Recommendations based on "With a Passion Put to Use"

A Classic Mystery From Dick Francis, The Champion Of English Storytellers. Tim Ekaterin Has A Lot Of Money. Unfortunately, It Is Other People's, And It Is His Job To Invest It Wisely, Or Get Fired. And Right Now He's Taken A Big Risk: Using £5 Million To Stud A Champion Racing Stallion. When The Resulting Foals Have Birth Defects, Tim Is Worried And Decides That There May Be Something Else Going On At The Stables. His Suspicions Are Confirmed When One Of Those Helping With The Horses Is Murdered. Now It's Not Just About Money, But About Life And Death. Determined To Get To The Bottom Of Why Anyone Would Do This, Tim Puts Himself In Danger's Path To Discover The Truth . . . Praise For Dick Francis: 'as A Jockey, Dick Francis Was Unbeatable When He Got Into His Stride. The Same Is True Of His Crime Writing' Daily Mirror 'dick Francis's Fiction Has A Secret Ingredient - His Inimitable Knack Of Grabbing The Reader's Attention On Page One And Holding It Tight Until The Very End' Sunday Telegraph 'the Narrative Is Brisk And Gripping And The Background Researched With Care . . . The Entire Story Is A Pleasure To Relish' Scotsman 'francis Writing At His Best' Evening Standard 'a Regular Winner . . . As Smooth, Swift And Lean As Ever' Sunday Express 'a Super Chiller And Killer' New York Times Book Review Dick Francis Was One Of The Most Successful Post-war National Hunt Jockeys. The Winner Of Over 350 Races, He Was Champion Jockey In 1953/1954 And Rode For Hm Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, Most Famously On Devon Loch In The 1956 Grand National. On His Retirement From The Saddle, He Published His Autobiography, The Sport Of Queens, Before Going On To Write Forty-three Bestselling Novels, A Volume Of Short Stories (field Of 13), And The Biography Of Lester Piggott. During His Lifetime Dick Francis Received Many Awards, Amongst Them The Prestigious Crime Writers' Association's Cartier Diamond Dagger For His Outstanding Contribution To The Genre, And Three 'best Novel' Edgar Allan Poe Awards From The Mystery Writers Of America. In 1996 He Was Named By Them As Grand Master For A Lifetime's Achievement. In 1998 He Was Elected A Fellow Of The Royal Society Of Literature, And Was Awarded A Cbe In The Queen's Birthday Honours List Of 2000. Dick Francis Died In February 2010, At The Age Of Eighty-nine, But He Remains One Of The Greatest Thriller Writers Of All Time.

New York Times bestselling author Deborah Crombie makes her mark with this absorbing, finely hued tale of suspense - a deeply atmospheric and twisting mystery full of deadly secrets, salacious lies, and unexpected betrayals involving the mysterious drowning of a Met detective - an accomplished rower - on the Thames.When a K9 search and rescue team finds a body tangled up with debris in the Thames, Scotland Yard Superintendent Duncan Kincaid finds himself heading an investigation that could end his career. The victim, Rebecca Meredith, was an Olympic rowing hopeful determined to make a comeback. She was also a detective with the Met - a situation that raises a host of political and ethical issues that complicate the case.Aided by his wife, Inspector Gemma James, Duncan and his team discover that both Meredith's rowing colleagues and her ex-husband had reason to want her dead. But when someone tries to kill the search-and-rescue team member who found Rebecca's body, the case becomes even more complex and dangerous, involving powerful interests with tentacles that reach deep into the heart of the Met itself.Surrounded by enemies in friendly faces, pressured to find answers quickly and protect the Yard from rabid media desperate for dirt, his career and reputation on the line, Kincaid must race to catch the killer before more innocent lives are lost - including his own.

In this exclusive authorized edition from the Queen of Mystery, Hercule Poirot sets out on the trail of a serial killer.“There is no more cunning player of the murder game than Agatha Christie.”— Sunday Times (London)“Let us see, Mr. Clever Poirot, just how clever you can be.”There’s a serial killer on the loose, working his way through the alphabet and the whole country is in a state of panic.A is for Mrs. Ascher in Andover, B is for Betty Barnard in Bexhill, C is for Sir Carmichael Clarke in Churston. With each murder, the killer is getting more confident—but leaving a trail of deliberate clues to taunt the proud Hercule Poirot might just prove to be the first, and fatal, mistake.

Orlando Edison is a stockbroker using London’s infatuation with foreign mining ventures to make a fortune. He has curried favor with the nation’s most respected aristocrats, even inviting three influential investors—known as the Merry Gentlemen—to be part of his latest enterprise. Edison is welcomed in the highest circles and moves with ease among the rich and powerful. But a few days before Christmas, he is found murdered. Inspector Witherspoon and his household are looking forward to the festive season. But they all know their duty, and led by the intrepid Mrs. Jeffries, they plan to see justice served for the holidays...Mrs. Jeffries keeps house for Inspector Witherspoon...and keeps him on his toes. Everyone’s awed by his Scotland Yard successes—but they don’t know about his secret weapon. No matter how messy the murder or how dirty the deed, Mrs. Jeffries’ polished detection skills are up to the task...proving that behind every great man there’s a woman—and that a crimesolver’s work is never done.

J is for Jaffe: Wendell Jaffe, dead these past five years. Or so it seemed until his former insurance agent spotted him in the bar of a dusty little resort halfway between Cabo San Lucas and La Paz. In truth, the facts about Wendell Jaffe had nothing to do with my family history, but murder is seldom tidy and no one ever said revelations operate in a straight line. It was my investigation into the dead man's past that triggered the inquiry into my own, and in the end the two stories became difficult to separate. Five years ago, when Jaffe's thirty-five-foot Fuji ketch was found drifting off the Baja coast, it seemed a sure thing he'd gone overboard. The note he left behind admitted he was flat broke, his business bankrupt, his real estate gambit nothing but a huge Ponzi scheme about to collapse, with criminal indictment certain to follow. When the authorities soon after descended on his banks and his books, there was nothing left: Jaffe had stripped the lot. Given my insatiable curiosity and my natural inclination to poke my nose in where it doesn't belong, it was odd to realize how little attention I'd paid to my own past. I'd simply accepted what I was told, constructing my personal mythology on the flimsiest of facts. But Jaffe wasn't quite without assets. There was the $500,000 life insurance policy made out to his wife and underwritten by California Fidelity. With no corpse to prove death, however, the insurance company was in no hurry to pay the claim. Dana Jaffe had to wait out the statutory five years until her missing husband could be declared legally dead. Just two months before Wendell Jaffe was sighted in that dusty resort bar, California Fidelity finally paid in full.Now they wanted the truth. And they were willing to hire Kinsey Millhone to dig it up. As Kinsey pushes deeper into the mystery surrounding Wendell Jaffe's pseudocide, she explores her own past, discovering that in family matters as in crime, sometimes it's better to reserve jud

Investigator Jeri Howard is fascinated by the beautiful horses and the zealous spectators at stylish Edgewater Downs. But behind the scenes, where the owners, trainers, jockeys, and grooms mingle, life is not so pretty. Someone is terrorizing owner-trainer Molly Torrance with sinister phone threats. Who would be so malicious? Jeri's money is on ambitious jockey Benita Pascal, whom Molly recently fired. But what about great horses suddenly losing races? Or the blonde Jeri spies betting a bundle on the longest of long shots? And what about . . . cold-blooded murder? For when death's dark horse hugs the rail, Jeri gallops to find a ruthless killer.

"Diabolically clever."--New York Times "Horowitz dazzles with the brilliant third entry in his Susan Ryeland series . . . . [He is] is at the top of his game here, linking past and present in a virtuoso finale worthy of Agatha Christie."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) Murder links past and present once again in this mind-boggling metafictional mystery from Anthony Horowitz featuring detective Atticus Pünd and editor Susan Ryeland, stars of the New York Times bestsellers Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders. Editor Susan Ryeland has left her Greek island, her hotel and her Greek boyfriend, Andreas, in search of a new life back in England. Freelancing for a London publisher, she's given the last job she wants: working on an Atticus Pünd continuation novel called Pünd's Last Case. Worse still, she knows the new writer. Eliot Crace is the troubled grandson of legendary children's author Miriam Crace who died twenty years ago. Eliot is convinced she was murdered--by poison. To her surprise, Susan enjoys reading the manuscript which is set in the South of France and revolves around the mysterious death of Lady Margaret Chalfont, days before she was about to change her will. But when it is revealed that Lady Margaret was also poisoned, alarm bells begin to ring. The more Susan reads, the clearer it becomes that Eliot has deliberately concealed clues about his grandmother's death inside the book. Desperately, Susan tries to prevent Eliot from putting himself in harm's way--but his behaviour is becoming increasingly erratic. Another murder follows . . . and suddenly Susan finds herself to be the number one suspect. Once again, the real and the fictional worlds have become dangerously entangled. And if Susan doesn't solve the mystery of Pünd's Last Case, she could well be its next victim.

Someone s getting crossed off the register. Nora Blackbird may have been to the manor borne, but these days money is so tight, she can t afford to lose her job as a society columnist. So when her new boss at the "Philadelphia Intelligencer" Australian tabloid editor Gus Hardwicke tells her to work the celebrity gossip beat or start checking the want ads, the choice is easy. Now Nora s writing a profile on billionaire fashion designer Swain Starr, who recently retired to build a high-tech organic farm with his new wife, Zephyr, a former supermodel. But before Nora can get the story, the mogul is murdered. And now Gus wants her to snap up an exclusive on who killed Starr before the cops do. But solving a celebrity murder isn t easy with a home life as colorful as Nora s. Her sort-of-husband, Mick, a former mobster, is associating once again with unsavory characters. Her sister Libby is on a mission to get her diabolical twins on stage or screen with the help ofan unscrupulous former child star. And the youngest Blackbird sister, Emma, just got kicked out of the house by Mick who refuses to explain why. If anything can bring the blue-blooded Blackbird sisters together, it s a murder investigation involving high-society events, glamorous people, and the disappearance of a genetically perfect pig that may or may not be basking in the sun at Blackbird Farm. They ll all have to pull together this time, because if Nora can t bring home the bacon, she might have to exchange her bucolic estate for a cramped walk-up."

Murder becomes a family affair...The Lampreys were a charming, eccentric happy-go-lucky family, teetering on the edge of financial ruin. Until the gruesome murder of their uncle-and unpleasant Marquis, who met his untimely death while leaving the Lamprey flat-left them with a fortune. Now it's up to Inspector Roderick Alleyn to sift through the alibis to discover which Lamprey hides a ruthless killer behind an amiable facade...

Small town librarian Kathleen Paulson gets plenty of entertainment from her extraordinary cats, Owen and Hercules. But when a theatre troupe stumbles into more tragedy than it bargained for, it’s up to Kathleen to play detective... With her sort-of boyfriend Marcus calling it quits and her ex-boyfriend Andrew showing up out of the blue, Kathleen has more than enough drama to deal with—and that’s before a local theatre festival relocates to Mayville Heights. Now the town is buzzing with theatre folk, and many of them have their own private dramas with the director, Hugh Davis.   When Davis is found shot to death by the marina, he leaves behind evidence of blackmail and fraud, as well as an ensemble of suspects. Now Kathleen, with a little help from her feline friends Owen and Hercules, will have to catch the real killer before another victim takes a final curtain call.