Critiques en avant-premièrePete Larkin

Read by Eric Conger, Oliver Wyman, Alan Sklar, Pete Larkin, and Jeff GurnerFrom its launch in 1920 until its demise in 1951, the magazine Black Mask published pulp crime fiction. The first hard-boiled detective stories appeared on its pages. Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner and John D. MacDonald got their start in Black Mask. The urban crime stories that appeared in Black Mask helped to shape American culture. Modern computer games, films, and television are rooted in the fiction popularized by “the seminal and venerated mystery pulp magazine” (Booklist).Never before on audio, these vintage stories are darkest of the dark, and the best of the best.Includes:Black Mask was the apotheosis of American crime writing. It was the magazine where the first hardboiled detective story appeared. It was the modest domain in which such literary titans as Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner and John D. MacDonald got their start. Crime fiction fans old and new will delight in rediscovering these taut, character-rich, heart-stopping tales, now on audio for the first time.Includes:Introduction by Keith Alan Deutsch; read by Eric Conger“Come and Get It” by Erle Stanley Gardner; read by Oliver Wyman“Arson Plus” by Peter Collinson (Dashiell Hammett); read by Alan Sklar“Fall Guy” by George Harmon Coxe; read by Pete Larkin“Doors in the Dark” by Frederick Nebel; read by Pete Larkin“Luck” by Lester Dent; read by Jeff Gurner

The prequel to the New York Times bestseller The Elegance of the Hedgehog. In the heart of Paris, in the posh building made famous in The Elegance of the Hedgehog, the greatest food critic in the world is dying. Revered by some and reviled by many, Monsieur Pierre Arthens has been lording it over the world’s most esteemed chefs for years. But now, during these, his final hours, his mind has turned to simpler things. He is desperately searching for that singular flavor, that sublime something once sampled, never forgotten, the Flavor par excellence. Thus begins a charming voyage that traces the career of Monsieur Arthens from childhood to maturity across a celebration of all manner of culinary delights. Alternating with the voice of the supercilious Arthens is a chorus belonging to his acquaintances and familiars—relatives, lovers, a would-be protégé, even a cat. Each will have his or her say about Monsieur Arthens, a man who has inspired only extreme emotions in people. Here, as in The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery’s story celebrates life’s simple pleasures and sublime moments while condemning the arrogance and vulgarity of power. Read by Norman Dietz, Barbara Caruso, Eliza Foss, Jean Brassard, Pete Larkin, Heather Corrigan, and Paula Parker.

Read by Pete Larkin. In an unnamed city always slick with rain, Charles Unwin toils as a clerk at a huge, imperious detective agency. But when an illustrious detective, Travis Sivart, goes missing, Unwin is reluctantly thrust into the role of investigator. His only guidance comes from a sleepy secretary and the pithy yet profound Manual of Detection. Soon he finds himself framed for murder, pursued by gunmen, and confounded by a femme fatale. Meanwhile, strange and troubling questions proliferate: Why does the mummy at the Municipal Museum have modern-day dental work? Where have all the city’s alarm clocks gone? Why is Unwin’s copy of the Manual missing Chapter 18? When he discovers that Sivart’s greatest cases were solved incorrectly, Unwin must enter the dreams of a murdered man and face a criminal mastermind bent on total control of a slumbering city.