Lee Child Books in Order

The Lee Child books have become so popular over the years that generation after generation, people keep going back to them.

If you're just starting with it and want a reading list, you're in luck. Here we list out all the Lee Child books in order; keeping in mind various factors like the publication year, reviews, its popularity among readers, etc.

It’s always a good idea to read such book titles in sequence so that you don't miss out on the story plot and its discussions in the book clubs.

Publication Order of Jack Reacher Books

Killing Floor

Child, Lee 1997
some scratches on cover and bending in spine Read More

Die Trying

Child, Lee 1998

Jack Reacher finds himself in bad company in the second novel in Lee Child’s New York Times bestselling series.Jack Reacher is an innocent bystander when he witnesses a woman kidnapped off a Chicago street in broad daylight. In the wrong place at the wrong time, he’s kidnapped with her.

Chained together, locked in the back of a stifling van, and racing across America to an unknown destination for an unknown purpose, they’re at the mercy of a group of men demanding an impossible ransom. Because this mysterious woman is worth more than Reacher ever suspected.

Now he has to save them both—from the inside out—or die trying...

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Tripwire

Child, Lee 1999

Jack Reacher hunts the hunter in the third novel in Lee Child’s New York Times bestselling series.Ex military policeman Jack Reacher is enjoying the lazy anonymity of Key West when a stranger shows up asking for him. He’s got a lot of questions.

Reacher does too, especially after the guy turns up dead. The answers lead Reacher on a cold trail back to New York, to the tenuous confidence of an alluring woman, and the dangerous corners of his own past.

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Running Blind / The Visitor

Child, Lee 2000

Jack Reacher races to solve the perfect crime in the fourth novel in Lee Child’s New York Times bestselling series. Across the country, women are being murdered, victims of a disciplined and clever killer who leaves no trace evidence, no fatal wounds, no signs of struggle, and no clues to an apparent motive.

They are, truly, perfect crimes. In fact, there’s only one thing that links the victims. Each one of the women knew Jack Reacher—and it’s got him running blind.

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Echo Burning

Child, Lee 2001

Jack Reacher finds trouble in Texas in the fifth novel in Lee Child’s New York Times bestselling series. Thumbing across the scorched Texas desert, Jack Reacher has nowhere to go and all the time in the world to get there. Cruising the same stretch of two-lane blacktop is Carmen Greer.

For Reacher, the lift comes with a hitch. Carmen’s got a wild story to tell—all about her husband, her family secrets, and a hometown that’s purely gothic. She’s also got a plan. Reacher’s part of it. And before the sun sets, this ride could cost them both their lives.

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Without Fail

Child, Lee 2002

Jack Reacher takes aim at the White House in the sixth novel in Lee Child’s New York Times bestselling series. Skilled, cautious, and anonymous, Jack Reacher is perfect for the job: to assassinate the vice president of the United States. Theoretically, of course.

A female Secret Service agent wants Reacher to find the holes in her system, and fast—because a covert group already has the vice president in their sights. They’ve planned well. There’s just one thing they didn’t plan on: Reacher.

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Persuader

Child, Lee 2003

“Gripping and suspenseful . . . Child ratchets up the suspense to new heights.”—The Denver Post   Jack Reacher lives for the moment. Without a home. Without commitment. And with a burning desire to right wrongs—and rewrite his own agonizing past.

DEA Susan Duffy is living for the future, knowing that she has made a terrible mistake by putting one of her own female agents into a death trap within a heavily guarded Maine mansion.   Staging a brilliant ruse, Reacher hurtles into the dark heart of a vast criminal enterprise.

Trying to rescue an agent whose time is running out, Reacher enters a crime lord’s waterfront fortress. There he will find a world of secrecy and violence—and confront some unfinished business from his own past.   Praise for Persuader   “A page-turner .

. . [Lee] Child’s tale drives hard and fast.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review   “Wickedly addictive . . . so fast-paced it makes the eyeballs spin.”—Orlando Sentinel   “A story that will sweep you along as fast as some of the riptides Reacher survives.

”—St. Petersburg Times

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The Enemy

Child, Lee 2004

Jack Reacher. Hero. Loner. Soldier. Soldier’s son. An elite military cop, he was one of the army’s brightest stars. But in every cop’s life there is one case that changes everything. For Jack Reacher, this is that case. New Year’s Day, 1990. In a North Carolina motel, a two-star general is found dead.

His briefcase is missing. Nobody knows what was in it. Within minutes Reacher has his orders: Control the situation. Within hours the general’s wife is murdered. Then the dominoes really start to fall.Somewhere inside the vast worldwide fortress that is the U.

S. Army, Reacher is being set up as a fall guy with the worst enemies a man can have. But Reacher won’t quit. He’s fighting a new kind of war—against an enemy he didn’t know he had. And against a conspiracy more chilling, ingenious, and treacherous than anyone could have guessed.

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One Shot

Child, Lee 2005

Six shots. Five dead. One heartland city thrown into a state of terror. But within hours the cops have it solved: a slam-dunk case. Except for one thing. The accused man says: You got the wrong guy. Then he says: Get Reacher for me. And sure enough, ex–military investigator Jack Reacher is coming.

He knows this shooter€”a trained military sniper who never should have missed a shot. Reacher is certain something is not right€”and soon the slam-dunk case explodes.Now Reacher is teamed with a beautiful young defense lawyer, moving closer to the unseen enemy who is pulling the strings.

Reacher knows that no two opponents are created equal. This one has come to the heartland from his own kind of hell. And Reacher knows that the only way to take him down is to match his ruthlessness and cunning€”and then beat him shot for shot.

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The Hard Way

Child, Lee 2006

Jack Reacher was alone, the way he liked it, soaking up the hot, electric New York City night, watching a man cross the street to a parked Mercedes and drive it away. The car contained one million dollars in ransom money because Edward Lane, the man who paid it, would do anything to get his family back.

Lane runs a highly illegal soldiers-for-hire operation. He will use any tool to find his beautiful wife and child. And Jack Reacher is the best manhunter in the world.On the trail of vicious kidnappers, Reacher learns the chilling secrets of his employer’s past—and of a horrific drama in the heart of a nasty little war.

He knows that Edward Lane is hiding something. Something dirty. Something big. But Reacher also knows this: He’s already in way too deep to stop now. And if he has to do it the hard way, he will.

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Bad Luck and Trouble

Child, Lee 2007

From a helicopter high above the empty California desert, a man is sent free-falling into the night…. In Chicago, a woman learns that an elite team of ex–army investigators is being hunted down one by one.... And on the streets of Portland, Jack Reacher—soldier, cop, hero—is pulled out of his wandering life by a code that few other people could understand.

From the first shocking scenes in Lee Child’s explosive new novel, Jack Reacher is plunged like a knife into the heart of a conspiracy that is killing old friends…and is on its way to something even worse. A decade postmilitary, Reacher has an ATM card and the clothes on his back—no phone, no ties, and no address.

But now a woman from his old unit has done the impossible. From Chicago, Frances Neagley finds Reacher, using a signal only the eight members of their elite team of army investigators would know. She tells him a terrifying story—about the brutal death of a man they both served with.

Soon Reacher is reuniting with the survivors of his old team, scrambling to raise the living, bury the dead, and connect the dots in a mystery that is growing darker by the day. The deeper they dig, the more they don’ t know: about two other comrades who have suddenly gone missing—and a trail that leads into the neon of Vegas and the darkness of international terrorism.

For now, Reacher can only react. To every sound. Every suspicion. Every scent and every moment. Then Reacher will trust the people he once trusted with his life—and take this thing all the way to the end. Because in a world of bad luck and trouble, when someone targets Jack Reacher and his team, they’d better be ready for what comes right back at them… BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Lee Child’s Blue Moon.

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Nothing to Lose

Child, Lee 2008

Two lonely towns in Colorado: Hope and Despair. Between them, twelve miles of empty road. Jack Reacher never turns back. It's not in his nature. All he wants is a cup of coffee. What he gets is big trouble. So in Lee Child’s electrifying new novel, Reacher—a man with no fear, no illusions, and nothing to lose—goes to war against a town that not only wants him gone, it wants him dead.

It wasn’t the welcome Reacher expected. He was just passing through, minding his own business. But within minutes of his arrival a deputy is in the hospital and Reacher is back in Hope, setting up a base of operations against Despair, where a huge, seething walled-off industrial site does something nobody is supposed to see .

. . where a small plane takes off every night and returns seven hours later . . . where a garrison of well-trained and well-armed military cops—the kind of soldiers Reacher once commanded—waits and watches . . . where above all two young men have disappeared and two frightened young women wait and hope for their return.

Joining forces with a beautiful cop who runs Hope with a cool hand, Reacher goes up against Despair—against the deputies who try to break him and the rich man who tries to scare him—and starts to crack open the secrets, starts to expose the terrifying connection to a distant war that’s killing Americans by the thousand.

Now, between a town and the man who owns it, between Reacher and his conscience, something has to give. And Reacher never gives an inch.

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Gone Tomorrow

Child, Lee 2009
FIRST PRINTING~VERY NICE COPY OF THIS BOOK Read More

61 Hours

Child, Lee 2010

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • INCLUDES BONUS MATERIAL • “Reacher gets better and better. . . . [This is the] craftiest and most highly evolved of Lee Child’s electrifying Reacher books.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times   “Child is a superb craftsman of suspense, juggling several plots and keeping his herrings well-rouged.

. . . Chances are you’ll want to seek out other Reacher adventures the moment you finish.”—Entertainment Weekly   A bus crashes in a savage snowstorm and lands Jack Reacher in the middle of a deadly confrontation. In nearby Bolton, South Dakota, one brave woman is standing up for justice in a small town threatened by sinister forces.

If she’s going to live long enough to testify, she’ll need help. Because a killer is coming to Bolton, a coldly proficient assassin who never misses.   Reacher’s original plan was to keep on moving. But the next 61 hours will change everything.

The secrets are deadlier and his enemies are stronger than he could have guessed—but so is the woman he’ll risk his life to save.   “Masterful . . . a tour-de-force of both structure and suspense.”—The Providence Journal   “Child keeps his foot hard on the throttle.

. . . This is Child in top form, but isn’t he always?”—Booklist (starred review)   “Compulsively addictive [with] an explosive climax that will have you tearing out your hair until Reacher’s next appearance.”—The Miami Herald

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Worth Dying For

Child, Lee 2010

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Jack Reacher is the coolest continuing series character now on offer.”—Stephen King, in Entertainment Weekly  #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child follows the electrifying 61 Hours with his latest Reacher thriller—a story that hits the ground running and then accelerates all the way to a colossal showdown.

There’s deadly trouble in the corn country of Nebraska . . . and Jack Reacher walks right into it. First he falls foul of the Duncans, a local clan that has terrified an entire county into submission. But it’s the unsolved case of a missing child, already decades-old, that Reacher can’t let go.

The Duncans want Reacher gone—and it’s not just past secrets they’re trying to hide. They’re awaiting a secret shipment that’s already late—and they have the kind of customers no one can afford to annoy. For as dangerous as the Duncans are, they’re just the bottom of a criminal food chain stretching halfway around the world.

For Reacher, it would have made much more sense to keep on going, to put some distance between himself and the hard-core trouble that’s bearing down on him.For Reacher, that was also impossible.Worth Dying For is the kind of explosive thriller only Lee Child could write and only Jack Reacher could survive—a heart-racing page-turner no suspense fan will want to miss.

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The Affair

Child, Lee 2011

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLEREverything starts somewhere. For elite military cop Jack Reacher, that somewhere was Carter Crossing, Mississippi, way back in 1997.  A lonely railroad track. A crime scene. A cover-up. A young woman is dead, and solid evidence points to a soldier at a nearby military base.

But that soldier has powerful friends in Washington.  Reacher is ordered undercover to find out everything he can and then to vanish. But when he gets to Carter Crossing, Reacher meets local sheriff Elizabeth Deveraux, who has a thirst for justice and an appetite for secrets.

Uncertain they can trust each other, they reluctantly join forces. Finding unexpected layers to the case, Reacher works to uncover the truth, while others try to bury it forever. The conspiracy threatens to shatter his faith in his mission—and turn him into a man to be feared.

Don’t miss Lee Child’s short story “Second Son” and a sneak peek of his new novel, A Wanted Man, in the back of the book.

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A Wanted Man

Child, Lee 2012

A masterpiece of suspense from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child   Four people in a car, hoping to make Chicago by morning. One man driving, eyes on the road. Another man next to him, telling stories that don’t add up. A woman in the back, silent and worried.

And next to her, a huge man with a broken nose, hitching a ride east to Virginia.   An hour behind them, a man lies stabbed to death in an old pumping station. He was seen going in with two others, but he never came out. He has been executed, the knife work professional, the killers vanished.

Within minutes, the police are notified. Within hours, the FBI descends, laying claim to the victim without ever saying who he was or why he was there.   All Reacher wanted was a ride to Virginia. All he did was stick out his thumb. But he soon discovers he has hitched more than a ride.

He has tied himself to a massive conspiracy that makes him a threat—to both sides at once.   In Lee Child’s white-hot thriller, nothing is what it seems, and nobody is telling the truth. As the tension rises, the twists come fast and furious, keeping readers guessing and gasping until the explosive finale.

  Praise for #1 bestselling author Lee Child and his Reacher series   “Child is a superb craftsman of suspense.”—Entertainment Weekly   “The truth about Reacher gets better and better.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times   “Implausible, irresistible Reacher remains just about the best butt-kicker in thriller-lit.

”—Kirkus Reviews   “Like his hero Jack Reacher, Lee Child seems to make no wrong steps.”—Associated Press   “Lee Child [is] the current poster-boy of American crime fiction.”—Los Angeles Times   “Indisputably the best escape artist in this escapist genre.

”—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times   “Jack Reacher is much more like the heir to the Op and Marlowe than Spenser ever was.”—Esquire

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Never Go Back

Child, Lee 2013

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • Never go back—but Jack Reacher does, and the past finally catches up with him. . . . Never Go Back is a novel of action-charged suspense starring “one of the best thriller characters at work today” (Newsweek).

Former military cop Jack Reacher makes it all the way from snowbound South Dakota to his destination in northeastern Virginia, near Washington, D.C.: the headquarters of his old unit, the 110th MP. The old stone building is the closest thing to a home he ever had.

  Reacher is there to meet—in person—the new commanding officer, Major Susan Turner, so far just a warm, intriguing voice on the phone.   But it isn’t Turner behind the CO’s desk. And Reacher is hit with two pieces of shocking news, one with serious criminal consequences, and one too personal to even think about.

  When threatened, you can run or fight.   Reacher fights, aiming to find Turner and clear his name, barely a step ahead of the army, and the FBI, and the D.C. Metro police, and four unidentified thugs.   Combining an intricate puzzle of a plot and an exciting chase for truth and justice, Lee Child puts Reacher through his paces—and makes him question who he is, what he’s done, and the very future of his untethered life on the open road.

Praise for Never Go Back   “A breathless cross-country spree . . . some of the best, wiliest writing [Lee] Child has ever done . . . Child’s bodacious action hero, Jack Reacher, has already tramped through 17 novels and three e-book singles. But his latest, Never Go Back, may be the best desert island reading in the series.

It’s exceptionally well plotted. And full of wild surprises. And wise about Reacher’s peculiar nature. And positively Bunyanesque in its admiring contributions to Reacher lore.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times “Welcome to the relentless world of Jack Reacher and his impressive tendency to be in the wrong place at the right time.

. . . Child has created an iconic character that other thriller writers try to emulate but don’t come close to matching. He has a talent for taking material that in the hands of other authors would be stale and making it seem fresh. . . . Tight and compelling .

. . Never Go Back is one of Child’s best novels.”—Associated Press

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Personal

Child, Lee 2014

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Jack Reacher returns in another fast-moving, action-packed, suspenseful book from Lee Child.   You can leave the army, but the army doesn’t leave you. Not always. Not completely, notes Jack Reacher—and sure enough, the retired military cop is soon pulled back into service.

This time, for the State Department and the CIA.   Someone has taken a shot at the president of France in the City of Light. The bullet was American. The distance between the gunman and the target was exceptional. How many snipers can shoot from three-quarters of a mile with total confidence? Very few, but John Kott—an American marksman gone bad—is one of them.

And after fifteen years in prison, he’s out, unaccounted for, and likely drawing a bead on a G8 summit packed with enough world leaders to tempt any assassin.   If anyone can stop Kott, it’s the man who beat him before: Reacher. And though he’d rather work alone, Reacher is teamed with Casey Nice, a rookie analyst who keeps her cool with Zoloft.

But they’re facing a rough road, full of ruthless mobsters, Serbian thugs, close calls, double-crosses—and no backup if they’re caught. All the while Reacher can’t stop thinking about the woman he once failed to save. But he won’t let that that happen again.

Not this time. Not Nice.   Reacher never gets too close. But now a killer is making it personal.Praise for Personal   “The best one yet.”—Stephen King   “Reacher is the stuff of myth, a great male fantasy. . . . One of this century’s most original, tantalizing pop-fiction heroes .

. . Child does a masterly job of bringing his adventure to life with endless surprises and fierce suspense.”—The Washington Post   “Yet another satisfying page-turner.”—Entertainment Weekly   “Reacher is always up for a good fight, most entertainingly when he goes mano a mano with a seven-foot, 300-pound monster of a mobster named Little Joey.

But it’s Reacher the Teacher who wows here.”—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times   “Jack Reacher is today’s James Bond, a thriller hero we can’t get enough of. I read every one as soon as it appears.”—Ken Follett   “Reacher’s just one of fiction’s great mysterious strangers.

”—Maxim   “If you like fast-moving thrillers, you’ll want to take a look at this one.”—John Sandford   “Fans won’t be disappointed by this suspense-filled, riveting thriller.”—Library Journal (starred review)   “Child is the alpha dog of thriller writers, each new book zooming to the top of best-seller lists with the velocity of a Reacher head butt.

”—Booklist   “Every Reacher novel delivers a jolt to the nervous system.”—Kirkus Reviews

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Make Me

Child, Lee 2015

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE GUARDIAN, AND SUSPENSE MAGAZINE • Stephen King calls Jack Reacher “the coolest continuing series character”—and now he’s back in this masterly new thriller from Lee Child.

“Why is this town called Mother’s Rest?” That’s all Reacher wants to know. But no one will tell him. It’s a tiny place hidden in a thousand square miles of wheat fields, with a railroad stop, and sullen and watchful people, and a worried woman named Michelle Chang, who mistakes him for someone else: her missing partner in a private investigation she thinks must have started small and then turned lethal.

Reacher has no particular place to go, and all the time in the world to get there, and there’s something about Chang . . . so he teams up with her and starts to ask around. He thinks: How bad can this thing be? But before long he’s plunged into a desperate race through LA, Chicago, Phoenix, and San Francisco, and through the hidden parts of the internet, up against thugs and assassins every step of the way—right back to where he started, in Mother’s Rest, where he must confront the worst nightmare he could imagine.

Walking away would have been easier. But as always, Reacher’s rule is: If you want me to stop, you’re going to have to make me.Praise for Make Me “Child’s Reacher series has hit Book No. 20 with a resounding peal of wisecracking glee. Everything about it, starting with Reacher’s nose for bad news, is as strong as ever.

. . . The big guy’s definitely on the upswing. The guy who writes about him is too.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times“Another winner . . . There’s a reason why Child is considered the best of the best in the thriller genre: He can take all these strange elements and clichés and make them compelling and original.

”—Associated Press“A superb thriller.”—New York Daily News “Child’s complete command of the story makes this thriller work brilliantly.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)“I’ve read all twenty of Lee Child’s novels. Maybe there’s something wrong with me.

But I can’t wait for the twenty-first.”—Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker “[The Reacher series] is the current gold standard in the genre. . . . In Make Me Lee Child delivers another Jack Reacher specialty; the total knockout.”—Dayton Daily News “Child serves up wingding plots, pithy dialogue, extraordinary background on intriguing topics, and cunningly constructed suspense.

But what keeps us coming back—by the millions—is the chance to walk around in the skin of that big guy in the middle of everything.”—The Oregonian “A dark thriller . . . Lee Child’s Make Me, the twentieth in his wildly popular Jack Reacher series, delivers exactly what readers have come to expect from the perennial bestselling author: interesting characters, tight plots and page-turning action.

. . . Readers won’t be disappointed.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune “Jack Reacher is back. . . . Readers new to this series will find this book a good starting point, and fans will be pleased to see Jack again.”—LibraryReads (Top Ten Pick) “The reigning champ ups the ante.

”—Booklist (starred review)

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Night School

Child, Lee 2016

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The incomparable hero of Jack Reacher: Never Go Back takes readers to school in his most explosive novel yet. After eleven straight global #1 bestsellers, discover the thrillers that The New York Times calls “utterly addictive.

”Don’t miss a sneak peek of Lee Child’s new novel, The Midnight Line, in the back of the book. It’s 1996, and Reacher is still in the army. In the morning they give him a medal, and in the afternoon they send him back to school. That night he’s off the grid.

Out of sight, out of mind. Two other men are in the classroom—an FBI agent and a CIA analyst. Each is a first-rate operator, each is fresh off a big win, and each is wondering what the hell they are doing there. Then they find out: A Jihadist sleeper cell in Hamburg, Germany, has received an unexpected visitor—a Saudi courier, seeking safe haven while waiting to rendezvous with persons unknown.

A CIA asset, undercover inside the cell, has overheard the courier whisper a chilling message: “The American wants a hundred million dollars.” For what? And who from? Reacher and his two new friends are told to find the American. Reacher recruits the best soldier he has ever worked with: Sergeant Frances Neagley.

Their mission heats up in more ways than one, while always keeping their eyes on the prize: If they don’t get their man, the world will suffer an epic act of terrorism. From Langley to Hamburg, Jalalabad to Kiev, Night School moves like a bullet through a treacherous landscape of double crosses, faked identities, and new and terrible enemies, as Reacher maneuvers inside the game and outside the law.

Praise for Night School“The prose is crisp and clean, and the fighting is realistic. . . . This latest installment has all the classic ingredients: a great setting (Hamburg), a good villain, and a mystery that draws you in efficiently, escalates unpredictably, and has a satisfying resolution.

”—The New Yorker   “Another timely tour de force . . . The taut thriller is textbook [Lee] Child: fast-paced and topical with a ‘ripped from the headlines’ feel.”—Minneapolis Star-Tribune   “As gripping as ever.”—The Florida Times-Union Praise for #1 bestselling author Lee Child and his Jack Reacher series “Reacher [is] one of this century’s most original, tantalizing pop-fiction heroes.

”—The Washington Post

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The Midnight Line

Child, Lee 2017

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Lee Child returns with a gripping new powerhouse thriller featuring Jack Reacher, “one of this century’s most original, tantalizing pop-fiction heroes” (The Washington Post). Reacher takes a stroll through a small Wisconsin town and sees a class ring in a pawn shop window: West Point 2005.

 A tough year to graduate: Iraq, then Afghanistan. The ring is tiny, for a woman, and it has her initials engraved on the inside. Reacher wonders what unlucky circumstance made her give up something she earned over four hard years. He decides to find out.

And find the woman. And return her ring. Why not? So begins a harrowing journey that takes Reacher through the upper Midwest, from a lowlife bar on the sad side of small town to a dirt-blown crossroads in the middle of nowhere, encountering bikers, cops, crooks, muscle, and a missing persons PI who wears a suit and a tie in the Wyoming wilderness.

The deeper Reacher digs, and the more he learns, the more dangerous the terrain becomes. Turns out the ring was just a small link in a far darker chain. Powerful forces are guarding a vast criminal enterprise. Some lines should never be crossed. But then, neither should Reacher.

Praise for The Midnight Line “Puts Reacher just where we want him.”—The New York Times Book Review“A gem.”—Chicago Tribune “A timely, suspenseful, morally complex thriller, one of the best I’ve read this year . . . Child weaves in a passionately told history of opioids in American life.

. . . Child’s outrage over it is only just barely contained.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer   “A perfect example of Lee Child’s talent . . . Lee Child is the master of plotting. . . . This is Child’s most emotional book to date. . . . This is not just a good story; it is a story with a purpose and a message.

”—Huffington Post  “I just read the new Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child. . . . It is as good as they always are. I read every single one.”—Malcolm Gladwell

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Past Tense

Child, Lee 2018

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Family secrets come back to haunt Jack Reacher in this electrifying thriller from “a superb craftsman of suspense” (Entertainment Weekly). Jack Reacher hits the pavement and sticks out his thumb. He plans to follow the sun on an epic trip across America, from Maine to California.

He doesn’t get far. On a country road deep in the New England woods, he sees a sign to a place he has never been: the town where his father was born. He thinks, What’s one extra day? He takes the detour. At the same moment, in the same isolated area, a car breaks down.

Two young Canadians had been on their way to New York City to sell a treasure. Now they’re stranded at a lonely motel in the middle of nowhere. The owners seem almost too friendly. It’s a strange place, but it’s all there is. The next morning, in the city clerk’s office, Reacher asks about the old family home.

He’s told no one named Reacher ever lived in town. He’s always known his father left and never returned, but now Reacher wonders, Was he ever there in the first place? As Reacher explores his father’s life, and as the Canadians face lethal dangers, strands of different stories begin to merge.

Then Reacher makes a shocking discovery: The present can be tough, but the past can be tense . . . and deadly.Praise for Past Tense “Child is one writer who should never be taken for granted.”—The New York Times Book Review “[Lee Child] shows no signs of slowing down.

 . . . Reacher is a man for whom the phrase moral compass was invented: His code determines his direction. . . . You need Jack Reacher.”—The Atlantic “Superb . . . Child neatly interweaves multiple narratives, ratchets up the suspense (the reveal of the motel plot is delicious), and delivers a powerful, satisfying denouement.

Fans will enjoy learning more of this enduring character’s roots, and Child’s spare prose continues to set a very high bar.”—Publishers Weekly (boxed and starred review) “Another first-class entry in a series that continues to set the gold standard for aspiring thriller authors.

”—Booklist (starred review) “With his usual flair for succinctness and eye for detail, Child creates another rollicking Reacher road trip that will please fans and newcomers alike.”—Library Journal (starred review)

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Blue Moon

Child, Lee 2019

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Jack Reacher comes to the aid of an elderly couple . . . and confronts his most dangerous opponents yet. “Jack Reacher is today’s James Bond, a thriller hero we can’t get enough of.”—Ken Follett“This is a random universe,” Reacher says.

 “Once in a blue moon things turn out just right.” This isn’t one of those times. Reacher is on a Greyhound bus, minding his own business, with no particular place to go, and all the time in the world to get there. Then he steps off the bus to help an old man who is obviously just a victim waiting to happen.

 But you know what they say about good deeds. Now Reacher wants to make it right. An elderly couple have made a few well-meaning mistakes, and now they owe big money to some very bad people. One brazen move leads to another, and suddenly Reacher finds himself a wanted man in the middle of a brutal turf war between rival Ukrainian and Albanian gangs.

 Reacher has to stay one step ahead of the loan sharks, the thugs, and the assassins. He teams up with a fed-up waitress who knows a little more than she’s letting on, and sets out to take down the powerful and make the greedy pay. It’s a long shot.

The odds are against him. But Reacher believes in a certain kind of justice . . . the kind that comes along once in a blue moon. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY EVENING STANDARD

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The Sentinel

Child, Lee 2020

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Jack Reacher is back! The “utterly addictive” (The New York Times) series continues as acclaimed author Lee Child teams up with his brother, Andrew Child, fellow thriller writer extraordinaire.“One of the many great things about Jack Reacher is that he’s larger than life while remaining relatable and believable.

The Sentinel shows that two Childs are even better than one.”—James PattersonAs always, Reacher has no particular place to go, and all the time in the world to get there. One morning he ends up in a town near Pleasantville, Tennessee.But there’s nothing pleasant about the place.

In broad daylight Reacher spots a hapless soul walking into an ambush. “It was four against one” . . . so Reacher intervenes, with his own trademark brand of conflict resolution.The man he saves is Rusty Rutherford, an unassuming IT manager, recently fired after a cyberattack locked up the town’s data, records, information .

 . . and secrets. Rutherford wants to stay put, look innocent, and clear his name.Reacher is intrigued. There’s more to the story. The bad guys who jumped Rutherford are part of something serious and deadly, involving a conspiracy, a cover-up, and murder—all centered on a mousy little guy in a coffee-stained shirt who has no idea what he’s up against.

Rule one: if you don’t know the trouble you’re in, keep Reacher by your side.

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Better Off Dead

Child, Lee 2021

Jack Reacher is back in the brand-new, page-turning thriller from acclaimed #1 bestselling authors Lee Child and Andrew Child.Reacher isn't one to back down from a fight. And when a shadowy crew raises the stakes, he won't hesitate to teach them a lesson: When you pick a fight with Reacher, you're better off dead.

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Publication Order of Jack Reacher Short Stories/Novellas

Good and Valuable Consideration: Jack Reacher vs. Nick Heller

Child, Lee 2014

In this short story from the thrilling anthology FaceOff, bestselling authors Lee Child and Joseph Finder—along with their popular series characters Jack Reacher and Nick Heller—team up for the first time ever.When Jack Reacher sits down to watch a baseball game at a Boston bar, he has no way of knowing what kind of trouble is about to walk in the door—and not just because he’s a Yankees fan in a Red Sox town.

In this action-packed short story, Reacher and a new acquaintance—Sox fan Nick Heller—find themselves drawn into a much less friendly rivalry when the guy sitting between them at the bar turns out to be a marked man. For more exciting pairs, check out all eleven short stories in FaceOff!

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The Christmas Scorpion

Child, Lee 2018
In a new short story available exclusively as an ebook, Jack Reacher’s spending the holidays in California. The last thing he expects is a blizzard—or a visit from the world’s deadliest assassin.   Don’t miss a thrilling preview of Lee Child’s highly anticipated new Jack Reacher novel, Past Tense!   On Christmas Eve, Jack Reacher stumbles into a no-name bar in the California desert, desperate to take refuge from an unexpected snowstorm. Reacher came to Barstow for a little R&R. Instead, he’s sequestered in a dark little roadhouse with a bartender, a bewildered elderly couple—and two members of Britain’s Royal Military Police. They tell Reacher they were escorting a VIP to a top-secret meeting at a U.S. military base when they became separated from their charge. That’s when the threat came in from a notorious assassin: the Christmas Scorpion. Now they need a miracle to save the day. Or maybe all they need is Jack Reacher.

Cleaning the Gold

Slaughter, Karin 2019

Get ready for a turbo-charged short read (80 pages) from two of the world’s biggest thriller writers.Jack Reacher and Will TrentTwice the actionTwice the dramaDouble the troubleWill Trent is undercover at Fort Knox. His assignment: to investigate a twenty-two-year-old murder.

 His suspect’s name: Jack Reacher.Jack Reacher is in Fort Knox on his own mission: to bring down a dangerous criminal ring operating at the heart of America’s military. Except now Will Trent is on the scene.But there’s a bigger conspiracy at play – one that neither the special agent nor the ex-military cop could have anticipated.

And the only option is for Jack Reacher and Will Trent to team up and play nicely. If they can…Praise for Karin Slaughter:‘I’d follow her anywhere’ Gillian Flynn‘A great writer at the peak of her powers’ Peter James‘Her characters, plot, and pacing are unrivalled’ Michael Connelly‘Big, dark, rich, satisfying, and bloody’ Stuart MacBride‘Fiction doesn't get any better than this’ Jeffery Deaver‘One of the boldest thriller writers working today’ Tess Gerritsen‘A writer of extraordinary talents’ Kathy ReichsPraise for Lee Child:‘These books are absolutely addictive’ George R.

R. Martin‘Great pace, drama, language’ James Patterson‘Jack Reacher is today’s James Bond’ Ken Follett‘Nothing makes for a great weekend quite like quality time with Jack’ Lisa Gardner‘The coolest continuing series character’ Stephen King‘I always seize the latest Lee Child with pleasure’ Philip Pullman‘I pick up Jack Reacher when I’m in the mood for someone big to solve my problems’ Patricia Cornwell’

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Publication Order of Jack Reacher Collections

No Middle Name

Child, Lee 2017
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Get ready for the ultimate Jack Reacher experience: a thrilling new novella and eleven previously published stories, together for the first time in one pulse-pounding collection from Lee Child. No Middle Name begins with “Too Much Time,” a brand-new work of short fiction that finds Reacher in a hollowed-out town in Maine, where he witnesses a random bag-snatching but sees much more than a simple crime. “Small Wars” takes readers back to 1989, when Reacher is an MP assigned to solve the brutal murder of a young officer found along an isolated forest road in Georgia—and whose killer may be hiding in plain sight. In “Not a Drill,” Reacher tries to take some downtime, but a pleasant hike in Maine turns into a walk on the wild side—and perhaps something far more sinister. “High Heat” time-hops to 1977, when Reacher is a teenager in sweltering New York City during a sudden blackout that awakens the dark side of the city that never sleeps. Okinawa is the setting of “Second Son,” which reveals the pivotal moment when young Reacher’s sharp “lizard brain” becomes just as important as his muscle. In “Deep Down,” Reacher tracks down a spy by matching wits with four formidable females—three of whom are clean, but the fourth may prove fatal. Rounding out the collection are “Guy Walks into a Bar,” “James Penney’s New Identity,” “Everyone Talks,” “The Picture of the Lonely Diner,” “Maybe They Have a Tradition,” and “No Room at the Motel.”No suitcase. No destination. No middle name. No matter how far Reacher travels off the beaten path, trouble always finds him. Feel bad for trouble. Praise for No Middle Name “Captivating . . . classic [Lee] Child . . . This volume demonstrates what his fans already know: he’s a born storyteller and an astute observer.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)   “Lee Child, like his creation, always knows exactly what he’s doing—and he does it well. Time in his company is never wasted.”—Evening Standard

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Jack Reacher's Rules

Lee Child 2012
Jack Reacher’s Rules is the ultimate fan’s guide to the World of Reacher! Featuring selections from all seventeen electrifying Jack Reacher novels and an introduction from Lee Child himself, this one-of-a-kind book compiles timeless advice from maverick former army cop Jack Reacher, the hero of Lee Child’s blockbuster thrillers and now the star of a major motion picture.   My name is Jack Reacher. No middle name, no address. I’ve got a rule: People mess with me at their own risk.   You don’t have to break the rules if you make the rules. Case in point: Jack Reacher, the two-fisted, quick-witted, “current poster-boy of American crime fiction” (Los Angeles Times). The brainchild of #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child, Reacher is a freelance troubleshooter with a mysterious past—and a serious passion for justice.  Now the hard-won knowledge and hard-hitting strategies of fiction’s toughest tough guy are within every thriller reader’s reach—in a rapid-fire rundown of the trade secrets, tried-and-true tricks, and time-honored tactics that separate the man in the street from the man to beat.   Rule 1. When in doubt, drink coffee. Rule 2. Never volunteer for anything. Rule 3. Don’t break the furniture. Rule 4. Only one woman at a time. Rule 5. Show them what they’re messing with.Please note: Jack Reacher’s Rules is a compilation of advice, wisdom, and facts from the Jack Reacher series of novels by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child. It features an introduction by Lee Child, but is not a Jack Reacher novel.

The Hero

Child, Lee 2019
WHAT MAKES A HERO? WHO BETTER TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION THAN LEE CHILD…‘It’s Lee Child. Why would you not read it?’ Karin Slaughter‘I don't know another author so skilled at making me turn the page’ The TimesIn his first work of nonfiction, the creator of the multimillion-selling Jack Reacher series explores the endurance of heroes from Achilles to Bond, showing us how this age-old myth is a fundamental part of what makes us human. He demonstrates how hero stories continue to shape our world – arguing that we need them now more than ever.From the Stone Age to the Greek Tragedies, from Shakespeare to Robin Hood, we have always had our heroes. The hero is at the centre of formative myths in every culture and persists to this day in world-conquering books, films and TV shows. But why do these characters continue to inspire us, and why are they so central to storytelling?Scalpel-sharp on the roots of storytelling and enlightening on the history and science of myth, The Hero is essential reading for anyone trying to write or understand fiction. Child teaches us how these stories still shape our minds and behaviour in an increasingly confusing modern world, and with his trademark concision and wit, demonstrates that however civilised we get, we’ll always need heroes.Perfect for fans of Michael Connelly, James Patterson and David Baldacci!

Publication Order of Harold Middleton Books

The Chopin Manuscript

Jeffery Deaver 2007

2008 Audie Award Winner of Audiobook of the Year.Former war crimes investigator Harold Middleton possesses a previously unknown score by Frederic Chopin. But he is unaware that, locked within its handwritten notes, lies a secret that now threatens the lives of thousands of Americans.

As he races from Poland to America to uncover the mystery of the manuscript, Middleton will be accused of murder, pursued by federal agents, and targeted by assassins. But the greatest threat will come from a shadowy figure out of his past: the man known only as Faust.

The Chopin Manuscript is a unique collaboration by 15 of the world's greatest thriller writers. Jeffery Deaver conceived the characters and set the plot in motion; the other authors each wrote a chapter in turn. Deaver then completed what he started, bringing The Chopin Manuscript to its explosive conclusion.

"Innovative and unique, The Chopin Manuscript, written by masters in the field of thrillers, is far more than the sum of its parts. Here each author shines, blending individual skill and energy, into a riveting, crackling-paced tapestry of murder, mystery, and mayhem.

Not to be missed!" -- James Rollins, author of The Judas Strain"A GREAT story, written by one GREAT author after another, in one GREAT chapter after another. A stellar achievement of collectivity that blows from the starting gate at 100 mph and never slows down.

A thrill-a-page from 15 GREAT thriller masters. Don't miss this one." -- Steve Berry, author of The Venetian Betrayal

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The Copper Bracelet

Deaver, Jeffery 2009

Some of the world's greatest thriller writers have collaborated to bring readers The Copper Bracelet. Jeffery Deaver conceived the idea, imagined the characters and set the plot in motion. Other contemporary thriller writers propelled the story forward -- each of them writing one chapter -- before Deaver once again took the reins to bring the plot to its startling conclusion.

In this explosive sequel to The Chopin Manuscript, former war crimes investigator Harold Middleton returns. This time, Middleton is drawn into an international terror plot that threatens to send India and Pakistan into full-scale nuclear war. Careening from Nice to London and Moscow to Kashmir in order to prevent nuclear catastrophe, Middleton is unaware that his prey has changed -- and that the act of terror is much more diabolical that he can imagine.

Will Middleton discover the identity of the Scorpion in time to halt an event that will pit the United States, Russia and China against each other?

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The Starling Project: An Audible Drama

Jeffery Deaver 2014

Audie Award, Original Work, 2016 Audie Award Finalist, Audio Drama, 2016 New York Times best-selling author Jeffery Deaver will make your ears tingle and your pulse race in this Audible Studios original full-cast audiodrama starring Alfred Molina. An aborted raid targeting a major arms dealer.

A hostage standoff at a bank that may not be what it seems. A plot to spring a former African dictator from prison. What is the threat that connects them all? And just who is the mysterious mastermind, The Starling? From Mexico to Washington - from London to Marseille to Prague - war crimes investigator Harold Middleton and his team of Volunteers risk their lives to follow the trail of clues.

But how can they stop The Starling - when he always seems one step ahead? With more than 80 speaking roles and state-of-the-art sound and music design, The Starling Project is an immersive listening experience written by a master of the thriller About the Cast Alfred Molina ("Harold Middleton") has won acclaim for his memorable roles in the movies, on TV, and on the stage, receiving both Emmy and Tony Award nominations.

Molina made his film debut in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Since then, he's played such diverse characters as the mayor in Chocolat, and the evil Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2. The cast of The Starling Project also includes: Lisa Stathoplos as "Sonya Tadic" David J.

Curtis as "Devon Carter" Aaron Abano as "Mustafa Haddad" Ian Carlsen as "Kyle Nelson" Previous Harold Middleton thrillers include The Chopin Manuscript, winner of the Audio Publishers Association's Audiobook of the Year Award, and The Copper Bracelet.

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Publication Order of Akashic Drug Chronicles Books

The Cocaine Chronicles

Phillips, Gary 2005

"The best stories in The Cocaine Chronicles . . . are equal to the best fiction being written today."--New York Journal of Books"While The Cocaine Chronicles is a hard, honest, uncompromising read and might not be for the faint of heart, the stories it tells all have to do with a drug that's been around for a while and is not going anywhere.

Also, some stories offer a bit of hope, which shine through as invitations to never give up."--Austin Post"The perfect stocking stuffer for your uncle in AA."--New York Observer"The Cocaine Chronicles is a pure, jangled hit of urban, gritty, and raw noir.

Caution: these stories are addicting."--Harlan Coben, award-winning author of Just One Look"Every story is A+. All contributors are top notch. . . . Should be required reading for writers who want to master the craft of the short story."--Cherry BleedsOriginal stories by Susan Straight, Lee Child, Laura Lippman, Ken Bruen, Jerry Stahl, Nina Revoyr, Bill Moody, Donnell Alexander, Deborah Vankin, Robert Ward, Manuel Ramos, and others.

Gary Phillips writes for several mediums from novels to screenplays to comic books, and lives in Los Angeles, California.Jervey Tervalon is the author of All the Trouble You Need, Understand This, and the Los Angeles Times bestseller Dead Above Ground.

He lives in Altadena, California.

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The Marijuana Chronicles

Santlofer, Jonathan 2013

"The dramatic stakes may be higher with speed, cocaine, and certainly heroin, but these stories hit the mark."--Publishers Weekly"Joyce Carol Oates is in a rare class of her own, but she’s just of the right age to have experienced the ’60s and its many forms of annihilating reality.

So, too, are some of the other contributors to this collection, including Lee Child and the always enjoyable Raymond Mungo, who has traveled far, from the Haight of yore to the medicinal marijuana boutiques of today."--Kirkus Reviews"If you are a fence-sitter on the passionately contested pros and cons of marijuana use, after reading this terrific collection you will find yourself falling off and landing on one side of the hothouse argument.

Which side? That is for the reader to decide…Akashic Books is to be commended for bringing this eye-opening series to a wider audience. Fresh and informative The Marijuana Chronicles is a gem. Highly recommended."--New York Journal of Books"This is a book that deserves an eye-level spot on every toker’s book shelf–as well as a thoroughly stoned romp from intro to finale.

"--High Times"Pick up this hash-filled assortment, puff on any one of these killer buds and feel a different literary high each time. Marijuana Chronicles is meant to be savored one long drag at a time, allowing the flavor-filled pieces to slowly take over the mind, engulfing it fully.

"--Criminal Class Press"The pieces and authors represent a breadth of perspectives that goes far beyond typical stoner fare."--The Beachside Resident"The stories are astonishingly cerebral, and they are certain to make the rationalizations of even the most staunch supporters or opposers a bit hazy.

"--San Francisco Book Review/Sacramento Book Review"The Marijuana Chronicles, it has to be said, is a hopped-up little anthology that really smokes--there's really no better way to put it."--Solares Hill (Sunday supplement to The Key West Citizen)"The Marijuana Chronicles…is the strongest, most diverse and entertaining collection of the series to date…highly (no pun intended) recommended, even for those who never inhale.

"--BookgasmFeaturing brand-new stories, poems, prose, and graphics by: Lee Child, Joyce Carol Oates, Linda Yablonsky, Jonathan Santlofer, Abraham Rodriguez, Dean Haspiel, Maggie Estep, Bob Holman, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, Amanda Stern, Jan Heller Levi, Josh Gilbert, Edward M.

Gómez, Raymond Mungo, Rachel Shteir, Philip Spitzer, and Thad Ziolkowski.FROM THE INTRODUCTION by Jonathan Santlofer: "Like film, literature has been no stranger to marijuana and hashish, going back to Charles Baudelaire's 1860 Artificial Paradises, in which the French poet not only describes the effects of hashish but postulates it could be an aid in creating an ideal world.

The pleasures, pains, and complexities of marijuana are more than hinted at in works by William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Henry Miller, Hunter S. Thompson, and Thomas Pynchon, to name just a few, and I hope this anthology will add to that legacy and keep the flame of pot literature burning bright .

. ."This diverse group of writers, poets, and artists makes it clear that there is no one point of view here. Each of them approaches the idea of marijuana with the sharp eye of an observer, anthropologist, and artist, and expands upon it. Some writing projects are difficult; this one was smooth and mellow and a continual pleasure .

. . I hope you will sit back, relax, and enjoy these wide-ranging tales of the most debated and discussed drug of our time. Though, according to former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, 'That is not a drug, it's a leaf.'"

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The Nicotine Chronicles

Child, Lee 2020

Lee Child recruits Joyce Carol Oates, Jonathan Ames, Cara Black, and others to reveal nicotine's scintillating alter egos."Typically for Akashic--publisher of the terrific Noir series--the stories approach the subject matter from an impressive number of angles.

..Akashic has yet to produce a dull anthology, and this one is especially good."--Booklist"Sixteen tributes to America's guiltiest pleasure...Even confirmed anti-smokers will find something to savor."--Kirkus Reviews"The most successful entries delve bone-deep into addiction, as characters smoke to smother physical pain, loneliness, and their days.

..These writers capture the mental gymnastics behind the characters' bad decisions, and the joy such bad decisions can bring."--Publishers WeeklyIn recent years, nicotine has become as verboten as many hard drugs. The literary styles in this volume are as varied as the moral quandaries herein, and the authors have successfully unleashed their incandescent imaginations on the subject matter, fashioning an immensely addictive collection.

Featuring brand-new stories by: Lee Child, Joyce Carol Oates, Jonathan Ames, Eric Bogosian, Achy Obejas, Michael Imperioli, Hannah Tinti, Ariel Gore, Bernice L. McFadden, Cara Black, Christopher Sorrentino, David L. Ulin, Jerry Stahl, Lauren Sanders, Peter Kimani, and Robert Arellano.

From the introduction by Lee Child:Food scientists have discovered a complex compound naturally present in, among other things, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. The compound offers us a number of benefits: it improves our fine motor skills; it increases our attention spans; it improves our cognitive abilities; it improves our long- and short-term memories; it lessens depression.

..In and of itself, it has no real downside. It's called nicotine. We should all get some.The problem is the delivery system...The most efficient way is to burn dried tobacco leaves and inhale the smoke. Ten seconds later, the compound is in your brain, doing good in all its various ways.

Unfortunately, the rest of the smoke doesn't do good. And therein lies a great mystery of human behavior. To get the good, we risk the bad. Or we prohibit ourselves the good, for fear of the bad. Which approach makes more sense?

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Publication Order of Anthologies

Like a Charm

Slaughter, Karin 2004

In "Like A Charm", Karin Slaughter brings together some of the best selling Crime writers in the World today to create a collection of thrilling short stories of murder, betrayal and intrigue. Each story in "Like A Charm" is interlinked by a charm bracelet which makes its way into each tale bringing bad luck wherever it is found.

The authors' tales are set in their usual city and era of choice, Val McDermid in 1980's Manchester, Denise Mina in Glasgow, Karin Slaughter in Atlanta and all are original to this collection. "Like A Charm" is the first collection of Crime writing to have one specific item, the charm bracelet, as the focus for each story.

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Greatest Hits

Randisi, Robert J. 2005

Featuring standout writers of mystery and suspense like Lawrence Block, Jeffery Deaver, James W. Hall, Jeff Abbott, Michael Collins, Max Allan Collins, and Lee Child — all of them best-selling authors, most of them winners of Edgar or Shamus awards (or both) — this anthology comes with a chamberful of surefire stories.

Loaded with tension, charged with uncertainty, these taut tales bring their unsuspecting or hunted and fearful marks into the deadly sight of a hired killer's gun. The hit men, or women, meanwhile match their criminal wits with police detectives, seasoned private eyes, the resolute everyguy, or amateur sleuths to often unexpected and frequently startling ends.

Every one of the stories here is a hit. Each of them craftily calibrated and written expressly for this collection, they include new work by the popular, award-winning Ed Gorman, the versatile writer-editor Robert J. Randisi, and the recipient of the first-ever Sherlock Award for best detective, John Harvey.

With cunning invention hit-lit authors Christine Matthews, Barbara Serenella, Marcus Pelegrimas, and Kevin Wignall further ratchet up the suspense to keep Greatest Hits true to its name, and aim.

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The Cocaine Chronicles

Phillips, Gary 2005

"The best stories in The Cocaine Chronicles . . . are equal to the best fiction being written today."--New York Journal of Books"While The Cocaine Chronicles is a hard, honest, uncompromising read and might not be for the faint of heart, the stories it tells all have to do with a drug that's been around for a while and is not going anywhere.

Also, some stories offer a bit of hope, which shine through as invitations to never give up."--Austin Post"The perfect stocking stuffer for your uncle in AA."--New York Observer"The Cocaine Chronicles is a pure, jangled hit of urban, gritty, and raw noir.

Caution: these stories are addicting."--Harlan Coben, award-winning author of Just One Look"Every story is A+. All contributors are top notch. . . . Should be required reading for writers who want to master the craft of the short story."--Cherry BleedsOriginal stories by Susan Straight, Lee Child, Laura Lippman, Ken Bruen, Jerry Stahl, Nina Revoyr, Bill Moody, Donnell Alexander, Deborah Vankin, Robert Ward, Manuel Ramos, and others.

Gary Phillips writes for several mediums from novels to screenplays to comic books, and lives in Los Angeles, California.Jervey Tervalon is the author of All the Trouble You Need, Understand This, and the Los Angeles Times bestseller Dead Above Ground.

He lives in Altadena, California.

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Mystery Writers of America Presents Death Do Us Part: New Stories About Love, Lust, and Murder

Mystery Writers of America, Inc. 2006
This volume compiles 18 gripping stories about relationships from some of the top mystery writers working today, including Harlan Coben, P.J. Parrish, Lee Child, Ridley Pearson, R.L. Stine, Jim Fusilli, Jeff Abbott, Charles Todd, and Tom Savage. Read More

The Best British Mysteries IV

Jakubowski, Maxim 2007

An exciting collection including new stories from previous BBM favorites and first appearances from Alexander McCall Smith, John Harvey, Lee Child and Robert Goddard* Bite size chunks from Britain’s hottest crime writers * ‘An essential read for all crime fans’ Publishing News Following the huge success of the previous Best British Mysteries collections comes the latest batch of stories from the UK’s top-flight crime writers.

The fourth collection features contributions from stalwarts of the genre along with exciting short fiction from up-and-coming authors.

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Killer Year: Stories to Die For...

Child, Lee 2008

A collection of KILLER stories from some of today's hottest crime fiction writers, edited by grandmaster and #1 New York Times bestselling author LEE CHILDKiller Year is a group of thirteen authors whose first novels were published in the year 2007. Now, each member of this widely-praised organization has written a story with his or her own unique twist on the world of crime.

Each entry in this one-of-a-kind collection is introduced by the author's Killer Year mentor, including bestselling authors James Rollins, Tess Gerritsen, Jeffery Deaver. Other contributors―of original stories, essays, and commentary―include acclaimed veterans Ken Bruen, Allison Brennan, Duane Swierczynski, Laura Lippman, and M.

J. Rose. This is a book that no fan of the genre can do without.This edition of the book is the deluxe, tall rack mass market paperback.

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First Thrills

Lee Child 2010

New York Times bestselling author Lee Child and the International Thriller Writers, Inc. present a collection of remarkable stories in First Thrills. Showcasing many of the organization's bestselling authors as well as rising stars in the genre, here are twenty-five brand-new, never-before published, stories packed with murder, mystery, and mayhem.

*A cunning criminal thinks he can use a child to take the rap for his crimes.*A hospital intern turned body-snatcher.*A priest who comes face to face with his wife's murderer on death row.*A confederate soldier comes home to his love, but changed by more than just the war….

he comes back wrong.*The discovery of a flying saucer in the deep sea brings one man to the brink of a massive revelation. *A dying man's last request proves to his ex-wife that he's still rotten to the core. *A clandestine operative finds himself caught in a wicked game of confusion .

. . but who is calling the shots? No matter what type of thriller you read, you'll find something here that will entertain you . . . and perhaps a new writer you'll cherish for years to come.

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The Dark End of the Street

Santlofer, Jonathan 2010

In one fast-paced story, a strong and aggravated man considers the pretty woman at the bar while he fingers the knife in his pocket. But what becomes of his prey when they move to the bedroom? In another tale, a man remembers the victim of a ghastly murder who visited the same hair salon as he does.

And a Don Juan of a protagonist has a hobby of marrying vulnerable women, getting access to their bank accounts, and then robbing them blind. But there is much more to this collection than dark-haired vixens and crimes of passion. Some stories are brooding, some twisted; some bring righteous satisfaction, some linger in the back of your mind.

What is truly on display is an impressive collection of literary talent: a group of some of the best writers we have, weaving fresh and memorable stories from a pair of classic themes. Taken as a whole, they are a rare treat for fans of great fiction, whether it's high literature, good old-fashioned suspense, or anything in between.

Original black-and-white art by artist/author Jonathan Santlofer completes this innovative, exciting, and irresistibly intriguing book―a true literary gem.

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The Best American Mystery Stories 2010

Child, Lee 2010
Best-selling novelist Lee Child edits this latest collection of the genre’s finest from the past year. Featuring “gritty tales told with panache,” this is a “must-read for anybody who cares about crime stories” (Booklist). Read More

Mystery Writers of America Presents The Rich and the Dead

Mystery Writers of America, Inc. 2011

The truly wealthy live in another world. From their multi-national businesses to their palatial mansions to their exotic vacations at glamorous places all around the world, they do everything in a big way. And sometimes, that even includes crime. In this anthology, you'll read about a wealthy writer who plots murder his hopeless agent, an aging actress who clings to her past of wealth and fame, and a spoiled rich boy who steps into dangerous territory with his mean antics, among others.

The Rich and the Dead features mystery and crime stories set among the upper crust of society, going behind the scenes of the lifestyles of the two percent of the world that controls sixty percent of its riches--and just how far they'll go to stay on top.

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The Rich and the Dead

deMille, Nelson 2011

The truly wealthy live in another world. From their multi-national businesses to their palatial mansions to their exotic vacations at glamorous places all around the world, they do everything in a big way. And sometimes, that even includes crime. In this anthology, you'll read about a wealthy writer who plots murder his hopeless agent, an aging actress who clings to her past of wealth and fame, and a spoiled rich boy who steps into dangerous territory with his mean antics, among others.

The Rich and the Dead features mystery and crime stories set among the upper crust of society, going behind the scenes of the lifestyles of the two percent of the world that controls sixty percent of its riches--and just how far they'll go to stay on top.

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A Study in Sherlock

King, Laurie R 2011

What would happen if you asked eighteen top writers who don’t normally write about Sherlock Holmes, to write about Sherlock Holmes? What if you wrote to them, saying:In 19th century England, a new kind of hero€”a consulting detective€”blossomed in the mind of an underemployed doctor and ignited the world’s imagination.

In the thirteen decades since A Study in Scarlet first appeared, countless variations on that theme have been played, from Mary Russell to Greg House, from €˜Basil of Baker Street’ to the new BBC Holmes-in-the-Internet-age.We suspect that you have in the back of your mind a story that plays a variation on the Holmes theme.

... And what if these great writers read that proposal and decided that yes, they did have that kind of tale in the back of their minds? The result is A Study in Sherlock, Stories Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Canon, wit

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Mystery Writers of America Presents Vengeance

Mystery Writers of America, Inc. 2012

When a different kind of justice is needed -- swift, effective, and personal -- a new type of avenger must take action. Vengeance features new stories by bestselling crime writers including Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, and Karin Slaughter, as well as some of today's brightest rising talents.

The heroes in these stories include a cop who's seen too much, a woman who has been pushed too far, or just an ordinary person doing what the law will not. Some call them vigilantes, others claim they are just another brand of criminal. Edited and with an introduction by Lee Child, these stories reveal the shocking consequences when men and women take the law into their own hands.

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Love Is Murder

Sandra Brown 2012

Lori Armstrong * Jeff Ayers & Jon Land * Beverly Barton * William Bernhardt * Allison Brennan * Robert Browne * Pamela Callow * Lee Child * J.T. Ellison * Bill Floyd * Cindy Gerard * Heather Graham * Laura Griffin * Vicki Hinze * Andrea Kane *Julie Kenner * Sherrilyn Kenyon * Dianna Love * D.

P. Lyle * James Macomber * Toni McGee Causey * Carla Neggers * Brenda Novak * Patricia Rosemoor * William Simon * Alexandra Sokoloff * Roxanne St. Claire * Mariah Stewart * Debra Webb Prepare for heart-racing suspense in this original collection by thirty of the hottest bestselling authors and new voices writing romance suspense today.

Go on vacation with Allison Brennan's Lucy Kincaid, where she saves a man from drowning, only to discover he is in far greater danger on land. Meet Roxanne St. Claire's "bullet catcher"—bodyguard Donovan Rush—who may have met his match in the sexually charged "Diamond Drop.

" Debut author William Simon shows us what happens when the granddaughter of the president of the United States is kidnapped. And Lee Child's pitch-perfect "I Heard a Romantic Story" puts a whole new spin on Love Is Murder.Bodyguards, vigilantes, stalkers, serial killers, women (and men!) in jeopardy, cops, thieves, P.

I.s, killers—these all-new stories will keep you thrilled and chilled late into the night.

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Inherit the Dead

Child, Lee 2013

TWENTY THRILLING WRITERS. ONE CHILLING MYSTERY.More than twenty New York Times bestselling authors team up to create a first-rate serial novel—a collaboration among some of the most popular mystery and thriller writers in the English-speaking world today, producing a “well-told mystery that stands on its own two (or 40) feet” (Booklist).

Readers will enjoy an introduction by Lee Child, an afterword by Linda Fairstein, and chapters by bestselling authors Mary Higgins Clark, John Connolly, Charlaine Harris, CJ Box, Mark Billingham, Lawrence Block, Ken Bruen, Alafair Burke, Stephen L. Carter, Marcia Clark, Max Allan Collins, James Grady, Heather Graham, Bryan Gruley, Val McDermid, SJ Rozan, Jonathan Santlofer, Dana Stabenow, Lisa Unger, and Sarah Weinman.

What’s more, the editor, Jonathan Santlofer, has arranged to donate any royalties in excess of editor and contributor compensation to Safe Horizon, the leading victim assistance agency in the country—making it a worthy and winning triumph. Pericles “Perry” Christo is a PI with a past—a former cop, who lost his badge and his family when a corruption scandal left him broke and disgraced.

When wealthy Upper East Side matron Julia Drusilla summons him one cold February night, he grabs what seems to be a straightforward (and lucrative) case. The socialite is looking for her beautiful, aimless daughter, Angelina, who is about to become a very wealthy young woman.

But as Christo digs deeper, he discovers there’s much more to the lovely “Angel” than meets the eye. Her father, her best friend, her boy­friends all have agendas of their own. Angel, he soon realizes, may be in grave danger…and if Christo gets too close, he just might get caught in the crossfire.

This classic noir tale twists and turns down New York’s mean streets and along Hamptons’ beaches and back roads during a bitterly cold and gray winter where nothing is as it seems and everyone has something to hide.

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FaceOff

Child, Lee 2014
Features pairings by twenty-three best-selling suspense writers, including John Sandford, F. Paul Wilson, and R. L. Stine, who in short high-action stories pit their most popular characters against one another. Read More

Belfast Noir

McKinty, Adrian 2014

"The works are short, allowing readers to savor each snippet or devour the entire compelling book in a day, depending on just how deliciously gloomy they're feeling."--Shelf Awareness, Starred review"All the stories are compelling and well executed...

Great writing for fans of noir and short stories, with some tales close to perfection."--Library Journal, Starred review"[Belfast Noir] zooms in on Northern Ireland's capital city, whose history surely more than qualifies it as a breeding ground for noir.

"--Booklist"The choices made by editors McKinty and Neville celebrate lowlifes, convicts, hookers, private eyes, cops and reporters, and, above all, the gray city at the heart of each story."--Kirkus Reviews"Belfast, with its bleak, murderous history, at last gets an entry in Akashic's acclaimed noir series.

"--Publishers Weekly"Belfast Noir is one of the strongest entries in Akashic's admirable City Noir series....all [stories] are of exceptional quality. Anyone with a fondness for noir, an interest in the past, in contemporary Irish writing, or simply an appreciation of excellent prose should snap this one up.

"--Reviewing the Evidence"Singapore Noir, like Belfast Noir, once again proves that Akashic Books' noir series is better than any travel guide."--MysteryPeople"Belfast Noir equals the high standards set by its predecessors."--Book Chase"Impossibly hard to put down.

..Belfast shows its true colors (ie bloodstainds) in this gritty collection."--Barbarian Librarian"It's almost like visiting [Belfast]."--Journey of a Bookseller"A terrific collection."--Escape Into Life"I was blown away with what I read...This is a great anthology of modern-day noir.

"--Mom Read ItLaunched with the summer '04 award-winning best seller Brooklyn Noir, Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book.

Reflecting a city still divided, Belfast Noir serves as a record of a city transitioning to normalcy, or perhaps as a warning that underneath the fragile peace darker forces still lurk.Featuring brand-new stories by: Glenn Patterson, Eoin McNamee, Garbhan Downey, Lee Child, Alex Barclay, Brian McGilloway, Ian McDonald, Arlene Hunt, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Claire McGowan, Steve Cavanagh, Lucy Caldwell, Sam Millar, and Gerard Brennan.

From the introduction by Adrian McKinty & Stuart Neville:"Few European cities have had as disturbed and violent a history as Belfast over the last half-century. For much of that time the Troubles (1968–1998) dominated life in Ireland's second-biggest population centre, and during the darkest days of the conflict--in the 1970s and 1980s--riots, bombings, and indiscriminate shootings were tragically commonplace.

The British army patrolled the streets in armoured vehicles and civilians were searched for guns and explosives before they were allowed entry into the shopping district of the city centre...Belfast is still a city divided...You can see Belfast's bloodstains up close and personal.

This is the city that gave the world its worst ever maritime disaster, and turned it into a tourist attraction; similarly, we are perversely proud of our thousands of murders, our wounds constantly on display. You want noir? How about a painting the size of a house, a portrait of a man known to have murdered at least a dozen human beings in cold blood? Or a similar house-sized gable painting of a zombie marching across a postapocalyptic wasteland with an AK-47 over the legend UVF: Prepared for Peace--Ready for War.

As Lee Child has said, Belfast is still 'the most noir place on earth.'"

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Manhattan Mayhem

Clark, Mary Higgins 2015

From Wall Street to Harlem, the borough of Manhattan is the setting for all-new stories of mystery, murder, and suspense, presented by best-selling author Mary Higgins Clark and featuring an exclusive Jack Reacher story by Lee Child, as well as other takes from top Mystery Writers of America authors.

 In Lee Child's “The Picture of the Lonely Diner,” legendary drifter Jack Reacher interrupts a curious stand-off in the shadow of the Flatiron Building. In Jeffery Deaver’s “The Baker of Bleecker Street,” an Italian immigrant becomes ensnared in WWII espionage.

And in “The Five-Dollar Dress,” Mary Higgins Clark unearths the contents of a mysterious hope chest found in an apartment on Union Square. With additional stories from T. Jefferson Parker, S. J. Rozan, Nancy Pickard, Ben H. Winters, Brendan DuBois, Persia Walker, Jon L.

Breen, N. J. Ayres, Angela Zeman, Thomas H. Cook, Judith Kelman, Margaret Maron, Justin Scott, and Julie Hyzy, Manhattan Mayhem is teeming with red herrings, likely suspects, and thoroughly satisfying mysteries.

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The Best American Mystery Stories 2015

Patterson, James 2015

In his introduction, guest editor James Patterson observes, “I often hear people lamenting the state of Hollywood . . . If that’s the case, I’ve got one thing to say: read these short stories. You can thank me later.” Patterson has collected a batch of stories that have the sharp tension, drama, and visceral emotion of an Oscar-worthy Hollywood production.

Spanning the extremes of human behavior, The Best American Mystery Stories 2015 features characters that must make desperate choices: an imaginative bank-robbing couple, a vengeful high school shooter, a lovesick heiress who will do anything for her man, and many others in “these imaginative, rich, complex tales” worthy of big-screen treatment.

 The Best American Mystery Stories 2015 includes   Tomiko M. Breland, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Jeffery Deaver, Brendan DuBois, Janette Turner Hospital, Dennis Lehane, Theresa E. Lehr, Joyce Carol Oates,  and others  JAMES PATTERSON, guest editor, has sold over 300 million books worldwide, including the Alex Cross, Michael Bennett, Women’s Murder Club, Maximum Ride, and Middle School series.

He supports getting kids reading through his children’s book imprint, jimmy patterson, as well as through scholarships, grants, book donations, and his website, ReadKiddoRead.com. OTTO PENZLER, series editor, is a renowned mystery editor, publisher, columnist, and the owner of New York’s The Mysterious Bookshop, the oldest and largest bookstore solely dedicated to mystery fiction.

He has edited more than fifty crime-fiction anthologies.

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In Sunlight or In Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper

Block, Lawrence 2016

A truly unprecedented literary achievement by author and editor Lawrence Block, a newly-commissioned anthology of seventeen superbly-crafted stories inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper, including Jeffery Deaver, Joyce Carol Oates, Stephen King, Lee Child, and Robert Olen Butler, among many others.

“Edward Hopper is surely the greatest American narrative painter. His work bears special resonance for writers and readers, and yet his paintings never tell a story so much as they invite viewers to find for themselves the untold stories within.” So says Lawrence Block, who has invited seventeen outstanding writers to join him in an unprecedented anthology of brand-new stories: In Sunlight or In Shadow.

The results are remarkable and range across all genres, wedding literary excellence to storytelling savvy. Contributors include Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Olen Butler, Michael Connelly, Megan Abbott, Craig Ferguson, Nicholas Christopher, Jill D.

Block, Joe R. Lansdale, Spider Robinson, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Warren Moore, Jonathan Santlofer, Jeffery Deaver, Lee Child, and Lawrence Block himself. Even Gail Levin, Hopper’s biographer and compiler of his catalogue raisonée, appears with her own first work of fiction, providing a true account of art theft on a grand scale and told in the voice of the country preacher who perpetrated the crime.

In a beautifully produced anthology as befits such a collection of acclaimed authors, each story is illustrated with a quality full-color reproduction of the painting that inspired it.

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MatchUp

Child, Lee 2017

This “highly recommended” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) collection edited by New York Times bestselling author Lee Child pairs the beloved characters of twenty-two internationally bestselling writers in “a must-read for fans of the thriller genre.

Very rarely does this kind of star power assemble for one anthology, and each story delivers the goods” (The Real Book Spy).The incredible follow-up to FaceOff features twenty-two of the world’s bestselling and critically acclaimed thriller writers pairing their series characters in an eleven-story anthology curated by the International Thriller Writers (ITW).

MatchUp takes the never-before-seen bestseller pairings of FaceOff and adds a delicious new twist: gender. “Think Dancing With the Stars, but with mysteries” (Booklist) as eleven of the world’s best female thriller writers from Diana Gabaldon to Kathy Reichs to Charlaine Harris are paired with eleven of the world’s best male thriller writers, including John Sandford, C.

J. Box, and Nelson DeMille, among others. “This box holds a chocolate or two that will be to everyone’s liking” (Kirkus Reviews). In these innovative stories, their beloved protagonists, Lee Coburn, Joe Pickett, and Jack Reacher—just to name a few—team up to unnerve and satisfy thriller fans worldwide.

All of the contributors are ITW members, and the project is edited by ITW member and #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child. The lineup includes: Sandra Brown’s Lee Coburn vs. C. J. Box’s Joe Pickett Val McDermid’s Tony Hill vs. Peter James’s Roy Grace Kathy Reichs’s Temperance Brennan vs.

Lee Child’s Jack Reacher Diana Gabaldon’s Jamie Fraser vs. Steve Berry’s Cotton Malone Gayle Lynds’s Liz Sansborough vs. David Morrell’s Rambo Karin Slaughter’s Jeffrey Tolliver vs. Michael Koryta’s Joe Pritchard Charlaine Harris’s Harper Connelly vs.

Andrew Gross’s Ty Hauck Lisa Jackson’s Regan Pescoli vs. John Sandford’s Virgil Flower Lara Adrian’s Lucan Thorne vs. Christopher Rice’s Lilliane Lisa Scottoline’s Bennie Rosato vs. Nelson DeMille’s John Corey J.A. Jance’s Ali Reynolds vs.

Eric Van Lustbader’s Bravo Shaw

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The Best American Mystery Stories 2018

Penny, Louise 2018

#1 New York Times best-selling author of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels, Louise Penny brings her “nerve and skill—as well as heart” (Maureen Corrigan, Washington Post) to selecting the best short mystery and crime fiction of the year.

Writing short stories takes “Skill. Discipline. Knowledge of the form while not being formulaic,” contends Louise Penny in her introduction. “In a short story there is nowhere to hide. Each must be original, fresh, inspired.” Originality is just what’s in store for readers of the twenty clever, creative selections in The Best American Mystery Stories 2018.

There’s no hiding from a Nigerian confidence game, a drug made of dinosaur bones, a bombing at an oil company, a reluctant gunfighter in the Old West, and the many other scams, dangers, and thrills lurking in its suspenseful pages.  The Best American Mystery Stories 2018 includes T.

C. Boyle, James Lee Burke, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Charlaine Harris, Andrew Klavan, Martin Limón, Joyce Carol Oates, and others.  

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Dear NHS

Various 2020
Dear NHS: 100 Stories to Say Thank You, Edited by Adam Kay [Hardcover] Various and Adam Kay Read More


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