Crime Noir

From its launch in 1920 until its demise in 1951, the magazine Black Mask published pulp crime fiction. The first hard-boiled detective stories appeared on its pages. Never before in audio, these vintage stories are the darkest of the dark, and the best of the best.

Crime fiction fans old and new will delight in rediscovering these taut, character-rich, heart-stopping tales, now on audio for the first time.

Tippy the triceratops was once a little girl's imaginary friend, a dinosaur detective who could help her make sense of the world. But when her father died, Tippy fell into the Stillreal, the underbelly of the Imagination, where discarded ideas go when they're too real to disappear. Now, he passes time doing detective work for other unwanted ideas - until Tippy runs into The Man in the Coat, a nightmare monster who can do the impossible: kill an idea permanently. Now Tippy must overcome his own trauma and solve the case, before there's nothing left but imaginary corpses.

Inspector Maigret believes a man he convicted may not be guilty after all—and so hatches an audacious plan to save him before he is condemned to death. A man escapes out of the High Surveillance wing of the most infamous penitentiary in Paris. Members of the Police Judiciaire see him, but no...

Southend-on-Sea, Essex: Detective Sergeant Tomek Bowen — driven, dogged, and haunted by the death of his brother — is called to one of the most shocking crime scenes he has ever seen. A man has been ritualistically murdered and dumped in an allotment near the local airport. Early investigations indicate this was a man with a past. A past that earned him many enemies. But when another victim is found murdered under similar circumstances, it becomes clear that Bowen is on the trail of a serial offender.

A short novel from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author, featuring DI Logan McRae and DCI Roberta Steel. CID isn’t what it used to be… It’s a been a bad week for acting Detective Inspector Logan McRae. Every time his unit turns up anything interesting, DCI Steel’s Major...

In Il rosario di madreperla, Valerio Molinaro dipinge il ritratto affascinante e nel contempo inquietante di Riccardo Gaston, un investigatore privato solitario e cinico, che soffre di dipendenza da alcol. Affronta la vita con la rassegnazione di chi ha perso tutto e durante una “notte bianca” a Roma, mentre è all’Ikea per regalare alla moglie una libreria, si imbatte in una situazione pericolosa: una rapina nel negozio. Tutto avviene all’improvviso e Gaston si scopre suo malgrado l'antieroe per eccellenza, riuscendo a salvare Elisa, una giovane donna tenuta in ostaggio dai criminali.

Un ex cronista di nera, una morte sospetta, un figlio in bilico. Dario Corbo torna a indagare, ma stavolta è la sua stessa vita a essere in gioco… Giulia, la sua ex moglie, muore investita in circostanze ambigue. Il figlio Luca è sotto processo. E troppe ombre si allungano sulla campagna toscana. Per Dario Corbo è tempo di indagini scomode e molto personali. Un noir teso e malinconico, dove l'ironia non salva e il passato torna a bussare con violenza.

When Sherlock Holmes defeats Professor James Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls, he believes the “Napoleon of Crime” is finished. Then, in the pocket of a discarded coat, he finds the Professor’s private journal—and everything he thought he knew begins to unravel. Holmes opens not a memoir but a manifesto. In its pages lies the answer to the question: why would a calculating mind like Moriarty’s, knowing Holmes is a formidable fighter, choose close-quarters combat above a chasm?

When the death of a reclusive real estate mogul is ruled a heart attack, private investigator Thomas Kaine smells something fouler than the Dunsmore sewers. The man had secrets—powerful ones. And a deed. A single forgotten property deed that could unravel a decades-old web of corruption. As Kaine digs deeper, he finds himself entangled with city officials, land sharks, and a woman in black who plays both sides of the moral line. The deeper he goes, the more dangerous it gets. The ledgers don’t just expose the guilty—they tempt the desperate.

Personne ne connaît vraiment Vanda, cette fille un peu paumée qui vit seule avec son fils Noé dans un cabanon au bord de l'eau, en marge de la ville. Une dizaine d'année plus tôt elle se rêvait artiste, mais elle est devenue femme de ménage en hôpital psychiatrique. Entre Vanda et son gamin de six ans, qu'elle protège comme une louve, couve un amour fou qui exclut tout compromis.

Antonio Ricci, giornalista genovese appassionato di fotografia, acquista una Leica D7 usata, ma non immagina che alcune misteriose fotografie trovate nella memory card lo trascineranno in un'indagine sulla scomparsa di una ragazza e nel recupero di tessere essenziali della propria infanzia cancellate da un dramma familiare. Con l'aiuto di Laura, una ricercatrice universitaria con cui sviluppa un legame profondo, Antonio si trova coinvolto in un intrigo che potrebbe costare la vita a entrambi.

Who is Claire Gravesend? So wonders PI Lee Crowe when he finds her dead, in a fine cocktail dress, on top of a Rolls Royce, in the most dangerous neighborhood in San Francisco. Claire's mother, Olivia, is one of the richest people in California. She doesn't believe the coroner: her daughter did not kill herself. Olivia hires Crowe, who - having just foiled a federal case against a cartel kingpin - is eager for distraction. But the questions about the Gravesend family pile up fast.

Suspended from duty, Detective Frølich is working as a private investigator when his girlfriend's colleague asks for his help with a female asylum seeker who the authorities are about to deport. She claims to have a sister in Norway and fears that returning to her home country will mean instant death. Frølich quickly discovers the whereabouts of the young woman's sister, but things become increasingly complex when she denies having a sibling, and Frølich is threatened off the case by the police.

One-time socialite Maud Warner polishes up the rags of her once-glittering existence and bluffs her way into a signature New York restaurant on a sunny October day. When she shoots Sun Sunderland, the "Pope of Finance", as he lunches with "accountant to the stars" Burt Sklar - the man she's accused for years of stealing her mother's fortune and leaving her family in ruins - she deals the first card in her high-stakes plan for revenge.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Chosen Ones by Howard Linskey. Eva Dunbar wakes in a large metal box. She has no idea who has taken her. She has no way out.... Eva isn't the first young woman to disappear. Detective Ian Bradshaw, heading up the search, has no leads - and precious little time. When at last a body is found, the police hope the tragic discovery might at least provide a clue that will help them finally find the kidnapper. But then they identify the body - and realise the case is more twisted than they ever imagined....

When Harden Campbell wakes cold and beaten in a dirt-floor cell, he finds only three other things in the room with him: the mutilated body of his good friend, an ancient typewriter, and a stack of blank paper, the top sheet of which has a single typed sentence: "Tell me a story." He knows the message is from Coyote, his brilliant, megalomaniacal roommate whose lust for power and reverence has recently revealed him for the true sociopath he is.

Harry Bosch searches for the truth in the new thriller from #1 NYT bestselling author Michael Connelly An NPR Best Book of 2017A Times Critics' Top Book of 2017 A Barnes & Noble Best Book of 2017A South Florida Sun-Sentinel Best Mystery of 2017 An Amazon Book of the Month Harry Bosch, exiled...

Warszawski licealista Maks Hajder w trakcie rodzinnej kłótni wpada w szał i atakuje nożem domowników. Jego rodzice giną na miejscu, a młodszy brat w stanie krytycznym trafia do szpitala. Przybyłe na miejsce służby zastają Maksa siedzącego spokojnie na podłodze i otoczonego zakrwawionymi ciałami. Sprawia on wrażenie, jakby nie zdawał sobie sprawy z tego, co zrobił. Tydzień po zatrzymaniu Maks targa się na własne życie i zapada w śpiączkę. Gdy odzyskuje przytomność, początkowo nie potrafi przypomnieć sobie szczegółów tamtego tragicznego dnia.

Hazel McNamara is on the phone with her husband Darragh when she hears the screech of tyres. He screams her name - then, silence. The jeep he was driving is soon found, overturned in a field off the motorway, but Darragh has vanished. As days pass and the Gardaí investigate, Hazel's carefully...

Brand-new stories by: Daniel Woodrell, Matthew Eck, Catherine Browder, Nancy Pickard, John Lutz, J. Malcolm Garcia, Kevin Prufer, Linda Rodriguez, Nadia Pflaum, Phong Nguyen, Andres Rodriguez, and others. Kansas City: where East and West collide, where naked ambition meets broken dreams, where blues and the night go together like rye whiskey, vermouth, and bitters. Yes, Kansas City is a surprising place of grit, gore, and betrayal, at least in the imaginations of our diverse lineup of contributors.