"She stopped me in my tracks. Made me think twice about sitting at the bar and ordering that drink. Alcohol can make me stupid and sloppy. And, when drinking, I had a habit of falling in love. I didn't want to fall in love with Frankie. I guessed she could break my heart."

From the author of Venetian Blonde, Buh-Bye Cruel World and Save Me, Lloyd Bridges comes a new and exciting “Drake Haynes” noirella…PORTMANTEAU. Portmanteau begins with the wedding of newspaper columnist Haynes to the woman with whom he has fallen deeply in love…the singularly named Fifi D’Orsay. Parallel to the couple’s story is the narrative of an unnamed serial killer stalking the transgender women of Los Angeles. While searching for a missing teen, Haynes crosses paths with the killer,...

My life was going nowhere. So, I decided to buy an accordion. I already had a banjo. My watch told me that it was four o’clock, still time for another margarita, on the rocks…with salt. Then I’d head over to the pawn shop across the street for a looksee. An accordion is a beautiful thing. And I figured if I could find a woman who liked the accordion as much as I did, we could automatically skip to the important stuff. I’d come to the Tip-Top-Tap earlier than usual, hoping to avoid the youn...

Praise for Champ Clark’s Venetian Blonde… “A modern-day noir written in the terse style of Raymond Chandler and just as satisfying.” “Hammett, Algren, and Spillane, all mixed together and brought to you with grit and humor into the 21st century.” “If you picked up Holden Caulfield at the end of the Catcher in the Rye and spirited 30 years beyond, the individual you're looking at might very well be Venetian Blonde’s Drake Haynes” “Venetian Blonde by Champ Clark is a must read! The writing i...

David Sedaris tells all in a book that is, literally, a lifetime in the making.For forty years, David Sedaris has kept a diary in which he records everything that captures his attention-overheard comments, salacious gossip, soap opera plot twists, secrets confided by total strangers. These observations are the source code for his finest work, and through them he has honed his cunning, surprising sentences.Now, Sedaris shares his private writings with the wo...

'Twas the night of the blizzardAnd into the great house,Crept a crazy old madmanWho Wielded an AxeHe butchered twelve peoplebefore the tenth bellAnd After he ate themHe returned to black hell***Andrea D'Allasandra shocked readers around the world in 2000 when she introduced the terrifying mountain madman, Benji, who butchered a weekend house party, in the best-selling Death House.Now, in her stunning new seque...

From Publishers Weekly:"Standouts include Dennis Lehane's gilt-edged chiller, 'A Bostonian (in Cambridge),' in which a wealthy collector of letters of abandonment falls prey to wily blackmailers, and Joe R. Lansdale's 'The Skull Collector,' a gangster yarn featuring gun-toting female grave robbers. Overshadowing everything, though, is Lee Goldberg's 'Lost Shows,' a delightful shocker about a fanatical collector of short-lived and unaired TV shows who has t...

SOMETIMES GROWING UP MEANS FACING YOUR DEMONS The son of a struggling single mother, Jamie Conklin just wants an ordinary childhood. But Jamie is no ordinary child. Born with an unnatural ability his mom urges him to keep secret, Jamie can see what no one else can see and learn what no one else can learn. But the cost of using this ability is higher than Jamie can imagine – as he discovers when an NYPD detective draws him into the pursuit of a killer who has threatened to strike from beyon...

"Something Wicked This Way Comes" by the author Ray Bradbury was brought to mind by Jim Richards as a carnival has arrived in Las Vegas and is now the center of his attention for possible criminal activities. Children are starting to vanish and there's a number of jewelry store thefts involving most mysterious circumstances and expensive goods. Jim is asked by the parents of two missing boys to find them. The only clue he has is the handbill announcing the arrival of "Jacob S. Dark's Trave...

Former Marine Jack Morgan always uncovers the truth—but in this unforgettable thriller from the world’s #1 bestselling author, he faces his most shocking case yet.Since former Marine Jack Morgan started Private, it has become the world's most effective investigation firm—sought out by the famous and the powerful to discreetly handle their most intimate problems. Private's investigators are the smartest, the fastest, and the most technologically advanced in the worl...

When Hollywood's golden couple goes missing, Private's Jack Morgan is the only one who can solve the mystery in this thrilling novel from the world’s #1 bestselling author.Thom and Jennifer Harlow are the perfect couple, with three perfect children. They maybe two of the biggest mega movie stars in the world, but they're also great parents, philanthropists and just all-around good people.When they disappear without a word from their ranch, facts are hard to...

A Best Book of 2020 from Suspense MagazineDeadly Anniversaries celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Mystery Writers of America with a collection of stories from some of the top names in crime fiction.An anniversary can honor many things: a birth, a wedding and sometimes even a death. In Deadly Anniversaries, editors Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini present new stories from some of the best contem...