George P. Pelecanos

"Short stories and a novella from one of crime fiction's most revered writers. Whether they're cops or conmen, savage killers or creative types, gangsters or God-fearing citizens, George Pelecanos' characters are always engaged in a fight for their lives. They fight to advance or simply to survive; they fight against odds, against enemies, even against themselves. In this, his first collection of stories, the acclaimed novelist introduces readers...

"Washington, D.C., 1972. Derek Strange has left the police department and set up shop as a private investigator. His former partner, Frank "Hound Dog" Vaughn, is still on the force. When a young woman comes to Strange asking for his help recovering a cheap ring she claims has sentimental value, the case leads him onto Vaughn's turf, where a local drug addict's been murdered, shot point-blank in his apartment. Soon both men are on the trail of a ruthless...

Fresh from an eight-year stint in jail for selling narcotics, Lorenzo Brown is happy to have his freedom and a good job protecting dogs for the Humane Society. His parole officer, Rachel Lopez, relieves her everyday frustrations by cruising hotel bars and luring strangers to her bed. When a neighborhood turf war flares up, Lorenzo struggles to keep his hands clean. Now more than ever, he need's Rachel's help. But with her life crumbling around her,...

The job seems simple enough: retrieve the valuable painting -- The Double -- that Grace Kinkaid's ex-boyfriend stole from her. It's the sort of thing Spero Lucas specializes in: finding what's missing, and doing it quietly. But Grace wants more. She wants Lucas to find the man who humiliated her -- a violent career criminal with a small gang of brutal thugs at his beck and call. Lucas is a man who knows how to get what he wants, whether it's a thief...

Pelecanos breaks new literary ground with the story of a dog's life--from the dog's perspective--on the mean streets of Washington, DC.

"McNutty has been demoted to harbour patrol. Daniels is in the police-archive dungeon, Prez is chafing in the suburbs, and Greggs is stuck behind a desk. Meanwhile, on the docks of Baltimore harbour, the rank and fire scrounge for work and the union bosses take illegitimate measures to reinvigorate business, but a horrific discovery is about to blow the whole port inside out. While the detail is on ice, a new case begins"--container.