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Hellequin, last of the HawkEye military elite, is desperate to escape the legacy of Soul Food, the miraculous plant food that leeched the soil, destroyed his family, and instigated a bloody civil war. For a man awaiting the inevitable madness brought on by his enforced biomorph implant, there’s only one choice. Run away with the circus… Drifting above a poisoned landscape, Cyber Circus and her exotic acrobats and bioengineered freaks bring a welcome splash of colour into folk’s drab lives. None more so than escaped courtesan turned-dancer Desirous Nim. When Nim’s freedom and her very life are threatened, Hellequin is forced to fight again. But, even united, will the weird troupe and their strange skills be enough to save Nim and keep their home aloft? That’s assuming, of course, that Zan City’s Blood Worms, mute stowaways, or the swarms don’t manage to bring them down first… Welcome to the greatest show on Sore Earth! The book also features: “Black Sunday” – a free-standing but associated novelette. A tale of desperation, incorporating drought, science, giant burrowing machines, rural magic, racial tension and sensuality in the 1930s Kansas dustbowl. <

L. Lagins VECAIS CHOTABIČS Redaktore I. K a I n c i e m a. Mākslinieciskais redaktors A. B e L u k i n s. Techn. redaktore M. AIzupiete. Korektore A. S rn i t e. Л. Лагин СТАРИК ХОТТАБЫЧ Повесть — скалка Детгиз 1953 Художник В. Медведев Латвийское государственное издательство На латышском языке TULKOJUSI A. SĪTIŅA ILUSTRĒJIS V. MEDVEDJEVS <

L.VELSKOPFA ~ Henriha IZRAIDĪTO CEĻŠ No cikla «Lielas Lācenes deli» IZDEVNIECĪBA «LIESMA» RĪGA 1974 No vācu valodas tulkojusi Ērika Lūse I. Kuskova ilustrācijas Vāku, titulu un priekšlapas darinājis Eglons Lūsis  Tulkojums latviešu valodā, ^ «Liesma», 1974 <

Mūsuprāt, šīs grāmatas mērķis nav kādam pielaikot strīpainu pidžamiņu. Šīs grāmatas mērķis ir uzskatāmi parādīt, ko ar cilvēku var izdarīt nepārvarama tieksme pēc naudas un varas.

Kampt, kampt un kampt. Vēl, vēl, vēl un vēl. Īpaši neaizraujoties ar domām par citiem cilvēkiem. Vai valsti. Vai ko citu.

Ak, jā, dažiem būtiskāk var šķist tas, ka šī grāmata mēģina dot atbildi uz jautājumu — kādā veidā gan vienam cilvēkam izdevās to visu pakampt? Protams, ja viņš tiešām bija viens...

Ebenso wie seine Romane bürgen auch die Kurzgeschichten des Meisters hautnahen Horrors für Schreckensqualitäten vom Feinsten. Namenlose Kreaturen, mörderische Ratten, mysteriöse Erscheinungen halten Einzug in die geheimsten Winkel unseres Nervensystems ... Das Buch Dean Koontz gilt als Meister hautnahen Horrors, und er versäumt es auch in seinen schaudererregenden Kurzgeschichten nicht, den Leser in eine eiskalte Welt puren Entsetzens zu entführen. Namenlose Kreaturen, die einem notorischen Dieb das Fürchten lehren, mörderische Ratten, entkommen aus einem Versuchslabor, und Wesen aus anderen Welten erschüttern unser Vertrauen in das Erdendasein nachhaltig ... Der Autor Dean Koontz, 1946 in Bedford/Pennsylvania geboren, besuchte das Shippensburg State College und nahm 1966 eine Lehrerstelle in Appalachia an. Wenig später heiratete er und veröffentlichte seinen ersten Roman und einige Kurzgeschichten. 1976 zog er mit seiner Familie nach Orange County/Kalifornien. In mehr als 20 Jahren schrieb Koontz 55 Bücher, die in einer Weltauflage von 60 Millionen Exemplaren in 18 Ländern verbreitet ist. Titel der Originalausgabe STRANGE HIGHWAYS STORY COLLECTION <

The California dream weavers have invaded Charm City with their cameras, their stars, and their controversy…

When private investigator Tess Monaghan literally runs into the crew of the fledgling TV series Mann of Steel while sculling, she expects sharp words and evil looks, not an assignment. But the company has been plagued by a series of disturbing incidents since its arrival on location in Baltimore: bad press, union threats, and small, costly on-set “accidents” that have wreaked havoc with its shooting schedule. As a result, Mann’s creator, Flip Tumulty, the son of a Hollywood legend, is worried for the safety of his young female lead, Selene Waites, and asks Tess to serve as her bodyguard/babysitter. Tumulty’s concern may be well founded. Not long ago a Baltimore man was discovered dead in his own home, surrounded by photos of the beautiful, difficult superstar-in-the-making.

In the past, Tess has had enough trouble guarding her own body. Keeping a spoiled movie princess under wraps may be more than she can handle – even with the help of Tess’s icily unflappable friend Whitney – since Selene is not as naive as everyone seems to think, and far more devious than she initially appears to be. This is not Tess’s world. And these are not her kind of people, with their vanities, their self-serving agendas and invented personas, and their remarkably skewed visions of reality – from the series’ aging, shallow, former pretty-boy leading man to its resentful, always-on-the-make cowriter to the officious young assistant who may be too hungry for her own good.

But the fish-out-of-water P.I. is abruptly pulled back in by an occurrence she’s all too familiar with – murder. Suddenly the wall of secrets around Mann of Steel is in danger of toppling, leaving shattered dreams, careers, and lives scattered among the ruins – a catastrophe that threatens the people Tess cares about… and the city she loves.

In a city like Baltimore, where someone is murdered almost on a daily basis, Attorney Michael Abramowitz's death should be just another statistic. But for PI Tess Monaghan's client, who is in the frame, time is running short to prove his innocence.<

Tess Monaghan has finally made the move and hung out her sign as a private investigator for hire, complete with an office in Butchers Hill. Maybe its not the greatest address in Baltimore, but you've got to start somewhere. Then in walks Luther Beale, the notorious vigilante who five years ago shot a boy for vandalising his car. Just out of prison, he wants to make reparations to the kids who witnessed his crime, so he needs Tess to find them. But once she starts snooping, the witnesses start dying. Is the 'Butcher of Butchers Hill' at it again? Like it or not, Tess is embroiled in a case that encompasses the powers that be, a heartless system that has destroyed the lives of children, and a nasty trail of money and lies leading all the way back to Butchers Hill.<

After her brilliant stand-alone thriller EVERY SECRET THING (it has received stunning reviews in the US and increased her sales by 35%) Lippman returns to her wonderful series character, PI Tess Monaghan and her home town of Baltimore. This story begins when an orthodox Jewish man, Mark Rubin, hires Tess to trace his missing wife Natalie who has disappeared with their three children, a boy on the brink of adolescence, Isaac, and younger, boy/girl twins. It transpires that Natalie has taken off with another man, Zeke. The husband Mark, who loves his wife and adores his children, especially Isaac, is devastated. At first Tess has him marked as a control freak and thinks his wife may have had a point, but her feelings change. The narrative is shared between Tess, pursuing her investigation, and the family on the run whose story is told mainly from Isaac's point of view. This is a fascinating novel about men and women, parents and children, a family drama as much as mystery – it's highly intelligent and sensitive and, at the same time, a hugely compelling page-turner.<

As a practised reporter until her newspaper went to that great pressroom in the sky, PI Tess Monaghan knows and loves every inch of her native Baltimore. It's a quirky city where baseball reigns, but lately homicide seems to be the second most popular local sport. Business tycoon 'Wink' Wynkowski is trying to change all that by bringing pro basketball back to town, and everybody's rooting for him – until a devastating, muckraking expose of his lurid past appears on the front page of the Baltimore Beacon Light. It's a surprise even to the newspaper's editors, who thought they'd killed the piece. Instead, the piece killed Wink, who's found in his garage with the car running. Tess is hired to find the unknown computer hacker who planted the lethal story – but it doesn't take long for her to discover deeper, darker secrets…<

Wyszły z domu i nigdy nie wróciły. Kilkunastoletnie siostry zniknęły bez śladu. Nigdy nie odnaleziono ich ciał. Nigdy nie rozwiązano zagadki ich zaginięcia.

Trzydzieści lat później zagadkowa kobieta powoduje wypadek samochodowy. Przesłuchiwana przez policję wyznaje, że jest jedną z sióstr Bethany – tą, która uszła z życiem z rąk porywacza. Jej oszczędnie dawkowane zeznania są jednak pełne luk i nieścisłości, a wskazywane przez nią tropy okazują się ślepymi uliczkami.

Czy naprawdę jest tym, za kogo się podaje? Dlaczego tak długo zwlekała z ujawnieniem się? Co stało się z jej siostrą?

W poszukiwaniu odpowiedzi detektyw wydziału zabójstw zagłębia się w przeszłość, z której z porażającą siłą wyłania się ponura tajemnica cierpienia i zbrodni.

It is early evening, summer time and hot. Two eleven year old girls, Alice and Ronnie, are on their way home from a swimming party when they happen to see a baby’s stroller, with baby girl sleeping inside, left unattended on the top step of a house. Ronnie says to Alice: “We have to take care of this baby.” But what exactly does she mean? Four days later the body of little Olivia Barnes is discovered in a hut in Baltimore ’s rambling Leakin Park by a young rookie detective, Nancy Porter. What can have happened in those four days to bring about this appalling crime? The girls are arrested and found guilty. Seven years later Ronnie and Alice, now eighteen, are released from their separate prisons, back into their old neighbourhood where the mother of baby Olivia still lives. Another child goes missing, and Nancy Porter and her partner get the case…<

New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman has been hailed as one of the best crime fiction writers in America today, winning virtually every major award in the genre. The author of the enormously popular series featuring Baltimore P.I. Tess Monaghan as well as three critically lauded stand-alone novels, Lippman now turns her attention to short stories – and reveals another level of mastery.

Lippman sets many of the stories in this sterling anthology, Hardly Knew Her, in familiar territory: her beloved Baltimore, from downtown to its affluent suburbs, where successful businessmen go to shocking lengths to protect what they have or ruthlessly expand their holdings, while dissatisfied wives find murderous ways to escape their lives. But Lippman is also unafraid to travel – to New Orleans, to an unnamed southwestern city, and even to Dublin, the backdrop for the lethal clash of two not-so-innocents abroad. Tess Monaghan is here, in two stories and a profile, aligning herself with various underdogs. And in her extraordinary, never-before-published novella, Scratch a Woman, Lippman takes us deep into the private world of a high-priced call girl/madam and devoted soccer mom, exploring the mystery of what may, in fact, be written in the blood.

Each of these ingenious tales is a gem – sometimes poignant, sometimes humorous, always filled with delightfully unanticipated twists and reversals. For people who have yet to read Lippman, get ready to experience the spellbinding power of "one of today's most pleasing storytellers, hailed for her keen psychological insights and her compelling characterizations," (San Diego Union-Tribune), who has "invigorated the crime fiction arena with smart, innovative, and exciting work" (George Pelecanos). As for longtime devotees of her multiple award-winning novels, you'll discover that you hardly know her.