Private Detective Fiction

"The Club of Queer Trades" is a collection of stories by G. K. Chesterton first published in 1905. Each story in the collection is centered on a person who is making his living by some novel and extraordinary means (a "queer trade", using the word "queer" in the sense of "peculiar"). To gain admittance one must have invented a unique means of earning a living and the subsequent trade being the main source of income.

Dr. Willow has a problem. His practice is breaking up and money is missing. As his lawyer Bill and investigators Henry and Laurel start digging, the stakes get higher. The drama unfolds in the courtroom and the hostilities accelerate outside as the team uncovers the secrets of Dr. Willow's pernicious partnership.

Some people will do anything for family … even kill. After a frantic missing persons case goes wrong, private investigator Thomas Blume is facing a wrecked car and a disastrous winter when a mysterious invitation arrives, promising a big payday with only one catch … he must solve the case of a murdered billionaire. But when Blume realizes something far more valuable than money has been taken from the victim, he finds himself battling across country mansions, dark alleyways, and through layers of intrigue, family feuds, and corporate conspiracy, to enter a dangerous world of ...

San Francisco, 1952. Detective Evander “Andy” Mills has started a new life for himself as a private detective—but his business hasn’t exactly taken off. It turns out that word spreads fast when you have a bad reputation, and no one in the queer community trusts him enough to ask an ex-cop for help. When James, an old flame from the war who had mysteriously disappeared, arrives in his offices above the Ruby, Andy wants to kick him out. But the job seems to be a simple case of blackmail, and Andy’s debts are piling up. He agrees to investigate, despite everything it stirs up.

Three cases - two missing persons and one apparent suicide - are pushing PI Jessie Cole and crime reporter Ben Morrison closer to the edge.

Are you ready for twists, turns, thrills, and chills? This complete set offers Joe C. Ellis's popular Weston Wolf OBX Detective novels: Roanoke Island Murders, The Singer in the Sound, and Kitty Hawk Confidential.

Liam Wolfe isn't having the best of days. He's being falsely accused of things he'd never even think of doing and is now facing the loss of his career because of it. He has an idea of who's behind the attempt at assassinating his character but can't put the pieces together by himself. Mark Masters isn't having any better of a time. He's sitting in his office at Stonewall Investigations, getting work done, when his boyfriend of a year walks in with the sole goal of breaking up with him. He's blindsided by the development and thinks not much else can surprise him. He was very wrong.

Book #5 of the Jab Boone Murder Mystery Series Jack Spangler, aka Spangler the Strangler, escapes from a prison transport en route to a super-maximum facility. He has one goal in mind: revenge on the man who put him there 25 years ago—Jab Boone. So confident is Spangler that he tells the world how and where he will dispose of his enemy. Despite Jab’s careful machinations, he is kidnapped and lowered into Spangler’s carefully constructed dungeon, awaiting execution. It soon becomes a cat-and-mouse trail of intrigue and misinformation to who gains the upper hand—Jab or the serial ...

In this breathless mystery thriller, John Jordan races to save the life of the woman he loves in a single night beneath a Blood Moon. A daring escape. A race against time. Locked in with a vicious, relentless killer. The stakes have never been higher. Success seems impossible. Failure unimaginable. All in a single night beneath a Blood Moon! "John Jordan is one of crime fiction's most original heroes, and his creator, Michael Lister is one of the genre's freshest voices" - PJ Parish.

'Holmes,' I cried. 'Is it really you? Can it indeed be that you are alive? Is it possible that you succeeded in climbing out of that awful abyss?' Missing, presumed dead, for three years, Sherlock Holmes returns triumphantly to his dear companion Dr Watson. And not before time! London has never been in more need of his extraordinary services: a murderous individual with an air gun stalks the city.

Two American travelers have been killed—one with poison, the other with a knife through the heart—and the only clues at the scene are a woman’s wedding ring and the German word for “vengeance” written in blood. The military surgeon Dr. John Watson is brought in to investigate, along with his clever, arrogant new roommate, Sherlock Holmes.

Linda and Octavia are estranged sisters. The stay-at-home mom and socialite have never had much in common... until now. When they suddenly find themselves husbandless and broke, they reluctantly agree to combine their talents and take on a faltering P.I. agency in a strip mall. Old emotional wounds keep the two at odds and both sisters think they've made a huge mistake. But soon they realize all their clients have secrets... and who better to help them than two women who have secrets of their own?

On the cusp of forty, Justine Bailen, better known as Jo, works for an all-female detective agency based in Tucson, Arizona. While staking out a cheating spouse, she learns that her long-estranged best friend from childhood, Rose, is missing, and that Rose’s mother wants to hire Jo to find her. This case is all kinds of wrong for Jo, but she has no choice but to head back to her hometown, an hour north and a world away from Tucson.

A Cupcakes-and-Crime CaperWhen Tiffany and Rosie are asked to investigate an “accidental” death at a chocolate factory, they stumble into a complex web of secrets. Who could have wanted the chocolate factory owner’s death? Potential heirs, suspicious suppliers, and even a greedy member of the local Lindsey Syndicate might have been involved… can Tiffany and Rosie uncover the truth before the killer strikes again? Meanwhile, Elle Lindsey finds some documents that are potentially incriminating for the Lindsey Corporation. Could these documents help Tiffany and Rosie take down the ...

A Cupcakes-and-Crime Caper Tiffany and Rosie find themselves investigating two separate cases – a cold case that appears to have been a natural death, and the murder of a popular dance guru. When the two cases appear to be linked, the duo are shocked and concerned that one or both of their clients might be a killer. Nanna, Jan, and Stone all help out – but will that be enough to uncover the truth in time? Praise for A.R. Winters: "The perfect balance of being lighthearted, but still a serious page-turning mystery." - Jaycie D, Amazon.com "A fun cozy mystery with engaging and ...

The roots of racism and persecution in Tomsson Black's ancestry are deep and staggering. In his own lifetime, his misfortunes have become unbearable and, as they mount, serve as an impetus for a final and cataclysmic act of vengeance—the violent overthrow of white society. When acclaimed crime writer Chester Himes died in Spain in 1984, it was rumored that an unfinished story in the Harlem Detective series existed that had all but extinguished his heroes and their fraught city in an explosive paroxysm of racial strife.

Phoebe Siegler first meets Charles Heist in a shabby trailer on the eastern edge of Los Angeles. She’s looking for her friend’s missing daughter, Arabella, and hires Heist to help. A laconic loner who keeps his pet opossum in a desk drawer, Heist intrigues the sarcastic and garrulous Phoebe. Reluctantly, he agrees to help. The unlikely pair navigates the enclaves of desert-dwelling vagabonds and finds Arabella is in serious trouble - caught in the middle of a violent standoff that only Heist, mysteriously, can end.

A cold case dating from the 1960s draws forensic anthropologist Gideon Oliver to the Channel Islands decades later to shine a light on the mysterious connection between two men who died there on the same night.

A short drive outside of the real world Private Investigator Matt Cramer follows an art thief’s RV south from Santa Fe. He’s sure the man has the paintings he stole with him, but Matt’s boss thinks the man is headed to meet a buyer, and the big money is in catching both of them as well as retrieving the art. Matt needs to be there when they meet. A stakeout is never comfortable, but the weather is dreadful… rainy and dismal and Matt is unprepared. He never expected the man would head for a remote campground on a northern bank of the Pecos River. That leaves him sitting in his car, ...

Cambridge. Christmas 1922. Posie Parker has cleared a space in her hectic schedule to try to unravel a tragedy in her own family. But Posie’s past is hiding around every turn in the old university town. She finds herself taking on a new case which is positively teeming with ghosts, shadows, and secrets, where nothing is quite what it seems.