Edgar Allan Poe's "Murders in the Rue Morgue" launched the detective story in 1841. The genre began as a highbrow form of entertainment, a puzzle to be solved by a rational sifting of clues. In Britain, the stories became decidedly upper crust: the crime often committed in a world of manor homes and formal gardens, the blood on the Persian carpet usually blue. But from the beginning, American writers worked important changes on Poe's basic formula, especially in use of language and locale. As early as 1917, Susan Glaspell evinced a poignant understanding of motive in a murder in an isolated farmhouse. And with World War I, the Roaring '20s, the rise of organized crime and corrupt police with Prohibition, and the Great Depression, American detective fiction branched out in all directions, led by writers such as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, who brought crime out of the drawing room and into the "mean streets" where it actually occurred.In The Oxford Book of American Detective Stories, Tony Hillerman and Rosemary Herbert bring together thirty-three tales that illuminate both the evolution of crime fiction in the United States and America's unique contribution to this highly popular genre. Tracing its progress from elegant "locked room" mysteries, to the hard-boiled realism of the '30s and '40s, to the great range of styles seen today, this superb collection includes the finest crime writers, including Erle Stanley Gardner, Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald, Rex Stout, Ellery Queen, Ed McBain, Sue Grafton, and Hillerman himself. There are also many delightful surprises: Bret Harte, for instance, offers a Sherlockian pastiche with a hero named Hemlock Jones, and William Faulkner blends local color, authentic dialogue, and dark, twisted pride in "An Error in Chemistry." We meet a wide range of sleuths, from armchair detective Nero Wolfe, to Richard Sale's journalist Daffy Dill, to Robert Leslie Bellem's wise-cracking Hollywood detective Dan Turner, to Linda Barnes's six-foot tall, red-haired, taxi-driving female P.I., Carlotta Carlyle. And we sample a wide variety of styles, from tales with a strongly regional flavor, to hard-edged pulp fiction, to stories with a feminist perspective. Perhaps most important, the book offers a brilliant summation of America's signal contribution to crime fiction, highlighting the myriad ways in which we have reshaped this genre. The editors show how Raymond Chandler used crime, not as a puzzle to be solved, but as a spotlight with which he could illuminate the human condition; how Ed McBain, in "A Small Homicide," reveals a keen knowledge of police work as well as of the human sorrow which so often motivates crime; and how Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer solved crime not through blood stains and footprints, but through psychological insight into the damaged lives of the victim's family. And throughout, the editors provide highly knowledgeable introductions to each piece, written from the perspective of fellow writers and reflecting a life-long interest--not to say love--of this quintessentially American genre.American crime fiction is as varied and as democratic as America itself. Hillerman and Herbert bring us a gold mine of glorious stories that can be read for sheer pleasure, but that also illuminate how the crime story evolved from the drawing room to the back alley, and how it came to explore every corner of our nation and every facet of our lives.ContentsThe Murders in the Rue Morgue    -        Edgar Allan PoeThe Stolen Cigar Case       -        Bret HarteThe Problem of Cell 13      -        Jacques FutrelleThe Doomdorf Mystery      -        Melville Davisson PostMissing: Page Thirteen      -        Anna Katharine GreenThe Beauty Mask     -        Arthur B. ReeveA Jury of Her Peers  -        Susan GlaspellThe False Burton Combs    -        Carroll John DalyThe Keyboard of Silence    -        Clinton H. StaggA Nose for News     -        Richard SaleSpider -        Mignon G. EberhartLeg Man       -        Erie Stanley GardnerI’ll Be Waiting         -        Raymond ChandlerThe Footprint in the Sky    -        John Dickson CarrRear Window -        Cornell WoolrichThe Lipstick   -        Mary Roberts RinehartHomicide Highball   -        Robert Leslie BellemAn Error in Chemistry        -        William FaulknerFrom Another World         -        Clayton RawsonA Daylight Adventure        -        T. S. StriblingSee No Evil   -        William Campbell GaultCrime Must Have a Stop    -        Anthony BoucherSmall Homicide       -        Ed McBainGuilt-Edged Blonde  -        Ross MacdonaldChristmas Party      -        Rex StoutA Matter of Public Notice   -        Dorothy Salisbury DavisThe Adventure of Abraham Lincoln’s Clue         -        Ellery QueenWords Do Not a Book Make         -        Bill PronziniChristmas Is for Cops        -        Edward D. HochLucky Penny  -        Linda BarnesThe Parker Shotgun -        Sue GraftonChee’s Witch -        Tony HillermanBenny’s Space         -        Marcia Muller

Irene encounters a homeless man and fails to recognize him as her former college instructor Lucas Monroe—a man who once seemed destined for a bright future. Now he's missing, and there are indications that he's been blackmailing some of the city's most rich and powerful men. Irene's search for Lucas takes her from mean streets to fine mansions and ivory towers—and forces her to recall a part of her own past she'd just as soon forget. 

The Magic Wedding DressAnd the bride wore... What?Gentry Northcross was determined to marry the man of her dreams in the wedding gown of her choice. She would not, under any circumstances, put on the "magic" wedding dress her father had purchased for her, and she scoffed at the purported claims that it could reveal the wearer's true love.One by one, Gentry had her bridesmaids try on the "magic" gown, and one by one, they all fell in love. Gentry grew more nervous by the minute, sure that if she put the dress on, she'd see Jake Daniels, her charming, yet irreverent--and all-too-available--ex...and definitely not her intended!

Matthew Scudder knows that justice is an elusive commodity in the big city, where a harmless man can be shot dead in a public place criminals fly free through holes in a tattered legal system. But now a vigilante is roaming among the millions, executing those he fees deserve to die. He calls himself "The Will of the People"—an ingenious serial killer who announces his specific murderous intentions to the media before carrying through on his threats. A child molester, a Mafia don, a violent anti-abortionist—even the protected and untouchable are being ruthlessly erased by New York's latest celebrity avenger.

Szrapnel to osobista opowieść o wojnie widzianej oczami osiemnastoletniego żołnierza. Druga wojna światowa dla Williama Whartona jest pasmem udręk, w którym nie ma miejsca na bohaterstwo. Szrapnel to swojego rodzaju spowiedź autora, zbiór opowieści, którymi nigdy nie dzielił się nawet z najbliższymi. Opowieści śmiesznych, choć i tragicznych, zmuszających do zastanowienia się nad absurdalnością wojny. Wharton jak zwykle pisze ciepło, po ludzku, przemawiając prosto do serc czytelników. [wyd.Salamandra, 1996]

From his triumphant debut with Snow Crash to the stunning success of his latest novel, Quicksilver, Neal Stephenson has quickly become the voice of a generation. In this now-classic political thriller, he and fellow author J. Frederick George tell a savagely witty, chillingly topical tale set in the tense moments of the Gulf War. **When a foreign exchange student is found murdered at an Iowa University, Deputy Sheriff Clyde Banks finds that his investigation extends far beyond the small college town—all the way to the Middle East. Shady events at the school reveal that a powerful department is using federal grant money for highly dubious research. And what it’s producing is a very nasty bug. Navigating a plot that leads from his own backyard to Washington, D.C., to the Gulf, where his Army Reservist wife has been called to duty, Banks realizes he may be the only person who can stop the wholesale slaughtering of thousands of Americans. It’s a lesson in foreign policy he’ll never forget. From the Trade Paperback edition.

NOW A HALLMARK MOVIES & MYSTERIES ORIGINAL STARRING CANDACE CAMERON BURE!In this mystery from #1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris, part-time librarian Aurora “Roe” Teagarden lands smack in the middle of a baffling murder case—when death comes from out of the blue…   Roe never liked Detective Sergeant Jack Burns, but she never wanted to see him dead—especially dropped from a plane right into her own front yard. Luckily, even Lawrenceton, Georgia’s finest know that Roe couldn’t possibly be in two places at once, so her name is crossed off the suspect list.   But then other strange things happen around Roe, ranging from peculiar (her irascible cat turns up wearing a pink ribbon) to violent (her assistant at the library is attacked) to potentially deadly (her ex-lover is stabbed). Clearly there is a personal message in this madness that Roe must decipher—before it is too late...

The complete collection of the WOLF short story serial (9 stories), plus 4 newly published short stories available only in the Collection.How do you cope when your eyes are opened to the reality of monsters, and you've become one of them?1 - WOLF: Turned - College student Tanya Sikes never believed in monsters. Though life has thrown her some difficult personal curve balls on occasion, she’s lived a sheltered life as far as the evil in the world at large. Nothing could’ve prepared her for being kidnapped or to meet the man who would rescue her from captivity too late to keep her from becoming one of the monsters. Why has God forsaken her?2 - WOLF: Family - Tanya Sikes desires justice for the women who’ve died and closure for their frightened families. She’s still uncertain why God let her survive. Her family grieves, wondering what has become of her. She wants to reassure them, but how can she face them, knowing...

Police chief of a small Massachusetts town, Cameron McDonald makes the toughest arrest of his life when his own cousin Jamie comes to him and confesses outright that he has killed his terminally ill wife out of mercy. Now, a heated murder trial plunges the town into upheaval, and drives a wedge into a contented marriage: Cameron, aiding the prosecution in their case against Jamie, is suddenly at odds with his devoted wife, Allie -- seduced by the idea of a man so in love with his wife that he'd grant all her wishes, even her wish to end her life. And when an inexplicable attraction leads to a shocking betrayal, Allie faces the hardest questions of the heart: when does love cross the line of moral obligation? And what does it mean to truly love another? Praised for her "personal, detail-rich style" "(Glamour), " Jodi Picoult infuses this page-turning novel with heart, warmth, and startling candor, taking readers on an unforgettable emotional journey.

A special reissue of a bestselling Australian classic from award-winning author Steven Herrick.Jack and Annabel have been dating for two years. With high school over they're about to start university – until Jack decides to chuck it all in.I think you and Annabel should get out of hereas fast as possible. Have a year doing anythingyou want. My going-away present is enough moneyto buy a car – a cheap old one, okay? You'll have towork somewhere to buy the petrol, and to keep going.But go.No destination in mind, Jack and Annabel leave town and discover themselves in a place they never knew existed.An inspiring verse novel about the pursuit of dreams and the realities of life, A Place Like This was shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year: Older Readers and New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards and commended in the Victorian Premier's Literary Award Sheaffer Pen Prize for Young Adult Fiction.'A story as crisp and fresh as an apple, as sweet and sharp as life itself.'...

In Making History, Fry has bitten off a rather meaty chunk by tackling an at first deceptively simple premise: What if Hitler had never been born? An unquestionable improvement, one would reason--and so an earnest history grad student and an aging German physicist idealistically undertake to bring this about by preventing Adolf's conception. And with their success is launched a brave new world that is in some ways better than ours--but in most ways even worse. Fry's experiment in history makes for his most ambitious novel yet, and his most affecting. His first book to be set mostly in America, it is a thriller with a funny streak, a futuristic fantasy based on one of mankind's darkest realities. It is, in every sense, a story of our times.