Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Kelly Douglas has overcome her unhappy childhood in rural Napa Valley to become the host of a new prime-time magazine show. She left behind her abusive, alcoholic father and transformed herself from the "four-eyed and fat" Lizzie Dougherty into a chic, successful television personality. Assigned to do a feature story on Napa Valley, Kelly becomes entangled in the lives of Katherine Rutledge, the matriarch of the famous Rutledge Estate Winery, and her grandson, Sam.

With a troubled past and a job that attracts too much attention from the law, private investigator John March has always been the black sheep of his merchant banking family—which makes the identity of his latest client all the more surprising: his smug older brother. David March has been having affairs with anonymous women he meets on the internet, and now one of these women is stalking him. David knows her only as Wren. She, however, knows everything about David. After Wren turns up dead, John finds he's no longer searching for a stalker—now he's looking for a murderer.

Successful TV political commentator Arthur Vandameer—host of WNIN's Speaking Truth to Power—is rich, famous...and miserable. He has risen to the top of the city's glittering media heap only to find nothing. His teenage daughter—privileged, glamorous Allison—is blonde, beautiful, and wants nothing more than to go to film school. Her boyfriend, Joselito Diaz (aka Goonie), is special to her only because she knows her father cannot stand him. When Allison disappears, a madcap cast of characters gets into the act, stirring a citywide web of intrigue, insanity, political values and personal agendas.

Lawyer Matthew Hope gets a call from Carlton Markham, who's been arrested for his filmmaker wife's murder but says he didn't do it. Witnesses fly forward to proclaim his guilt, but Markham's not giving up on his innocence that easily. And when Hope digs deeper into the victim's business - from heavy financial backers to sleazy egomaniacs - he finds she may not have been the perfect lady that she seemed. The one piece of evidence that could set Markham free and finger the real killer is the victim's film reel.

FBI Special Agent Jay Fletcher is an agency hacker who can use computers to find out anything about anyone - but her failure to respect proper channels gets her bounced out of Washington, D.C. to an unexciting arson detail in Sante Fe. Bored, she keeps her computer skills sharp by following an ongoing investigation into Las Vegas's own serial killer.

Lieutenant Sheila Worthy has been viciously slain, and it's up to Major Kara Guidry, the top lawyer in the Judge Advocate General's office, to track down her killer. But Guidry finds she must tread lightly. Rumors have linked the dead lieutenant to General William Beckwith, who was Kara's instructor at West Point and is now on the short list to become the Army's next Chief of Staff. Guidry must also contend with Beckwith's rivals, who would like nothing more than to see the general discredited.

In this modern-day tale of madcap Manhattan, a flurry of desperate guys and dolls reach for their big chance: Arthur Vandameer is the left-wing media pundit and Allison is his beautiful scheming teenaged daughter. Charlie Moon is the right-wing newspaper columnist, Roy Bumble is a conman without a con, and Harry Stumbo wishes Times Square could be safe again. Add to these a kid name Goonie, a Bumble named Bea, and a huge peanut, and the result is a comic salute to the wacky vibrancy of New York City.

When the network decides to revive its old show The Murder Game, Steve Allen's wife Jayne Meadows is willing to try her hand at solving imaginary homicides on prime-time television. The game turns deadly, however, as one by one the stars are actually killed. With each new victim, the program's ratings soar, so Steve and Jayne take it upon themselves to find out who the killer is—before their bodies increase the viewership even more!

The discovery of concealed remains in a mass grave in Russia forces top scientists to question everything they believed about human origins. For molecular biologist Kaye Lang and "virus hunter" Christopher Dicken, it means pursuing a mysterious flu-like disease that has been dormant for millions of years—and is now coming back to life. With the world threatened by a deadly epidemic, they must solve an elusive puzzle and find a way to prevent the next terrifying step in evolution.

California lawyer Greg Monarch was in no mood for visitors. But it's not every day a federal judge comes knocking at his door, especially with a curious request: to review the final appeal of a murderer on Death Row who personally asked for Greg's assistance. Tired of defending killers, Greg has every intention of turning the case down until he discovers the prisoner is a former lover he hasn't seen in two decades: the fiery, impetuous Sarah Trant.

Beaufort, South Carolina is home to the Smallwoods, a family closely knit but fiercely at odds. Georgie, the youngest, is tormented by worry for her son, who vanished two years earlier, and by her anger at her father. An unforgiving patriarch and ex-Marine, Georgie's father neglects her mother, belittles her brother Ashby, and denies her sister Claire the financial support she needs after a trying divorce.

A board the majestic ocean liner Queen Elizabeth II, the leaders of the most powerful nations on earth meet for the first time ever to launch a new era of peace and global cooperation. For ultra-nationalist Chinese terrorists who believe that the summit will make their Asian homeland a pawn of the Western imperialist power, this summit represents a betrayal of monumental proportions. In ominous silence on the ocean floor, they have hijacked the nuclear submarine Lijiang and set a course to intercept the Queen in the North Atlantic.

In Downtown, we meet Michael Barnes, a Florida orange grower who finds himself in a Wall Street bar in New York City with a couple of hours to kill. It's a couple of hours that almost kill him, as he's swindled, robbed, framed for murder and hunted down by an assassin in one of the wildest, scariest, funniest, fastest 24 hours ever packed into one novel.

After Jessica Leeds—wife of a prestigious, wealthy Florida landowner—is brutally raped, three Vietnamese immigrants are charged with the crime. After the trial results in their acquittal, Jessica's husband Stephen vows vengeance. Then, the three immigrants are found savagely murdered. When all of the evidence ties Stephen Leeds to the grisly killings, Jessica turns to Florida lawyer Matthew Hope. He takes the case—and discovers a situation far more complex and explosive than he, or his client, imagined.

A banker with a smile that conceals a devilish impulse, a literary agent who is quick to anger, a mechanic with a desperate need to be liked, and a psychologist who keeps all their secrets—as well as his own—meet every week in the dingy back room of a New York City bar. These men have one thing in common: They all suffer the sting of a broken heart. Soon, anger turns to hate, and the Broken Hearts Club spins violently out of control, exploding into murderous acts of vengeance. Detective Conrad Voort is assigned the case, determined to catch an elusive killer who is always one death ahead.

When Faron Sears—a rich, brilliant, messianic, Black ex-con—enters the presidential race and refuses to play by the old rules, he electrifies the electorate. But someone Faron trusts is a traitor, and someone else plots to become his assassin. The FBI agent assigned to save Faron's life is also ordered to protect the secret of a cover-up that threatens the Washington establishment. From the White House to the mountains of Idaho, the hunt for the traitor and assassin illuminates mysterious forces at work in politics, the media, and ordinary life.

DEA agent Kevin Grady discovers that the CIA is turning a blind eye to drug smuggling by its allies—and CIA officer Jack Lind is at the center of this conspiracy. Lind allows Panamanian policeman Manuel Noriega to become the country's dictator, ignoring his ties to the Medellin cocaine cartel in order to use Panama as a base for an anti-Communist crusade. Grady and Lind become enemies in a war they should have been fighting together, and beautiful Panamanian Juanita Boyd—Lind's lover—is caught in their struggle.

Jake Sands has had a truly action-packed life as a recoverer of stolen objects and people. His work has made him a very rich man, but he paid a steep price: the murder of his wife and child. Jake now spends his days working out and his nights haunted by memories.

Julia Lang is a winner-beautiful, vivacious, publicity director of London's top hotel. Robert Brand is charismatic, handsome with his vast fortune he can works magic. Together they make a golden couple, the world at their feet. Together they can almost forget Robert's unhappy marriage to Grace, a union bound by secrets a generation old...until, suddenly, Julia's world is shattered when Robert tragically dies; inheriting his fortune leaves her little consolation.

Alison Young seems to have it all - a brilliant career, a beautiful San Francisco townhouse, a loving husband, and a talented teenage daughter. But for 18 years, Alison has kept a terrible a secret. She was the victim of a violent rape, and her daughter is the result of it. Unable to bring her attacker to trial or get a legal abortion, Alison left her hometown, reinvented her past, and built a new life for herself. Now, however, someone threatens to destroy all that Alison has achieved.