Bibliomysteries

The most evil book ever conceived falls into the hands of the leader of the Spanish Inquisition in this ingenious bibliomystery from the bestselling creator of Repairman Jack. In the fifteenth century, the Spanish Inquisition spreads terror throughout the land, with Prior Tomás de Torquemada serving as the ultimate judge of who will live and who will be consigned to the purifying flames. Never has Torquemada questioned his own faith or his sacred duty to rid the world of heretics, blasphemers, and nonbelievers. Now, however, an extraordinary volume has come into his possession - an ancient book that radiates pure evil. The prior realizes this abomination must be destroyed along with anyone who has come into contact with it, for it is surely the devil's work, corrupting and possessing all those who touch it. But whom can Torquemada trust to help him achieve his mission now that The Compendium of Srem has passed through numerous hands... including his own? F. Paul Wilson is a writer who is at home working in many different genres, from medical thriller to science fiction to mystery to urban fantasy to horror. Now he travels back centuries in time to explore the secret history of a book of great and terrible power, an ancient volume of eldritch lore that plays a substantial role in the author's popular Repairman Jack series of novels: The Compendium of Srem.

In 1953, Penny is just another washed-up, wannabe Hollywood actress who is past her prime. She has settled in to a quiet lifestyle, and when she finds a low-rent bungalow in Canyon Arms, it's a dream come true; Penny takes to the place instantly. But the dream cottage with its French doors and tiled courtyard may not be as perfect as it seems. Penny's new neighbors start filling her head with stories about past tenants, whispering voices, and a suicide that may not have been a suicide at all. Soon enough, Penny starts hearing strange noises and she can't help but wonder about the true fate of the bookseller who died in her home a dozen years earlier. Her suspicions are only fueled by the ominous inscription that she discovers in a book that's closely guarded by her landlord. . . .

Five decades after war's end, a rare-books dealer receives a strange visitor. The guns went silent on November 11, 1918, never to fire again. Throughout the 1920s, unrest seethed across Europe, and Fascists battled Communists in the streets of Berlin, but democracy won out. For years, peace has prevailed around the world. But there is a part of Franklin Altman that misses the war. A rare-books dealer living in New York City, Altman has devoted his life to studying the history of the Weimar Republic, when all of Europe hung in the balance and it seemed it would take but a single spark to set the world ablaze. Why did that spark never come? Altman is musing on these questions one evening when a man comes into his shop. An aged German veteran with a limp and the faint shakes of Parkinson's, he is about to teach Altman that in history, the devil is in the details.

Ex-bestselling author Stewart Hoag is after a tell-all Hollywood diary in this short mystery from the Edgar Award-winning author. Once upon a time, Stewart "Hoagy" Hoag was a celebrity author married to a famous actress. But after a serious case of writer's block, Hoagy lost it all. Now, with nobody but his loyal basset hound, Lulu, by his side, Hoagy intends to get back on top by transcribing the salacious tell-all diary of recently deceased actress Anna Childress. It was a foolproof plan-except that Hoagy isn't the only one after the legendary journal. Suddenly, he and Lulu are up against a who's who of powerful studio execs, all clamoring to keep a generation's worth of Hollywood dirt from reaching the public.

Former Chicago journalist turned globe-trotting spy Christopher Marlowe Cobb has already lived many lives-from London to Mexico to Berlin-when he returns to France in 1922. Where better to work on his novel than among such literary expatriates as Ezra Pound and Ford Madox Ford, who convene at the Shakespeare & Company bookstore in postwar Paris? Among them is Ernest Hemingway, fellow lone-wolf war correspondent, new friend, and confidante. Like Cobb, Hemingway is writing a novel. Unlike Cobb, however, Hemingway's manuscript has just been stolen off a train to Lausanne by what he's sure were foreign agents. To know what Hemingway knows is risky enough. But to write about it is positively dangerous. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Cobb volunteers to retrieve the manuscript-but he'll need all of his spycraft skills to infiltrate the compound where it's cached.

In this "utterly enchanting" Edgar and Anthony Award–winning novella, a book lover uncovers a secret world of literary wonders (Irish Times). A voracious reader, Mr. Berger leads a solitary but satisfying life. Preferring the company of books to that of people, he's looking forward to an early retirement in the English countryside, where he can spend his remaining years nestled comfortably between the pages of classic literature. But his serene life is disrupted when he witnesses a woman with a distinctive red traveling bag fling herself before a train. If Mr. Berger isn't mistaken, he's just seen the climax of Anna Karenina reenacted on the Exeter-to-Plymouth railway. Though there is no body on the tracks, and the destiny of the tragic victim was written nearly a century before, Mr. Berger still longs to rescue her. The investigation leads him to the Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository, where the living breathing characters of literary invention are under the guardianship of a curious caretaker-and where, for Mr. Berger, the line between fiction and reality will blur beyond comprehension.

Short tales about deadly books, by top mystery authors Attempting the perfect murder, a killer encounters the perfect cop After years of get-rich-quick schemes, Troy Pellingham's bank account is empty and his options are down to one: take a job in his uncle's rare book shop, and spend his days working for an unpleasant man whose only redeeming quality is a mammoth bank account. Though well into his eighties, Uncle Rodney is the picture of good health, and the day when Troy will inherit the old man's money seems very far away. But then Troy gets a brilliant idea-why shelve books for a living, when he can kill for a fortune?   After the deed is done, a peculiarly shabby police detective comes to call. Lieutenant Columbo seems dimwitted, and Troy expects he will have no trouble putting him off the scent. But as the noose tightens around his neck, Troy realizes that no murder is too perfect for Columbo.

In pursuit of the find of a lifetime, an academic confronts an old rival Once visited by the likes of Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, and George Eliot, the London Library is a maze of books-a jumble of first editions and forgotten texts. For Tony, it is a refuge from the failure his life has become-and it is about to be invaded by a destructive old friend. Adam is a world-renowned novelist who spends so much time writing articles and appearing in documentaries that it seems impossible he actually has time to write books. He visits the library to research a nearly-forgotten English poet, Francis Youlgreave, who just happens to be Tony's obsession. Tony has staked his career on the long-dead clergyman, and will do whatever it takes to keep Adam from stealing his research. In this ghostly library, scholarly conflict is anything but academic.

A puzzler of a tale about a dead bookshop owner, a priceless cache of first editions, and a deadly secret taken to the grave. It's no mystery who killed Robert Ripple, owner of Precious Finds Bookstore in Pokesville, Pennsylvania. It was Agatha Christie - or rather, a large carton of valuable Christie hardcovers that the not-so-young Ripple was attempting to lift when his heart gave out. The real question is why the so-called Friends of England, who meet regularly in the back room of Ripple's literary emporium, are so eager to keep the place open after its proprietor's death. Certainly it must have something to do with the Friends' past lives as the associates of a slain New York mobster. Whatever their plan is, they'll need the help of Tanya Tripp, Ripple's recently hired and completely unsuspecting assistant, if they want to pull it off. But despite her trustworthy appearance, Tanya may well be hatching a scheme of her own. For over four decades, Peter Lovesey has occupied an honored place as one of crime fiction's best and brightest. With Remaindered, he offers his readers a delectable tidbit about books and those who live - and die - for them.

The next story in the Bibliomysteries series, penned by MWA Grand Master Carolyn Hart Everyone dreams of stumbling upon a long-lost treasure in the attic or inheriting a fortune from some distant relative. But for Ellen Gallagher, the impoverished owner of a thrift shop in South Carolina, that dream comes true. She finds in her possession a first edition of Agatha Christie's Poirot Investigates that has been signed by the author . . . and inscribed to the Queen of England. When the book disappears from her shop, Ellen must call on her friend Annie Darling, owner of the mystery bookstore Death on Demand, to track it down.

A gripping novella from the New York Times–bestselling author of the Inspector Banks Mysteries and a "master of the art" (TheBoston Globe). Retired Cambridge professor Donald Aitcheson loves scouring antiquarian bookshops for secondhand treasures-as much as he loathes the scribbled marginalia from their previous owners. But when he comes upon an inscription in a volume of Robert Browning's poetry, he's less irritated than disturbed. This wasn't once a gift to an unwitting woman. It was a threat-insidious, suggestively sick, and terribly intriguing. Now Aitcheson's imagination is running wild. Was it a sordid teacher-pupil affair that ended in betrayal? A scorned lover's first salvo in a campaign of terror? The taunt of an obsessive psychopath? Then again, it could be nothing more than a tasteless joke between friends. As his curiosity gets the better of him, Aitcheson can't resist playing detective. But when his investigation leads to a remote girls' boarding school in the Lincolnshire flatlands, and into the confidence of its headmistress, he soon discovers the consequences of reading between the lines. Praise for Peter Robinson "Robinson is equally skilled at reflecting procedural details and treating his flesh-and-blood characters-despite their flaws-with compassion and humor." -The Miami Herald "Robinson is good at producing ingenious mysteries and this one doesn't disappoint." -The Sunday Telegraph on Friend of the Devil

Short tales about deadly books, by top mystery authors Elsa finds a book with strange powers and must face her tortured past It's been seven years since Else visited her tiny hometown on an isolated island off the coast of Scotland. After years of suffering bullying at the hands of the few other residents, she left to make a new life. But now that her mother has passed, Else has returned. And when her old tormentor Karen Little hands her the very book that sent her running all those years ago, the cruelties of her past have Else seeing red.

Mike Hammer tears apart New York in search of a dead don's ledger. For years, cops have whispered legends that Don Nicholas Giraldi, the gentleman godfather, kept a ledger going back decades, keeping track of every police officer, mogul, and politician who took even a cent of his dirty money. Finding the register would put mayors, senators, and even a president or two on the hook for prosecution - or blackmail. When old Nic finally kicks the bucket, one such official comes to Mike Hammer and begs him to find the book before it falls into the wrong hands. Mike has never believed the stories of the old don's journal, but for $10,000, he is happy to play along. Every hood in town wants to get his hands on the book, and finding it will mean pushing to the very heart of Nic's family. No matter how many years may have passed, Mike Hammer can still push harder.

Short tales about deadly books, by top mystery authors. The lie that bought Jacob Weisen a new life cannot help him escape the past. Birkenau could not kill Jacob Weisen. He survived the death camp and made his way to America, where he became famous telling the story of Isaac Becker, an author who was tortured to death when the guards caught him writing down his story. Becker's manuscript was lost, but by telling the tale, Weisen keeps his memory alive. No other witnesses survived, and Weisen is the only person who knows his famous story is a lie.   In fact, Weisen was a collaborator, who led his countrymen to the ovens and gave Becker up to the SS. Decades after the war, as his lies begin to unravel, he must choose between admitting the truth and dying in a hell of his own creation.

Short tales about deadly books, by top mystery authors A pair of federal agents from either side of the US–Mexico border target a cartel kingpin They call him "Cuchillo," the Knife. Not because he kills with a blade-he has plenty of men to do that kind of work for him-but because his mind is so sharp. As Mexico's government wages war on the drug cartels, it takes brains to survive, and Cuchillo has not just survived-he has prospered. But when Cuchillo begins to cut too deeply, the federal police of both the United States and Mexico step in to dull his blade.   P. Z. Evans and Alejo Díaz know the Hermosillo cartel is planning an attack on a tourist bus in Sonora, and they know they will have to capture or kill Cuchillo to stop it. The cartel leader has one weakness: rare, old books. To destroy the intellectual's evil empire, this unlikely pair of international police will have to appeal to his inner bibliophile.

After the death of his father, a literature professor is drawn into the murder investigation of a bookstore proprietor Though Don and his father both love books, their tastes couldn't be more different. Don is a scholar, and his father reads nothing but schlock. His house is full of dime paperbacks, battered thrillers, and case after case of western novels, none of which his son could ever bear to read.   At his father's funeral, Don is approached by a strange man, a rare book dealer named Lou Caledonia. Don assumes the man wants to buy his dad's old westerns, but Lou explains that something far more important is on the line.   Don finds the cramped confines of Lou's used bookstore immensely comforting, but a surprise waits for him downstairs. Caledonia has been shot dead, and Don is in danger, too. The boy who was too smart to read pulp fiction is about to find himself trapped in a thriller of his own.

Short tales about deadly books, by top mystery authors A thief targets a local bookstore and it will take a bibliophile PI to save the shop Tess Monaghan wants to like the Children's Bookstore. It's bright, cozy, and packed with the kinds of books that she is dying for her daughter to fall in love with. But no matter how badly she wants to support this adorable local business, the owner's attitude stops her in her tracks. What kind of children's bookseller hates children?   What's eating Octavia, the grouchy owner, is more than the pressures of running a small business. Each Saturday, someone steals a stack of her priciest, most beautiful children's books, and the expense threatens to force her fledgling store out of business. Luckily, Tess is more than a book lover-she's a private investigator who doesn't mind working pro bono to help out an independent bookshop. Her simple act of kindness will make Octavia smile for the first time in months-and uncover a crime more suitable for the mystery aisle than the children's section.

A man obsessed with Dracula pursues a legendary lost edition of the classic vampire book in this chilling story from the author of the Bryan and May Mysteries. Carter, one of the world's leading experts on Dracula, owns many editions of Bram Stoker's novel, maybe even as many as his well-heeled rival, Mikaela Klove. But one thing has always eluded him: the chance to examine the possibly apocryphal blue edition of Stoker's seminal vampire tale. If it actually exists, the elusive edition is rumored to contain a different ending and a never-before-published chapter tantalizingly set in Dracula's personal library. Determined to read it for himself, Carter travels to Transylvania, where the rumored treasure might be hidden. But once there, he'll need to work with his nemesis to solve the mysterious puzzle-or risk an endgame neither he nor Mikaela can afford to lose.