Brooke Allen of The Barnes & Noble Review rediscovers ten classics from Felony & Mayhem.

Pudgy, plain, and newly divorced, Margot feels simultaneously invisible and entirely exposed, all her vulnerabilities on shameful display. She has a vague memory of having had friends or at least a social circle, but those easy pleasures now feel entirely beyond her grasp. Unable to muster much of a protest, she allows herself to be bundled off for a weekend in London, where she is — astonishingly — taken up by a thrillingly bohemian, artsy crowd and the irresistibly glamorous and powerfully sexual photographer at their center.

No fool, Margot understands she’s being used, even if she doesn’t understand exactly how or why. And though readers will imagine they know what lies in wait for Margot, the conclusion of this award-winning thriller will surprise…everybody.

“Excellent, fluid writing and sharp dialogue…both a thriller and an always interesting portrait of a woman groping her way into the light” — Tangled Web

Crime ain’t what it used to be. Time was, there were certain traditions, certain codes of conduct. But like everything else in Britain, drug-dealing and loan-sharking have been taken over by immigrants who don’t respect the old ways, and Charlie Hook, the last of the English Mobsters, has had enough. He’s also got a book deal, and he’s ready to spill some juicy stories, with the help of the right ghost-writer.

As Charlie sees it, the ideal ghost is veteran crime reporter Laurie Lane. Laurie’s got his doubts — he very much enjoys breathing — but before they can be resolved, Old Man Hook is found dead in his London townhouse. Is Laurie off the hook? Not so fast. The younger generation — as vicious as Daddy, but with better suits — is about to make him an offer he can’t refuse.

“A hilarious romp…a joy to read” — Evening Standard (UK)

“A real treat” — Daily Telegraph (UK)

The Undertaker in question suffers from the unfortunate name of Bowels, but that’s rather the least of his worries. More problematic is his location in Apron Lane, a little bit of Dickensian London that still appears to be flourishing in this brave new post-War world. Urchins abound, and a quasi-feudal order is maintained by the eccentric Palinode family, once the squires of Apron Street and still expecting a certain forelock-tugging deference, even as their fortunes have evaporated.

The Apron might be nothing more than an amusing anachronism if its Dickensian aspect did not include a distinctly Bill Sykes-style of omnipresent threat. With the police prototypically baffled, Campion takes up local lodgings in an effort to identify the source of the violence and, incidentally, lend a hand with the Palinodes’ beloved crossword puzzles.

“A top-notch mystery, full of keen characterization, humor, old English atmosphere, a charmingly decadent family and a few sudden deaths” — New York Times

“An incredible reading experience” — Smålänningen (Sweden)

“Alvtegen at her best” — Daily Telegraph (UK)

Sir Eustace is a cad of the first water, with a specialty in other men’s wives, and the list of people who might want to do him in could fill a London phone book. But which of them actually sent the chocolates with their nasty hidden payload? Scotland Yard (we love saying this) is baffled. Enter the Crime Circle, a group of society intellectuals with a shared conviction in their ability to succeed where the police have failed. Eventually, each member will produce a tightly reasoned solution to the Case of the Poisoned Chocolates, but each of those solutions will identify a different murderer. First published in 1929, The Poisoned Chocolates Case is both a classic of the Golden Age of Mystery Fiction, and one of the great puzzle-mysteries of all time.

“The plot is deeply mysterious, logically conceived, planned with great care and carried out with the utmost skill” – The Boston Transcript

The Richmond Times Dispatch published a review for the The Art of Deception by Elizabeth Ironside.

“Ironside writes exquisitely…Each of her five novels is a treasure, and The Art of Deception lives up to her high standards and provides enormous pleasure.”

Read the full review of The Art of Deception by the Richmond Times Dispatch

Art historian Nicholas Ochterlonie is the very model of a modern English gentleman, with a perfectly ordered life in which everything – or so he thinks – is exactly as it seems. But when his wife inexplicably demands a divorce, he finds himself diving into uncertainty like a junkie with a new drug. Soon he is risking his professional reputation, breaking the law, and embarking on a delirious affair with the mysterious Julian, beautiful and badly damaged by her past with a Russian gangster.

Protecting Julian from the Mafya and challenging his colleagues’ pet convictions give Nicholas an intoxicating new sense of himself: the dashing hero, unafraid to grapple with difficult truths. Of course, all addicts believe they’re in control … until they aren’t any more.

“The plotting is deft, the characters interesting, and the passages about authenticating paintings are as exciting as the book itself” – Sunday Times of London

“Both a splendid mystery and a first-class novel” – Jerusalem Post

First in the Ellis Portal series

On the day he graduated from law school, there was little doubt that Ellis Portal would have a brilliant future. Indeed, he and five of his similarly gifted colleagues commemorated the splendor of their shared expectations with an expensive dinner and the presentation, to each, of a specially commissioned signet ring.

For a time, those expectations were borne out, and Ellis took his place at the top of Toronto society. However, he has fallen hard. Homeless now, cut off from his family, he lives in Toronto’s shadows and has almost succeeded in forgetting his own past. And then one day he makes a grisly discovery. It’s not unusual: all cities have their share of dead bodies. But on one finger is an unusual, unmistakable signet ring. And Ellis, against his will, begins to remember.

“Nearly irresistible” – Publishers Weekly

“A smart, suspenseful whodunit with unusual moral depth” – New York Times

“Complex and at times profoundly moving” – Denver Post