Comedy Crime Fiction

Courting Death finds Melanie Wilkerson (from Cotton, book two of the Clarkeston Chronicles) and Arthur Hughes working uncomfortably together in the chambers of a famous federal judge. While Melanie neglects her duties as a law clerk to investigate the mysterious death of a young woman in the courthouse five years earlier, Arthur wades through the horrific habeas corpus appeals of two prisoners: an infamous serial killer and a pathetic child murderer.

When the palace of Arabesque's aide d'camp, a cat named the Tremblees, stumbles upon a translation of an ancient language that reveals the existence of a fabled stone, he vows to find it for reasons of greed and vengeance. With a dead dog stuck to a car bonnet, some burst luggage, a blind bus driver, and an enormous number of olives, it becomes a race for Oscar, his colleague Meesha, and the Tieress of Arabesque to prevent the Tremblees plunging Arabesque back into the Era of Bedlam.

Through world wars and civil strife, the Bangor Express has never missed an issue, but now it is losing money, and Rob Cullen has absolutely no idea that he's the man to save it. It's been a long time since Rob had a real story to get his teeth into...just as well then that he can rely on the Express crew to back him up. They're like a family. A dysfunctional, highly unpopular and poverty-stricken family.

Stanley Hopkins cannot resist the invitation from a honey-voiced US attorney asking him to track down the source of photographs of a young dance major abducted five years earlier from her apartment in Clarkeston, Georgia. A journalist has stumbled across newly posted pictures of Diana Cavendish on the Internet, apparently taken just days before she disappeared with her boyfriend.

What happens when an intrepid band of thrill-seeking, rollicking Americans ventures out in search of adrenaline? They learn the hard way that having everything means you have that much more to lose. Orla, a beautiful and sharp-witted young Irish woman, saves the day, earning their loyalty. She proves to be a valuable addition to the globe-trekking crew on a high-stakes journey where discoveries unravel at every turn.

Elle Harrison is back! She and her pals Jen, Becky, and Susan travel to Mexico where Jen has arranged cosmetic surgery, after which she will recover in a plush hotel suite. But more is going on at the hotel than tummy tucks. Soon after they arrive, Elle sees the woman in the suite next door fall from her sixth floor balcony. When the room is later occupied by another patient, Elle finds her brutally mutilated body on that same balcony. Police question Elle as the last person to see these women alive.

Due to financial hardships at Tawcester Towers, the Dowager Duchess has decreed that the only way the family fortunes can be restored is to marry Blotto off...to an American! Reluctantly, Blotto, together with Twinks and his trusty chauffeur Corky Froggett set sail.

Failed Shakespearean actor and would-be private detective William Power returns to Melbourne in this wry sequel that re-creates the tension and fear of wartime Australia. Bloodied and broken but somehow unbowed, he arrives in a town struggling under war-rationing and full of cocky American soldiers and lands squarely in the bosom of his childhood home in Carlton, now dominated by his sister-in-law, the odious Darlene.

The Wahoo Rhapsody is just one of countless fishing charters plying the waters of the Pacific between Cabo San Lucas and San Diego. But chances are good the Rhapsody is the only boat with a fortune in marijuana hidden inside a fresh catch of yellowfin tuna. This special cargo is the handiwork of first mate Weevil Ott, who is smuggling the pot on behalf of a mysterious drug lord known only as “La Cucaracha.” Since Captain Winston Weber is blissfully unaware of the secret tucked inside his ship’s hull, the operation runs smoothly…

It's '86, the era of Pop Rocks, Jelly shoes, and big hair bands. Rachael O'Brien's freshman plan seems simple: Attend a southern college away from her hometown of Canton, Ohio, earn a degree, party, and meet cute guys-hopefully acing the latter two. But being threatened by a jealous She-Devil, avoiding the advances of a 30-something redneck, and discovering an art fraud scheme mess with her "to do" list.

Violet Winters was a master criminal. A one-woman crimewave. Until lockdown happened. Now she’s stuck in the house catching up on box sets and ordering crap off the internet. And then she finds out about The Lakehouse. A former rehab facility, the residents have been thrown out and replaced with a roll-call of some of the most dangerously stupid celebrities in this hemisphere all indulging in a torrent of excess while the rest of the world cowers in their beds.

Nach ihren letzten Ermittlungserfolgen kehrt endlich Ruhe ein in Tjarkshusen an der Nordsee - denkt Ino Tjarks. Doch seiner Haushälterin Gerda Janßen ist langweilig, weshalb sie sich einer Theatergruppe anschließt, die im Gasthaus "Zur Robbe" probt. Als Gerda nach einer Probe gemeinsam mit Ex-Kommissar Traugott Fürchtenicht nach Hause radelt, fallen die beiden beinahe über eine Leiche: Hannes Grassmanns, der wenig beliebte Hauptdarsteller ihres Theaterstücks, wurde überfahren.

Ein liebenswürdiger Delikatessenhändler wird zum Mörder wider Willen – der neue Roman von Stephan Ludwig, dem Autor der Kult-Bestseller-Reihe "Zorn". Norbert Heinlein, Delikatessenhändler in dritter Generation, legt größten Wert auf Qualität und Tradition. Seine Kundschaft geht ihm über alles, er bedient sie mit ausgesuchter Höflichkeit. So auch seinen neuen Stammkunden Adam Morlok, einen charismatischen Geschäftsmann. Bis Morlok eines Tages durch ein Versehen Heinleins tot zusammenbricht. In seiner Panik lagert Heinlein Morloks Leiche kurzerhand im alten Kühlhaus im Keller zwischen.

Southern California, 1996: a peaceful, scenic day in the coastal community of Santa Monica, except that there is a meter maid lying next to the sidewalk–dead. Fresh from a messy divorce case, North Hollywood private investigator Clive Wilts is on the case to find the killer before the bodies start stacking up and the city streets become a parking free-for-all.

In the height of summer, it’s not just holidaymakers who are drawn to the seaside town of Skegness. Desperate thieves and callous killers are searching for a hidden treasure, and they don’t care who they hurt in their quest to claim it. The most important question of all is if Sam can get to the bottom of this mystery before those closest to her are put in further danger?

Berlin: a man wakes up in a trash can with no idea who he is. He's taken to hospital for treatment. Then people start trying to assassinate him. The man has to find out why, how to get them to stop, and what the CIA has to do with all this. There's also the little problem of working out who he used to be, and why that changed. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Piper and best friend Lance are trying to find him.

Die Einteiler einer mächtigen Zeitung halten bei ihren Kolporteuren kräftig die Hand auf, wenn es darum geht, wer den besten Verkaufsplatz ergattert. Das Geschäft boomt, das Nebeneinkommen ist beträchtlich, die Kolporteure halten still. Doch dann wird ein Einteiler tot aufgefunden. Kottan vermutet den Täter im Kreis der ausländischen Zeitungsverkäufer, doch es gibt auch noch eine andere Spur.

L'affaire de la Logia a beau être close, elle n'a pas pour autant épargné le fameux Justan Lockholmes. Un mois plus tard, alors que de terribles cauchemars le hantent, il va devoir reprendre du service aux côtés d'un tout jeune officier de police, et cela, qu'il le veuille ou non ! Un orphelin noyé, une énigme prométhéenne et une pintade bien peu digeste. Voilà que Justan plonge dans une histoire passablement compliquée !

Schönheit geht unter die Haut. Der Tod trifft ins Mark. Aufgrund ihrer Undercover-Identität als ehemalige Schönheitskönigin wird die CIA-Agentin Fortune Redding verpflichtet, zusammen mit dem Möchtegern-Hollywoodstar Pansy Arceneaux einen Schönheitswettbewerb in Sinful, Louisiana, zu leiten. Es dauert jedoch nicht lange, bis zwischen den beiden die Fetzen fliegen. Als Pansy tot aufgefunden wird, ist Fortune die Hauptverdächtige. Ganz klar, dass sie den wahren Täter finden muss, ehe ihre Tarnung auffliegt.

Frau Komarek, eine alte, allein stehende Frau, erhält Drohbriefe. Was zuerst wie eine alltägliche Gemeinheit aussieht und für Kottan eigentlich kein Fall ist, beginnt sich zuzuspitzen. Plötzlich wird ein Mord entdeckt. In einer Wiener Schrebergartensiedlung sehen sich Kottan und seine Kollegen einer Wand aus Schweigen und Feindseligkeit gegenüber.