Recommendations based on "It and Other Stories Collected Case Files of the Continental Op: The Early Years, Volume 2"

A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW BEST CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEARHarry Bosch and LAPD Detective Renée Ballard come together again on the murder case that obsessed Bosch's mentor, the man who trained him---new from #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly Back when Harry Bosch was just a rookie homicide detective, he had an inspiring mentor who taught him to take the work personally and light the fire of relentlessness for every case. Now that mentor, John Jack Thompson, is dead, and his widow gives Bosch a murder book, one that Thompson took with him when he left the LAPD twenty years before -- the unsolved killing of a troubled young man.Bosch takes the murder book to Detective Renée Ballard and asks her to help him discover what about this crime lit Thompson's fire all those years ago. As she begins her inqueries -- while still working her own cases on the midnight shift -- Ballad finds aspects of the initial investigation that just don't add up.The bond between Bosch and Ballard tightens as they become a formidable investigation team. And they soon arrive at a disturbing question: Did Thompson steal the murder book to work the case in retirement, or to make sure it never got solved? Written with the intense pacing and masterful suspense that have made Michael Connelly "the hard-boiled fiction master of our time" (NPR), The Night Fire continues the unofficial partnership of two fierce detectives determined not to let the fire with burn out.

When San Francisco P.I. Jeri Howard's new client, Rob Lawter, takes a header through his living room window soon after he's hired her, Jeri is in a quandary. Lawter, a paralegal at a food-processing firm, had received a threatening anonymous note, sent because he was about to blow the whistle on some serious corporate cover-up. Since Jeri has already cashed the check, she feels she owes her dead, probably murdered, client his money's worth. So she goes undercover in the firm's legal department, determined to expose Lawter's killer. What Jeri finds is that murder tops this corporation's agenda, as employees pay the ultimate price to keep a deadly health scare out of the media. . . .

Newly indebted to the Russian mafia, Henry “Hank” Thompson travels back to New York, where long-buried secrets threaten to come to light—the fast-paced sequel to Six Bad Things and Caught Stealing“Huston writes dialogue so combustible it could fuel a bus and characters crazy enough to take it on the road.”—The New York Times Book ReviewReluctant hitman Henry Thompson has fallen on hard times. His grip on life is disintegrating, his pistol hand shaking, his body pinned to his living room couch by painkillers—and his boss, Russian mobster David Dolokhov, isn’t happy about any of it. So Henry is surprised when he’s handed a new assignment: keep tabs on a minor league baseball star named Miguel Arenas.Henry has no pity for the slugger and the wicked gambling problem that got him in trouble, but he can’t help liking the guy. After all, Henry used to be just like him: a natural-born ball player with a bright future. But hell, that was long ago. Before Henry did some guy a favor and ended up running for his life. Before his girlfriend and buddies got gunned down by someone on his tail. Before he agreed to buy his parents’ safety with a life of violence.And when Miguel gets drafted by the Mets and is sent to the Brooklyn Cyclones, Henry must head back to New York, back to the place where all his problems began—and where Henry might find a real reason to keep living, a reason that may just cost him his life.Henry “Hank” Thompson’s thrilling adventures continue:CAUGHT STEALING • SIX BAD THINGS • A DANGEROUS MAN

A thrilling tale of suspense, vengeance, and murder, featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett. This one will break C. J. Box out to a larger audience. J. W. Keeley is a man with a score to settle. He blames one man for the death of his brother: Joe Pickett. And now J. W. is going to make him suffer. Spring has finally come to Saddlestring, Wyoming, and game warden Joe Pickett is relieved the long, harsh winter is finally over. However, a cloud of trouble threatens to spoil the milder weather-local ranch owner and matriarch Opal Scarlett has vanished under suspicious circumstances. Two of her sons, Hank and Arlen, are battling for control of their mother's multi-million-dollar empire, and their bitter fight threatens to tear the whole town apart. Everyone is so caught up in the brothers' battle that they seem to have forgotten that Opal is still missing. Joe is convinced, though, that one of the brothers killed their mother. Determined to uncover the truth, he is attacked and nearly beaten to death by Hank Scarlett's new right-hand man on the ranch-a recently arrived stranger who looks eerily familiar. A series of threatening messages and attempts to sabotage Joe's career follow. At first, he thinks the attacks are connected with his investigation of Opal's disappearance, but he soon learns that someone else is after him-someone with a very personal grudge who wants to make Joe pay . . . and pay dearly. Compelling and suspenseful, In Plain Sightis a crackling novel from one of today's best mystery writers.

Fans of David Baldacci, Stuart MacBride and Peter James will love this high-octane and utterly compelling thriller from Sunday Times bestselling author Simon Kernick, the UK's answer to Harlan Coben. 'As ever, Kernick's research is impeccable. The plotting is brilliant and makes for a tense, action-packed read' -- Sunday Mirror'Kernick delivers his book like a runaway locomotive without brakes. This is another cracking read from a great author.' -- www.crimesquad.com'Pace, pace, pace is what Simon Kernick does best.' -- Daily Mirror'Simon Kernick has to be, in my mind, the best crime writer ever' -- ***** Reader review'Excellent read. Action from the start right to the finish' -- ***** Reader review'Takes you on a thriller of a ride from beginning to end' -- ***** Reader review'I couldn't put it down!' -- ***** Reader review***********************************************************************************NO TIME TO LOSE. NO TIME TO FAIL.THE THREAT: 8am: an explosion blasts through a cafe in Central London. THE ULTIMATUM: Minutes later, a call from an unknown terror group warns that a far greater attack will be launched in 12 hours' time. THE PRISONER: William Garrett, AKA Fox, is awaiting trial for mass murder. He claims he can name the bombers. But only at a price. THE CLOCK IS TICKING: It's a terrifying race against time for DI Mike Bolt and DC Tina Boyd as they chase their targets across the city in a desperate bid to stop a major atrocity - before it's too late ...

New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly writes novels of brilliantly original suspense. In this electrifying tour de force, he takes us into a world of extremes: too much criminality, too much money, and too many ways to die. In L.A. Cassie Black is another beautiful woman in a Porsche: except Cassie just did six years in prison and still has "outlaw juice" flowing in her veins. Now Cassie is returning to her old profession, taking down a money man in Vegas. But the perfect heist goes very wrong, and suddenly Cassie is on the run--with a near-psychotic Vegas "fixer" killing everyone who knew about the job. Between Cassie and the man hunting her are a few last secrets: like who really set up the job, why Cassie had to take the change, and how, in the end, it might all be a matter of the moon...

Luke Rickard has stolen Joe Hunter's identity and committed a vicious double murder. His motive? Revenge. His method? A blade. His mission? Kill anyone Hunter holds dear. It is a deadly duel of wits that takes Hunter from the streets of Miami to the squalid barrios of Colombia to the jungle hideaway of a drug baron.

Juggling a family and a career is never easy—and it's becoming a real challenge for Sheriff Joanna Brady. Coping with the impending delivery of her second child as well as a staff shortage, the last things Joanna needs are two serious crimes.First, the body of an unidentified man is found in the desert, all of his fingers savagely severed. Following the scant clues, Joanna learns that the victim was an ex-con who had served twenty years in prison after confessing to the murder of his pregnant wife. During his last days he was seen following and photographing a young woman.Then one of Joanna's officers is brutally attacked and left for dead while on an unau-thorized stakeout. Because the officer is one of its own, the department throws its resources into finding her attacker. But the murder haunts Joanna. Being a sher-iff is no longer an empty position she wants to hold—somehow it has become what she is. Her job is to avenge man's inhumanity toward man, and finding out who the victim was and why he is dead is what she has been summoned to do with her life. Strapping on a bulletproof vest, she'll risk everything to see that justice is done.

The New York Times hails David Mark's work as "in the honorable tradition of Joseph Wambaugh and Ed McBain"; in Taking Pity, Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy returns for another darkly enthralling installment of this internationally acclaimed series. It's been three months since Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy returned home, or what was left of it after a horrific tragedy. All that remained was charred masonry, broken timbers, and dried blood--a crude reminder of the home invasion and explosion that tore his house and family apart. McAvoy's wife and daughter are safe, he's been assured; he just wishes he knew where they were. As McAvoy wrestles with his guilt, self-hatred, and helplessness, trouble persists in stormy Hull. Organized crime emerges as the city's latest threat, with two warring factions leaving plenty of bodies for Detective Superintendent Trish Pharaoh and her unit to clean up. Now more than ever, Pharaoh needs her sergeant to return to work and be a policeman again. She gives McAvoy a case that's supposed to ease him back into the game: a re-investigation of a rural quadruple murder that was put to bed fifty years ago. But what was supposed to be a cut-and-dry job quickly unravels as McAvoy digs up new evidence and witness testimonies, steering him closer to some of the most notorious criminals in northern England. Fast-paced, noir-ish and fresh off the heels of Sorrow Bound's violent finale, Taking Pity is the latest page-turning installment in the gripping Detective McAvoy series. Hailed by The New York Times as being "in the honorable tradition of Joseph Wambaugh and Ed McBain," David Mark's police procedurals are smart, dark, and above all, wholly captivating.

The unputdownable new novel from international bestseller Jeffrey Archer!In one of the most luxurious cities on earth...A billion-dollar deal is about to go badly wrong. A lavish night out is about to end in murder. And the British government is about to be plunged into crisis.In the heart of the British establishment...Lord Hartley, the latest in a line of peers going back over two hundred years, lies dying. But his will triggers an inheritance with explosive consequences.Two deaths. Continents apart. No obvious connection.So why are they both at the centre of a master criminal's plot for revenge?And can Scotland Yard's elite squad uncover the truth before it's too late...