Shamus Awards Best Novel

Working late-night surveillance at a luxury condominium development, Chicago private investigator Joe Kozmarski encounters a burglary crew. Two of the crew members show up in a police cruiser dressed in uniform. In the chaos that follows, Kozmarski shoots and kills one of the thieves, who, like the rest of the crew, is one of Chicago's Finest. And just like that Kozmarski finds he's in for many a bad night's sleep.

Kozmarski joins the burglary crew, working as an inside agent for his old friend Lieutenant Bill Gubman. Facing dangerous suspicions from both the criminal gang and the uncorrupted ranks of the police department, uncertain about who wishes to help him stay alive and who wishes to kill him, Kozmarski takes his wildest ride yet. A Bad Night's Sleep pushes full throttle through the streets of Chicago to a stunning conclusion.

When Ernest Fletcher is found bludgeoned to death in his study, everyone is shocked and mystified: Ernest was well liked and respected, so who would want to kill him? Enter Superintendent Hannasyde who, with consummate skill, begins to uncover the complexities of Fletcher’s life. It seems the real Fletcher was far from the gentleman he pretended to be.

Third in the intriguing Leonardo da Vinci mystery series known for "capturing the essence of 15th-century Milan ".

As court engineer to the Duke of Milan, Leonardo da Vinci turns his superior mind to many pursuits – from outlandish contraptions to the odd murder…

With war looming ever closer, the iron-fisted Duke of Milan calls upon Master da Vinci to invent the deadliest weapon ever – a flying machine. So da Vinci calls in a craftsman who happens to be father to his star apprentice, Dino.

But da Vinci does not know that Dino is actually the craftsman's daughter, Delfina, who keeps her gender a secret to serve as apprentice. But as Delfina worries that her father will prove her undoing, someone murders another apprentice. Now, as her master works his brilliance, Delfina can only pray that no other apprentice – including herself – will fall victim.

In a sensational breach of promise suit, two wealthy social climbers are suing on behalf of their beautiful daughter, Zillah. The defendant is Zillah's alleged fiancé, brilliant young architect Killian Melville, who adamantly declares that he will not, cannot, marry her. Utterly baffled by his client's refusal, Melville's counsel, Sir Oliver Rathbone, turns to his old comrades in crime -investigator William Monk and nurse Hester Latterly. But even as they scout London for clues, the case suddenly and tragically ends. An outcome that no one -except a ruthless murderer- could have foreseen.

Freelance writer Troy Chance is snapping photos of the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival ice palace when the ice-cutting machine falls silent. Encased in the ice is the shadowy outline of a body. Troy's assigned to write an in-depth feature on the dead man, who was the privileged son of a wealthy Connecticut family who had been playing at a blue collar life in this Adirondack village. And the deeper Troy digs into his life and mysterious death, the murkier things become. After the victim's sister comes to town and a string of disturbing incidents unfold, it's clear someone doesn't want the investigation to continue. Troy doesn't know who to trust, and what she ultimately finds out threatens to shatter the serenity of these mountain towns.

On a stormy night, Olivia Greyson and her Yorkie discover the body of a man stabbed to death-which looks suspiciously like the intruder seen fleeing the local health food store The Vegetable Plate. Charlene Critch, owner of The Vegetable Plate, has a grudge against Olivia's cookie cutter shop, but could Charlene be hiding a secret serious enough to kill for?

No breath of scandal has ever touched the aristocratic Moidore family, but then Sir Basil Moidore's beautiful widowed daughter is stabbed to death in her own bed. Inspector Monk is ordered to find the killer, and as he gropes through the shadows, he approaches an astonishing solution.

The third title in the Inspector Ramsay crime series. Dorothea Cassidy, the Vicar's wife is found dead in the park's flower bed. The list of suspects include old Mrs Bowman, Clive Stringer, a disturbed adolescent, and Theresa Stringer, a single mother with a violent boyfriend and even members of her own family.

This critically acclaimed mystery series features Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison, who struggles to combat the "boys' club" atmosphere in her profession as a homicide detective. Set in London, these upbeat stories, based on the smash hit PBS-TV "Mystery" series, give mystery readers hard-hitting realism, fast-paced action, and a savvy against-the-odds heroine they'll never forget.

Set in Alaska, Edgar Award-winner Dana Stabenow's novels combine a lush and evocative portrait of life in the frozen north with taut suspense and topnotch characters, especially the dynamic Aleutian PI Kate Shugak. A perennial bestseller regionally, Stabenow's national profile is on the rise, and with A FINE AND BITTER SNOW, she delivers the novel that can catapult her into the forefront of crime fiction today. In this latest instalment, the possibility of drilling for oil in a wildlife preserve near Kate's home has battle lines drawn, even in Kate's small community. Things heat up when a ranger at the preserve loses his job for political reasons, but when a passionate conservation spokesperson is found poisoned, the war begins in earnest. In a gripping story both entertaining and tense – not to mention timely – Dana Stabenow brings to life the beauty and the danger of living – and dying – in Alaska.

The 9-word clue was one of 9 cryptic notes that had been sent to taunt Inspector Queen and Ellery 9 days after the murder. Nino Importuna had been obsessed with the number. He had lived by it. Now the killer who brought a trio of gory deaths to Nino's 9th-floor penthouse at No. 99 East was camouflaging his identity in a jungle of 9s. And daring Ellery to find him. The case was destined to be a dazzling contest of wits-to the 9th degree!

Everyone knew Len Dreyer, a handyman for hire in the Park near Niniltna, Alaska, but no one knew anything else about him. Even Kate Shugak hired him to thin the trees on her 160-acre homestead and was planning to ask him to help build a small second cabin on her property for Johnny Morgan, a teenaged boy in her care. But she, the Park's unofficial p.i., seems to have known less about him than anyone.

Alaska is a place where anybody can bury his history and start fresh, and for any reason, but this particular mystery comes to light when Len Dreyer turns up murdered. His body is discovered, frozen solid, in the path of a receding glacier with the hole from a shotgun blast in his chest. No one even knew he was missing, but it turns out he's been missing for months.

Alaska State Trooper Jim Chopin asks Kate to help him dig into Dreyer's background, in the hope of finding some reason for his murder. She takes the case, mindful of the need for gainful employment as she copes with her responsibility for Johnny, a constant reminder of his father, her dead lover. Little does she imagine that by trying to provide for him she just might put him right in the path of danger.

A talented writer at the prime of her abilities, Stabenow delivers a masterful crime novel that turns out to be as much about living as it is about dying.

"No secret stays hidden forever."

A phone call from an old friend sets Dr. Giovanni Vecchio back on the path of a mystery he'd abandoned years before. He never expected a young librarian could hold the key to the search, nor could he have expected the danger she would attract.

Now he and Beatrice De Novo will follow a twisted maze that leads from the archives of a university library, through the fires of Renaissance Florence, and toward a confrontation they never could have predicted.

A Hidden Fire is a paranormal mystery/romance for adult readers. It is the first book in the Elemental Mysteries Series.

As the townsfolk of the Welsh valley town of Llanelen settle in for the snowiest winter in twenty-five years, an American stranger arrives. Harry Saunders charms the ladies, one of them in particular: Evelyn Lloyd, the town's former postmistress, who was left comfortably off after the death of her husband. After Mrs. Lloyd invests a good deal of money with him, Harry goes missing, as does her money. His body is soon discovered outside the walls of Conwy Castle, and Mrs. Lloyd is implicated in the murder.

Although Penny Brannigan and her business partner, Victoria Hopkirk, are busy overseeing the grand opening of their new spa, that doesn't stop Mrs. Lloyd from desperately seeking Penny's help to prove her innocence. It's quite possible that Harry made other enemies while in Llanelen and Penny's investigation unfolds while she juggles her work at the spa, her growing relationship with Detective Inspector Davies, and the Christmas window competition that she signed up to judge.

With A Killer's Christmas in Wales, Elizabeth J. Duncan delivers a delightful holiday-themed mystery.

The first crime novel featuring Inspector Ramsay, whose reputation hangs in the balance as he investigates the murder of a headmaster in a close-knit Northumbrian pit village.

Manabu Yukawa, the physicist known as "Detective Galileo," has traveled to Hariguara, a once-popular summer resort town that has fallen on hard times. He is there to speak at a conference on a planned underwater mining operation, which has sharply divided the town. One faction is against the proposed operation, concerned about the environmental impact on the area, known for its pristine waters. The other faction, seeing no future in the town as it is, believes its only hope lies in the development project.

The night after the tense panel discussion, one of the resort's guests is found dead on the seashore at the base of the local cliffs. The local police at first believe it was a simple accident—that he wandered over the edge while walking on unfamiliar territory in the middle of the night. But when they discover that the victim was a former policeman and that the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning, they begin to suspect he was murdered, and his body...

Why crime? Why exists this fascination with crime and why, above all, exists this fascination with crime on the part of female writers? Bestselling novelist Elizabeth George poses this question in her Introduction, answers it with her customary elegance and illustrates it with a rich and varied collection of international writers, some household names others buried treasures waiting to be rediscovered.

At this year's antique car race, one of the drivers never makes it to the finish line. His car is found in flames, and Betsy and her friends must pin down a suspect.