Humor Thriller

When Ellison Russell, reluctant finder of bodies, chairs a gala in conjunction with the museum's Chinese funerary exhibit, she expects disaster. So, she's not remotely surprised when a body turns up. Ellison is willing to leave the investigation to the police till an attempt is made on her life. Now she's juggling evading a killer, her aunt's overly-amorous beau, her dog's new love interest, and Mother's displeasure. With bodies piling up, if Ellison's not careful, staying alive might be impossible.

Kelp has a plan, and John Dortmunder knows that means trouble. His friend Kelp is a jinx, and his schemes, no matter how well intentioned, tend to spiral quickly out of control. But this one, Kelp swears, is airtight. He read it in a book.

In county lock-up for a traffic charge, Kelp came across a library of trashy novels by an author named Richard Stark. The hero is a thief named Parker whose plans, unlike Kelp and Dortmunder's, always work out. In one, Parker orchestrates a kidnapping so brilliant that, Kelp thinks, it would have to work in real life.

Problem number one: Bootsy Howard. Davis Way Cole lives a (relatively) quiet, (somewhat) simple, and (completely) witch-free life with her husband and twin daughters on the 29th floor of the Bellissimo Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. Until Bootsy Howard shows up demanding a million dollars. Problem number two: Princess Smucker. What was marketing thinking when they booked the Southern Canine Association's annual dog show at the Bellissimo? And what was Davis thinking when she agreed to let a dog stay with her? For a week? In her home?

There's going to be trouble. Andy Caplet's wife goes away, someone is out to get him, and he loses nearly everything in a storm. Amazing both himself and his unhuman friend, Inspector Hobbes, he heroically rescues flood victims and uncovers something shocking. Is Andy being set up for blackmail by the apparently charming young woman who attempts to seduce him, or is something even more sinister afoot? Hobbes certainly believes so, and he's getting worried.

Cantankerous octogenarian Paul Jacobson must solve a series of murders while struggling with the problems of his short-term memory loss. Paul learns about the homeless community, disreputable art dealers and the beach scene in Venice Beach, California, and must dance a geezer two-step to stay out of the clutches of the police and the bad guys.

On the weather front, category four Hurricane Kevin took a last-minute left and is headed straight for the Bellissimo Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. In breaking news, undercover casino operative Davis Way has one foot out the evacuation door when 50 million dollars disappear, and in its place, a dead body. In other news, if forced to ride out the storm on the hotel's 13th-floor fortress, Davis won't be alone.

Landing a minor part in the Empire Theatre Eastbourne’s Christmas production of Cinderella, Charles Paris soon discovers that his main role is to gently introduce the show’s baffled American star, Kenny Polizzi, to the bizarre customs of English pantomime. During their sessions in the local pub, Charles finds himself increasingly caught up in Polizzi’s tangled affairs. But Charles is about to be far more involved than he might wish when he stumbles across a body beneath Eastbourne Pier.

Deputy coroner Mattie Winston knows a thing or two about dead bodies. That's why she's on the case of Derrick Ames, a high school math teacher stabbed to death with a barbecue fork straight to the heart. Sure, she's turned up some motives and a few suspects, but nothing adds up. Especially when the evidence points to Ames's teenage son. Newly pregnant Mattie can't believe it, even as her own long-estranged father may be following her.

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Saffy Huntley-Oliver is an intelligent and glamorous socialite; she also happens to be a proficient serial killer. For the past fifteen years, she’s hunted down and dispatched rapists, murderers, domestic abusers—bad men all. But leading a double life has left her lonely—dating’s tough when your boyfriend might turn out to be your next victim. Saffy thinks she’s finally found a truly good man in Jonathan Desrosiers, a true-crime podcaster who’s amassed legions of diehard fans for cracking cold cases and bringing justice to victims.

When Houston reporter Lucy Resnick cashes in her retirement to buy her grandmother's farm in Buttercup, Texas, she's looking forward to a simple life as a homesteader. But Lucy has barely finished putting up her first batch of Killer Dewberry Jam when an oil exploration truck rolls up to the farm and announces plans to replace her broccoli patch with an oil derrick.

Stanley Hopkins cannot resist the invitation from a honey-voiced US attorney asking him to track down the source of photographs of a young dance major abducted five years earlier from her apartment in Clarkeston, Georgia. A journalist has stumbled across newly posted pictures of Diana Cavendish on the Internet, apparently taken just days before she disappeared with her boyfriend.

A man with dark thoughts on his mind is racing along the remote snowy roads of Hurmevaara in Finland when there is flash in the sky and something crashes into the car. That something turns about to be a highly valuable meteorite. With euro signs lighting up the eyes of the locals, the unexpected treasure is temporarily placed in a neighbourhood museum, under the watchful eye of a priest named Joel.

As a shaky truce between suburban gangsters starts to unravel, schlubby civilian Scott Clark has other things on his mind: if he can't afford to buy out his ex-father-in-law, Scott's about to lose the only house he's ever called home. In the red-hot urban housing market, he doesn't have a chance - until he and his best friends take the desperate measure of staging a fake drive-by shooting on the property to push down the asking price. But then Scott's mobster-posturing stunt attracts the attention of the real criminals.

In this delightful tale by New York Times best-selling author Ann B. Ross, America's favorite senior citizen determines to reunite two troubled souls before it's too late. Miss Julia reckons Mr. J.D. Pickens is the key to solving all of Hazel Marie's problems, especially the female kind. But how can Miss Julia coax the savvy PI back to town - and back into the arms of her 40-something friend Hazel Marie?

"Je tournai la tête vers lui et un nouveau sourire naquit sur mes lèvres. Ils étaient de plus en plus nombreux ces derniers jours. - Parfait, répondis-je. Je claquai des doigts au rythme de la chanson qui passait dans les enceintes de la voiture. Une étincelle attira mon attention. Une étincelle. Dans mes doigts. C'était tout à fait logique. Je claquai à nouveau et cette fois une flamme se mit à danser au creux de ma main. - Je crois qu'il se passe un truc, dis-je.

Brünhilde Blum. International gesuchte Mörderin. Liebevolle Mutter zweier Töchter. Seit Monaten auf der Flucht. In Hamburg will sie zur Ruhe kommen, einen Neuanfang wagen, und fast, so scheint es, gelingt es ihr auch. Ausgestattet mit einer neuen Identität und etwas Geld wohnt sie mit ihren Töchtern in einem wunderschönen Fischerhäuschen an der Elbe und arbeitet als Aushilfe in einem Bestattungsinstitut. Alles ist gut. Bis zu dem Tag, an dem sie für ihr neues Leben bezahlen muss – denn der Mann, dem sie das neue Glück zu verdanken hat, fordert ein, was sie ihm versprochen hat.

Eine Mörderin auf der Flucht. Brünhilde Blum wacht eines Tages in einem Albtraum auf. Einer der fünf Menschen, die sie umbringen musste, taucht plötzlich wieder auf. Bei einer Exhumierung auf einem Innsbrucker Friedhof werden in einem Sarg zwei Köpfe und vier Beine gefunden. Nur eine Person kommt als Täterin infrage: die Bestatterin, die die Toten damals eingebettet hat. Blum muss fliehen, und sie muss ihre Kinder zurücklassen.

Blum ist Bestatterin. Doch plötzlich gerät dieses Leben durch den Unfalltod ihres Mannes, eines Polizisten, aus den Fugen. Blum trauert, will sich aber mit ihrem Schicksal nicht abfinden. Durch Zufall findet sie heraus, dass mehr hinter dem Unfall ihres Mannes steckt, dass fünf einflussreiche Menschen seinen Tod wollten.

All it takes is a few underhanded moves by a tough ex-cop named Eppick to pull thief John Dortmunder into a game he never wanted to play. With no choice, he sets out on a perilous treasure hunt for a long-lost gold and jewel-studded chess set once intended as a birthday gift for the last Romanov czar. Success is not inevitable with Dortmunder leading the attack, but he's nothing if not persistent, and some gambit or other might just stumble into a winning move.