Bøger udgivet af Speaking Volumes LLC

IIt's 1899, and the new century is almost here. Change is everywhere. Kinescope parlors are open, there are plans to build a bridge connecting Manhattan to Brooklyn, and automobiles are claiming the space that belonged to the horse.With the digging of a rapid transit system about to begin, land speculation is intense. Police Detective John "Dutch" Tonneman, whose involvement with murder was the basis for the Maan Meyers mystery The House on Mulberry Street, is home from serving with Teddy Roosevelt in the Spanish American War. He's eager to convince the lovely Jewish immigrant and photographer Esther Breslau to marry him rather than her mentor, Oswald Cook.Dutch and his cousin, Detective Bo Clancy, are investigating a series of brutal stiletto murders, beginning with that of Delia Swann, a young prostitute in Madame Sophie's establishment. Sophie asks about Delia's missing heart-shaped locket and steers Dutch and Bo to Esther, probably the last person to see Delia alive. Esther, who has been working on her new project-photographs of prostitutes-has taken two photographs of Delia. One shows Delia wearing the locket. After the cop who found Delia's body is murdered, it quickly becomes apparent that the murderer is looking for the locket. Esther is in grave danger.Appearing in this wild ride through turn-of- the-century New York are a murderous organ grinder; an Italian detective named Petrosino; Wong, Oz Cook's enigmatic Chinese houseman; Flora Cooper, a New York Herald reporter; Jack West and Little Jack Meyers, private investigators; cops, robbers, street urchins, land speculators, New York aristocracy, Tammany Hall politicians, and various and sundry early mafia organizations like the Black Hand. THE ORGAN GRINDER is a fast-paced historical thriller, a must-read for every history buff in America.

"Bad money turns unforgettably murderous in the twenty-seventh novel of the long-running, award-winning Nameless Detective series. A simple case of blackmail gets lethally complicated when 'Nameless,' Bill Pronzini's seasoned private-eye, exposes a nasty scam that involves junior accounts executive Jay Cohalan, his unhappy wife, and a mistress with a serious drug problem. It's the kind of case 'Nameless' likes, because bleeders -- the blackmailers, extortionists, small-time grifters, and other opportunists who prey on the weak and gullible -- sit near the top of his most-worthless-human-beings list. So he contemplates with pleasure the prospect of putting another one or two of these parasites out of commission, and then returning the $75,000 in cash to its rightful owner. 'Nameless' discovers, though, that he is not going to be able so easily to close his Cohalan file -- not when he finds his client face down in the middle of a four-poster bed with a bloody, powder-scorched hole behind the right ear. And only by a hair's breadth does 'Nameless' himself escape a similar fate. Aggrieved, cut to the psychological quick by his close brush with death, 'Nameless' embarks on a relentless hunt for his unknown assailant in San Francisco's shadowy underworld. There he encounters bleeders of every ilk -- like the loan shark Nick Kinsella, drug dealer Jackie Spoons, punch-drunk boxer Zeke Mayjack, and crankhead Charlie Bright -- before he tracks down his quarry. At a deserted backcountry road stop 'Nameless,' packing his long-unused .38, attends to the last of a bad business and, in a climax as powerful as it is unexpected, finally confronts his own demons. He maybe even conquers them."

Originally published in New York by Carroll & Graf in 2000.

"In his 24th and most intriguing appearance, the 'Nameless Detective' finds himself involved in two intricate and emotional investigations. The first is intensely personal: the unexpected death of his estranged friend and former partner, Eberhardt. Although there seems to be no question that Eberhardt committed suicide, 'Nameless' becomes obsessed with the reasons behind the act.... Meanwhile, he is hired by a Santa Fe businessman to find his ex-wife, who disappeared three years earlier. Locating the woman turns out to be fairly simple; she is living and working in the northern California wine country. But just when the case seems finished, it takes on bizarre dimensions -- a fatal shooting that may or may not be accidental, hidden motives, and a web of lies and deception. 'Nameless' is compelled to continue his investigation when it becomes clear he is partly, if inadvertently, responsible for the victim's death. The keys to both cases lie in illusions -- those people create about themselves and those they perceive in others. Additional similarities also emerge, leading "Nameless" to a series of startling revelations and ultimately to the two most difficult decisions of his career." --

The year is 1775, a full century after The Dutchman, and Sheriff Pieter Tonneman's descendants are well established in the now-thriving metropolis of New-York.History is being made in the political turmoil of colonial America, but in New-York murder becomes the focus of everyone's attention when a savagely decapitated body is discovered.After a long absence, John Tonneman returns from medical studies in London to his native city, now torn between Tories and Patriots as the colonies race headlong into armed rebellion.Resolved to steer clear of politics, the earnest young physician finds himself drawn into the violence by his growing feelings for an adventurous young woman from the Sephardic Jewish community.A second, horrifying murder reveals that there is a killer on the loose with a taste for redheaded women.Hunting the mad killer, Tonneman makes a connection between the dead woman and a plot to assassinate General George Washington.Another woman is murdered and the General barely escapes with his life as John Tonneman pursues a killer and uncovers a conspiracy through the jumbled rush of events that culminate in the momentous July of 1776.

Led by circumstances to accept the kind of case he dislikes-a "worried mother job"-"Nameless" reluctantly agrees to investigate the strange disappearance of college student Allison McDowell and her mysterious new boyfriend while on a driving strip from Oregon to San Francisco. The young couple vanished suddenly and without a trace after their car broke down and they were forced to spend a night in the tiny village of Creekside, in the remote Northwestern corner of California.When "Nameless" travels to Creekside and begins to question the locals, he encounters apparent apathy, hostility, and mounting evidence that suggests the couple may have met with foul play. Is one or more of the inhabitants of Creekside responsible? Is it Allison's boyfriend, whose identity is unknown even to her mother? Or is it forces of a far more sinister nature? "Nameless's" search takes him to Eugene, Oregon and then back to the Northern California wilderness. And it leads him from what seems to be a simple disappearance to a complex conspiracy of evil, one which reaches far beyond this remote backwater and threatens to destroy him as well before he can expose the truth.

"The Most Peaceful Town in the World" boasts the sign leading to the quiet adult community of Young Lake. And it was-until they started shooting across the generation gap.First there were the "incidents" a broken arm, a scorpion sting, rocks hurled at the school bus.Next little Timmy Barkus was missing-until they found his body. And then the little girl...Gerritt DeGraaf had never seen such an unlikely assembly of suspects. And yet it had to be-one of these mild old people was frightened enough or insane enough to murder.

A happy newlywed at last, the "Nameless Detective" returns from his honeymoon with the idea that he'll finally take it easy. And when the young, beautiful, and wealthy Melanie Ann Aldrich walks into his office, everything seems perfect. After rummaging through some old papers belonging to her dead parents, she's discovered that she's adopted. Now she wants to know who her real parents are and why no one ever told her the truth. Nameless could do this in his sleep, this case is so easy.But is it? Nameless delves easily enough into the past but no one there is talking... at first. As he starts to sort out the truth behind Melanie's mysterious history, he wonders how much his client will really want to know. Her real mother was an emotionally disturbed young woman, now deceased. Her real father was a teenage delinquent named Stephen Chehalis, who was chased out of town by his own father shortly after Melanie was born. But that's only the beginning.Now Melanie wants to meet her father and asks Nameless to arrange it. Easy enough, but after the arrangement is made, Nameless uncovers some disturbing information about the man-information Chehalis would kill to keep secret. Suddenly a routine case turns into a hardcase, and Nameless must risk his own life to protect a daughter from a vicious father with a deadly secret.

It begins with a romantic dinner for three: Chicago journalist Cat Marsala, her semi-significant other, Dr. Sam Davidian, and a temporary houseguest named Dapper, a Dalmatian with a bone to pick. Unfortunately, Dapper's doggie treat happens to be from a human cadaver. It's just one piece in a grisly puzzle that leads Cat to a panic-stricken butcher-and an elite catering service that's feeding the appetite of an ingenious killer. And piecing the mystery together has left Cat to wonder...What other evidence in this grisly murder remains to be seen?

AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR BARBARA D'AMATO TAKES CAT MARSALA ON A DANGEROUS ADVENTURE IN THE WORLD OF OZ... From Hard Road "Jeremy, do you remember in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, Dorothy had gone to California, and there was a big earthquake and Dorothy, and Jim the cab-horse, and the boy Jeb, all fell down a hole in the earth? And they had lots of adventures? And then finally they came to Oz." "Of course I remember!" "Well, this is a lot like that." "Some of their adventures were scary, Aunt Cat. The Mangaboos, the vegetable people, were going to plant them. And they were chased by invisible bears."

WINNER OF THE ANTHONY AND AGATHA AWARDS FOR BEST TRUE CRIMEIn 1968, Dr. John Branion was found guilty of murdering his wife in their posh Chicago home. After exhausting his appeals, he evaded authorities by fleeing to Africa. He was finally captured in 1983-but his case was far from over. It would take another seven years for Dr. Branion to finally win his freedom-and for those who prosecuted him to admit that he could not have committed the murder, and that they knew it all along.Acclaimed mystery writer Barbara D'Amato was drawn to this story two decades after the murder, as Dr. Branion languished in prison, ill and without hope. Her meticulous research repeatedly led her to one startling conclusion: that it was impossible for Donna Branion's murder to have unfolded the way the police alleged. In this award-winning account, D'Amato deftly explores the intriguing facts of this shocking case-from the tragic blunders made by authorities to Branion's arrest, conviction, and years practicing medicine in Africa as a fugitive from justice. The result is a damning indictment of our criminal system-and the vindication of an innocent man.The Doctor, The Murder, The Mystery by Barbara D'Amato won the Anthony and Agatha Awards for Best True Crime. She is also the author of the highly acclaimed Cat Marsala mysteries, including Hard Case and Hard Christmas. She lives in Chicago.

Originally published: New York: Scribner's, 1991.