A best-selling novelist and Edgar Award winner, Lisa Scottoline brings her mastery of the thriller genre as well as her wit and heart to this collection of the must-reads in mysteries.

The Best American Mystery Stories 2013

Un soir, la journaliste Ellen Gleason trouve en rentrant chez elle un avis de recherche dans la boîte aux lettres. Un de ces dépliants comme la police de Philadelphie en diffuse chaque jour des dizaines. Sauf qu’en regardant de plus près la photo de celui-ci, son cœur s’arrête soudain de battre : c’est la photo de son petit garçon Will qu’elle a adopté il y a deux ans ! Dès lors, impossible de rester sans rien faire. Son instinct de journaliste et son cœur de mère la poussent à enquêter pour savoir qui est vraiment son fils. Mais, à trop vouloir découvrir ce qui était caché, elle devient gênante pour certains, pour ces hommes de l’ombre qui ne reculent devant rien…

Intime Ressemblance

Benedetta Rosato, surnommée Bennie, est une grande blonde. Avocate de génie, elle se passionne pour les abus de pouvoir. Jamais le cabinet qu'elle dirige avec Mark Biscardi, son ex-petit ami, n'a été si florissant... même si Bennie n'est pas au mieux avec la police de Philadelphie. Elle s'attaque en effet au cas de Bill Kleeb, adolescent victime de brutalités policières alors qu'il participait à une manifestation contre une grande société pharmaceutique. L'affaire cesse d'être de pure routine lorsque Kleeb lui avoue que les moyens mis en oeuvre pour lutter contre le P.D.G. de cette société vont bien au delà de la simple confrontation pacifique... Du jour au lendemain, la vie de Bennie bascule : on découvre son associé assassiné. Elle n'a pas d'alibi, mais, aux yeux de la police, un sérieux mobile : Biscardi voulait dissoudre leur association. C'est elle qu'on accuse désormais, et les policiers sont bien décidés à ne lui faire aucun cadeau...

Rien à perdre

La minute de vérité

Law professor Natalie Greco has an ordered life. She feels a passion for teaching, especially her arcane seminar on the History of Justice, even though the course is pathetically undersubscribed in the high-powered law school. She has an attentive boyfriend and a protective family, although her testosterone-fuelled big brothers and very successful parents tend to overlook the quiet Nat. Then one terrible day, everything changes. Nat accompanies her colleague Angus to a prison in Chester County where he's a guest lecturer. It's a nice day for a drive through the countryside, the site for much Underground Railroad activity during the Civil War. However, the trip turns grim when they arrive at the prison, hardly inside before the speaker system announces a "disturbance" and orders a lockdown. They're smack in the middle of a riot. In front of a horrified Nat, a prison guard is fatally injured. Nat rushes to help him, only to hear his last words: "Tell my wife. It's under the floor. The money." At that moment, reinforcements arrive, the riot is quelled, and Nat and Angus are escorted out of the building by U. S. marshals. Remembering the dying guard's words, Nat feels she must find his widow. But this is no simple quest, and along the way, Nat is framed for murder and the retiring scholar finds herself in a desperate fight to save her own life.

Daddy's Girl

Ellen is a single mother, and a feature writer for a local Philadelphia newspaper, recently taken over by a new hot editor, Marcelo, who though gorgeous, has not been short in letting staff go. Ellen knows that, like others, her job may be on the line, and she is more vulnerable than most, for she has a three-year old adopted son, Will, who is the love of her life. As she goes to collect her post one morning, she picks up a 'Missing Child' card, and is struck by the uncanny resemblance between Will and the little boy, Timothy Braverman, who was kidnapped from his home in Miami two years ago. Timothy's parents have a website for their child, and the story is grim: not only was Timothy kidnapped, but his childminder was killed. The ransom was paid, the child never returned to his home. For Ellen, the story is heartfelt: she first got to know Timothy as a small baby, when he was in hospital undergoing heart surgery; his adoption was hard won. As she searches further, something niggles at Ellen, and she begins to delve into the story of Will's birth mother, and uncover a horrendous story that, as the novel goes on, has far reaching consequences .

Look Again

Bennie Rosato is fighting the battle of her life -- against her own twin. The action starts innocently enough, with a stolen wallet, but in no time events escalate and the twin wreaks havoc that can be created only by a dead ringer. Her twin tries to destroy Bennie's law firm, Rosato & Associates, and then strikes at her very heart -- which just happens to be otherwise engaged by a handsome, hunky stranger with the perfect amount of chest hair. But when a brutal murder occurs, Bennie realizes that the stakes have turned deadly. And the face of evil looks like her own.

Dead Ringer

Une affaire de harcelement

Physiquement, Bennie et Alice, des jumelles homozygotes, sont de véritables sosies. Mais, si l'on excepte cette ressemblance, les deux soeurs n'ont strictement rien en commun : enfance, caractère, ambitions, tout les sépare. Alors que Bennie mène une vie de rêve, à la tête d'un des plus importants cabinets d'avocats de Philadelphie, Alice est à la dérive, entre petits boulots et embrouilles sentimentales.
Trop de jalousie, de colère et de haine : un soir, Alice échafaude un plan.
Après tout, elle aussi a droit au bonheur...

The Best American Mystery Stories 2013

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