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 on the run--or a married woman. In the midst of a steamy, passionate love affair...

After years of trouble and rebellion that enraged his father and nearly cost him his life, Chris has a steady job in his father's company, he's seriously dating a woman he respects, and, aside from the distrust that lingers in his father's eyes, his mistakes are firmly in the past. One day on the job, Chris and his partner come across a temptation almost too big to resist. Chris does the right thing, but old habits and instincts rise to the surface,...

Derek Strange is black and successful. Terry Quinn is white and barely holding on. Now Strange has been hired to investigate a police shooting in which Quinn played a major role. For Strange, a savvy and careful man, the investigation goes against his style and instinct. For Terry Quinn, Strange's questions are a chance to absolve his conscience and shake out a little truth. But in a city that lives in the shadow of a nation's dream, neither man can...

"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...

This novel, a prequel to the later books featuring Derek Strange, begins by telling the story of how Derek came to be a rookie cop. It then focuses on the years before and during the 1968 riots sparked by the death of Martin Luther King Jr. and how Derek, as an African American cop, is considered an enemy by other members of his community.

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,...

A Washington, D.C., crime lord fights for his life in court while P.I. Derek Strange finds a woman whose testimony could mean death or freedom for the crime lord.

"Four blistering novellas, drawn together by themes of strife, violence, and humanity, from esteemed crime fiction writers, George Pelecanos" --Provided by Publisher. "When the son of the Carusos is involved in a hold up, the family home comes under siege in the form of a no-knock warrant. Months after the cops destroyed their home, the Carusos struggle to return to normal. Elsewhere, two former inmates reunite by chance on the set of a TV production....

"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...

Told from the points of view of cops and criminals alike, follows a drug investigation in Baltimore, MD.