Playing For Thrills

Wang Shuo

'B' format paperback - Published 19 June 2008

Playing for Thrills follows the investigation of a mysterious murder of a possibly imaginary character that took place more than 10 years before. The chief suspect is the narrator of the novel who may or may not have committed the crime - even he isn't sure... ... more >

No Beast So Fierce

Edward Bunker

'B' format paperback - Published 23 May 2008

An angry and mercilessly suspenseful novel about an ex-con's attempt to negotiate the "straight world" and his swan dive back into the paradoxical security of crime. It is airtight in its construction, almost photorealistic in its portrayal of L.A. lowlife and utterly knowledgeable about the terrors of liberty, the high of the quick score and the rage that makes the finger tighten on the trigger of the gun. ... more >

The Animal Factory

Edward Bunker

'B' format paperback - Published 23 May 2008

Ronald Decker guilty of a first offence, minor drug dealing charge is put away in San Quentin where he is befriended by "old lag", Earl Copen. Copen is well in with the White Brotherhood just one of the many White, Black and Chicano gangs in constant brutal conflict in San Quentin. Their growing friendship is tested by Ron's rejection of a homosexual advance by another con which leads to an act of ultimately fatal violence and in despair they seize a remote chance of escape. ... more >

Little Boy Blue

Edward Bunker

'B' format paperback - Published 23 May 2008

Young Alex Hammond is intelligent and independent but given to sudden fits of violent rage. Rebellious since his parents split up, Alex is constantly absconding from foster homes and institutions to be with his father, a broken man who can't give his son the home he desperately needs. ... more >

Dog Eat Dog

Edward Bunker

'B' format paperback - Published 23 May 2008

Dog Eat Dog is the tale of three unremorseful criminals with two felony convictions apiece and no more chances. ... more >

Mr Blue - Memoirs Of A Renegade

Edward Bunker

'B' format paperback - Published 23 May 2008

Edward Bunker's life was beyond the imaginings of most fiction writers. He was born in Hollywood, California, the son of a stagehand and Busby Berkeley chorus girl, whose early divorce propelled him into a series of boarding homes and military schools. From the age of five he repeatedly ran away, roaming the city streets at night. A proud character, combined with an IQ of 152, resulted in a series of altercations with the authorities. He became the youngest ever inmate of San Quentin at the age of seventeen, and there he learned survival skills and faced down the toughest prisoners in the system. He was befriended by Mrs Louise Wallis, a former star of the silent screen and wife of movie mogul, Hal Wallis, who produced films starring Bogart, Cagney, Edward G. Robinson and George Raft. She introduced Bunker to her circle of friends, including Jack Dempsey, Tennessee Williams, Aldous Huxley and William Randolph Hearst, whose guest he was at San Simeon. ... more >

Stark

Edward Bunker

'B' format paperback - Published 22 May 2008

Oceanview, Los Angeles, 1962.

Stark is a rat and a con-artist. Nobody's friend. The kind of guy Eddie Bunker met in San Quentin. Stark thinks he can beat the suckers and outsmart the cops. When a big score comes his way, he's lucky to escape with his life. Four others are not so lucky. ... more >

Spare Change

Robert B Parker

'A' format paperback - Published 25 February 2008

When a serial murderer dubbed "The Spare Change Killer" by the Boston press surfaces after three decades in hiding, the police immediately seek out the cop, now retired, who headed the original task force: Phil Randall. As a sharp-eyed investigator and a doting parent ("You're smart. You're tough. You, too, are a paradigm of law enforcement perfection, and you're my kid"), Phil calls on his daughter, Sunny, to help catch the criminal who eluded him so many years before. Sunny is certain that she's found her man after interviewing just a handful of suspects. Though she has no evidence against Bob Johnson, she trusts her intuition. And she knows the power she has over him — she can feel the skittishness and sexual tension that he radiates when he's around her — but persuading her father and the rest of the task force is a different story. ... more >

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes

Nick Rennison

'B' format paperback - Published 21 February 2008

Sherlock Holmes is the most famous fictional detective ever created. The supremely rational sleuth and his dependable companion, Dr Watson, will forever be associated with the gaslit and smog-filled streets of late nineteenth and early twentieth century London.

Yet Holmes and Watson were not the only ones solving mysterious crimes and foiling the plans of villainous masterminds in Victorian and Edwardian England. The years between 1890 and 1914 were a golden age for English magazines and most of them published crime and detective fiction. The startling success of the Holmes stories that appeared in The Strand magazine spawned countless imitators. This volume highlights some of those 'Rivals of Sherlock Holmes' ... more >

High Profile

Robert B Parker

'A' format paperback - Published 22 November 2007

When the body of controversial talk-show host Walton Weeks is discovered hanging from a tree on the outskirts of Paradise, police chief Jesse Stone finds himself at the center of a highly public case, forcing him to deal with small-minded local officials and national media scrutiny. When another dead body - that of a young woman - is discovered just a few days later, the pressure becomes almost unbearable... ... more >

Now & Then

Robert B Parker

hardback - Published 25 October 2007

Spenser knows something's amiss the moment Dennis Doherty walks into his office. The guy's aggressive yet wary, in the way men frightened for their marriages always are. So when Doherty asks Spenser to investigate his wife Jordan's abnormal behavior, Spenser agrees. A job's a job, after all. ... more >

Cripple Creek

James Sallis

'Crown Octavo' format paperback - Published 20 September 2007

Ex-policeman, ex-con, former therapist, Turner is Deputy Sheriff in a small town within driving distance of Memphis, Tennessee, to which he had migrated in hopes of escaping his past. His life is mending as he and Val Bjorn grow closer. And then a young man, arrested on a routine traffic stop with more than $200,000 in his trunk, is forcibly sprung from jail after Sheriff Don Lee is brutally assaulted. Throwing caution aside, Turner goes in pursuit to Memphis, unleashing ghosts he thought he had left behind, and endangering all that matters to him now. ... more >

Dream Girl

Robert B Parker

'A' format paperback - Published 23 August 2007

When a mature, beautiful and composed April Kyle strides into Spenser's office, the Boston PI barely hesitates before recognizing his once and future client. Now a well-established madam herself, April oversees an upscale call girl operation in Boston's Back Bay. Still looking for Spenser's approval, it takes her a moment before she can ask him, again, for his help. Her business is a success; what's more, it's an all-female enterprise. Now that some men are trying to take it away from her, she needs Spenser's help. ... more >

Kismet

Jakob Arjouni

'Crown Octavo' format paperback - Published 7 August 2007

It all began with a favour. Kayankaya and Slibulsky were only trying to protect their friend Romario from his protectors, men who were demanding hard cash for the service. It ended with two bodies on the floor of Romario's restaurant, their faces covered in ghostly white make up. Kayankaya is determined to track down their identity, when he realises that he himself is being pursued by a faceless but utterly ruthless criminal gang. ... more >

Stark

Edward Bunker

large format paperback - Published 26 July 2007

Oceanview, Los Angeles, 1962.

Stark is a rat and a con-artist. Nobody's friend. The kind of guy Eddie Bunker met in San Quentin. Stark thinks he can beat the suckers and outsmart the cops. When a big score comes his way, he's lucky to escape with his life. Four others are not so lucky. ... more >