Showing results by author "Thomas Cook" in All Categories

One day in 1952, the strangled body of 10-year-old Cathy Lake is discovered in a public park. A homeless suspect, Albert Jay Smalls, is arrested and held for interrogation. Now, Officers Norman Cohen and Jack Pierce have only 24 hours to make the sullen young man talk before he's released. How far are they willing to push him to get a confession?

George Gates is a former travel writer. He used to specialise in writing about places where people disappeared, sometimes individuals, sometimes whole societies. Now, since the murder of his eight-year-old son, Gates writes for the town paper about flower festivals and local celebrities. Enter Arlo McBride, a retired missing-persons detective. Knowing Gates' past, he mentions the case of Katherine Carr, a woman who vanished 20 years before....

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.

The grave on the football field is shallow, and easy to spot from a distance. It would have been found sooner, had most of the residents in the black half of Birmingham not been downtown, marching, singing, and being arrested alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. Police detective Ben Wellman is among them when he gets the call about the fresh grave. Under the loosely packed dirt, he finds a young black girl, her innocence taken and her life along with it. His sergeant orders Wellman to investigate, but instructs him not to try too hard.

Over his acclaimed career, Cook’s novels have haunted, riveted, and spellbound audiences across the world, and his short stories are equally acclaimed. They range from the intensely focused world of "Fatherhood", the Herodotus prize-winning title story, to the Edgar nominated "Rain", a dark, kaleidoscopic tale of Manhattan on a single, rain-swept night. "The Fix", the story of a famous boxing fix that was, well, not a fix at all, was selected for inclusion in Best Mystery Stories of the Year. "What She Offered", the gripping tale of a one-night stand, was included in The Best Noir Stories of the Century.

Successful TV political commentator Arthur Vandameer—host of WNIN's Speaking Truth to Power—is rich, famous...and miserable. He has risen to the top of the city's glittering media heap only to find nothing. His teenage daughter—privileged, glamorous Allison—is blonde, beautiful, and wants nothing more than to go to film school. Her boyfriend, Joselito Diaz (aka Goonie), is special to her only because she knows her father cannot stand him. When Allison disappears, a madcap cast of characters gets into the act, stirring a citywide web of intrigue, insanity, political values and personal agendas.

Traverse the life and times of one Thomas A. Cook. You will be truly rewarded and, at times, amazed at his tomfoolery, shenanigans, and entrepreneurial endeavors. Experience his life's triumphs, failures, and struggles in overcoming addiction. Hear the wisdom delivered from the green leather chair that created an invisible wall at the cliff edge of disaster and was instrumental in shifting his life direction.

Introducing "the big words podcast" - the podcast where five brilliant minds collide in a whirlwind of wit, banter, and downright nonsense. Each episode dives headfirst into a chaotic symphony of topics ranging from the profound to the absurd. From dissecting the mysteries of the universe to debating the merits of pineapple on pizza, no subject is off-limits in this whirlwind of intellectual chaos.