Once a celebrated writer, M had his greatest success with a suspense novel based on a real-life disappearance: a history teacher who went missing one winter after having a brief affair with a beautiful student of his. The teacher was never found. Upon publication, M's novel was a runaway bestseller, an international breakthrough. Now M's career is fading. But why is his bizarre, seemingly timid neighbor keeping a close eye on him and his wife?

A Pulitzer Prize-winning ex-reporter and journalism teacher at ivy-covered Thorndyke University, Henrietta "Henrie O" Collins demands of her students the same steadfast dedication to the truth that was the cornerstone of her own illustrious career. So when beautiful, ambitious Maggie Winslow decides to investigate a trio of hitherto unresolved local crimes, Henrie O urges her to pursue the story with uncommon vigor. But the gifted future journalist's...

Donald E. Westlake is one of the greats of crime fiction. Under the pseudonym Richard Stark, he wrote twenty-four fast-paced, hardboiled novels featuring Parker, a shrewd career criminal with a talent for heists. Using the same nom de plume, Westlake also completed a separate series in the Parker universe, starring Alan Grofield, an occasional colleague of Parker. While he shares events and characters with several Parker novels, Grofield is less calculating...

"The astonishing story of one man's breakneck race against time . . . and an implacable enemy. An anonymous young woman murdered in a run-down hotel, all identifying characteristics dissolved by acid. A father publicly beheaded in the blistering heat of a Saudi Arabian public square. A notorious Syrian biotech expert found eyeless in a Damascus junkyard. Smoldering human remains on a remote mountainside in Afghanistan. A flawless plot to commit an...

An evening of ballet leads Nancy into a dance with danger! Madame Dugrand's Dance Academy is in rehearsal for The Nutcracker Ballet, and it could be a huge hit this year. Shana Edwards, a recent graduate who has made a big splash in New York, is returning to River Heights to star in the show. But the closer the dancers get to showtime, the clearer it becomes that the stage is set for disaster. Someone is determined to bring the production down before...

An anthology of previously unpublished work includes contributions by favorite genre authors and a selection of up-and-coming writers