Noir Fiction

Detective Inspector Ruth Hunter has resolved to put the grief of her missing partner behind her and continue to make a life away from London in Snowdonia. When a 16-year-old girl, Rosie, mysteriously vanishes, the case brings up unresolved issues from the past for Ruth. Ruth realises that the key to Rosie’s disappearance might lie within a violent battle for control of a local prison.

Running from a world which wants him dead, ex-detective Sergeant Jake Pettman journeys to the isolated town of Blue Falls, Maine, home of his infamous, murderous ancestors. But Jake struggles to hide from who he is, and when a child disappears, he finds himself drawn into an investigation that shares no parallels to anything he has ever seen before. Held back by a chief of police plagued and tormented by his own secrets, Jake fights for the truth. All the way to the door of Jotham MacLeoid. An insidious megalomaniac who feeds his victims to a killing pit.

I was hired to protect her, not make her scream my name. From dodging bullets in Afghanistan to working for the Secret Service, I know danger pretty well. Or I thought I did. That was before my latest assignment came with a whole new kind of danger. Her name? Ruby. She's the gorgeous as hell, opinionated, spitfire daughter of Senator Burgess. Her family's beyond strict, but for a girl who's so innocent, she's anything but sweet.

From the introduction by James Thompson: Finland, the myths and truths. Internationally, it has a reputation as perhaps the best place in the world to live. A great economy. A low crime rate. Good and nearly cost-free health care. The needy are provided for by the state and live in reasonable comfort. Finns: peaceful and quiet people, living in the perfect example of a social democracy functioning as it should. A tourist, or even a person who has lived here for a length of time, might well view Finland as such.

Caught in a snowstorm of drugs, passion, and hate, Spenser investigates a cocaine-related murder.

It is December 6, 1941. America stands at the brink of World War II. Last hopes for peace are shattered when Japanese squadrons bomb Pearl Harbor. Los Angeles has been a haven for loyal Japanese-Americans—but now, war fever and race hate grip the city and the Japanese internment begins.

At the start of another pitiless winter, the wolves have come for the children of Keelut. Three children have been taken from this isolated Alaskan village, including the six-year-old son of Medora and Vernon Slone. Saken with grief and seeking consolation, Medora contacts nature writer and wolf expert Russell Core. Sixty years old, ailing in both body and spirit, and estranged from his daughter and wife, Core arrives in Keelut to investigate the killings.

It is the present day, and the world is as we know it: smartphones, social networking, and Happy Meals. Save for one thing: The Civil War never occurred. A gifted young black man calling himself Victor has struck a bargain with federal law enforcement, working as a bounty hunter for the US Marshal Service. He's got plenty of work. In this version of America, slavery continues in four states called "the Hard Four". On the trail of a runaway known as Jackdaw, Victor arrives in Indianapolis knowing that something isn't right—with the case file, with his work, and with the country itself.

David and Laetitia Brunelle and Sylvain and Tiphaine Geniot are inseparable friends and next-door neighbors in a pretty, tranquil suburb. Their sons Milo and Maxime, born in the same year, grow up together as close as brothers. But when Maxime is killed in an accident, their idyllic world shatters. Maxime's parents, Sylvain and Tiphaine, are consumed by grief and bitterness, while David and Laetitia are wracked with guilt for their role in the tragedy. Soon the couples are barely speaking, although they maintain a polite façade.

There are just 77 days before a deadly asteroid collides with Earth, and Detective Palace is out of a job. With the Concord police force operating under the auspices of the U.S. Justice Department, Hank's days of solving crimes are over...until a woman from his past begs for help finding her missing husband.

La vengeance, le pouvoir et le progrès scientifique sont les thèmes de ces cinq nouvelles noires, très belles et glaçantes, situées dans un futur étrange et indéterminé. Rat Island, la plus longue, imagine un avenir possible pour nos sociétés occidentales : des membres fortunés de l’élite attendent en haut d’un gratte-ciel l’arrivée d’un hélicoptère qui va les transporter dans un havre de paix et de sécurité, tandis que, à leurs pieds, les masses affamées et sans abri luttent pour survivre dans des rues dévastées et sillonnées par des gangs à moto.

When all contact is lost with two Icelanders working in a harsh and sparsely populated area on the northeast coast of Greenland, Thora is hired to investigate. Is there any connection with the woman who vanished from the site some months earlier? Why are the locals so hostile? And could one of the team staying at the site with Thora be responsible for the disappearances?

Some locales seem to come with their own soundtrack. Don Ho and his tiny bubbles provide the background music for Hawaii, Edith Piaf for Paris. The reggae of Bob Marley evokes Jamaica. The soundtrack for Alabama is without question provided by our troubled troubadour Hank Williams. The 2016 biography Hank by Mark Ribowsky paints a dark picture of the musician's short, alcoholic, drug-filled life: a life of loneliness and pain. He goes so far as to call Hank's life story "noir-ish"....

Questa non sarà un’autopsia di routine. L’anatomopatologa Maura Isles ne è certa. Ad attenderla, all’ospedale, c’è lei: Madame X, coperta interamente da bende di lino impregnate di resina, che risalgono a duemila anni prima. I suoi organi interni sono stati asportati, solo il cuore è rimasto al suo posto, perché è lì che gli antichi egizi credevano risiedesse l’intelligenza. Madame X infatti è una mummia, ritrovata per caso negli scantinati di un museo. Quando la TAC arriva alle gambe, Maura scorge qualcosa di impossibile.

"Le chat noir", "Le masque de la mort rouge" et "Le portrait ovale" : trois nouvelles, qui tiennent l'auditeur en haleine et posent de façon magistrale l'univers noir de ce maître du suspens que fut Edgar Allan Poe. Avant de mourir, un meurtrier rédige sa confession : un chat noir l'a amené à l'échafaud ; une forme spectrale sème la terreur dans une salle de bal ; dans une veille demeure, un homme est emporté par la contemplation d'un portrait énigmatique.

William Wisting, en vacances depuis deux semaines et las de tondre la pelouse, suit avec attention l’intérêt grandissant de la presse nationale pour une disparition locale : depuis maintenant trois jours, personne n’a vu Agnete Roll, ni eu la moindre nouvelle d’elle. Et la police n’a recueilli aucun indice. C’est alors que Wisting trouve dans sa boîte aux lettres une enveloppe anonyme ; à l’intérieur, une série de chiffres. Ils désignent le numéro d’archive d’une vieille affaire, le dossier 1569. Un soir de l’été 1999, Tone Vaterland, 17 ans, avait été tuée sur la route en rentrant du travail.

A serial killer returns after years of inactivity in this gripping new thriller. The green-paint-bathtub killer had Reacher running blind back in the day. The New York FBI team says Reacher was the serial killer then and is still the serial killer. But FBI agents Kim Otto and Carlos Gaspar believe a copycat may be on the loose....

Fritz Brown’s L.A. - and his life - are masses of contradictions, like stirring chorales sung for the dead. A less-than-spotless former cop with a drinking problem - a private-eye-cum-repo man with a taste for great music - he has been known to wallow in the grime beneath the Hollywood glitter. But Fritz Brown’s life is about to change, thanks to the appearance of a racist psycho who flashes too much cash for a golf caddie and who walked away clean from a multiple murder rap.

When Jackie is released from prison, his boss Pino sends a limo to pick him up. Even fresh out of the joint, ruthless Jackie is ready to work, collecting money for the mob and using his special training to take care of bad accounts—permanently.

Everyone in the small town of Central City, Texas loves Lou Ford. A deputy sheriff, Lou's known to the small-time criminals, the real-estate entrepreneurs, and all of his coworkers - the low-lifes, the big-timers, and everyone in-between - as the nicest guy around. He may not be the brightest or the most interesting man in town, but nevertheless, he's the kind of officer you're happy to have keeping your streets safe. The sort of man you might even wish your daughter would end up with someday. But behind the platitudes and glad-handing lurks a monster the likes of which few have seen.