On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts

Author: Thomas De Quincey
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141397896
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 49

Book Description
'People begin to see that something more goes to the composition of a fine murder than two blockheads to kill and be killed - a knife - a purse - and a dark lane...' In this provocative and blackly funny essay, Thomas de Quincey considers murder in a purely aesthetic light and explains how practically every philosopher over the past two hundred years has been murdered - 'insomuch, that if a man calls himself a philosopher, and never had his life attempted, rest assured there is nothing in him'. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Thomas de Quincey (1785-1859). Thomas de Quincey's Confessions and an English Opium-Eater and Other Writings is available in Penguin Classics.

Hooked on Murder

Author: Betty Hechtman
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1440632359
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 289

Book Description
Molly Pink is about to discover the joys of crochet. It’s a relaxing escape from her hectic life as a bookstore event manager . . . and from the stress of being Tarzana, California’s latest murder suspect. For Molly, the weekly crochet group at Shedd & Royal Books and More was just another event to manage. Then she stumbled across the body of group leader Ellen Sheridan. Her complicated past with Ellen has made her a prime suspect, and after being cuffed and questioned, she could use a little diversion. Never mind that she doesn’t know how to crochet. Granny squares don’t look that hard to make. But while Molly’s fending off a detective with a grudge and navigating crochet group politics, the real killer is at large. And it’s up to Molly to catch the culprit—before she winds up in a tight knot. Delicious recipe and crochet pattern included! “A gentle and charming novel. . . . Its quirky and likable characters are appealing and real.”—Earlene Fowler, author of Tumbling Blocks

A Mind to Murder

Author: P.D. James
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743219589
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
Adam Dalgluish is called to the elegant Steen Psychiatric Clinic to investigate why the head of the clinic, Enid Bolan was found with a chisel through her heart.

Back on Murder

Author: J. Mark Bertrand
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
ISBN: 9780764206375
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 384

Book Description
Det. Roland March is a homicide cop on his way out. But when he's the only one at a crime scene to find evidence of a missing female victim, he's given one last chance to prove himself. Before he can crack the case, he's transferred to a new one that has grabbed the spotlight--the disappearance of a famous Houston evangelist's teen daughter. With the help of a youth pastor with a guilty conscience who navigates the world of church and faith, March is determined to find the missing girls while proving he's still one of Houston's best detectives.

Murder Book

Author: Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell
Publisher: Andrews Mcmeel+ORM
ISBN: 1524876038
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 326

Book Description
Why is it so much fun to read about death and dismemberment? In Murder Book, lifelong true-crime obsessive and New Yorker cartoonist Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell tries to puzzle out the answer. An unconventional graphic exploration of a lifetime of Ann Rule super-fandom, amateur armchair sleuthing, and a deep dive into the high-profile murders that have fascinated the author for decades, this is a funny, thoughtful, and highly personal blend of memoir, cultural criticism, and true crime with a focus on the often-overlooked victims of notorious killers.

The Murder Book

Author: Mark Billingham
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 0751577294
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 351

Book Description
TOM THORNE IS BACK . . . AND SO IS HIS WORST NIGHTMARE A gripping, grisly read. Mark Billingham is a terrific crime writer' ----- ANTHONY HOROWITZ Tom Thorne has it all. In Nicola Tanner and Phil Hendricks, Thorne has good friends by his side. He finally has a love life worth a damn and is happy in the job to which he has devoted his life... He has everything to lose. Hunting the woman responsible for a series of grisly murders, Thorne has no way of knowing that he will be plunged into a nightmare from which he may never wake. And he'll do anything to keep it. Finally, Thorne's past has caught up with him and a ruinous secret is about to be revealed. If he wants to save himself and his friends, he must do the unthinkable. PRAISE FOR MARK BILLINGHAM 'Mark Billingham is a master of psychology' Ian Rankin 'Fast-paced and twisting' Paula Hawkins 'At the very least it should reach the shortlist of this year's Booker prize' The Times

The Murder Book

Author: Jonathan Kellerman
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345458648
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 456

Book Description
Jonathan Kellerman has distinguished himself as the master of the psychological thriller. Now L.A. psychologist-detective Alex Delaware confronts a long-unsolved murder of unspeakable brutality—an ice-cold case whose resolution threatens his survival, and that of longtime friend, homicide detective, Milo Sturgis. The nightmare begins when Alex receives a strange package in the mail with no return address. Inside is an ornate album filled with gruesome crime scene photos—a homicide scrapbook entitled The Murder Book. Alex can find no reason for anyone to send him this compendium of death, but when Milo views the book, he is immediately shaken by one of the images: a young woman, tortured, strangled, and dumped near a freeway ramp. This was one of Milo’s first cases as a rookie homicide cop: a vicious killing that he failed to solve, because just as he and his training partner began to make headway, the department closed them down. Being forced to abandon the young victim tormented Milo. But his fears prevented him from pursuing the truth, and over the years he managed to forget. Or so he thought. Now, two decades later, someone has chosen to stir up the past. As Alex and Milo set out to uncover what really happened twenty years ago, their every move is followed and their lives are placed in jeopardy. The relentless investigation reaches deep into L.A.’s nerve-centers of power and wealth—past and present. While peeling back layer after layer of ugly secrets, they discover that the murder of one forgotten girl has chilling ramifications that extend far beyond the tragic loss of a single life. A classic story of good and evil, sacrifice and sin, The Murder Book is a gripping page-turner that illuminates the darkest corridors of the human mind. It is a stunning tour de force. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jonathan Kellerman's Victims.

A Murder for the Books

Author: Victoria Gilbert
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
ISBN: 1683314409
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 348

Book Description
The Blue Ridge Mountains, fun historical tidbits, a hint of the supernatural, and a taste of romance—this bookish cozy mystery series debut about a crime-solving librarian is “one of the best” (New York Journal of Books). Librarian Amy Webber must archive overdue crimes and deadly rumors before a killer strikes again in small-town Virginia . . . Fleeing a disastrous love affair, university librarian Amy Webber moves in with her aunt in a quiet, historic mountain town in Virginia. She quickly busies herself with managing a charming public library that requires all her attention with its severe lack of funds and overabundance of eccentric patrons. The last thing she needs is a new, available neighbor whose charm lures her into trouble. Dancer-turned-teacher and choreographer Richard Muir inherited the farmhouse next door from his great-uncle, Paul Dassin. But town folklore claims the house’s original owner was poisoned by his wife, who was an outsider. It quickly became water under the bridge, until she vanished after her sensational 1925 murder trial. Determined to clear the name of the woman his great-uncle loved, Richard implores Amy to help him investigate the case. Amy is skeptical until their research raises questions about the culpability of the town’s leading families . . . including her own. When inexplicable murders plunge the quiet town into chaos, Amy and Richard must crack open the books to reveal a cruel conspiracy and lay a turbulent past to rest in A Murder for the Books, the first installment of Victoria Gilbert’s Blue Ridge Library mysteries.

Murder by the Book

Author: Claire Harman
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0525436154
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Book Description
Early on the morning of May 6, 1840, the elderly Lord William Russell was found in his London house with his throat so deeply cut that his head was nearly severed. The crime soon had everyone, including Queen Victoria, feverishly speculating about motives and methods. But when the prime suspect claimed to have been inspired by a sensational crime novel, it sent shock waves through literary London and drew both Dickens and Thackeray into the fray. Could a novel really lead someone to kill? In Murder by the Book, Claire Harman blends a riveting true-crime whodunit with a fascinating account of the rise of the popular novel and the early battle for its soul among the most famous writers of the day.

On Murder

Author: Thomas De Quincey
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 9780192805669
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Book Description
'For if once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination'Thomas De Quincey's three essays 'On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts' centre on the notorious career of the murderer John Williams, who in 1811 brutally killed seven people in London's East End. De Quincey's response to Williams's attacks turns morality on its head, celebrating and coolly dissecting the art of murder and its perfections. Ranging from gruesomely vivid reportage and brilliantly funny satiric high jinks to penetrating literary and aesthetic criticism, the essays had aremarkable impact on crime, terror, and detective fiction, as well as on the rise of nineteenth-century decadence.The volume also contains De Quincey's best-known piece of literary criticism, 'On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth', and his finest tale of terror, 'The Avenger', a disturbing exploration of violence, vigilantism, and religious persecution.