Showing titles in Amateur Sleuth

For an instant the two trains ran together, side by side. In that frozen moment, Elspeth witnessed a murder. Helplessly, she stared out of her carriage window as a man remorselessly tightened his grip around a woman's throat. The body crumpled. Then the other train drew away. But who, apart from Miss Marple, would take her story seriously? After all, there were no suspects, no other witnesses… and no corpse.

The Inugami Curse is a fiendish, intricately plotted classic mystery starring the legendary Detective Kosuke Kindaichi. In 1940s Japan, the wealthy head of the Inugami clan dies, and his family eagerly await the reading of the will. But no sooner are its strange details revealed than a series of bizarre, gruesome murders begins. Detective Kindaichi must unravel the clan’s terrible secrets of forbidden liaisons, monstrous cruelty and hidden identities to find the murderer and lift the curse wreaking its bloody revenge on the Inugamis.

A warm June afternoon in King’s Cove is interrupted by an explosion. Following the sound, Lane goes to investigate. Up a steep path she discovers a secluded cabin and, hiding nearby, a young Japanese girl injured and mute, but very much alive. At the Nelson Police Station, Inspector Darling and Sergeant Ames, following up on a report of a nighttime heist at the local jeweler’s, discover the jeweler himself dead in his office, apparently bludgeoned, and a live wire hanging off the back of the building.

An interpreter has come to The Hague to escape New York and work at the International Court. A woman of many languages and identities, she is looking for a place to finally call home. She's drawn into simmering personal dramas: her lover, Adriaan, is separated from his wife but still entangled in his marriage. Her friend Jana witnesses a seemingly random act of violence, a crime the interpreter becomes increasingly obsessed with as she befriends the victim's sister.

Kyiv, 1919. The Soviets control the city, but White armies menace them from the West. No man trusts his neighbour and any spark of resistance may ignite into open rebellion. When Samson Kolechko's father is murdered, his last act is to save his son from a falling Cossack sabre. Deprived of his right ear instead of his head, Samson is left an orphan, with only his father's collection of abacuses for company. Until, that is, his flat is requisitioned by two Red Army soldiers, whose secret plans Samson is somehow able to overhear with uncanny clarity.

College student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe's life is ever the same. Carl is a dying Vietnam veteran-and a convicted murderer. With only a few months to live, he has been medically paroled to a nursing home after spending thirty years in prison for the crimes of rape and murder.

Japanese-American Rei Shimura is a 27-year-old English teacher living in one of Tokyo's seediest neighborhoods. She doesn't make much money, but she wouldn't go back home to California even if she had a free ticket (which, thanks to her parents, she does). Her independence is threatened, when a getaway to an ancient castle town is marred by murder. Rei is the first to find the beautiful wife of a high-powered businessman, dead in the snow. Taking charge, as usual, Rei looks for clues by crashing a funeral, posing as a bar-girl, and somehow ends up pursued by police and paparazzi alike.

Maud is forgetful. She makes a cup of tea and doesn't remember to drink it. She goes to the shops and forgets why she went. Sometimes her home is unrecognizable - or her daughter Helen seems a total stranger. But there's one thing Maud is sure of: her friend Elizabeth is missing. The note in her pocket tells her so. And no matter who tells her to stop going on about it, to leave it alone, to shut up, Maud will get to the bottom of it. Because somewhere in Maud's damaged mind lies the answer to an unsolved seventy-year-old mystery....

Former policeman Frank Malloy is frustrated when a woman requests his private detective services to implicate her wealthy husband in adultery, the only legal grounds for divorce in New York state. Although Mrs. Bing seems genuinely distressed about her marriage and desperate to end it, she refuses to tell Frank the reason she absolutely must divorce her husband and admits she has no legal grounds. Frank explains he won't manufacture evidence for her and sends her on her way.     

As the guests arrive at beautiful, remote Mitchell’s Inn, they’re all looking forward to a relaxing weekend deep in the forest, miles from anywhere. They watch their fellow guests with interest, from a polite distance. With a violent storm raging, the group finds itself completely cut off from the outside world. Nobody can get in - or out. And then the first body is found...and the horrifying truth comes to light. There’s a killer among them - and nowhere to run. 

Late one night, two teachers investigate a mysterious flashing light in the sports pavilion, while the rest of the school sleeps. There, among the lacrosse sticks, they stumble upon the body of the unpopular games mistress, shot through the heart from point blank range.

Sarah Brandt is shattered when she learns that a woman has inquired at Hope’s Daughters Mission for Catherine, the abandoned child she has taken as her daughter. The woman claims she was Catherine’s nursemaid, now acting on behalf of the girl’s mother to reunite them. Unwilling to simply hand Catherine over to a complete stranger, Sarah asks Malloy to investigate. But when he goes to interview the woman at her tenement in Chelsea, he finds she has been murdered. Though her death leaves Sarah’s claim to Catherine unchallenged, her sense of justice compels her to work with Malloy to find the killer.

Dubiose Geschäfte, ein elitärer Geheimbund und eine junge Lokalreporterin, die in ihrer persönlichsten Story recherchiert: Was der See birgt ist der fulminante Auftakt einer neuen Reihe und ein extrem spannendes Hörvergnügen. Am Ufer des Gardasees blinken Blaulichter. Im Jachthafen von Riva wurde ein Toter gefunden. Gianna Pitti, Polizeireporterin der Lokalzeitung und der wohl größte Vasco-Rossi-Fan auf diesem Planeten, ist immer zur Stelle, wenn am See etwas passiert. Mit Entsetzen stellt sie fest, dass sie das Opfer kannte. Mehr noch: Sie war eine der Letzten, die den jungen Mann lebend gesehen hat.

Paris 1925: When news reporter Abigail Dixon trades the Chicago newsroom for the Paris fashion scene, she finds herself dazzled by the latest looks from Coco Chanel, sipping champagne at the Ritz, and interviewing a famous designer. Stepping into his luxurious atelier on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Abigail is ready to swoon over the exquisite gowns. The last thing she expects to find is her estranged stepmother lying dead on the fitting room floor–and Abigail framed as the prime suspect.

Auf dem jährlichen Fest von Plums Club wird Colonel Worthington ermordet. Aber wer sollte es ausgerechnet auf den alten Langweiler abgesehen haben? Der berühmte Schauspieler Gaylord Erskine, dem die Damenwelt zu Füßen liegt, würde eher als Ziel eines Mordanschlags in Frage kommen. Doch Inspektor Rose von Scotland Yard und der charmante französische Chefkoch und Amateurdetektiv Auguste Didier, der zur Zeit im Club arbeitet, entdecken, dass jeder der Gentlemen ein Motiv hätte, Worthington aus der Welt zu schaffen. Da geschieht ein zweiter Mord.

Lehrerin Rosalinde Reich freut sich auf den vorzeitigen Ruhestand. Endlich kann sie ihrer Leidenschaft als Landschaftsgärtnerin nachgehen. Ihr erster Auftrag führt sie auf ein herrschaftliches Anwesen bei Bonn. Als sie beim Umgraben auf Knochen stößt, ist ihr Auftraggeber überfragt, also ergreift Rosa die Initiative und stellt Recherchen an. Kurz darauf wird der Bürgermeister des Ortes ermordet, und bei Rosas Arbeit häufen sich die Unfälle. Offenbar gefällt nicht jedem, dass sie in der Vergangenheit gräbt.

Cameron Winter has a knack for solving complicated crimes. His background – spy turned English professor – means he’s uniquely placed to decipher the clues behind some of the most complex cases. When four members of a wealthy household are killed in their suburban Chicago mansion, shock reverberates around the community. Their bodies were pulled from the burning building – but all of them had already been shot dead. It seems like an open-and-shut case when local police soon have the obvious culprit under lock and key.

Un nuovo enigma per Maria Viani, ex biologa con il pallino per le storie con delitto. Maria Viani coglie l’occasione di un lungo viaggio in macchina con il marito, per parlargli di un episodio accadutole negli anni Cinquanta, quando era una bambina e abitava nella piccola cittadina di Varazze. Racconta di un’anziana guaritrice che viene trovata morta nella sua cucina. Il fatto è liquidato dai carabinieri come incidente. Ma la piccola Maria non è convinta e, aiutata dal nonno, indaga. Riuscirà a scoprire cosa è successo veramente? E, ai giorni nostri, dove stanno andando Maria e suo marito?

"Questa è dunque la nostra storia, molti la chiamerebbero una storia d’amore”. Acca è un bambino di 10 anni, molto intelligente e con grande senso dell’umorismo, ed è la spiritosa voce narrante di questa storia, una storia diversamente gialla. Il rapporto con suo padre è inesistente, ma con Marta, la sua mamma, vive in tenera simbiosi: lei è l’unica persona con cui riesce a comunicare, attraverso un linguaggio che trova gesti e parole nell’empatia che li unisce. Perché Acca è cieco, muto e gravemente disabile, e Marta gli dedica ogni momento della sua vita.

A nearly disastrous car wreck in Germany launches 12-year-old Gabriel Zanadu, Alexander, his 14-year-old brother, and their two dogs, Thunder and Lightning, into a sinister adventure near the famous German castle Neuschwanstein. Unexplained eavesdropping, death threats, and heart-pumping danger drag Gabe, Alex, and the dogs into the clutches of a little-known foreign terrorist network. After they are kidnapped by the terrorists, the scraped and bruised boys battle their captors in underground caverns for freedom.