It is the second murder in 24 hours at the Transcontinental Chess Tournament, and Charlie Chan has been summoned from a peaceful vacation to help solve the crime before international scandal ruins the tournament's good name. Originally published in "Charlie Chan's Mystery Magazine" in 1974, this is the first book appearance of "The Pawns of Death."

An anthology of exclusive new short stories in tribute to the master of pulp era crime writing, Cornell Woolrich. Woolrich, also published as William Irish and George Hopley, stands with Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner and Dashiell Hammett as a legend in the genre. He is a hugely influential figure for crime writers, and is also remembered through the 50+ films made from his novels and stories, including Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, The Bride Wore Black, I Married a Dead Man, Phantom Lady, Truffaut's La Sirène du Mississippi, and Black Alibi. Collected and edited by one of the most experienced editors in the field, Maxim Jakubowski, features original work from: Neil Gaiman Joel Lane Joe R. Lansdale Vaseem Khan Brandon Barrows Tara Moss Kim Newman Nick Mamatas Mason Cross Martin Edwards Donna Moore James Grady Lavie Tidhar Barry N. Malzberg James Sallis A.K. Benedict Warren Moore Max Décharné Paul Di Filippo M.W. Craven Charles Ardai Susi Holliday Bill Pronzini Kristine Kathryn Rusch Maxim Jakubowski Joseph S. Walker Samantha Lee Howe O'Neil De Noux David Quantick Ana Teresa Pereira William Boyle.

Compellingly and compulsively readable, Hardboiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories offers thirty-six superb stories that chronicle the evolution of this quintessentially American art form. Here are eight decades worth of the best writing about betrayal, murder, and mayhem: from Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler to Faye Kellerman, Lawrence Block, and James Ellroy.

A new thriller in the tradition of Pronzini's Snowbound, a shivery, spine- tingling it-could-happen suspense story... a real rouser. -Publishers Weekly The rich and powerful Jackman family had always had an obsession with successful gamesmanship-whether in the parlor, the bedroom, or in national politics. When Senator David Jackman plans an escape from Washington pressures through a long, idyllic weekend with his lover on the family's lavish island estate, he has no reason to suspect that he will leave buried there forever the man he had become. No sooner do Jackman and Tracy arrive than the evidence begins to mount that they are not alone on the island. The threat quickly becomes dramatically real and the couple are soon running for their lives. Jackman knows the island well from his boyhood summers there and instinctively resorts to superb gamesmanship in eluding the pursuers-until Tracy is captured in a scene guaranteed to send chills up the reader's spine. It is a deadly and terrifying game that then begins in earnest, full of subtle clues that are as tantalizing and challenging as they are threatening. Trapped, exhausted, apparently doomed-truly defeated for the first time in his life-Jackman undergoes a catharsis and a revelation which change both his personality and his fate. He will play one final game, and with grim confidence he brilliantly plans and executes a turnabout on his tormentors which leads to a truly thrilling and action-packed triumph. Pronzini makes people and events so real that you're living those explosive days of terror. -Robert Ludlum Pronzini is a pro. -The New York Times

"Pronzini is a pro." -The New York Times A freelance charter pilot on uneasy terms with the police but greatly respected by the underworld, Dan Connell turns down a bundle of cash to smuggle a jade carving of a bird out of Singapore-which doesn't make the thieves or the authorities happy. When an old cohort is killed, Connell discovers that only by finding the bird can he avoid his own murder.

In 1895 San Francisco, young debutantes don't commit suicide at festive parties, particularly not under the eye of Sabina Carpenter. But Virginia St. Ives evidently did, leaping from a foggy parapet in a shimmer of ghostly light. The seemingly impossible disappearance of her body creates an even more serious problem for the firm of Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services.

Sabina hadn't wanted to take the assignment, but her partner John Quincannon insisted it would serve as entree to the city's ultra-rich and powerful. That means money, and Quincannon loves the almighty dollar. Which is why he is hunting the bandit who robbed the Wells, Fargo office of $35,000.

Working their separate cases (while Sabina holds John off with one light hand), the detectives give readers a tour of The City the way it was. From the infamous Barbary Coast to the expensive Tenderloin gaming houses and brothels frequented by wealthy men, Quincannon follows a danger-laden trail to unmask the murderous perpetrators of the Wells, Fargo robbery. Meanwhile, Sabina works her wiles on friends and relatives of the vanished debutante until the pieces of her puzzle start falling into place. But it's an oddly disguised gent appearing out of nowhere who provides the final clue to both cases--the shrewd "crackbrain" who believes himself to be Sherlock Holmes.