Suspense Amateur Detective

Stewart "Hoagy" Hoag is thrilled after a meeting with his editor, Norma, where she predicts his new book is sure to establish him as the next great American author. But his happiness is short-lived when at his next meeting with Norma, she asks for his help in discovering who is behind a series of increasingly threatening letters sent to her attention.

London, 1556. Hal Westmecott, one of the city's most feared executioners, reckons Jack Blackjack owes him a favour - and now he's come to collect his dues. Hal has ordered Jack to track down his long-lost son. But when Jack's search draws him to the attention of a ruthless nobleman, a dead priest's vengeful brother and finally to a bloodstained body in a filthy lodging house, he comes to realise he is an unwitting pawn in a mesh of schemes dreamed up by the most powerful people in England. Just who is a friend, who is a foe - and will Jack escape with his life intact?

A note from bartender Brian McNulty, Raymond Ambler’s friend, confidant, and sometimes adviser, sets the librarian sleuth off on a murder investigation - one that he pursues reluctantly until a second murder upends the world as he knows it. The second victim is a lady friend of McNulty’s - and the prime suspect is McNulty himself.

When a murder desecrates the halls of New York City's iconic 42nd Street Library, Raymond Ambler, the library's curator of crime fiction, has a personal interest in solving the crime. But his quest to solve the murder is complicated by personal entanglements involving his friend - or, perhaps, more-than-friend - Adele Morgan. Not only does Adele's relationship with the staffer who was murdered get in the way of Ambler's investigation, but her growing interest in a darkly handsome Islamic scholar disturbs him.

Murder at the 42nd Street Library follows Ambler and his partners in crime-solving as they track down a killer, shining a light on the dark deeds and secret relationships that are hidden deep inside the famous flagship building at the corner of 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue. In their search for the reasons behind the murder, Ambler and his crew uncover sinister and profoundly disturbing relationships among the scholars studying in the iconic library.

Amateur sleuth Mordecai Tremaine is back in another classic mystery from the author of Murder for Christmas. Adrian Carthallow, enfant terrible of the art world, is no stranger to controversy. But this time it's not his paintings that have provoked a blaze of publicity - it's the fact that his career has been suddenly terminated by a bullet to the head. Not only that, but his wife has confessed to firing the fatal shot.

From the Collins Crime Club archive, the first original novel to feature Ben the Cockney tramp, the unorthodox detective character created by J. Jefferson Farjeon, author of Mystery in White. Strange things are happening in the untenanted houses of Jowle Street. There are unaccountable creakings and weird knockings on the door of no.29, where a homeless ex-sailor has taken up residence.

"Le fatiche di Hercule" - Un bel giorno Hercule Poirot scopre che un eroe della mitologia classica ha avuto non solo l'impertinenza di portare il suo stesso nome, ma anche l'ardire di compiere imprese che un professore universitario sembra giudicare superiori a quelle compiute da lui. Ma chi è questo mitico Ercole, se non un omone tutto muscoli, privo di eleganza e buone maniere? E come è possibile paragonare le imprese di Poirot, frutto dell'impeccabile funzionamento delle sue "cellule grigie", alle fatiche di Ercole?

Crime writer and reluctant sleuth Ethelred Tressider is handed his strangest case yet. Crime reviewer Henry Holiday is an unlikely murderer who’s convinced he’s killed somebody but doesn’t know who or when. Worryingly, Crispin Vynall, another crime writer who Henry had been drinking with, has vanished. After agreeing to help, Ethelred received a death threat. His impervious agent Elsie Thirkettle encourages Ethelred to continue since it is well worth risking death in exchange for a few good reviews.

Alix London, the art restorer and FBI consultant renowned as the Art Whisperer, can spot a counterfeit masterpiece before the paint even dries. What she can't see is why an elite European art dealer would offer her big money for a little mirror that's no more than a homemade gift from her beloved uncle Tiny. Not that Alix would part with it at any price. But when the mirror is abruptly stolen from her home, she realizes that someone sees more in the looking glass than mere sentimental value.

In the charming Yorkshire seaside town of Scarborough, the stage is set for murder. When a troupe of actors arrive in Scarborough to perform a murder mystery play and book into the Seaview Hotel, it's only a matter of time before amateur sleuth Helen Dexter and her trusty greyhound, Suki, are playing the roles of detectives once again.

As an ex-star of a hit teen detective show, Maizie Albright gets the youth demographic, or so she thought. Now that she’s adulting, today’s kids make Maizie feel out of date. But at least the teen YouTube stars of Bigfoot Trackers want to hire her to look into the disappearance and possible murder of their producer, a murder the police find as likely as Bigfoot.

A fascinating mystery featuring Ladarat Patalung, the first and only nurse detective in Thailand. As a nurse ethicist, Ladarat Patalung works to save the lives of her patients, and to make sure the ones she can't save have at least the dignity of a "good death". But when wealthy foreign travelers start to go missing all across Thailand, Detective Wiriya Mookjai fears that a killer is at large and turns to Ladarat for help.

What lies buried in a hoarder's house - precious treasure or ghastly secrets? One moment of misguided generosity throws estate sale organizer Audrey Nealon's life into turmoil. She loses a client's money, cripples her budding romance, and witnesses a murder. Strapped for cash, she accepts a questionable project: clearing out the home of a mentally ill hoarder who may have hidden valuable Civil War letters.

A short story from the British Library Crime Classic collection Final Acts. The Affair at the Semiramis Hotel sees A .E. W. Mason's famous detective, Inspector Hanaud, and amateur detective Ricardo investigate the theft of a pearl necklace and the murder of its owner, set within the world of opera.

Un quadre de Ramon Casas que no és el que sembla, empleats fidels que amaguen secrets, una estafa milionària en què fins i tot hi ha implicats alts càrrecs... El nou cas de l'investigador Nil Barral té tots els elements per mantenir-nos en alerta fins que el detectiu resolgui el misteri. Nil Barral comptarà, com sempre, amb l'ajut de la seva secretària Rita i el suport i comprensió del seu estimat Nèstor, que aquesta vegada li farà un bon ensurt sense voler.

The Book of Extraordinary Impossible Crimes and Puzzling Deaths is the latest collection from legendary murder mystery editor and writer Maxim Jakubowski. Filled with impossible murders and puzzling plot twists that keep your brain on the mysteries until the last minute. Clever fictional crime stories. Some of mystery fiction's most inventive talents from the USA and UK offer a series of brand-new ingenious murder stories that will have you scratching your brow until the very last minute and delighting in Machiavellian solutions.

Lady Dunbridge was not about to let a little thing like the death of her husband ruin her social life. She’s come to New York City, ready to take the dazzling world of Gilded Age Manhattan by storm. The social events of the summer have been amusing, but Lady Phil is searching for more excitement - and she finds it, when an early morning visitor arrives begging for her help. After all, Lady Phil has been known to be useful in a crisis. Especially when the crisis involves the untimely death of a handsome, young business tycoon.

Investigating the disappearance of a vicar's daughter in London, the popular novelist and amateur detective Roger Sheringham is shocked to discover that the girl is already dead, found hanging from a screw by her own silk stocking. Reports of similar deaths across the capital strengthen his conviction that this is no suicide cult but the work of a homicidal maniac out for vengeance - a desperate situation requiring desperate measures.

17 juillet 2011. Désiré Bugeard, un notaire parisien unanimement apprécié, disparaît après avoir trucidé son épouse et trois de leurs quatre enfants. Juin 2012. Alors que le notaire et son fils aîné semblent avoir disparu à jamais, un SDF toxicomane est retrouvé mort dans une rue de Paris. Avec, au poignet, la Rolex du notaire. Octobre 2013 : Dimitri Boizot se lance dans une enquête sur l'affaire Bugeard à la demande d'un éditeur qui veut publier un livre sur le sujet.