English Mystery Thrillers

Winter has come to Wildwood Cove, and riding in on the chill is Wally Fowler. Although he's been away for years, establishing his reputation as the self-proclaimed Waffle King, the wealthy blowhard has returned to the coastal community to make money, not friends - by pitting his hot and trendy Waffle Kingdom against Marley McKinney's cozy pancake house, The Flip Side. Wally doesn't see anything wrong in a little healthy competition, until he's murdered in his own state-of-the art kitchen.

They call him the gourmet detective; the only thing sharper than his mind is his palate. When chefs need a rare ingredient, an ancient wine, or simply a new idea to gain that extra Michelin-star boost, they come to the detective's cozy London office and plead for his help. For top-notch cooking, he is always happy to lend his taste buds to the cause.

Trying to get a rise out of Marley, Ida's been making crank calls and even vandalizing the pancake house. The police can't do much about the pranks, so Marley sets out to bury the hatchet once and for all. But someone's beat her to it - in the most shocking way possible. After stumbling across Ida's dead body, Marley's suddenly the number one suspect in her murder. Clearing her good name is going to be a tall order, but Marley's not about to let Ida keep ruining her life - especially from beyond the grave.

From the Civil War-era south, to 1950's New York, to the present day's gritty cities and seemingly innocuous suburbs, the 18 stories in this anthology edited by the award-winning mystery writer Harlan Coben chart the complications - always surprising, sometimes deadly - that arise between lovers, dear friends, and even complete strangers coming together for a single, shocking encounter.

While on an all-expenses-paid cruise down the Nile, Vicky takes on a new case involving a plot to rob the Egyptian museum. With Sir John Smythe, reformed jewel thief and Vicky's lover, the prime suspect, she prepares for shipboard romance and a dash of intrigue.

The witnesses are legion, scattered across the world and dotted through history, people who looked up and saw something impossible lighting up the night sky. What those objects were, where they came from, and who - or what - might be inside them is the subject of fierce debate and equally fierce mockery, so that most who glimpsed them came to wish they hadn't. Most, but not everyone.

DI Nikki Galena's close friend Helen Brook is involved in a serious accident where she is trapped in a collapsed cellar. After her hard-won recovery, Helen is still getting flashbacks to a man she says was down there with her and who confessed to a murder. But no trace of this man can be found. Then Helen tells Nikki that someone is watching her. But is all this in her friend's imagination and part of her post-traumatic stress?

Lacy Marie Crocker's whimsical pet couture has gained a following in New Orleans' cozy Garden District, and word of mouth has traveled all the way to her favorite fashion designer, Annie Lane. Lacy is thrilled when Annie schedules a private session at her home to discuss a companion line for her evening wear, but when Lacy arrives for the appointment, she enters the kitchen to two mewling Siamese cats - and one very dead Annie.

After years spent working the birthday party and baby shower circuit, Anastasia Winters finally has a corner office and a host of supernatural clients all begging her to plan their special day. But following a brush of bad luck, she finds herself on the brink of losing it all. With an ultimatum from her boss on the table, she knows her next wedding has to be perfect. When the vampy mother of the groom is found dead, the bride goes on the run, and Anastasia is forced head-first into the murder investigation if she has any chance of getting the wedding back on track and keeping her job.

To kick off a winter writing retreat, Cat and her handyman boyfriend, Seth, escort the aspiring authors to a nearby ski resort, hoping that some fresh cold air will wake up their creative muses. But instead of hitting the slopes, they hit the bar - and before long, a tipsy romance novelist named Christina is keeping herself warm with a local ski bum who might have neglected to tell her about his upcoming wedding. Next thing Cat knows, her uncle, the town sheriff, informs her that the young man's been found dead.

New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of Hot Blooded and Cold Blooded, Lisa Jackson is famous for her thrilling romance novels. In Whispers, she pens the tale of a town where people will kill for what they want. With steamy love scenes and a mysterious plot, Jackson creates a story that will leave listeners breathless from start to finish.

Former Navy SEAL Nick Foley reluctantly agrees to help investigate when American CIA operative Peter Yu goes missing in China. But when Yu's mutilated body washes up on a beach near Hong Kong along with dozens of other victims, the case takes a macabre turn. Suddenly Nick finds himself embroiled in another bioterrorism investigation being conducted by China's elite Snow Leopard counterterrorism unit and the Chinese CDC, this time involving illegally harvested organs for an unknown and nefarious end.

In Friends in High Places, Commissario Guido Brunetti is visited by a young bureaucrat investigating the lack of approval for the construction of Brunetti's apartment years before. What began as a red-tape headache ends in murder when the bureaucrat is later found dead after a mysterious fall from a scaffold. Brunetti starts an investigation that will take him into the unfamiliar and dangerous areas of drug abuse and loan-sharking, and will reveal, once again, what a difference it makes in Venice to have friends in high places.

Sergeant Jo Barnes (Hilary Swank) and her elite, all-female US Army investigative team are renowned for cracking complex sex-crime cases within the military. Their latest mission takes them to the Mojave Desert at Fort Irwin Army Base in California, to unravel the mysterious disappearance of Private Nichelle Simmons—a soldier who accused a comrade of assault. But when the accused is inexplicably set free, their case takes a sinister turn.

US Marshal Arliss Cutter is a born tracker. Raised in the swamplands of Florida, he honed his skills in the military, fought in the Middle East, and worked three field positions for Marshal Services. When it comes to tracking someone down - or taking someone out - Cutter's the best. But his newest assignment is taking him out of his comfort zone to southeast Alaska. Cold, dark, uninhabited forests that are often shrouded in fog. And it's the kind of case that makes his blood run cold.

As Robbie arranges a breakfast-themed cook-off at Pans 'N Pancakes, visitors pour into Brown County for the annual maple extravaganza. Unfortunately, that includes Professor Connolly, a know-it-all academic from Boston who makes enemies everywhere he goes - and this time, bad manners prove deadly. Soon after clashing with several scientists at a maple tree panel, the professor is found dead outside a sugar shack, stabbed to death by a local restaurateur's knife. When an innocent woman gets dragged into the investigation and a biologist mysteriously disappears, Robbie drops her winning maple biscuits to search for answers.

London, 1815. Amateur sleuth Atlas Catesby is about to discover the dark side of the bright lights. His long-awaited night at the opera with Lady Lilliana ends abruptly when a notorious courtesan is shot to death in Covent Garden. The infamous victim was the mistress of the powerful Marquess of Vessey. Atlas believes that the marquess - his former brother in law - is responsible for the long-ago death of Atlas' sister, Phoebe. Atlas seizes the opportunity to potentially avenge his sister's death.

Gemma James is adjusting to professional and personal changes - and a future now intricately entwined with Duncan Kincaid. But her new responsibilities are put to the test when she is placed in charge of a particularly brutal homicide: The lovely young wife of a wealthy antiques dealer has been found murdered on fashionable Notting Hill. This case sets off warning bells for Duncan: It's far too similar to an unsolved murder in which an antiques dealer was killed in precisely the same way.

Edgar Award winner Rick Riordan captures San Antonio at its grittiest with his mysteries featuring Jackson "Tres" Navarreunlicensed P.I., Tai Chi master, and imbiber of Big Red cream soda laced with tequila. It’s been a decade since his father was murdered and Tres left town. But he’s got an itch that can only be scratched by looking for answers. Returning to San Antonio with his enchilada-eating cat, he uncovers a conspiracy involving the Mafia and dirty politicians.

Bess Campbell has escaped to the windswept Australian coastal town of Port Bannir, determined to begin her life again. She is loving her fresh start, thanks to her fun job running a hip gallery, her territorial chickens, and a lot of self-help books to find her new, better self. Port Bannir local Margaret Gale runs an austere maritime museum, and rules her staff with an iron fist. She has no time for that crazy modern gallery or upbeat, earnest Bess sweeping around town on her hipster bicycle.