A bluesy neo-noir crime thriller pitting an Iraq war vet against the Chicago mob.

Mean Town Blues

Literature & Fiction

Reaves, Sam

United States

Pegasus Crime

This hypnotic thriller by the father of noir exposes its heroine to a waking nightmare.
A panic-stricken young wife races against time to prove that her convicted husband did not murder his mistress. Writing in first person from her viewpoint, Woolrich makes us feel her love and anguish and desperation, as she becomes an avenging angel to rescue her husband from execution.

The Black Angel

Woolrich,Cornell

Genre Fiction

The third novel in the acclaimed Joe Donovan series by "Britain's answer to Michael Connelly" (Ken Bruen). When the savagely beaten body of a Muslim student is discovered in a rundown area of Newcastle, blame falls on the far right National Unity Party―but for once they appear to be innocent. In fact, with elections looming, they are poised to make significant gains. Not the best time for Trevor Whitman, ex-70s radical, to return to his native northeast. Haunted by his violent past, he's receiving death threats over the murder of a policeman years ago.Joe Donovan, the hero of Martyn Waites' acclaimed trilogy of thrillers, is called in to investigate. After the death of a supposed suicide bomber, the investigation takes a more dangerous turn as Donovan and his team find themselves the targets of a ruthless killer unlike any they have faced before. A killer who will do anything to ensure an explosive thirty-year-old secret remains buried. Anything―even orchestrating a brutal race war that will tear the city apart, with Donovan caught in the middle.

White Riot (Joe Donovan Thrillers)

Waites, Martyn

Contemporary

In the latest Jack Liffey novel, L.A.'s most famous child-finder finds himself enmeshed in a race-fueled turf war on the Palos Verdes peninsula. Barely recovered after nearly loosing his daughter to religious fanatics in what could only be termed a "witch-hunt" in Bakersfield (The Devils of Bakesfield, 2008), Jack is hired to find another girl, Blue, the missing teenage daughter of his ex-wife's best friend. The investigation leads him to discover an intense turf war on L.A.'s posh Palos Verdes peninsula. The Bayboys, rich teenage surfers, routinely vandalize cars and terrorize outsiders to enforce a strict locals-only policy for their own Lunada Bay. They have also started terrorizing the Mexican day laborers who camp in the ravines between the mansions where they work as gardeners and houseboys. When one stubborn Mexican boy decides that he wants to learn to surf the waves of Lunada Bay, the feud turns violent, drawing in arsonists, angry bikers, racist border vigilantes, and Jack's daughter Maeve, who once again puts herself at risk to help her father.

Palos Verdes Blue

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Shannon, John

Mystery

Some of the best-known and most influential pieces of crime fiction have been from African American writers. Be it Walter Mosley’s great detective Easy Rawlins, or the mean streets of Harlem at the hands of Chester Himes, the stories and characters in this anthology have shaped the mystery genre with their own unique viewpoints and styles. Contributors to the collection include Robert Greer, Chester Himes, Walter Mosley, Cary Phillips, Frankie Bailey, and Richard Wright.

Black Noir

Hell's Fire

"A persuasive, original plot. Realism about the underside of modern life is combined with psychological insight in an excellent thriller."―Jessica Mann, Literary Review The deliberate torching of a church creates outrages across Manchester, and when a charred corpse and satanic symbols are found in the smoking ruins, detective Jon Spicer and the city’s Major Incident Team are called in. Spicer quickly finds himself drawn into the depths of a horrifying religious underworld he didn’t know existed. Soon, fresh killings bring the realization that those responsible for the burnings are prepared to commit even more brutal crimes in their twisted homage to God. As emotions and paranoia flare throughout Manchester, Spicer fears for those closest to him as he struggles to halt the continuing atrocities.

Simms, Christopher

The body of a young woman is discovered in an abandoned burial ground. Her body has been ritualistically mutilated, her eyes and mouth crudely sewn shut. The victim’s boyfriend, Michael Nell, seems to be the obvious suspect. However, several things do not add up and Joe Donovan is put on the case to prove Nell’s alibi. The job is far from routine, as Donovan’s inquiries lead him deep into Newcastle’s underworld of child-trafficking and prostitution. Still bearing the scars of his own son’s disappearance three years before, Donovan finds himself enmeshed in the dark biography of an elusive serial killer whom he can profile but not identify. As the killer continues to taunt the authorities with cryptic clues, a second body appears, and time is running out for the next victim.

Bone Machine

Anton Chekhov’s only collection of crime and mystery stories. Considered one of the greatest dramatists of all time, Anton Chekhov began his literary career as a crime and mystery writer. Scattered throughout periodicals and literary journals from 1880-1890, these early psychological suspense stories provide a fresh look into Chekhov’s literary heritage and his formative years as a writer. In stories like "A Night in the Cemetery," "Night of Horror," and "Murder," not only will Chekhov’s dark humor and twisted crimes satisfy even the most hardboiled of mystery fans, readers will again appreciate the penetrating, absurdist insight into the human condition that only Chekhov can bring. Whether it is the death of a young amateur playwright at the hands of an editor who hates bad writing, or a drunken civil servant who ends up trapped in a graveyard, these stories overflow with the unforgettable characters and unique sensibility that continue to make Chekhov one of the most fascinating figures in literature.

A Night in the Cemetery

Chekhov,Anton

A beautiful young woman is found murdered . . . and the clues to her death point to her spurned lover, Paul Cézanne. In this richly atmospheric novel, a mysterious young woman named Solange Vernet arrives in Aix-en-Provence with her lover, a Darwinian scholar named Charles Westbury, and a year later is found strangled in a quarry outside the city. The young and inexperienced magistrate, Bernard Martin, finds his investigation caught in the crossfires of a raging cultural debate. Initially assuming that Solange’s murder was a simple crime de passion by either a jealous Cézanne or a betrayed Westbury, Bernard soon finds himself on a mission to unravel the secrets of Solange and Cezanne’s hidden past. Exploring questions of science and religion that persist even to this day, Cezanne’s Quarry is a provocative debut mystery about life, death, love, and art.

Cezanne's Quarry

Pope, Barbara Corrado

1965: America’s favorite small-town detective must solve the murder of two old friends against the backdrop of America’s cultural revolution. For small-town Iowa lawyer Sam McCain the year 1965 is not a sweet one. His father is gravely ill. His elitist boss is just now coming out of rehab. The brilliant lawyer he'd hoped to start a relationship with has gone back to her husband in Chicago. And first young soldier from Black River Falls returns home from a strange place called Viet Nam. In a coffin. Against this background McCain tries to enjoy himself during the long Labor Day weekend party the town sponsors every year, reuniting with several old friends who appeared throughout the first six novels. Now that they're all in their late twenties some of the old grudges and rivalries seem silly―until two of them are murdered for what seems to be a motive buried in the past. With the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan irritating those over thirty―and the boys in long hair and girls wearing blouses without bras irritating people even more―Sam McCain is forced to realize that his old world, along with the entire country's, is about to end forever.

Ticket to Ride (Sam McCain Mysteries)

Gorman, Ed

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