Why read non-fiction? Is it just to find things out? Or is it for pleasure, challenge, adventure, meaning? Here, in seventy new pieces, some of the most original writers and thinkers of our time give their answers. From Hilton Als on reading as writing's dearest companion to Nicci Gerrard on reading for her life; from Malcolm Gladwell on entering the...

Discover the classic mystery from Dick Francis, one of the greatest thriller writers of all time 'The characters are superb, the plotting as clever as it gets, the climax nightmarish, the retribution delicious' 5***** Reader Review 'You can always rely on Dick Francis for a page-turner, and this is no exception' 5***** Reader Review ______ Edward Lincoln has scaled the...

The search for diamonds, a crucial scientific breakthrough and a mythical ruined city set off this adventure into the heart of the Congolese jungle. The American expedition is led by Karen Ross, desperate to find her husband and recover the data he found before he disappeared. But there are other teams trying to get there first, and the way is...

A gripping and page-turning thriller that explores themes of power, information, secrecy and war in the twentieth century. From the author of the three-volume historical epic 'The Baroque Cycle' and Seveneves. In his legendary, sprawling masterpiece, Neal Stephenson hacks into the secret histories of nations and the private obsessions of men, decrypting with dazzling virtuosity the forces that shaped this...

Three classic crime novels by a master of the macabre – The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ripley Under Ground, and Ripley's Game – appear here together in hardcover for the first time. Suave, agreeable, and completely amoral, Patricia Highsmith’s hero, the inimitable Tom Ripley, stops at nothing – not even murder – to accomplish his goals. In achieving the opulent life...

The woman on the bed had died in the fire. Pamela Vale, aged 34. She had been beautiful, and had been heavily insured. Her husband showed little grief. Her children seemed terrified. Insurance investigator Jack Wade is sure he knows what happened. All he has to do is to gather the evidence to prove it. And Wade is the best...

Was it murder? Was it horribly botched surgery - accidental malpractice? Was someone in the great Boston medical centre -violating the Hippocratic oath? No one knows exactly. . . Only one doctor is willing to push his way through the mysterious maze of hidden medical data and shocking secrets to learn the truth. This explosive medical thriller is vintage Michael...

Discover the classic mystery from Dick Francis, one of the greatest thriller writers of all time 'Takes the reader on a trip into another world' 5***** Reader Review 'A gripping thriller combining drama with excellent characterisation. I enjoyed every word' 5***** Reader Review ______ David Cleveland - an investigator for the Jockey Club - is sitting in a dinghy in...

One of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World' 'Raymond Chandler invented a new way of talking about America, and America has never looked the same to us since' Paul Auster, author of The New York Trilogy Raymond Chandler was America's preeminent writer of detective fiction, and this edition of The Big Sleep and Other Novels collects three of...

Twenty-five years after the end of the Vietnam War, Bob, 'the Nailer' Swagger is back in the warzone. The Russian sniper with whom he duelled in the jungle and who killed his friend, Donny Fenn, has tracked him down to the remote mountains of Idaho. Soon one man is dead and Swagger's family is under threat. Why has the Russian...

Startling in its revelations, disturbing in its implications - a thriller of gripping intensity and immense literary power. Two violent deaths in the Swedish wilderness; the hurried flight of a sinister stranger: terrible events long buried in Annie Raft's memory - until she sees her daughter in the arms of the man she believes responsible for the killings... ...

A twenty-five-year-old murder, a missing girl, and fatal attraction in a small seaside town... On a sunny Sunday in 1970, in the Devon resort of Pelham Bay, teenager Jennifer Stone discovers the corpse of a woman in the sparkling summer sea. It is an event that is to shape her destiny and that of Mark Piddle, the young reporter called...

In this book crime reporter Norman Lucas, with help of forensic psychiatrist Dr Arthur Hyatt Williams, examines the cases of thirty sex killers including - * Pauline and Juliet, the teenage lesbians whose bizarre fantasies ended in murder * Peter Kuerton, the 'Monster of Dusseldorf' * Sylvestre Matuschka, the Hungarian multiple-killer who found sexual satisfaction amidst the carnage of train...

On the forty-fifth floor of the Nakamoto Tower in downtown L. A. a grand opening celebration is in full swing at the new American headquarters of the immense Japanese conglomerate. On the forty-sixth floor, in an empty conference room, the dead body of a beautiful woman is discovered. The investigation immediately becomes a thrilling chase through a twisting maze of...

A MAN IS MURDERED IN THE GARDENS OF A BRISTOL HOTEL. Inquiries reveal that he worked as an escort for a local escort agency. Rose Piper, investigating DCI, cannot trace the woman he was on his way to meet. But then another employee of Avon Escorts is found dead... In the heart of the Somerset, Freddie and Constance Lange farm...