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The Case of the Russian Diplomat

A murder investigation at a high-priced hotel reveals a deadly plot reaching the highest seats of power! They call the pool at the Beverly Glen Hotel “the naked hooker.” To the frustration of the Beverly Hills police department, the women there are so high class that it’s impossible to distinguish guests and girlfriends from professionals. Women flock to the lavish hotel because it teems with film stars, businessmen—and America’s richest criminals. Tonight, to detective Masao Masuto’s chagrin, there is the body of a naked man in the pool. Though the management insists the death was accidental, Masuto doubts that any man would hide his own clothes before taking a midnight swim. The woman who reported the body is gone by the time the police reach her room, and the man they find there, Jack Stillman, insists there was nobody staying with him. The next day Stillman is dead, and Masao Masuto has a killing spree to deal with—one that leads to a tangled web of espionage and international conspiracy.
Views: 629

Twospot

Bill Pronzini's "Nameless" private eye and Collin Wilcox's Lieutenant Frank Hastings join forces to solve a grizzly case of murder and to crack a bizarre conspiracy surrounding an old California winemaking family.When "Nameless" is hired by Alex Cappellani, whose family owns the Cappellani Winery in the Napa Valley, it seems at first to be a routine investigation. But then the case veers in a deadly direction: there's a brutal murder in San Francisco. And Lieutenant Hastings is called in to investigate.As "Nameless" and Hastings delve deeper into the web of violence and mystery, the truth begins to unfold. A truth that will shock you. You're sure to enjoy this harrowing ride through the hills of San Francisco.
Views: 623

Firefox

THE MACHINE: The Soviet Mig-31, codenamed *Firefox.* A thought-controlled, terrifyingly lethal warplane capable of ruling the Western skies. THE MAN: His name is Gant, an obsessed renegade American pilot. His Control: Kenneth Aubrey of Great Britain. His plan: infiltrate the shadowy worldwide KGB network and make his way into the Soviet Union. His job: steal *Firefox.*
Views: 623

Stories

This major collection contains all of Doris Lessing’s short fiction, other than the stories set in Africa, from the beginning of her career until now. Set in London, Paris, the south of France, the English countryside, these thirty-five stories reflect the themes that have always characterized Lessing’s work: the bedrock realities of marriage and other relationships between men and women; the crisis of the individual whose very psyche is threatened by a society unattuned to its own most dangerous qualities; the fate of women. From the Trade Paperback edition.
Views: 622

The Human Factor

A leak is traced to a small sub-section of SIS, sparking off the inevitable security checks, tensions and suspicions. The sort of atmosphere where mistakes could be made? For Maurice Castle it is the end of the line anyway and time for him to retire with his African wife, Sarah. The Human Factor is Greene’s most extensive attempt to incorporate into fiction what he had learned of espionage when recruited by MI6 during World War II . . . What it offers is a veteran excursion into Greene’s imaginative world . . . Sometimes seen as a brooding prober into the dark recesses of the soul where sins and scruples alike fester, he is equally at home in sending a narrative careering along at break-neck pace . . . Raising the demarcation line between ‘serious’ fiction and fast-plotted entertainment, Greene ensures that components of both jostle energizingly together in his pages.” –from the Introduction by Peter Kemp --
Views: 621

Death in Florence

DEATH IN FLORENCE was also published as UTOPIA 3In a wild and crazy novel composed equally of black humor and deep, humane insight, George Alec Effinger strips away the veneer of civilization, revealing the deep truths by which we all live. Without the culture we have accumulated, existence is sometimes a nightmare, sometimes absurd, sometimes courageous and wonderful.Utopia 3 is a movement spreading through the world, a project designed to mold everyone into people devoted to brotherhood and peace. A large portion of Europe is set aside for members of the pilot program. Each member is permitted to travel anywhere within the project, do anything, take anything without limit. Each person undergoes an indoctrination designed to prevent destructive or harmful acts. This is the meaning and hope of Utopia 3.This story focuses on three people: Eileen Brant, a weary young woman escaping the dead-end life she was leading; Justin Benarcek, a man who tries either too hard or not at all;...
Views: 612

Life: A User's Manual

In this ingenious book Perec creates an entire microcosm in a Paris apartment block. Serge Valene wants to make an elaborate painting of the building he has made his home for the last sixty years. As he plans his picture, he contemplates the lives of all the people he has ever known there. Chapter by chapter, the narrative moves around the building revealing a marvellously diverse cast of characters in a series of every more unlikely tales, which range from an avenging murderer to an eccentric English millionaire who has devised the ultimate pastime...
Views: 602

The Five Fingers

Vietnam novel about a small group of special forces operatives on a secret assassination mission in China. Purportedly based on a true story; Gayle Rivers is identified as a pseudonym for a surviving member of the team. "A story that can only be told as fiction. **
Views: 597

Bomber Pilot

"Winner of the Best Aeronautical Book Award from the Reserve Officers Association of the United States "The sky was full of dying airplanes" as American Liberator bombers struggled to return to North Africa after their daring low-level raid on the oil refineries of Ploesti. They lost 446 airmen and 53 planes, but Philip Ardery's plane came home. This pilot was to take part in many more raids on Hitler's Europe, including air cover for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. This vivid firsthand account, available now for the first time in paper, records one man's experience of World War II air warfare. Throughout, Ardery testifies to the horror of world war as he describes his fear, his longing for home, and his grief for fallen comrades. Bomber Pilot is a moving contribution to American history.
Views: 586

The Winter Hero

Justin Conkey was too young to fight in the Revolution of 1776, but now it is 1787 and he is fourteen. Justin is ready to fight, even if he has only his father's old sword to protect him. But once on the battlefield, war is not what he expected. It is dangerous and frightening and nothing makes sense. Throughout a particularly bitter winter the young man is desperate to prove that he too can be a hero—not realizing that many times heroes turn out to be just ordinary people caught up in events, who do what comes naturally to save others regardless of risk to themselves. Insisting on joining General Daniel Shays' group of Regulators, he lies about his age and marches with the group throughout New England. But war puts friendships and political convictions to the test.
Views: 577

Well of Shiuan

"The world of Shiuan was doomed. Rising waters and shattering earthquakes due to the coming of a vast and strange new satellite had sealed the fate of its peoples—flee or die with their world. Their sole escape routes were the Gates, the passages between worlds established by a forgotten cosmic race. And just as this knowledge dawned on the desperate tribes and cities there appeared the woman Morgaine—whose mission was to seal Shiuan's Gates." Winner of the John W. Campbell Award for the best new writer of the year. This is the story of Morgaine, and of her henchman, Nhi Vanye, and of their relentless enemy, Chya Roh, who followed them to the drowning planet.
Views: 573

The Virgin in the Garden

The Virgin in the Garden is a wonderfully erudite entertainment in which enlightenment and sexuality, Elizabethan drama and contemporary comedy, intersect richly and unpredictably.
Views: 566