Akron Public Library

It's 1949. When war veteran Aloysius Archer is released from Carderock Prison, he is sent to Poca City on parole with a short list of do's and a much longer list of don'ts: do report regularly to his parole officer, don't go to bars, certainly don't drink alcohol, do get a job -- and don't ever associate with loose women. The small town quickly proves more complicated and dangerous than Archer's years serving in the war or his time in jail. Within...

Finding himself in an awkward position when he is sentenced to community service--with his newly-found half-brother, Alex, as his parole officer--Jake St. Cloud decides to make the most of his work with Angelica Dancer and her daughter, Fancy, at their foundation for neglected children.

"The truth is easy to miss, even when it's right in front of us. As a forensic reconstructionist, Rory Moore sheds light on cold-case homicides by piecing together crime scene details others fail to see. Cleaning out her late father's law office a week after his burial, she receives a call that plunges her into a decades-old case come to life once more. In the summer of 1979, five Chicago women went missing. The predator, nicknamed The Thief, left...

Shan Tao Yun is an exiled Chinese national, a former Beijing Investigator, on parole from the Tibetan gulag to which he had been consigned as punishment. Leading a mule bearing a corpse at the request of a local wisewoman, he comes upon a traffic accident involving a government bus transporting illegal monks to prison. Two women in an approaching vehicle are shot, and one dies in his arms. Shan must find the killer, for his reward will be the life...

"Chouteau Forest's wealthy are being targeted by the Ghost Burglars, who've carried out twelve burglaries over two weeks. So far, there's been no bloodshed... until Tom Lockridge is brutally slain inside his marble mansion during the latest raid. Angela Richman, death investigator for Chouteau County, is called to assess the scene and the body by Detective Jace Budewitz. As they investigate, Jace becomes obsessed with proving the Ghost Burglars weren't...

Bruno Johnson, a tough Los Angeles street cop, member of the elite violent crime task force, feared by the bad guys, admired by the good, finds his life derailed when a personal tragedy forces him to break the law. Now he's an ex-con and his life on parole is not going well. He is hassled by the police at every opportunity and to make matters even more difficult, his former partner, Robby Wicks, now a high-ranking detective, bullies him into helping...

When former sheriff Patrick Drake is paroled after a twelve-year stint in prison for committing one of the biggest crimes in local history, he must contend with the current deputy sheriff--who happens to be his son--as well as a terrifying threat from his old life.

At 34, the beautiful Maxine Shaw thrives in her current position as a federal parole officer. Known throughout countless federal correctional facilities for violating and sending parolees from her caseload back to prison, she's the most surprised when she lets her guard down for Seth. The confident, ruthless, Seth Richardson sets his sights on Maxine, who is instantly turned on by his swagger. The consequences she would face from her employer if she...

A series of anonymous threats intended for others puts a man, and everyone he loves, in the path of a relentless killer. Daniel Brasher has always been something of a disappointment to his old-money aristocratic San Francisco mother. Daniel left his high-paying job as a money manager to marry his community organizer wife and work at a job he loves, leading group counseling sessions with recently paroled ex-cons. Now he is ready to move on and start...

Lee Child selects the twenty best mystery short stories of the year, including tales by Stephen King, Sara Paretsky, and many more.