Humor Crime

Das Leben kann ganz schön hart sein, findet Loretta Luchs. Der Job an der Sex-Hotline ist anstrengend, der Freund zu Hause erst recht. Um mal in Ruhe nachzudenken, zieht sie für ein paar Sommertage in den Schrebergarten ihrer Freundin Diana. Für Loretta ist die Kolonie "Saftiges Radieschen" das Paradies auf Erden. Selbst die ständige Präsenz von Muskelprotz Frank, der schneller redet als denkt, kann das Idyll nicht stören. Wohl aber die Tatsache, dass Parzellennachbar Uwe eines schönen Sommermorgens kopfüber in seiner Regentonne steckt - mausetot.

Wisecracking private detective Sam Rockwell is running for his life, but that doesn't keep him from taking the case of a Return who's slipped past Heaven's radar and overstayed his time on Earth. Together with his fiance, Amelia, Sam brawls and dances his way through San Francisco to unravel a zany mystery where nothing is what it seems at first blush.

Even when murderous gangsters are shoving his head into a toilet, Mickey Fine can’t stop making jokes. He wants a career in comedy so badly that he takes a job as a Tummler, a comedian and host for a hotel in the Catskills, a hotel where he knows the very gangsters who abused him are staying. An already dangerous situation escalates when Mickey falls for Mutzie, the “number one girl” of Pep who is arguably the most violent thug in the hotel. Betrayals and politics within the mob play out behind the scenes while Mutzie joins Mickey on stage.

Alvie Knightly flees Sicily for a suite at the Ritz after her not-so-playful sibling rivalry ends in murder. Beautiful, spoiled Beth may be gone, but Alvie's discovering what happens when you steal your twin's identity. Especially now that Beth's body has been found. The police aren't the only ones Alvie has to worry about. Her hot new boyfriend has vanished, along with all of their stolen riches. But Alvie has never shied away from a challenge. She pursues the traitor to Rome in a life-or-death game of cat and mouse. Can she get revenge before her own crimes catch up with her?

Trixi erwacht nackt im Bett eines fremden Mannes irgendwo in Brandenburg und hat keinen blassen Schimmer, wie sie dort hingekommen ist. Die Erinnerungen an die letzten 37 Stunden fehlen ihr komplett. Doch ihre Familie und Freunde werden ihr schon helfen bei diesem neuen Rätsel. Denkt Trixi zumindest, bis sie eine grausige Entdeckung in ihrem Keller macht... Trixi ist zurück! Das neue Abenteuer der Frau ohne Erinnerungen von Bestsellerautorin Vanessa Mansini: Witzig und gefühlvoll, aber trotzdem nichts für schwache Nerven. "Im falschen Film - 37 Stunden" kann unabhängig von den früheren Bänden gehört werden.

Fifteen years ago, Axel, Gretchen, and Kurt Ucker lost their father. At the same time, they learned that he had secretly been a thief their whole lives - and left a fortune unaccounted for. Since then, the Uckers have lived a precarious existence. Their small town shunned and shamed them. Their mother, Bertha, retreated into her religion and her favorite televangelist, Brother Tobin Floom. Axel got a dead-end job. Gretchen turned to petty crime. And Kurt stayed with his mom and his garage band.

All Mason Dixon wants is to mix classy drinks for classy people... Mason owns a bar, and he's not getting any younger. He wants nothing more than to retire in peace, fishing and drinking with the locals. But his past as an assassin is catching up with him. Mason moonlights as an assassin, taking jobs to remove "marks" from the playing field. It pays well, and he's good at it. So when he makes a mistake, things quickly get out of hand and he finds himself racing against the clock to save a life he inadvertently put into danger.

When his third in command gets brutally murdered, mob boss Enzo Clowneone immediately suspects his arch-nemeses, the Juggler and Mime families. In order to stand a chance against their combined might, he must rally allied Carnival families to his cause - but who are his true allies? This book is a dark comedy set in an insulated world of crime. It touches upon the impotence of power, and the struggle for the Don to be both good and feared at the same time.

Here's a first-person account of a petty thief, Bex. He's a bit of a geezer, who, with long-time partner-in-crime Ollie, just about gets by on the money he makes from house-breaking in small-time suburbia. Bex talks and walks us through a dozen noteworthy jobs and give us his thoughts on life, love and nicking. Includes an exclusive recorded interview with the author.

Ben, wandering hungry through the foggy back alleys of Limehouse, is spooked by news of an old man murdered in Hammersmith - and runs! He crosses a plank, slips through an iron door, and goes to sea with the coal. But so does the man who did the murder...and a very pretty lady who did not. On the way the Atlanta loses a stowaway, a pickpocket, a murderer, a supercrook, a wealthy passenger, the third officer and a lifeboat. And that is how Ben gets to Spain....

Paddy Buckley is a grieving widower who has worked for years for Gallagher's, a long-established - some say the best - funeral home in Dublin. One night, while driving home after an unexpected encounter with a client, Paddy hits a pedestrian crossing the street. He pulls over and gets out of his car, intending to do the right thing. As he bends over to help the man, he recognizes him. It's Donal Cullen, brother of one of the most notorious mobsters in Dublin. And he's dead.

Lloyd has a particular set of skills. He writes the small print for prescription drugs, marital aids, and incontinence products. The clients present him with a list of possible side effects. His job is "to recite and minimize" sometimes by just saying them really fast and other times by finding the language that can render them acceptable. The results are ingenious. The methods diabolical. Lloyd has a habit, too. He cops smack during coffee breaks at his new job writing copy for Christian Swingles, an online dating service for the faithful.

Veronica's summer fling is flung into the fireworks of Hilton Head Island's 4th of July. She loves singing at the resort, but with a shocking ransom note to pay, who can you trust when you're new in town?

Ivan Connor's publisher has just turned down his wonderful new novel. His agent is out of ideas, and the only person to turn up at his latest reading is his mum. He's also desperately jealous of the marketable Francesca Brady, a hugely successful author of fat romantic books for fat romantic people, whose expansive hair and bright red lipstick attack him from posters everywhere he goes. But Ivan has a brilliant idea. He's going to beat Francesca at her own game....

Novelist Henry "Coop" Cooper is contemplating a new book between sipping rum and lounging on a Baja beach with hotel owner Grady Doyle. When Grady tries to save a drunk from two thugs, Coop tags along for the sake of a good story. The drunk is Ebbie Milch, a small-time thief on the run in Mexico because he has stolen the never-before-seen first draft of Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast from a wealthy rare-book dealer.

Critically acclaimed author David Schickler made a splash with Kissing in Manhattan, a best-selling story collection that Booklist said is "magical" and "never ceases to amaze and impress". Now this gifted writer's extraordinary imagination produces a brazen novel that reads like Bonnie and Clyde meets Robin Hood.

Strap on your athletic cup and grab a barf bag. The Dr. Reverend Lance Carbuncle is going to kick you square in the balls and send you on a wild ride that may or may not answer the following questions: What happens when two white trash, trailer park-dwelling, platonic life partners go on a moronic and misdirected crime spree? Can their manly love for each other endure when one of them suffers a psychological bitch-slap that renders him a homicidal maniac? Will a snaggletoothed teenage prostitute tear them apart?

Failing grocery store manager Larry Prescott just wants a quickie. With a frigid wife waiting at home, Larry decides to have some extramarital fun with an employee named Maxine Watkins. Though he has no way of knowing it, Larry is sowing the seeds for a crime spree that will be dubbed “The MegaSaver Massacre”.

It's 1942, and war is raging in Europe and in the Pacific. The Japanese army is on Australia's doorstep, and the small coastal Queensland town of Maryborough is on full war footing. What they are not prepared for is the arrival in the town of a troupe of incompetent actors whose unjustifiably self-confident leader, William Power, is determined to bring his daring production of Titus Andronicus to the barbarians of rural Australia. Unfortunately for the Power Players, the only gift William Power has is a capacity for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

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.