New Mystery Suspense

Previously uncollected and unpublished: new short stories from a master of psychological suspense. New and uncollected tales of murder, mischief, magic and madness. Ruth Rendell was an acknowledged master of psychological suspense: these are 10 (and a quarter) of her most chillingly compelling short stories, collected here together for the first time.

Shrouded in a world of intrepid agents and fatal assassins, a fearless operative dares to escape his allegiance to the cause. When his renown rises after successfully orchestrating a string of daring train raids, Confederate scout Drouet Broussard is inducted into a covert league loyal to a lethal cause - the Knights of the Golden Circle. With war raging, Broussard’s assignments become successively bolder and involve him in the ultimate mission: A presidential assassination.

When Sherlock Holmes finds Doctor Watson dead in their shared apartment, he is arrested by the London police. He is suspected of murdering his best friend. A seamless chain of evidence points to this, and even Mrs. Hudson is convinced of the master detective's guilt.

Novelist Patrick Hamlin has come to Los Angeles to oversee the film adaptation of one of his books and try to impress his wife and daughter back home with this last-ditch attempt at professional success. But California is not as he imagined. Drought, wildfire, and corporate corruption are everywhere, and the company behind a mysterious new brand of synthetic water seems to be at the root of it all. Patrick finds an unlikely partner in Cassidy Carter—the cynical starlet of his film—and the two investigate the sun-scorched city.

New Year's Eve has always been a special time for the small town, Holiday Junction, with its annual tradition, the Sparkle Ball, along with the town Merry Maker spreading joy and cheer to all its residents. But this year, the joy is short-lived when local nuisance and troublemaker, Hillary Stevens, is found murdered in holiday town’s mini-village.

With sole custody of her brother, Kennedy has more to worry about than the antics of his favorite YouTube creators. But when one called Kidd launches an absurd challenge—with a large payday—to celebrate ten million subscribers, she winds up playing high-stakes hide-and-seek in the mall. After the game gets dangerous, she has to wonder: Is someone really out for the ultimate unsubscribe?

I would do anything for my loving husband Mark, and I couldn’t be happier in his ocean-view home. I just wish we didn’t live near his possessive sister, Sarah. So when I’m given a winning lottery ticket, it should be our chance to start afresh somewhere new. But the publicity is too risky; if my past comes to light, I’ll end up behind bars....

The Yarn Studio’s Seaside Knitters have their hands full designing new classes for vacationers, as well as testing each other’s originality by creating a single blanket together. Birdie’s teenage granddaughter is also visiting for the season. Meanwhile, the Lazy Lobster and Soup Café’s local fare is gaining newfound attention with the addition of a well-known Boston chef. It’s sure to be another beautiful, busy time in their tight-knit town… Until Birdie spots a huge blaze from her balcony one evening, frighteningly close to knitter Cass’s lobster business.

Do you have any idea what the people you know are capable of? Best-selling author of All My Lies Are True, Dorothy Koomson, asks how well you can really know your neighbours.

For many years, during the "far out" 1960s, Long John Nebel interviewed hundreds of "way out" people on his free-wheeling radio/TV show in New York City. This fascinating, provocative book is the culmination of at least 10,000 hours of radio interviews, in which Nebel and his guests explore topics such as ESP, UFOs, strange Earth creatures, time travel, reincarnation, and unusual inventions, healing methods, and approaches to life.

To Do: 1. Buy diapers (double as many as I think necessary). 2. Plan Laurie's one-year birthday party. 3. Rest. 4. Do NOT get involved in another mystery… 5. Okay…solve said mystery before twins are born!

When old bones are discovered buried beside an A road, it becomes clear that Leon Martin—dubbed "The Ken Doll Killer" by the tabloid press—may not have taken his life 21 years ago. As Boyd investigates the old case file, it becomes clear that there may be new bodies buried at lay-bys around the country—more than that, something incredible was overlooked by the original investigating team.

Remi and her sisters, Maeve and Eliana, have a knack for stumbling into murder mysteries. And after a killer family camping trip last year, they’re back together for a Halloween they’ll never forget. Remi is living her best life in Seattle until Eliana’s husband, Chad, who refused to sign their divorce papers, disappears on the spookiest night of the year. Eliana swears she has no idea where he is, though her obvious motive and weird behavior don’t really weigh in her favor. Nor does the severed finger they find in his house…

Dahlia 16 sees her face in every crowd. She's nothing special - just one of 5,000 girls created from a single genome to work for the greater good of the city. Meeting Trigger 17 changes everything. He thinks she's interesting. Beautiful. Unique. Which means he must be flawed. When Dahlia can't stop thinking about him - when she can't resist looking for him, even though that means breaking the rules - she realizes she's flawed, too. But if she's flawed, then so are all her identicals. And any genome found to be flawed will be recalled.

When a mysterious client asks former Delta Force operator Case Lee to investigate a massive New Guinea gold discovery, the job quickly unravels into an incredible world of spies, terrorists, and tribal headhunters. Case, with a sense he's being played, walks away from the entire mess. Until life-threatening events pull him back in. This time, he's not taking any prisoners.

After the annual parade of Christmas presents in Tinker's Cove, Maine, has ended, Lucy Stone and her daughter Elizabeth are ready to ring in the new year in style. Elizabeth has won mother/daughter winter makeovers in Manhattan from Jolie magazine! But the all-expenses-paid trip is bound to have some hidden costs - and one of them is murder.

Beneath the quiet streets of Bucksport, Maine, an ancient darkness stirs. When a pair of tourists stumble upon a historic theater promising an immersive colonial play, they are swept into a nightmarish performance from which there is no escape. As the curtain rises, the line between stage and reality vanishes, while something unseen watches from the wings, waiting to claim them.

Mr. Edison has just invented a long-burning light bulb, but he's keeping a huge secret: he's also discovered time travel. In fact, he built his own time machine. The kids get an even bigger surprise when a young Mr. Crowe walks into Edison's laboratory - as his assistant! The older and dangerous Mr. Crowe is sneaking around Menlo Park, too, with plans to destroy the time machine. If he does, George and Gracie will be stuck in 1879...forever. The twins need Mr. Edison's help. But can they stop Crowe in time?

There's a new boy at Shadyside High School, and he's stolen the hearts of all the girls. Good-looking, athletic Ross Gabriel is the kind of guy that every girl wants to date - including best friends Janie, Eve, and Faith. They've even made a bet on which one of them he'll go out with first. Ross dates a lot of girls - and one by one, they're all murdered. It looks like going out with Ross means flirting with a gruesome and horrifying fate.

Baron Collingwood's eldest son and heir to the title dies from a mysterious illness. Shortly thereafter, his brother, the second in line, also falls ill. His condition takes a dramatic turn for the worse, leaving doctors and police stumped. The Baron thus turns to Holmes and Watson for help.