„Има един случай, който не ми дава покой нощем — единственият, който ми се опря. Случай, който винаги присъства в съзнанието ми и ме изяжда отвътре. Няма значение, че от тогава са минали десет години. Екзекутирана бе невинна жена. Трупът на Кристофър Томас бе открит полуразложен в средновековен уред за мъчения. Съдът набързо реши, че в пристъп на ярост съпругата му го е убила…“ Инспектор Джон Нън е убеден, че е допусната съдбоносна грешка. Разрешаването на този случай е последният му шанс да изкупи и собствените си грешки, но зловещите сили зад смъртта на Кристофър няма да се спрат пред нищо, за да накарат миналото да замълчи завинаги. Двайсет и шест майстори на трилъра пишат по една...

Jen Stonebreaker hasn’t entered into a big-wave surfing competition since witnessing her husband’s tragic death twenty-five years ago at the Monsters of the Mavericks. Now, Jen is ready to tackle those same monsters with her twin sons, Casey and Brock, who have become competitive surfers in a perilous sport. When he’s not riding waves, Casey Stonebreaker spends his days helping with the family restaurant ― catching fish in the morning and bartending at night. Casey’s willingness to expose illegal poachers on his popular social media platforms puts him on a collision course with a crime syndicate eager to destroy anyone threatening their business. Outspoken Brock Stonebreaker...

Matt Stromsoe has come a long way since his wife and son were killed in an explosion meant for him. Wounded severely in both body and spirit, Stromsoe gave up the last thing that held any meaning for him — his job on the police force — and proceeded to hit rock bottom, hard. That was a lifetime ago, and finally the spiral of personal destruction and despair seems to have come to an end. The man responsible for the murders — Stromsoe’s best friend from childhood and his wife’s old lover — is behind bars and Stromsoe has put the past behind him, rescued from the abyss by a former colleague who offers him a job at his private security firm. Stromsoe’s first assignment is to protect local...

Patrick Norris has seen the worst that Afghanistan has to offer — punishing heat, bitter cold, and buddies blown away by bombs and snipers. He returns home exhilarated by his new freedom and eager to realize his dream of a sport fishing business. But the avocado ranch his family has owned for generations in the foothills of San Diego has been destroyed by a massive wildfire and the parents he loves are facing ruin. Patrick’s dream will have to wait. His brother, Ted, worships Patrick and yearns for his approval. Gentle by nature but tormented by strange fixations and dark undercurrents, Ted is drawn into a circle of violent, criminal misfits. His urgent quest to prove himself threatens to...

San Diego P.I. Roland Ford has taken a job for fellow former Marine and rising politician Dalton Strait. Even as Strait contends with unexplained bombings of government buildings in his district, his wife, Natalie, has gone missing, leaving behind a cryptic plea for help. But as Ford digs into the details of a troubled marriage, Natalie’s disappearance becomes more complicated. Meanwhile, the bombings in the city intensify, with a mysterious group known only as the Chaos Committee claiming responsibility. Ford soon learns that the seemingly random attacks may be connected to the case he’s on — and suddenly, his hunt for a missing woman might decide the fate of an entire city.

Palm Springs now joins Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley in California’s Noir Series arena.

Laguna Beach, California, 1968. The Age of Aquarius is in full swing. Timothy Leary is a rock star. LSD is God. Folks from all over are flocking to Laguna, seeking peace, love, and enlightenment. Sixteen-year-old Matt Anthony is just trying to get by. His mom’s a stoner, his deadbeat dad is a no-show, his brother’s fighting in Nam... and his big sister, Jazz, has just gone missing. The cops figure she’s just another runaway hippie chick, enjoying a summer of love, but Matt doesn’t believe it. Not after another missing girl turns up dead on the beach. In a town where the cops don’t trust the hippies and the hippies don’t trust the cops, uncovering what’s really happened to Jazz...

The best-selling mystery writer Lawrence Block proves his point with the twenty outstanding stories he has chosen for this volume. For fans of the traditional mystery, there’s T. Jefferson Parker’s “Easy Street,” in which a brother’s visit uncovers family secrets. In Jeremiah Healy’s “A Book of Kells,” a detective draws on his Irish heritage to solve a crime. And in Clark Howard’s “Under Suspicion,” a detective’s investigation of the murder of his best friend’s daughter hits too close to home. However, many of the stories are concerned more with the personalities and motives surrounding the crime than with the crime itself. In Joyce Carol Oates’s “The Girl with the Blackened Eye,” we...

The Carson dynasty rules the ski-resort town of Mammoth Lakes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. Founded by patriarch Adam, the town is the site of the Mammoth Cup ski race — a qualifier for the Olympics. But when Wylie Welborn, Adam’s illegitimate grandson, returns after a stint in Afghanistan, it reopens a dark moment in Carson family history: the murder of Wylie’s father by his jealous and very pregnant wife, Cynthia. Her son Sky, born while his mother was in prison, and Wylie are half-brothers. They inherit not only superb athletic skills but also an enmity that threatens to play out in a lethal drama on one of the fastest and most perilous ski slopes in the world. Three...

With the horrible remnants of a childhood tragedy forever visible across his otherwise handsome face, Joe Trona is scarred in more ways than one. Rescued from an orphanage by Will Trona, a charismatic Orange County politician who sensed his dark potential, Joe is swept into the maelstrom of power and intimidation that surrounds his adoptive father’s illustrious career. Serving as Wills right-hand man, Joe is trained to protect and defend his father’s territory — but he can’t save the powerful man from his enemies. Will Trona is murdered, and Joe will stop at nothing to find out who did it. Looking for clues as he sifts through the remains of his father’s life — his girlfriends,...