible to stop reading. All original content from James Patterson.