Married Eva Griffin has been caught with a prominent congressman, and is ready to pay the editor of a sleazy tabloid hush money to protect the politician. But first Perry Mason tracks down the publisher of the blackmailing tabloid and discovers a shocking secret, which eventually leads to Mason being accused of murder. This is the first Perry Mason mystery and our introduction to secretary Della Street, detective Paul Drake, and the great lawyer himself.

Thanks to a bungled robbery at a fancy hotel, the already-married Eva Griffin has been caught in the company of a prominent congressman. To protect the politico, Eva's ready to pay the editor of a sleazy tabloid his hush money. But Perry Mason has other plans. He tracks down the phantom fat cat who secretly runs the blackmailing tabloid -only to discover a shocking scoop. By the time Mason's comely client finally comes clean, her husband has taken a bullet in the heart.

Criminal lawyer and all-time number-one mystery author Erle Stanley Gardner wrote close to 150 novels that have sold 300 million copies worldwide. His most popular books starred the incomparable attorney-sleuth Perry Mason. In The Case of the Curious Bride, a woman claiming not to be a bride consults Mason about her "friend", whose husband, long thought to have died in a plane crash, turns up alive.

In this mystery classic, Perry Mason takes on the case of a young woman whom the authorities accuse of exploiting her wealthy uncle. The Case of the Beautiful Beggar is part of Erle Stanley Gardner's massively popular, always compelling Perry Mason series. Everyone's favorite crusading attorney must use all his investigative and interrogatory skills to crack the case and win the trial.

When someone makes a present of a fer-de-lance - the dreaded snake - to Nero Wolfe, Archie Goodwin knows he's close to solving two apparently unrelated murders. As for Wolfe, he's playing snake charmer in a case more deadly than a cobra and whistling a seductive tune he hopes will catch a killer with poison in his heart.

Wood delivers another knock-out punch - the story of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Keegan, who is running for reelection…and running from the truth about his wife's recent death in a fiery car accident. Prompted by his anguish, Keegan decides to prosecute an explosive murder case himself. Now his reputation hangs in the balance.

When a failed entrepreneur is temporarily left in charge of his aunt's huge gothic home, he knows he must be able to make a profit from it somehow. Murder, he decides, is the only way to do it. For Madingley Grange is the perfect venue for a 1930s murder-mystery weekend, and Simon Hannaford – with the reluctant help of his long-suffering sister – soon hatches a plan for money-spinning mayhem. From the conservatory to the claret cellar, the clues are carefully sprinkled. But when the guests arrive, it is obvious that the game won't be going as planned.

Everyone is always telling Stone Barrington that he’s too smart to be a cop, but it’s pure luck that places him on the streets in the dead of night, just in time to witness the horrifying incident that turns his life inside out. Suddenly he is on the front page of every New York newspaper and his life is hopelessly entwined in the increasingly shocking life (and perhaps death) of Sasha Nijinsky, the country’s hottest and most beautiful television anchorwoman.

Two pirates do battle on an old junk ship in Singapore Harbor. They leap nimbly from deck to rigging, crossing swords like fencing masters. And then one surprises the other, slicing a rope and sending the unfortunate pirate tumbling into the bay. This is how stuntman Angelo Sacchetti dies. Edward Cauthorne was his opponent, a fellow stuntman whose career died along with Sacchetti. He’s selling used cars when two thugs approach him.

Gloria Guild is the singing "glory" of the thirties and the millionairess wife of Count Carlos Armando, renowned only for his succession of wealthy wives. When she is murdered, her husband is the obvious suspect, but he has a perfect alibi. So who could he have got to do it for him? The only clue is the word "face," penned in her dying scrawl. But whose face? And why? Ellery Queen pursues the glory riddle from the Bowery to a way-out wedding - and a surprise climax that will jolt you into cold shock. Anyone whonails this killer before Queen is either a genius or a cheat.

With sensitivity and insight into the human condition, Sandra Brown creates a forceful psychological portrait of a man in moral turmoil, who must make difficult choices betweenn his personal passions and the demands of his conscience.

When Depression-era private eye Maggie Sullivan is invited to dine with a millionaire, she doesn't expect the first course to be a gun in her face. It draws her into a gold-plated web of theft, revenge, double crosses, and murder. A big-time swindle has made fools of some of the city's wealthiest businessmen. The man behind it has vanished. When Maggie begins asking questions, he reappears - dead in the river. But she's already learned too much. Someone's out to silence her too.

Despite the dismal Broadway season, Gunplay continues to draw crowds. A gangland spectacle, it's packed to the gills with action, explosions, and gunfire. In fact, Gunplay is so loud that no one notices the killing of Monte Field. In a sold-out theater, Field is found dead partway through the second act, surrounded by empty seats. The police hold the crowd and call for the one man who can untangle this daring murder: Inspector Richard Queen.

Frightfully rich and awesomely respectable, the McKells had never been touched by scandal. At least, not until the handsome Dane McKell discovered his father's secret affair. Determined to protect his mother, he forced a meeting with the other woman.

But Dane didn't count on falling in love with her himself. Nor did he count on the front page murder that engulfed them all. Sheila, exotic young international leader of haute couture, is found murdered in her Park Avenue penthouse.

The Continental Detective Agency's Operative is sent on a case to Personville. The locals call their town "Poisonville," and the Op would soon find out why as the bodies start piling up. Dirty cops, gang wars, floozies, bootleggers, and hit men are all in Dashiell Hammett's first full-length novel featuring the Continental Op, the original hard-boiled private detective.