Steph Cha Bücher

Nachdem Rodney King von der Polizei brutal niedergeschlagen wurde, herrschen im L.A. der Neunziger bürgerkriegsähnliche Zustände. Inmitten der Unruhen wird Shawns Schwester irrtümlich für eine Diebin gehalten und erschossen. Für Shawns Familie bricht eine Welt zusammen. Die Täterin kommt mit einem milden Urteil davon. Jahrzehnte später schwelen die Konflikte noch immer. Als die Polizei einen unbewaffneten schwarzen Teenager erschießt, brechen bei Shawn alte Wunden auf. Auch die junge Grace, die als Tochter koreanischer Einwanderer ein behütetes Leben führt, ist von der Polizeigewalt erschüttert. Beide müssen sich in der aufgeheizten Atmosphäre den Dämonen ihrer Vergangenheit stellen und erkennen, dass auch in ihren Familien ungeahnte Schatten lauern.

Two teenagers fresh out of stir set their sights on what looks like easy money in this classic thriller from 1958, only to get a painful education in how quickly and drastically a simple plan can spin out of control.Dolores Hitchens wrote crime novels that were both tough and compassionate, with a sharp eye for the emotional scars that violence leaves. The basis for Jean-Luc Godard's film Band of Outsiders, Fools' Gold is a swift and unadorned tale of three young people—two boys just released after being incarcerated for a juvenile offense, and an orphaned girl living in a house full of secrets—whose lives are rapidly torn apart by what starts as a simple plan of robbery. It echoes other classic American narratives of youth astray and on the run, and with its headlong pace catches the rhythm of adolescent crisis, as Hitchens's protagonists find themselves caught up in a situation spiraling beyond their control.

Juniper Song - private detective - has a talent for surveillance, and for knowing when a client isn't telling her the whole story. Rubina Gasparian, Song's latest client, is worried about her cousin, who just happens to be carrying her baby as a surrogate. Something tells Song she's been hired to do more than just follow a heavily pregnant twenty-six-year-old around LA, and soon enough, she finds herself caught in the dangerous underbelly of one of LA's biggest immigrant communities

Rediscover one of America’s pioneering women crime writers with this classic noir starring a Long Beach private investigator reminiscent of Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe “Are you trying to tell me you don't want the job, Mr. Sader?” It started as a missing persons case and grew more puzzling with the discovery of another strangely coincidental disappearance. Private eye Jim Sader finds himself deep in a multilayered intrigue revolving around oil and real estate and the sleazy underpinnings of Long Beach, California, in the 1950s. Taut, suspenseful, and gritty, many consider Sleep with Strangers to be Dolores Hitchens’ best novel.

This classic mystery features a family feud, feline intervention, and the spirited septuagenarian sleuth from The Cat Saw Murder. A strange encounter with a little girl named Claudia and a dead toad sparks elderly detective fiction fan Rachel Murdock’s obsessive curiosity, and she winds up renting the house next door just to see how things play out. But soon after she and her cat Samantha move in, Rachel realizes they’ve landed right in the middle of a deadly love triangle that’s created animosity among the three families who now surround her. When Rachel finds Claudia’s great-grandmother dead in her basement, she reaches out to a friend in the LAPD to solve the crime. They soon learn the three households have been torn apart by one husband’s infidelity and a complicated will that could lead to a fortune. In a house plagued by forbidden love, regret, and greed, Rachel will have to trust her intuition, as well as Samantha’s instincts, to survive—and keep Claudia out of the hands of a killer whose work has just begun.…

A drunken man is shot dead on his doorstep in this classic mystery starring the "observant [and] appealing" seventy-year-old sleuth (Publishers Weekly).

'Nathanael West and Raymond Chandler would be proud.' LA Times Juniper Song has a new gig: apprenticed to a private investigation firm in downtown LA, she's racking up hours following cheating spouses. When a NY artist hires her to keep an eye on her long-distance boyfriend in LA, Song has no problem tailing the guy - until a panicked late-night phone call has her racing to the iconic Roosevelt Hotel. There, in the aftermath of a wild party in its top floor suite, she finds only two people left: the boyfriend and a Hollywood legend. Only one of them is still alive.

Starting with the 2021, the annual short story anthology will now become The Best American Mystery and Suspense and the new series editor, Steph Cha, and best-selling guest editor, Alafair Burke, will select the best short mystery and suspense fiction of the year.

Set against a contemporary backdrop, this novel reinvents the classic noir genre with a gripping narrative. It follows a determined protagonist who becomes embroiled in a web of deceit and danger after a chance encounter. As she navigates the murky underbelly of her city, themes of obsession and betrayal emerge, challenging her perceptions of trust and morality. With sharp dialogue and a suspenseful plot, the story keeps readers on edge, making it a fresh and engaging addition to the noir tradition.

Private eye Jim Sader returns in a hard-hitting thriller set in the dark corners of sunny southern California "You're playing with a child's life": The search for a kidnapped boy leads private detective (and ex-alcoholic) Jim Sader through a labyrinth of well-hidden family secrets and into the heart of an elaborate and malevolent deception. With little to go on--a tight-lipped client, an anonymous letter, a mother who is supposed to be dead--Sader must rely on his wits to find the child even as he outraces the demons that dog him. Sleep with a Slander has been called "the best hard-boiled private eye novel written by a woman—and one of the best written by anybody" (1001 Midnights: The Aficionado's Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction).