Thorndike Press large print mystery series

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Assigned to watch his rival for the position of archbishop of Chicago, the ambitious Malachi Nolan, Blackie Ryan, a leading candidate for the position, heads to the Nolan family estate in Grand Banks, and is caught in the middle of a dynastic feud over the estate of Spike Nolan, an electronics tycoon, and finds himself investigating the attempted murder of his rival.

Packed with hard-core action written by battle-savvy combat veterans, the explosive Starfist series has become hugely popular across America. Now the saga of the courageous Marines continues in Flashfire, as the 34th Fleet Initial Strike Team (FIST) ventures to the edge of Human Space to fight a number of enemies . . . some on their own side.Tensions erupt between the Confederation and several frontier worlds when civilians are shot dead at an army base on the planet Ravenette. Enraged, the Ravenette government and nine neighboring planets form a coalition, and their first act of secession is to overrun Ravenette's Confederation garrison. With the armed forces of ten worlds seizing the brutal upper hand, the embattled troops need help--now--and they need it bad.Enter the Marines of the 34th FIST. As the nearest ready-to-deploy unit, the team is sent to Ravenette with orders to hold the line until reinforcements arrive. The upcoming operation promises to be no picnic, for while sophisticates may ridicule the backward ways of the uncouth frontier folk, no one scoffs at their fighting ability.Charlie Bass doesn't mince words for his men in Company L's third platoon. Two army divisions--perhaps thirty thousand soldiers--are being overwhelmed, and somebody expects a thousand Marines to save the day. As pompous Confederation generals wreak even more havoc than the enemy, there are those who call the mission suicide . . . but not the Marines. Of course it sounds hopeless, but for Marines like Charlie Bass and the rest of the 34th FIST, accomplishing the impossible comes with the territory.From the Hardcover edition.

In early 1925, the honorable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher, recent mother of twins, resumes her journalistic career by agreeing to write a piece about the Tower of London - the Bloody Tower - for an American magazine. Invited to observe the centuries-old Ceremony of the Keys, she is spending the night (her first away from the babies). Having seen the Crown Jewels, interviewed the Yeoman Warders, and met the Ravenmaster, Daisy is leaving early the next morning - when she almost trips over the dead body of one of the Yeoman Warders.

Agatha Raisin decides to escape for a holiday on a remote island paradise, and becomes involved in an investigation into strangely similar crimes that took place half a world apart involving the mysterious deaths of young blonde women.

Drawn from her personal crime files, the author dissects the convoluted love affairs that all too often end in violence.

MEMORANDUM To: Lindsay From: Daniel McKinley Subject: CHRISTMAS IS CANCELED! Lindsay couldn't believe it. She was working on a major deal--with a very important client. Daniel McKinley. But Daniel was a workaholic and, even though it was almost Christmas, he insisted Lindsay drop everything and spend the holidays with him ...talking business! In fact, Lindsay shouldn't have been surprised. Three years ago, she'd dared suggest there was more to life than making money--and Daniel had fired her! But this deal was vital. She'd have to negotiate with Daniel--under the mistletoe if need be! As it turned out, Daniel had some unexpectedly romantic notions about how to spend winter nights with Lindsay ....

"Duncan Kincaid has settled into his life as part-time father to Kit, the twelve-year-old son he only recently discovered. But life has more changes in store: Gemma has pursued a promotion that ends their partnership on the job and places their personal relationship on a new, more tentative footing. So when Duncan's cousin and childhood friend calls from Glastonbury to ask his help on a rather unusual matter, he welcomes the opportunity to get out of London--and to spend a relaxing weekend with Gemma. But relaxation isn't on the agenda ..."--Jacket.

Texas herbalist China Bayles must put her upcoming nuptials on the back burner when a murder investigation entangles her friends and neighbors.

Television scriptwriter Sidney Bartleby, who specialises in murder mysteries, daydreams about killing his wife, Alicia, as a way of drawing inspiration for his stories. However, when she unexpectedly takes a long holiday away from him, he begins wondering whether he could ever put his plan into action. Also published as Suspension of Mercy.

With a plot that defies the most inspired second-guessing and with menace ticking quietly away on every page, Jill McGown's Death in the Family firmly establishes her as a master of mystery and psychological suspense. This gritty, sophisticated novel is the twelfth in the author's internationally acclaimed series starring Chief Detective Inspector Lloyd and his colleague and lover, Chief Detective Inspector Judy Hill.Dean Fletcher had spent virtually all his twenty-four years doing things practically guaranteed to land him in trouble. But not until he fell for a blonde nymphet named Kayleigh Scott did he manage to totally ruin his life. Kayleigh had told him she was eighteen. In truth, she was not quite thirteen, and poor Dean was soon off to prison, a convicted sex offender, still smitten with his adolescent lover.Now he's finally free again, only to be ensnared by two crimes that have Lloyd pulling out what's left of his hair. One is an infant kidnapping (the child was born within hours of Lloyd's and Judy's own baby, Charlotte); the other is the murder of Kayleigh's mother, Lesley, on the very eve of the family's sudden move to Australia.Fortunately, Lloyd thinks he hears the ring of truth in Dean's protestations of innocence. He is extremely curious about Lesley's new lover, Ian, who has jumped headfirst into another relationship, and her old lover, Phil, whose world she had destroyed. And for all her air of placid innocence, Kayleigh herself isn't above suspicion.With Judy out on maternity leave, Lloyd is obliged to pick his way alone through the minefield of birth, death, murder, and domestic evil. Death in the Family is a novel of uncanny power and chilling credibility.

Even though her family can't believe it, everyone knows Chloe was the killer who suddenly, shockingly, for some unknown reason, stabbed her twin sister to death in the garden. With Chloe's trial coming up, maybe there will finally be an explanation as to why.

Operating the switchboard at the business office shared by her brother's computer-game company and six unusual therapists, Meg Langslow finds herself drawn into a mystery when the company's practical joker is murdered on top of a mail cart.

A hated judge is found dead in suspicious circumstances in a town in Minnesota with an Indian casino and a young Ojibwa Indian leaves home in a hurry. Former sheriff Cork O'Connor investigates if there is a connection.

"With the arrival of warm weather and good fishing, life should be great for J.W. Jackson and his wife, Zee. Martha's Vineyard may be no Eden, but J.W. wouldn't trade it for any other place on earth. Something's wrong, though. The morning newspaper brings an update on the case of the Headless Horseman, a headless and handless corpse found on a local bridle path six months ago."--Jacket.

Lawyer-turned-herbalist China Bayles returns to the Deep South, where her family's legacy of silence is at last broken-and the past finally, unforgettably, speaks the truth...A frantic phone call from her mother brings China back to her family's Mississippi plantation-a place she'd forsaken long ago. But the late-spring air is thick with fear-and from the moment of her arrival, China knows that something has gone desperately wrong at Jordan's Crossing. An ancient property deed has surfaced-and the man who uncovered it has mysteriously vanished. And as the fates and fortunes of two very different families collide in frightening, unpredictable ways, China must face disturbing new questions about her family's past-and her own future...

Just when Hamish most needs him - the dentist turns up dead ... In Scotland, where thrift and a nice set of dentures are generally admired, dental surgeon Dr Frederick Gilchrist's cheap rates and penchant for pulling teeth have gained him a clientele. However, wiser Highlanders (like Hamish Macbeth) opt to steer clear of this reputed womanizer's all-too-busy hands. Only jaw-throbbing agony drives Hamish to Gilchrist's surgery, but what he finds is the dentist's dead body - putting several angry husbands in the frame for murder.

Ex-lawyer turned herbalist and amateur sleuth China Bayles attends a chili cookoff where a womanizing judge dies of an allergic reaction to peanuts. And since everyone knows peanuts don't belong in a bowl of Texas chili, China knows something suspicious is afoot...

Justice Hall (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes #6) by Laurie R. King Hours after Holmes and Russell return from solving the murky riddle of The Moor, a bloodied but oddly familiar stranger pounds desperately on their front door, pleading for their help. When he recovers, he lays before them the story of the enigmatic Marsh Hughenfort, younger brother of the Duke of Beauville, returned to England upon his brother's death, determined to learn the truth about the untimely death of the hall's expected heir - a puzzle he is convinced only Holmes and Russell can solve. It's a mystery that begins during the Great War of 1918, when young Gabriel Hughenfort, the late Duke's only son, died amidst scandalous rumors that have haunted the family ever since. While Holmes heads to London to uncover the truth of Gabriel's war record, Russell joins an ill-fated shooting party. A missing diary, a purloined bundle of letters, and a trail of ominous clues comprise a mystery that will call for Holmes's cleverest disguises and Russell's most daring journeys into the unknown! from an English hamlet to the city of Paris to the wild prairie of the New World. The trap is set, the game is afoot, but can they catch an elusive villain in the act of murder before they become his next victims?

A young woman hired to keep the books at a down-at-the-heels nightclub is taken under the wing of the infamous Gloria Denton, a mob luminary who reigned during the Golden Era of Bugsy Siegel and Lucky Luciano. Notoriously cunning and ruthless, Gloria shows her eager young protégée the ropes, ushering her into a glittering demimonde of late-night casinos, racetracks, betting parlours, inside heists, and big, big money. Suddenly, the world is at her feet -- as long as she doesn't take any chances, like falling for the wrong guy. As the roulette wheel turns, both mentor and protégée scramble to stay one step ahead of their bosses and each other.

In his classic caper novels, Donald E. Westlake turns the world of crime and criminals upside down. The bad get better, the good slide a bit, and Lord help anyone caught between a thief named John Dortmunder and the current object of his intentions. Now Westlake's seasoned but often scoreless crook must take on an impossible crime, one he doesn't want and doesn't believe in. But a little blackmail goes a long way in... WHAT'S SO FUNNY? All it takes is a few underhanded moves by a tough ex-cop named Eppick to pull Dortmunder into a game he never wanted to play. With no choice, he musters his always-game gang and they set out on a perilous treasure hunt for a long-lost gold and jewel-studded chess set once intended as a birthday gift for the last Romanov czar, which unfortunately reached Russia after that party was over. From the moment Dortmunder reaches for his first pawn, he faces insurmountable odds. The purloined past of this precious set is destined to confound any strategy he finds on the board. Success is not inevitable with John Dortmunder leading the attack, but he's nothing if not persistent, and some gambit or other might just stumble into a winning move.

In the summer of 1923, the Honourable Daisy Dalrymple makes what should an uneventful research trip to the Museum of Natural History with her nephew Derek and her soon-to-be step-daughter Belinda in tow. But as she interviews the various curators for her article on the museums of London, she soon discovers that the Museum of Natural History is a hothouse of professional rivalry and jealousy, particularly between Dr. Smith Woodward, the Keeper of Geology - responsible for the fossil collection, and Dr. Pettigrew, the Keeper of Minerology -- responsible for the Museum's fabulous gem collection. On a later trip, as closing time nears, Daisy hears two voices followed by a tremendous crash and rushes into the next hall to discover Dr. Pettigrew dead - murdered amidst a pile of dinosaur bones. Daisy's fiance, Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard, is assigned to investigate and together they must unravel a most baffling case of missing gems, dispossessed European royalty, professional rivalry and murder most foul.

When a powerful government official scheduled to speak to a group of millionaires turns up dead, the business world clamors for a solution, and Nero Wolfe takes the case. (NYT) Very Satisfactory.

It starts out as a fun excursion for four divers off the Florida coast. Two days later only one is found alive-naked atop a light tower in the Gulf of Mexico. What happened during those 48 hours? Doc Ford thinks he's prepared for the truth. He isn't.

Advance praise for Murder of a Small Town Honey:"A delightful mystery that bounces along with gently wry humor and jaunty twists and turns." --Earlene FowlerWhen Skye Denison left Scumble River years ago, she swore she'd never return. But after a bout with her boyfriend and credit card rejection, she's back to home sweet--homicide....

When she left Scumble River years ago, school psychologist Skye Denison thought she'd never be back. But after a run of bad luck in the big city, she has a new appreciation for the down-home charm of small-town life--and decides to start over in the town where she started out…When Skye's beloved grandmother is found dead in her bed, the family consensus is natural causes. Still, Skye insists on an autopsy--an examination that proves the sweet old lady was, in fact, murdered! But who could have done the deadly deed? Skye is determined to find out, though her snooping doesn't sit well with the relatives. Family tensions can mean only one thing: family secrets. And when a series of hooligan attacks on Skye's property leads to an outright physical assault, Skye has to wonder if by exposing the rotten roots of her family tree, she's one step closer to exposing the killer…

Lizzi Mast was a cook in the quiet town of Hernia, Pennsylvania. Now someone has killed her with a bad batch of crepes. Local police chief, the brother-in-law of Magdalena, asks her to help him solve the murder of Lizzi Mast.

When Lori and her family return from a three-month visit to the States, she finds the town atwitter over the death of Prunella "Pruneface" Hooper. Prunella sowed the seeds of discord at every turn, and Lori is intrigued enough --and upset enough by the ugliness directed at several of her closest friends--to try to solve the murder.

New York Times-bestselling author Max Allan Collins has been called "mystery's renaissance man." A master of crime fiction who "effortlessly weaves historical material into a fast-moving narrative" (Booklist), Collins has time and again created gripping plots, unforgettable characters, and gritty period color. Now, in the powerful prose sequel to the Academy Award-winning Road to Perdition, Collins breaks bold new ground in an epic tale of family secrets and heartbreaking betrayal -- a story of love, loss, and family worthy of The Godfather.It's 1942, and -- from the Atlantic to the Pacific -- the world is torn apart. Ten years earlier Michael O'Sullivan accompanied his gangster father on the road, fleeing from the mobsters who killed his mother and young brother. After an idyllic upbringing by loving adoptive parents in a small Midwestern town, Michael is now deep in the jungles of Bataan, carrying a tommy gun like his father's, fighting the Japanese. When brutal combat unearths deep-buried feelings of violence and revenge, Michael returns to the homefront a battle-scarred veteran of twenty-two, ready to pick up his old war against the Chicago Mob.Suddenly, Michael "Satariano" must become one of the enemy, working his way quickly up to the trusted side of Frank Nitti, Al Capone's heir, putting himself -- and his soul -- in harm's way. Leaving behind his heartbroken childhood sweetheart, the war hero enters a limbo of crime and corruption -- his only allies: Eliot Ness, seeking one last hurrah as a gangbuster, and a lovely nightclub singer playing her own dangerous game. Even as Michael embraces his father's memory to battle the Mob from within -- leaving bodies and broken lives in his wake -- he finds himself sucked into the very way of life he abhors.In a parallel tale set in 1922, Michael O'Sullivan, Sr., chief enforcer for Irish godfather John Looney, is about to become a father. The bidding of Looney -- and the misdeeds of the ganglord's crazed son Connor -- put the happy O'Sullivan home at risk. Both Michaels reach a crossroads of violence and compromise as two tales converge into the purgatory of good men trapped in bad lives.

After a lucrative television writing career comes to an abrupt end, ex--high school teacher Ray Mitchell returns to the New Jersey city of his birth--to rethink his life, reconnect with his teenage daughter and to spread the wealth on the housing project that reared him. He begins teaching again, embarks on an affair with a married woman from the old neighborhood and becomes a mentor to a former student recently released from jail.Then, disaster: he is found beaten nearly to death in his own apartment. He knows who did it, but he's not talking, and he refuses to press charges.It is up to Detective Nerese Ammons--a childhood acquaintance from the projects--to get Ray to tell her what happened.Alternating between investigations of the people in Ray's life most likely to do him harm and listening to his fevered ramblings about their shared past as he slips in and out of consciousness, Nerese is charged not only with uncovering the perpetrator of this assault but with understanding what kind of victim is more afraid of the truth than of his potential murderer.The Washington Post Book World has hailed Richard Price as having "the best equipment a novelist can have--that combination of muscularity, insight and compassion we might call heart." Samaritan is an electrifying story of crime and punishment, of character and place, of children and their keepers--a novel of literary suspense that explores what happens when, caught up in the drama of one's own generosity, too little is given, too little is understood and the results threaten to prove both tragic and deadly.From the Hardcover edition.