"A collection of the year's best mystery and suspense short fiction selected by #1 New York Times bestselling author and guest editor Jess Walter and series editor Steph Cha"--

" The best noir writers make us feel the heat of the sun, the touch of a lover. Setting can be gritty but can also be sublime, no longer relegated to urban locales and seedy hotel rooms but also mansions and swimming pools. Hence, Palm Springs, which may seem like an odd setting for a collection of dark short stories--it's so sunny and bright here. The quality of light is unlike anywhere else, and with an average of three hundred sunny days a year,...

A compilation of works by one of the most popular writers of American, hard-boiled crime fiction features the tough, antihero detective, the Continental Op, who narrates four linked stories and the novel, "The Dain Curse."

Throughout the annals of fiction, there have been many celebrated detective teams: Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. Nick and Nora Charles. Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings. Thomas and Charlotte Pitt. The latter were the creation of beloved mystery writer Anne Perry, the editor of Odd Partners. With this collection, Perry has enlisted some of today's best mystery writers to craft all-new stories about unlikely couples who join forces--sometimes unwillingly--to...

When bounty hunter Stephanie Plum inherits a lucky bottle from an uncle, she discovers that the bottle brings both good and bad luck. Her cousin and employer, Vinnie, has racked up a huge gambling debt with the Mob and disappeared. Now Stephanie is responsible for paying off the debt and making sure Vinnie stays out of harm's way.

The eighth Stephanie Plum novel finds bounty hunter Stephanie Plum and her usual cohort involved with an unusual case: a family friend whose daughter and granddaughter are missing.

When private investigator Tess Monaghan literally runs into the crew of the fledgling TV series Mann of Steel while sculling, she expects sharp words and evil looks, not an assignment. But the company has been plagued by a series of disturbing incidents since its arrival on location in Baltimore: bad press, union threats, and small, costly on-set "accidents" that have wreaked havoc with its shooting schedule. As a result, Mann's creator, Flip Tumulty,...