A crime has been committed that strikes at the heart of Chet's very own family. Some slippery sneak has stolen his mother's beloved pearls, leaving Chet angrier than a nest of hornets on eviction day. When additional items go missing, Principal Zero turns up the heat by hiring Chet to flush out the thief. Will our gecko hero deliver the goods before it's too late? He'd better. Because this time, it's personal.This thirteenth entry in Chet and Natalie's tattered casebook is chock-full of the hilarious characters, wacky one-liners, and fast-paced mystery that have made this series a favorite among middle grade readers. Views: 40
Charley has a sweet set-up in Naples. He and his partner Joe Lenken run a tight black-market operation. But tonight there is trouble and Charley is shot - and worse, he is recognized. Fleeing the police, he has to get his hands on a passport fast. Luck is with him in the form of a dead American drunk. All Charley has to do is get rid of the body. Weighting it, he lowers the body into the Tiber, his body wracked with pain from the bullet wound. But his luck runs out - he is seen! She is standing on the bridge overhead. But instead of crying "murder" she helps him up the bank and takes him away to tend to his wounds. But is she Charley's guardian angel - or the sweet angel of death? Views: 39
THERE’S NEVER BEEN A BOOK LIKETHE TWENTY-YEAR DEATHA breathtaking first novel written in the form of three separate crime novels, each set in a different decade and penned in the style of a different giant of the mystery genre. 1931—The body found in the gutter in France led the police inspector to the dead man’s beautiful daughter—and to her hot-tempered American husband.1941—A hardboiled private eye hired to keep a movie studio’s leading lady happy uncovers the truth behind the brutal slaying of a Hollywood starlet.1951—A desperate man pursuing his last chance at redemption finds himself with blood on his hands and the police on his trail...Three complete novels that, taken together, tell a single epic story, about an author whose life is shattered when violence and tragedy consume the people closest to him. It is an ingenious and emotionally powerful debut performance from literary detective and former bookseller Ariel S. Winter, one that establishes this talented newcomer as a storyteller of the highest caliber.Amazon.com ReviewAmazon Exclusive: Essay by Author Ariel S. WinterIt is impossible to say when a book begins. Did it start at birth, or when I learned to read, or when I set out the first words that grew into a novel?I am inclined to say that The Twenty-Year Death began when I took two university courses: Hardboiled Fiction and Film Noir, and Faulkner, Fitzgerald, and Hemingway, even though I wrote it many years later.But perhaps the truer answer lies with that Chandler send-up, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, my favorite movie of childhood…and still today?What I do know is that The Twenty-Year Death is not the book I set out to write.That ambitious book was meant to be David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas as written by W.G. Sebald. There would be a straightforward first-person narrator, a close approximation of myself, and there would be the books the narrator read. These books would appear in full, so the reader of the novel would read the reading of the narrator—mysteries, romances, westerns, sci fi, and "literary" fiction, his taste would be catholic.I began the frame narrative, and then I wrote the Georges Simenon pastiche Malniveau Prison, a one-hundred and fifty page replica of an Inspector Maigret mystery.I didn't stop there. Next up was a romance, a love story between the full-sized daughter of retired circus midgets and a newcomer to their island home. Oh, I was ambitious.And the book failed.Still I clung to Malniveau Prison. No writer, especially one young and unpublished, can bear to see his hard-earned work go to utter waste. I didn't have my novel, but I had a novella, and I knew it was good.I sent it to an agent. It was January 1st when he got back to me. Or that is how I remember it at least, and it has the poetic ring that appeals to me as a novelist."I liked it a lot," he said. "But it feels like a half-novel."That was all the encouragement I needed. I attacked Malniveau Prison, and it doubled in size.There was talk of a series, but I didn't want to write a series. Unless…unless…what if the recurring character in the novel was not the detective, but some other side character…The American writer Shem Rosenkrantz seemed the obvious choice. And where would a great American novelist go after France…Hollywood, of course. And Hollywood meant Chandler. After all, I had one pastiche on my hands. Why not two?Before I even began on the Chandler pastiche, I had conceived of the Jim Thompson book as the novel's logical conclusion. So, like a movie studio that green lights two sequels after the success of the first film, I went into The Falling Star knowing how Police at the Funeral would end.Is this how all novelists work? Do their books rise like the phoenix from the ashes of their mistakes? I have known several novelists in my lifetime, yet only one to call friend, and still I do not know. It is how this book came to be.Or is it? Do I really know how I came to write The Twenty-Year Death? Does any novelist know how he came to write a book?Or is it the true mystery?Review"The most audacious crime-fiction novel of 2012 is also a debut: Ariel S. Winter's "The Twenty-Year Death," a hat-trick of linked books written in a pastiche of genre-masters Georges Simenon, Raymond Chandler and Jim Thompson. The work's linking character, Shem Rosenkrantz, is first encountered in France in 1931, married to a beautiful woman with connections to a killer hunted by an Inspector Maigret-like detective. Ten years later, he and his wife are in Southern California—she now a fear-ridden movie star, he a philandering author, with their travails watched by a Philip Marlowe-style private eye. Rosenkrantz takes the narrator's role for the final section, set in 1951 Maryland, where the washed-up writer, in a Thompson-like mode, returns to his hometown in hopes of a life-saving legacy. Mr. Winters's superb mimicries avoid stylistic excess and cut to the dark heart of the matter." – The Wall Street Journal"...it’s difficult not to feel a little spellbound by “The Twenty-Year Death.” In the final oddly triumphant image of Shem — “And I grinned all the way” — I thought I could glimpse the author’s giddy glance back at his achievement here: outrageous, obsessive, playful. Such qualities should win over aficionados of the writers emulated here — and make them fans of this fresh new voice in crime fiction." – Washington Post"Hard Case Crime originals are notable for capturing the feel of pulp classics without slavish imitation—which makes this first novel somewhat unusual. Winter, a “literary detective” and former bookseller, tells an epic tale in the form of three novels written in the style of three different crime-fiction legends. Book 1, Malniveau Prison, channels Georges Simenon as Chief Inspector Pelleter tries to deduce how a murdered prisoner escaped the prison walls. Book 2, The Falling Star, is the Chandleresque story of a private eye, Dennis Foster, who’s hired to reassure a paranoid movie star and maybe take the rap for a murder. A recurring character in both books is Shem Rosenkrantz, an American writer who first seeks seclusion in France and then squanders his talents in Hollywood. In book 3, Police at the Funeral, Rosenkrantz takes over the narration with the voice of a washed-up Jim Thompson protagonist, and, as he unravels, we see how the stories are stitched together. This is audacious and astonishingly executed.Winter understands the difference between mimicry and interpretation and opts for the latter, capturing the writers’ voices, not merely their vocal tics. What might seem at first like an amusing exercise for crimefiction buffs becomes by the end immersive, exhilarating, and revelatory." — Keir Graff Booklist Starred Review“Bold, innovative, and thrilling – The Twenty-Year Death crackles with suspense and will keep you up late.” - Stephen King“Not content with writing one first novel like ordinary mortals, Ariel Winter has written three – and in the style of some of the most famous crime writers of all time for good measure. It's a virtuoso act of literary recreation that's both astonishingly faithful and wildly, audaciously original. One hell of a debut.” - James Frey“The Twenty-Year Death is a bravura debut, ingenious and assured, and a fitting tribute to the trio of illustrious ghosts who are looking – with indulgence, surely – over Ariel Winter’s shoulder.” - John Banville“The Twenty-Year Death is an absolute astonishment. Ariel S. Winter manages to channel three iconic crime writers and pull off a riveting story of a two-decade ruination in which it is the things not said that somehow have the loudest echoes.” - Peter Straub “As an old-school fan of Georges Simenon, I read MALNIVEAU PRISON with awe and delight.” - Alice Sebold on Book 1 of The Twenty-Year Death“Expertly summoning the most sinuous strains of Chandler, THE FALLING STAR sinks you into its dark, sleek world.” - Megan Abbott on Book 2 of The Twenty-Year Death“If ever there was a born writer, Mr. Winter is one…Mr. Winter's work is sharp, smart, original, intensely interesting and ingenious.” - Stephen Dixon“A tour de force, or rather three different, ingeniously interwoven, tours de force. An exciting book that will make many commuters miss their stop.” - Richard Vinen“The Twenty-Year Death is an exceptionally ambitious, inventive crime novel that echoes three classic authors while extending the idea of what a crime novel can do. The scope and versatility are breathtaking. Bravo to Ariel S. Winter and Hard Case Crime.” - David Morrell “As distinguished a first-novel in the noir fiction genre as any I know of. Indeed, it is three novels in one, and each is in its own way a tour de force. If this is the level of excellence that Winter can achieve at the very start of his career, then his future in this genre is unlimited.” -"John T. Irwin This isn’t a first novel so much as a series of three discrete but interrelated first novels, each written (with apologies from the author) in the style of a different iconic thriller writer—Georges Simenon, Raymond Chandler, and Jim Thompson, respectively. This is a bold, not to say supremely cheeky, conceit—and if Winter hasn’t completely channeled the hard hearts and gimlet styles of these dark, departed legends, the good news is that he delivers something even better: a hell of a lot of fun. The noir triptych is nominally linked by the presence of an alcoholic (but of course!) American writer, Shem Rosenkrantz, who remains largely—if menacingly—in the background for the first two installments before emerging (in first person) center stage in the last, best story. Set in the fictitious Verargent, France, circa 1931, the first book, Malniveau Prison, revolves around the mysterious death of a prisoner—the father of one Clothilde-ma-Fleur Meprise, Rosenkrantz’s beautiful wife. (Along the way, some children—and Clothilde herself—go missing.) The search for the killer leads to a mysterious psychopath with a penchant for torturing tots, as well as a coverup at the titular prison. In the second, The Falling Star, set in 1941, Rosenkrantz is a womanizing L.A. screenwriter on a self-destructive slide. His wife, now working under the name Chloë Rose, is a successful but unstable starlet who suspects she’s being followed. A suitably laconic Chandlerian PI, Dennis Foster, is enlisted to help the troubled star—but is he really being set up for a homicidal fall? In the third, and arguably darkest, tale, Police at the Funeral, it’s 1951 in Calvert, Md., and Rose has been institutionalized, leaving Rosenkrantz—now a remorseful has-been—roiling in the tide of his boozy dissolution. “Yeah, I’d always gotten a raw deal, and I was too pathetic to do anything about it, and I hated myself for that” pretty much sums up the self-inflicted purgatory this antihero wallows in. The stories work wonderfully well individually, but taken together create a tapestry of associations and reflections, sort of like mirrors trained on other mirrors. The whole, as they say, is greater than the sum of its parts. Along the way, Winter manages to deliver more than a few winking nods to genre tropes without ever descending into the arch or the obvious. Though there’s clearly something meta (not to say postmodern) about the whole endeavor, Winter never loses touch with his genre heart; the books practically radiate grassroots passion. No, he does not entirely capture Chandler’s verbal color or masterful use of metaphor (but who does). Nor does he completely conjure up Thompson’s furious fusion of horror and hilarity (but who does). He comes damn close to capturing Simenon’s slick, spare procedural vibe. But in the end all these comparisons are, yes, odious—because Winter has created something more than a facile feat of literary ventriloquism. He has written a truly affecting and suspenseful triple treat that transcends the formal gimmick at its heart. Agent: Chelsea Lindman, Nicholas Ellison Agency. (Aug.) Reviewed by J.I. Baker, who is the author of The Empty Glass, which Blue Rider Press will publish in July." –* Publishers Weekly“A pastiche of a legendary crime writer.” – Daily Express*“It's been 573 years since Johannes Gutenberg came up with movable type, so chances of a concept being truly original would seem slim. But Ariel S. Winter — a writer from Baltimore, has pulled it off.” – Detroit News Views: 39
The third book in the popular Lane Winslow mystery series by an author the Globe and Mail has called a "writer to watch."It's early spring of 1947 in idyllic King's Cove, and the Hughes ladies, mère et filles, are gardening and sorting through the jars of food that have been put up for the winter. But while cleaning up after the roof of their root cellar has caved in slightly, they are horrified to discover a small skeletal hand embedded in the mess. Panicked, they call Lane Winslow, the ex-British secret service agent, and, not without some misgivings about the state of their tense relationship, Lane calls Inspector Darling.Before long the police crew discover the body of a young child buried almost 40 years before. Who is the child, and why has it not been buried in the local cemetery? Inspector Darling, already busy dealing with a teenage girl who has gone on a destructive rampage at a local mill, asks Lane for help in unearthing the... Views: 39
From USA Today bestselling author A. Gardner comes the latest deadly delicious Poppy Peters installment... Poppy Peters, sometimes-sleuth and recent pastry school graduate, is soaking up the southern sun as the new official pastry chef of Magnolia Harbor Inn and Spa. But the sunny tourist town of Gator Bay is anything but pleasant when a country music star turns up dead in one of the hotel rooms...after eating one of Poppy's pastries! Ready to do anything to prove her tasty strawberry tartlets aren't to blame, Poppy's search for the killer takes her everywhere from a local fish n' fry to an abandoned gator farm. With the help of her kitchen mate Bree, an old flame, and a not-so-sweet cat named Muffin, Poppy finds herself wrapped up in a hurricane of clues. But which ones lead to the killer? Poppy must solve the riddle quickly or else she too might be fed a bite of a deadly dessert. Views: 39
ONE SECRET WOULDN'T CHANGE THEIR PAST - BUT IT COULD SHATTER THEIR FUTURE Detective Cruz Montoya never knew why his wife, Meg, suddenly ended their happy marriage. But now he's not leaving her side until he catches the person ruthlessly stalking her. That means turning Meg's new life inside out and challenging her attempts to keep his investigation - and his body - at arm's length. Cruz never dreamed Meg's anguished bravery would bring their unresolved past back with a vengeance. And make the desire between them burn even hotter. Then Meg raises the stakes when she reveals the real reason she walked away. Cruz wants answers and to sort out their future. But first he has to outsmart an obsessed killer who can't wait to ensure they don't have one[unknown-8230]. Views: 39
Two headstrong, single-minded agents, one incredibly fiery passion, can they stay alive long enough to see where it leads? Special Agent Taber Kysenzki is the DEA's bad boy, he has no qualms of straddling the line of right and wrong, doing whatever necessary to get the job done. But when he botches up an undercover operation, he's faced with a woman unlike any he's met before. She saves his life but doesn't deign to give him the time of day. He'd heard rumours of an agent with his reputation in the ATF but hadn't met her until today. Special Agent Serefina LeBenoit is the ATF's equivalent to Kysenzki. She knows all about him, how he goes through women and she doesn't have any desire to be another notch on his belt. She has a rule of not sleeping with certain men, he fits that criteria. All that changes one night a few months after their first volatile meeting, when he tracks her down in a bar in New Mexico. Circumstances bring them together... Views: 39
