Faye Longchamp

Set amidst the political turbulence and social unrest of contemporary Mexico City, An Easy Thing introduces English-speaking readers to Taibo's human and world-weary protagonist, independent detective Hector Belascoaran Shayne. In this debut outing, our hero, who, incidentally, possesses an insatiable appetite for Coca Cola and cigarettes, tackles three cases simultaneously: a killing in a corrupt factory; the deadly threats against a former porn starlet's teenage daughter; and, strangely, the search for Emiliano Zapata, folk hero and leader of the Mexican Revolution, rumored to be alive and hiding out in a cave outside Mexico City. Combining black comedy, social history and a touch of surrealism, Paco Taibo's wonderfully idiosyncratic detective novels are admired the world over and are particularly popular in Europe and in the Spanish-speaking world.

"Pick it up, but only if you can afford to lose a night's sleep, because you won't be able to put it down." -Steve Martini, author of the Paul Madriani novels Several years have passed since we last saw stunning, savvy attorney Rachel Gold. Now she is a mother, a widow, and a reluctant participant in a lost cause: the Frankenstein Case. She represents a blue-collar neighborhood fighting a developer intent on bulldozing their homes to erect a gated community. Rachel's strategy will be based on the wacky judge on the case, known to the St. Louis Bar as "The Flinch Factor." Then Rachel gains a new client: Susannah, sister of Nick Moran, local heartthrob. Nick has been murdered, found slumped on the front seat of his pickup along an isolated lane known as Gay Way. His female groupies are, to say the least, stunned. His sister smells foul play. A skeptical Rachel agrees to check it out and turns up facts suggesting that Nick's death was not an accident. Are Nick's death and her Frankenstein case somehow related? Can Rachel uncover the truth before more lives are lost?

"Ramsay skillfully weaves historical fact into his story, all the while blending brisk action with excellent characterization." -Publishers Weekly Elderly Jonathan Lydell III is proud of his lineage. He is related to the Virginia Lees and to the Custis family. For Lydell, family, status, and history are the only realities-that and his antebellum house. Lydell's house has a very colorful history, and Lydell is committed to restoring it to its pre-Civil War configuration, complete with a "stranger room." In the 1800s, many family homes sported these attached rooms with separate entrances and locks that were kept ready for unknown travelers. The intent was to protect the family from unsavory guests. Nearly 150 years ago, an inexplicable murder took place inside the Lydell's locked stranger room. The murderer was never caught. Lydell thinks this brutal history adds to the house's rich character. But when an identical murder is committed in the newly restored stranger room, even Sheriff Ike Schwartz and FBI agent Karl Hedrick can't explain it....