The Penguin Book Of Murder Mysteries

For classic murder mystery readers, a scintillating anthology of lost treasures to read alongside Edgar Allan Poe and Sherlock Holmes A Penguin Classic For The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries, writer and anthologist Michael Sims did not summon the usual suspects. He sought the unfamiliar, the unjustly forgotten, and little-known gems by writers from outside the genre. This historical tour of one of our most popular literary categories includes stories never before reprinted, features rebellious early “lady detectives," and spotlights former stars of the crime field—Austrian novelist Auguste Groner and prolific American Geraldine Bonner among them. For twenty-first century connoisseurs of crime, The Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries celebrates how the nineteenth century added a fierce modern twist to the ancient theme of bloody murder.

Actress/sleuth O'Roarke goes Hollywood and finds herself embroiled in a made-for-TV murder in this new mystery from the author of Murder on Cue. "Dentinger fills her books with show business lore and a marvelous theatrical savvy".--Howard Kissel, New York Daily News.

Hold on to your hats, everybody! Donna Andrews is taking us on another ride into the wonderful world of Meg Langslow, a world filled with laughter as well as the knotty problems Meg always seems to encounter and---somehow---solve. Okay, maybe there are people in Antarctica with penguins in their basements, but in Virginia? Only Meg's dad could manage that one. A body down there---well, that's somewhat more likely. It turns out that explaining the penguins' presence is easy---Meg's dad volunteered to take care of the birds until the future of the bankrupt local zoo could be determined. But identifying the body in the basement proves a harder task---could it be, as Meg fears, that of the vanished zoo owner? In the small southern town of Caerphilly, rumors fly quickly, and all the other well-meaning citizens who have agreed to take in zoo animals are now worried that they might be stuck with their guests indefinitely. So when Meg's dad generously offers to help out anyone who can no longer care for their four-legged charges, a parade of wild creatures begins to make Meg and Michael's newly renovated house look more like Noah's ark. Meg and Michael have been planning to elope in order to avoid the elaborate wedding their mothers have begun to organize---a plan that's threatened by both the murder investigation and the carnival of animals. The only way to set things right, Meg decides, is to identify both their uninvited visitor and the killer who put him in their basement. The award-winning Donna Andrews has demonstrated her immense talent by creating and nurturing a series that continues to delight and surprise with each new book.

THE BIGGEST MYSTERY CAN BE MURDER TO SOLVE . . . DISCOVER THE YEAR'S MOST ORIGINAL CRIME NOVEL 'One of the year's most entertaining crime novels' SUNDAY TIMES, CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH 'When did you last read a genuinely original thriller? The wait is over' A. J. FINN 'An elegantly structured, intellectually challenging and completely unique thriller that grips like a vice' SOPHIE HANNAH _______ All murder mysteries follow a simple set of rules. In the 1930s, Grant McAllister, a mathematics professor turned author, worked them out, hiding their secrets in a book of crime stories. Then Grant disappeared. Julia Hart has finally tracked him down. She wants to know what happened to him. But she's about to discover that a good mystery can be murder to solve . . . _______ 'One of the most creative detective novels of the year . . . If not of all time' Samantha Downing 'Intelligent and inventive . . . It's the most fun I've had in ages' Cathy Rentzenbrink 'So, so clever . . . Agatha Christie would take her hat off to this one - bravo!' Sarah Pinborough **Winner of the Capital Crimes Reader Award for Debut Book of the Year** SHORTLISTED FOR THE GLASS BELL AWARD AND THE BARRY AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL

Brighton, during the glorious Britpop summer of 1995.A second hand bookshop becomes the centre of a serial killer investigation when vintage penguin books are left at murder scenes.Luke Redfern has just inherited the bookshop Red Books from his Grandad and is busy trying to make the big time with his indie band, Beachhead.When Detective Mellor asks him to help find out who has been leaving penguin books at crime scenes, Luke is drawn into the mystery of what the papers are calling the Penguin Killer.

Cassandra, a local librarian in a quiet Canadian coastal community, and Alberg, a humane but zealous cop, assist eighty-year-old George Wilcox in surviving the brutal and impulsive murder of his old crony Carlyle