By the Author
Mark of Murder
Lieutenant Luis Mendoza of the Los Angeles Police Department was vacationing in Bermuda with his wife when the call came. His friend Sergeant Art Hackett…
Rain with Violence
The rain brought problems - difficult, ugly, weird problems - for Lieutenant Luis Mendoza. Senseless killings, cold-blooded murders, suicides. To say nothing of a ruthless…
Cold Trail
The body of a woman from respectable, conservative Glendale is found stashed under a ramshackle house in the middle of the inner city. Detective Luis…
Felony File
Lieutenant Luis Mendoza and the LAPD homicide division tackle some of their most shocking cases to date. Half a million dollars is stolen from a…
The Proud Man
'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune In the sixteenth century lived two queens about whom much has been written: Elizabeth Tudor and Mary…
The Long Watch
'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune New York in the days preceding the American Revolution was a dangerous place to be. Just ask…
The Anglophile
'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune Ireland, 1749. Dennis McDermott, a witty, charming and daring young man with shades of the Scarlet Pimpernel,…
Coffin Corner
To a man, the members of the LAPD homicide department were yawning with unaccustomed inactivity. Then everything happened at once - a cop killed by…
Paper Chase
Lawyer Jesse Falkenstein thought his secretary Miss Williams was a remarkably efficient typist, but he felt she had drawbacks as a legal secretary. She had…
Felony at Random
A bunch of kids from a Catholic School on a school trip to the Museum of National History seems like a safe day out. But…
Murder Most Strange
Spring fever has hit Luis Mendoza, both on the job and at home. But it hasn't erased the LAPD's endless caseload of bizarre crimes and…
Exploit of Death
September is the worst month for heat in Southern California, and LAPD lieutenant Luis Mendoza is feeling the burn as the sweltering temperatures raise tempers…
Destiny of Death
A nice young man is helping little old ladies with their groceries . . . then stealing their Social Security; an enormous 'ape man' with…
Chaos of Crime
An early June hot spell takes its toll as it fuels a wave of bloody and bizarre crimes for Luis Mendoza of the LAPD. Grisliest…
Blood Count
The weather in LA hasn't been living up to its sunny reputation - the murder of an unwanted newborn and the assault of a twelve-year-old…
Murder by the Tale
A perfect collection of short stories for Dell Shannon fans and mystery lovers everywhere, featuring eight cases of her popular Lieutenant Luis Mendoza, alongside six…
The Dispossessed
Ireland, 1651. A country ravaged by Oliver Cromwell's Act of Settlement. Under it, Fergal O'Breslin, a young clan chief, and his fellow Irish citizens are…
The Manson Curse
When American journalist Jon Harkness is reassigned to his paper's London office, he quickly becomes embroiled in a bizarre tale involving an ancient family curse.…
No Villain Need Be
'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune Famous LAPD husband and wife sleuths Sergeant Ivor and Detective Sue Maddox return again, this time juggling…
Consequence of Crime
Glamorous TV star Jan Warden is found gruesomely murdered in her bed. In her climb to fame, she has made plenty of enemies and the…
Alter Ego
Mystery writer Brendan Monroe is tormented by the fear that his flamboyant fictional detective P. I. Roy Barron has come to life. Is the author…
A Case for Appeal
Beautiful Nell Varney was a newcomer to Contera - and to murder. Suddenly she found herself in a strange courtroom faced with seven pairs of…
The Motive on Record
Death is everywhere. A child in a playground. A playboy in a cheap hotel. A John Doe in a freight yard. A nanny and her…
Sorrow to the Grave
'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune In the quiet suburb of Santa Monica, eighty-eight-year-old Mabel Foster loses her husband to a stroke. Rather…
Date with Death
'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune Ronnie and Ruth, a young couple engaged to be married, are shot dead. Someone hated their guts…
Skeletons in the Closet
'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune Ivor Maddox has his hands more full than ever, with his wife Sue expecting a baby. To…
Strange Felony
Ivor Maddox and his men of the Hollywood police department face, as ever, a formidable load of tricky and puzzling cases. An unknown woman walks…
Perchance of Death
'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune Helen is eighteen, respectable, modestly pretty; she disappears. Juanita isn't much older, and a stunner; she picks…
Felony Report
In the Hollywood Division of the L.A.P.D., chief of detectives Ivor Maddox and his team have their hands full. There are the routine cases, including…
Crime By Chance
With a brief note to her employer, Dorrie Mayo left her job - and another note taped to a neighbour's door claimed she was taking…
Malicious Mischief
'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune Charles O'Connor of the Glendale police and Vic Varallo are having dinner with their wives when they…
My Name is Death
Raymond Austin, a neat, discreet banker, was Jesse Falkenstein's client. Jesse should only have been concerned with Austin's wife, Tamar, because she was being sued…
Some Avenger, Rise!
Sergeant Andrew Clock of Homicide is an honest policeman, but now there's a very grave charge against him: concealing evidence in a murder investigation in…
In the Death of a Man
Jesse Falkenstein was just putting away his notes at the end of the day when he was visited by Mrs Lester, an acquaintance of his…
Chain of Violence
The Glendale Police Department are as busy as usual; crime, unlike the weather, is not seasonal. Detective Delia Riordan has moved into a new apartment…
Random Death
'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune As usual, crime is a boom industry in Los Angeles. A gunman walks into a café and…
Crime for Christmas
It's Christmas, but there isn't much Christmas spirit in the Glendale Police Department. Delia Riordan's father has just died, Detective Jim Harvey's family have left…
A Choice of Crimes
'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune The Glendale P.D. have their hands full again. What with an epidemic of motel hold-ups, a rapist…
The Nameless Ones
Someone in Glendale is murdering elderly housewives in their homes. The signs point to a serial killer but could the police be mistaken? In each…
The Borrowed Alibi
'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune Vic Varallo is an ambitious police officer. He and his wife Laura fix up a room for…
Run to Evil
The neighbours all said ten-year-old Paul Brandon would grow up to be a detective: he was remarkably observant and inquisitive. But Paul doesn't grow up…
The Wine of Violence
Lieutenant Charles O'Connor of the Glendale police bureau is warned by the Feds that Conway, a crook whose brother was shot by O'Connor during a…
The Hunters and the Hunted
Four years ago Wayne Burgess killed his parents, and his plea of insanity lead to a verdict of not guilty. Now, after four years in…
A Dream Apart
'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune Vic Varallo and the Glendale P.D. are startled by the latest addition to their team: a woman…
Scenes of Crime
The bodies of three young children, abandoned on a bleak hillside, are discovered by Lieutenant O'Connor's Afghan hound, and so begins another long and tough…
Nightmare
It was strictly a duty call and Pat Carroll wasn't looking forward to it one bit. But she was in Wales and her fiance's family…
Against the Evidence
To the California police the murder of Lilian Blake seems an open-and-shut case. In less than twenty-four hours they have arrested and charged Harry Nielsen,…
The Blind Search
When Nonie Johnson kidnaps her daughter from the adoptive parents, Jesse Falkenstein is brought in. Something seemed wrong from the start - Nonie just wasn't…
Look Back on Death
Dick Tredgold has spent seven years in jail for a murder he insists he did not commit. Now eligible for parole, he refuses to apply,…
Motive in Shadow
The Manning Company is a big business, but although it was headed by Claire Manning, the founder's widow, before her death, her son John had…
The Miser
Old Vandeveer is an odd client for the famous Jesse Falkenstein; dressed head to toe in shabby clothes it seems like he can hardly afford…
Little Boy Lost
'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune Twenty years ago the five-year-old Traxler heir was kidnapped from his Hollywood home and never seen again.…
The Wine of Life
Robert Kinsolving is healthy, wealthy and forty-one, and has asked Jesse Falkenstein to draw up a will leaving everything to his sister, just in case.…
A Serious Investigation
As always, Jesse Falkenstein and Sergeant Clock have a score of cases on their hands, but Jesse is mainly interested in the murder of Margaret…
Practice to Deceive
'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune Sergeant Ivor Maddox of the Wilcox Street precinct has more crime on his hands than even he…
No Evil Angel
'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune Jewel, a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl, has disappeared from her home in a squalid suburb of Los Angeles. A…
Something Wrong
'The best American police procedural of the year' Anthony Boucher Sergeant Ivor Maddox and the Wilcox Street precinct do not have time to rest on…
Policeman's Lot
'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune The Wilcox Street precinct is as busy as ever. Sergeant Maddox and his team face three tricky…
Greenmask!
'This is a mystery readers' mystery novel, and a beauty' Anthony Boucher Walt McLean, the proprietor of Walt's Malt Shop, had been found dead by…
Detective's Due
The brutal and baffling murder of an elderly couple in their quiet suburban home, the kidnapping of two little girls, a bank hold-up, a jewel…
Case Pending
In Lieutenant Luis Mendoza's first case, he is faced with a three-way mystery involving the senseless killing of Elena Ramirez, a blackmailing involving a below-the-radar…
The Ace of Spades
'A Luis Mendoza story means superlative suspense' Los Angeles Times Lieutenant Luis Mendoza works with an outstanding team at the Los Angeles Police Department. They…
Extra Kill
Lieutenant Luis Mendoza is tasked with solving a double murder, shrouded in strange rites. Acting on one of his famous hunches, he is drawn into…
Knave of Hearts
'A Luis Mendoza story means superlative suspense' Los Angeles Times Has an innocent man suffered for another's crime? Is there, lurking in the background a…
Death of a Busybody
It all started with the baby shower that friends gave Sergeant Hackett. There, Alice Mendoza, bride of Lieutenant Luis Mendoza, met the insufferable Margaret Chadwick.…
Double Bluff
'A Luis Mendoza story means superlative suspense' Los Angeles Times Lieutenant Mendoza seems to be beset on all sides: at home, his wife Alison is…
Root of All Evil
Lieutenant Luis Mendoza likes nothing better than to wrap up his homicide cases neatly. The latest Jane Doe is identified as Valerie Ellis, a spoiled…
Death by Inches
It's January in Los Angeles, and the city is experiencing a heatwave. Lieutenant Luis Mendoza's homicide squad is depleted by the murder of one its…
The Death Bringers
The Death-bringers means tragedy for LAPD Homicide. One of Lieutenant Luis Mendoza's friends is killed while going into a bank. Now Mendoza and his team…
With a Vengeance
At first the murder of Nelson Jamison seemed fairly straightforward. He had been strangled, but next to his corpse lay a hand-printed card with the…
Chance to Kill
Two men involved in a heist are wanted for double homicide; the body of a young punk is found in an alley; the corpse of…
Kill with Kindness
'A Luis Mendoza story means superlative suspense' Los Angeles Times Lieutenant Luis Mendoza is laid low with measles and the Homicide Squad of Los Angeles…
Schooled to Kill
'A Luis Mendoza story means superlative suspense' Los Angeles Times Two little girls have been raped and murdered and every available officer in The Los…
Crime On Their Hands
'A Luis Mendoza story means superlative suspense' Los Angeles Times When a con-man with many aliases is found shot dead in his car, there is…
Unexpected Death
'A Luis Mendoza story means superlative suspense' Los Angeles Times A beautiful Hollywood blonde inexplicably vanishes from the restaurant she is dining in with her…
Whim to Kill
'A Luis Mendoza story means superlative suspense' Los Angeles Times Things begin to heat up in the Los Angeles Police Department when Lieutenant Luis Mendoza's…
The Ringer
'A Luis Mendoza story means superlative suspense' Los Angeles Times One of Lieutenant Luis Mendoza's most respected colleagues, young detective Tom Landers is under suspicion…
Murder with Love
'A Luis Mendoza story means superlative suspense' Los Angeles Times An earthquake shakes Southern California and the Los Angeles Police Department. With no air-conditioning and…
With Intent to Kill
'A Luis Mendoza story means superlative suspense' Los Angeles Times When a respectable young woman's naked body is found far from her home, the case…
No Holiday for Crime
'A Luis Mendoza story means superlative suspense' Los Angeles Times There's no holiday from crime at the Los Angeles Police Department, not even at Christmas.…
Spring of Violence
'A Luis Mendoza story means superlative suspense' Los Angeles Times Queer cases run in batches in Los Angeles and Lieutenant Luis Mendoza has a few…
Crime File
'A Luis Mendoza story means superlative suspense' Los Angeles Times Lieutenant Luis Mendoza is beset by two insistent puzzlers: how does his team nail the…
Deuces Wild
Lieutenant Luis Mendoza is faced with a crime close to home when his four-year-old twins are kidnapped. Not even Mendoza's crystal ball can help him…
Streets of Death
The Los Angeles Homicide Department is a revolving door of crime where Lieutenant Luis Mendoza has hardly time to grab a sandwich between the serial…
Appearances of Death
Lieutenant Luis Mendoza celebrates his birthday with a more than usually exuberant outburst of murder and mayhem. What has happened to the abducted Nurse Bradley?…