Showing results by publisher "Crossroad Press" in Mystery

Jack Paine was on what passed for a vacation, or maybe it was a regrouping, an opportunity to forget the events of the last year and especially of the last month. When the phone rang, he tried to ignore it. There were only a few people who knew where to reach him, and none of them would try. But the phone kept ringing. And Jack Paine finally answered it. Of course, it was bad news. Bob Petty, a friend from Paine's days on the force, had disappeared. Petty's wife, Terry, knew that he hadn't gone undercover....

Tropical bliss deserts sleepy Tango Key when a local dancer is found in a dumpster, stripped of her fingers - and her life. The investigation takes homicide detective Aline Scott into the strange world of santeria, a Cuban mystery religion. But Scott is puzzled until she realizes the macabre dismemberment bears a chilling resemblance to murders that occurred on Tango Key more than fifty years ago. Gradually, Aline realizes that the ritual deaths are part of a gruesome legend called Black Moon.

Harry Briggs led a fairly normal life. He had a good job, a nice house, and a beautiful wife named Barbara, with whom he was very much in love. Then he died. That's when Harry's story really began and he found himself in a strange little town called Silver Lake. In Silver Lake, nothing is normal. In Silver Lake Harry has become a detective, tough and silent, hot on the trail of a missing woman and a violent madman. But the town itself is an enigma.

Crime reporter Colleen Caruso has an appetite for romance...and trouble. When someone tries to poison Ken Rhodes (her handsome boss and boyfriend), Colleen vows to hunt down the culprit and serve them up to the police. She’s whisked away into the scrumptious world of restaurants and gourmet food as she tangles with four culinary divas from Ken’s past.

The Long Silent Night: A Jack Frost Mystery brings together the unlikely bedfellows of film noir and fantasy to create a surprising holiday thriller, sure to be enjoyed by all ages. It's up to Jack Frost, a winter elemental and the North Pole's premiere private eye, to find his kidnapped adoptive father, Santa Claus, so that the Spell of Eternal Night - the spell that makes Christmas Eve last until Santa has delivered all his presents - can be lifted and time allowed to flow once more.

Today, Bill Pronzini is famed for his private-eye stories about the Nameless Detective and for his Shamus-award winning short stories, and Barry N. Malzberg is one of America's premier science fiction writers, but back in their salad days they collaborated on a number of stories, which have now become legendary. Problems Solved collects all their crime and mystery collaborations, mostly written during the 1970's and early 1980's, and a few recent collaborations (including two new stories written especially for this volume).

San Francisco stunt double Darcy Lott specializes in creating the illusion of serious danger. But when her lawyer brother calls and asks her to wine and dine a mysterious client, the danger is no illusion. Darcy takes an instant liking to the client, Karen Johnson, but there are too many unanswered questions. Karen claims to be getting a divorce, but Darcy’s brother Gary doesn’t handle divorces.

This is a "What if…?" novel. What if Mark Twain actually dictated secrets on the recordings he made toward the end of his life? What if he had hidden them for a future generation to find, then laid a trail of clues for their discovery? The real Sam Clemens - Mark Twain - was a very complex man who led a fascinating, diverse life for nearly 75 years. The man is much more interesting than I have been able to portray him in fiction.

Mystery usually follows murder, but when Baby Cakes Sloan bites the bullet, everybody in Rochester already knows whodunit. Beautiful Babs had been Marcus Andrelli’s lawyer—until she got iced on the crime king's yacht. Of course, all fingers of guilt point to Andrelli. But Jesse James smells something fishy. And she’s casting for the truth, even if she has to drag the bottom of Lake Ontario to get it. Nobody knows Andrelli better than Jess. Mafia don, certainly. Killer of the woman he loved, no.

Antiques picker and ex-FBI agent Jeff Talbot figured he was about to make a killing when Nathan Rose offered him all the antiques in his newly deceased aunt's house dirt cheap. What Jeff hadn't bargained for, however, was the bloodstain beneath one of the old pack rat's priceless rugs, indicating that the death of Verena Rose was no accident. But unlike the police, Jeff doesn't think that nephew Nathan is the culprit. Convinced the answer lies somewhere in the old woman's cluttered house, Jeff starts rummaging and unearths an antique marriage casket crammed with old letters.

Rebecca Moore thought she left violent death behind her, but the bodies keep mounting...and they're begging for justice. Having abandoned her career as a Washington, DC, reporter to run her late uncle's classic car restoration shop, Rebecca wants peace. Then the brutally stabbed corpse of a lovely dancer is discovered in the back seat of a vintage Bentley being towed by her ex-con workers - the cops' preferred suspects. When a second young dancer is pulled from the Potomac, Rebecca throws down her wrenches.

Jeff Talbot is joining his fishing buddies for their annual trip. He is also trying to coordinate the listing and transportation of his latest haul of antiques. When he arrives at the Northwest Territory Bait and Tackle shop for supplies, he joins his fishing friend, the Judge. Together they find their friend and shop owner, Bill Rhodes, murdered. Throughout the fishing trip weekend, Jeff finds himself assisting the local sheriff's department in the investigation.

In his introduction to the book, best-selling author Loren D. Estleman says "It's hard work being Deborah Morgan". A multiple award-winning author in both the mystery and Western arenas, Morgan has collected here in Junction a selection of stories guaranteed to show you why.  

Set among the wistful Victorians of San Francisco, the second installment of the Darcy Lott series finds stuntwoman Darcy once again plagued by murder. Recently returned to San Francisco to assist her Zen teacher in his new zendo, Darcy cannot shake the pain of her brother's disappearance. When she spies him on the roof of the zendo, she hurries to catch him—and finds him gone.