"Of #1 New York Times-bestselling author Sue Grafton, NPR's Maureen Corrigan said, "Makes me wish there were more than 26 letters." With only two letters left, Grafton's many devoted readers will share that sentiment. X: The number ten. An unknown quantity. A mistake. A cross. A kiss. X: The shortest entry in Webster's Unabridged. Derived from Greek and Latin and commonly found in science, medicine, and religion. The most graphically dramatic...

"Serial killer James Michael Barrett leads a grim parade of police officers, FBI agents, and forensics into the woods of Pine Valley, forty-five miles east of San Diego. At the end of the second week of his high-profile murder trial, he has struck a plea deal with the prosecution: he'll reveal the location of his last victim's body in exchange for the D.A. taking the death penalty off the table. As they reach the site, a light rain begins to fall,...

"Alex Cross enters the final battle with the all-knowing genius who has stalked him and his family for years. Dr. Alex Cross and Detective John Sampson venture into the rugged Montana wilderness--where they will be the prey. They're not on the job, but on a personal mission. Until they're attacked by two rival teams of assassins, controlled by the same mastermind who has stalked Alex and his family for years. Darkness falls. The river churns into...

Lucas Davenport pursues a prolific serial killer who has gone undetected for years in the newest nail-biter by best selling author John Sandford. It was a relatively minor criminal matter, but enough that the U.S. Marshals obtained a warrant to enter the home. They didn't expect to unearth trophies from a score of killings. Now Davenport is on the trail of a serial murderer, one who was able to operate for years without notice or suspicion. But there's...

Serial Crimes Unit DI Anjelica Henley races to stop a copycat killer and prevent her own death before the ruthless murderer who is being imitated takes matters into his own hands.

They call them travelers. They move from city to city, panhandling, committing no crimes. And now someone is killing them. Lucas Davenport's adopted daughter, Letty, is home from college when she gets a phone call from a woman traveler named Skye, whom she'd befriended in San Francisco. The woman thinks somebody's killing her friends, and she's afraid she knows who it is. She's hiding out, and she doesn't know what to do. Letty pays for a bus ticket...

The scene of the crime is lavish but gruesome. In a luxurious mansion on the outskirts of Cleveland, a woman's body lies gutted in a pool of blood on the marble floor. The victim is Joanna Moorehouse, founder of Sterling Financial. The killer could be any one of her associates. Maggie knows that to crack the case, she and Jack will have to infiltrate the cutthroat world of high-states finance. The office of Sterling Financial seethes with potential...

Interviewing an alcoholic Native American who witnessed a murder along the Texas-Mexico border, Sheriff Hack Holland and his deputy, Sam Tibbs, recognize the work of serial killer Preacher Jack Collins in an investigation that is assisted by the enigmatic Anton Ling.

Chicago private investigator Michael Kelly is hired by his former partner, John Gibbons, to help solve an eight-year-old rape and battery case, a case it turns out his old friend was once ordered to forget. When Gibbons turns up dead on Navy Pier, Kelly enlists a team of his savviest colleagues to connect the dots between the recent murder and the cold case it revived: Diane Lindsay, a television reporter whose relationship with Kelly is not strictly...

"1992. Eight respectable, upstanding people have been found dead across the US. These deaths look like accidents and don't appear to be connected. Until one body - the victim of a fatal fall from a hospital window - generates some unexpected attention. That attention comes from the Secretary of Defense, who promptly calls for an inter-agency task force to investigate. Jack Reacher is assigned as the Army's representative. Reacher may be an exceptional...