Thriller Fiction

In the six volumes of the Library of the World’s Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Julian Hawthorne presents us thrilling and mysterious short stories from all corners of the world. Some of the stories appeared in this 1907 collection for the first time translated into English, and many of them come from unexpected sources, such as the letters of Pliny the Younger, or a Tibetan manuscript. In the first volume, we find stories written by American authors.

On a hot summer night, a scientist from the Centers for Disease Control is grabbed by unknown assailants in a shopping center parking lot. Vanished into thin air, the authorities are desperate to save the doctor. One month later, the serenity of a sunny Sunday afternoon is shattered by the boom of a ground-shaking blast - followed by another seconds later. One of Atlanta's busiest and most important neighborhoods - the location of Emory University, two major hospitals, the FBI headquarters, and the CDC - has been bombed.

Tired of their cramped London apartment, Aaron and Meera relocate to the idyllic village of Little Crake along with their two children, Noah and Uma. The new cottage looks out over the many miles of woodland beyond. It’s a far cry from their tiny flat and the perfect fresh start. Until fifteen-year-old Noah wanders alone into the forest. For three days, a search party combs the woods. Aaron braces himself for the worst, convinced his son is lost forever. Until he finds Noah alive, hiding in the hollow of a tree.

Introducing Jack West a tenacious Houston Homicide Detective, a man who believes even the dregs of society deserve justice. After solving an exhausting murder case involving teenagers, Jack and his partner, Dawson Luck are assigned a cold case dating back 25 years. One case: an unsolved murder of a woman, found dead behind a seedy motel; the other about a missing prostitute. Digging into the cases, a fresh murder case is called in. A wealthy couple is found dead in an affluent residential area. It appears to be a murder- suicide and this new case takes precedence.

Richard Coulter is a man who has everything. His beautiful new wife is pregnant, his upstart airline is undercutting the competition and moving from strength to strength, his diversification into the casino business in Macau has been successful, and his fabulous Art Deco house on an Irish cliff top has just been featured in Architectural Digest.

This was the most popular novel of Radcliffe's time; Radcliffe's portrayal of her heroine's inner life raised the Gothic romance to a new level. The atmosphere of fear and the gripping plot continue to thrill today. This is the story of the orphaned Emily St Aubert, who finds herself separated from the man she loves and confined within the Castle of Udolpho by her aunt's new husband Montoni. Here she must cope with an unwanted suitor, Montoni's threats, and the wild imaginings and terrors which threaten to overwhelm her.

Bryson Wilde, investigator for hire, lives in an edgy world where the dames are dangerous, cigarettes dangle from ruby-red lips, and the nights are hotter than whiskey-soaked jazz. In R. J. Jagger’s riveting noir thriller, A Way with Murder, Wilde finds himself entangled in two deadly assignments, one for a young, raven-haired attorney on the run after visiting an archeological site in Mexico, and the other for a pretty, little doll-face, who is too mysterious to trust and too hypnotic to resist.

At the start of this edgy and ambitiously multilayered novel - a National Book Award Finalist - a fashion model named Charlotte Swenson emerges from a car accident in her Illinois hometown with her face so badly shattered that it takes 80 titanium screws to reassemble it. She returns to New York still beautiful but oddly unrecognizable. With the surreal authority of a David Lynch, Jennifer Egan threads Charlotte’s narrative with those of other casualties of our infatuation with the image.

CIA operative Alex Parker is one of the most successful ghosts the agency has. Recruited as a 17 year old, she has over 100 kills to her credit. But 10 years of blending in, disappearing, and assassinating targets has taken a toll on her and she'd like to get out. Now, she has a new problem...her partner's gone rogue. After stealing government secrets, he intends to sell them to the highest bidder. It's up to Parker, and her new partner, to find him and bring him in...dead or alive.

A cure has been found for one of the world's deadliest diseases, but unseen forces want to keep the medical miracle from seeing the light of day. Can former Marine Cal Stokes and his new presidential sanctioned team track down the cure, save its inventor and take out the those trying to maintain the status quo?

It’s 1968, London is in full swing, and the Savoy Hotel is at the height of its legendary glitz and glamour, welcoming the rich, famous, and aristocratic into its rarified world of perfection. Royals wait upstairs in luxurious suites for discreet encounters. All is as it should be at the Savoy. If only it weren’t for the dead body in Room 705. Could it be murder? Impossible! Who could have done such a thing? Suspicion falls upon Priscilla Tempest, the quick-witted Canadian head of the Savoy press office who has a penchant for champagne, the wrong sort of men—and trouble.

The first victim is found in a snow-covered Philadelphia field. Detective Vito Ciccotelli enlists the aid of archaeologist Sophie Johannsen to determine exactly what lies beneath the frozen ground. Despite years of unearthing things long buried, nothing can prepare Sophie for the matrix of graves dug with chilling precision. The victims buried there haunt her. But the killer isn't done yet. He is cold and calculating, the master of a twisted game. Even with Vito and Sophie hot on his trail, he will not stop.

April May is intrigued by the fog-shrouded lighthouse where a troubled woman lost her life a decade earlier. When the woman’s sister chooses to re-examine the past, secrets are revealed that threaten the peaceful town and its residents.

Young Michael, an illegal immigrant escaping the troubles in Northern Ireland is strong and fearless and clever, just the fellow to be tapped by Darkey, a crime boss, to join a gang of Irish thugs struggling against the rising Dominican powers in Harlem and the Bronx. The time is pre-Giuliani New York, when crack rules the city, squatters live furtively in ruined buildings, and hundreds are murdered each month.

When the fae beckon, few resist. Even fewer return. As a veil witch, I'm used to taking out the supernatural trash. Everything from poltergeists to vampires, you name it and I've dealt with it. So opening a paranormal cleanup business just seemed to make sense. If I'm already dealing with the pests, why not get paid? But when I accidentally breach the faerie realm to encounter a girl recently reported missing, start seeing the ghost of a witch whose disappearance has never been solved, and discover a Book of Shadows that opens only for me, I can't just go back to business as usual.

The kids in the third grade at Bailey Elementary are so hard to handle that all of their teachers have quit. But their new teacher, Mrs. Jeepers, is different, to say the least. She's just moved from the Transylvanian Alps, and she seems to have some strange powers that help her deal with these mischief-makers. Her methods may be a little unconventional, but, then again, Mrs. Jeepers may be just what the Bailey School kids need.

Alison is happy for her best friend, Max. Really, she is. She loves Max, and the guy Max is marrying completely adores her. Even being in the wedding wouldn't be so bad, if it'd keep her from thinking about her off-again relationship with NYPD homicide detective Bobby Crawford. However, Bobby's the best man, and that forces them into all kinds of awkward situations. Then, when Alison’s ex turns up dead, she's dragged into another murder investigation. Romance, humor, and murder are sure to mix and mingle whenever Alison and Bobby link up in Extracurricular Activities.

The perfect mystery for readers with an appetite for crime. Food connoisseur Chloe Carter is on a quest for the perfect meal and man. That's why the "Gourmet Girl" accepts an online date with "Dinner Dude". Too bad he's murdered in the restaurant. Leave it to Chloe to fall in love with the chef, who's also suspect number one.

A twisted killer. A deadly game of cat-and-mouse. Detective Jack MacIntosh has seven days to find the truth. A young woman is discovered strangled in Hyde Park. Wearing only one shoe. Close to the body, Detective Jack MacIntosh finds a black stiletto, diamante buckle glinting in the early morning sun. But it doesn't belong to the victim.

Noah Bradford knows secrets that could get him killed, and staying in WITSEC seems like a good plan. What he didn't plan on is losing his heart to a man who is sworn to protect him. Battle scarred US Marshal Robert "Mac" Mackenzie has a job to do, and guaranteeing the safety of Noah Bradford is at the top of that list. Mac will do whatever it takes to keep Noah safe, even if it means walking away. Mac and Noah, brought together during extreme circumstances, have been separated by evil.