Top Ten Finisher - P & E Readers Poll 2016Christmas lights shine on ghosts and gore, the Christmas moon shines on rampaging snowmen and glittering blades ... among the decorations and hanging on the tree are things we should not be seeing but which are there - including the bitter darkness of the human heart.This exciting new collection of Christmas horror has surpassed any other seasonal anthology Thirteen have put out, the stories will in turn touch you, shock you, surprise you and make you laugh. What more could you ask for a good read at this time of year?

DIVSix stories from the papers of one of America’s finest crime authors /divDIV/divDIVRoger doesn’t mean for the preacher and his wife to die. Released less than a year earlier from San Quentin, he’s trying to make a living the only way he knows how: theft. His latest heist goes perfectly until his car breaks down. Sirens are closing in when an old black preacher stops to give him a lift. The police at the roadblock kill the elderly couple, but in the eyes of the law it’s Roger’s fault. And he will die in the gas chamber at San Quentin—unless he can break out first./divDIV /divDIVRoger’s incredible story anchors this collection of short fiction by Edward Bunker, who knew better than anyone what it means to be a criminal, inside and outside of prison. In these stories, which were unpublished at the time of his death in 2005, he shows again the talent that made him such a remarkable writer./div

One is dying of cancer. The other's planning a murder. When Pancho arrives at St. Anthony's Home, he knows his time there will be short: If his plans succeed, he'll soon be arrested for the murder of his sister's killer. But then he's assigned to help D.Q., whose brain cancer has slowed neither his spirit nor his mouth. D.Q. tells Pancho all about his "Death Warrior's Manifesto," which will help him to live out his last days fully--ideally, he says, with the love of the beautiful Marisol. As Pancho tracks down his sister's murderer, he finds himself falling under the influence of D.Q. and Marisol, who is everything D.Q. said she would be;and he is inexorably drawn to a decision: to honor his sister and her death, or embrace the way of the Death Warrior and choose life. Nuanced in its characters and surprising in its plot developments--both soulful and funny--Last Summer is a buddy novel of the highest kind: the story of a friendship that helps two young men become all they can be.

A newly single woman discovers that small-town grudges die hard in a series debut that “had me in its spell from page one” (Leslie Meier, New York Times bestselling author). After dumping her cheating fiancé and cancelling the wedding, Mallory Shepard can't bear another disaster. So when the former bride-to-be unexpectedly inherits Thistle Park, a ramshackle mansion in her ex's hometown of Port Quincy, Pennsylvania, it's a problem she can't afford—literally. Abound with stray cats, peeling wallpaper, and nosy neighbors, Mallory is dying to sell it off—once she finally fixes up both the place and her messy life . . . Turns out, Thistle Park has its charms. But the honeymoon phase is abruptly cut short when an unwanted visitor is found dead on the front lawn. Enlisting the help of her sister Rachel, Mallory vows to unveil the killer before she herself becomes married to the suspect list . . . “I had great fun reading the adventures of nouveau sleuth Mallory Shepard as she wrangles corpses, kittens, and a cheating fiancé in this charming debut mystery.” —Laura Levine, author of the Jaine Austen Mysteries “[A] cozy combination of mystery, romance, and recipes, with a little extra bite supplied by the timely fracking controversy.” —Kirkus Reviews

When Laura Radburn's tenant, Crystal Mar, is murdered, Laura finds herself unexpectedly appointed as legal guardian of Crystal's 4-year old child. Shortly after she takes Karma in, Laura begins receiving death threats. Is someone after the child -- or is Laura herself the target? The appearance of a handsome stranger, Dane Lanford, leads Laura to suspect he may be the father of the child, and a cold-blooded killer

In this mystery from an Edgar Award–winning author, sleuth Peter Duluth is caught in “a succession of double takes and double-crosses” (Kirkus Reviews). Patrick Quentin, best known for the Peter Duluth puzzle mysteries, also penned outstanding detective novels from the 1930s through the 1960s under other pseudonyms, including Q. Patrick and Jonathan Stagge. Anthony Boucher wrote: “Quentin is particularly noted for the enviable polish and grace which make him one of the leading American fabricants of the murderous comedy of manners; but this surface smoothness conceals intricate and meticulous plot construction as faultless as that of Agatha Christie.” With his marriage to his wife on the rebound—but still precarious—Peter Duluth knows the last thing he needs now is more trouble. With Iris away making a movie, maybe he can finally get back to writing his next Broadway hit. Unfortunately, after the sultry Deborah Brand slinks into his car asking for a ride, things are about to get far more complicated—and dangerous. Because when his passenger ends up dead, Peter becomes ensnared in a conspiracy that will take him from the jungles of Mexico to the back alleys of New Orleans. And if Peter isn’t careful, it may take him straight to the grave . . .

Explains how the case of a Moroccan national who gunned down seven people in a Texas nightclub in 1984 led to the development of Texas's multiple murder statute.

'Donald MacKenzie is a born storyteller' Guardian Every thief dreams of committing the perfect crime. Cameron, Thorne and Gun are convinced that the jewel robbery they have planned cannot possibly go wrong, but jealousy mistrust and fear doom the enterprise from the start. One of them dies a slow, hideous death; the other two find they have walked into hell. Soon, a beautiful woman and two desperate men find themselves trapped by their own actions. And when the thread of tension snaps they learn that death can indeed be a friend.

Patrick Taylor's Now and in the Hour of Our Death is a moving and compelling portrait of ordinary men and women caught up in a conflict not of their making, and of the way the past holds onto us even as we try to move on into an uncertain future. Nine years ago, the bloody conflict in Northern Ireland tore apart two young lovers, consuming their hopes and dreams and changing their lives forever. Now, in 1983, Davy McCutcheon and Fiona Kavanagh find themselves worlds apart. Davy, once a bomb-maker for the Provisional IRA, is serving a twenty-five-year sentence in a British prison. Having seen enough of death and violence, he wants nothing more to do with the struggle that cost him his freedom and his love. But old loyalties die hard and, despite himself, Davy is drawn into a dangerous conspiracy on behalf of his fellow Provos . . . . Meanwhile, Fiona has forged a new life for herself in Vancouver, British Columbia, far away from the war-torn streets of Belfast. Now a vice-principal at a local elementary school, she has a successful career, good friends, and a new man in her life. Yet she remains haunted by painful memories of her troubled homeland—and the love she left behind. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Three librarians from Scottsdale, Arizona provide library staff with an introduction to the mystery genre and offer tips and techniques for providing advice to mystery readers in the library. They include some of their own bibliographies, but refer readers elsewhere for fuller ones. They also include a brief history of the genre to pass on to readers new to it.