One Deadly Rhyme - The Number Mysteries

SOMETHING STRANGE is happening on a tiny Indian Reservation in Southern Arizona.  First, a Cray Supercomputer is delivered, then a crew of government spooks gone-rogue from the National Security Agency arrive.  Soon bodies start piling up, one of them a United States Congressman heading a Privacy Oversight Committee.

Usually, Ballistic Expert Michael Cole’s troubles arrive in the form of a female requesting his assistance.  This time, Cole’s ex-wife seeks help investigating the reservation activities, which then attract the attention of more troublesome women.  One of these is Sonia Tomei, Cole’s assistant intent on firming up their relationship.  The other female is Claudia Dominga, a deadly international assassin intent on cutting the throat of everyone involved.

At stake are encrypted nuclear launch codes, a missing 1.7 billion dollars, and Cole’s frustrating experiment with celibacy.  Something’s got to give.

Receiving ten grand as down payment on a hit isn't that much of a surprise to Carlos Morales. After all, arranging contract killings is his business. But he never expected that someone might want his mother dead!

What's equally troubling is the fact that the anonymous package arrived addressed to 'Charlie'. Only two people call him by that name: his wife and his mother. Has his wife just hired him to whack her mother-in-law? Or is his mother just looking for some help to put an end to her misery? Or maybe there's another answer entirely.

One thing's for sure: Carlos is about to find out.


Praise for Killing Mum

"Dark, warped and funny, and with a surprising number of twists and turns for such a short book... Loved it." Big Beat From Badsville

"Nobody working today has Guthrie’s way with black humor and sweat-drenched suspense" Bookspot Central

"… another fantastic whirlwind of violence and intrigue from Allan Guthrie, who is fast becoming a master in his genre. It hits you a powerful punch in the very first paragraph and just gets darker from there on in." Euro Crime

"All I could do as a reader was hold on tight and get to the end... Not a word is wasted. The characters are real, where they live -- and how -- makes sense. They tell us about themselves not in what they say but in what they do, how they act, the way they move from one decision to another. … In that short space and time a complete world has been set up and a monumental chain of events has been completed. An amazing achievement." Sea Minor

"Guthrie packs his prose with real suspense, his usual droll take on human venality and enough surprises to keep you turning the pages quickly. A really nice piece of crime writing." Ed Gorman

"another fine contribution to hard-core noir by one if its finest contemporary practitioners" International Noir


Praise for Slammer

"SLAMMER is the most relentlessly page-turning novel this reviewer has come across in a long, long time … delving deep inside a mind that is quickly unravelling into psychotic madness … Guthrie creates empathy for all his characters -- there are no faceless monsters here -- and in portraying the prisoners and their guards as two sides of the same human coin, he nails a universal truth about the nature of life and about the way we differentiate good and bad, sanity and madness." The Scotsman

"This is Guthrie's masterpiece to date, grim and brutal in tone, cunning in design and flawless in the telling. Guthrie keeps the numerous plot turns both exciting and believable. There is a surprise twist in the middle of the novel that stuns the reader and makes the pace even faster...SLAMMER is not only artful, it's real art." Bookgasm

" ... an absolute masterpiece, really should be at the top of everyone's "must-read" list" Eurocrime

" ... a gripping psychological crime novel. When we speak of those on the forefront of dark fiction ... Guthrie’s name is near the top of the list, and SLAMMER proves why." Bookspot Central

"a dark jigsaw-puzzle of a book ... expect moments of 'oh, I see!' mingled with sharp sadness. Nick Glass is an unforgettable protagonist and Guthrie has placed him in a darkly tragic, poignant, and ultimately satisfying psychological thriller." The Drowning Machine

"Guthrie's prose is a series of short, sharp shocks, reeking of the visceral brutality of the toughest contemporary noir … those who enjoy the darker side of the genre are in for some serious thrills." The Guardian

"one of the best thrillers of the year" The Editor's Notebook


About the author:

Allan Guthrie is an award-winning Scottish crime writer. His debut novel, Two-Way Split, was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger and went on to win the Theakston's Crime Novel Of The Year. He is the author of four other novels: Kiss Her Goodbye (nominated for an Edgar), Hard Man, Savage Night and Slammer, and three novellas: Kill Clock, Killing Mum and Bye Bye Baby, an Amazon top ten bestseller. He's also co-founder of digital publishing company, Blasted Heath, and a literary agent with Jenny Brown Associates. 

It begins on a winter afternoon, when schoolgirl Nicky Day runs from a gang of bullies. Then her little brother starts the fire. But the nightmare that is engulfing Sue and Terry Day is only beginning . . .

A single mother who left a six-year-old on his own while she went clubbing on a Friday night. An absent father with a hot teenaged girlfriend who didn’t seem to care who was minding his former family. The police, the neighbours, the friends, the lovers turn accusing eyes on them both. Suspicious voices ask whether Nicky has run away; whether the fire is really an accident.

And meanwhile, time is running out for Nicky.

Bestselling author Martina Cole loved Mandasue Heller’s second novel, Forget Me Not. She wrote, ‘Mandasue has played a real blinder with this fantastic novel.’ Now thousands of readers have discovered Mandasue Heller. Have you read all her books?

It looks like a classic crime of passion to Detective J.P Beaumont: two corpses found lovingly entwined in a broom closet of the Seattle School District building. The prime suspect, Pete Kelsey, admits his slain spouse was no novice at adultery, yet he swears he had nothing to do with the brutal deaths of the errant school official and her clergyman-turned-security guard companion. Beau believes him, but there's something the much sinned-upon widower's not telling—and that spells serious trouble still to come.

Because the secret Pete's protecting is even hotter than extra-marital sex. . . and it could prove more lethal than murder.

A quick, taut thriller ... not a word is wasted. -- Ian Rankin

When a seven-year-old boy disappears after school, the case is handed to Detective Frank Collins. He's been looking to lead a high-profile case for a while, and sets out determined to prove his worth. But the missing schoolboy is only a trigger for another crime. Someone is intent on exploiting the boy's grief-stricken mother. And they have plans for Frank Collins too.

An Amazon top ten bestseller, Bye Bye Baby is a short novella that packs a big punch.

Praise for Bye Bye Baby

A terrific read and a great premise from an excellent writer. -- Stuart MacBride

The approach is so fresh that it makes the whole thing feel like the first time I've read a police story. -- Do Some Damage

a purely original, funny, sharp piece of writing. It has a plot that develops in an unorthodox, non-linear fashion -- hardly resembling many of the police procedurals I've read. It's often noted that Guthrie is one of the top working mystery writers, and he certainly lives up to that reputation ... -- Death By Killing

A story that moves quickly, in short chapters of crisp prose, with plenty of plot turns to hold the attention, and characters you can love and others you can hate... Like Guthrie's full-length novels, Bye Bye Baby is sly, noir as all hell (more noir than some, actually), and it just might bring a tear of pity to your eyes. It's a police procedural filled with incident and back story, and man, what an ending. -- Detectives Beyond Borders

a dark, clever, funny and sad story which races along to reach a smart conclusion. A tough and lovely slice of the hard side of life. -- You Would Say That, Wouldn't You?

Praise for Slammer

Slammer is the most relentlessly page-turning novel this reviewer has come across in a long, long time, but Guthrie does so much more than just throw visceral action and sharp banter at the reader, teasing and cajoling us with red herrings and subtle foreshadowing, delving deep inside a mind that is quickly unravelling into psychotic madness. At Slammer's core is a surprisingly subtle examination of what it means to be good or evil, and how easily that distinction can become blurred. Guthrie creates empathy for all his characters -- there are no faceless monsters here -- and in portraying the prisoners and their guards as two sides of the same human coin, he nails a universal truth about the nature of life and about the way we differentiate good and bad, sanity and madness. -- The Scotsman

This is Guthrie's masterpiece to date, grim and brutal in tone, cunning in design and flawless in the telling. Guthrie keeps the numerous plot turns both exciting and believable. There is a surprise twist in the middle of the novel that stuns the reader and makes the pace even faster ...  Slammer is not only artful, it's real art. -- Bookgasm

an absolute masterpiece, really should be at the top of everyone's "must-read" list -- Eurocrime

a gripping psychological crime novel. When we speak of those on the forefront of dark fiction ... Guthrie's name is near the top of the list, and Slammer proves why. -- Bookspot Central

a dark jigsaw-puzzle of a book ... expect moments of 'oh, I see!' mingled with sharp sadness. Nick Glass is an unforgettable protagonist and Guthrie has placed him in a darkly tragic, poignant, and ultimately satisfying psychological thriller. -- The Drowning Machine

Guthrie's prose is a series of short, sharp shocks, reeking of the visceral brutality of the toughest contemporary noir ... those who enjoy the darker side of the genre are in for some serious thrills. -- The Guardian

one of the best thrillers of the year -- The Editor's Notebook

About the author

Allan Guthrie is an award-winning Scottish crime writer. His debut novel, Two-Way Split, was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger award and went on to win the Theakston's Crime Novel Of The Year. He is the author of four other novels and three novellas. He's also co-founder of digital publishing company, Blasted Heath, and a literary agent with Jenny Brown Associates.