American Crime

Talking Books

The titles in this booklist are just a selection of the titles available for loan from the RNIB National Library Talking Book Service.

Don’t forget you are allowed to have up to 6 books on loan. When you return a title, you will then receive another one.

If you would like to read any of these titles then please contact the Customer Services Team on 0303 123 9999 or email [email protected]

If you would like further information, or help in selecting titles to read, then please contact the Reader Services Team on 01733 37 53 33 or email [email protected]

You can write to us at RNIB NLS, PO Box 173, Peterborough, PE2 6WS Babson, Marian Reel murder. 1986. Read by Helen Horton, 6 hours 22 minutes. TB 7802. Trixie Dolan series; book 1. Evangeline Sinclair has been a star all her life. From silent films, through talkies, down to a retrospective showing at the recently opened Cinema in the sky, she has commanded the limelight. Never more so than when a horrendous moment from one of her old films is re-enacted in the garden of the London house where she is staying - only this time the corpse is real... TB 7802.

Babson, Marian Nine lives to murder. 1994. Read by David Graham, 7 hours. TB 12304. When Winstanley Fortescue, titan of the English stage and a notorious tomcatter, falls off a ladder onto the backstage cat Montmorency D Mousa, man and feline are catapulted into each other's body. Soon Winstanley Fortescue, cat, hears enough to know the fall was no accident. Who pushed him? His long suffering wife, his loony ex, his catty mistress or the critic who chewed up his last play? Twitching his tail, Win scats over to the hospital to sniff out the would be killer and save his own body, which is serving as host to Monty's bewildered soul. After all, how many lives could Monty's cat body have left? TB 12304.

Baxt, George The Dorothy Parker murder case. 1985. Read by Arthur Blake, 10 hours 27 minutes. TB 6208. It is 24 August 1926; Rudolph Valentino has just died in suspicious circumstances; Dorothy Parker has slit her wrists; and George S. Kaufman has found the body of a murdered showgirl in his Upper West Side hideaway. While Mrs Parker's attempted suicide raises no eyebrows (with Mrs P, suicide is a chronic condition), Kaufman's situation is clearly serious. TB 6208.

Bayer, William Pattern crimes. 1987. Read by Stanley McGeagh, 12 hours 7 minutes. TB 6929. When a succession of mutilated corpses are dumped near the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, it looks as if Israel has its first case of serial murders. The relentless search for the underlying pattern by David Bar Lev becomes a race against time as he uncovers a series of coincidences as bizarre as the Ritual markings on the corpses. What is the link between a right wing rabbi and the release of a Soviet Jew to the West? Contains passages of a sexual nature. TB 6929.

2 Berendt, John Midnight in the garden of good and evil: a Savannah story. 1995. Read by William Roberts, 13 hours 11 minutes. TB 11415. Gunshots ran out in the grandest mansion in Savannah, Georgia, in the early hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defence? This novel is based on a true story. Contains strong language. TB 11415.

Block, Lawrence The burglar who liked to quote Kipling. 1981. Read by Bruce Montague, 7 hours 19 minutes. TB 4300. Bernie Rhodenbarr series; book 3. Sequel to: The burglar in the closet. Bernie Rhodenbarr has a pleasant enough life: running a bookstore by day and pursuing his normal profession - crime - by night. And then he comes across the only surviving copy of a limited edition of The Deliverance of Fort Bucklow by Rudyard Kipling. All but this one had been burned at Batemans - and this one had been dedicated to Rider Haggard... TB 4300.

Block, Lawrence The burglar who painted like Mondrian. 1984. Read by Simon Coady, 6 hours 3 minutes. TB 5429. Bernie Rhodenbarr series; book 5. Sequel to: The burglar who studied Spinoza. Bernie Rhodenbarr is a professional burglar. He is also an antiquarian bookseller, a front which provides an entree into many promising homes for burglary. When a good friend, a happy lesbian called Carolyn, tells him that one of her cats has been kidnapped and the kidnapper is demanding as ransom a Mondrian currently on display in the Hewlett Gallery, Bernie decides to act. TB 5429.

Carr, Caleb The Italian secretary: a further adventure of Sherlock Holmes. 2005. Read by Robbie McNab, 7 hours. TB 14377. Mycroft Holmes, charged with ensuring the personal safety of Queen Victoria, calls on his brother for help when a number of attempts have been made on her life and when two unexplained deaths occur amongst the staff at her Scottish residencies. Accompanied by Dr Watson, Sherlock Holmes goes north by train, examining the few facts Mycroft has been able to cryptically supply. To Watson's bafflement he is sure there is a link between these deaths and the murder in the old royal apartments at Holyrood of the secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots: a killing which left a bloodstain that daily refreshes itself and in a room where voices can be heard in the darkest hours of the night. Can Holmes's extraordinary deductive powers solve the historical crime as well as the contemporary one? TB 14377.

3 Chandler, Raymond The big sleep. 1967. Read by Marvin Kane, 7 hours 6 minutes. TB 1165. Philip Marlowe series; book 1. Justice of an unexpected sort is done after a series of murders while a case of blackmail is being investigated. TB 1165.

Chandler, Raymond Farewell, my lovely. 1940. Read by Marvin Kane, 8 hours 15 minutes. TB 2482. Philip Marlowe series; book 2. Philip Marlowe's accidental entanglement with Moose Malloy involves him in adventures which end in the underworld of Los Angeles. TB 2482.

Clemeau, Carol The Ariadne clue: a classical mystery. 1983. Read by Syd Ralph, 6 hours 12 minutes. TB 5041. Classics professor, Antonia Nielson, finds herself in the middle of a mystery when a collection of Aegean gold artefacts is stolen and one of the best students disappears at the same time. Using the techniques of academic research, Antonia fights to keep one step ahead of the police. TB 5041.

Connelly, Michael Blood work. 1999. Read by Dick Hill, 12 hours 53 minutes. TB 12829. Thanks to a heart transplant, former FBI agent Terry McCaleb is enjoying a quiet retirement, renovating the fishing boat he lives on in Los Angeles Harbour. Until he has a visit from Graciela Rivers. She tells him that the heart beating in his chest belonged to her sister, who was not killed in an accident, as he had been told, but was murdered. And she wants him to take up the investigation. TB 12829.

Connelly, Michael The black echo. 2002. Read by Dick Hill, 13 hours 21 minutes. TB 13844. Harry Bosch series; book 1. One Sunday Harry Bosch gets a call out on his pager. A body has been found in a drainage tunnel off Mulholland Drive, Hollywood. And Harry knows him. Billy Meadows was a fellow tunnel-rat out in Vietnam, running against the VC and against the fear that they called the black echo. At first Meadows looks like just another overdose victim but them comes news that he may have been involved in a huge bank heist eight months earlier, a case which the FBI are investigating. When Harry goes to the Feds to reveal what he has learned, they dismiss both him and his evidence out of hand. Contains passages of a sexual nature. TB 13844.

Connelly, Michael The black ice. 2001. Read by Dick Hill, 11 hours 11 minutes. TB 14026. Harry Bosch series; book 2. The official report said suicide. But in the city where murder is a sport, Bosch isn’t ready to blame the victim. Narcotics Officer Cal Moore

4 was investigating the city’s latest drug killing. He ended up in a motel room with his head in several pieces and a suicide note in his back pocket. Years ago, Bosch learned the first rule of good police work: look not for the facts but the glue that holds them together. Now he’s making some very dangerous connections, following a string of bloody murders from Hollywood Boulevard’s drug bazaar to back-alleys south of the border and into the centre of a complex and lethal game - “ one in which Harry looks like the next victim. Contains passages of a sexual nature. TB 14026.

Cornwell, Patricia D Hornet's nest. 1997. Read by Lorelei King, 13 hours 3 minutes. TB 11990. Andy Brazil series; book 1. Deputy Chief Virginia West has a mood to match the heat in the city of Charlotte. Another out-of-town business man has been found murdered in his hire car and West is ordered to escort Andy Brazil, a rookie reporter on the local paper. And there are other causes for her increased nicotine intake: departmental in- fighting, court appearances and a never-ending string of burglaries, busts and bodies. TB 11990.

Cornwell, Patricia D Postmortem. 1992. Read by Lorelei King, 9 hours 42 minutes. TB 10848. Dr Kay Scarpetta series; book 1. Dr Kay Scarpetta has two problems. The first one is that a serial killer is strangling women in their own bedrooms, the second is that not everyone is thrilled that a woman is chief medical examiner. She uses all the technical tools at her disposal - computers, fingerprint-matching processors and DNA-testing equipment - to identify the killer. TB 10848.

Cornwell, Patricia D Body of evidence. 2000. Read by Liza Ross, 10 hours 29 minutes. TB 12354. Dr Kay Scarpetta series; book 2. Someone is stalking Beryl Madison. Someone who spies on her and makes threatening, obscene phone calls to the reclusive writer. Terrified, Beryl flees to Key West; the very night she returns, Beryl inexplicably invites her killer in... Did she know her killer? Adding to the intrigue is Beryl's enigmatic relationship with a prizewinning author, and the disappearance of Beryl's own manuscript. Chief Medical Examiner Dr Kay Scarpetta heads an investigation that begins in the laboratory, and then leads her deep into a nightmare that soon becomes her own. Contains strong language. TB 12354.

Craven, Wes Fountain society. 2000. Read by Jeff Harding, 12 hours 15 minutes. TB 12510. A sinister plot is launched to confer immortality on a select group of government scientists. Weapon scientist Dr Peter Jance is chosen. He is dying of cancer just as he nears completion of his greatest invention. When Jance refuses to co-operate on moral grounds he finds himself in deep trouble. Contains passages of a sexual nature. TB 12510.

5 Cunningham, E V The case of the poisoned eclairs. 1980. Read by Patrick Romer, 5 hours. TB 3997. Masao Masuto series; book 4. Sequel to: The Case of the Russian Diplomat. None of the four divorcees touched the eclairs; the maid who took them home was poisoned. For whom were they intended and was there any further danger? TB 3997.

Daley, Robert The dangerous edge. 1983. Read by Simon Coady, 14 hours 44 minutes. TB 5348. It is 1952 and the supposedly impregnable Banque de Nice has been robbed. Unfortunately "The Brain" who engineered this heist also succumbed to a brief moment of hubris and made off with enough documents threatening careers, lives and reputations to make him the most hunted criminal in Europe. TB 5348.

Deaver, Jeffery A maiden's grave. 2006. Read by Jeff Harding, 15 hours 18 minutes. TB 14673. A school bus carrying eight deaf school girls and their teachers brakes suddenly on a flat Kansas highway. They should never have stopped to investigate the car crash. Waiting for them are three heartless men just escaped from prison - each with nothing to lose. And now, with the girls as their hostages, they have everything to gain. Stark against the prairie stands an ancient slaughterhouse that still reeks of decades of spilled blood. It is here that they make their stand. It is here that cold killer Lou Handy, the ringleader, announces his terms; here that he will kill one innocent girl an hour unless his demands are met. What follows is a twelve-hour siege of noose-tight tension - and a war of nerves between Handy and the FBI's senior hostage negotiator, Arthur Potter. Contains violence. TB 14673.

Dentinger, Jane Death mask. 1988. Read by Kate Harper, 8 hours 43 minutes. TB 7868. Jocelyn O’Roarke series; book 3. Sequel to: First Hit of the Season. Jocelyn O'Roarke, actress and fledgling director, scores a coup when the famous English actor, Frederick Revere, agrees to star in her fund-raising production of "Major Barbara". The play is to save a beautiful old theatre just off Broadway from demolition and all is going well until the curtain call of the first preview night: one of the cast does not straighten up again from his final bow... TB 7868.

Dexter, Pete Paris Trout. 1988. Read by Emily King, 9 hours 37 minutes. TB 7468. The horrific events of a summer's day in Cotton Point, Georgia, tore apart the social fabric of that sleepy little place. Paris Trout, white storekeeper and moneylender, kills

6 two coloured females. He is both a product of the South and an aberration from its traditions, and is to cause more deaths before his own violent end. TB 7468.

Egan, Lesley The miser. 1982. Read by Marvin Kane, 7 hours 29 minutes. TB 4253. Jesse Falkenstein series; book 11. Sequel to: Motive in Shadow. Another case for Jesse Falkenstein, Lesley Egan's well-known lawyer-detective. Shabby Old Vanderveer is murdered and turns out to have been an archetypal miser. Jesse becomes involved in an absorbing hunt for hidden treasure. TB 4253.

Ellroy, James L.A. confidential. 1994. Read by William Roberts, 14 hours 55 minutes. TB 13693. L.A. quartet; book 3. Sequel to: The Big Nowhere. Christmas 1951, Los Angeles: a city where the police are as corrupt as the criminals. Six prisoners are beaten senseless in their cells by cops crazed on alcohol. For the LAPD detectives involved, the events will expose the guilty secrets on which they have built their corrupt and violent careers. Contains strong language. TB 13693.

Evanovich, Janet Full house. Read by Lorelei King, 9 hours 26 minutes. TB 13817. Swift and Holt series; book 1. Nick Kaharchek senses danger the minute he sees Billie Pearce. Happy in her stable home life as a divorced mother of two, she represents everything the footloose Kaharchek's always avoided. But she is also irresistibly fascinating - in a car-crash sort of way. Billie finds her instinctive response to Nick's attention almost as frightening as the mysterious break-ins in her neighbourhood, and the spider invasions her pest-control man seems unable to beat. As fate brings Billie and Nick even closer, they are suddenly thrown into a world of mayhem, seduction and terror - but will it lead to everlasting love? Contains passages of a sexual nature. TB 13817.

Evanovich, Janet Full speed. 2004. Read by Lorelei King, 6 hours 27 minutes. TB 14169. Swift and Holt series; book 2. Jamie and Max have intense chemistry - even though they drive each other crazy. Max thinks Jamie is a magnet for trouble and Jamie thinks Max is the most annoyingly sexy, mysterious man she's ever met. She knows she should stay away from him, but there's something irresistible about the millionaire playboy. Jamie, as small-town newspaper owner, is after the scoop of a lifetime. Max Holt is right in the middle of that story. What follows is the tale of a corrupt minister, a gang of mobsters on the loose, a hound dog called Fleas, a wise-cracking computer genius, and lots of love in the fast lane. Contains passages of a sexual nature. TB 14169.

7 Evanovich, Janet Full tilt. 2003. Read by Lorelei King, 7 hours 17 minutes. TB 14308. Swift and Holt series; book 3. Jamie Swift has one priority in quiet Beaumont, South Carolina: running the local newspaper. Romance runs second. But with the arrival of her silent partner, the notoriously mysterious and sexy Maximillian Holt, Jamie's life gets shaken up. Contains passages of a sexual nature. TB 14308.

Faulkner, William Light in August. 1933. Read by Marvin Kane, 16 hours. TB 1324. The tragedy of Joe Christmas, an exhibitionist mulatto who murders a nymphomaniac white spinster. TB 1324.

Fesperman, Dan Lie in the dark. 2006. Read by Seán Barrett, 10 hours 57 minutes. TB 14875. Vlado Petic series; book 1. Investigator Petric makes his living from the dead. Lately business has been slow, what with the siege around Sarajevo. Condoned killing has displaced the crime of passion; his services with the civil police as a homicide investigator have been less in demand. Unluckily, one premeditated death does land on the detective's desk. It is no abused lover or a distant sniper's victim but the chief of the interior ministry's police. Contains violence. TB 14875.

Gardner, Erle Stanley The case of the daring divorcee. 1969. Read by Marvin Kane, 5 hours 45 minutes. TB 1194. Perry Mason is involved in a question of identification when a beautiful woman calls at his office for help and leaves mysteriously before his return. TB 1194.

Gardner, Lisa Alone. 2005. Read by Amber Sealey, 10 hours 41 minutes. TB 14591. Bobby Dodge series; book 1. Massachusetts State Trooper Bobby Dodge watches a tense hostage stand off unfold through the scope of his sniper rifle. Just across the street, an armed man has barricaded himself in with his wife and child. The man's finger tightens on the trigger and Dodge has only a split second to react and forever suffer the consequences. Contains violence. TB 14591.

George, Elizabeth A suitable vengeance. 1991. Read by Michael McStay, 13 hours 35 minutes. TB 9054. Inspector Lynley series; book 1. Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, the Eighth Earl of Asherton, has brought to Howenstow, his ancestral home, the young woman he has asked to be his bride. But the savage murder of a local journalist soon becomes the catalyst for a lethal series of events which shatters the calm of the picturesque

8 Cornish village, tearing apart powerful ties of love and friendship and exposing a long- buried family secret. The resulting tragedy will forever alter the course of Thomas Lynley's life. TB 9054.

Godfrey, Ellen Murder behind locked doors. 1989. Read by Laura Brook, 9 hours 8 minutes. TB 8424. Jane Tregar works for a large headhunting firm, finding top executives to fill high- powered jobs. Suspicion surrounds the death of a vice-president of a major software company, and Jane is asked to obtain a replacement. Her own life is endangered as she unravels the mystery, and she comes to realise that values like loyalty have little value where corporate manipulation and individual ambition are involved. TB 8424.

Gosling, Paula The Wychford murder: a Luke Abbott mystery. 1986. Read by Peter Wickham, 9 hours 43 minutes. TB 6901. Luke Abbott series; book 1. Wychford is a charming, quiet West Country village until Mrs Tompkins is found with her throat slashed. Now the golden Cotswold stones are stained with blood and the local people wonder who will be the next victim. Luke Abbott is sent to find the killer and his investigations are to expose the secret loves and hates, the envy, greed and perversion behind the postcard prettiness. TB 6901.

Gosling, Paula Monkey puzzle. 1985. Read by Simon Coady, 7 hours 15 minutes. TB 5702. Jack Stryker series; book 1. Murder on an American University campus - and a tough detective sets out to discover who killed the professor that everyone wished would drop dead. TB 5702.

Gosling, Paula Backlash. 1989. Read by Francine Brodkin, 6 hours 36 minutes. TB 8133. Jack Stryker series; book 2. It's an open season on cops. Officers and men of the Grantham police force are being hunted and shot down, one by one, by somebody who knows more than they should about cops, guns and hate. Detective Lieutenant Jack Stryker is the unlucky man assigned to tracking the killer. It is not an easy job. Or a safe one. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 8133.

Grafton, Sue A is for alibi. 1986. Read by Liza Ross, 7 hours 44 minutes. TB 10415. Kinsey Millhone mysteries series; book 1. When Laurence Fife was murdered plenty of people had a reason to want him dead. His young and beautiful wife Nikki was the number one suspect and the jury thought so too. Eight years later, out on parole, Nikki hires Kinsey Millhone to find out who really killed her husband. The trial reaches

9 out to include several suspects, until Millhone finds herself face to face with a killer cunning enough to get away with murder. TB 10415.

Grafton, Sue B is for burglar. 1986. Read by Liza Ross, 8 hours 10 minutes. TB 10485. Kinsey Millhone mysteries series; book 2. Kinsey Mahone is given a case involving an absent sister and a will to be settled. It begins to look a bit less routine as she finds that the sister has last been seen draped in a lynx coat, headed for Florida, but never got there. Yet someone has got into her home and is squatting there. Kinsey is ordered to drop the case just before she discovers that a neighbour was murdered and, as she digs deeper, she finds a quagmire of conflicting facts and violent emotions. TB 10485.

Grafton, Sue 'C' is for corpse. 1988. Read by Kate Harper, 8 hours 5 minutes. TB 8236. Kinsey Millhone mysteries; book 3. The medics could do something about the damage to Bobby Callahan's body but not for the broken bits of his brain - which is why he needs help from Kinsey Millhone. The car accident was not an accident; someone wants him dead and he is unable to remember who or why; three days later Callahan is murdered. Kinsey had been hired to stop them; the least she can do now is to find his killer. TB 8236.

Grimes, Martha The dirty duck. 1984. Read by Liz Lloyd, 6 hours 46 minutes. TB 7131. Richard Jury series; book 4. Sequel to: The Anodyne necklace. In Stratford-upon- Avon, there is a pub called "The Dirty Duck", or – if approached from the other side - "The Black Swan". Its two-sided sign has been the cause of many a failed meeting. Miss Gwendolyn Bracegirdle of Sarasota, Florida, fresh from a performance of "As You Like it", takes her last drink. A few minutes later she is dead, her throat slashed. The only clue is two lines from an unknown poem printed across a theatre programme. TB 7131.

Grisham, John The client. 1993. Read by Garrick Hagon, 15 hours 4 minutes. TB 9958. A young boy unwittingly learns who killed a US state senator. Now both the FBI and a top Mafia hitman are involved in a desperate chase to get to him first. The only person standing in their way is Reggie Love, a children's rights expert, who has seen enough in her troubled life to know the deadly threats which hang over the boy and his family. TB 9958.

10 Grubb, Davis The night of the hunter. 1999. Read by Jeff Harding, 8 hours 57 minutes. TB 11914. When Ben Harper is taken to the gallows for a bank robbery killing, he leaves his young children John and Pearl to hide the 10,000 dollars. Soon a strange preacher comes to town and claims to have known their daddy. His knuckles are tattooed with the words 'LOVE' and 'HATE' and while he preaches the word of the Lord, darkness lurks in his heart, a knife lies in his pocket and he wants that money. "The Night of the Hunter" was adapted for the screen in 1954, directed by Charles Laughton and starring Robert Mitchum. TB 11914.

Haldeman, Joe The Hemingway hoax. 1990. Read by Liza Ross, 4 hours 36 minutes. TB 9139. John Baird, short on funds, joins a con man in a plot to forge the early Ernest Hemingway stories supposedly lost in the 1920s. But if the plot succeeds, it could bring about war. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 9139.

Hammett, Dashiell Red harvest. 1974. Read by William Dufris, 5 hours 53 minutes. TB 10271. The Continental op, an operative in a detective agency, is summoned to the mining town of Personville, customarily referred to as Poisonville and corrupt from top to bottom. The op has been summoned by town boss Elihu Wilson to pin the murder of his son on a rival gang, but when the op finds that the killing was one of passion, he takes his fee and uses it to set one group of crooks against another, to "open up Poisonville from Adam's apple to ankle". TB 10271.

Harris, Thomas Red dragon. Read by Nigel Graham, 12 hours 19 minutes. TB 9283. Hannibal Lecter series; book 1. A ritual murderer has struck twice, killing entire families in two cities. FBI agent Will Graham knows he must find him before the moon is full or another family must die. The killer, Francis Dolarhyde, is an accident of nature trying to work things through. He contacts "Hannibal the Cannibal" a psychopath and serial killer caught by Graham. In a race against time Graham searches for Dolarhyde, while the murderer has begun his hunt for Graham. Contains violence. TB 9283.

Higgins, George V The Mandeville talent. 1991. Read by Ed Bishop, 10 hours 8 minutes. TB 10056. Joe Corey is a young disillusioned Manhattan corporate attorney, who is reluctantly drawn into a 23 year old unresolved murder case. The victim was his wife's grandfather, Jim Mandeville, killed with his own 12 gauge shotgun, as sent to the bank where he was president. TB 10056.

11 Hillerman, Tony The blessing way. 1991. Read by George Guildhall, 6 hours 30 minutes. TB 11422. Joe Leaphorn series; book 1. Navajo tribal policeman Joe Leaphorn is sent on a casual summer outing in harsh desert country. The aim is to investigate rumours of Navajo sorcery. But he and anthropologist Bergen McKee are led to a series of inexplicably grisly murders. TB 11422.

Hillerman, Tony Dance hall of the dead. 1992. Read by George Guildhall, 6 hours 20 minutes. TB 11481. Joe Leaphorn series; book 2. Navajo Tribal Policeman Lt. Joe Leaphorn is assigned to track down a missing Navajo youth whose Zuni friend was found brutally murdered. Leaphorn's search unearths a deadly secret and a ruthless killer who will stop at nothing. TB 11481.

Hillerman, Tony Listening woman. 1992. Read by George Guidall, 6 hours 28 minutes. TB 11051. Joe Leaphorn series; book 3. In his most recent homicide case, Joe Leaphorn has one witness - a blind medicine woman. She had been diagnosing a sick old Navajo man, but someone has bludgeoned him to death with a pistol. The murderer has also killed her teenage niece, and escaped without other witnesses. TB 11051.

Hoag, Tami Dust to dust. Read by Jeff Harding, 12 hours 43 minutes. TB 14798. Sam Kovac series; book 1. The death of internal affairs investigator Andy Fallon is a potential political bomb for the Minneapolis Police Department. Andy Fallon was gay, and he was investigating a possible cop connection in the brutal murder of another gay officer. But Andy's death looks like suicide - or an unfortunate and embarrassing accident: death by auto-erotic misadventure - and the pressure is on from the top brass to close the case as soon as possible. Contains violence. TB 14798.

Hoag, Tami Dead sky. 2006. Read by Pat Starr, 12 hours 27 minutes. TB 14794. Sam Kovac series; book 2. It was a crime so brutal it changed the lives of even the most hardened homicide cops. The Haas family murders left a scar on the community nothing can erase, and when Judge Caery Moore stands in the way of convicting the killer, a public outcry puts her life in danger. Contains violence. TB 14794.

12 Hoag, Tami A thin dark line. 1999. Read by Stuart Milligan, 17 hours 52 minutes. TB 13203. Terror stalks the streets of Bayou Breaux, Louisiana. A suspected murderer is free on technicality, and the cop accused of planting evidence against him is ordered off the case. But Detective Nick Fourcade refuses to walk away. He's stepped over the line before. This case threatens to push him over the edge. He's not the only one. Deputy Annie Broussard found the woman's mutilated body and wants justice. But pursuing the investigation will mean forming an alliance with a man she doesn't trust and making enemies of the men she works with. It will mean being drawn into the confidence of a killer. TB 13203.

Irving, John A son of the circus. 1994. Read by Nigel Graham, 31 hours 49 minutes. TB 10510. Born a Parsi in Bombay, sent to, university and medical school in Vienna, Dr Farrokh Daruwalla is a Canadian citizen, a 59 year old orthopaedic surgeon, living in Toronto. Periodically, the doctor returns to India; in Bombay, most of his patients are crippled children. Once, 20 years ago, Dr Daruwalla was the examining physician of two murder victims in Goa. Now, 20 years later, the doctor will be reacquainted with the murderer. Contains strong language. TB 10510.

Kellerman, Faye Straight into darkness. 2006. Read by Adam Sims, 13 hours 1 minute. TB 14606. In 1920s Munich, homicide detective Axel Berg is called to the scene of a grisly homicide, the victim being a young society wife. Soon, a second body is uncovered; the discovery of a third indicates that Berg is dealing with an unimaginably evil killer. In the Germany of the time, the investigation cannot be straightforward. Hitler's power is growing, and the Nazis are a strong civic force in the city of Munich. Berg is thrown into a web of danger as senior officers work to their own agendas. Contains violence. TB 14606.

Kellerman, Faye Double homicide. 2005. Read by Jeff Harding, 7 hours 16 minutes. TB 14254. Sanata Fe / Boston series; book 1. In Santa Fe, Darrel Two moons and Steve Katz are working the 4pm-2am Special Investigation shift when they're called to the scene of a blunt-force homicide. The victim is a wealthy art dealer with a shady reputation. Dorothy Breton and her partner McCain are called to downtown Boston on the same night that Dorothy finds a revolver in her teenage son's backpack. Now her elder son is a witness to a killing in a shoot-out. But the autopsy reveals a stunning twist on the cause of death, and Dorothy has to dig a lot deeper to find the shocking truth. TB 14254.

13 Kellerman, Jesse Sunstroke. 2006. Read by Amy Finegan, 10 hours 59 minutes. TB 14795. Gloria Mendez is 36, single and hopelessly in love with her boss. So when he disappears whilst on holiday in Mexico, it's Gloria who leaps into action, tracing his final phone call to a hellish ghost town run by a sleazy cop. Distraught and restless, she travels to Mexico to try to make sense of his death. But what she discovers about the man she loved shocks her to the core. Contains violence. TB 14795.

Kellerman, Jonathan Billy Straight. 1999. Read by Jeff Harding, 16 hours. TB 12774. Petra Connor series; book 1. When the estranged wife of TV superstar cop Cart Ramsey is found murdered in a Los Angeles car park, detectives Petra Connor and Stu Bishop place the ex-husband as number one suspect. But there was a witness, Billy Straight, a homeless boy now too scared to come forward with his evidence. Contains strong language. TB 12774.

King, Jonathon Shadow men. 2005. Read by Adam Sims, 7 hours 1 minute. TB 14831. Max Freeman series; book 3. Sequel to: A visible darkness. 80 years ago, three men - a father and his two sons - vanished without trace whilst working as labourers on a dangerous project to build the first road through the Florida Everglades. Years later, a series of letters is discovered by a descendent of these men. Eager to find out what happened to these men, he starts asking questions - and is quickly stonewalled. With nowhere else to turn, he enlists the help of ex-cop Max Freeman who begins his investigation and is surprised to meet resistance at every turn. The search for the truth quickly turns violent - and Max finds he has more to worry about than just 80- year-old ghosts. Contains violence. TB 14831.

Lathen, Emma Accounting for murder. 1965. Read by Simon Coady, 5 hours 59 minutes. TB 4719. John Putnam Thatcher mystery; book 3. Sequel to: A place for murder. John Putman Thatcher, senior Vice- president of the Sloan Guaranty Trust, is an elegant and youthful sixty. In the world of high finance the accounts for a murder may not balance - John P Thatcher turns detective once more. TB 4719.

Lathen, Emma Murder makes the wheels go round. 1966. Read by Marvin Kane, 7 hours 25 minutes. TB 191. John Putnam Thatcher mystery; book 4. A man is murdered - he is one of three American executives of the motor industry, who have all been to prison. TB 191.

14 Lehane, Dennis Gone, baby, gone. 1999. Read by Garrick Hagon, 12 hours 40 minutes. TB 12908. Patrick Kenzie & Angela Gennaro; book 4. Sequel to: Sacred. Boston private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are hired to find four-year-old Amanda McCready, abducted from her home without leaving a trace. The case is rife with oddities: Amanda's indifferent mother, a paedophilic couple and a shadowy police unit. When a second child goes missing, they face a sensationalising local media and a faceless power determined to obstruct their efforts. They discover that those who go looking for the missing may not come back alive. TB 12908.

Leon, Donna Death at La Fenice. 1995. Read by Nigel Graham, 9 hours 22 minutes. TB 11806. Commissario Guido Brunetti series; book 1. The twisted maze of Venice's canals has always been shrouded in mystery. The opera house, La Fenice, has had its share of death, but nothing as horrific, as the poisoning of conductor Maestro Helmut Wellauer during a performance of La Traviata. Even the Commissario of Police Guido Brunetti is shocked at how many enemies Wellauer has made, but how many have enough motive for murder? TB 11806.

Leonard, Elmore Rum punch. 1993. Read by Garrick Hagon, 7 hours 50 minutes. TB 10420. Jackie Burke is stopped at the airport with 50,000 dollars in her bag. The Feds know she works for a gun runner, but they don't know his name. She can tell what she knows, and get off; or she can keep her mouth shut and do five years. Then she meets Max Cherry and finds that she has more options than she originally thought. Contains strong language. TB 10420.

Lewin, Michael Z The enemies within. 1974. Read by Marvin Kane, 7 hours 21 minutes. TB 2926. Albert Samson series; book 3. Sequel to: The way we die. A private eye in Florida is given a short message to deliver but that proves to be only the beginning of a messy investigation. TB 2926.

Lippman, Laura Every secret thing. 2003. Read by Laurence Bouvard, 11 hours 9 minutes. TB 14486. For eleven year old Ronnie and Alice, the summer holidays come to an abrupt end when they are convicted of murdering a baby they found unattended on someone's doorstep. Seven years on, the girls are released from their respective penal institutions. As they're trying to pick up the pieces of their young lives, a spate of missing children cases throws suspicion on them once again, with tragic

15 consequences. This is a gripping story with a heart-wrenching subject, handled with great sensitivity. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 14486.

Lippman, Laura The power of three. 2005. Read by Laurence Bouvard, 12 hours 16 minutes. TB 14531. Baltimore police receive an urgent call out to Glendale High after gunshots are heard coming from a locked toilet. The police cautiously enter the bathroom and find three victims - Josie, whose leg wound seems relatively superficial; Perri, who is unconscious from a bullet wound that has ripped through her jaw; and Katrina, who is dead, shot in the chest. Years before this fatal shooting, three girls met and took a vow of eternal friendship. How did that passionate friendship change, evolve and finally fall apart? TB 14531.

McBain, Ed Another part of the city. 1986. Read by John Chancer, 7 hours 56 minutes. TB 7324. Reardon, Hoffman and their team curse their luck when a homicide takes place just before Christmas on the unusually quiet 5th Precinct. By the time they have worked their way through ethnic rivalries, international intrigue and financial wrangling on a massive scale, they don't care if it's Christmas or the Fourth of July. TB 7324.

McBain, Ed Cop hater: An 87th precinct novel. 1999. Read by Peter Whitman, 5 hours 32 minutes. TB 11971. 87th Precinct series; book 1. With two cops shot dead in a heat-wave, Detective Steve Carella is scouring town for a man with a record, a grudge and a .45. There's plenty fit that description... and the Press is doing its own sniping from safe cover. A hot lead from a stool pigeon takes Carella down Whore Street, but a lousy lead from the Press takes the killer down to Teddy Franklin's apartment. She's Carella's girl, and the killer's prepared to wait. TB 11971.

McBain, Ed The mugger. 1999. Read by Harry Crane, 4 hours 51 minutes. TB 12004. 87th Precinct series; book 2. Every city has muggers, but this mugger was unique - he preyed only on women. He attacked after dark, snatched their purses, filled them with pain and terror, then bowed and said "Clifford thanks you, Madam." Now the cops of the 87th Precinct were out to get him. He had put one victim in the hospital... and another one in the morgue. This time his victim was a pretty seventeen-year-old and patrolman Bert Kling had a personal reason to go after him... a reason that became an obsession and a sure way for a cop to get killed. TB 12004.

16 McDonald, Gregory Fletch's moxie. 1983. Read by Simon Coady, 5 hours 49 minutes. TB 4893. Fletch series; book 5. Sequel to: Fletch and the Widow Bradley. A Hollywood producer is stabbed in the middle of a television interview surrounded by a battery of cameras. The only person near enough to have done it is Irwin Fletcher's pneumatic actress girlfriend, Moxie Moonie... TB 4893.

McMullen, Mary Better off dead. 1982. Read by Robert Gladwell, 6 hours 59 minutes. TB 5229. What better way of boosting the market value of an artist's work than by producing his dead body? But the course of even faked death becomes complicated: someone aims to make sure that the man who plays dead stays dead; and two unknown daughters materialise, one nice and legitimate, the other neither and rather strongly so... TB 5229.

Murphy, Haughton Murder takes a partner. 1987. Read by Elizabeth de Silva, 9 hours 33 minutes. TB 8219. Reuben Frost series, book 2. Sequel to: Murder for Lunch. Set against a background of contemporary New York's theatrical district, the famous artistic director of the National Ballet Company is murdered. Is this a motiveless crime or is it as the first suspect - before dying himself - says, a contract killing? Homicide detective Luis Bautista is called in and the gripping hunt for the truth begins. TB 8219.

Ordway, Peter Pain of death. 1990. Read by Steven Crossley, 6 hours 33 minutes. TB 9476. Nancy Fielding dies on her honeymoon in America and her husband disappears. Scott Fielding, a big game hunter, begins his own investigation. TB 9476.

Paretsky, Sara Killing orders: a novel. 1986. Read by Patricia Brown, 9 hours 18 minutes. TB 6607. Vic Warshawski series; book 3. Sequel to: Deadlock. Vic Warshawski is a karate expert and a keen marksman, a tough private eye in a tough city - Chicago. In this case, forced on her by Aunt Rosa whom she loathes, she has to fight off an attempt to blind her with acid and to burn her in her own house as she becomes ever more deeply involved in the investigation into the Calvi scandal, a takeover bid for Ajax, a big insurance company and a billion dollars missing from the Vatican Bank. TB 6607.

17 Parker, Robert B The Godwulf manuscript. 1974. Read by Anthony Parker, 6 hours 46 minutes. TB 2567. Spenser series; book 1. Spenser is trying to recover a valuable manuscript for the university from whose library it has been stolen. But nothing is straightforward for a private eye who is trying to get the truth in spite of the mysterious group who want his death. TB 2567.

Parker, Robert B The Judas goat. 1982. Read by Ian Craig, 5 hours 15 minutes. TB 4495. Spenser series; book 5. Sequel to: Promised Land. Boston private eye, Spenser, with a taste for familiar quotations, chases terrorists across Europe as a surrogate avenger for a crippled millionaire. TB 4495.

Patterson, James 2nd chance. 2002. Read by Pat Starr, 8 hours 35 minutes. TB 12912. Lindsay Boxer series; book 2. Sequel to: 1st to die. The tragic end of the honeymoon murder case left Lindsay Boxer unsure if she could ever return to work. But when a little girl is shot outside a San Francisco church, she knows it's time to reconvene the Women's Murder Club. Working with reporter Cindy Thomas, assistant DA Jill Bernhardt and medical examiner Claire Washburn, Lindsay starts to track a mystifying killer who quickly turns her pursuers into his victims. TB 12912.

Patterson, James 3rd degree. 2004. Read by Pat Starr, 6 hours 48 minutes. TB 14251. Lindsay Boxer series; book 3. Detective Lindsay Boxer is jogging along a beautiful San Francisco street as a fiery explosion rips through the neighbourhood. A townhouse is engulfed by flames and when Lindsay plunges inside to search for survivors, she finds three people dead and a sinister note signed "August Spies". Soon a wave of violent incidents, all with links to political terrorism, sweeps through the city. Lindsay asks her three friends, the Women's Murder Club, to help her figure out who is committing these murders – and why they are intent on killing someone every three days. Before long, the investigation is raging furiously, especially when the killer begins to target one of the Women's Murder Club. TB 14251.

Paul, Barbara The renewable virgin. 1984. Read by Rosemary Davis, 8 hours 58 minutes. TB 5326. Marian Larch series; book 1. Kelly Ingram is a rising star who has everything going for her. Even the hate between her agent and the producer of her new TV series cannot spoil her success. But then a friend is murdered. Detective Marian Larch of the New York Detective Bureau is assigned to investigate the crime. TB 5326.

18 Pearl, Matthew The Dante club. 2004. Read by Adam Sims, 15 hours 54 minutes. TB 14387. The literary geniuses of the Dante Club are finishing America's first translation of The Divine Comedy. The powerful old guard of Harvard College wants to keep Dante in obscurity and the members of the Dante Club must fight to keep their sacred literary cause alive. But their plans fall apart when a series of murders occur that are modelled on the descriptions of Hell's punishments from Dante's Inferno. With the police baffled, lives endangered and Dante's literary future at stake, the Dante Club must shed its literary existence and find a way to stop the killer. Contains violence. TB 14387.

Peters, Elizabeth Die for love. 1993. Read by Liza Ross, 9 hours 17 minutes. TB 10338. Jacqueline Kirby series; book 3. Sequel to: The Murders of Richard III. Jacqueline Kirby decided to get away from Coldwater College in Nebraska. A trip to New York would be ideal and, as the assistant head librarian at the college she can take the trip as a tax deductible professional expense; she will attend the convention of the Historical Romance Writers of the World. The visit is everything that Jacqueline thought it would be and more. First Dubretta Duberstein, the scandal columnist, dies under mysterious circumstances. She did have a bad heart, of course! Then Valerie Valentine asks Jacqueline for help. Someone, it seems, is threatening to kill the novelist. TB 10338.

Puzo, Mario The last don. 1996. Read by Adam Henderson, 17 hours 26 minutes. TB 11303. Don Domenico - the head of the last great Mafia family, the Clericuzio family - decides to create for his grandchildren a life free from the criminal branding of the mafia. But there are seeds of evil in the family's history, and killing is still what the Clericuzio do well. Here there is honour among thieves, villainy among supposedly honourable men, and a family divided against itself. Contains strong language. TB 11303.

Puzo, Mario Omerta. 2000. Read by Garrick Hagon, 10 hours 30 minutes. TB 12633. Omerta, the Sicilian code of silence, has been the cornerstone of the Mafia's sense of honour for centuries. In New York a mob boss is assassinated and no one will talk. His nephew and the head of the FBI both launch investigations. Contains violence. TB 12633.

Sanders, Lawrence Timothy's game. 1988. Read by Errol MacKinnon, 15 hours 36 minutes. TB 8683. Timothy Cone series; book 2. Sequel to: The Timothy Files. He's not always as sober as he could be, but Timothy Cone is a damn good stock market investigator. In this novel, the off-beat detective takes on the Mafia, the fierce passions and brutal actions

19 of the inhabitants of New York's China Town and the arson attempts of John J Dempster's factory. Supported by Samantha, his supervisor and lover, Timothy Cone is eventually embroiled in a Chinese gangland war. Contains strong language. TB 8683.

Saylor, Steven Roman blood. 2002. Read by Peter Wickham, 14 hours 25 minutes. TB 14252. Roma Sub Rosa series; book 1. Rome, 80 B.C. and Cicero is about to conduct his first important case, the defence of well-heeled farmer Sextus Roscius against the charge of killing his hated father. Gordianus the Finder, hired by Cicero to dig up evidence, soon learns why the elder Roscius was lured to his death: a summons from Elena, a young prostitute pregnant with a possible heir. Gordianus's investigations lead him on the track of a brutal conspiracy, uncovering some sordid truths about the Roscius family in time for Cicero to set off the expected courtroom fireworks and invoke the wrath of the dictator Sulla. Contains violence. TB 14252.

Smith, Martin Cruz Gorky Park. 1981. Read by John Westbrook, 17 hours 40 minutes. TB 4082. Arkady Renko series; book 1. Chief Investigator Arkady Renko of the Moscow militia is called to Gorky Park late one spring night to investigate three bodies under the snow... Unsuitable for family reading. TB 4082.

Spillane, Mickey I, the jury. 2002. Read by William Dufris, 5 hours 57 minutes. TB 14029. Mike Hammer series; book 1. When Hammer finds one of his friends murdered, he vows to find the killer and punish him, no matter what the cost. He begins by questioning all the guests of a recent party held by the late Jack Williams. There's Myrna, Jack's girlfriend and ex-heroin addict; George Kalecki, a wealthy man with a crooked past; Hal Kines, a handsome, athletic, college type; the Bellamy twins, a couple of gorgeous, rich sisters; and finally, Charlotte Manning, a breathtakingly beautiful and successful Park Avenue psychiatrist. TB 14029.

Spillane, Mickey My gun is quick. Read by William Dufris, 7 hours 30 minutes. TB 12906. Mike Hammer series; book 2. Late one night, Mike Hammer finds himself in an all- night dive with a pretty, but washed-out, redhead. When Feeney Last walks in and tries to smack the redhead around, Mike soon gives him a taste of his own medicine and gives the girl money to clean up her act and get a real job. The next day she is found dead. Although NYPD are viewing it as an accident, Mike knows better and sets out to prove murder and find the killer. TB 12906.

20 Stout, Rex The second confession. 1992. Read by Hayward Morse, 8 hours. TB 9791. A Nero Wolfe mystery series; book 15. Sequel to: Trouble in triplicate. Nero Wolfe, the greatest and fattest detective in the world, accepts Sperling's assignment to find out about his daughter's unsavoury boyfriend, and if he is a member of the Communist Party. Then Wolfe's orchid collection is destroyed by machine gun fire, and Louis Rony is killed. Wolfe realises he is up against something more sinister than the Communist Party, and that is a man called Arnold Zeck, the only person who can make him afraid. TB 9791.

Stout, Rex Before midnight. 1993. Read by John Chancer, 6 hours 8 minutes. TB 9973. A Nero Wolfe mystery series; book 25. Sequel to: The final deduction. Like most advertising agencies, Lippert, Buff and Assa has a silly name and an impressive list of clients, including cosmetic giants, Heery Products, for which they are promoting the latest perfume. With a nationwide competition central to the campaign, the manager is shot a week before the draw, and the answers disappear. Enter Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin... TB 9973.

Tapply, William G Death at Charity's Point: Attorney Brady Coyne's first case. 1985. Read by James Tillitt, 8 hours 6 minutes. TB 7310. Brady Coyne series; book 1. The suicide note found in George's pocket seems to leave no doubt, but Florence Gresham's mother, is not convinced. Why should a contented, quiet prep school teacher suddenly want to kill himself? There is also the matter of a life insurance policy she has taken out on which she is due to collect a million dollars if George dies accidentally. She suspects murder and hires attorney Brady Coyne to investigate. TB 7310.

Tartt, Donna The little friend. Read by Pat Starr, 24 hours 59 minutes. TB 13429. Although the Cleves generally revelled in every detail of their family history, the events of "the terrible mother's day" were never, ever discussed. On that day, dearly loved nine-year-old Robin was found hanging by the neck from a black-tupelo tree in his own garden. The mystery – with its taunting traces of foul play - was still no nearer a solution than it had been on the day it happened. Robin's youngest sister, Harriet, was only a baby when the tragedy occurred. Now twelve years old and steeped in the adventurous daring of favourite writers such as Stevenson, Kipling and Conan Doyle, Harriet is ready and eager to find and punish her brother's killer. But the world she encounters is dark, adult and all too menacing. TB 13429.

21 Turow, Scott The burden of proof. 1990. Read by Billy J Mitchell, 17 hours 30 minutes. TB 9570. Kindle County series; book 2, Sequel to Presumed Innocent. Alejandro "Sandy" Stern, celebrated defence lawyer, comes home to find that Clara, his wife of thirty years, has committed suicide. As Sandy seeks to unravel both the mystery of Clara's death and the tangled web of financial wheeling and dealing, his whole world, marriage, family, career is brought under the intense scrutiny that a lawyer as persistent, perceptive and honest as Stern can muster. Contains passages of a sexual nature. TB 9570.

Wilder, Thornton The bridge of San Luis Rey. 1927. Read by Marvin Kane, 3 hours 45 minutes. TB 1647. In 1714 a priest witnesses the collapse of a bridge in Peru, and his suspicions about the cause of the accident lead him to investigate the lives of the five people killed. TB 1647.

Wright, Edward The silver face. 2004. Read by Hayward Morse, 12 hours 45 minutes. TB 14547. Step back into 1940s L.A., to the neon lit streets and smoky bars, where glamour lives - and death just might come calling. TB 14547.

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