Comedy Crime Fiction

Hailed as The Awl’s 2012’s novel to anticipate, this glorious debut stars hippie detectives, a singular city, and an MFA student on the run. On a residential Bay Area block struggling with the collision of gentrifier condos and longtime residents, stymied recent MFA grad...

A devastating depiction of obsessive love and a haunting portrait of a captivating but dangerous woman. When the young Chevalier des Grieux first sets eyes on the exquisitely beautiful and charming Manon Lescaut they fall passionately in love. But his happiness turns to bitter despair when he...

Murray Tepper would say that he is an ordinary New Yorker who is simply trying to read the newspaper in peace. But he reads while sitting behind the wheel of his parked car, and his car always seems to be in a particularly desirable parking spot. Not surprisingly, he is regularly interrupted by...

The latest roaring, rollicking adventure from Edgar Award-winner Joe R. Lansdale, featuring odd-couple P.I.s Hap and Leonard. Hap and Leonard are an unlikely pair--Hap, a self-proclaimed white trash rebel, and Leonard--a tough-as-nails Black, gay, Vietnam vet and Republican--but they're the...

The first ever collection of short stories by Jaime Cortez, Gordo is set in a migrant workers camp near Watsonville, California in the 1970s. A young, probably gay, boy named Gordo puts on a wrestler’s mask and throws fists with a boy in the neighborhood, fighting his own tears as he tries...

Cheaters tells nine short stories, each discussing a different shade of infidelity in today's times when societal norms are still the same-archaic. However, the urge to explore and experiment amongst the youth is at an all-time high. This friction, if not handled well, could lead to unexpected...

Two dumb, wannabe criminals bite off more than they can chew when they abduct a schoolgirl from a particularly modern, angular suburban house. In the mould of Elmore Leonard or early Tarantino Blockhouse Blues and the Elmore Beast is a distinctly Australian story about kidnapping, obsession, and architecture. So, if you enjoy your crime gritty, your humour dark and dry and don't object to a little colourful language, you’ll love Jack Stroke’s debut novel Blockhouse Blues and the Elmore Beast.

Björn Diemel wird von seiner Frau gezwungen, ein Achtsamkeits-Seminar zu besuchen, um seine Ehe ins Reine zu bringen, sich als guter Vater zu beweisen und die unausgeglichene Work-Life-Balance wieder herzustellen. Denn als erfolgreicher Anwalt hat Björn sehr wenig Zeit für seine Familie. Der Kurs trägt Früchte und Björn kann das Gelernte sogar in seinen Job integrieren, allerdings anders als gedacht. Denn als sein Mandant, ein brutaler und mehr als schuldiger Mafiaboss, beginnt, ihm ernstliche Probleme zu bereiten, bringt er ihn einfach um - und zwar nach allen Regeln der Achtsamkeit.

Das Leben kann ganz schön hart sein, findet Loretta Luchs. Der Job an der Sex-Hotline ist anstrengend, der Freund zu Hause erst recht. Um mal in Ruhe nachzudenken, zieht sie für ein paar Sommertage in den Schrebergarten ihrer Freundin Diana. Für Loretta ist die Kolonie "Saftiges Radieschen" das Paradies auf Erden. Selbst die ständige Präsenz von Muskelprotz Frank, der schneller redet als denkt, kann das Idyll nicht stören. Wohl aber die Tatsache, dass Parzellennachbar Uwe eines schönen Sommermorgens kopfüber in seiner Regentonne steckt - mausetot.

Los Angeles burglar Junior Bender has a rule about never taking a job that pays too well: In the criminal underworld, if you’re offered more money than a job is worth, someone is going to end up dead. But he’s bending his rule this one time because he and his girlfriend, Ronnie, are in desperate need of cash to hire a kidnapper to snatch Ronnie’s two-year-old son back from her ex. The whole thing is pretty complicated and has Junior on edge.

While transporting a woman to an insane asylum, Deputy Kopp discovers something deeply troubling about her story. Before she can investigate, another inmate bound for the asylum breaks free and tries to escape. In both cases, Constance runs instinctively toward justice. But the fall of 1916 is a high-stakes election year, and any move she makes could jeopardize Sheriff Heath's future - and her own. Although Constance is not on the ballot, her controversial career makes her the target of political attacks.

When hordes of people descend on the picturesque village of Nasely for the annual celebration of its most famous resident, murder mystery writer Agnes Crabbe, events take a dark turn as the festival opens with a shocking death. Each year the residents are outnumbered by crowds dressed as Crabbe’s lady detective, Millicent Cutter. The weekend is never a mild-mannered affair as fan club rivalries bubble below the surface, but tensions reach new heights when a second Crabbe devotee is found murdered. Though the police are quick to arrive on the scene, the facts are tricky to ascertain as the witnesses, suspects and victim are all dressed as Miss Cutter.

Aspiring chef Hannah Wendt has a multitude of talents - prowess in the kitchen and in the bedroom - but also a penchant for disposing of bothersome chefs. Wronged by those who steal her recipes, ridicule her weight, and denigrate her talents, Hannah has turned in her apron as sous chef and food stylist to plow new territory - her overpowering hunger for revenge. Hooked on how tasty payback can be, soon she is bumping off famous chefs who've burned her ego with spectacular culinary flair.

It was my father’s arrest that brought me here, although you could certainly say that I took the scenic route. Here is rehab, where Ben - the only son of a rich South Dublin banker - is piecing together the shattered remains of his life. Abruptly cut off, at the age of 27, from a life of heedless privilege, Ben flounders through a world of drugs and dead-end jobs, his self-esteem at rock bottom. Even his once-adoring girlfriend, Clio, is at the end of her tether. Then Ben runs into an old school friend who wants to cut him in on a scam.

Artist Jake Priestley has made quite a name for himself at a young age. Claiming the coveted Soul Flame Grand Prize of seven million euros had been more of a stroke of dumb luck than intentional tenacity. But that was nothing compared to the immense art event being held in Paris. As Jake and his team, The Chemical Collective, gear up for the big day ahead of them, there is nothing that will stop him from taking home the Grand Prize.

The landscape of contemporary Paris, replete with the best restaurants, the trendiest bars and clubs, is usually filled with the wealthy, the famous, and le rake or le rou, the charming, educated sophisticate with little or no conscience. Into this cushy world bursts Dr. Crandall Taylor - or rather the actor who plays him, the star of a dated American soap opera that is now one of the hottest prime-time shows in France. And this newfound fame, as enriching as it is unexpected, is not wasted on Crandall, eager to put his dark and often violent American past behind him and enjoy all the fruits and the women that Paris and fame have to offer him.

It's 1942, and war is raging in Europe and in the Pacific. The Japanese army is on Australia's doorstep, and the small coastal Queensland town of Maryborough is on full war footing. What they are not prepared for is the arrival in the town of a troupe of incompetent actors whose unjustifiably self-confident leader, William Power, is determined to bring his daring production of Titus Andronicus to the barbarians of rural Australia. Unfortunately for the Power Players, the only gift William Power has is a capacity for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Which is more powerful: romance or revenge? Mafia princess Angelina Amaro has only ever loved one man - and even that lone affair was never consummated. Why not? Because her would-be lover, Sal Martucci, fled into the Witness Protection Program after ratting out Big Paul, Angelina's father. But when Sal is discovered, a decade later, working as a bartender in Key West, the wildly dysfunctional Amaro clan heads south - one member with love on her mind, the others with murder in their hearts.

Through world wars and civil strife, the Bangor Express has never missed an issue, but now it is losing money, and Rob Cullen has absolutely no idea that he's the man to save it. It's been a long time since Rob had a real story to get his teeth into...just as well then that he can rely on the Express crew to back him up. They're like a family. A dysfunctional, highly unpopular and poverty-stricken family.

What happens when an intrepid band of thrill-seeking, rollicking Americans ventures out in search of adrenaline? They learn the hard way that having everything means you have that much more to lose. Orla, a beautiful and sharp-witted young Irish woman, saves the day, earning their loyalty. She proves to be a valuable addition to the globe-trekking crew on a high-stakes journey where discoveries unravel at every turn.