It came out of the blue. A half-million dollars on graduation day. For Annie Daisy Clark, it was the capital she needed to start a business and secure her future. It was also money that didn't belong to her. Vowing to pay back every penny of it one day, she kept the bag of cash she'd found, and never looked back.Ten years later, Annie's investment has paid off. The owner of a successful chain of elegant coffee bars, she is blissfully engaged to a handsome coffee plantation owner and about to return triumphant to Boston for the 10th college reunion. She also begins making good on her promise to return the five hundred thousand dollars with anonymous monthly payments.But just as Annie's life seems complete, the dark history of the money returns to haunt her. Someone is determined to solve the mystery of a ten-year-old bank robbery and an enraged thief who has served his time is coming to reclaim his loot. Suddenly, Annie is plunged into a deadly chase, forced to use all her... Views: 62
Charlie Henry is the proud new owner of the Three Balls pawnshop, having recently returned Stateside from special-ops work in Iraq. The transition back to normal life seems to be going smoothly for him and his Army buddy and co-owner of the shop, Gordon Sweeney—until Gina, Charlie's childhood friend, gets shot in a transaction for information from the previous owner of Three Balls. Gordon rushes to help Gina as she bleeds on the sidewalk, while Charlie roars off on a chase to catch the shooter. The shooter gets away, and as they dig deeper, they find that the shooting has to do with Howard Baza, the previous owner of the pawnshop, and his rather questionable morals. The Albuquerque Police Department reluctantly lets the two ex-soldiers lend a hand with the investigation. Along the way they get tangled up in gang rivalries and led astray by false identities. They discover that nothing is what it seems, and almost no one is who they appear to be. In... Views: 62
Second in the Kurt Wallander series.On the Swedish coastline, two bodies, victims of grisly torture and cold execution, are discovered in a life raft. With no witnesses, no motives, and no crime scene, Detective Kurt Wallander is frustrated and uncertain he has the ability to solve a case as mysterious as it is heinous. But after the victims are traced to the Baltic state of Latvia, a country gripped by the upheaval of Soviet disintegration, Major Liepa of the Riga police takes over the investigation. Thinking his work done, Wallander slips into routine once more, until suddenly, he is called to Riga and plunged into an alien world where shadows are everywhere, everything is watched, and old regimes will do anything to stay alive. Views: 62
Revenge turns into unbridled passion when a Scottish nobleman steals his enemy's intended bride With hatred in his heart, Sir Arryn Graham rides out to Seacairn Castle to avenge the murder of his wife and unborn child. But first, he will claim the woman betrothed to Lord Kinsey Darrow for himself. Then he'll ruin her. And he won't rest until everything and everyone that belongs to the English nobleman is destroyed. But Lady Kyra of Seacairn is not what he expects. The beautiful, strong-willed daughter of a Scotswoman, Kyra is now an English subject, promised in marriage by the ruthlessly plundering King Edward. She will not be a pawn—not Darrow's and not this vengeful Scottish knight's. But when a carefully orchestrated seduction ignites irresistible passion, Kyra is swept into the heat of battle, risking the gallows for a breathtaking love.Conquer the Night is the second novel in Heather Graham's medieval Scottish series that features the... Views: 62
FROM THE ESSENTIAL RAYMOND BENSON COLLECTIONWINNER OF THE 2006 "BEST THRILLER" AWARD (THE LOVEY) AT THE LOVE IS MURDER CONFERENCE FOR AUTHORS AND READERS!From the internationally-acclaimed former author of continuation James Bond novels and other works of suspense comes a new and exciting thriller.Diane Boston lives with her Marfan syndrome-afflicted 13-year-old son in a suburb of Chicago and teaches social studies at the high school, with the students even voting her Teacher of the Year. But she has some dark secrets. Her ex-husband Greg always suspected that Diane kept things from him, but he has no idea just how right he is. When Diane's son, David, finds a box of unmarked videotapes and watches one of them out of curiosity, he discovers that it's a hardcore adult movie from the late 1970s. The star, Lucy Luv, was an actress that mysteriously disappeared in 1980. Some suspected she'd been murdered. David recognizes the actress as his mother. Then, somehow, the news of Diane's involvement in the adult film business hits the streets and causes chaos at her school and at home. It also attracts the attention of the West Coast porn czar who has ties with organized crime. Apparently when Lucy Luv disappeared, she took a cache of stolen diamonds with her. This is the catalyst for a non-stop roller-coaster ride of suspense and mystery that involves the dark side of the adult film industry, the mob, kidnapping, and murder.PRAISE FOR SWEETIE'S DIAMONDS:"A pulse-pounding edge-of-your-seat thriller with more twists and turns than a roller coaster." - Parnell Hall, author of Stalking the Puzzle LadyWINNER OF THE 2006 "BEST THRILLER" AWARD (THE LOVEY) AT THE LOVE IS MURDER CONFERENCE FOR AUTHORS AND READERS!"Plays out like a Hitchcock film. These Diamonds are priceless!"--J. A. Konrath, author of BLOODY MARY"Benson… proves here that he is equally adept at more realistic thrillers. This ever-more-intricate story (which involves a two-decade-old murder and several buried secrets) may remind some readers of the novels of James Grippando… The relationship between David and his mother, Diane (aka Lucy Luv), is key to the drama, and Benson layers enough twists and turns to keep mother and son, not to mention the reader, searching desperately for the truth." – Booklist"Sweetie's Diamonds is a gem!"--Chicago Sun-Times"A gem of a thriller one would have expected to come from the pen of someone like James Patterson."--The Strand MagazineBIO: Raymond Benson is the highly acclaimed author of twenty-five books, including six original James Bond 007 novels, three film novelizations, three short stories, and two anthologies on Bond. He is a sought-after lecturer on film genres and history. Writing as David Michaels, Benson is a New York Times best-selling author, an Edgar Alan Poe Award nominee, and a Readers' Choice Award winner.From BooklistWhen a teenage boy discovers that his mother once starred in pornographic films, he is, predictably, shocked. This is a side of his mom he'd never suspected, but the truth is far more complicated than even young David can possibly imagine. Benson, best known for his popular James Bond novels, proves here that he is equally adept at more realistic thrillers. This ever-more-intricate story (which involves a two-decade-old murder and several buried secrets) may remind some readers of the novels of James Grippando, who tends to structure his high-octane thrillers on families with closets full of secrets. The relationship between David and his mother, Diane (aka Lucy Luv), is key to the drama, and Benson layers on enough twists and turns to keep mother and son, not to mention the reader, searching desperately for the truth. David PittCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reservedReview"A pulse-pounding edge-of-your-seat thriller with more twists and turns than a roller coaster."- Parnell Hall, author of Stalking the Puzzle Lady Views: 62
NYPD detective Ben Dyer awakens from cancer surgery to find his life turned upside down. His fiancée has disappeared and Dyer, determined to find her, embarks on a journey mired with potholes and startling revelations—revelations that have the potential to forever change his life. Views: 62
When a potent firebomb destroys part of an art gallery in an exclusive London district, FBI profiler Karen Vail is dispatched to England to work with Scotland Yard on drafting a threat assessment to head off future attacks. But Vail soon discovers that at the heart of the bombing lies a four-hundred-forty-year-old manuscript that holds clues to England's past—with dramatic political and social implications. The manuscript's content is so explosive that a group of political radicals is bent on destroying it at all costs.Or is it the work of someone else? The trail leads Vail to a notorious fugitive who has escaped law enforcement for decades, and who appears to be planning a major attack on London and the United States. When Hector DeSantos, banished from the US Department of Defense and now a rogue covert operative, turns up in England and takes actions that threaten Vail's life, she finds herself on the run from the British security service, Scotland Yard, and a group of... Views: 62