Munich: The writer Benjamin Stern entered his flat to see a man standing there, leafing through his research, and said, "Who the hell are you?" In response, the man shot him. As Stern lay dying, the gunman murmured a few words in Latin, then he gathered the writer's papers and left. Venice: The art restorer Gabriel Allon applied a dab of paint carefully to the Bellini, then read the message thrust into his hands. Stern was dead; could he leave right...

"From one of the most important contemporary American writers, Cardiff, by the Sea is a bold, haunting collection of four previously unpublished novellas. Starting with the title novella - in which a romantic-minded young art historian is led to (re)discover a terrifying trauma after inheriting property in faraway Cardiff, Maine - through to "The Surviving Child" - which finds the young new wife of a famous poet's widow haunted by the dead poet's...

To most Americans, Frank Hamer is known only as the "villain" of the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde. Now, in Texas Ranger,historian John Boessenecker sets out to restore Hamers good name and prove that he was, in fact, a classic American hero. From the horseback days of the Old West through the gangster days of the 1930s, Hamer stood on the frontlines of some of the most important and exciting periods in American history. He participating in the Bandit...

A hot-headed and uncultured cop, Captain Antoine Verlay gets assigned against his will to the Central Office for the Fight against Trafficking in Cultural Goods and teams up with wildly imaginative art historian Florence Chaddagne to solve art-related murder cases. Good thing they have Florence's art historian father in the wings for consultation. Through their intriguing investigations they delve into the history of great artists and follow in the...

"Stewart "Hoagy" Hoag is walking on cloud nine after a meeting with his editor, Norma Fives, where she predicts his new book is sure to establish him as the next great American author. It has been years since he has even dreamed of such success after a crippling case of writer's block limited his literary aspirations to ghostwriting celebrity memoirs. But his happiness is short-lived when at his next meeting with Norma she asks for his help in discovering...