Assembled by best-selling suspense author Nelson DeMille, The Best American Mystery Stories 2004 contains a spectacular array of stories by mystery veterans and talented newcomers. Follow a chain reaction that saves a woman’s life, visit a house haunted by a husband’s violent killing spree, enter the high-stakes world of Las Vegas gambling, watch the line between reality and dream blur, travel with a bored salesman driven to crime, and much more. Encompassing all aspects of the genre, this year’s selections are sure to quicken pulses, send chills down the spine, and keep readers continually guessing.

A homicide detective tries to stop an ex — FBI agent’s murderous rampage. Though they posture themselves as revolutionary, the jammers are harmless. Radio nerds who gather each night at a nightclub called Wireless, they get their kicks by jamming commercial radio signals, hijacking their frequencies to broadcast anarchist messages to the ordinary citizens of Quinsigamond. But even though they do no harm, their hobby has attracted murderous attention. Speer’s killing spree starts with a priest. The one-time seminary student and ex — FBI agent has tired of seeing the city’s cathedral denigrated by immigrants, addicts, and gang members, and he blames Father Todorov for catering to the...

The words pour out of your wounded soul… Welcome to Quinsigamond, a worn-out New England town infected by a soulless cabal that rules the streets. Gilrein used to be one of the good guys, until this dark world claimed the life of his wife and fellow police officer, Ceil. Even exchanging his badge for a cab still cannot erase the past or the long-buried instincts Gilrein honed on the beat. The words choke in your throat… When suspected of possessing a missing rarity that someone is all too willing to murder for, Gilrein races to unearth long-buried secrets. And the only people he can turn to are the Inspector, a detective and master of linguistics who can shed light on the secret...

The Resurrectionist is a wild ride into a territory where nothing is as it appears. Part classic noir thriller, part fabulist fable, it is the story of Sweeney and his comatose son, Danny. Hoping for a miracle, Sweeney has brought Danny to the fortresslike Peck Clinic, whose doctors claim to have "resurrected" patients who were similarly lost in the void. but the real cure for his son's condition may lie in Limbo, a comic book world beloved by Danny before he slipped into a coma. O'Connell has crafted a spellbinding novel about stories and what they can do for and to those who create them and those who consume them. About the nature of consciousness and the power of the unknown. And,...

A narcotics detective wages war against a deadly new stimulant. The drug is called Lingo, and it’s the most powerful narcotic Lenore has ever seen. This cheaply manufactured pill races straight for the brain’s language center, supercharging it so that even a dimwitted person can speak and read at 1,500 words per minute. It induces giddiness, confidence, and sexual euphoria — with a side effect of murderous rage. The drug has come to Quinsigamond, a fading industrial center in the heart of Massachusetts, and it’s going to tear this town apart. Lenore believes she can stop that from happening. A narcotics detective with a few addictions of her own — amphetamines and heavy metal, to name a...

Jakob Kinsky believes that the noir film that will put him on the map is just waiting to be filmed in the decaying New England town of Quinsigamond. While searching for the "elemental image," he meets a photographer with a mystery of her own to solve. Their respective quests entangle them with evangelists, feminists, erotic brokers, a missing 10-year-old, and a porn theater known as Herzog's Erotic Palace. HC: Mysterious Press.