The Sketching Detective And The Bitcoin Murders

Upon arriving at his university office one morning, Jack MacKay finds the body of a former boyfriend of his wife, Fiona, lying on his desk with a bullet hole in his back. The murdered man was Billy Bell, the owner of the Bell Bond Company and a former professional football player. Eventually, Jack and Fiona overcame the polices suspicion that Jack was involved in the murder. They learn that the computer theft of bitcoins is in some way involved in the death. Together with Billys wife, who is nicknamed Hercules because of her great physical strength, they eventually stumble across the unlikely killer.

Welcome to the beautiful English village of Inkbury. Tucked deep in the North Wessex Downs, its only claim to fame is the picturesque riverside that once appeared in a Richard Curtis movie. That is, until the murder... Former stand-up comic Juno Mulligan has been suffering a serious sense-of-humour failure. Not only has she lost the love of her life, but she’s having to relocate to the (admittedly idyllic) village of Inkbury to watch out for her elderly mother, who she’s genuinely worried might be marrying a wife-killer. She hopes that her old friend, disgraced-journalist-turned-novelist Phoebe Fredericks can help her crack the case of whether her mother’s perma-tanned, iceberg-smiled, three-times-a-widower fiancé is hiding a murderous past. But before they have a chance, the local art dealer washes up distinctly dead in the village’s famous river. His lover is in the frame, but Juno and Phoebe suspect that there is a deeper secret... One that relates to Phoebe’s own past and Juno’s present. Will the unofficial Village Detective Agency solve the mystery before the killer strikes again? In sleepy Inkbury, as they soon discover, living one’s best midlife can be murder. An utterly gripping cozy crime mystery, from million-copy bestselling Fiona Walker, guaranteed to absolutely delight fans of Richard Osman, Janet Evanovich and the Reverend Richard Coles. Readers love Fiona Walker: ‘Loved it!!!! Couldn’t put it down... Keeps you on the edge of your seat.’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Witty, addictive, and with plenty of drama to sink your teeth into... Entertaining from beginning to end... Fantastic.’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘There were times when I belly laughed so loudly I had to put my hand in front of my mouth to stifle it. (This would be during a binge read until 2 a.m.)!’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I stayed up WAY too late gulping down the last few hundred pages. I simply could not put it down!... I thoroughly enjoyed the sparkling wit... Pure escapism, pages and pages of thrilling relationships, turmoil and love.’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘One of my all-time favourite authors... Love the characters, the plot, everything about it.’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE THE WAY THIS UNFOLDS!’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Walker writes with such vitality that all{::}the characters are instantly brought to life. She’s funny, moving and not too OTT in her interpretation of life’s little eccentricities!’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Laugh out loud funny!!!’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I loved this so strongly and with such enthusiasm that I became devoted to Fiona Walker for life.’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I love, love, love this book.’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘One of my all time favourites. Laugh-out-loud funny in places, poignant and touching in others. This book really has it all. Incredibly well written’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book presents an exploration of how Golden Age detective fiction encounters educational ideas, particularly those forged by the transformative educational policymaking of the interwar period. Charting the educational policy and provision of the era, and referring to works by Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Edmund Crispin and others, this book explores the educational capacity and agency of literary detectives, the learning spaces of the genre and the kinds of knowledge that are made available to inquirers both inside and outside the text. It is argued that the genre explores a range of contemporaneous propositions on the balance between academic curriculum and practicum, length of school life and the value of lifelong learning. This book’s closing chapter considers the continuing pedagogic value for contemporary classrooms of engaging with the genre as a rich discursive and imaginative space for exploring educational ideas. Framing Golden Age detective fiction as a genre profoundly concerned with learning, this book will be highly relevant reading for academics, postgraduate students and scholars involved in the fields of English language arts, twentieth-century literature and the theories of learning more broadly. Those interested in detective fiction and interdisciplinary literary studies will also find the volume of interest.

This is a book about the relationship between the development of forensic science in the nineteenth century and the invention of the new literary genre of detective fiction in Britain and America. Ronald R. Thomas examines the criminal body as a site of interpretation and enforcement in a wide range of fictional examples, from Poe, Dickens and Hawthorne through Twain and Conan Doyle to Hammett, Chandler and Christie. He is especially concerned with the authority the literary detective manages to secure through the 'devices' - fingerprinting, photography, lie detectors - with which he discovers the truth and establishes his expertise, and the way in which those devices relate to broader questions of cultural authority at decisive moments in the history of the genre. This is an interdisciplinary project, framing readings of literary texts with an analysis of contemporaneous developments in criminology, the rules of evidence, and modern scientific accounts of identity.

From the award-winning author of Sandworm comes the propulsive story of a new breed of investigators who have cracked the Bitcoin blockchain, exposing once-anonymous realms of money, drugs, and violence. “I love the book… It reads like a thriller… These stories are amazing.” (Michael Lewis) Over the last decade, a single innovation has massively fueled digital black markets: cryptocurrency. Crime lords inhabiting lawless corners of the internet have operated more freely—whether in drug dealing, money laundering, or human trafficking—than their analog counterparts could have ever dreamed of. By transacting not in dollars or pounds but in currencies with anonymous ledgers, overseen by no government, beholden to no bankers, these black marketeers have sought to rob law enforcement of their chief method of cracking down on illicit finance: following the money. But what if the centerpiece of this dark economy held a secret, fatal flaw? What if their currency wasn’t so cryptic after all? An investigator using the right mixture of technical wizardry, financial forensics, and old-fashioned persistence could uncover an entire world of wrongdoing. Tracers in the Dark is a story of crime and pursuit unlike any other. With unprecedented access to the major players in federal law enforcement and private industry, veteran cybersecurity reporter Andy Greenberg tells an astonishing saga of criminal empires built and destroyed. He introduces an IRS agent with a defiant streak, a Bitcoin-tracing Danish entrepreneur, and a colorful ensemble of hardboiled agents and prosecutors as they delve deep into the crypto-underworld. The result is a thrilling, globe-spanning story of dirty cops, drug bazaars, trafficking rings, and the biggest takedown of an online narcotics market in the history of the Internet. Utterly of our time, Tracers in the Dark is a cat-and-mouse story and a tale of a technological one-upmanship. Filled with canny maneuvering and shocking twists, it answers a provocative question: How would some of the world’s most brazen criminals behave if they were sure they could never get caught?

The author of such works as The Big Sleep (1939), Farewell, My Lovely (1940), The Lady in the Lake (1943), and The Long Goodbye (1953), Raymond Chandler was one of the most popular mystery writers of his time. His works continue to be read today and have been adapted many times into films. Chandler's writings have also been receiving growing amounts of scholarly attention, and while most of this attention has focused on his use of language, critics are now studying the fictitious world he created and the milieu in which he wrote. This reference is a detailed guide to his writings. A chronology and brief biography overview the chief events in his life and career, with the biography discussing thematic patterns in his life and writings. The major section of the book, Chandler's World, describes the characters and places in his 7 novels and 25 short stories. Alphabetically arranged entries also provide summaries of his works, along with discussions of key topics. The entries are concise and informative and thus readily guide the reader through Chandler's complex universe. Appendices provide information about adaptations of his works, along with extensive listings of primary and secondary sources for additional consultation.