A Magnificent Crime

An L.A. Times Book Prize Finalist | An O Magazine Best Book of the Year “Stylish… a compelling take on the eternal question of how good people morph into criminals. Terrific.”—People, Book of the Week From the author of The Destroyers comes an "intricately plotted and elegantly structured" (Newsday) story of intrigue and deception, set in contemporary Venice and featuring a young American couple who have set their sights on a risky con. When Nick Brink and his boyfriend Clay Guillory meet up on the Grand Canal in Venice, they have a plan in mind—and it doesn’t involve a vacation. Nick and Clay are running away from their turbulent lives in New York City, each desperate for a happier, freer future someplace else. Their method of escape? Selling a collection of counterfeit antiques to a brash, unsuspecting American living out his retirement years in a grand palazzo. With Clay’s smarts and Nick’s charm, their scheme is sure to succeed. As it turns out, tricking a millionaire out of money isn’t as easy as it seems, especially when Clay and Nick let greed get the best of them. As Nick falls under the spell of the city’s decrepit magic, Clay comes to terms with personal loss and the price of letting go of the past. Their future awaits, but it is built on disastrous deceits, and more than one life stands in the way of their dreams. A Beautiful Crime is a twisty grifter novel with a thriller running through its veins. But it is also a meditation on love, class, race, sexuality, and the legacy of bohemian culture. Tacking between Venice’s soaring aesthetic beauty and its imminent tourist-riddled collapse, Bollen delivers a "brilliantly conceived international crime story" (Good Morning America).

Cat Montgomery is a natural-born thief with a special talent for stealth—or at least she thought so. Years ago, she stole from the diamond-hoarding businessman Albert Faulkner III, but he somehow figured out she was responsible. Now he wants revenge, and dares her to swipe the elusive Hope Diamond. If she fails the mission, he'll wreak bloody havoc on her loved ones. But the stakes are raised even higher when Cat discovers that stealing the Hope is not only an impossible task, it's a cursed one. . . Meanwhile, Cat's boyfriend, FBI agent Jack Barlow, is tracking a fierce criminal known as the Gargoyle, running into Interpol and resistance among his agency. As he follows the trail to Paris, where Cat is, their missions entwine in ways neither of them would have suspected. . . 115,500 Words

A Chicago attorney scours the Big Apple for a missing bride and a wedding-night murderer in a mystery that’s “Miss Rice at her best” (The New Yorker). On a break from the Windy City, aspiring crime novelist Jake Justus and his wife, Helene, are acquainting themselves with Manhattan’s finest cocktail lounges when they befriend Dennis Morrison, a blind-drunk groom. The handsome former male escort thought he’d found his bounty in homely heiress Bertha Lutts, but while their wedding night may have been a bust, the morning after turned out to be the real horror. It seems Bertha has vanished from their bridal suite and in her place is an unidentified beheaded woman. Having taken a shine to Dennis, Jake and Helene call on his best defense: Chicago attorney John J. Malone. Winding his way through both the city’s low lives and its high society, Malone quickly discovers a link between the nameless victim, the missing bride, and a slick gigolo: a bohemian Greenwich Village poetess who is free with her verse, knows more than she realizes, and is becoming more frightened with every New York minute. But when Dennis disappears as well, Malone’s left with the itchy feeling that another dead end is right around the corner. The basis for the 1945 film starring Carole Landis and Pat O’Brien, Having Wonderful Crime is “a pleasure to read as pure entertainment but there’s a also a wicked social voice reporting back from the eyries of the wealthy and privileged. [Rice’s] observations are worthy of Tom Wolfe at his best and nastiest” (Ed Gorman). Having Wonderful Crime is the 3rd book in the John J. Malone Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

The new novel from the internationally bestselling, prizewinning, queen of Icelandic crime. All he wants is for them to say sorry. The police find out about the crime the way everyone does: on Snapchat. The video shows the terrified victim begging for forgiveness. When her body is found, it is marked with a number 2... Detective Huldar joins the investigation, bringing child psychologist Freyja on board to help question the murdered teenager's friends. Soon, they uncover that Stella was far from the angel people claim - but even so, who could have hated her enough to kill? Then another teenager goes missing, and more clips are sent. Freyja and Huldar can agree on two things at least: the truth is far from simple. And the killer is not done yet. A brilliantly suspenseful story about the dark side of social media, The Absolution will make you wonder what you should have said sorry for... Praise for Yrsa Sigurdardottir 'Iceland's outstanding crime novelist' Daily Express 'A magnificent writer' Karin Slaughter 'The undisputed queen of Icelandic Noir' Simon Kernick 'Believe all the hype - this is crime at its best.' Heat

The Stolen Brain - A Wonderful Crime, Sample Preview from eBook - "There goes another, chief. That makes five so far. There surely is something going on to-night," the young man at the window declared excitedly. It was Patsy Garvan, Nick Carter's second assistant, and he who was addressed was the great New York detective himself. The closest friends would have known neither of them, however, unless they had been in the secret, for both were cleverly disguised.

This meticulously edited Gaboriau collection is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents: Monsieur Lecoq Series: The Widow Lerouge The Mystery of Orcival File No. 113 Monsieur Lecoq The Honor of the Name Caught in the Net The Champdoce Mystery Other Mysteries: The Count's Millions Pascal and Marguerite Baron Trigault's Vengeance The Clique of Gold Other People's Money Within an Inch of His Life Short Stories: A Thousand Francs Reward Military Sketches The Cantiniere The Barber of the Squadron The Vaguemestre The Zouave The Fantassin, or Foot-Soldier The Soldier of the Light Infantry

The author offers a hostile treatise on the history, practices, and customs of the Mormon Church during the 19th century.