Historical Private Investigators

For artist Francis Bacon, life with David grows more dangerous by the day. When sober, he is charming, but when he drinks, he is violent, slashing Francis's paintings and threatening to gut the painter, too. When David leaves London for Morocco, Francis cannot help but follow this man whom he loves, but can no longer trust. In Tangier, they find a thriving community of expats who guzzle champagne while revolutionaries gather in the desert. But in Morocco's International Zone, death does not wait for rebellion.

When ex-CIA agent Vera Kelly loses her job and her girlfriend in a single day, she reluctantly goes into business as a private detective. Heartbroken and cash-strapped, she takes a case that dredges up dark memories and attracts dangerous characters from across the Cold War landscape. Before it's over, she'll chase a lost child through foster care and follow a trail of Dominican exiles to the Caribbean. Forever looking over her shoulder, she nearly misses what's right in front of her: her own desire for home, connection, and a new romance at the local bar.

In Total Recall, Sara Paretsky brings together several disparate plots in one gripping story. This powerfully suspenseful novel confronts the machinations of a vast and corrupt industry that trades on the victims of Nazi terrorism; the strange and dubious phenomenon of "recovered memory;" and a personal story that brings V. I. Warshawski into the long-buried past of her dearest friend and mentor, Dr. Lotty Herschel.

When Mrs. Lucille Hamilton walks through his door searching for her missing husband, Stone is skeptical, but willing to take her case. Some men don’t want to be found. But the husband’s body turns up, and his death is ruled a suicide. Stone is the only one who listens to her pleas and agrees to search for answers. Corporate espionage, deep betrayal - nobody can stand between Pete Stone and the truth.

Privatermittler Bernie Gunther kann seinen Ruhestand auf Kuba nicht genießen, denn seine Widersacher lassen ihm keine Ruhe. Gerade will er die Insel in Richtung Haiti ver­lassen, da entführt die US Navy im Auftrag der CIA sein Boot und bringt ihn erst nach Guantánamo, dann ins Militärgefängnis bei New York. Von der Anschuldigung, ein Kriegsverbrecher zu sein, wird er freigesprochen, aber nur unter der Bedingung, dass er für die CIA Stasi-Funktionär Erich Mielke aufstöbert.

Man arbeitet nicht für seine Feinde. Es sei denn, man hat keine andere Wahl. September 1941: Reinhard Heydrich, Polizeigeneral und stellvertretender Reichsprotektor in Böhmen und Mähren, lädt Bernie Gunther zu einem geselligen Wochenende in sein Landhaus bei Prag ein. Bernie bleibt keine Wahl, eine Absage an seinen Chef wäre gefährlich. Doch dann wird eine Leiche in einem von innen verschlossenen Zimmer gefunden. Bernie muss den Täter finden - schnell, denn ein Mann wie Heydrich kann einen ungelösten Mordfall nicht auf sich sitzenlassen...

British private investigator, Thomas Kincaid, thinks he's seen it all...until a gorgeous, soaking-wet American shows up and demands he help her find a stolen family heirloom. Having had his heart crushed once before by a beautiful woman, Kincaid has no intention of tempting fate a second time. But Joanna Thorncroft isn't about to take no for an answer. Joanna has to find her mother's ring and discover the secrets it contains. Secrets that have brought her all the way across the Atlantic and onto the doorstep of a sinfully handsome detective.

Die Wahrheit in einem Wald voller Lügen. Lang und bitterkalt ist der russische Winter 1943. Doch im März wittern die ausgehungerten Wölfe von Katyn etwas im angetauten Boden: Knochen. Menschliche Gebeine. Gerüchten zufolge ein Massengrab für polnische Offiziere - ermordet von Russen. Goebbels will das Kriegsverbrechen für seine Propaganda nutzen. Um Beweise für die angebliche Tat zu sammeln, schickt er Privatdetektiv Bernie Gunther nach Katyn. Bernie steht unter dem unbarmherzigen Druck, Goebbels zu geben, was er fordert.

Der kalte Hauch des Krieges. Sommer 1942: Bernie Gunther arbeitet wieder im Polizeipräsidium am Alex in Berlin. Im Windschatten des Krieges fühlen sich die Verbrecher sicher, und Bernie hat besonders viel zu tun. Ein Befehl von Propagandaminister Goebbels zwingt ihn, in geheimer Mission nach Zagreb zu reisen. Er soll den Vater von Goebbelsʼ Lieblingsschauspielerin Dalia Dresner finden - einen brutalen Schlächter, der sich der rechtsextremen Ustascha angeschlossen hat. Doch dann verschwindet Dalia selbst, und Bernie muss sie unbedingt wiederfinden.

Narrated by acclaimed British actor Edward Petherbridge, The Last Moriarty is set in London, 1895. On a cold November morning, a young American actress visits 221B Baker Street, desperate for Sherlock Holmes to protect her from the threats of a mysterious, menacing man who has recently appeared in her life. Holmes agrees to help, even though he has just promised the Prime Minister to solve the murder of John D. Rockefeller's security agent before the incident can derail an upcoming British-American summit.

Französische Riviera, 1956: Es ist einsam geworden um Bernie Gunther. Um sich vor seinen Feinden zu verstecken, heuert er als Concierge in einem Grandhotel an - eine langweilige Existenz, aber sicher. Das ändert sich, als Bernie den Schriftsteller W. Somerset Maugham kennenlernt. Maugham, der vor langer Zeit für den britischen Geheimdienst arbeitete, wird erpresst und bittet Bernie darum, die Geldübergabe zu übernehmen.

BERLIN 1934. DIE WELT IST BLIND. BERNIE GUNTHER NICHT. Gerade sind die Nazis an die Macht gekommen, und Bernie Gunther will als Privatdetektiv im Hotel Adlon so wenig Aufsehen wie möglich erregen. Doch dann stirbt ein Hotelgast. Als auch noch die Leiche eines jüdischen Boxers im Landwehrkanal auftaucht, gerät Gunther in den Strudel krimineller Machenschaften um den Bau des Olympiastadions. Gleichzeitig drohen die Amerikaner, die Spiele zu boykottieren. Entschiedene Befürworterin eines Boykotts ist die wunderschöne jüdisch-amerikanische Journalistin Noreen Charalambides.

December, 1925. A dark, smog-filled London doesn’t seem very Christmassy or exciting, but then Posie Parker, London’s premier female private detective, receives an urgent call from one of her oldest friends: Rufus, Earl of Cardigeon. Summoned to The Mermaid, an ancient hotel in Rye on the Sussex Coast, in the heart of smuggling country, Posie, together with her husband Richard, finds her friend in a real state. As the snow falls and Christmas lights go up, secrets are revealed, and Posie becomes involved in perhaps her most personal case so far.

Narrated by acclaimed British actor Edward Petherbridge. On the eve of war, Sherlock Holmes is asked by the Prime Minister of England to recover a new British superweapon that has fallen into the wrong hands. But Lucy James, an actress and Holmes's recently discovered grown daughter, has inherited the family sleuthing skills and strong-willed nature. Despite her father's objections, she insists on helping him, although several horrific murders have been linked to the weapon's disappearance.

Nathan Heller, star of MWA Grandmaster Max Allan Collins’ most acclaimed series of novels (more than 1 million copies sold to date!), comes to Hard Case Crime for the first time in an all-new thriller drawn from the pages of history. A millionaire’s son is kidnapped and private eye Heller is called in to help. But when half of the record $600,000 ransom goes missing, Heller must wade through a morass of deception and depravity to blow the lid off a notorious crime whose consequences reach into the corridors of power in Washington D.C.

London, August 1881. The World's End Investigation Bureau is thriving, and Lily Raynor is delighted to have so much work—but she can't help wishing for a case that doesn't involve the overindulged upper classes. It's a wish she soon has cause to regret. The Reverend James Jellicote arrives seeking help on behalf of an elderly Jewish refugee. Yelisaveta and her young grandson arrived safely in London, only for the unspeakable to happen: eleven-year-old Yakov disappeared, without a trace. And soon, Lily and her assistant Felix have another impossible puzzle on their hands.

St Pauls, Bristol, 1980. Joseph Tremaine Ellington, now 57 years old, has long abandoned his former career as an enquiry agent for the safety of teaching. But his old life draws him back. One of the very few lights from Ellington’s dark and violent past has flickered out. His fiancée, Ruth Castle, is dead - leaving him again heartbroken and alone to bring up his 15-year-old niece, Chloe. Ellington’s days are long and lonely, his nights tormented by old ghosts.

London, 1881. Lily Raynor, owner of the World's End Investigation Bureau, is growing increasingly worried. Work is drying up, finances are tight and she cannot find enough for her sole employee, Felix Wilbraham, to do. So when schoolteacher Georgiana Long arrives, with a worrying tale of runaway pupils, it seems like the answer to her prayers. Disguised as the new Assistant Matron, Lily joins the Shardlowes School staff. But there are undercurrents at Shardlowes, and the shadowy, powerful men who fund the school's less fortunate pupils loom larger as Felix's own investigations unfold.

The lean times following the Great War continue to require creative solutions for England's noble class. But Lady Phoebe's proposal to open up the Renshaw estate to guided tours for additional income strikes many in the family as a "vulgar enterprise". Phoebe's grandfather, the earl of Wroxly, however, reluctantly concedes the necessity.

Das Böse hat viele Gesichter. München 1949: Von der Doppelmoral der Nachkriegszeit desillusioniert versucht sich Privatdetektiv Bernie Gunther als Gastwirt. Doch dann bittet ihn eine schöne Fremde um Hilfe. Der Auftrag führt Bernie auf die Spur eines gesuchten Naziverbrechers. Viel zu spät erkennt er, dass die alten Machthaber noch immer aktiv sind - und gefährlicher denn je.