National Network for Equitable Library Service

Madeline Barton is struggling as a freelance reporter. But when an anonymous source tips her off about a murder, she knows the story could launch her career, except that her source keeps meddling in the investigation.

In 1920s New York a playboy stockbroker, Alvin Benson, is found murdered in his brownstone mansion. Amateur detective Philo Vance arrives first on the scene. He is at once intrigued by the absence of Alvin's toupee and false teeth, and with myriad odd clues, Vance sets off to solve the case.

In this biography, Wayne Hoffman meticulously researches the century-old murder of his great-grandmother, while facing another tragedy much closer to home: his mother's decline from Alzheimer's.

"It is the summer of 1971 and Liz takes care of her four sisters while waiting to meet the sixth Murphy child: a boy. And yet, something is not right. Adults tensely whisper in small groups, heads shaking. Her younger sister, Rose seems more annoying, always flashing her camera and jotting notes in her notepad. The truth is worse than anyone could imagine: an entire family slaughtered in their home nearby, even the children. The small rural community reels in the aftermath. No one seems to know who did it or why. For Liz, these events complicate her already tiring life.

The Maltese Falcon is the definitive masterpiece of the hard-boiled detective genre. It introduces legendary PI Sam Spade, a loner who follows his own code and the rules of the street as he zeros in on his partner's killer and the famous jewel-encrusted bird. Humphrey Bogart immortalized the tough-guy detective in the classic 1941 film.

Sam, a successful playwright, and Lori, a secretary for scheming movie producer Ben Carnahan, had only just met and now they are dead, the result of a suspicious car accident. Now ghosts, they must work together to find out what happened to them.

"Daniels is a perennial favorite on the romantic suspense front, and I might go as far as to label her the cowboy whisperer."--BookPageThey're running for their lives, desperate for a second chance... Once, Alexis Brand and Culhane Travis were partners, both on and off the job. Now the former deputy turned bounty hunter is on her former lover's trail after he's charged with killing the ex-wife Alexis didn't know he had. Burying the feelings that still tie her to him, Alexis tracks down Culhane easily enough.

Charlie and Margaret Marder, political stars in 1960s Washington, DC, long for a rest, but Attorney General Robert Kennedy asks them to look into a threat to the presidency, and the security of the nation.

WWII veteran Aloysius Archer is fresh out of prison and heads to California, where there's money to be made if you're hard-working, lucky, a criminal, or all three.

Wylie Lark is snowed in at the farmhouse where she's retreated to write her new book. Decades ago, in this very house, two people were murdered and a girl disappeared. Now, Wylie discovers a small child outside.