Short Mystery Collection

Matt's in line at the bank, trying to cash the check from his latest client. He's carrying his .38 in the holster under his arm, when suddenly, the man in line ahead of him turns around and yells to the customers that this is a holdup and that everyone should hit the floor. A fast-thinking clerk hits the silent alarm, trapping the robber in the bank. Now, in order to get out, he's gonna have to take a hostage, but who will it be?

This story takes place in 1944, two years before Matt leaves the L.A.P.D. to start his own investigations business. He and Sergeant Dan Hollister are on patrol when they get a call about a dead woman hanging by her heels from a fire escape. The murderer was easy to catch - he was asleep in that same building. Finding the murder weapon, however, proves to be a little more of a challenge for Matt and Dan.

In the last Cooper Story, #86 - The Next Great Adventure, Clay helped get Harry Fleming out of town and saved his life. In this installment, Harry wants to repay Clay and invites him to come to Denver for a week. On the way there, Clay meets a woman on the plane and they become friends. Before the plane reaches Denver, however, it collides with a flock of geese and goes down in the Rocky Mountains. The only survivors are Clay and the woman he met. Now how do they get out of this mess? Or do they?

Seven of Charles Dickens' best ghost and thriller stories, which have been widely read and beloved worldwide. This collection celebrates the 200th anniversary of his birth. These stories provide a wonderful introduction Dickens before embarking upon his long novels; after these stories, listening to his longer novels becomes even more of a pleasure. Perfect for students and teachers seeking an understanding and appreciation of Dickens, without the time to engage with his long novels.

With hold-your-breath suspense and shocking endings, the five short stories in this collection will put you on the edge of your seat and get your brain and blood pumping.

Spadework was published on the 25th anniversary of The Snatch, the first Nameless Detective novel. Spadework collects 15 short stories perfect for those who love the Nameless Detective. Two of the stories appear in print for the first time ("Worried Mother Job" and "Zero Tolerance"). The book has an excellent foreword by Marcia Muller about her take on her husband's work, and an interesting afterword by Mr. Bill Pronzini in which he talks about his dedication to the needs of the story.

Twenty years earlier, Clay and his father, Matt Cooper, purchased a fully restored 1940 Oldsmobile sedan, just like the one Matt drove when he ran Cooper Investigations all those years ago. With Matt gone all these years, Clay decides to sell the vintage automobile on one of those online auction sites. Something goes terribly wrong and Clay can't stop it, not that he hasn't tried. Someone's going to get killed, and all over an old car.

This is not your typical Cooper story. That is, the main character in this story, Eddie Heller, crosses paths with Matt Cooper but the story is really about Eddie and his quest to become a cop in Hollywood during the 1930s. It follows Eddie life from birth on, ending up on the streets of Hollywood in the 1950s.

Elliott is hired by a member of the local country club to find out who has been stealing things from his locker. Sounds tame enough, but after Elliott sets up his surveillance cameras to catch the thief in the act, he catches something else on video instead - murder. Who bashed that fellow's head in with a Ping driver?

NY Times and USA Today best-selling author Lorhainne Eckhart brings you a new crossover series! The social worker and the cop, an unlikely couple drawn together on a small, secluded Pacific Northwest island where nothing is as it seems. Protecting the innocent comes at a cost, and what seems to be a sleepy, quiet town is anything but. Includes The Children, The Last Stand, and The Charity.

The social worker and the cop, an unlikely couple drawn together on a small, secluded Pacific Northwest island where nothing is as it seems. Protecting the innocent comes at a cost, and what seems to be a sleepy, quiet town is anything but. Includes The Trap, Above the Law, and The Stranger at the Door.

Matt Cooper is hired to tail a political candidate to see if he's conducting himself and his campaign in an ethical manner. Meanwhile, someone is killing citizens around Hollywood and the police don't have a clue where to start looking for suspects. Matt's kid sister, Olivia is preparing for her high school graduation. Does Elliott have to worry about Matt taking on this job alone?

Times are tough as Elliott and Gloria discuss the possibility of taking in a boarder to help make ends meet. Meanwhile Elliott and matt are hot on the case of the missing brother, having been hired by his older sister to find him. Also running through the story is a side bet between Elliott and Matt as to who can drum up the first client of the day. The loser of this contest is surely going to be embarrassed.

Matt, Tom, and Elliott (and their wives) are hired by a salvage company to visit the major movie studios and try to buy some of the interior sets from vintage movies. The six of them have a ball going through all that is available and come back with some good finds. However, all is not well back at the salvage company as Matt will soon find out. Meanwhile, Matt makes a bet with his son, Nicky, that he can't retrace one of the original cases that the 1946 Matt handled and do it as efficiently as he did back then.

Matt and Gloria are hired to tail a recently released convict, hoping he'll lead them to the two million dollars he stole from an armored car before he went to prison. Along with the latest in surveillance and tracking equipment, this mother and son team will get results if it kills them. Let's hope not.

It's business as usual for Matt Cooper's son, Clay and his grandson, Elliott...well almost. Something has got Clay distracted. He's found himself a girlfriend and Elliott's dying to know who the lucky woman is. Clay's not about to kiss and tell, and besides, they have a triple homicide to look into and they don't need the distraction of a woman slowing their reaction times. The things these two private eyes are into could prove deadly for one of them, but it isn't what you might expect.

There's been a death in the Cooper family and things will never be the same again. Find out how the family members will cope with their loss and what will become of Cooper Investigations. New private eye cases keep cropping up, but where is the priority during their time of grief?

A publishing company wants to do a book the entire Cooper clan, starting with Matt. The publisher also has a movie deal lined up after the book is released. The Coopers' private lives will soon become public-very public. Things heat up during the interview process when Clay lets some family secrets slip out and they end up in the book. Meanwhile, Clay, Elliott and Gloria enlist retired police lieutenant Dean Hollister's help in tracking down the man who killed Gloria's father more than three years earlier.

John has been labelled an overnight success after one of his novels was adapted into a box-office movie. But lately, John has been struggling with writer’s block and is finding it difficult to write something that will satisfy his fans. He’s been dealing with unsettling messages from an obsessed fan, and his ungrateful wife is constantly trying to find ways to spend his money. But John’s life is about to get much, much harder when a menacing stranger starts banging on the door late at night.

An aging woman sacrifices more than she bargained for in her quest for eternal youth. A group of kids explore a decrepit slaughterhouse only to find that one of them won’t be coming home. And when a deep freeze strikes a small town, one man discovers something sinister lurking beneath the ice and snow....