Secrets and betrayals, as the saga of Dark Angel continues! In a chaotic world where the lines between good and evil often blur, and violent anarchy and brutal repression become commonplace, secrets can be deadly. So when Max discovers a shattering truth that Logan has kept concealed from her for years, the betrayal threatens the very essence of their trust. Yet when Logan is kidnapped, all questions of truth and loyalty are cast aside. Max’s search will lead her to a familiar, menacing enemy — and back into the shadow of the Snake Cult, which waits for her with chilling anticipation. But the search will also lead her into wholly unexpected territory. Locked in the fight of her life, Max will discover a captive of the cult who can provide her with the one thing that has haunted her ever since she escaped from Manticore

Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Brian Grazer, Steve Zaillian, and Ridley Scott team to tell the true juggernaut success story of a cult hero from the streets of 1970s Harlem in American Gangster. Nobody used to notice Frank Lucas (Oscar® winner Washington), the quiet driver to one of the inner city’s leading black crime bosses. But when his boss suddenly dies, Frank exploits the opening in the power structure to build his own empire and. create his own version of the American Dream. Through ingenuity and a strict business ethic, he comes to rule the inner-city drug trade, flooding the streets with a purer product at a better price. Lucas outplays all of the leading crime syndicates and becomes not only one of the city’s mainline corrupters, but part of its circle of legit civic superstars. Richie Roberts (Oscar® winner Crowe) is an outcast cop close enough to the streets to feel a shift of control in the drug underworld. Roberts believes someone is climbing the rungs above the known Mafia families and starts to suspect that a black power player has come from nowhere to dominate the scene. Both Lucas and Roberts share a rigorous ethical code that sets them apart from their own colleagues, making them lone figures on opposite sides of the law. The destinies of these two men will become intertwined as they approach a confrontation where only one of them can come out on top. A novelization by Max Allan Collins Based on the motion picture screenplay by Steven Zaillian

Chicago, September 1964. Beatlemania sweeps the nation, the Vietnam War looms, and the Warren Commission prepares to blame a “lone-nut” assassin for the killing of President John F. Kennedy. But as the post-Camelot era begins, a suspicious outbreak of suicides, accidental deaths, and outright murders decimates assassination witnesses. When Nathan Heller and his son are nearly run down on a city street, the private detective wonders if he himself might be a loose end... Soon a faked suicide linked to President Johnson’s corrupt cronies takes Heller to Texas, where celebrity columnist Flo Kilgore implores him to explore that growing list of dead witnesses. With the blessing of Bobby Kennedy — former US attorney general, now running for Senator from New York — Heller and Flo investigate the increasing wave of violence that seems to emanate from the notorious Mac Wallace, rumored to be LBJ’s personal hatchet man. Fifty years after JFK’s tragic death, Collins’s rigorous research for Ask Not raises new questions about the most controversial assassination of our time

Los Angeles, 2019. Large sections of Tinseltown are in Richter-scale ruins in the aftermath of the Pulse and a devastating earthquake. Surviving among a ragtag pack of street kids, agile as a cat, and an expert thief, Max steals from the rich and gives to Moody, her mentor in crime and leader of the gang. But with no real family to speak of, Max longs for her missing “brothers and sisters” from Manticore, the covert agency with a sinister history of militaristic manipulation and control. By chance, Max sees a news story on TV about a dissident cyberjournalist in Seattle, known to everyone as “Eyes Only.” The police are searching for his accomplice, a young rebel whose image flashes on the screen. Max immediately recognizes Seth, one of her Manticore siblings. She mounts her motorcycle and hightails it north. What she rides into is an elaborate web of betrayal, greed, revenge, and selfless heroism that will only further fuel her quest to uncover the secrets of her past—and seize hope for the future

THE BIG PAY OFF Frank Nolan had been on the outside a long time. But now the Family was split in two, the doors to power were open, and Nolan walked in — right into a sizzling crossfire of doublecross, danger and death. Nolan didn’t know who wanted him out of the way. He just knew he had a sweet young swinger named Sherry for unlimited aid and comfort, a well-worn and trusted.38 for limited security, and an old score that could only be settled with BLOOD MONEY

New York Times bestselling author Max Allan Collins seamlessly blends fact and fiction to recreate the twentieth century’s most notorious crimes. Now, in this spellbinding tale of suspense, detective Nathan Heller leaves behind the glamour of Hollywood for a wild ride in the Windy City... Chicago, 1950 — the target of America’s first-ever congressional inquiry into organized crime. Big trouble for anyone who knows where the bodies are buried, and Nate Heller has buried more than a few of them himself. He has no illusions about his civic — he prefers to stay alive and in business, mixing with the likes of starlet Jayne Mansfield and singer Frank Sinatra. But certain high-level gangsters, including Sam Giancana and the Fischetti brothers, aren’t so sure Heller will stay discreet After all, the private eye’s partner, ex-cop Bill Drury, is cooperating with the feds in a big way. And soon Heller finds himself at the center of a federal squeeze play as Red-baiting senator Joe McCarthy weighs in with his own threats... and a strange hidden agenda When Drury becomes the target of Syndicate assassins, and a troubled showgirl is sadistically victimized, Heller stands up against the mob — not in court, but with his own brand of rough justice. From the Ferris wheels and roller coasters of Riverview Park to the dark alleys and sleazy strip bars of the Near Northside, Chicago Confidential showcases Max Allan Collins, the “master of true-crime fiction (Publishers Weekly), at his innovative best

An anthology of stories An all-new mystery anthology edited and featuring a new story by #1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris Nighttime is the perfect time for the perfect crime. #1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris edits and contributes an all-new story-set in her Sookie Stackhouse universe-to this anthology from the Mystery Writers of America. Other authors include: Steve Brewer Dana Cameron Max Allan Collins and Mickey Spillane Barbara D'Amato Brendan DuBois Terrie Farley Moran Jack Fredrickson Parnell Hall Carolyn Hart S. W. Hubbard Toni L. P. Kelner Lou Kemp William Kent Kreuger Harley Jane Kozak Margaret Mahon Martin Meyers Jeffrey Somers Elaine Viets Mike Wiecek

In Eastern Europe four CIA agents are dead — geopolitical pawns caught in border dispute cross fire. Why were they there? Who sent them? Not even the President knows. Back in Washington, the Secretary of the Interior dies from an apparent allergic shock. As details emerge, so do suspicions that she was murdered. Investigating their respective cases, ex — Secret Service agent Joe Reeder and FBI Special Situations Task Force leader Patti Rogers recognize a dangerous conspiracy is in play. When suspects and government contacts are killed off with expert precision, their worst fears are confirmed. As the country edges closer and closer to war, Reeder and Rogers must protect the President — and each other — from an unseen enemy who’s somehow always one step ahead. The stakes have never been higher, against killers who might be anywhere, and Reeder and Rogers have no one to trust but each other

When a retired colleague dies of an apparent suicide, ex–Secret Service agent Joe Reeder knows there must be far more to the story. Why did the man leave a desperate message for Reeder moments before dying? And what could possibly make such a seasoned veteran fear for his life? FBI Special Agent Patti Rogers has a mystery of her own to solve: she’s leading a task force investigating a brutal series of similar but seemingly unconnected murders across the DC area. Are they serial killings or something even more sinister? Could Reeder and Rogers be tracking down different facets of the same conspiracy? And how do the continued assassination attempts on a presidential hopeful figure into an unprecedented attack on the heart of government? The answers to these questions are uncovered in this riveting sequel to the bestselling Supreme Justice

Third in the series by Max Allan Collins that's an homage to Richard Stark's Parker novels

In a small Midwest town, twenty-eight-year-old Krista Larson has made her mark as the youngest female police chief in the country. She’s learned from the best: her father, Keith, a decorated former detective. But as accustomed as they are to the relative quiet of their idyllic tourist town, things quickly turn with Krista’s ten-year high school reunion. With the out-of-towners holed up in a lakefront lodge, it doesn’t take long to stir up old grudges and resentments. Now a successful TV host, Astrid Lund, voted the “Girl Most Likely to Succeed” — and then some-is back in town. Her reputation as a dogged reporter has made the stunning blonde famous. Her reputation among her former classmates and rivals has made her infamous. Astrid’s list of enemies is a long one. And as the reunion begins, so does a triple murder investigation. Krista and her father are following leads and opening long-locked doors from their hometown to the Florida suburbs to Chicago’s underworld. They just never imagined what would be revealed: the secrets and scandals of Krista’s own past

Heist-man Nolan is enjoying his retirement from crime, running his own restaurant, when the president of a bank he robbed two years ago shows up with a blackmail demand. All Nolan has to do is rob the bank again — and play patsy to a sexy girl friend’s murder scheme

Kisses of Death contains the previous unpublished title novella, in which Heller becomes Marilyn Monroe’s bodyguard and solves the famous Bodenheim murders

After Mike Hammer witnesses Wall Street superstar Vincent Colby getting clipped by a speeding red Ferrari, the shaken victim’s stockbroker father hires Hammer to find the driver. But the toughest private eye of them all soon is caught up in a series of bizarre, seemingly unconnected slayings marked by a forbidden martial arts technique

When Crane, a graduate journalism student, hears that his fiancée has committed suicide, he’s immediately suspicious and launches into an investigation of her death. The tiny New Jersey town she lived in has seen a rash of suicides lately, with the unlikely coincidence that everyone who has died worked for Kemco, the chemical factory company that fuels the town’s economy. As Crane digs deeper, he encounters Boone, a local woman writing a book about the environmental destruction that has come at the hands of the local chemical giant. The two team up to unravel the conspiracies surrounding the factory — which soon makes them the next targets for those aiming to keep Kemco’s shady dealings under wraps. The pair races to expose the illegal operations poisoning the town and bring Kemco to justice — before either of them becomes the latest in the growing list of “suicides.”

Collins provides a vivid portrait of college-town life in the Vietnam years as Nolan does a favor for an old-time Mafia friend and tries to find out how his daughter was killed. Was it really a suicide like the police say? Or was she involved somehow in the circle of drugs that was so pervasive in the college scene? Nolan risks his life investigating a Mafia family's involvement in the girl's death to help out his old pal

This delightful husband-and-wife collaboration features three stories by two-time Shamus award-winner Max Allan Collins, four stories by acclaimed short-story writer Barbara Collins, and two stories that the couple co-wrote. Among the contributions from Max Allan Collins — whose credits include novels, nonfiction, film criticism, songwriting, and four independent films — is “Catgate,” in which a womanizing senator tries to replace his dead mistress with a lookalike. Barbara Collins’ work has been included in the first three volumes of The Year’s 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories. Her pieces include “The Inconvenience Store,” in which a late-night craving drives a pregnant private eye out to a convenience store and into a hostage situation; and “Seeing Red,” where PMS meets road rage and leads to tragedy. And the talented duo conspired on “Eddie Haskell in a Short Skirt,” the story of a father-daughter private eye team who hire an office manager and become the suckers in a scam

A business trip that brings Mallory from his Iowa home to New York City has been stretched to include his playing a “suspect” in a mystery weekend at Mohonk Mountain House, the rambling upstate New York resort that almost seems to have been designed as backdrop to a murder — real or fictional. In its winding halls and unexpected nooks and crannies, avid fans to try to solve a “crime” acted out by a gaggle of mystery writers, their spouses and companions. Mallory, along with his lover, Jill Forrest, is looking forward to a weekend of fun and relaxation. Curt Clark, the crime writer who is stage-managing this annual outing, has trickily chosen the intended “victim” — mystery critic Kirk Rath, whose magazine has become influential enough to make or break a writer’s career and whose word processor is a thinly disguised dagger kept sharp on authors’ reputations. Author Mallory’s fictional crimes have a way of being topped by real ones, and this is no exception. Or is it? On their first night there, while Jill is incommunicado in the shower, Mallory sees what he believes to be a real murder from his bedroom window. But when he and Jill brave the snow to investigate, there is no body, no blood, no evidence of foul play. Either Mallory is the victim of a prank or this is a part of the crime enactment that Curt Clark was sneakily keeping to himself. Mallory is not convinced, however. And then he and Jill come across evidence that the murder is no joke, and that the snowstorm rapidly cutting off the mountain house from the rest of the world is quite possibly shutting in the game-players and staff with a real killer

Return of a femme fatale. Beautiful, homicidal Julie has one lethal solution for every problem. And now Nolan and his sometime sidekick Jon have gotten on Julie's problem list. If a pair of out-of-town hitmen can't do the job, Julie will do it herself. Said the Cleveland Plain Dealer: “For fans of the hardboiled crime novel… this is powerful and highly enjoyable reading, fast moving and very, very tough.”

The saga of Dark Angel continues! Someone is killing normal humans in the fog-enshrouded city of Seattle. The murders are brutal and grisly, but inside Terminal City they barely cause a ripple of concern. The transgenics who live there have problems of their own. In an area under siege by the oppressive arm of the police, the transgenics must protect their fledgling colony against the outside world-a world that eyes them with contempt and suspicion... and will do anything to be rid of them. As the killings escalate, Joshua comes to Max with a dire suspicion: the killer may be one of their own. Tensions are high between normal humans and transgenics, and many inside the protected City would just as soon let the humans fend for themselves. Yet Max and her inner circle know they must investigate the crimes and stop the bloodshed. Doing nothing would simply give the normals more reasons to hate. But what they discover will shock even the most jaded among them-and expose a sinister agenda that leads to an old, nefarious foe

An anthology of stories Paranormal crime stories by bestselling fiction writers like Anne Perry, Michael Stackpole, Laura Resnick, and more. Paranormal crime stories by bestselling fiction writers like Kelley Armstrong, Anne Perry, Simon R. Green, Patricia Briggs, and more. A massive, monumental volume of paranormal crime fiction by bestselling authors. Gripping tales of mayhem include both novellas and short stories like 'Stalked by,' by Kelley Armstrong, 'The Judgment' by worldwide bestselling author Anne Perry, 'Appetite for Murder' by Simon R. Green, ', 'Road Dogs' by Norman Partridge, 'The Hex Is In' by Mike Resnick, 'Doppelgangster' by Laura Resnick, the chilling 'If Vanity Doesn't Kill Me' by Michael A. Stackpole, and many, many, more. Compiled and edited by the world's most prolific anthologist – the award-winning Martin H. Greenberg – this is the biggest paranormal crime book on the market and the ultimate collection for crime lovers, ghost hunters, and thrill seekers everywhere. Also included are multiple stories by New York Times bestselling authors. The Best Paranormal Crime Stories Ever Told is a new book in the series, which includes The Best Hunting Stories Ever Told and The Best Fishing Stories Ever Told

Otto Penzler rounds up the most cunning, ruthless, criminals in mystery fiction. The best mysteries — whether detective, historical, police procedural, cozy, or comedy-have one thing in common: a memorable culprit. For all the heroes in earnest pursuit, there are malefactors on the loose, determined to outfox their efforts and sow trouble in their wake. These are the rogues and villains who haunt our imaginations, but they often have more in common with their heroic counterparts than we might expect (and, as we shall see, some even moonlight as detectives or do-gooders themselves). The seventy-two handpicked stories in this collection introduce us to the miscreants who have schemed and slashed their way through the mystery canon over the past hundred and fifty years, captivating and confounding readers in the process. MEET DELINQUENT PSYCHES OF ALL STRIPES, INCLUDING gentleman thieves, calculating crooks, fearsome body snatchers, masters of disguise, morally-challenged lawyers, deceitful doctors, heinous hit men. charismatic con men, amoral adventurers, supernatural suspects, deviant detectives, vile villainesses, and cold-blooded killers IN UNFORGETTABLE TALES BY Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, Washington Irving, Jack London, L. T. Meade, 0. Henry, Sinclair Lewis, Edgar Wallace, Leslie Charteris, Erle Stanley Gardner, Edward 0. Hoch, David Morrell, Loren D. Estleman, and countless others

In this first novel in a bold new Western series, crooked Sheriff Harry Gauge rules the town of Trinidad, New Mexico, with an iron fist. His latest scheme is to force rancher George Cullen into selling his spread and to take Cullen’s beautiful daughter Willa for his bride — whether she’s willing or not. The old man isn’t about to go down without a fight. He sends out a telegram to hire the west’s toughest gunslinger to kill the sheriff. But when a stranger rides into Trinidad, no one’s sure who he is. Wherever he came from, wherever he’s going, it’s deadly clear he’s a man who won’t be pushed — and that he’s a damn good shot... With stirring authenticity and heart-racing drama, Spillane and Collins add Caleb York to the roster of unforgettable western heroes

In touristy Peachtree Heights, Georgia, a string of presumably accidental deaths of area physicians rouses the suspicions of Police Chief Blake Cutter. But the former big-city cop’s attempts to warn Dr. Roy Ryan are viewed by his estranged wife as an attempt to muddy the waters of a custody battle over the couple’s young son, Richie. Too late to do anything more, a small, incredibly powerful creature emerges from the night to brave the walls of the doctor’s compound, terrorizing the family and any and all police guarding them. The menace is suddenly real, and those physicians’ deaths are anything but accidental. And when young Richie’s archeologist uncle gives the boy a grisly birthday present — an actual Aztec mummy! — the child begins to think the long-dead corpse is his friend, one who is still-breathing

Pulp fiction has been looked down on as a guilty pleasure, but it offers the perfect form of entertainment: the very best storytelling filled with action, surprises, sound and fury. In short, all the exhiliration of a roller-coaster ride. The 1920s in America saw the proliferation of hundreds of dubiously named but thrillingly entertaining pulp magazines in America: Black Mask, Amazing, Astounding, Spicy Stories, Ace-High, Detective Magazine, Dare-Devil Aces. It was in these luridly-coloured publications, printed on the cheapest pulp paper, that the first gems began to appear. The one golden rule for writers of pulp fiction was to adhere to the art of storytelling. Each story had to have a beginning, an end, economically-etched characters, but plenty going on, both in terms of action and emotions. Pulp magazines were the TV of their day, plucking readers from drab lives and planting them firmly in thrilling make-believe, successors

Nate Heller is a cop trying to stay straight in one of the most corrupt places imaginable: Prohibition-era Chicago. When he won’t sell out, he’s forced to quit the force and become a private investigator. His first client is Al Capone. His best friend is Eliot Ness. His most important order of business is staying alive