Detective Collection

The best mysteries have one thing in common: a memorable perpetrator. For every Sherlock Holmes or Sam Spade in noble pursuit, there's a Count Dracula, a Lester Leith, or a Jimmy Valentine. These are the rogues and villains who haunt our imaginations - and who often have more in common with their heroic counterparts than we might expect. Now, for the first time ever, Otto Penzler gathers the iconic traitors, thieves, con men, sociopaths, and killers who have crept through the mystery canon over the past 150 years, captivating and horrifying readers in equal measure.

For the first time ever in large print comes this brand new collection from Louis L'Amour, the legendary New York Times bestselling master of the short story. These unique tales from Louis L'Amour, one of America's greatest treasures, were originally published in magazines of his time. Revered...

Do you want to ignite your child's imagination with robotic companions and dimensional doorways? Step into a mind-bending universe of mystery! Transport your young listener (ages 8 - 12) into futuristic adventures where nothing is quite what it seems. These action-packed stories blend sci-fi wonder with clever detective work, perfect for capturing active imaginations. Each thrilling tale takes 10 - 15 minutes to finish. Blast Off into Adventure with "The Backward Clock.”

BODY IN THE WALL This place had been her home Now it was a crime scene The sooner Special Agent Macy Stark can sell her childhood home, the sooner she can escape her small town and shameful past—until she discovers a body in the wall and her childhood nightmares return. Handsome local Sheriff...

Now a New York Times bestselling series! Fresh off his success with the junior national soccer team, Leo K. Doyle is back in England and playing for the U16s, where he'll be a newbie all over again. Will Leo get any playing time? Can he work his way into a starting lineup filled with older...

The detective character, Sam Spade, was created by Dashiell Hammett for his crime novel The Maltese Falcon. Spade was a hard-boiled detective with cold detachment, a keen eye for detail and unflinching determination to achieve his own justice. The character is most closely associated with Humphrey Bogart who played Sam Spade in the third and most famous film version of The Maltese Falcon. In 1946, one of radio’s top producers (William Spier) brought “Sam Spade” to CBS radio starring newcomer Howard Duff with Lurene Tuttle.

This anthology of rare stories of crime and suspense brings together 13 tales from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction for the first time in book form, including a newly discovered Gervase Fen novella by Edmund Crispin that has never previously been published. With the Golden Age of detective fiction shining ever more brightly thanks to the recent reappearance of many forgotten crime novels, Bodies from the Library offers a rare opportunity to read lost stories from the first half of the twentieth century by some of the genre’s most accomplished writers.

“The undisputed king of the comic crime novel.” —Providence Journal “I guarantee Dorsey will never win the Nobel Prize for Literature—he’s far too funny.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch “If you’ve never read Dorsey, you need to start…You won’t be disappointed.” —Miami...

The Southside Restoration has been keeping Diana busy, but Jimmy knows it’s the phantoms in their past that are driving them apart. Jimmy agrees to act in a theatre production in an effort to draw closer, but a too-coincidental series of accidents won’t let his suspicions rest. Some more immediate phantom from their past is threatening more than their relationship–will Jimmy discover the threat in time?

L.A. Homicide Detective Peter Decker never wanted the perils of his job to touch his family. But now his two worlds have collided. A first year rookie with the LAPD's Hollywood Division, Cynthia Decker became a cop against her father, Peter Decker's, wishes. But police work is in her blood, and...

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Presumed Innocent comes a compelling new legal mystery featuring George Mason from Personal Injuries. Originally commissioned and published by The New York Times Magazine, this edition contains additional material. Life would seem to have gone...

The Sunshine State’s most lovable psychopath, Serge A. Storms, kills it in this zany adventure from the “compulsively irreverent and shockingly funny” (Boston Globe) king of mayhem, New York Times bestselling author Tim Dorsey. Serge and Coleman are back on the road, ready to hit the next...

Master of new noir Dennis Lehane magnificently evokes the dignity and savagery of working-class Boston in Darkness, Take My Hand, a terrifying tale of redemption. Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro’s latest client is a prominent Boston psychiatrist, running scared from a vengeful Irish mob. The...

Meet 13-year-old Agatha Oddly - a bold, determined heroine and the star of this stylish new detective series. The Secret Key. Agatha Oddlow has been a detective for as long as she can remember - she’s just been waiting for her first big case. And nothing gets bigger than saving the city of London from some strange goings-on.

An intelligent and madly entertaining debut novel reminiscent of The Crying of Lot 49, White Noise, and City of Glass that is at once a missing-person mystery, an exorcism of modern culture, and a wholly singular vision of contemporary womanhood from a terrifying and often funny voice of a new...

The twistiest murder mystery you are ever likely to read? A story about a family that does the unthinkable? Both? Or something else altogether? You think it will never happen to you. The doorbell. The policeman. The words that turn your world inside out: I'm afraid there’s been an incident...

A diamond dealer and his entire family have mysteriously disappeared from their sprawling Las Angeles manor, leaving the estate undisturbed and their valuables untouched. Investigating detective Decker is stumped--faced with a perplexing case riddled with dead ends. Then a second dealer is found...

“Dorsey’s brilliantly, profanely funny 11th novel…zips along like P.G. Wodehouse’s best work.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch Tim Dorsey’s outrageously zany, gleefully violent, and uproariously funny Nuclear Jellyfish marks the triumphant return of lovable, thrill-killing Florida...

An entertaining selection of Sherlock Holmes short stories narrated by renowned actors including Sir John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson.

Weird Tales magazine is known for launching a number of sub-genres of fiction—cosmic horror, swords & sorcery, dark fantasy, and others. It has also greatly added to existing genres like science fiction, horror, and—a personal favorite of editor Jonathan Maberry—weird mystery stories. Or, as they became known—occult detective tales.