From Sherlock Holmes to Sam Spade; Nick and Nora Charles to Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin; Harry Lime to Gilda, Madeleine Elster, and other femmes fatales—crime and crime solving in fiction and film captivate us. Why do we keep returning to Agatha Christie's ingenious puzzles and Raymond Chandler's hard-boiled murder mysteries? What do spy thrillers teach us, and what accounts for the renewed popularity of morally ambiguous noirs? In The Mysterious Romance of Murder, the poet and critic David Lehman explores a wide variety of outstanding books and movies—some famous (The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity), some known mainly to aficionados—with style, wit, and passion. Lehman revisits the smoke-filled jazz clubs from the classic noir films of the 1940s, the iconic set pieces that defined Hitchcock's America, the interwar intrigue of Eric Ambler's best fictions, and the intensity of attraction between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer, Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. He also considers the evocative elements of noir—cigarettes, cocktails, wisecracks, and jazz standards—and offers five original noir poems (including a pantoum inspired by the 1944 film Laura) and ironic astrological profiles of Barbara Stanwyck, Marlene Dietrich, and Graham Greene. Written by a connoisseur with an uncanny feel for the language and mood of mystery, espionage, and noir, The Mysterious Romance of Murder will delight fans of the genre and newcomers alike.

From Sherlock Holmes to Sam Spade; Nick and Nora Charles to Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin; Harry Lime to Gilda, Madeleine Elster, and other femmes fatales—crime and crime solving in fiction and film captivate us. Why do we keep returning to Agatha Christie's ingenious puzzles and Raymond Chandler's hard-boiled murder mysteries? What do spy thrillers teach us, and what accounts for the renewed popularity of morally ambiguous noirs? In The Mysterious Romance of Murder, the poet and critic David Lehman explores a wide variety of outstanding books and movies—some famous (The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity), some known mainly to aficionados—with style, wit, and passion. Lehman revisits the smoke-filled jazz clubs from the classic noir films of the 1940s, the iconic set pieces that defined Hitchcock's America, the interwar intrigue of Eric Ambler's best fictions, and the intensity of attraction between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer, Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. He also considers the evocative elements of noir—cigarettes, cocktails, wisecracks, and jazz standards—and offers five original noir poems (including a pantoum inspired by the 1944 film Laura) and ironic astrological profiles of Barbara Stanwyck, Marlene Dietrich, and Graham Greene. Written by a connoisseur with an uncanny feel for the language and mood of mystery, espionage, and noir, The Mysterious Romance of Murder will delight fans of the genre and newcomers alike.

Best friends Annie and Eve know the bare bones of both culinary school and amateur sleuthing. Now they’re in the trenches, struggling to keep a new restaurant, Bellywasher’s, from going belly up… Annie and Eve have joined their former cooking teacher, Jim—who doubles as Annie’s on-again, off-again boyfriend—in running his new restaurant, Bellywasher’s. Bombshell Eve is the hostess, while Annie stays behind the scenes, frantically managing everything from the books to the radicchio supply. Then a rave review makes the spot an instant success, drawing Washington’s high-powered elite to sample Jim’s cooking…people with both money and secrets to burn. Everything’s simmering along just fine until Annie and Eve find their friend Sarah, staffer to a powerful Congressman, lying dead in her tub. The cops want to write it off as a suicide, but the girls notice that, like Annie’s invoices, the facts just don’t add up. Then, after a series of suspicious “accidents” that come dangerously close to taking the girls permanently out of commission, Annie and Eve realize that this kitchen fire isn’t about to put itself out…

Emma Parks joins a monkey research project deep in the South American rainforest on a whim. She refuses to admit it might have something to do with a close friend's death from which she has not recovered, but it's certainly not because she knows anything about spider monkeys, least of all what they look like. She's barely arrived when International Wildlife Conservation's renowned director drowns during a party celebrating the group's controversial takeover of the park. Tension mounts following the machete murder of a researcher, threatening Emma's budding primatology career, her secret romance with an Australian zoologist, and more importantly -- her life.

An English manor home, an unsolved mystery, too many suspects to count… It’s the perfect holiday for romance novelist Sara Medlar. Sara Medlar, her niece Kate and their friend Jack need a change of scenery so Sara arranges for them to visit an old friend in England. Upon arrival at Oxley Manor, a centuries-old estate converted to a luxury hotel, Kate and Jack quickly realize Sara is up to something. They learn that Sara has also invited a number of others to join them. When everyone assembles, Sara explains. Decades earlier, two people ran off together from Oxley and haven’t been heard from since—and Sara wants to solve the case. As the people who were there the night the two went missing, the guests find themselves cast in a live mystery-theater event. In reenacting the events of that night, Sara, Jack and Kate are once again at the heart of a mysterious case that only they are able to solve. But someone is willing to continue to kill to keep the truth about Oxley Manor buried, and none of the guests are safe. A Medlar Mystery Book 1: A Willing Murder Book 2: A Justified Murder Book 3: A Forgotten Murder Book 4: A Relative Murder Don't miss New York Times bestselling author Jude Deveraux's next exciting new release, MY HEART WILL FIND YOU!

They call him the Devil . . . He is the most notorious laird of Scotland: fierce, cold, deadly . . . and maybe even worse. Yet Evelinde has just agreed to wed him. Anything, she thinks, is better than her cruel stepmother. Though Evelinde should be wary of the rumors, she can't help but be drawn to this warrior . . . for the Devil of the Highlands inspires a heat within her that is unlike anything she has ever known. They may call him whatever they wish, but Cullen, Laird of Donnachaidh, cares only for the future of his clan. He must find a wife, a woman to bear him sons and heed his commands. He has no need for beauty or grace, but one taste of his lovely bride's sweet lips and the sultry feel of her skin arouse an untamed passion. Perhaps there's more to marriage than he thought . . .

What would you do if your best friend died? What if she'd betrayed you hours earlier?Emma's nights are haunted by the twisted sight of her friend's body in Stone Lake. Others in the sleepy town of Camber slap an accident label on the death and call it a day. Emma can't. It hurts too much to leave it alone.Proving the drowning was murder isn't easy. The sheriff stonewalls her, her friends want her to leave it alone, and her parents are too busy bickering to worry over much else.Cole's mistrust for corporations and government hasn't made him many friends in town, but his willingness to believe Emma makes him her strongest ally. Together they'll dig into the town's past-and their own-to get to the truth.Even if it brings more danger to their doorsteps.