Showing results for "John" in Amateur Sleuth

Fletch, investigative reporter extraordinaire, can’t be bothered with deadlines or expense-account budgets when it comes to getting his story. Working undercover at the beach to dig up a drug-trafficking scheme for his next blockbuster piece, Fletch is invited into a much deeper narrative. Alan Stanwyk, CEO of Collins Aviation and all-around family man, mistakes the reporter for a strung-out vagabond and asks him for a favor: kill him and escape to Brazil with $50,000.

The acidly funny first book starring the subversive sleuth in one of the most successful mystery series of all time. Fletch is an investigative reporter whose methods are a little unorthodox. Currently he's living on the beach. He's taking more than a little flak from his editor. She doesn't appreciate his style. Or the expense account items he's racking up. Or his definition of the word "deadline". Or the divorce lawyers who keep showing up at the office. So when multimillionaire Alan Stanwyk offers Fletch the job of a lifetime, which could be worth a fortune, he's intrigued.

With Holding Lies, John Larison takes us deep into a thriving subculture of the Northwest, one born of the ferns and firs, rain and hot-springs, firebombs and whitewater. He takes us even deeper into the troubles of Hank Hazelton, a 59-year-old river guide, as he struggles to reconnect with his only daughter after a 14-year estrangement. His failure as a father haunts him, along with other deep regrets, tragedies, and longings. In the days before his daughter's arrival, Hank discovers a drift boat stranded below a rapid, empty except for a long smear of blood on its seat.

Thomas Finbow is sent to help with a tragic fire at one of his master's tenant farms, but is soon embroiled in something far more sinister. The body of Simon Haylock is dragged from the blazing barn - and it appears he was dead before the fire even started. All is not well on the Berkshire Downs, as a number of fearful murders are discovered, baffling the authorities and striking fear into villagers' hearts.

In the isolated village of Lambourn there is great excitement when a family of itinerant bell-founders arrives to forge a new church bell. Thomas the Falconer is charged by his master to find answers, but instead finds himself trying to restore order in the community when the village constable is also found dead. As panic ensues, Thomas does what he does best - following the trail and hunting his prey.

From a #1 New York Times bestselling author comes a gripping thriller novella about a college football player's investigation into the unsolved disappearance of a local legend who seemingly vanished into thin air. Forty years ago, Herschel Ruggles, the most legendary player on the Mighty Johns...

Philippa Watson, a good-natured yet troubled 17-year-old, has just moved to Washington, DC. She’s lonely until she meets Judy Peabody, a brilliant and tempestuous classmate. The girls become unlikely friends and fashion themselves as intellectuals, drawing the notice of Christine Martins, their dazzling English teacher, who enthralls them with her passion for literature and her love of noirish detective fiction. When Philippa returns a novel Miss Martins has lent her, she interrupts a man grappling with her in the shadows.

Thomas Finbow, falconer to Sir Robert Vicary, is sent to the remote Salisbury Plain by his master to assist on the estate of the impoverished Sir Giles Buckeridge. Thomas is to train a ramage hawk – an immature, half-wild bird – and to teach the arts of falconry to Sir Giles’s young ward, Gervase. It soon becomes clear, however, that Sir Giles has much bigger problems than falconry as he is struggling to secure respectable futures – and provide sufficient dowries - for his three spirited daughters.

When invited to attend the Barrowhill Pleasures at the seat of the extravagant and pompous Earl of Reigate, Sir Robert Vicary of Petbury brings Thomas, his trusted falconer along with him to enjoy the festivities. But things take a very deadly turn when three of the Earl's guests are murdered, and the Earl seems eager to cover the deaths up at all costs. As the festivities continue, a killer is on the loose, and Thomas must keep a keen eye on the guests. One of them is not what they seem, and he must discern who before the Earl himself becomes the next target.

Simon Russell Beale stars in this BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of John le Carré's first novel, which introduced his most famous character, George Smiley. This dramatisation, set in London in the late 1950s, finds Smiley engaged in the humdrum job of security vetting. But when a Foreign Office civil servant commits suicide after an apparently unproblematic interview, Smiley is baffled. Refusing to believe that Fennan shot himself, Smiley decides to investigate.

When Nathaniel Pickering, Lady Margaret's older brother is found murdered, Thomas takes her away to London, in search of gyrfalcons. Thomas's astute mind is unable to ignore the clues, and in uncovering some dark secrets, he places himself - and his mistress - in grave danger. Now a target himself, Thomas must face some of London's most notorious criminals, in a battle of both brain and brawn.

“The perfect cocktail of well-plotted, good-hearted, murderous fun."" —Nina Simon, bestselling author of Mother-Daughter Murder Night THEY'D KILL TO BE WIDOWS. Three best friends turn to murder to collect on their husbands’ life insurance policies… But the husbands have a plan of their...

Hercule Poirot and his good friend Captain Hastings are enjoying a well-deserved break on the Cornish Riviera. Wandering along the terrace of the Hotel Majestic on the first morning of their stay, Poirot literally falls at the feet of a pretty, dark-haired girl and, much to Hastings' delight...

This is the story that made Agatha Christie famous, and which was also one of her own favourites. It begins when the wealthy Mrs Farrars is found dead of an apparent overdose, one year after the death of her husband. The villagers of King's Abbot are suspicious, for local rumour has it that...

Five thrilling tales of mystery, mayhem, and murder from an exceptional quintet of Edgar, CWA Dagger, and National Book Award winners.

1594, Bishopsgate Ward, London. Within the walls and without, unease and uncertainty lurk beneath the noise and bustle of a smoky, teeming city. Matthew Cutler, newly widowed and caring for two spirited daughters, takes his position as constable for the parish of Spitalfields very seriously. So when Paulo Brisco, a quiet Venetian perfumer is found brutally murdered in his own shop, Cutler throws himself into his first major crime, and one which threatens to set all Bishopsgate alight.

Diagnosed with terminal cancer, retired marine biologist Delphine is on the brink of throwing in the towel. She has outlived her PI husband and worries she’s become a burden to her son and his growing family. One night, while contemplating how to go on, Delphine witnesses a violent argument between a man and his girlfriend. When Delphine discovers the woman has gone missing along with her young child, Delphine embarks on a quest to find them.

When Kidd artist, computer whiz, and professional criminal—learns of a colleague’s murder, he doesn’t buy the official story: that a jittery security guard caught the hacker raiding the files of a high-tech Texas corporation. It’s not what his friend was looking for that got him killed...

When Kidd—artist, computer whiz, and professional criminal—learns of a colleague’s murder, he doesn’t buy the official story: that a jittery security guard caught the hacker raiding the files of a high-tech Texas corporation. It’s not what his friend was looking for that got him killed...

After a couple of close calls, local news reporter Josie Posey and her meddling Mahjong Mavens have vowed to mind their own business and leave all crime-solving to the authorities. But when her friend Nellie's Aunt Pearl, a respected doll collector, needs help, Josie springs into action.