International Detectives

When Magali Rousseau sets out as a private detective, she expects to take pictures of dodgy salesmen and adulterers. Wrong. Her very first case, and it's murder. Then comes another. And another. Until she finds herself trapped with a killer whose only aim is to make her his tenth - and final - victim.

In the stack of envelopes on top of Gideon's desk, one was curiously unlabeled, the same as any random piece of junk. He slid it open nonetheless. All the envelope contained was a simple leaf...dark green with serrated edges, finely divided and lacy. It was almost triangular, broad at the base with the tip tapering to an almost point. No sooner did he lay the envelope down on his desk, his phone rang. It was the Chief of Police requesting his service on another case.

There was only one case out of hundreds of cold cases that Vincent James Gideon never wholly solved, Rosenthall. If that should happen in Volume 2 of the Case of the Ace of Spades, his son could walk down that lonely hallway to the electric chair. Watching her take a sip, it took the assassin every urge not to swat the glass away, but he knew it was the only way to save his life. He stared at the beautiful woman and wondered how long it would take to go into effect.

The Danube Express was once the most famous train on the continent. Linking east and west, it was the fastest route from the Alps to the Black Sea, until airplanes and automobiles made it obsolete. When a group of savvy investors revived it in the 1970s, it became an express only in name. But when a Hungarian actress disappears from the train, it turns out to be more than a publicity stunt. Soon it is clear that a killer lurks on the Danube Express, and plans on taking it all the way to the end of the line.

At Sir Gerald's medieval festival, the castle is authentic, the jousting is rousing, and the wenches are the sauciest in the land. The only thing missing is decent food. And so Sir Gerald calls in London's gourmet detective, an expert food finder, whose specialties include locating rare ingredients, designing historically accurate menus, and solving the occasional murder. And all three skills will be tested if he is to escape the age of chivalry alive. After the day's first joust, the winning knight falls to the ground, poisoned.

London's gourmet detective is contemplating an empty bank account and, worse, an empty stomach, when a phone call solves both problems at once. Over lunch, Desmond Lansdown, world-renowned actor and burgeoning restaurateur, hires the detective for a chef-hunt, sending him to Italy to eat until he can decide which cook Lansdown should hire. It's a demanding gig, but this detective is never one to shy away from hard work. However, it doesn't take long for this plush assignment to turn prickly.

En sommarkväll 1994 blir Inger Lövgren brutalt våldtagen i sitt hem av en okänd man. Nästan 25 år senare kontaktar hon Klas Hagberg på Göteborgspolisens Kalla fall-grupp och ber honom om hjälp. När Klas börjar gräva i fallet upptäcker han att det finns fler kvinnor som utsatts för liknande övergrepp och allting tyder på att en serievåldtäktsman fortfarande går fri. Trots chefens protester går Klas vidare och än en gång tar han hjälp av sin vän Sara Douhan, som jobbar inom hemtjänsten. Återigen tvingas de båda att tänja på reglerna i jakten efter sanningen.

En sommarnatt 1995 blir den artonåriga Klara våldtagen och mördad då hon är på väg hem genom Östra kyrkogården i Göteborg. Trots vittnen lyckas man inte hitta den skyldige. Två år senare omkommer en ung kvinna, Mia, i en brand som till synes beror på sängrökning. Göteborgspolisen Klas Hagberg är dock övertygad om att det rör sig om en mordbrand och att gärningsmannen är densamme som i fallet med Klara. Men han blir motarbetad internt och tvingas bort som utredare.

1920 - Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales: Tessa Wiggins's "madness" is provoked by the adopted spirit of a 2,000-year-old Druid priestess mentoring her to be the servant of The Earth Mother. When Tessa defies treatment, her lover asks a childhood friend, Sherlock Holmes, to intervene. But despite everyone's best intentions, Tessa finds herself in Hellingford Asylum, where she is driven toward her final breaking point on All-Halloween.