Two books in one! Murder in Paradise and The Coin of Adventure ''What is the meaning of 'whore?''' Ruita asked in Tahitian, anger rising in her voice. I didn't hear an answer because just then a hell of a fracas broke out at the poolside. Ruita and Kitty Merry were rolling on the white sand, punching and clawing at each other. The actress' halter was yanked off and Ruita's blouse was ripped to shreds. I ran over and pulled Ruita to her feet, blood on her gorgeous face from a deep scratch. Kitty had a puffed eye and there was blood on her over-red lips as she jumped up - bare breasts moving like two enormous pendulums - screaming words I hadn't heard in years. Much later, long after I had returned to the boat, a Papeete cop arrived looking for my Ruita. She had disappeared. And Kitty Merry had just been found murdered.

It was my first day in Paris but the feeling was still with me: like I was getting ready to explode, as if my guts were a lit fuse racing up to my brain. Being cooped up gets me that way, although I was camped in a big room in this swank hotel. Twelve bucks a night and it was the best hotel room I'd ever been in. I'd docked at Le Havre the afternoon before, came straight to this fancy joint from Gare St. Lazare, like they told me to

"Michael Shepard, a detective with his own set of problems, is hired one morning by a fashionable young woman at her Hollywood apartment. Soon he's embroiled in a murder investigation that may shed light on a nearly forgotten tragedy. A divorced father wondering how to set his son on a better course in life, the detective gets into deepening trouble as he negotiates a vivid panorama of the town's modern-day beautiful and damned. Author Aram Saroyan harnesses the hardboiled styles of Chandler, Hammett, and Ross MacDonald into a contemporary tale of information age intrigue. The text is supplemented with cell phone photos taken by Saroyan in the same environs in which the story unfolds." --

"In Shimon Adaf's sequel to One Mile and Two Days Before Sunset, Elish Ben Zaken has retired from investigating and taken up writing detective novels-but when a new case draws him to a town on the Israel-Gaza border, he faces an existential threat unlike any he's ever known"--

Asked to tightrope walk for the queen's birthday party, Muriel arrives to discover that all the decorative paper lanterns have disappeared and that her detecting skills are needed too.

Book by Fraser, James

A richly textured, deeply atmospheric, and engaging novel set in a small Louisiana town in the 1950s, The Cajuns tells a captivating tale of love, life, death, and intrigue in a wonderfully bizarre yet corrupt culture. The descendants of French Canadians who migrated to southern Louisiana in the mid-eighteenth century, Cajuns are known for their fiery and passionate dispositions. In his remarkably moving new novel, Louisiana native Gus Weill presents an affectionate yet unstinting look at Cajun culture in the small town of Richelieu -- a world in which the mix of promiscuity, ribald humor, extreme violence, and devout Catholicism is a way of life. Bobby Boudreaux is the sheriff of Richelieu, where the only laws people respect are those that dictate how much pepper goes into the stew and, of course, the edicts of the Catholic Church. It was not a job Bobby wanted -- in fact, once out of school, his dream had been to escape into the larger world as fast as he possibly could. But life -- and a strong-willed father -- got in the way. On most days being parish sheriff is not that demanding. Yes, laws get broken, but no one else seems to mind, so why should he? Thus, when Ti Boy Brouliette, an altar boy and an all-around good kid, dies in a mysterious gun accident, Bobby's only official action is to join the townsfolk who congregate at the home of the family, offering comfort to the grieving parents. What he doesn't realize, though, is that his life -- and that of everyone in Richelieu -- is about to change forever. Among those gathered at Ti Boy's home is Ruth Ann Daigle, a beautifully sexy and worldly young woman who has returned to her hometown to help out her ailing father, who runs the local newspaper. Ruth Ann intimates to Bobby that she is not convinced that Ti Boy's death was an accident and, as a reporter for the paper, she intends to investigate. Bobby, annoyed by the suggestion that he's not doing his job, is afraid that Ruth Ann may be right. He also fears that Ruth Ann's arrival in Richelieu marks the end of a way of life he has come to depend on -- for not only does she threaten to challenge tradition, she has also awakened in him a sexual need that had grown dormant over the years, and soon his marriage is threatened as well. Against this rich and vivid background, populated by a cast of colorful characters, Gus Weill has crafted a fascinating and compelling tale of a distinctive way of life threatened by scandal and of a unique culture on the brink of dramatic change.

In an ill-timed moment of generosity, a professional hit man knocks off a man beating his girlfriend, but the murdered boyfriend is the brother of a southern Florida drug kingpin, and the killer endangers his own life.

Edward Phillips Oppenheim (22 October 1866 - 3 February 1946) was an English novelist, in his lifetime a major and successful writer of genre fiction including thrillers.Oppenheim produced over 100 novels from 1887 to 1943

THE STORY: Angela, a hard-bitten call-girl, is visited by Tom, a private detective of long acquaintance, who is convinced that she can supply information about a murder case which, some years earlier, resulted in a miscarriage of justice. As Tom plays on their former closeness, trying to draw out the facts he seeks, Angela withdraws behind a schizophrenic screen of multiple personalities ranging from a brazen creature named Leontyne, to a shrinking violet called Emily, to a haughty English-woman named Renata. Doggedly persistent, Tom does, in the end, break through the fears which have driven Angela to hide the truth within herself. With chilling intensity she pours through a tale of duplicity and corruption and recounts how an innocent man ended up paying for the crimes of others. As the play ends Tom offers to drive Angela to her next assignation-relieved that his quest has ended but, at the same time, disturbed by the knowledge that his worst fears have been borne out.

A BLACK DAGGER CRIME edition of a novel about a famous dancer who is shot on stage on an opening night, but all the critics who gather - unaware that he is dead - agree that the death scene was particularly unconvincing. However, there are plenty of suspects since the dancer appears to have been the most hated person in the company.

Vladimir Stroganoff, the Russian ballet impresario shares humorous reminiscences of his ballet troup in pre-revolutionary Russia

Book by Oppenheim, E. Phillips

One of many great works by E. Phillips Oppenheim, "prince of storytellers" from the late 19th and early 20th Century England.

Last Train Out must be one of the earliest thrillers to describe the build up to the Second World War. Its story is built around the escape of a Jewish banker from Vienna to Switzerland from before the annexation of Austria by Germany in March 1938 to just after the declaration of war on Germany by Britain in France in September 1939 following the German invasion of Poland.

E. Phillips Oppenheim's "A Millionaire of Yesterday" was first released in 1900. The book follows the story of a young man's struggle for fortune in colonial Africa and his quest for happiness there. Young Scarlett Trent, who is eager to become wealthy in the gold mines of Africa, must struggle with his own sense of good and evil while juggling the difficulties he faces and his desire to succeed. His buddy Monty, a dubious alcoholic with a murky past, accompanies him on his mission. The suspense is maintained throughout the novel, whether they will be successful in achieving their goals or whether Monty's past returns to haunt them both. Despite his best efforts, Trent is obstructed by several opponents who only bring him immense tragedy. The readers will find themselves immersed in the experience of the novel as it leads them towards a happy ending. The Long Arm of Mannister, The Great Impersonation, and The Moving Finger are some of Oppenheim's best known works.

- 'An ingenious country house mystery... keeps the reader on tenterhooks from the very first page' NEW YORK TIMES - 'J. Jefferson Farjeon is quite unsurpassed for creepy skill in mysterious adventures' DOROTHY L. SAYERS - The much-revered crime writer J. Jefferson Farjeon's second crime novel back in print for the first time in almost a century. To Brambles, a dilapidated yet comfortable English country house, come the uninvited guests: a motley crew, who appear at the most unexpected hours and on the most impossible errands. Singly and in procession they arrive to trouble the calm of Ambrose Blythe, sexagenarian owner of Brambles, and of Peter Haslam, his house guest. Add to these an imperturbable butler, a tragic-eyed damsel and the super-logician Detective Grant to complete the ingredients of the perfect Golden Age of Crime story. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joseph Jefferson Farjeon was born into a literary family in Hampstead, north west London in 1883. He was a prolific crime writer, writing over sixty novels over the course of thirty years, many published by William Collins & Sons and featuring in their hugely popular Collins Crime Club. Dorothy L. Sayers said of his work, 'every word is entertaining.' His best-known novel (and play) NUMBER 17, was made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock. He died in 1955. PRAISE FOR J. JEFFERSON FARJEON: 'Jefferson Farjeon writes thrills enhanced by good writing, good humour, and good character sketches' THE SUNDAY TIMES; 'A Sherlock Holmes novel of the first degree' NEW YORK POST; 'This delightful writer delivers the goods once again' THE DAILY HERALD; '"Mystery in White" is the perfect book for a winter's evening, a cosy chair and an open fire' THE DAILY MAIL; 'An undiluted joy... Ben is the plum of the book; his personality impresses itself upon the imagination' LIVERPOOL POST; 'A top-hole thriller by a writer who knows his job' THE DAILY EXPRESS.

- The much-revered crime writer J. Jefferson Farjeon's first-ever crime novel back in print for the first time in almost a century. - 'A terse, telling style... Farjeon displays a great deal of knowledge about story-telling' NEW YORK TIMES. - A dark, brooding murderous tale from the Golden Age of Crime.A criminal gang responsible for half the organised crime in England is hunting for a stolen ruby of phenomenal value. But the kingpin behind the criminal syndicate is in fact an imposter. Can Scotland Yard's Inspector Mordaunt recover the stolen gem? ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joseph Jefferson Farjeon was born into a literary family in Hampstead, north west London in 1883. He was a prolific crime writer, writing over sixty novels over the course of thirty years, many published by William Collins, Sons and featuring in their hugely popular Collins Crime Club. Dorothy L. Sayers said of his work, 'every word is entertaining.' His best-known novel (and play) NUMBER 17, was made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock. He died in 1955. PRAISE FOR 'THE MASTER CRIMINAL: 'A terse, telling style... Farjeon displays a great deal of knowledge about story-telling' NEW YORK TIMES; 'A Sherlock Holmes novel of the first degree' NEW YORK TIMES; 'An exciting, unusual detective story' WISCONSIN LIBRARY BULLETIN.