by Ross Thomas (2005)
"It was while jogging along the beach just east of the Paradise Cove pier that Artie Wu tripped over a dead pelican, fell, and met the man with six greyhounds." Thus begins what may be the most popular of Ross Thomas's unique stories.
Mary Roberts Rinehart
The Halls, Lancasters, Talbots, Wellingtons, and Daltons--five close-knit and well-to-do families living on exclusive Crescent Place--retreat into terrified paranoia when first old Mrs. Lancaster is found hacked to death with an axe and then other victims are discovered
John Gardner
What begins as a joyous wedding for Bond's old CIA chum, Felix Leiter, turns into a hellish nightmare--when an evil billionaire drug lord flies into town and his henchmen brutally assassinate Leiter and his bride. Now, Bond is out for blood, and he is prepared to do anything--even give up his license to kill--to avenge the death of his friends.
Julian Symons
Kirkus Reviews - "The detective novel for a change and a most able job, this two-part dissection is first focussed on the accused as he reveals himself to the consulting psychiatrist, then on his trial and its ramifications. John Wilkins has blackouts, is unhappily married, recognizes his fantasy life in his romantic dreaming about Sheila, a local librarian, is upset about his work. A rising silk takes the defense, Wilkins' family hires a private detective, the trial produces damaging witnesses for Wilkins' murder of Sheila, and the finale is a double-play of ingenuity. British -- and of the best."
Michael Gilbert
The woman was young, French, and on trial for murdering a man said to be her ex-lover and the father of her dead child: an English major who had been one of the great heroes of the French Underground Resistance during the war. Mr. Macrea, hired to be her attorney on the first day of the trial, must find a way to prove her innocence in only one week. And he must dig deeply into the past to prove it.