Loren D. Estleman

"1946. Fresh from the War in Europe, hack writer Jacob Heppleman discovers a changed world back home. The pulp magazines he used to write for are dying, replaced by a revolutionary new publishing racket: paperback novels. Although scorned by the critics, the tawdry drugstore novels sell like hotcakes - or so Jacob is assured. As "Jack Holly," Jacob finds success as the author of crime novels. He prides himself on the authenticity of his work, which...

The search for a fugitive embezzler leads Amos Walker to Cleveland, where he is hired by Emmett Yale, a leading figure in the electric car industry, to investigate the murder of his stepson. Yale believes that his stepson's hitman is connected to Clare Strickling, a former employee, and his attempts to silence whispers that he has bought illegal insider-trading information. Walker shadows Strickling to a private airfield as he attempts to flee the...

"Vamp is a hot new Valentino mystery by Loren D. Estleman, the master of the hard-boiled detective novel and recipient of the Private Eye Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award. Renowned film detective Valentino is on a quest to help restore The Comet, an extinct drive-in movie theater, and his trail leads him to Leo Kalishnikov, who requests a favor first - rid him of a blackmailer from his shady past, and he'll gladly hand over the money...

"This much is history: On Christmas Eve, 1800, an "infernal machine" exploded in one of the busiest streets in Paris, France, destroying buildings and killing innocent civilians. It wasn't the first attempt on the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the newly minted Republic of France. This much is exclusive to our story: Upon the failure of the Christmas Eve plot, the conspiracy takes a new and more diabolical turn. Posterity knows what became...

Between July 1875 and November 1883, a single outlaw robbed the stagecoaches of Wells Fargo in California's Mother Lode country a record of twenty-eight times. Armed with an unloaded shotgun, walking to and from the scenes of the robberies, often for hundreds of miles, and leaving poems behind, the infamous Black Bart was fiercely hunted. Between robberies, Black Bart was known as Charles E. Bolton, a distinguished, middle-aged man who enjoyed San...

The Moores are missing: in a placid suburban town, the Moores, a perfect family, suddenly vanish without a trace. The housewife: former chief of detectives Maggie Denning is adjusting to a quiet new life in the suburbs, staying home with baby twins. One morning she sees a limo dropping off a glamorous woman at a nearby home. When she discovers that the same woman has been murdered, she starts asking questions around the neighborhood. The doctor's...