A driven art critic’s plan to steal a painting leads to murder in this classic neo-noir novel by the author of the Hoke Moseley series. Fast-talking, backstabbing, womanizing, and fiercely ambitious art critic James Figueras will do anything—blackmail, burglary, and beyond—to make a name for himself. When an unscrupulous collector offers Figueras a career-making chance to interview Jacques Debierue, the greatest living—and most reclusive—artist, the critic must decide how far he will go to become the art-world celebrity he hungers to be. Will Figueras stop at the opportunity to skim some cream for himself or push beyond morality’s limits to a bigger payoff? Crossing the art world with the underworld, Willeford creates a novel of dark hue and high aesthetic polish. The Burnt Orange Heresy—the 1970s crime classic now back in print—has lost none of its savage delights as it re-creates the making of a murderer, calmly and with exquisite tension, while satirizing the workings of the art world as the ultimate con. Now a major motion picture starring Donald Sutherland and Mick Jagger Praise for The Burnt Orange Heresy “Stunning . . . A novel full of genuine fun that also manages to make a level statement about the art world and its hermetic credulities.” —New Yorker

It's a story that made Dutch painter Han van Meegeren famous worldwide when it broke at the end of World War II: A lifetime of disappointment drove him to forge Vermeers, one of which he sold to Hermann Goering in mockery of the Nazis. And it's a story that's been believed ever since. Too bad it isn't true. Jonathan Lopez has drawn on never-before-seen documents from dozens of archives to write a revelatory new biography of the world's most famous forger. Neither unappreciated artist nor antifascist hero, Van Meegeren emerges as an ingenious, dyed-in-the-wool crook--a talented Mr. Ripley armed with a paintbrush. Lopez explores a network of illicit commerce that operated across Europe: Not only was Van Meegeren a key player in that high-stakes game in the 1920s and '30s, landing fakes with famous collectors such as Andrew Mellon, but he and his associates later cashed in on the Nazi occupation. The Man Who Made Vermeers is a long-overdue unvarnishing of Van Meegeren's legend and a deliciously detailed story of deceit in the art world.

Isabella Stewart's Tangled Vines, Island Crimes is set in the quintessential seaport town of Edgartown on the island of Martha's Vineyard, seven miles off the coast of Cape Cod. In the summer, 120 thousand descend on the island, including many notable celebrities: Jackie Onassis, Barack Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton. But come September, the island shrinks to its year-round population of seventeen thousand hardy souls...some of whom abound in criminal activities. Her first book in a series features Maria, the island's leading real estate broker, who is determined at all costs to get accepted into the prestigious Yacht Club despite her Portuguese working-class background; and Rick, an attorney who takes advantage of Maria's greed and makes himself all-knowing. But when the pressures of her new marriage to a handsome off-islander make it more-than-necessary to keep her real estate sales flowing in, will it also make living life on the island - and keeping him interested enough in her increasing wealth and lifestyle- impossible? This is not a beach novel taking place in the soft summer winds; it is the flip side taking place in the off-season when the wild vines take hold of vacant summer properties and weaken their foundations, climb and strangle trees, and weave a cloth of deception that is stronger than twine. Written by someone who lives year-round in this place that only is accessed by boat or airplane, Stewart's accounts of island corruption and crimes are intense and ... truer than fiction ... that lead to death. She gives an insight into the dichotomy between the wealthy summer residents and the domestic- and working-class lives of islanders-the good, the bad, and the (almost) unbelievable.

After a brutal day investigating a quadruple homicide, Detective Hoke Moseley settles into his room at the un-illustrious El Dorado Hotel and nurses a glass of brandy. With his guard down, he doesn’t think twice when he hears a knock on the door. The next day, he finds himself in the hospital, badly bruised and with his jaw wired shut. He thinks back over ten years of cases wondering who would want to beat him into unconsciousness, steal his gun and badge, and most importantly, make off with his prized dentures. But the pieces never quite add up to revenge, and the few clues he has keep connecting to a dimwitted hooker, and her ex-con boyfriend and the bizarre murder of a Hare Krishna pimp. Chronically depressed, constantly strapped for money, always willing to bend the rules a bit, Hoke Moseley is hardly what you think of as the perfect cop, but he is one of the the greatest detective creations of all time.

From the master of Miami noir comes this tale of four regular guys living in a singles apartment building who experience firsthand that there's more than one type of heat in Miami. Larry Dolman is a rather literal minded ex-cop who now works private security. Eddie Miller is an airline pilot who's studying to get his real estate license. Don Luchessi is a silver salesman who's separated from his wife but too Catholic to get a divorce. Hank Norton is a drug company rep who gets four times as many dames as any of the other guys. They are all regular guys who like to drink, play cards, meet broads, and shoot a little pool. But when a friendly bet goes horribly awry, they find themselves with two dead bodies on their hands and a homicidal husband in the wings—and acting more like hardened criminals than upstanding citizens.

A book filled with cool Assassin's Creed(TM) posters that will look good on any wall!

A posthumous collection of short stories and autobiographical sketches, seven of them never before published, by the author of the Hoke Moseley crime series.