"Raw reality. A tough, taut writer. Saves a gut-punch for the climax." — The Washington PostIn the first book of Joe Gores's razor-sharp Daniel Kearny Associates series, a DKA investigator clings to life after a devastating car crash. The police are ready to write it off as a drunk driving incident, but the DKA team knows it was an attempted homicide. Now they have seventy-two hours to search the backstreets of San Francisco and find the truth about the "accident" from a stripper, an embezzler, an ex-con, and other unsavory characters. Gores, a former detective and three-time Edgar Award–winner, spins a gritty, fast-moving tale that mystery lovers can't resist and compares with the best of Hammett and Chandler. This new edition of Dead Skip features a bonus DKA short story, "File #2: Stakeout on Page Street.""A traditional American crime novel, out of Black Mask, Hammett, and Chandler. . . . The Continental Op could do...

Once Eddie Dain had a life: a beautifl wife, a happy young son, and a thriving business catching soft-core bad guys by computer. Then he hung on to an odd-looking case and made a mysterious enemy - one whose calling cards were two men with shotguns. Now Eddie is reborn - as a dead man. Known by the single name of Dain, he pumps up his body and his psyche as he follows a trail of sweaty white-collar crime to the steamy Louisiana bayous. Here, in this torrid landscape, is a woman on the run who can lead him to what he wants more than anything; the man who took everything from Eddie Dain.

32 Cadillacs is the fourth novel in Joe Gores' delightful series about the San Francisco private eye firm Dan Kearny Associates. This time the squadmust recover 32 cadillacs stolen from their largest client by Gypsies to be a casket for their dying king. The result is a fast, furious, funny, nonstop action tale with esoteric Gypsy lore and hard-edged investigation.

SUMMARY: When Sam Spade gets drawn into the Maltese Falcon case, we know what to expect: straight talk, hard questions, no favors, and no way for anyone to get underneath the protective shell he wears like a second skin. We know that his late partner, Miles Archer, was a son of a bitch; that Spade is sleeping with Archer’s wife, Iva; that his tomboyish secretary, Effie Perine, is the only innocent in his life. What we don’t know is how Spade became who he is. Spade & Archer completes the picture.1921: Spade sets up his own agency in San Francisco and clients quickly start coming through the door. The next seven years will see him dealing with booze runners, waterfront thugs, stowaways, banking swindlers, gold smugglers, bumbling cops, and the illegitimate daughter of Sun Yat-sen; with murder, other men’s mistresses, and long-missing money. He’ll bring in Archer as a partner, though it was Archer who stole his girl while he was fighting in World War I. He’ll tangle with a villain who never loses his desire to make Spade pay big for ruining what should’ve been the perfect crime. And he’ll fall in love—though it won’t turn out for the best. It never does with dames . . .Spade & Archer is a gritty, pitch-perfect, hard-boiled novel—the work of a master mystery writer—destined to become a classic in its own right.

SUMMARY: When Sam Spade gets drawn into the Maltese Falcon case, we know what to expect: straight talk, hard questions, no favors, and no way for anyone to get underneath the protective shell he wears like a second skin. We know that his late partner, Miles Archer, was a son of a bitch; that Spade is sleeping with Archer’s wife, Iva; that his tomboyish secretary, Effie Perine, is the only innocent in his life. What we don’t know is how Spade became who he is. Spade & Archer completes the picture.1921: Spade sets up his own agency in San Francisco and clients quickly start coming through the door. The next seven years will see him dealing with booze runners, waterfront thugs, stowaways, banking swindlers, gold smugglers, bumbling cops, and the illegitimate daughter of Sun Yat-sen; with murder, other men’s mistresses, and long-missing money. He’ll bring in Archer as a partner, though it was Archer who stole his girl while he was fighting in World War I. He’ll tangle with a villain who never loses his desire to make Spade pay big for ruining what should’ve been the perfect crime. And he’ll fall in love—though it won’t turn out for the best. It never does with dames . . .Spade & Archer is a gritty, pitch-perfect, hard-boiled novel—the work of a master mystery writer—destined to become a classic in its own right.

The likable pack of operatives for Daniel Kearny Associates of San Francisco return for a fun romp, working fast repos on a list of classic cars missing after a raid on a shady auto dealer. Told vignette-style, with a huge cast of characters and many subplots, this novel is anchored by the adventures of the beautiful Gypsy witch Yana.