Alice in Jeopardy

Since her husband Eddie's death in a boating accident eight months ago, Alice Glendenning has struggled to make ends meet while waiting for the insurance company to pay up. When Alice takes a job as a real estate agent, she makes a new friend, Charlie Hobbs from whom she is supposed to try to buy his waterfront land for a developer. Things quickly become a nightmare for Alice when her two children, Ashley and Jamie, aren't on the school bus home one day, and she gets a phone call from a woman claiming to have them. When the kidnapper calls again and asks for a ransom identical to the amount Alice is due from the insurance agency after Eddie's accident, Alice forgoes contacting the police and instead calls Charlie for help. But soon enough Alice wonders whether anyone can be trusted in her fight for everything she holds dear.

The New York Times - Marilyn Stasio

Even for Grange, whose surreal flights of barbaric fancy are a strain on the nervous system, Schiffer is a horrid achievement.

Ed McBain, a recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's coveted Grand Master Award, was also the first American to receive the Diamond Dagger, the British Crime Writers Association's highest award. His books have sold more than one hundred million copies, ranging from the more than fifty titles in the 87th Precinct series (including the Edgar Award-nominated Money, Money, Money) to the bestselling novels written under his own name, Evan Hunter — including The Blackboard Jungle (now in a 50th anniversary edition from Pocket Books) and Criminal Conversation. Fiddlers, his final 87th Precinct novel, was recently published in hardcover. Writing as both Ed McBain and Evan Hunter, he broke new ground with Candyland, a novel in two parts. He also wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. He died in 2005.

Visit www.edmcbain.com.