What happens when a young woman is accidentally caught up in a dangerous murder investigation, having merely been in the wrong place at the wrong time? Lacey Farrell, a rising star on the Manhattan real estate scene, is witness to a murder - and to the final words of the victim. The dying woman is convinced her attacker was after her dead daughter's journal, which Lacey gives to the police, but not before making a copy for herself. It's an impulse that later proves nearly fatal. Placed in the witness protection programme and sent to live in Minneapolis, Lacey must assume a fake identity, at least until the killer can be brought to trial. There she meets Tom Lynch, a radio talk-show host whom she tentatively begins to date - until the strain of her deception makes her break it off. Then she discovers the killer has traced her whereabouts. Armed with nothing more than her own courage and clues from the journal, Lacey heads back to New York determined to uncover who is behind the deaths of the two women...before she is the next casualty

A killer who targets lonely women on cruise ships is at the center of Mary Higgins Clark's newest thriller "You Belong to Me," a masterful combination of page-turning suspense and classic mystery.
When Dr. Susan Chandler decides to use her daily radio talk show to explore the phenomenon of women who disappear and are later found to have become victims of killers who prey on the lonely and insecure, she has no idea that she is exposing herself -- and those closest to her -- to the very terror that she hopes to warn others against.

Susan sets out to determine who is responsible for an attempt on the life of a woman who called in to the show offering information on the mysterious disappearance from a cruise ship, years before, of Regina Clausen, a wealthy investment advisor. Soon Susan finds herself in a race against time, for not only does the killer stalk these lonely women, but he seems intent on eliminating anyone who can possibly further Susan's investigation.

As her search intensifies, Susan finds herself confronted with the realization that one of the men who have become important figures in her life might actually be the killer. And as she gets closer to uncovering his identity, she realizes almost too late that the hunter has become the hunted, and that she herself is marked for murder.

In its review of her previous novel "Pretend You Don't See Her," the "Detroit News" said of Mary Higgins Clark, "What's amazing...is how expertly [she] manages to keep us hooked time after time, and even better, create new plots, each as fresh as a mountain stream."

A killer is placing his cross hairs over the American heartland....

The pair of frozen corpses were found under a tarp in the machine shed of an empty farmhouse. Two males -- brothers -- both killed by bullets from a Russian automatic fired at close range. The cops have a suspect: a man Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman busted five years earlier and the county's lead suspect in a series of recent robberies.

Houseman knows they have the wrong guy. He also knows they've got something bigger than a burglary gone bad ... especially when the FBI starts showing up in Maitland. The brutal double homicide is just the tip of the iceberg in a case where a killer's trail keeps disappearing like footprints in freshly fallen snow, and where one bad break can send a good cop into a deep freeze.

When Ben Orton’s head is found bludgeoned by a heavy flower pot, the people of La Caleta are stunned—not because their police chief has been murdered, but because no one thought to do it sooner. A bruising, violent man, Ben had a commitment to order that did not always take the law into account. But as insurance investigator Dave Brandstetter is about to find out, the corruption in Ben’s police force did not die with him.

By the time Dave arrives in the fading fishing town, a young activist has already been arrested for the murder. Only Dave seems to care that the evidence against the accused is laughably thin. As the people of La Caleta try their best to thwart his investigation, Dave must do whatever it takes to catch Ben’s killer.

From the depths of darkness, where hideous rats defend their empire, to dizzying heights, where a beautiful girl hangs by a hair above a hellish fate, this chilling collection of twenty short stories will plunge readers into the subterranean labyrinth of the most spine-tingling, eerie imagination of our time.

In the realm of psychological suspense, Jonathan Kellerman is without peer. Now, following an extraordinary eleven successive "New York Times"
bestsellers, he has written an Alex Delaware novel to match his best--about the murder of a celebrity author and the truth behind her public facade. 
She was found stabbed to death on a quiet, shady street in one of L.A.'s safest neighborhoods. For three months the police have found no clues to the murder of
Hope Devane, psychology professor and controversial author of a pop-psych bestseller, an angry indictment of men. Now Detective Milo Sturgis, newly assigned to the case, turns to his psychologist friend, Dr. Alex Delaware, looking for insights into Devane's life. 
To both men the cold stalking of Hope Devane suggests calculation fueled by hate--an execution. They discover why as they unlock, one by one, the very
private compartments of her life: her marriage, her shadowy work for a Beverly Hills clinic, the Conduct Committee she ran with an iron hand at the
University, and her baffling link to another murder victim. But it is when Alex delves into her childhood that he begins to understand the formidable woman she was--and the ties that entangled her life until the horrifying act of betrayal that ended it. Building to a white-knuckle climax in which Alex sets a trap
for a killer, "The Clinic" is brilliantly plotted suspense as wrenchingly disturbing as today's headlines

The man she loved is gone forever. The child she lives for could be next.

Each day is a struggle for Amanda Gleason's newborn son as he battles a rare immune deficiency. Justin's best chance for a cure lies with his father, who was brutally murdered before Amanda even realized she carried his child.

Or was he?

One emailed photo changes everything, planting a seed of doubt that Amanda latches on to for dear life: a recent photo of a man who looks exactly like Paul. Could Justin's father be alive? The mother in her is desperate to find out. But tracking down a ghost when every second counts is not for amateurs.

Forensic Instincts is the one team up for the challenge.

A behaviorist. A former navy SEAL. A techno-wizard. An intuitive. A retired FBI agent. A human-scent-evidence dog. Together they achieve the impossible, pushing ethical and legal boundaries whenever the ends justify the means.

The manhunt is on for the elusive father. Yet the further FI digs into his past, the more questions are raised about whether the man Amanda fell in love with ever really existed at all.

Dark secrets. Carefully crafted lies. From the congressional halls of Washington, D.C., to exclusive Hamptons manors, there are ruthless people who would stop at nothing to make Forensic Instincts forget about the man Amanda desperately needs to find.

Little do they realize that once Forensic Instincts takes the case, nothing will stop them from uncovering the shocking truth that transcends The Line Between Here and Gone

In this novel of mounting suspense from award-winning author Herbert Lieberman, a terrifying surprise waits beneath a couple’s New England home

Albert and Alice Graves live a normal, if monotonous, domestic life. They’ve never had children; they spend their days tending to their home and enjoying their time together. One day, when the oil man, Richard, is refilling their furnace, Alice invites him to dinner, never suspecting that a casual act of charity will lead to a horrifying, morbid discovery in the crawlspace underneath their beloved house.

The Graves take Richard into their lives, becoming attached to his presence as though to the son they never had. Their town, though, is not nearly so welcoming. When the locals lash out against the Graves and their strange houseguest, the contented household is irrevocably drawn into a darkness they could not have imagined

In this thrilling and thought-provoking novel of Middle Eastern intrigue, Charlie, a brilliant and beautiful young English actress, is lured into "the theatre of the real" by an Israeli intelligence officer. Forced to play her ultimate role, she is plunged into a deceptive and delicate trap set to ensnare an elusive Palestinian terrorist

When Alain Delambre lost his job four years ago, he lost everything. Now he's breaking all the rules for one last shot at the life he thinks he deserves. 
"a pulsating serio-comic thriller" The Sunday Times 

"A really excellent suspense novelist." Stephen King

Alain Delambre is a fifty-seven-year-old former HR executive, drained by four years of hopeless unemployment. The only job offers he gets are for low-level, demoralizing positions. He has reached rock bottom and can see no way out.
So when a major company finally invites him in for an interview, Alain is ready to do anything--borrow money, shame his wife and his daughters, and even participate in the ultimate recruitment test: a role-playing game that involves taking hostages.

Alain vows to commit body and soul in this struggle to regain his dignity. But if he had realized that the odds were stacked against him from the beginning, he never would have tried to land the position. Now, his fury is limitless. And what began as a role-playing game could quickly become a bloodbath

In the wake of a demoralizing infiltration by a Soviet double agent, Smiley has been made ringmaster of the Circus (aka the British Secret Service). Determined to restore the organization's health and reputation, and bent on revenge, Smiley thrusts his own handpicked operative into action. Jerry Westerby, "The Honourable Schoolboy," is dispatched to the Far East. A burial ground of French, British, and American colonial cultures, the region is a fabled testing ground of patriotic allegiances?and a new showdown is about to begin

"A dizzying, enjoyable caper...After reading this hard-to-put down thriller, you may put all your money in your mattress."
LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
When financial executive Verity Banks' latest proposal is axed by her boss, she decides to show how easy it is to break through automated security, hide money, and then show senior management where it is. Then her former mentor, financial wizard, Dr. Zooltan Tor ups the ante, and dares her to steal a billion dollars, invest it to earn thirty million in three months, then put the original billion back before anyone notices. To heighten the challenge, Tor and Verity will compete against each other, though Tor gives Verity an edge: she can use a computer for her theft, but he cannot..

Half a million dollars – or a boy’s life . . .

But what if that boy isn’t your own son? And what if paying the ransom will ruin the biggest deal you ever made? What do you do then? Throw away your future or sacrifice someone else’s child? That was the dilemma facing wealthy Douglas King.

Detective Steve Carella of the 87th Precinct can only keep trying to find the kidnappers, and hope that Doug King will decide to give them the payoff. Because if he doesn’t, Carella will have a case of cold-blooded murder on his hands.

Who are they? 

What do they want? 

Why do they kill? 

Can they be stopped?

You know who they are . . . if you've ever known fear.

In Palmerston, Pennsylvania, two men in long coats walk calmly into a crowded fast-food restaurant--then, slowly and methodically, gun down sixty-eight people. They take time to reload.

On the Promenade of Santa Monica, California, a teenage girl gives sightseeing tips to a distinguished English tourist. She won't be going home tonight.

In Dyersburg, Montana, a grief-stricken son tries to make sense of the accident that killed his parents--then finds a note stuffed in his father's favorite chair. It reads, "We're not dead."

Three seemingly unrelated events, these are the first signs of an unimaginable network of fear that will lead one unlikely hero to a chilling confrontation with The Straw Men. No one knows who they are--or why they kill. But they must be stopped. Michael Marshall's electrifying debut novel is an instant masterpiece of modern suspense. An epic thriller for anyone who has feared that someone is watching us.

French monthly magazine and publisher for children. Created in parallel to J'aime Lire, but for younger readers aged 6-7 years old.

This monthly periodical is exclusively written for French intermediate and advanced learners.You will find articles with vocabulary about different topics such as politics, cooking, arts and culture as well as a short story and some activities on the French language. You can hear all the articles in the CD that goes with the magazine

Rhoda Comfrey's death seemed unremarkable; the real mystery was her life.

In A Sleeping Life, master mystery writer Ruth Rendell unveils an elaborate web of lies and deception painstakingly maintained by a troubled soul. A wallet found in Comfrey's handbag leads Inspector Wexford to Mr. Grenville West, a writer whose plots revel in the blood, thunder, and passion of dramas of old; whose current whereabouts are unclear; and whose curious secretary--the plain Polly Flinders--provides the Inspector with more questions than answers. And when a second Grenville West comes to light, Wexford faces a dizzying array of possible scenarios--and suspects--behind the Comfrey murder. 

Brilliantly entertaining, exceptionally crafted, A Sleeping Lifeevokes the dark realities, half-truths, and flights of fancy that constitute a life.

In the High House School for Disturbed Children, the windows are narrow, the shadows are dark, and the secrets can be deadly. Unable to cope with his guilt, Joey Fane has been here ever since the afternoon when his little brother wouldn’t leave him alone in the bathroom—the day that Joey cracked a block across his Ralphie’s head and left him to bleed. Two years after the incident, Joey finally recovers and is released and sent back home—but he will soon wish he could have stayed locked away forever.

While Joey was away, his mother fell completely under the spell of the nanny who was hired before the accident to care for Joey’s now-long-dead brother. With Joey’s return, it’s time for Nanny to leave, but she’s not ready to go. Between these two ruthless souls, battle will be waged, and more blood will be spilled.

This monthly periodical is exclusively written for French intermediate and advanced learners.You will find articles with vocabulary about different topics such as politics, cooking, arts and culture as well as a short story and some activities on the French language. You can hear all the articles in the CD that goes with the magazine

“She wasn't an ordinary supplicant. She didn't lower her eyes. There was nothing humble about her bearing. She spoke frankly, looking straight ahead, as if to claim what was rightfully hers. ‘If you don't agree to look at our case, my parents and I will be lost, and it will be the most hateful legal error...’”

Maigret is asked to the windswept, rainy border town of Givet by a young woman desperate to clear her family of murder. But their well-kept shop, the sleepy community and its raging river all hide their own mysteries.

Cars drove past along with the trucks and trams, but by now Maigret had realised that they were not important. Whatever roared by like this along the road was not part of the landscape. . . . What really counted was the lock, the hooting of the tugs, the stone crusher, the barges and the cranes, the two pilots’ bars, and especially the tall house where he could make out Ducrau's red chair framed by a window.

Maigret is drawn into the orbit of the self-made, mercurial Ducrau, as the latter’s past catches up with him in a claustrophobic provincial town

In The Friend of Madame Maigret, Simenon?s economic prose brilliantly portrays the Marais quarter of Paris and those who haunt its narrow streets as Inspector Maigret attempts to prove that a murder has actually been committed without a corpse anywhere to be found. As the investigation becomes increasingly complex, seemingly unconnected characters are drawn into the case, and Maigret begins to wonder if his wife?s earlier strange encounter with a woman and her baby may be the missing link.

The Clockmaker, also published in English as The Watchmaker (first published as L'horloger d'Everton in French in 1954), is a psychological thriller written without Simenon's most famous character, Inspector Maigret. Only 124 pages, it can be read in a few sittings. Simenon forces the reader to consider if Ben's actions were already somehow foreordained; the culpability, if any, of his father; and if the similar psychology of Dave, his father, and his son, will change or remain the same in future generations.

A series of chance encounters sends Inspector Maigret down yet another winding path of murder and mystery. While visiting a criminal in his cell, the young convict tells Maigret of a man who'd been spotted dumping a body in a Parisian canal some years ago.  On an unexpected trip to a popular inn, Maigret finds himself in the very place the suspected killer was last seen, and the Inspector is pulled deeper into the web of blackmail and deceit

Monsieur Monde is a successful middle-aged businessman in Paris. One morning he walks out on his life, leaving his wife asleep in bed, leaving everything behind.

Not long after, he surfaces on the Riviera, keeping company with drunks, whores and pimps, with thieves and their marks. A whole new world, where he feels surprisingly at home--at least for a while.

Georges Simenon knew how obsession, buried for years, can come to life, and about the wreckage it leaves behind. He had a remarkable understanding of how bizarrely unaccountable people can be. And he had an almost uncanny ability to capture the look and feel of a given place and time. Monsieur Monde Vanishes is a subtle and profoundly disturbing triumph by the most popular of the twentieth century's great writers.

It’s the story of a family consisting of a brother, a sister, a mom, and a dad. They lived in Switzerland – just across the border from France. The daughter – Odile – was eighteen years old, and never seemed to fit in with either the family or with the current circle of friends. She wrote a letter one day and left it for her brother Bob to find. It told him that she was leaving home to go to Paris where she might be able to better find herself. If she didn’t, the letter also implied that if she didn’t she would commit suicide. She moves to Paris when everyone else in the household is asleep and takes up residence in a cheap hotel. She realizes that she will need to work, but she has no skills. She left high school early and had no certificate of attendance. She manages to find a cabaret where she meets some people her own age, but after introducing herself, she decides that they are not for her. They don’t fit into her mold of what friends should be like. Basically, Odile is an aggressive loner – one who will not expend any effort to relate to other people. Meanwhile the family is going crazy wondering where she is and what she is doing. Will she come back?

Walter Higgins is a supermarket manager. He is a stolid, predictable, married father of four living in a house that stretches his economic resources to the fullest. He is also enormously (and understandably) proud of the fact that he has lifted himself through diligence and hard work from a less than happy and economically depressed childhood. He plays by the rules. He goes to church and volunteers in any number of community organizations. He seeks affirmation of his status by applying for membership in the local country club. He is told his membership is a sure-thing and is devastated when he is told that he has been blackballed, denied entry by means of a secret vote of the club's membership committee. Each member of that committee was known to Higgins and he thought of each as a friend and colleague in the community.

The rejection turns Higgins's life upside down and the rest of the story takes us on the journey Higgins takes as the trauma of rejection hits him.

What was the woman doing here?
In a stable, wearing pearl earrings, her stylish bracelet and white buckskin shoes!
She must have been alive when she got there because the crime had been committed after ten in the evening.
But how? And why? And no one had heard a thing! She had not screamed. The two carters had not woken up.
If the whip had not been mislaid, it was likely the body might not have been discovered for a couple of weeks or a month, by chance when someone turned over the straw.
And other carters passing through would have snored the night away next to a woman's corpse!
These questions lead Maigret into an unfamiliar world of canals, with its run down cafes, shadowy towpaths, and eccentric inhabitants.

Five older women have been strangled in three weeks, and the people of La Rochelle are frightened. The author puts us into the mind of the murderer, a respected man of the community. We wonder about his motives. Another man suspects him, but is frightened by what he knows. Georges Simenon again shows that he is a master of psychological fiction.

Madame Maigret is upset when a young man who had called to see Inspector Maigret steals the revolver Maigret had been given as a keepsake by the American police. Mme Maigret had taken a liking to the youth and is fearful that he may intend to take his own life. Maigret fears the gun may be used for different, more criminal purposes. Either way, he feels it necessary to try to track the young man down. But first he’ll have to find out who the boy is...

A drunk exotic dancer working in an American-style burlesque show tips off police that she’s overheard a plot to kill a duchess for her jewelry. The police give the woman (who goes by the stage name Arlette) such a hard time that an exhausted Arlette recants her story just so she can go home. Just a few hours later, she’s found strangled.