Old Crime

Threatened victim, waiting grave...Sheriff McQuede is called to the cemetery by Ben Ward, a member of Durmont's Good Old Boys' Club. Ward's tombstone, where he plans someday to be buried with his first wife, is vandalized. A menacing date of death, fast approaching, has been drilled into the stone, and splotches of red paint drips over it like blood.

In his decades as an insurance investigator, Dave Brandstetter has never shied away from violence, and he’s had more than his share of close calls. Time's catching up with him, his body's slowing down, and his wit isn't as sharp as it used to be. But he will forgo retirement once more for the sake of a puzzle no detective could resist. Walking on the beach, a friend finds a bedraggled child who claims he's witnessed a murder. The victim is a drug-addicted pop star, and the obvious suspect is the dead man’s ex-girlfriend - a junkie whom the child saw standing over the body.

Tom Wallace's descent into darkness began slowly. First, he murdered two of his children in self-centered rage when he learned they were not his biological children. Second, he was fueled by his insatiable greed and desire for money. His involvement in drug trafficking started as a means to accumulate wealth beyond what his ranch and community involvement could provide. With his remote location and the use of innocuous-looking antiques as concealment, he operated discreetly, shielded from suspicion.

In working-class Bay Ridge, Michael drives for a car service and gives lifts to his father, a former sanitation worker and current small-time bookie. He has a friend with a heroin habit, and a longtime girlfriend who expects they’ll get married one of these days. Michael spends most of his time on the familiar streets where he grew up, but now he’s crossing the bridge into Manhattan for some college classes—where he meets a seductive female classmate who seems to come from a whole different world.

Jake Crosby has traded in a stockbroker's suit and tie for a standard-issue uniform. As a newly minted Mississippi game warden, he has two tough cases to cut his teeth on - the ongoing robbery of wealthy hunters and the ruthless search for a rumored hidden fortune.

During a vigil calling for police reform, students from Spelman College, a historically black women's institution, are assaulted by rifle fire from a passing vehicle. On her way to interview witnesses, Detective Sarah "Salt" Alt confronts the fleeing vehicle of the suspects, but they get away. While other detectives take the lead on the Spelman murders, Salt is tasked to investigate the case of a recently discovered decomposed body. When she combs through the missing-persons reports, it becomes clear the victim is a girl Salt took into custody two years before.

Rob had a final piece to play last month, and the Black Queen has finally come forward. Negotiating a deal with three mafia heads, the Black Queen’s revenge is nearly complete but one thing stands in her way: Jonathan Greene. His death would be the unifier needed to finalize the agreement.

Millions of honest, hardworking Americans invest in pension funds hoping to survive comfortably in retirement. Dishonest managers swoop down like vampires and suck these funds dry. They use this money to support their own lavish lifestyles or salt it away in hidden accounts to use at their leisure leaving their clients destitute. If caught, these criminals serve minimum sentences in country club prisons and, on release, live in luxury on their ill-gotten gains.

Chattanooga 1906. The town erupts when a young white woman is assaulted in a dark cemetery. After a quick, flawed trial, a black man named Ed Johnson is convicted of the crime and sentenced to death. Despite a direct order from the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution, a mob lynches Johnson. The infuriated high court holds Captain Joseph Shipp, the ambitious county sheriff, responsible for the outrage and charges him with contempt.

In the remote and tranquil village of Zarechnoye, nestled within the vast expanse of the Russian countryside, lived an old couple who epitomized resilience and fortitude. Ivan and Svetlana Ivanov, both weathered by time and hardened by the hardships of life, had seen their fair share of adversity. The recent turmoil of war with Ukraine had left their once vibrant community a shadow of its former self. The economy lay in ruins, and daily life had become a struggle for survival.

Sheriff Colt Harper believes he's colorblind in his enforcement of the law. But is he? When a Black man is murdered, it ignites age-old anger in the African American community over the injustices they've endured and forces Harper to confront his own personal demons. Harper's single-minded pursuit of justice for the dead man thrusts him between two volatile groups - furious Blacks who don't know if they can trust him and racist Whites who want to use the controversy to spark a bloody race war.

This novel has been in the works since its beginning in 2005 when a century and half old colonial style home was restored by the author and his wife, Barbara. For over twelve months, the house did an amazing transformation, the third time since its original construction in 1845. The first time it was restored was 1861. The second time in 1932 and the last time in 2005.

Are detectives right to think that the brutal murder of a pensioner is more than just a burglary gone wrong? A health worker visiting clients in a remote area on the West Coast of Ireland has a nasty surprise when she finds a reclusive old man dead in his armchair in his tumbledown cottage. When the local Garda is called, it soon becomes obvious that this is no death from natural causes. The man has been tortured and his house ransacked.

Lynn Naismith gave up the job she loved when she married Ed, the love of her life, but it was worth it for the happy years they enjoyed together. Now, 10 years on, Ed has been diagnosed with early onset dementia, and things start to happen - things more sinister than missing keys and lost words. As some memories are forgotten, others, long buried, begin to surface...and Lynn’s perfect world begins to crumble. But is it Ed’s mind playing tricks, or hers....?

When David Audley, that most subtle of Intelligence chiefs, sends his insubordinate protégé Paul Mitchell off to investigate a KGB operation by researching a long-forgotten naval engagement off France in 1812, it doesn't look to Mitchell as if it will lead anywhere. But the fate of the crew of the Vengeful has more than a few surprises in store for Mitchell, and suddenly the past throws a dazzling and very dangerous light on the present.

When an arrogant and selfish 26-year old, Ken Paulson, inherited a large national jewelry store chain, he probably shouldn’t have fired 72-year old Wayne Robbins, a brilliant engineer who helped Ken’s father build the company. And he certainly should not have stolen Robbins’ retirement funds, patents, and royalties. But, he did. The need to survive forces Wayne to develop a brilliant plan. Traveling the country in their motor coach, these sweet grandparents devise and execute perfect crimes.

Two homicide detectives Turner Hahn and Frank Morales. One looks like a matinee idol out of the 1930s. The other a modern day version of a Neanderthal. Both extremely skilled in their chosen professions. They're the ones who catch the cases no one else want to touch. The hard ones; the ones with few clues. The ones which have no suspects. Or the ones which have a thousand suspects. It doesn't matter. If a killer or killers are out there waiting to be found. Bank on it. Turner and Frank will find them.

Were things really better in the good old days? Gilda O'Neill's powerful exploration of the teeming underbelly that was to be found in the fog-bound streets, rat-infested slums, common lodging houses, boozers, penny gaffs, and brothels in the heart of the greatest empire that the world has ever seen brings to life the real working-class London of Victoria's reign.

In 1935, nine-year-old George Weyerhaeuser, heir to one of the wealthiest families in America, is snatched off the streets two blocks from his home. The boy is kept manacled in a pit, chained to a tree, and locked in a closet. The perps - a career bank robber, a petty thief, and his 19-year-old never-been-in-trouble Mormon wife - quickly become the targets of the biggest manhunt in Northwest history. The caper plays out like a Hollywood thriller with countless twists and improbable developments. Perhaps the most astonishing thing of all, though, is how it all ends.

Ever wonder what evil lurks in your hometown? Spine-Chilling Murders in the Northeast takes you behind the scenes of some old-time killings in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and more.