Private Detective Fiction

New York Times bestselling author Marcia Muller is at her page-turning best in The Breakers, as she digs into a particularly disturbing corner of San Francisco's history--one that Sharon McCone may not escape alive. Sharon gets a request from her former neighbors the Curleys. Their usually...

1981 : Alice, six ans, fille d'une junkie anglaise de bonne famille, est enlevée en plein jour dans une ruelle du souk du Caire. 1998 : Saad Hanafi, milliardaire cairote issu de la pègre, demande au détective privé Makana de retrouver la star de son équipe de foot, Adil Romario, qui s'est volatilisé sans raison apparente. Makana, exilé politique soudanais qui vit chichement sur une awana, genre de péniche pittoresque et déglinguée, est un curieux choix : à part ses bonnes relations avec un commissaire local et un journaliste engagé, on ne peut pas dire qu'il soit bien introduit en ville.

They call him the gourmet detective; the only thing sharper than his mind is his palate. When chefs need a rare ingredient, an ancient wine, or simply a new idea to gain that extra Michelin-star boost, they come to the detective's cozy London office and plead for his help. For top-notch cooking, he is always happy to lend his taste buds to the cause.

A dog's love for her master provides the clues that the police need for solving the disappearance of a young woman who works for a multimillion dollar charitable foundation. Rob MacKay is asked by the owner of the foundation to find the woman. When police discover that twenty-eight million dollars are missing, the case becomes more complicated, exposing the sometimes sordid dealings of the Silicon Valley's tech community.

Wisecracking private detective Sam Rockwell is running for his life, but that doesn't keep him from taking the case of a Return who's slipped past Heaven's radar and overstayed his time on Earth. Together with his fiance, Amelia, Sam brawls and dances his way through San Francisco to unravel a zany mystery where nothing is what it seems at first blush.

Detective Chief Inspector John Shadow is doing his best to ignore the madness of York's annual Viking Festival when duty calls. The body of a wealthy businessman, who was playing the role of the Viking king, is found slain by his own ancient sword. The murder scene looks staged, but before Shadow can compile a list of people to question a second body is found. Shadow doesn't have to look far for suspects-the victims were by no means model citizens.

Hercule Poirot thought that retiring to a small village to do some gardening would bring his detective career to a halt. But when Roger Ackroyd's body is found in his study with a knife stabbed into him, Poirot takes on the case. Ackroyd, whose wealthy fiancee had just recently committed suicide, is hosting a dinner party for a swathe of guests one night when a friend comes to him in confidence and reveals that someone had been blackmailing his late fiancee. That is the last time anyone saw Mr. Ackroyd alive.

John "Slim" Hardy, heavy drinker and disgraced soldier turned bumbling private detective, is hired to investigate Ted Douglas, an investment banker who slips out of work every Friday to visit a desolate cove on the Lancashire coast. There, he walks to the shore, opens an old book, and begins to read aloud.

PI Matt Kowalski's first case is personal. When his uncle coerces him to investigate the brutal murder of a cousin he barely knew, he can hardly refuse - besides, he needs the money. Clues point him in many directions, including an ex-biker ice trafficker, two masked figures in a warehouse, and even the victim's fiancée, who may have wanted Matt's cousin out of her way. Now, Matt has unwittingly exposed those he loves to a ruthless black-racketeering syndicate, and he must track a killer before they take out his family.

Jeff Lyons, wealthy businessman and CEO of Lyons Media, hires PI Kowalski on unlimited expenses to find his missing daughter, Tamsin. The circumstances surrounding her disappearance are ominous: Her roommate has been murdered, and a man has threatened Tamsin's life. Nothing is as it seems - Kowalski finds himself in a race against time with a killer, as other players threaten to take Kowalski out of the game.

When a teenager disappears from an elite boarding school, local police throw the seemingly innocuous case to their neighborhood PI. Enter Jack Dixon: college dropout, ex-cop, and ex-cook. What should be a simple case quickly turns sour, pushing Jack into the path of Nordic biker cultists and vicious drug dealers. But the houseboat-dwelling PI is determined to find the truth - and the missing kid - even though his persistence leads him into a thorny tangle of drugs and violence that could rip his sleepy waterfront life apart.

As snow falls silently outside, settling on the spires and turrets of the ancient Cambridge colleges and the dark streets, and the shop windows gleam temptingly with delectable Christmas treats, Posie Parker, Private Detective, has cleared a small space in her hectic schedule to unravel a tragedy which occurred in her very own family.

Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services is a fixture in San Francisco at the dawn of a new century. While the future is unclear, Sabina and John know one thing for certain: they will protect their clients from flimflammers, thieves, and murderers, and do whatever it takes to run these dregs of society into the arms of the law. Sometimes, that requires a subtle touch. Professor A. Vargas, self-styled medium extraordinaire, and his partner Annabelle, use guile and trickery to swindle bereaved men and women eager to contact the spirits of deceased loved ones.

Privatdetektiv William Arrowood ist ein Mann vieler Talente - und einiger Laster. Die Tagelöhner und Straßenmädchen im armen South London können sich keinen besseren Detektiv leisten und kommen daher mit allen Anliegen zu ihm. Voller Verachtung und Neid blickt er über die Themse auf seinen bekannten Kollegen Sherlock Holmes und dessen betuchte Klientel. Auch Arrowoods neuester Fall scheint nicht geeignet zu sein, ihn berühmt zu machen: Eine junge Französin bittet darum, ihren verschwundenen Bruder aufzuspüren. Doch hinter dem simplen Auftrag verbergen sich weit mehr Geheimnisse und Leichen, als Arrowood für möglich hielt.

Tangled Roots is the first book in a series, featuring the Gent as the enigmatic sleuth from ENODO (Latin for analyse) agency. The Gent is the main character and the narrator. Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive. Following news of the death of his aunt, Brad Johnson, an American, travels to Manchester, England, researching his ancestral roots. Whilst visiting an art gallery he suffers a heart attack. Forensic tests are not conclusive with natural causes. Brad receives death threats.

Londra, ai giorni nostri. Muore la moglie di un potente e chiacchierato banchiere ma, un anno dopo il decesso, i figli della signora affermano di averne visto il fantasma aggirarsi per la villa. E' realtà? E' un incubo? C'è qualcosa di torbido nella faccenda? Toccherà a Ernest Devon, un ex poliziotto di Scotland Yard ora investigatore privato ed al suo amico Roni, risolvere l'intricato caso, che si sviluppa tra ricatti, sospetti ed un efferato omicidio. Sullo sfondo si snoda la personale vicenda sentimentale del protagonista, che difende con tenera ostinazione il suo impossibile amore per la ex moglie.

A con man always has a bag of tricks, ready to fool the unsuspecting, and almost everyone is unsuspecting until they get taken. When that happens, they turn to Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services, to recover their money and what’s left of their dignity, and perhaps even to save their lives.

Who is the criminal known only as "The Beast?" Too baffling for the police to solve, it becomes a manhunt in which detective Race Williams must track down "the most feared, the cunningest and cruelest creature that stalks the city streets at night." But it will soon become Race's most dangerous case as he tries to stay alive. One of the longest and best of the dozens of Race Williams adventures.

When Charity witnesses a gruesome car accident, she becomes determined to uncover the truth behind the driver’s suspicious death. But as she delves into the case, she uncovers a dark and dangerous underworld of gangs and human trafficking.

In response to a string of gold thefts in a Mother Lode mine, Quincannon goes undercover as a newly hired miner to identify and capture the men responsible. Meanwhile, Sabina finds herself not only making plans for her and Quincannon’s wedding, but also investigating both an audacious real estate scam and an abusive young man’s villainous secret.