Lambda Literary Award Finalist: A young Irishman finds love and danger in the shadows of Weimar Germany. Francis Bacon has never cared much for country living, so he is overjoyed when his father sends him to Berlin as punishment for his not-so-innocent flirtations with the other boys at school. With afternoons at the cinema, dinner at the Hotel Adlon, and nights at the most outrageous cabarets in Germany-and in his uncle Lastings's bed-he'll fit right in. The Great War having ended over a decade ago, and its resulting economic turmoil in the past, Germany is enjoying the "Golden Twenties"-a time of healthy fiscal growth, and creative and sexual resurgence, centered in Berlin. Yet dark clouds are gathering as Hitler consolidates power within the Nazi Party and brownshirts march through the streets. As tensions rise, Francis finds his uncle Lastings busy welcoming countless men into his hotel room-some invited for pleasure, others to be recruited for the fight against Bolshevism. But when the Nazis send Lastings fleeing for his life, Francis is left alone, penniless, and hunted, with only his keen sense of hedonism to distract him from a city that gets more menacing every night. Nights in Berlin is the 4th book in the Francis Bacon Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

In colonial Morocco, a painter navigates a conspiracy of forgery, corruption, and murder For Francis, life with David grows more dangerous by the day. When sober, he is charming, but when he drinks, he is violent, slashing Francis's paintings and threatening to gut the painter, too. When David leaves London for Morocco, Francis cannot help but follow this man whom he loves but can no longer trust. In Tangier, they find a thriving community of expats who guzzle champagne while revolutionaries gather in the desert. But in Morocco's International Zone, death does not wait for rebellion. After Francis identifies a friend's Picasso as a fake, the police call him in to investigate the forger's demise. If he refuses, they will throw David in jail, where inmates and the DTs will kill him within the week. Between the bustle of the city and the emptiness of the desert, Francis finds that in Morocco, even the fakes can be worth killing for.

In postwar France, a gambler finds that surviving his vacation may be a long shot
Peace has come to England and the blackout is over, but the gloom has yet to lift from London. One night, leaving a gambling club where he has run up a considerable tab, the young painter Francis Bacon, accompanied by his lover, sees a man gunned down in the street. They do what they can to stanch the flow of blood, but the Frenchman dies in the hospital. Soon afterward, Bacon receives a strange offer from the club owner: He will erase Bacon's debts if the painter delivers a package to the dead man's widow, Madame Renard, on the Riviera. What gambler could resist a trip to Monte Carlo?
After handing over the parcel, Bacon learns that Madame Renard is dead--and the striking young woman who accepted the delivery is an imposter. The Riviera may be lovely, but in 1945, its sun-drenched beaches can be just as dark as the back alleys of London.

When a raging fire destroys the modern mansion of wealthy restauranteur Joseph Skane and kills his disabled wife, Mrs. Skane's nurse, Maria, is arrested for arson and murder. Soon afterward, a mysterious caller hired investigator Anna Peters to help with Maria's defense. Although Anna has had her share of unusual cases, this one is her biggest challenge yet. Maria has refused to speak since running from the burning house, and even when she agrees to respond to Anna's questions in writing, Anna suspects she's hiding information that could clear her name...

Anna Peters, Washington, D.C.-based private investigator, knows little about hockey or Florida when she agrees to help Jurgen "T-Rex" Parkes, star center of the NHL-expansion Orlando Showmen, clear his name of his teammate Alf Rene's murder. She also isn't entirely sure her client is innocent. She faces an uphill battle: Parkes asked Rene to meet him the night of the murder, and he has no alibit. The Showmen management is more concerned about the team's tarnished image than seeking the truth, and the media are swarming around Parkes and his family. As Anna digs into the case, she finds Parkes uncooperative, the victim's family and friends secretive and suspicious, and her own safety in jeapardy...

A killer takes refuge in the blacked-out streets of wartime London, upending the world of one of Britain's greatest painters in this chilling and captivating reimagining of the life of Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon walks the streets of World War II London, employed as a warden for the ARP to keep watch for activities that might tip off the Axis powers. Before the war, Bacon had travelled to Berlin and Paris picking up snatches of culture from a succession of middle-aged men charmed by his young face. Known for his flamboyant personal life and expensive taste, Bacon has returned home to live with his former nanny--who's also his biggest collector--in a cramped bohemian apartment. But one night, death intrudes on his after-hours paradise. When a young man is found dead in the park, his head smashed in, Bacon and the rest of London's demimonde realize that they have much more to fear than the faraway scream of war.

This volume collects 22 stories from the author of the Anna Peters mystery series, many published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine or Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Included are: "Secrets," "Lions on the Lawn," "The Summer of the Strangler," "My Life in Crime," "Lying," "Blood in the Water," "My Famous Relative," "Perfection," "The Blind Woman," "A Meeting at the Cafe Visconti," "Pigskill," "The Archeologist's Revenge," "Star of the Silver Screen," "Ghost Writer," "Tabloid Press," "My Demon Lover," "The Man Kali Visited," "The View From Above," "To Beauty," "Ideas in My Head," "The Paradise Garden," and "The Helpful Stranger." Great reading from a master of the short-form mystery!