Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Harry Stanford, one of the world's wealthiest man, dies mysteriously while cruising his yacht along the rugged coast of Corsica. Immediately following Stanford's funeral in Boston, a lovely young woman identifies herself as the tycoon's daughter and heir to a share of his estate. When the well-respected Stanford family looks into the identity of the unexpected heiress, they uncover a world of blackmail, drugs, and murder that leads them through the Italian Riviera.

When a nuclear-empowered Iran begins throwing its weight around the Persian Gulf, the U.S. uneasily stands by, its military weakened by years of budget cuts and unpopular, inconclusive police actions. But the new President realizes there is one weapon he can use: the newest secret cell of the CIA's Intelligence Support Agency, code-named Future Flight.

Caught in the crosshairs of Mexico's warring cartels, Juárez is the border city that most brutally exposes the lies that we tell ourselves about globalization, NAFTA, immigration, corruption, and the war on drugs. Once known only as the place where women disappear, its murder rate exceeds that of Baghdad and Mogadishu. In this heartbreaking, disturbing, and unforgettable examination, award winning-writer Charles Bowden takes an axe to the myths about the war on drugs—myths perpetuated by Mexico, the U.S. government, and the media.

Charlie Heller is an ace cryptographer for the "Company." He's a quiet man with a quiet job in a back office. But when terrorists kill his fiancé in cold blood and the Agency decides not to pursue those responsible, Charlie's life takes an abrupt turn. He was not a blackmailer, but he will force the CIA's hand. He was not an assassin, but he will penetrate the Iron Curtain with the intent to kill. Driven by an obsessive need for revenge and targeted for elimination by the CIA itself, Heller is an amateur with a one-in-a-million chance of success.

It is December in the Year of our Lord 1138 when Gervase Bonel dies after eating sauce laced with poison served which had been served with a partridge. The active ingredient found in the sauce was monkshood, poison if ingested and otherwise known as Wolfsbane. Brother Cadfael made the oil. Who used it as poison? Cadfael assesses the motives of Bonel’s Welsh natural son and his stepson, and deals with Bonel’s widow, who at one time long ago was Cadfae's sweetheart. Drawing upon his knowledge of both herbs and the human heart, Cadfael ultimately uncovers a deadly recipe for murder.

The Sands of Time is the tale of four nuns who are abruptly forced to flee the secure environment of their Spanish convent and face a hostile world they long ago abandoned. Suddenly these four women find themselves pawns in a violent struggle between the outlawed Basque underground movement, led by the charismatic Jaime Miro, and the Spanish army, under the command of the vengeful Colonel Ramon Acoca, who is bent on destroying all of them

On June 12, 1994, the lives of Nicole Brown Simspon and Ronald Goldman were violently ended. From the spectacle of the O.J. Simpson murder trial, Nicole's friend Faye Resnick attempted to capture the life of Simpson and the two women's relationship to each other. Nicole Brown Simpson: The Private Diary of a Life Interrupted offers a tragic view of a woman trapped in a violent cycle of fear and abuse.

In such films as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and The Seven Year Itch, Marilyn Monroe enchanted and captivated the world. Sixty years after her death, devotion to the pop culture icon is as strong as ever, and the truth about her mysterious death continues to fascinate fans and experts alike. With explosive revelations concerning the "National Security Matter" that led to the cover-up of her murder, The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe provides a fascinating and riveting account of one of the most shocking crimes of the century.

In Paris, in Washington, and in Greece, an innocent American becomes a pawn in a game of vengeance and betrayal. Catherine Douglas is a woman caught in a web of four lives intertwined by passion as her handsome husband pursues an incredibly beautiful film star, while Constantin Demeris, a legendary Greek tycoon, tightens the strands that control them all. This number-one New York Times best-selling novel by Sidney Sheldon features tortured romantic entanglements, reverses of fortune, thrilling suspense, and ultimate justice.

Softhearted, emotionally fragile Patricia Dennison—orphaned heiress to the Stoneham fortune—divides her life between trips to a Swiss sanatorium, where she is ensconced in the suicide ward, and the farm where she pensions off broken-down horses, cultivates a lush rose garden, and moons after a handsome, seemingly heroic doctor. Enter arrogant Miguel Cardiga, a Portuguese bullfighter whose career is sidelined by a rogue bull's deadly horns. Son of a famed equestrian, Miguel schools Patricia in dressage and love.

Ellis Alves is no angel. But his lawyer says he was framed for the murder of college student Melissa Henderson...and asks Spenser for help. From Boston's back streets to Manhattan's elite, Spenser and Hawk search for suspects, including Melissa's rich-kid, tennis-star boyfriend. But when a man with a .22 puts Spenser in a coma, the hope for justice may die with him.

Soon after banker Willard Carmichael and his young bride arrive in Pickax, a string of petty burglaries follow. Then Willard meets his demise—an apparent victim of a mugging—and the banker's home restoration project goes to the widow's cousin. Though the clues are as elusive as a cat burglar, the suspicious Qwill and his feline companions, Koko and Yum Yum, are determined to catch a thief—and a killer.

Robert Bellamy, an American naval intelligence officer, is called in on a special undercover assignment by the NSA: investigate the mysterious crash of an experimental meteorological balloon in the Swiss Alps and locate the ten known witnesses to the incident. As he crisscrosses the world searching for clues, Bellamy uncovers a murderous governmental plot and a powerful international cabal of corporate CEOs. After narrowly escaping death, he goes into hiding, hunted by an unknown lethal force.

Nicholas Linnear won a major battle with the apocalyptic destruction of Floating City. But his enemy has retreated from the ruins left smoldering in the Vietnamese jungle, to regroup and mount the assault that will solidify his ultimate power-and destroy Linnear. That enemy is Mick Leonforte, scion of a proud and deadly Mafia dynasty.

The Paradise Men's Softball League has wrapped up another game, and Chief of Police Jesse Stone is lingering in the parking lot with his teammates, drinking beer, swapping stories of double plays and beautiful women in the late-summer twilight. But then someone makes a horrifying discovery at a nearby lake: At the water's edge, facedown, is something that used to be a girl.

Ironworker Wayne Colson and his spirited wife Carmen are witnesses to a shakedown scam — witnesses who must be eliminated. Enter Armand Degas (a.k.a. Blackbird), the brains of the operation, and his partner Richie Nix, an ex-con whose highest goal is to rob a bank in every state. After the Colsons enter the Federal Witness Security Program, a lively chase ensues — with two bumbling but determined killers on Wayne and Carmen's trail.

Jim Qwilleran has officially inherited a fortune and his freedom, which leaves him with a serious dilemma: What should he do next? Seeking a place of peace and isolation to make up his mind, he heads to the Potato Mountains for the summer. But Qwill lands in the middle of controversy, not solitude. Developers are eager to turn the pristine Potatoes into a tourist trap, and one of the locals has been convicted of murdering millionaire J.J. Hawkinfield. Some people swear the wrong man was convicted, and Qwill is inclined to agree. But if Forest Beechum didn't do the dirty deed, who did?

The Sternwood family, immortalized in Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep, is in trouble again. Lovely Vivian's psychotic sister, Carmen, has disappeared from the sanitarium, and Vivian herself has once again fallen into the clutches of the shady underworld character Eddie Mars. Enter Philip Marlowe, the original tough-but-tender private eye. He saved the Sternwoods once before. The question is: Can he do it again?

Crime, thriller, and noir fans will delight in this fourth volume of The Greatest Mysteries of All Time, an exciting series featuring short fiction by legendary writers, past and present. From Edgar Allan Poe, Ernest Hemingway, and Georges Simenon to Lawrence Block and Sara Paretsky, this unique collection—compiled and edited by multi-award-winning mystery connoisseur Otto Penzler—is a captivating mixture of mystery and suspense.

Listen to mystery stories by today's top writers and the masters who inspired them. The idea for this collection came to Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Lawrence Block when he was asked, "What is your favorite mystery story?" Block compiled this unique collection by posing the same question to some of today's favorite writers of the genre, including Stephen King, Tony Hillerman, and John Lutz.