Best Selling Books by Bill Loehfelm

"The fifth novel in the acclaimed Maureen Coughlin series, about a brilliant, young detective solving crimes in New Orleans"--

"Maureen Coughlin is a bona fide New Orleans cop now, and, with her training days behind her, she likes to think she''s getting the lay of the land. Then a mysterious corpse leads to more questions than answers, and a late-night traffic stop goes very wrong. The fallout leaves Maureen contending with troubled friends, fraying loyalties, cop-hating enemies old and new, and an elusive, spectral, and murderous new nemesis--and all the while navigating the twists and turns of a city and a police department infected with dysfunction and corruption"--Amazon.com.

With The Devil She Knows, Bill Loehfelm has written a pitch-black thriller in a fresh, compulsively readable voice, with pages that turn themselves. This is the real deal: a breakout novel by a writer whom Publishers Weekly has praised for his "superb prose and psychological insights." Life isn''t panning out for Maureen Coughlin. At twenty-nine, the tough-skinned Staten Island native''s only excitement comes from . . . well, not much. A fresh pack of American Spirits, maybe, or a discreet dash of coke before work. If something doesn''t change soon, she''ll end up a "lifer" at the Narrows, the faux-swank bar where she works one long night after another. But just like the island, the Narrows has its seamy side. After work one night, Maureen walks in on a tryst between her co-worker Dennis and Frank Sebastian, a silver-haired politico. When Sebastian demands her silence, Maureen is more than happy to forget what she''s seen—until Dennis turns up dead on the train tracks the next morning. The murder sends Maureen careening out of her stultifying routine and into fast-deepening trouble. Soon she''s on the run through the seedy underbelly of the borough, desperate to stop Sebastian before Dennis''s fate becomes her own.

It''s been a brutal year for the rookie New Orleans cop Maureen Coughlin. Her first arrests, her first black eye, and, after a stinging brush with the corrupt heart of her adopted city, her first suspension. As she waits out the suspension, hoping to save her badge, Maureen finds increasingly dark and dangerous ways to pass the time. Justice, she tells herself, is being served. No need for the NOPD to know what she''s doing. Maureen believes getting back to the job she loves is worth any sacrifice, any risk, that it''s the only thing she really wants. But wearing the badge again means stepping back into the crosshairs of ruthless people who want her out of the way and don''t care who else gets caught in the crossfire. Driven by a lead character Megan Abbott calls "a hero with whom we will go anywhere," Let the Devil Out raises the bar for sharp-witted, compelling cop fiction. As The New York Times says of Maureen, "She finds herself wrestling with ethical issues that fictional cops, especially fictional female ones, rarely talk about, leaving that stuff to real-life cops--and smart guys like Bill Loehfelm."

Maureen Coughlin starts out her career with the New Orleans police force by being punched in the face by a man rushing out of an apartment building.

When John Sanders, Jr., learns that his father has been murdered, his only regret is that he didn''t pull the trigger himself. Yet despite his rage at his father for a lifetime of abuse, he becomes obsessed with finding the killer. But as a string of dead ends and violent encounters leave Junior no closer to any answers, his relationship with his beloved sister crumbles, while his affair with an old high school sweetheart wreaks havoc on his fracturing psyche. Only when a chance for revenge finally arrives must Junior decide whether he will continue the chain of violence or accept the challenge of a new beginning.

"Both a suspenseful crime story and the saga of a troubled Irish- American family... Superb." (Associated Press) Kevin Curran was ready to give up on his younger brother, Danny, who is lost to heroin addiction and hard, desperate living on the streets of New York. So when Danny shows up on Kevin''s Staten Island doorstep, looking clean, fit, and prosperous, Kevin can''t help but be overjoyed. But when Danny offers Kevin a role in an underworld plot revolving around the abandoned Bloodroot Children''s Hospital, not even Kevin''s worst nightmares could have prepared him for what he''ll discover or the horrific revelations that will pit them against a world of murder, mob hitmen-and each other.

Osama bin Laden spent more than two decades creating himself as a radical leader and terrorist in the Middle East. After the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, bin Laden came into international focus and became the world''s most wanted man.

The Strand''s 42nd issue features short stories by Joseph Finder, Tennessee Williams, Michael Stanley and an interview with Lisa Unger. The Strand also has the latest book reviews of the latest mystery novels and audiobooks.

The House That Jack Built is a contemporary novel, set on the mythical Caribbean island of St. Anne, that explores enduring themes of American literature such as independence, self-determination, and the effects of greed on the independent spirit.

La vie nocturne et ses dérapages alcoolisés, Maureen connaît. Serveuse dans un bar branché de Staten Island, la jeune femme de vingt-neuf ans a un credo : rester de marbre face aux égarements de la clientèle. Jusqu''à ce qu''elle surprenne l''influent politicien Frank Sebastian dans une position hautement compromettante avec Dennis, le manager du club. Un acte auquel elle est décidée à n''accorder aucune importance. Mais lorsque le cadavre de Dennis est découvert le lendemain, gisant sur les rails du tramway, Maureen panique. Commence une cavale terrifiante pour échapper aux griffes d''un maître-chanteur diabolique.

Dans une Louisiane loin des cartes postales, entre narcotrafic et ultraviolence, la descente aux enfers d''une femme rongée par son passé. Un style nerveux et un suspense furieusement prenant, par une nouvelle grande voix du polar américain. Pour oublier la terrible agression dont elle a été victime quelques mois plus tôt, Maureen Coughlin va plaquer New York et son job de serveuse, et intégrer la police de La Nouvelle-Orléans. Aux côtés du sergent Boyd, vieux routier placide, la jeune femme apprend le métier, tente de canaliser sa rage. Mais dans cette ville gangrenée par le crime, la misère et la corruption, où les plaies de l''ouragan Katrina sont encore béantes, comment garder l''esprit clair ? Surtout quand de jeunes ados, guetteurs pour les cartels, disparaissent les uns après les autres. Et qu''un nom revient sans cesse, murmuré comme une malédiction : Bobby Scales. Protéger les enfants, réduire à néant ce baron de la drogue : Maureen veut prouver qu''elle est un bon flic. Mais pour pénétrer l''antre du mal ne faut-il pas être prêt à vendre son âme ?