Dell Shannon: 86 books

Death is everywhere. A child in a playground. A playboy in a cheap hotel. A John Doe in a freight yard. A nanny and her two charges in a church pew. After twenty-six years in homicide, Lieutenant Luis Mendoza knows death is all in a day's work. But in the heat of a Los Angeles summer, even...

September is the worst month for heat in Southern California, and LAPD lieutenant Luis Mendoza is feeling the burn as the sweltering temperatures raise tempers and violence. Heading the list is the bizarre murder of a young French girl - which eventually leads Mendoza to Paris. An old man smothered...

It's January in Los Angeles, and the city is experiencing a heatwave. Lieutenant Luis Mendoza's homicide squad is depleted by the murder of one its members, and the crime-rate is rising as high as the temperature . . . 'Intelligent, humane, well written and continuously absorbing' Sunday Times

A nice young man is helping little old ladies with their groceries . . . then stealing their Social Security; an enormous 'ape man' with a face like King Kong is robbing liquor stores; 'Jack the Stripper' is leaving gas-station registers empty . . . and the attendants naked; a pretty Hispanic woman...

Spring fever has hit Luis Mendoza, both on the job and at home. But it hasn't erased the LAPD's endless caseload of bizarre crimes and difficult cases. 'Dapper Dan', the rapist and murderer whose dashing looks and easy charm give him the perfect ploy to trap his pretty victims; a stickup artist...

Lieutenant Luis Mendoza celebrates his birthday with a more than usually exuberant outburst of murder and mayhem. What has happened to the abducted Nurse Bradley? What fiend could have tied up Lila Wescott and whipped her while she suffocated? And who can be trying to poison Mr and Mrs Beebe...

The body of a woman from respectable, conservative Glendale is found stashed under a ramshackle house in the middle of the inner city. Detective Luis Mendoza marks the rising heat by the crime and violence raging through the sun-baked streets of Los Angeles - and it's going to be a hot one . . . A...

It's Christmas, but there isn't much Christmas spirit in the Glendale Police Department. Delia Riordan's father has just died, Detective Jim Harvey's family have left for the holidays, there are power blackouts, and of course no let-up in murders, muggings, burglaries and a perplexing triple murder/suicide. The...

The brutal and baffling murder of an elderly couple in their quiet suburban home, the kidnapping of two little girls, a bank hold-up, a jewel robbery from a big store - Vic Varallo and the Glendale police force are kept more than usually busy in this complex and exciting drama. 'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune

Four years ago Wayne Burgess killed his parents, and his plea of insanity lead to a verdict of not guilty. Now, after four years in a mental institution, he has been released and is obsessively determined to murder his wife and young daughter. Delia Riordan, the newest addition to the Glendale...

'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune Vic Varallo and the Glendale P.D. are startled by the latest addition to their team: a woman detective no less, and a very smart one at that. Delia Riordan soon makes her mark with enthusiasm, flair and a capacity for sheer hard work. And...

'This is a mystery readers' mystery novel, and a beauty' Anthony Boucher Walt McLean, the proprietor of Walt's Malt Shop, had been found dead by his niece. The attack did not appear to be motivated by robbery, but who would want to murder such a harmless and popular man? And what could the...

'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune Vic Varallo is an ambitious police officer. He and his wife Laura fix up a room for a guest, Ross Duncan, who seems extremely likeable but a little odd. Ross reveals to Vic that he is flat broke, financially crippled by alimony to...

'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune Charles O'Connor of the Glendale police and Vic Varallo are having dinner with their wives when they are interrupted by a call informing them of murder. The victim is an old, nearly blind woman, killed in her daughter's flat. This...