The best mysteries--whether detective, historical, police procedural, cozy, or comedy--have one thing in common: a memorable perpetrator. For every Sherlock Holmes or Sam Spade in noble pursuit, there's a Count Dracula, a Lester Leith, or a Jimmy Valentine. These are the rogues and villains who haunt our imaginations--and who often have more in common with their heroic counterparts than we might expect. Now, for the first time ever, Otto Penzler gathers...

"Gustave Flaubert conceived 'Sentimental education,' his final complete novel, as the history of his own generation, one that failed to fulfill the promise of the Revolution of 1848. Published a few months before the start of the 1870 Franco-Prussian War, it offers both a sweeping panorama of French society over three decades and an intimate bildungsroman of a young man from a small town who arrives in Paris when protests against the monarchy are...

In 1969, Ann-Marie's parents did the unthinkable. They left a Hutterite colony in Canada with seven children, and little else, to start a new life. Overnight, the family was thrust into a society they did not understand and which knew little of their unique culture. The transition was overwhelming. Desperate to be accepted, ten-year-old Ann-Marie was forced to deny her heritage in order to fit in with her peers. Winner of the 2007 Saskatchewan Book...

Richard Lloyd Parry, an award-winning foreign correspondent, chronicles the 2000 disappearance, massive search, long investigation, and the even longer murder trial behind the gruesome murder case of Lucie Blackman in Japan.

When Miriam arrives in a small kibbutz in the aftermath of the Holocaust and World War II, the other children are wary, especially class queen Michal, whose boyfriend befriends Miriam. Written when the author was eleven, based on her Holocaust-survivor family members' recollections.

Though Cioma Schonhaus was only 11 years old when the Nazis first came to power, his cleverness and resourcefulness eventually made him an unlikely hero and bon vivant. As a young adult staying one step ahead of the S.S., Cioma would dine in swanky restaurants and frequent trendy bars and have plenty of romances--all while sabotaging weapons in the munitions factory where he worked. He even bought a sailboat and taught himself how to sail. These hijinks...

The remarkable true story of a young Billy Graham and his best friend who walked away from the faith. We all know how the story ends but how did it begin? Before he became a household name, and America's Pastor, he was simply known as Billy. When he wasn't playing baseball, he was discovering his love for Christian ministry. His best friend, Charles Templeton, was already on track to be a highly successful evangelist and the two young men began strategizing...

The true story of a young woman whose choices led her to despair and incredible triumph. More than the story of one lost girl, Chrissy's experience points to the power of hope to lead us away from destructive relationships and into a life that just might end happily ever after.