Commissario Ricciardi has visions. He sees the final seconds in the lives of victims of violent deaths. It is both a gift and a curse. It has helped him become one of the most successful homicide detectives on the Naples police front. But the horror of his visions has hollowed him out emotionally. He drinks too much and sleeps too little. Other than his loyal partner, Brigadier Maione, he has no friends. Naples, March 1931: a bitter wind stalks the city streets, and murder lies at its chill heart. When the world’s greatest tenor, Maestro Arnaldo Vezzi, is found brutally murdered in his dressing room at Naples’ San Carlo Theatre, the enigmatic and aloof Commissario Ricciardi is called in to investigate. Arrogant and bad-tempered, Vezzi was adored by millions and hated by hundreds, but with the livelihoods of everyone at the San Carlo opera at stake, who there would have committed such an act? Ricciardi is determined to find out. Fans of Donna Leon and Manuel Vázquez Montalbán will thrill to this fresh voice in crime fiction. I Will Have Vengeance is the first book in a quartet of masterful crime novels set in fascist Italy.

I Will Have Vengeance (The Winter of Commissario Ricciardi)

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

De Giovanni, Maurizio

Mystery

World Noir

Ugo, Manu, and Fabio grew up together on the mean streets of Marseilles, where friendship and loyalty mean everything. As adults, Ugo and Manu are drawn into the city’s criminal underworld, and when both men are murdered it is left to Detective Fabio Montale to avenge their deaths. A disenchanted cop with an inimitable talent for living, Montale turns his back on a police force marred by corruption and racism and, in the name of friendship, takes the fight against the mafia into his own hands.

Total Chaos (Marseilles Trilogy)

Literature & Fiction

IZZO, JEAN-CLAUDE

Literary

Vincent Naylor has just been released from prison and has already begun to plot his next heist―the robbery of an armored car. Detective Sergeant Bob Tidey has been caught perjuring himself to protect fellow officers. He’s also found the link between an unsolved murder case and the recent execution of a corrupt banker in serious financial difficulty. An old acquaintance will change the course of the investigation. A retired nun living on regrets and bad memories notices something deeply suspicious and makes a phone call that sets in motion a series of fateful events. In The Rage, Gene Kerrigan weaves together astute observations regarding a financial crisis, church abuse, and gangland crime. The writing is, as always with a Kerrigan novel, superb, with an engaging story that has pitch perfect dialogue and characters that come fully alive. This prize-winning crime fiction is set in contemporary Ireland where nothing is neatly resolved and there are no easy choices. Like life itself.

The Rage

Kerrigan, Gene

From the acclaimed author of After the Crash― “Harlan Coben fans will enjoy Bussi’s . . . mystery with its intriguing characters and twisty conclusion” (Library Journal). A fatal accident in the past, broken lives, family secrets . . . Michel Bussi serves up a gripping thriller, set amid the beautiful scenery of Corsica. In the summer of 2016, Clotilde is spending her vacation in Corsica with her husband, Franck, and her teenage daughter, Valentine. It is the first time she has been back to the island since the car accident in which her parents and her brother were killed decades earlier. She was in the car too, but miraculously escaped with her life. This return plunges Clotilde back into the deepest recesses of her adolescence. She reacquaints herself with her paternal grandparents, Lisabetta and Cassanu, members of a powerful Corsican family that reigns over the island. When a mysterious letter, signed “Palma”―Clotilde’s mother―arrives, the truth about her family, her parents’ death, and her childhood is called into question. Time Is a Killer is a voyage into the complexities of Corsican society, a compelling portrait of a woman’s awakening, and a masterfully executed novel of psychological suspense. “Michel Bussi’s writing always rings true. His crime novel is a bomb.”―Le Parisien “Michel Bussi’s psychological crime novels are beyond masterful.”―Le Figaro Littéraire “Bathed in the perfumes and flavors of Corsica . . .Time Is a Killer will be read with bated breath until the final twist!”―Le Magazine des Livres “Don’t open these books if you have anything more pressing to do.”―Elle (France) “Gripping noir.”―Publishers Weekly

Time Is a Killer

Bussi, Michel

First in the series starring a South African police detective: “[A] picturesque backdrop, cast of authentic characters, and knotty story line” (Publishers Weekly). Shortlisted for the International Dagger Award and Winner of the University of Johannesburg Debut PrizeInsp. Albertus Markus Beeslaar is a traumatized cop who has abandoned tough city policing and a broken relationship in Johannesburg for a backwater post on the edge of the Kalahari Desert. But his dream of rural peace is soon shattered by the repeated attacks of a brutally efficient crime syndicate, as he struggles to train and connect with rookie local cops Ghaap and Pyl, who resent his brusqueness and his old-school ways. A beautiful and eccentric artist and her four-year-old adopted daughter are murdered on a local farm, and angry white farmers point to her enigmatic Bushman farm manager as a key suspect. Along with Ghaap and Pyl, Beeslaar is plunged into the intrigue and racial tensions of the community, and finds that violence knows no geographical or ethnic boundaries. Weeping Waters marks the beginning of a great new series with a striking setting, a strong ensemble of characters, and suspenseful storylines. “Brooding. Riveting. Brilliant.”―Deon Meyer, author of Blood Safari

Weeping Waters

Brynard, Karin

Genre Fiction

A Glasgow detective goes up against a wealthy family whose corruption runs deep in this gritty noir series debut set in 1970s Scotland. Glasgow, 1973. As poverty and crime drag the city deeper into a heroin epidemic, fighting in the streets has become depressingly mundane. But when an eighteen-year-old boy shoots a young woman dead in broad daylight and then commits suicide, Det. Harry McCoy knows it can’t be a simple act of random violence. With a newbie partner in tow, McCoy hunts down leads through the underworld, all of which lead to a secret society run by Glasgow’s wealthiest family, the Dunlops. Among their inner circle, every nefarious predilection is catered to at the expense of society’s most vulnerable―including McCoy’s best friend from reformatory school, drug-tsar Stevie Cooper, and his on-off girlfriend, a prostitute named Janey. But with McCoy’s boss calling off the hounds, and his boss’ boss unleashing their own, the Dunlops seem to be untouchable. McCoy has other ideas. “Parks’ debut novel has an in-your-face immediacy that matches its protagonist. Compelling portraits of minor characters tucked into several scenes add texture and interest.”―Kirkus Reviews

Bloody January (Harry McCoy, 1)

Parks, Alan

Second in the renowned Marseilles trilogy following Total Chaos, “one of the masterpieces of modern noir” (Michael Dirda, The Washington Post). This second novel in Izzo’s acclaimed Marseilles trilogy is a touching tribute to the author’s beloved city, in all its color and complexity. Fabio Montale is an unwitting hero in this city of melancholy beauty. Montale has left a police force marred by corruption, xenophobia, and greed. But getting out is not going to be so easy. When his cousin’s son goes missing, Montale is dragged back onto the mean streets of a violent, crime-infested Marseilles. To discover the truth about the boy’s disappearance, he infiltrates a dangerous underworld of mobsters, religious fanatics, crooked cops, and ordinary people driven to extremes by desperation. “Noir at its finest.”―The Times Literary Supplement “Izzo, who died in 2000, is more than adept at noir conventions―gritty light, sudden switches of scene, the pervasive rot of cynicism, which sullies even the best intentions. But what makes his work haunting is his extraordinary ability to convey the tastes and smells of Marseilles, and the way memory and obligation dog every step his hero takes.”―The New Yorker “Like the best American practitioners in the genre, Izzo refrains from any sugarcoating of the city he depicts or the broken and imperfect men and women who people it.”―Publishers Weekly “This hard-hitting series captures all the world-weariness of the contemporary European crime novel, but Izzo mixes it with a hero who is as virile as he is burned out.”―Booklist

Chourmo (Marseilles Trilogy)

From the bestselling author of After the Crash, “a novel so extraordinary it reminded me of reading Stieg Larsson for the first time” (The Sunday Times). Holidaying in an idyllic resort on the island of Réunion, wealthy Parisians Martial and Liane Bellion are enjoying the perfect family moment with their six-year-old daughter. Turquoise skies, clear water, palm trees, a warm breeze. Then Liane Bellion disappears from her hotel room. The door to her room is open, the walls and sheets are spotted with blood. A hotel employee swears he saw Martial in the corridor at the time Liane went missing, and he becomes the number one suspect. But then Martial also disappears, along with his daughter. An all-out manhunt is declared across the island. Could Martial really have killed his wife? For fans of Gone Girl and The Fugitive, Bussi’s fast-paced, atmospheric thriller does not disappoint. “A nail biter of a manhunt across the spectacular terrain of the Indian Ocean island of Réunion drives this thriller after a tourist goes missing, triggering a police chase and exposing a cannily-constructed mystery with nods to both Agatha Christie and Harlan Coben.”―The Boston Globe “Suspenseful . . . vengeance proves a common passion on Réunion, as detailed in this twist-filled novel told from several characters’ perspectives.”―The Wall Street Journal “This novel, a multi-charactered French whodunit, squeezes all its frantic action into the 25 square miles of gorgeous but treacherous Réunion Island.”―Toronto Star “A top-notch puzzle . . . A wonderfully immersive thriller.”―Booklist

Don't Let Go

The ninth Commissario Ricciardi Neapolitan mystery is “noir with a heart, haunting and beautiful . . . A literary thriller of exceptional quality” (NB Magazine). Years ago, Vinnie Sannino left Naples on a ship bound for America, where he found fame and fortune as a boxer. But his gilded life in the new world came to an abrupt end when, during a fight, with a heavy punch to the head of his opponent, Vinnie killed a man in the ring. Now, Vinnie’s back in Italy, pining for the woman he left behind. Cettina, however, is now a married woman. She was, at least, until her husband was recently found dead, killed by a single blow to the head. For Commissario Ricciardi, one of the most faceted cops in fiction, and his partner Maione, it is a going to be a long, rainy, week in Naples. “Deep melancholy infuses the crafty whodunit plot of de Giovanni’s superior ninth mystery set in 1930s Italy . . . Ricciardi, who’s literally haunted by visions of the dead, continues to be one of the most nuanced and intriguing sleuths in contemporary crime fiction.”―Publishers Weekly (starred review) “De Giovanni is one of the best historical crime writers out there. His Commissario Ricciardi novels, set during the fascist period in Italy, are intelligent and totally engrossing. Nameless Serenade is a perfect addition to the series; a really satisfying murder mystery, an insight into 1930s Naples and a thrilling chapter in the life of the Commissario. Lyrical prose and intriguing rounded characters contribute to making this one of the finest in the Ricciardi chronicles.”―NB Magazine

Nameless Serenade (Commissario Ricciardi Mysteries)

An internationally acclaimed crime novel set in post-WWI Vienna: “A thrilling, deeply satisfying debut” by “the new star of Austrian crime fiction” (Kronen Zeitung). Vienna, 1919. In the desperate years after World War I, the Habsburg Empire is a fading memory and most of Vienna’s remaining population survives by its wits, living hand to mouth in a city rife with crime, prostitution, and grotesquely wounded beggars. There are shakedowns on every street corner, the black market is the only market, and shortages of vital goods create countless opportunities for unscrupulous operators. Into this cauldron of vice comes Insp. August Emmerich. A veteran himself, Emmerich is determined to join the Viennese major crimes unit, and he’s more than willing to break the rules in pursuit of his ambition. When a corpse is found in the woods outside the city and immediately labeled a suicide, Emmerich sees a chance to prove his mettle. His investigations into the suspicious death soon reveals an insidious and homicidal urge lurking in the city. The Second Rider is the “outstanding series launch” of Alex Beer’s international-bestselling novels featuring police agent August Emmerich (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

The Second Rider (Europa International Mysteries and Crime)

Beer, Alex

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