In this "prequel" to the popular David Mapstone mysteries, author Jon Talton takes us back to 1999, when everything dot-com was making money, the Y2K bug was the greatest danger facing the world, and the good times seemed as if they would never end.

It was a time before David and Lindsey were together, before Mike Peralta was sherriff, and before David had rid himself of the sexy and mysterious Gretchen.

In Phoenix, it's the sweet season and Christmas and the new millennium are only weeks away. But history professor David Mapstone, just hired by the Sheriff's Office, still finds trouble, chasing a robber into an abandoned warehouse and discovering a gruesome crime from six decades ago.

Mapstone begins an investigation into a Depression-era kidnapping that transfixed Arizona and the nation: the disappearance of a cattle baron's grandsons, their bodies never found. And although the kidnapper was caught and executed, Mapstone uncovers evidence that justice was far from done. But this is no history lesson. The cattle baron's heirs now run a Fortune 500 company and wield far more clout than a former-professor-turned-deputy. Then one of the heirs turns up dead…

Workers demolishing a building in Colchester make a horrifying discovery in the basement: a cage made of human bones…with a feral child inside. As Phil Brennan and Marina Esposito investigate, they expose the trail of a serial killer who has been operating undetected for thirty years – a killer with a disturbing connection to Brennan's father.

Dagger Awards (nominee)

Inspector Konrad Sejer returns on the trail of a violent killer in small-town Norway. Gunder Jomann, a quiet, middle-aged man from a peaceful Norwegian town, thinks that his life is made complete when he returns from a trip to India a married man. But on the day his Indian bride is due to join him, he is called to the hospital to his sister's bedside. The local taxi driver sent to meet the Indian bride at the airport comes back without her. Then the town is shocked by the news of an Indian woman found bludgeoned to death in a nearby meadow. Inspector Sejer and his colleague Skarre head the murder inquiry, cross-examining the townsfolk and planting seeds of suspicion in a community which has always believed itself to be simple, safe and trusting. For what can only have been an unpremeditated and motiveless act of violence, everyone is guilty until proven innocent.

You can’t keep a good detective down. George has put longtime series hero Detective Superintendent Thomas Lynley of New Scotland Yard through quite a bit lately: in her last novel, With No One as Witness (2005), Lynley’s much-loved wife was shot to death on the street, reducing him to a grief-stricken shell and leading to his resignation from the Yard. How to resurrect him? George uses a pretty klunky (but familiar to all mystery fans) deus ex machina device. Lynley has embarked on a walk along the coastal path in Cornwall; his rationale is that if he doesn’t keep moving, despair will overtake him. Sure enough, on day 43 of his walk, he spots, far below, what seems to his trained eye to be the vivid red and crumpled shape of a man who has plunged to his death. The machine creaks into place, with Lynley (whose walk has made him appear like a homeless man) being treated as a suspect, then with grudging respect from the local, bumbling constabulary, and finally as someone his old associate Barbara Havers of New Scotland Yard seeks to restore to his post. Despite the obvious restoration device, George delivers, once again, a mystery imbued with psychological suspense and in-depth characterization.

El inspector Wexford regresa para enfrentarse a un caso de talante ecologista. Hasta su propia esposa ha sido tomada como rehén, mientras avanzan las obras de una nueva carretera que causará irremediables daños en el entorno natural de su pueblo. Intriga, crítica social e imprevisibles psicologías.

From New York Times bestselling author Jan Burke comes the last of six short story collections – sure to please fans of suspense masters Patricia Cornwell, Sue Grafton, and Robert Parker.

Case Closed is a mini-anthology containing a brand-new short story – "The Last Place You Look," featuring Frank Harriman in his younger days as a rookie cop – with an added bonus of three stories from the highly acclaimed print anthology Eighteen: "At turns chilling, funny, poignant – and always insightful" (New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman); "Astonishing… wry… these stories are sure to delight" (Jeffery Deaver, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Kill Room).

Holt es, junto a Mankell, el referente de la literatura policíaca escandinava actual. En un frío sótano en algún lugar de Noruega se halla encerrada Emilie, una niña de nueve años. Desconoce donde está y el motivo de su encierro. Tampoco sabe quién es el hombre que regularmente le ofrece comida y bebida; sin embargo, su instinto le dice que se comporte bien con él. Los días se suceden y la intranquilidad se va apoderando del país.Yngvar Stubo, el comisario del servicio de criminología noruego encargado del caso, decide solicitar la ayuda de Inger Johanne Vik, una psicóloga que en el pasado trabajó como profiler para el FBI. Anne Holt es una de las autoras escandinavas más populares del momento, con más de tres millones de ejemplares vendidos en Alemania y los países nórdicos.

Joe Grey isn't your average feline. After all, there's nothing ordinary about a cat who solves crimes. But it's more than his skill and cunning on the mean streets that makes Joe stand out among the legion of cat detectives on the prowl today – it's how Joe cracks cases that makes him so unique. Join Joe Grey, his lady friend Dulcie, and their tattercoat friend Kit in the eleventh delightful installment in the series that "raises the stakes of the feline sleuth genre" (Booklist) and discover the secret they hide from most people – and the mystery that makes Joe Grey so exceptional.

CAT BREAKING FREE

The fur starts flying – the fur of Joe Grey, Feline P.I., that is – when a gang from L.A. comes up to tranquil Molena Point, California, and begins breaking into the village's quaint shops. After all, Molena Point has been his home since he was a kitten eating scraps from the garbage behind the local delicatessen, and he doesn't take well to marauding strangers. Joe even wonders whether the blonde who's moved in next door to his human companion Clyde could be a part of the gang – she's been acting pretty suspicious lately.

But when the strangers start trapping and caging feral cats – speaking cats, like Joe and his girlfriend Dulcie – it proves too much for the intrepid four-footed detective. And when one of the gang is murdered, and a second mysterious death comes to light, he has no choice but to try to stop the crimes. Joe, Dulcie, and Kit, who used to be a stray herself, are deep into the investigation when they are able to release the three trapped felines. But as Kit leads them away to freedom, will she herself return to that wild life?

In this marvelous book that once again opens the door to the spectacular world of Joe Grey, meet three new cats – winning cats drawn from among hundreds of their owners' entries and chosen at random to appear in this book – and join old friends and new in Shirley Rousseau Murphy's most ambitious and enjoyable mystery to date.

Readers and reviewers alike have consistently praised multiple-award-winning author Shirley Rousseau Murphy for her absorbing plots, her charming, lyrical prose, and most of all, her delightful and highly realistic feline sleuths – the wily tomcat Joe Grey, his best pal Dulcie, and their tattercoat friend Kit. Now Murphy has created her most compelling novel to date: the murder of a much-beloved actress and the havoc it uncovers in an unsuspecting town.

The appealing small village of Molena Point, California, offers a cozy refuge from the harsher realities of life and serves as a restful retreat for film star Patty Rose, who has retired among its oaks and cottages. Buying an inn where travelers' pets, too, are made welcome, Patty settles down to enjoy her golden years. But as the town gathers to honor her and to celebrate her old films, Patty is brutally murdered – and only a tortoiseshell cat named Kit hears the three shots fired.

Leaping from the window of the penthouse suite that Kit shares with her adopted humans and scrambling down a flowering vine, Kit is the first to discover Patty's dead body sprawled on the inn's dark back stairs. Glimpsing the killer, she sets out to track him. But soon, as sirens scream and the police arrive, so do Kit's feline pals, Joe Grey and Dulcie.

Finding only Kit's scent and sure that she's headed for trouble, Joe and Dulcie follow her. But Dulcie must also put aside her own secret – a runaway young girl she's been helping to hide in the local library. She won't learn until later that the child may be, in a grisly and convoluted scenario, connected to Patty's murder. This, along with the discovery of hidden graves, a kidnapping, and the secrets of a dying woman, deal the cats a full set of clues that soon have them clawing out the truth.

The cats who saved Christmas…

The charming seaside village of Molena Point, California, leads one to expect a quiet traditional Christmas surrounded by family and friends-but not this holiday season. Instead of singing carols and climbing into Christmas trees, Joe Grey, feline P.I., is faced with his most difficult case yet-and that's saying a lot for a wily tomcat who for years has been solving crimes the police can't even crack.

At midnight in the deserted gardens of the shopping plaza, a stranger lies dead beneath the village Christmas tree; the only witness to the shooting is a little child. But when the police arrive, summoned by an anonymous phone call of feline origin, both the body and the child have disappeared. As police scramble for leads, the grey tomcat, his tabby lady, and their tortoiseshell pal, Kit, launch their own unique investigation.

Together Joe Grey, Dulcie, and Kit face their most heartbreaking case yet as they care for the child who may be the killer's next target. Trying to sort out perplexing clues amidst the happiness of the season, they shadow a cast of colorful characters. But neither the police nor their unknown feline assistants are aware that they might have stumbled over the murderer and never known it, until an electrifying final scene when the killer's identity is revealed.

For years Shirley Rousseau Murphy has written tales that have delighted readers and critics alike. With her lyrical prose and fast-paced plotting, Murphy has created another delightfully absorbing trip to a magical place populated by unforgettable characters whom readers have come to think of as friends.

Evil has crept into Molena Point, California, on stealthy cat feet. A rash of brazen burglaries, from antique jewelry to vintage cars, coincides with the unwelcome appearance of yellow-eyed Azrael, feline nemesis of crime-solving cats Joe Grey and Dulcie. But what follows soon after really has Joe's fur standing on edge. A young, healthy waiter drops dead at a reception for local artist Charlie Harper. And when the trail of big-time thefts leads up to San Francisco, the dark beast Azrael is on the scene. Does he have contact as well with a stalker and a handsome philanderer? If Joe and Dulcie don't get to the bottom of these misdeeds soon, they and all their human friends will have ample reasons to be afraid… to be very afraid.

"I'm a cat," said Dulcie. "Of course I worry, Joe. What if the cops set up a stakeout? What if they witness a cat opening a skylight and masterminding a robbery? The tabloids will love it. Every nut in the country will read about the trained burglar-cat. Or, heaven forbid, the talking cat…" There's a bad new cat in sleepy little Molena Point: a renegade tom with a penchant for robbery, a scorn for his fellow felines, and a disdain for human laws. And he's masterminding a crime spree that's quickly escalating toward murder most foul. Dulcie and Joe Grey both know the score – they've seen Azrael in action. But how can they expose the criminal without letting ordinary, untrustworthy humans in on the secret that certain select cats can think and talk? Cats like them…

When celebrated novelist Elliot Traynor and his wife arrive in Molena Point, strange events begin to occur, and feline sleuth Joe Grey and his cat companion Dulcie must delve into their latest mystery and soon find themselves tracking a killer.

"It's me, your cat. I had to split. I witnessed a crime and someone is following me. Trust me. When I get this sorted out, I'll be home. I am still your cat, and I guess I miss you…" Joe Grey jumped down to the floor without hanging up the phone. He was trapped in an unfolding nightmare. First he found he could understand human speech (who would have guessed they had so little to say?). Then he found he could talk (useful for scaring dogs) and even read. He got worried when he found himself feeling human emotions like guilt and sympathy. He even caught himself planning his day! All that, Joe Grey could have handled. If only he hadn't found himself in the alley behind Jolly's Deli the night Beckwhite was murdered…

This short novella is part of the popular Joe Grey cat mystery series, of which Booklist said: “What makes this series so delightful for both cat lovers and readers of offbeat fantasies is that Murphy’s convincing anthropomorphism allows the cats to maintain their feline natures while still adopting human speech and cognition.” Both fans of the Joe Grey novels and new readers will enjoy it.

Part of this story appeared as a serial in Cats Magazine, which was discontinued before it was complete. It has not had any other print edition. The events in the story come between Cat Spitting Mad and Cat Laughing Last, and are referred to in some of the later books in the series.

Award-winning author Shirley Rousseau Murphy once again gives eager readers memorable and charming characters, both feline and human, in a skillful and sophisticated story that magically transcends the mystery genre. Tomcat Joe Grey, his feline companion, Dulcie, and their timid but tough-as-nails tattercoat friend Kit will "leave fans purring with pleasure," wrote Publishers Weekly. In this twelfth intricate and enchanting novel, the crafty feline trio faces perhaps their most feared enemy: two of their closest human friends are kidnapped and may not live to see freedom.

Molena Point, California, nestled quietly on the Pacific coast miles below San Francisco, is not a place where most escaped federal prisoners would hole up. But Cage Jones has a reason. Facing another prison term, he escapes from jail hot for revenge against the Molena Point resident who turned state's witness against him and who, he's certain, has stolen his hidden cache-a fortune for which he has not served time, and does not intend to. When local headlines tell Dulcie that Cage has escaped, the tabby is cold with fear for her housemate, Wilma. Joe Grey, puzzling over two brutal local murders, doesn't pay attention until Wilma's house is vandalized and Dulcie finds Cage Jones on the premises, but not Wilma. While cops swarm on to the scene, Joe and his human housemate take off on a wild search for Wilma-and Dulcie and Kit foolishly go into Jones's hideout.

When the three indomitable felines, paw-in-hand with the unsuspecting cops-and with special powers known by only a few select humans-help untangle Jones's agenda and the brutal murders, the devil-tinged scenario leaves a lasting fear among the cats. In one of Shirley Rousseau Murphy's most suspenseful and unforgettable books to date-a whimsical and imaginative trip into the hidden lives of felines-the cats, and a band of feral friends, help bring peace to the small seaside village.

Love – and murder – is in the air…

It took Joe Grey's human, Clyde, nearly forever to pop the question to Ryan Flannery, and what more romantic time to tie the knot than on Valentine's Day? But dark secrets from the past, uncovered by Joe and his feline pals, threaten to ruin the happy union.

First, a body discovered many miles away reopens a ten-year-old cold case involving a man who disappeared days before his own wedding. The jilted bride is back in town and eager to find the truth… or to hide evidence of her own wrongdoing. Trouble is, she's soon involved with Ryan's father, who is house-sitting and preparing meals for Joe Grey while Clyde and Ryan are on their honeymoon.

Then another body is found closer to home on the grounds of a ruined estate, deserted save for a band of unusual feral cats. Around the wrist of the corpse is a bracelet bearing the image of a rearing cat, and the cats discover a rare literary volume hidden nearby that divulges their own secret: their special ability to speak.

But as the police investigate the two murders, located more than five hundred miles apart, only Joe Grey suspects that the crimes are related. It takes a chase from which the tomcat wonders if he'll emerge alive for anyone to hone in on the connection between the murders. Finally, feline perception and cop sense combine to bring a killer to justice in this delightful new tale involving Shirley Rousseau Murphy's three amazing cats.