When his boss suddenly retires, maverick cop Henri Castang is posted in an ugly and provincial area of northern France. His surroundings are foreign, but before long he is back in familiar territory: a death pitches him into a murder inquiry; and suddenly Castang is caught up in a sinister vortex from which there seems to be no escape. Read More...

When Venetia Aldridge QC defends young Garry Ashe, accused of the brutal murder of his aunt, this for her is just one more case, one more opportunity to triumph in a distinguished career as a criminal lawyer. But Regina v. Ashe sets in motion a chain of events as terrifying as they are unpredictable. Read More...

Original Sin is set in a long-established publishing firm housed in a dramatic mock-Venetian palace on the Thames. The Peverell Press, founded in 1792, is ripe for change. The chairman, Henry Peverell, has just died; his French partner, Jean-Philippe Etienne, has retired and Etienne's ruthless son Gerard has taken over as chairman and managing director. Read More...

Christmas has never been a particularly good time for Dr Kay Scarpetta. Although a holiday for most, the festivities always seem to heighten the alienation felt by society's violent fringe; and that usually means more work for Scarpetta, Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner and consulting forensic pathologist for the FBI. Read More...

Cromwell's secretary, John Milton is shipwrecked and forced to wander through the American wilderness with a young companion, Goosequill, who assists him in his blindness. He encounters the native Indians and must learn to live beside them. But even he cannot foresee the climax of his epic journey in the new land. Read More...

What she doesn't know could kill her. Not since Marathon Man has there been a thriller with the unrelenting force of this extraordinary novel. Days of Drums is the story of a senator's assassination and of a young female Secret Service agent in the vise of a conspiracy as the tension builds, heartbeat by heartbeat, toward a terrifying climax. Read More...

Marlowe was neat and clean and sober when he called at the Sternwood residence. He liked to be all those things when he was calling on four million dollars. Read More...

The first time that Marlowe met Terry Lennox, the man was drunk. The second time he was even drunker than the first. Read More...

Killer in the Rain gathers together eight Chandler stories of crime and suspense, violence and tragedy set against the backcloth of 'that hard-boiled city with no more personality than a paper cup.' Read More...

The client was called Derace Kingsley. He had a voice you could have cracked a brazil nut on and a wife he'd not seen for a month. He'd got a telegram that talked about a Mexico divorce and he wanted Marlowe to take it up from there. Read More...