Kirjahaku

A collection of 15 crime fiction short stories in print., some of them award-winners, by author Libby Fischer Hellmann. The collection is divided into two parts: The Ellie Foreman/Georgia Davis stories (5) and Chicago Then and Now; Other Places, Other Times (10)Note: This is the combined print version of Nice Girl Does Noir, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.

In 1968 two young Vietnamese sisters flee to Saigon after their village on the Mekong River is attacked by American forces and burned to the ground. The only survivors of the brutal massacre that killed their family, the sisters struggle to survive but become estranged, separated by sharply different choices and ideologies. Mai ekes out a living as a GI bar girl in Saigon but T m's anger festers, and she heads into jungle terrain to fight with the Viet Cong. For nearly ten years, neither sister knows if the other is alive. Do they both survive the war? And if they do, can they mend their fractured relationship? Or are the wounds from their journeys too deep to heal? In a stunning departure from her two series of crime thrillers, Libby Fischer Hellmann delves into a universal story about survival, family, and the consequences of war.

With little work during the pandemic, Chicago PI Georgia Davis agrees to help the best friend of fellow sleuth, Ellie Foreman. Susan Siler's aunt died suddenly after her Covid booster, and Susan's distraught mother wants the death investigated. However, Georgia's investigation is interrupted by a family trip to Nauvoo, Illinois, the one-time Mormon heartland. It's there that her life unexpectedly intersects with the runaway spouse of a Mormon Fundamentalist. Back in Evanston, after Georgia is almost killed by a hit and run driver, she discovers that she and the escaped woman look remarkably alike. Is someone trying to kill Georgia because of her death investigation? Or is it a case of mistaken identity? And how can Georgia find her doppelganger before whoever wants them both dead tries again?

Alles beginnt mit einer Zeile aus einem persischen Gedicht ... Anna und Nouri, beide Studenten an der Universit t in Chicago, verlieben sich trotz ihres sehr unterschiedlichen kulturellen Hintergrunds ineinander. Anna, die zu ihren Eltern kein besonders inniges Verh ltnis hat, ist bergl cklich, mit Nouri in sein Heimatland Iran ziehen zu k nnen, wo sie von seiner wohlhabenden Familie mit offenen Armen empfangen wird. Doch was 1978 mit einer gl cklichen Ehe beginnt, wird v llig auf den Kopf gestellt, als die Welt durch den Sturz des Schahs und das Entstehen der Islamischen Republik aus den Fugen ger t.Unter Ayatollah Khomeini und den Republikanischen Gardisten wird das allt gliche Leben immer schwieriger. Anna muss lernen, in einer ver nderten Welt voller Beschr nkungen, in der die ihr vertrauten, westlichen Verhaltensweisen nicht mehrt toleriert werden, zu bestehen. Willk rliche Verhaftungen und Folter sind an der Tagesordnung. Frauen werden gezwungen, einen Hidschab zu tragen. Und Anna muss erkennen, dass sie nicht mehr frei ber ihre Ausreise bestimmen kann.Als sich die Situation dramatisch zuspitzt, merkt Anna, dass nichts mehr so ist, wie sie dachte, und dass sie niemandem mehr vertrauen kann ... nicht einmal ihrem Ehemann.

The first novel in crime writer Libby Fischer Hellmann's popular Ellie Foreman mystery series, An Eye for Murder introduces the documentary filmmaker, single mom, and amateur sleuth in a tale that opens in Nazi-era Prague and closes on the North Shore of present-day Chicago.An elderly stranger, Ben Sinclair, watches Ellie's "Celebrate Chicago" cable television show and dies suddenly not long after. Ellie receives a letter from Ben's landlady, who found Ellie's name among Ben's possessions. Agreeing to help dispose of his effects, but not knowing of any connection, Ellie begins to piece together Ben's story from the books and wartime relics he's left behind.Ellie's search for clues takes her on a dangerous trail from the political present of the North Shore to memories of the city's ethnic neighborhoods and steel mills, an illicit love affair, Nazi-era intrigue, and more than one murder.An Eye for Murder (published in 2002) is the first in six Ellie Foreman mystery thrillers from Libby Fischer Hellmann.

The big news story in Chicago is the murder trial of Johnny Santoro, a dock worker whose girlfriend has been killed. Most Chicagoans are betting on a quick guilty verdict, but Ellie Foreman has doubts about his complicity--Santoro is strangely familiar to her. Checking back to the outtakes of a video project in progress while the murder took place, Ellie finds evidence that could save Santoro from a lifetime behind bars. It seems the perfect alibi. But the tape is compromised by strange radio interference and Santoro goes to jail. Almost immediately, Ellie's world begins to shift: a suspicious vehicle follows her, the Chicago mob shows up, and the FBI wants to question her. She doesn't have answers, but she has questions of her own about the radio transmissions. Everything indicates that someone wants something from her, something bigger than the Santoro case. If only she could figure out what it is... AA Picture of Guilt follows Ellie's award-winning debut in An Eye for Murder. There are five novels in the Ellie Foreman series. www.hellmann.com

Chicago filmmaker Ellie Foreman is back, and she's tackling her most dangerous case yet in this dark amateur sleuth thriller from critically acclaimed crime writer Libby Fischer Hellmann. An Image of Death sees Ellie in the midst of producing another video documentary, financed by a successful Chicago real estate developer. But things take an unexpected turn one winter night when a mysterious package arrives anonymously on Ellie's doorstep. Inside, she finds a surveillance video apparently showing the murder of a young woman. Who was the victim, why was she murdered, and what is her connection to Ellie? Despite being pushed to one side by the cops, Ellie begins to uncover the victim's dark history, forged in Eastern Europe at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Her search for answers takes her into the murky world of money laundering and diamond dealing, ultimately ending up at a deserted construction site in the hands of people who believe she knows too much... A thrilling addition to the Ellie Foreman series by Libby Fischer Hellmann Ellie's latest outing as an amateur sleuth comes hot on the heels of Libby Fischer Hellmann's 2002 Anthony-nominated thriller An Eye for Murder and the 2003 A Picture of Guilt. Packed with memorable characters, and neatly tying together a number of gripping plotlines, An Image of Death has been praised by mystery fiction fans as insightful, compelling and entertaining.

In this fourth crime thriller of the Ellie Foreman series, the Chicago documentary filmmaker finds herself in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Returning from a video shoot at the Lodge, a newly renovated, upscale resort, Ellie befriends a woman who claims her ride abandoned her at a highway rest stop. But Ellie's kindness is brutally cut short when a pickup truck pulls up, the rear window opens, and the woman is shot dead. Even with her history of sleuthing, Ellie is not eager to get involved. Then the victims's family arrives and begs for information. When the second shooting occurs, Ellie decides to poke around on her own. She is soon drawn into the history of a wealthy and prominent family, deeply rooted in a magnificent mansion on the shores of the lake, and surrounded by an elaborate web of lies, murder, and family secrets that have plagued both them and the town for years--secrets that now place Ellie in the crosshairs of a killer.

In 1968 two young Vietnamese sisters flee to Saigon after their village on the Mekong River is attacked by American forces and burned to the ground. The sole survivors of the brutal massacre that killed their family, the sisters struggle to survive but become estranged, separated by sharply different choices and ideologies. Mai ekes out a living as a GI bar girl, but Tam's anger festers, and she heads into jungle terrain to fight with the Viet Cong. For nearly ten years, neither sister knows if the other is alive. Do they both survive the war? And if they do, can they mend their fractured relationship? Or are the wounds from their journeys too deep to heal? In a stunning departure from her crime thrillers, Libby Fischer Hellmann delves into a universal story about survival, family, and the consequences of war.

Anna, a young American studying in Chicago falls in love with fellow-student Nouri, the son of a wealthy Iranian family. Despite their cultural differences, Anna, whose parents are divorced and remote, eagerly moves to Tehran where she is embraced by Nouri's family. A few months after she arrives, however, in February 1978, the Shah is deposed and the Islamic Republic of Iran is formed. Life turns upside down for the couple as men, but especially women, are restricted in their activities, clothing, and behavior. Arrests and torture are frequent, education for women is not permitted, and Anna cannot travel without her husband's permission. Although she tries to conform to please her husband and new family, Anna chafes under the oppression, while Nouri seems to embrace it. Anna grows increasingly unhappy, and as events become more explosive, so does Nouri. Anna is desperate to return home to America, but Nouri refuses to allow it. Tension builds until a shattering event changes everything and plunges Anna into the vortex of a tumultuous-and dangerous-crisis, raising the possibility she will never leave Iran alive.