Private Detective Fiction

In this dual collection of short stories, Alexander McCall Smith brings his trademark humor and warmth to inventive tales of spying and vengeance. In one story, a spy dropped deep into enemy territory manages to disguise himself—quite convincingly—as a nun. In another, an invitation to join the Vatican Secret Service sends a prospective operative down a rabbit hole of controversy and confusion. A third story finds an author, on the brink of public ruin, seeing the error of his ways after an act of kindness saves the day.

The number one New York Times best-selling author’s award-winning series returns with another stunning crime drama featuring Scotland Yard members Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. As Inspector Thomas Lynley investigates the London angle of an ever more darkly disturbing case, his partner, Barbara Havers, is looking behind the peaceful façade of country life to discover a twisted world of desire and deceit.

Lorsque la richissime Emily Inglethorp est retrouvée empoisonnée dans son manoir de Styles, les soupçons se portent rapidement sur son très jeune mari, Alfred Inglethorp. Mais le verdict paraît trop évident au colonel Hastings, qui décide de faire appel à son vieux compagnon Hercule Poirot. Ce dernier met alors tout en œuvre pour découvrir à qui pourrait profiter le crime. Car il y a aussi les beaux-enfants de Mme Inglethorp, et Cynthia, la protégée de la défunte : tous auraient pu se procurer la strychnine qui a servi à la tuer.

Merry Gentry, princess of the high court of Faerie, is posing as a human in Los Angeles, working as a private investigator specializing in supernatural crime. But now the queen’s assassin has been dispatched to fetch her—whether she likes it or not. Suddenly Merry finds herself a pawn in her dreaded aunt’s plans. The job that awaits her: enjoy the constant company of the most beautiful immortal men in the world. The reward: the crown—and the opportunity to continue to live. The penalty for failure: death.

En arrivant au bureau un matin, Robin Ellacott trouve un colis, qu'elle ouvre sans se douter de la vision d'horreur qui l'attend : à l'intérieur, la jambe tranchée d'une femme. Qui est la victime ? Qui est l'expéditeur de ce courrier macabre ? Et pourquoi l'a-t-il adressé personnellement à Robin ? Bouleversée, la jeune femme s'en remet à son patron, le détective privé Cormoran Strike, lequel voit alors ressurgir des fantômes de son propre passé.

Its 25 years since John Rebus appeared on the scene, and 5 years since he retired. But 2012 sees his return in Standing in Another Man’s Grave. Not only is Rebus as stubborn and anarchic as ever, but he finds himself in trouble with Rankin's latest creation, Malcolm Fox of Edinburgh's internal affairs unit. Added to which, Rebus may be about to derail the career of his ex-colleague Siobhan Clarke, while himself being permanently derailed by mob boss and old adversary Big Ger Cafferty. But all Rebus wants to do is discover the truth about a series of seemingly unconnected disappearances....

Adrian Monk is horrified when he learns there's going to be a blue flu in San Francisco. He doesn't understand what the blue flu is - but it sounds terrible. Captain Stottlemeyer explains that it's not really a virus: the police force plan to call in "sick" until they get a better contract. The good news is that the labor dispute will give Monk a chance to get back on the force. The bad news is, it means he'll be a "scab" - and he doesn't like the sound of that, either.

Leopoldo Estuardo, detective retirado, es contactado por Inés Polti para que investigue el asesinato de su hermano. Estuardo se hace cargo de la investigación de Jerasmus Polti, un reconocido multimillonario, cuyo presunto asesino confeso es David Polti, su hermano psicópata. Con la ayuda de Nina, su centenial asistente, el investigador tendrá que interrogar a los testigos, hacer sus pesquisas y detectar las pistas y mentiras, sólo a través de una pantalla.

When a controversial celebrity rabbi drops dead over his matzoh ball soup at the famed Canter's Deli in Los Angeles, retired private eye Amos Parisman - a 60ish, no-nonsense Jewish detective who lives with his addled wife in Park La Brea - is hired by the temple's board to make sure everything is kosher. As he looks into what seems to be a simple, tragic accident, the ante is raised when more people start to die or disappear, and Amos uncovers a world of treachery and hurt that shakes a large LA Jewish community to its core.

With a rich man footing the bills and a handsome lover on the side, Isabel Kerr seemed to have the perfect setup. Now the well-kept lady is stone-cold dead, and the cops have nabbed a Manhattan private eye who just happens to be an acquaintance of Nero Wolfe.

Ariana Osgood has everything she's ever wanted: A place at elite Atherton-Pryce boarding school. Fabulous friends. A new crush. And most important, a new identity. Now that she's officially become Briana Leigh Covington, Ariana's troubled past is dead and buried. Or is it? When the one person who knows her secret arrives on campus, Ariana decides it's time to say good-bye to her ex-best friend---forever.

Philip Marlowe's about to give up on a completely routine case when he finds himself in the wrong place at the right time to get caught up in a murder that leads to a ring of jewel thieves, another murder, a fortune-teller, a couple more murders, and more corruption than your average graveyard.

First appearing in print in 1890, the character of Sherlock Holmes has now become synonymous worldwide with the concept of a super sleuth. His creator, Conan Doyle, imbued his detective hero with intellectual power, acute observational abilities, a penchant for deductive reasoning and a highly educated use of forensic skills. Indeed, Doyle created the first fictional private detective who used what we now recognize as modern scientific investigative techniques.

A wealthy woman needs to find her sister to settle a will. It looks routine...boring. Still, business is slow and even a private investigator has bills to pay, so Kinsey Millhone takes the case. But this is not routine and the deeper Kinsey digs the trickier things get. The client tries to call Kinsey off, an accusing husband surfaces, and a double murder turns the case sinister.

When London’s finest jazz musicians, the Dizzy Heights, are booked to play the glitzy Midsummer Ball at a country house in Oxfordshire, they expect a weekend filled with flappers and toffs having a roaring good time. But the festivities at Bilverton House take a turn for the worse when the group are stranded by a summer storm. And when a member of the Bilverton family turns up dead in a locked room in an apparent suicide, Skins, Dunn and Ellie realize this is going to be a much tougher gig than they thought.

When two young sisters disappear from a strip mall parking lot in a small Pennsylvania town, their devastated mother hires an enigmatic bounty hunter, Alice Vega, to help find the girls. Immediately shut out by a local police department already stretched thin by budget cuts and the growing OxyContin and meth epidemic, Vega enlists the help of a disgraced former cop, Max Caplan. Cap is a man trying to put the scandal of his past behind him and move on, but Vega needs his help to find the girls, and she will not be denied.

Cheverell Manor is a lovely old house in deepest Dorset, now a private clinic belonging to the famous plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell. When investigative journalist Rhoda Gradwyn arrived there one late autumn afternoon, scheduled to have a disfiguring and long-standing facial scar removed, she had every expectation of a successful operation and a pleasant week recuperating. Two days later she was dead, the victim of murder.

Bien sûr, la retraite a ses charmes... Cependant, Hercule Poirot ne peut s'empêcher, de temps à autre, de reprendre du service. Oh ! pas pour n'importe quelle affaire, bien entendu. Un détective aussi célèbre que lui ne se dérangerait pas pour un meurtre ordinaire. Non, Hercule Poirot ne s'intéresse qu'aux crimes les plus déroutants, les plus passionnants, les plus... Bref, à la crème des crimes.

Leonard Dyke's writing style didn't offend. But all of his work featured unhappy endings: murders. When four people die, including the author, police finally call on Nero Wolfe. Wolfe baits a trap, and when it springs shut, he finds that truth is stranger (and bloodier) than fiction.

A car accident in upstate New York strands Nero Wolfe, America's largest detective, and Archie Goodwin, his confidential assistant, in the midst of a family feud. The feud, over $45,000 worth of prize bull, turns ugly when the beef in question is found pawing the mangled body of a family scion. Solving the mystery is no problem - but, alas, the evidence keeps disappearing.