From one of Britain's masters of crime writing, here are two stories to whet your appetite, presented here in bargain-price format. The first, A Piece of Cake, has been anthologised several times already, and tells of the night Terri waited at home for her current lover, the no-good Jeg, to return from his latest robbery. The job had gone wrong, and Jeg is not in a good mood. In the second story, No Debts Unpaid, Terri has moved on. Working as a hostess in a south London bar, she is pressured into picking up and duping a more likeable young criminal, Billy Nolan. Terri is a girl with a conscience - but it will be a violent night, and unhappy for some.

Terri's Tales

There are two main threads to the book: a modern crime story and the recollections of an 85-year-old woman with dark secrets in her past. Set during the British General Election of 1997 when Tony Blair swept to power, the story bounces back to the 1930s when another charismatic leader rose in Europe. That story is revealed through flashbacks to the life of a British Nazi sympathiser and her artist sister, both intimates of Hitler and Goering. In 1997, art dealer Gottleisch and his evil assistant Ticky think she has hoarded her sister's valuable paintings, and they are determined to get hold of them. Gottfleisch is clever and gargantuan; Ticky is a physically repellent and pathetic paedophile. They pit themselves against the equally controversial Sidonie, now an 85-year-old recluse. Born into minor aristocracy, mingling with the art set, meeting dark luminaries such as Mosley, Hitler and Hermann Goering - how could she be anything other than a villain? One of the many surprises of this much-praised book is the way the characters confound the reader's expectations. With its background sweep, from the Thirties to Blair's triumphant election victory in the late Nineties, this was the author's most-praised novel:"Ambitious, imaginative, almost-true story of Nazi-loving Brit sisters Naomi and Sidonie Keene, who, in the 1930s, took up with Hitler and Co - genuinely because they saw them as charismatic makers of gem-hard, gem-bright new Europe - and as a result became known as the Traitorous Toffs ... Extremely shrewd mingling of near-fact and fiction, with memories of the Mitfords (Unity actually puts in an appearance) tincturing the narrative ... James really scores when he sticks to his political might-have-been. His dark imaginings are potent, gripping and memorable." - Philip Oakes in The Literary Review"His masterpiece to date, eclipsing much of contemporary British mystery writing with its compassion, meticulous plotting, historical relevance and chilling subject matter. A complex tale of art treasures in which the present has to face the horrors of the past, in particular those of Nazi Germany, this is a courageous and ambitious novel." - Maxim Jakubowski in the Guardian"A terrific, cultured tale of crime for the sake of art, " - Marcel Berlins in The Times"A novel which prompts a dozen questions about our own attitudes to the past. But it reaches further into dark areas of the present, not dissimilar to the darkness in which the fascism of the 1930s was born." - Donald James in Time Out"James cleverly interweaves the past and the present to unfold a sophisticated, chilling story of deceit and betrayal. A thoroughly gripping, multi-layered novel from an acknowledged British master of hard-edged crime." - The Mail On Sunday"This is just a tremendous book, dealing with difficult subjects and issues deftly, sensitively, and thoughtfully. I really hate to use the word 'masterpiece' if it's at all avoidable, but I just don't see how to get around it in this case. There's no other way to describe Painting In The Dark." - Victoria Esposito-Shea, Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder, HandHeldCrime"A mesmerizing mystery thriller that is also a chillingly compelling examination of evil. This is an exceptional book from one of the UK's finest genre writers." - Emily Melton, in a Booklist starred review.

Painting in the Dark

Que vous soyez né à Londres ou simple voyageur, le but de ce guide est de vous faire découvrir les tous derniers lieux à la mode de cette capitale dans le vent. Où acheter les derniers pantalons taille basse, casser la croûte ou faire la fête… Ce guide pratique vous révèlera autant les nouveautés que les refuges branchés incontournables. En rentrant dans l'univers du mannequin Lydia Hearst et du photographe de mode Russell James, vous suivrez les circuits à la mode, connaîtrez tous les magasins où il faut acheter, ainsi que les différents endroits où vous prélasser en savourant un cocktail ou des amuse-gueules.

Cool guide London

Rick Miller, magnat de l'industrie pornographique, et Tony Iles, proprietaire tentaculaire d'etablissements de plaisir, regnent sur la nuit londonienne. Deux types en acier trempe (rital contre cockney), qui preferent s'ignorer. Dans ce climat tendu de mafia, un tournage de film X, avec acteurs blases et sequences bien huilees, va se transformer en scene de crime. La police et Kirsty, une jeune journaliste ambitieuse et amie de la victime, patinent. Au retour d'un restau, Tony Iles visionne mollement un porno produit par le fils de son ennemi, quand son regard se fige: sur son ecran geant, la jeune actrice X sur le point d'etre sodomisee est sa fille, et elle n'a que quatorze ans. Cette legere erreur de casting conduit les deux caids a s'entredevorer. Des lors, quetes et enquetes s'entremelent, policiere, journalistique, sentimentale et familiale, ancrees dans le monde interlope de la pornographie et de la nuit. La frontiere entre la vertu des uns, les vices des autres (et vice et versa) se revelant parfois bien mince. Avec Peindre au Noir, son precedent ouvrage (Fayard Noir), Russell James signait un roman noir contemporain irrigue d'histoire (notamment nazie). Ici, il privilegie une ecriture de l'action. Nerveuse, incisive, subversive, elle lui permet d'eclairer les zones troubles de la nature humaine, comme entre chien et loup, d'ou il semble extraire la moelle meme de ses romans."

Ça ne fait de mal à personne

Paul and Fay have little in common. He is well-paid and comfortable while Fay, after breaking up with Roper, her violent boyfriend, has nothing left but her young daughter. On the night Paul rescues her their two worlds briefly touch, like a kiss on a pool table after which the flight of the balls will change. They may meet again or they may continue to bounce off side cushions, skating across green baize, slowing with every bounce, never touching again. Who knows what will happen? With each bounce as the balls skid off in fresh directions, it may be time for another kiss - or for a collision, when all the balls will fly apart. Tucked away in the longboat on the river, Paul, Fay and Emma begin to feel secure - but Roper is an angry, jealous man. He wants her back.

The Break

Paris est la ville de rêve par excellence. Cependant, la capitale du monde de la mode a beaucoup plus à offrir qu'événements culturels et musées. Le Cool Guide Pans vous présente les lieux tendances, les boutiques et les restaurants les plus raffinés et plus encore. Le top model Lydia Hearst et le photographe de mode Russell James vous dévoilent tous les secrets d'initiés sur les bars, cafés ou clubs les plus branchés. Paris vous est expliqué à travers des pages informatives où vous trouverez de nombreuses adresses essentielles et une carte pratique. Le Cool Guide Paris se fait ainsi votre compagnon de voyage à la découverte de cette ville tendance.

Cool Guide Paris

A black comedy set in the Swinging Sixties (1963-4) and revealed through the diaries of a doctor - 35 years old and still a virgin - whose curious obsessions drive him to start murdering his patients. Doctor Kristal is picky, pedantic and super-sure he's right - though he doesn't see himself that way. In his consulting room he regards most patients with contempt, and on his lonely walks through the graveyard he muses on life and death. In the pub his only friend, a doctor approaching retirement, tries to sell Kristal his practice and to interest him in a young female doctor across town. Kristal, though, is becoming obsessed with two attractive patients. Sexy young Jane Quinney, who he has helped before, has found herself pregnant and wants his help again, while the alluring Eleanor, unhappily married to an older man (an overweening actor) asks if there is any way to slow her husband's voracious sexual appetite. Kristal thinks himself immune from any hint of sexual passion - but they are beautiful woman, desperate for his help. Isn't there anything he can do?

The Newly Discovered Diaries of Doctor Kristal

Deux types en acier trempé, Rick Miller et Tony Iles, règnent sur la nuit londonienne. « En privé » pour le premier, qui produit la majorité des films pornographiques du Royaume ; « en public » pour le second, dont on ne compte plus les salons de massage.Dans ce climat tendu de mafia, Zoe, une jeune journaliste infiltrée, est assassinée sur le tournage d'un film X. Mais tout semble baigner dans le plus interlope des mondes, et ni la police, ni Kirsty, l'ambitieuse collègue de Zoe, ne parviennent à tirer le moindre fil...Il faut attendre que Tony Iles, désoeuvré, visionne le fameux porno, pour que le scandale éclate : la star, sur son écran géant, n'est autre que sa fille ! Cette légère erreur de casting fissure la loi du silence. La frontière entre la vertu des uns et les vices des autres va se révéler bien mince...Qui a dit que l'ambition, le sexe et l'argent ne faisaient de mal à personne ?Après Peindre au noir (Fayard Noir, 2009), thriller irrigué d'histoire nazie, Russell James privilégie une écriture de l'action. Nerveuse, incisive, subversive, elle lui permet d'éclairer les zones troubles de la nature humaine, d'où il semble extraire la moelle de ses romans.« Un roman passionnant d'un des maîtres du genre, aux niveaux de lectures foisonnants. » Mail on Sunday« Quand il unit traits de plume et d'esprit, Russell James est le meilleur ! » Time out

ça ne fait de mal à personne

This collection of six stories has been brought together for the first time within one book. Five are set in London, though the first brings some of his London characters out for a day's shooting in the Cotswolds. (This is the story singled out in the Times as 'a splendid country house shocker'.) In this book you'll meet criminals and the women who wait for them, a missing daughter, London lowlife, faded aristocracy - and the only James story to feature a private detective. What more could you ask?

Terri's Tales

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