Mysterious Press

I became a spy because my father before me was a spy. Although I am, for the time being, hiding something from you.
In a rose garden in Buenos Aires, a young American spy meets the beautiful daughter of a famous Argentinian revolutionary. They fall in love. But he is no ordinary spy – and she is no ordinary woman.
He has a hidden agenda: to avenge his father, who died penniless and friendless on the streets of Washington. And in Luz, he seems to have found an ally. But, as his fate becomes further entwined with hers, he soon finds himself caught in a perilous web of passions, loyalties and lies that stretches back to the darkest days of the Cold War.

A year after getting shot on a job that took a dangerous turn, Jane Whitefield has settled into the quiet life of a suburban housewife — or so she thinks. One morning, returning from a long run, she's met by an unusual sight: the female leaders of the eight Seneca clans waiting in her driveway. Jane's childhood friend from the reservation is wanted by the police for murder, and the clan mothers believe she is the only one who can find him.
So Jane sets out to retrace a journey she took with Jimmy when they were fourteen years old, and soon discovers that the police aren't the only ones after her childhood friend. As the chase intensifies, the number of people caught up in the deadly plot grows, and Jane is the only one who can protect those in danger…

She's only alive because he thinks she's already dead… Everyone in the quiet Jersey Shore town of Silver Bay knows the story: on a Sunday evening in September 1991, Ramsey Miller threw a block party, then murdered his beautiful wife and three-year-old daughter and disappeared. But everyone is wrong. Ramsey's daughter survived. Now she's eighteen and sick of hiding from her father. She's going to end this. But can she find him before he finds her?

Joyce Carol Oates is one of the most prominent writers of her generation. In EVIL EYE, Oates offers four dark and compelling tales of love gone horribly wrong.
The young fourth wife of a prominent intellectual thinks herself happy until the first wife comes to stay…
A shy teenager meets a dazzling kindred spirit. But the first sparks of young love soon take on a darker shade…
A spoiled frat boy decides to murder his parents, only to be floored by the power of his mother's love…
A fragile woman reveals deeply buried secrets to her curious lover with devastating consequences…
All of these stories are about love, just not as we like to think of it.

A collection of darkly compelling tales from the unique imagination of Joyce Carol Oates.
A young professor is convinced she's being followed, but when she confronts her shadow all is not as it seems…
A promising student attempts to save her brother from his descent into madness, but finds there may be more to his world than hers…
An elderly nun is found dead in her care home, but was it old age or dark secrets that killed her…
These biting and beautiful stories force us to confront, one by one, the demons within.

Five cities. Five escorts. Five bullets in five heads.
Catherine Hamilton was a high-class hooker. Now she is dead. Jack Till, private detective, has linked her murder to a string of other killings: the cities may be different, but the girls all look uncomfortably alike. Now he knows the killer's type, it's a race against time to find the next victim before it's too late…
Who will the boyfriend seduce next?

One day an 11-year-old girl disappears. She was playing with friends from school. The crop is strengthened by her blood…
Marissa is an innocent girl, with hair the colour of corn-silk. She does not hold others in strange thrall, as some young women do, she obeys her parents, she does not stay late after school, lingering on her walk through the swaying heads of maize. She is the perfect sacrifice…
In Joyce Carol Oates' nightmarish world, teenaged girls are empowered by ritual killing, plastic surgeons perform bloodcurdling operations and birthdays rip families apart. Compulsively readable, told in razor-sharp prose, The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares is the brilliant new offspring of one of America's most terrifying imaginations.

From one of the most highly regarded writers of her generation, JACK OF SPADES is a psychologically complex thriller that examines the fine line between genius and madness.
Andrew J. Rush is a successful mystery writer with twenty-eight novels to his name. He has a loving wife, three grown children, and is well-known in his small New Jersey town for his charitable work.
But Andrew J. Rush is hiding a dark secret. Under the pseudonym Jack of Spades, he has penned another string of novels — dark tales of murder, lust and madness.
When a court order arrives accusing him of plagarism, Rush fears his secret may be exposed. And unbidden, in the back of his mind, the Jack of Spades starts plotting his survival.

An American spy in China. Name: Unknown. Status: Sleeper.
He's meant to be laying low, polishing his Mandarin and awaiting further instructions from Washington. But Shandhai is a difficult city to sleep in, especially when his nights are taken over by the seductive but enigmatic Mei – a woman with secrets he'd rather not hear.
Then he is tasked with a delicate operation. Infiltrate the core of the Chinese intelligence service. Distinguish friend from foe. Report to a single contact at HQ. Trust no one. Tell no one.
Pushed out into the cold, in a city of millions he's suddenly very, very alone.
But in Shanghai city you're never truly alone. Faceless strangers linger in the shadows, watching your every move. No one is safe from the Guoanbu. Not even a spy with no name…

You do not know me, but I know you. I have decided to call you: Red One. Red Two. Red Three. I know each of you is lost in the woods. And just like the little girl in the fairy tale, you have been selected to die…'
Karen, Sarah and Jordan have nothing in common aside from their hair colour. Red. To the man who has been watching their every move for months, this is enough. Their lives are now in his hands, their stories will only end when he chooses to reveal himself, unless they can find him first…

'Timothy 'Moth' Turner is a postgrad student and recovering alcoholic. Estranged from his family, Moth's only lifeline is his uncle Ed, a recovered alcoholic and Moth's AA sponsor.
When Ed doesn't turn up for a meeting, Moth gets worried. And he has every right to be. Ed is found shot dead in his apartment in an apparent suicide.
Moth can't believe his uncle would take his own life. And soon, after a little bit of digging, Ed is on the trail of a psychopathic killer known only as Student #5. But why would he want to kill Ed? And who is next on his list…

A famous writer is dead. Suicide? Punishment? Or Justice?
Julian Wells was a writer of dark non-fiction works that detailed some of the worst crimes of the 20th Century. Was it this exploration of man's inhumanity to man that caused him to take his own life?
When his body is found in a boat drifting in a pond in Montauk, New York, his best friend, the literary critic Philip Anders, begins to reread his work in order to prepare a eulogy. This rereading, along with other clues, convinces the critic that his friend has committed a terrible crime, and that it was as punishment for this crime that Wells took his own life.
Anders' investigation sparks an obsession with unravelling the mystery of the man he thought he knew. His journey towards understanding leads him from Paris to Budapest, spans four decades, and takes him deeper and deeper in to the heart of darkness that was Julian Wells…

Original Swedish crime stories from the masters of Nordic noir including a never before published story by Stieg Larsson.
Ever since Stieg Larsson shone a light on the brilliance of Swedish crime writing with his bestselling Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, readers have devoured this dark and compelling genre.
Now the nation's best crimewriters have been brought together to form the first ever anthology of Swedish crime.
Contributors include:
— Stieg Larsson, author of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
— Henning Mankell, creator of Wallander.
— Per Wahlöö and Maj Sjöwall, creators of Martin Beck.
— Eva Gabrielsson, writer and thirty-year partner to Stieg Larsson.

A heart-stopping psychological thriller, perfect for fans of Paula Hawkins and J.P. Delaney.
Two strangers with one overwhelming link: fear. For him, it's fear of losing his mind. For her, it's the fear is of losing her life…
Retired professor Adrian Thomas knows all about fear from a lifetime studying human psychology. Now he's been diagnosed with degenerative dementia, all his thoughts are of ending his own life while he still can.
But before he can put the gun to his head he witnesses a kidnapping: a beautiful teenage girl, snatched off the street and bundled into a white van. Jennifer Riggins was picked up by a twisted couple who run the elite subscription-only website, What Comes Next. Viewers can watch what torture befalls their victims and Jennifer is to become the latest star, Victim Number Four.
When the police dismiss Adrian as a confused old man, he knows he might be this young girl's only hope and he begins the race to save her. But, with Adrian's grip on reality fading with each day, it's not only Jennifer whose life hangs in the balance…
What readers are saying about What Comes Next…
'An experience akin to riding the scariest roller coaster ride'
'I raced through this book'

How did Sandrine die?
There was no forced entry. She had been gradually stockpiling prescription drugs. A lethal quantity of Demerol was found in her blood. But did the beautiful, luminous Sandrine Madison really take her own life? The District Attorny doesn't think so. Neither does the local newspaper.
And so Sandrine's husband must now face a town convinced of his guilt and a daughter whose faith in her father has been shaken to its core. But, as he stands in the dock, Samuel Madison must confront yet more searing questions: Who was Sandrine? Why did she die? And why – how? – is she making him fall in love with her all over again?
A psychological thriller from a true master, SANDRINE will hold you in its spell until its unexpected end.

They are life long friends. Their lives are routine, even boring. But that is about to change.
Will, Jeffrey and Nolan have been friends since college. Their lives are normal, even boring. Until one shocking moment changes everything.
One night, in a moment of madness, Jeffrey robs a convenience store and drags the only witness into Will's car. Before they know it, Will, Jeffrey and Nolan are holding a young girl hostage, with no idea what to do next. They have three days to decide her fate. Three days to choose between right and wrong, prison and freedom. Three days to manipulate each other into a unanimous decision.
These ordinary men are already guilty of abduction and robbery. What else are they capable of?

Los Angeles Harbour is one of the world's busiest ports. It's also where the ocean, in the words of Dinko Babich, meets the ghetto and a locus for theft, extortion, drug smuggling and human trafficking. Dinko is a third generation longshoreman, and while no stranger to a little extra-legal activity himself, he's simply got used to looking the other way.

Until he's paid to transport Lita – a beautiful and surprisingly sweet Mexican dancer – from the harbour front to a Hollywood club. Lita's seen something she shouldn't have, something that links her to a shipping container filled with 13 corpses. Can Dinko keep Lita safe while the LAPD catch up? Or will the lethal predators who stalk the docks prove too powerful to escape?

Inventive, razor-sharp, and with an unflinching eye for detail, Joseph Wambaugh intertwines suspense, tragedy and humour into the everyday life of the cops and residents of Los Angeles Harbour and Hollywood. Starring a host of colourful characters from the Hollywood Station series – the surfer cops known as 'Flotsam and Jetsam', aspiring actor 'Hollywood Nate' Weiss, young Britney Small – Harbour Nocturne is the brilliant new novel from the grandmaster of crime.