Tod Goldberg

A luckless thief’s wrong turn becomes a crooked cop’s fortune in a wild ride of a thriller by a New York Times bestselling author. Failed lawyer Robert Green has such a good plan: Crack three hundred safe-deposit boxes and sail off to South America with his brilliant, morally flexible sister, Penny. If it weren’t for the damned freezing rain. In the dying resort town of Granite Shores, cop Jack Biddle is self-appointed king—mostly of bad decisions. Between his family’s crumbling legacy, a wife who just joined the city council, and life-threatening gambling debts, Jack’s looking for a way out. Then he spots a van spinning off a mountain road into the valley below. In the wreckage, Jack finds a very dead Robert, millions in heisted loot…and opportunity. All Jack has to do is clean up the mess, disappear Robert’s body, make off with the fortune, and not get caught. One hitch is Penny. Another is Mitch Diamond, a wild card ex-con who knows more about the missing fortune than he lets on. Jack, Penny, and Mitch each have an endgame. But there’s only one way out, and they’re crashing headlong toward it.

A luckless thief’s wrong turn becomes a crooked cop’s fortune in a wild ride of a thriller by a New York Times bestselling author. Failed lawyer Robert Green has such a good plan: Crack three hundred safe-deposit boxes and sail off to South America with his brilliant, morally flexible sister, Penny. If it weren’t for the damned freezing rain. In the dying resort town of Granite Shores, cop Jack Biddle is self-appointed king—mostly of bad decisions. Between his family’s crumbling legacy, a wife who just joined the city council, and life-threatening gambling debts, Jack’s looking for a way out. Then he spots a van spinning off a mountain road into the valley below. In the wreckage, Jack finds a very dead Robert, millions in heisted loot…and opportunity. All Jack has to do is clean up the mess, disappear Robert’s body, make off with the fortune, and not get caught. One hitch is Penny. Another is Mitch Diamond, a wild card ex-con who knows more about the missing fortune than he lets on. Jack, Penny, and Mitch each have an endgame. But there’s only one way out, and they’re crashing headlong toward it.

The perfect holiday gift for the crime fiction lover in your life Curated by New York Times bestselling author Tod Goldberg, this collection of eleven delightful and twisted Hanukkah capers will entertain you through all eight nights of the Festival of Lights. In Stefanie Leder's "Not a Dinner Party Person," an unstable pharmaceutical rep tries not to kill anyone at her family dinner on the last night of Hanukkah; in Ivy Pochoda's "Johnny Christmas," a taciturn Gulf War vet commissions a tattoo from a man he knew from his prison days, a man not named Christmas but Goldfarb; in David L. Ulin's "Shamash," it's the last night of Hanukkah, and a live-at-home adult son considers doing something drastic to get out of his elderly father's Upper West Side apartment; in James D. F. Hannah's "Twenty Centuries," a pair of detectives solve a curiously unprompted murder during the holiday season. This captivating collection contains old-school slapstick comedy, hardboiled noir, gritty procedurals, and poignant reminders of the meaning of Hanukkah, offering something for almost every reader willing to take the journey through these twisted tales. With stories by: Ivy Pochoda, David L. Ulin, James D. F. Hannah, Lee Goldberg, Nikki Dolson, J. R. Angelella, Liska Jacobs, Gabino Iglesias, Stefanie Leder, and Jim Ruland, plus a foreword and story by Tod Goldberg.

The perfect holiday gift for the crime fiction lover in your life Curated by New York Times bestselling author Tod Goldberg, this collection of twelve delightful and twisted Hanukkah capers will entertain you through all eight nights of the Festival of Lights. This captivating collection, which features bestselling and award-winning authors, contains laughs aplenty, the most hardboiled of noir, and poignant reminders of the meaning of the Hanukkah.

Raymond Carver meets Elmore Leonard in this extraordinary collection of contemporary crime writing set in the critically acclaimed Gangsterland universe, a series called gloriously original by The New York Times Book Review. With gimlet-eyed cool and razor-sharp wit, these spare, stylish stories from a master of modern crime fiction assemble a world of gangsters and con men, of do-gooders breaking bad and those caught in the crossfire. The uncle of an FBI agent spends his life as sheriff in different cities, living too close to the violent acts of men; a cocktail waitress moves through several desert towns trying to escape the unexplainable loss of an adopted daughter; a drug dealer with a penchant for karaoke meets a talkative lawyer and a silent clown in a Palm Springs bar. Witty, brutal, and fast-paced, these stories expand upon the saga of Chicago hitman-turned-Vegas-rabbi Sal Cupertine--first introduced in Gangsterland and continued in Gangster Nation--while revealing how the line between good and bad is often a mirage.

What do you get when you pair the beach with some of today's most talented writers? The Silver Waves of Summer is a collection of short stories by a dozen of today's best storytellers, including New York Times best sellers, international best sellers, Edgar and Shamus Awards winners, and more. With a blend of styles ranging from literary fiction to crime noir, the beach is the common denominator in this incredible collection of summer stories. In "Lighthouse Scene for Miles," internationally best-selling writer Michael Scott Moore (The Desert and the Sea: 977 Days Captive on the Somali Pirate Coast) takes us back to the famed Lighthouse Cafe in 1950's Southern California, in a story featuring the great jazz legend, Miles Davis. NY Times best-selling writer Tod Goldberg (Gangsterland, Living Dead Girl) brings us a compelling new short story, "The Summer of '86," where a recently released bank robber, Mitch Lenney, travels to a sleepy seaside town on the Monterey Bay to help his sister run a bike shop after her boyfriend suddenly disappears. This is a crime noir short not to be missed. In "Off the 405," Edgar Award winner Naomi Hirahara (Snakeskin Shamisen, Clark and Division) takes us on a beach excursion where three families meet on a hot, sunny day in Southern California that ends with a high-speed chase up the 405, against traffic. In a murder mystery that rivals Agatha Christie, "The Naked and the Dead" by Shamus Award winner Charles Ardai (Songs of Innocence, Little Girl Lost) transports us to a private nude beach on the East Coast, where a member is murdered in an impossible fashion. It is up to private detective Susan Jaffe to solve the case. In "In the Bank" by Antoine Wilson (Panorama City, Mouth to Mouth), two friends embark on an adventure to intercept a drug cartel's shipment by disguising an old fishing boat as US Coast Guard to disastrous consequences. In "The Five Thieves of the Bombay Beach" by Rob Roberge (Liar, More than They Could Chew), we follow Duane Reed to the Salton Sea with its postapocalyptic landscape in a search of a missing person: Duane's father, Walt Reed, who disappeared years before somewhere in Bombay Beach. Things take a sinister turn in a new horror story by the talented Samantha Tkac. In "Sundays are for Robberies," two sisters have each other's back at all costs, including when it comes to murder. And more...

"Sal Cupertine is back--and better than ever. I love this guy." --Lee Child, New York Times bestselling author of Personal: A Jack Reacher Novel "Gangster Nation is a razor. It will slice you open and reveal your insides. And like the best of Tod Goldberg's work, it'll show you everything you are at your core." --Brad Meltzer, New York Times bestselling author of The President's Shadow The sequel to the wickedly dark Hammett Prize-finalist Gangsterland, an unexpected, page-turning examination of the seedy foundations of American life It's been two years since the events of Gangsterland, when legendary Chicago hitman Sal Cupertine disappeared into the guise of Vegas Rabbi David Cohen. In September of 2001, Rabbi Cohen's temple is thriving. The mortuary and cemetery--where Cohen has been laundering bodies for the mob--is minting cash. But Sal wants out. He's got money stashed in safe-deposit boxes all over the city. He only needs to make it through the High Holidays, and he'll have enough to escape Vegas, grab his wife and kid in Chicago, and start fresh. Across the country, former FBI agent Matthew Drew is running security for an Indian-owned Casino outside of Milwaukee, looking for vengeance for the murder of his partner. So when Sal's cousin stumbles into the casino one night, Matthew takes the law into his own hands--again--not knowing that the Native American mob, led by an enigmatic assassin named Peaches, plans to take over the Chicago Family. Into his crosshairs fall Sal's wife and son, unprotected as the structure of the Chicago mob falls away. When the horrible events of 9/11 occur, and the authorities move all of their resources to battle this new enemy, all the gangsters in the nation know they have free reign to run wild. This powder keg threatens to expose Rabbi Cohen, with the post-9/11 world closing in around him. Gangster Nation is a gritty, darkly funny story of the greed and ambition that have fueled the rise of a nation, proclaiming Tod Goldberg as one of the most provocative crime writers of his generation.

Gangster Nation is a page-turning examination of the seedy foundations of American life. With the wit and gritty glamour that defines his writing, Goldberg traces how the things we value most in life - home, health, even our sprituality - have been built on the enterprises of criminals. It's been two years since legendary...

A secret worth killing for, a woman with no past, and an act of treason that changed America: #1 bestselling author Brad Meltzer returns with The House of Secrets." When Hazel Nash was six years old, her father taught her: mysteries need to be solved. He should know. Hazel's father is Jack Nash, the host of America's favorite conspiracy TV show, The House of Secrets. Even as a child, she loved hearing her dad's tall tales, especially the one about a leather book belonging to Benedict Arnold that was hidden in a corpse. Now, years later, Hazel wakes up in the hospital and remembers nothing, not even her own name. She's told she's been in a car accident that killed her father and injured her brother. But she can't remember any of it, because of her own traumatic brain injury. Then a man from the FBI shows up, asking questions about her dad -- and about his connection to the corpse of a man found with an object stuffed into his chest: a priceless book that belonged to Benedict Arnold. Back at her house, Hazel finds guns that she doesn't remember owning. On her forehead, she sees scars from fights she can't recall. Most important, the more Hazel digs, the less she likes the person she seems to have been. Trying to put together the puzzle pieces of her past and present, Hazel Nash needs to figure out who killed this man -- and how the book wound up in his chest. The answer will tell her the truth about her father, what he was really doing for the government -- and who Hazel really is. Mysteries need to be solved. Especially the ones about yourself."

A secret worth killing for, a woman with no past, and an act of treason that changed America: #1 bestselling author Brad Meltzer returns with The House of Secrets." When Hazel Nash was six years old, her father taught her: mysteries need to be solved. He should know. Hazel's father is Jack Nash, the host of America's favorite conspiracy TV show, The House of Secrets. Even as a child, she loved hearing her dad's tall tales, especially the one about a leather book belonging to Benedict Arnold that was hidden in a corpse. Now, years later, Hazel wakes up in the hospital and remembers nothing, not even her own name. She's told she's been in a car accident that killed her father and injured her brother. But she can't remember any of it, because of her own traumatic brain injury. Then a man from the FBI shows up, asking questions about her dad -- and about his connection to the corpse of a man found with an object stuffed into his chest: a priceless book that belonged to Benedict Arnold. Back at her house, Hazel finds guns that she doesn't remember owning. On her forehead, she sees scars from fights she can't recall. Most important, the more Hazel digs, the less she likes the person she seems to have been. Trying to put together the puzzle pieces of her past and present, Hazel Nash needs to figure out who killed this man -- and how the book wound up in his chest. The answer will tell her the truth about her father, what he was really doing for the government -- and who Hazel really is. Mysteries need to be solved. Especially the ones about yourself."

Sal Cupertine is a legendary hit man for the Chicago Mafia, known for his ability to get in and out of a crime without a trace. Until now, that is. His first-ever mistake forces Sal to botch an assassination, killing three undercover FBI agents in the process. This puts too much heat on Sal, and he knows this botched job will be his death sentence to the Mafia. So he agrees to their radical idea to save his own skin. A few surgeries and some intensive training later, and Sal Cupertine is gone, disappeared into the identity of Rabbi David Cohen. Leading his growing congregation in Las Vegas, overseeing the population and the temple and the new cemetery, Rabbi Cohen feels his wicked past slipping away from him, surprising even himself as he spouts quotes from the Torah or the Old Testament. Yet, as it turns out, the Mafia isn't quite done with him yet. Soon the new cemetery is being used as both a money and body-laundering scheme for the Chicago family. And that rogue FBI agent on his trail, seeking vengeance for the murder of his three fellow agents, isn't going to let Sal fade so easily into the desert. Gangsterland is the wickedly dark and funny new novel by a writer at the height of his power  a morality tale set in a desert landscape as ruthless and barren as those who inhabit it.

Sal Cupertine is a legendary hit man for the Chicago Mafia, known for his ability to kill anyone, anywhere, without leaving a trace. Until now, that is. His first-ever mistake forces Sal to botch an assassination, killing three undercover FBI agents in the process. He knows this could be his death sentence...so he agrees to a radical idea to save his own skin. A few surgeries and some intensive training later, and Sal Cupertine is gone, disappeared into the identity of Rabbi David Cohen. Leading his congregation in Las Vegas, Rabbi Cohen feels his wicked past slipping away from him. Yet, as it turns out, the Mafia isn't quite done with him yet. And that rogue FBI agent on his trail, seeking vengeance, isn't going to let Sal fade so easily into the desert.

After his estranged wife disappears, a husband returns to the remote lake house where their young daughter died, and he soon loses his grip on reality. Paul Luden has been haunted by a memory he can't recall. Whatever happened to his marriage, to his two-year-old daughter, is too traumatic to remember, so his unconscious has chosen to block out key details. But when he receives a phone call from the small lake town where they'd lived, telling him that no one had seen or heard from his wife in ten days, he knows what he has to do. He and his nineteen-year-old girlfriend drive from L. A. to Washington State where he's forced to confront his past. And as he pieces together his buried memories, Paul unravels mentally, falls into self-destructive trances and ultimately discovers the truth about his wife.

"Tod Goldberg's stories are not like faceted jewels. They are like glinting barbed wire, actually, roped across the field where you are reading, racing, wondering what's next, and then pierced with longing, regret, or revelation. His new collection kept me reading like that -- racing to find out what would happen next to these people only Tod Goldberg could create." --Susan Straight "Tod Goldberg is a gifted writer, a surveyor of the soul, and Other Resort Cities is powerful fiction. He catches his characters at moments of great stress, then reveals their depths to us with compelling insight and great empathy. He sure as hell knows the details that convince. These are inventive and fresh stories that might have been merely clever in lesser hands, but Goldberg's talent and compassion extends dignity even to the most fucked-up and misbegotten lives." --Daniel Woodrell "This is an excellent, compulsively readable collection. Goldberg knows and loves the cities of which he writes, and he brings their unsung citizens to life in a brilliant and affecting way." --Mary Yukari Waters "Darkly funny and ferociously readable, Other Resort Cities is a book you'll want to spend your entire holiday reading. Because of the subtle crime plots that give each story momentum, Goldberg's book doubles as an ideal choice for mystery-lovers."--Tucson Weekly In ten seductive new stories, the author of Simplify and Living Dead Girl encounters the ruthless, vulnerable people who inhabit resort cities, along with their misdemeanors and felonies. A mobster hides out in Las Vegas posing as a rabbi; a casino cocktail waitress adopts a Russian teen in an attempt to outrun her loneliness; a disturbed husband sets up a Starbucks in his living room; a retired sheriff looks for his first wife's remains in the Salton Sea. Vibrant, moving, and often profound, Other Resort Cities is Goldberg at his best. Tod Goldberg is the author of seven books, including the novels Living Dead Girl (Soho Press), a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Fake Liar Cheat (Pocket Books/MTV) and the popular Burn Notice series (Penguin). His short story collection Simplify (OV Books) was a 2006 finalist for the SCIBA Award for Fiction and winner of the Other Voices Short Story Collection Prize. He directs the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts at the University of California, Riverside's Palm Desert campus.