ALONG CAME A SPIDER

Washington, D.C., police detective Alex Cross becomes caught up in a kidnapping case that may involve Gary Soneji, a teacher at an elite private school who is also a schizophrenic psychopath and serial murderer.

KISS THE GIRLS

This time it's personal for Cross. The most elusive of killers has abducted Cross's niece, Naomi, a talented law student. Only such a devastating blow could bring the detective back - this time to the Deep South, where old slave prisons are buried in the forests, and houses of horror can disappear as in your worst nightmare. Naomi's kidnapping rips Alex Cross away from his kids and his jazz piano and sends him south with several questions burning in his mind. Why did the police wait seventy-two hours before beginning their search? And what is the head of the FBI doing at the scene of a small-town crime? Meanwhile, somewhere out there Casanova is living a secret fantasy. In his private hideaway, the world's greatest lover has assembled seven of the South's most extraordinary young women for his personal use. It's an accomplishment he can share with only one other soulmate - and that's definitely not his wife back in suburbia. But Casanova doesn't count on the exceptional abilities of one of his harem - or having Alex Cross as a nemesis.

JACK AND JILL

A controversial U.S. Senator is found murdered in his Georgetown bed. On the other side of town, a beautiful little girl is found dead, savagely beaten. Washington, D.C. homicide detective Alex Cross is brought in to try to find a connection between the two murders - even as the killer strikes again. No one in Washington is safe - not children, not politicians, not even the President of the United States. Cross has impressive skills and the courage to match, but can he discover the truth in time?

CAT AND MOUSE

Two killers - one operating in America, one in Europe - believe Alex Cross is the only worthy opponent in the deadly game each has planned. And Alex must contend with something he hasn't known since the loss of his wife: he's falling deeply in love, and this romance will make him, and her, all the more vulnerable...

POP GOES THE WEASEL

Detective Alex Cross is back, and he's in love. Unfortunately, a series of chilling murders in Washington intervenes, with a plot twist you will never forget. Cross's ingenious pursuit of the quirky killer produces a suspect-a British diplomat named Geoffrey Shafer. But proving that Shafer is the murderer becomes a difficult and deadly task. As the diplomat engages in a brilliant series of surprising countermoves, both in and out of the courtroom, Alex and his fiancee become hopelessly involved with the most memorable villain Cross has ever faced.

ROSES ARE RED

The Mastermind orchestrates a series of bank robberies that are notable for their precise demands-and their explosive violence when demands are not met exactly. Detective Alex Cross takes on the case and recognizes that a particular kind of criminal mind is at work. Cross's investigation gets under the Mastermind's skin, and he makes it his personal goal to take revenge on Cross and his entire team. Amidst all this, Cross's relationship with his girlfriend Christine is falling apart, and his beloved daughter Jannie is hospitalized with unexplained seizures. The pressure rises on every front, culminating in a shocking and explosive climax.

VIOLETS ARE BLUE

Two joggers are found dead in Golden Gate Park, killed in a way that suggests vampire attacks. Alex Cross doesn't believe in the supernatural -- but he knows other people do. The San Francisco case reminds Cross of unsolved killings in Washington, D.C., and soon he is on the trail of mysterious killings in eight other cities. The investigation takes him deep inside a menacing world where role-playing veers into deadly action -- and a titillating show masks true evil.

FOUR BLIND MICE

Alex Cross returns in the most harrowing case of his career - one that risks the life of his closest friend and partner, John Sampson. Detective Alex Cross is on his way to resign from the Washington, D.C., Police Force when his partner shows up at his door with a case he can't refuse. One of John Sampson's oldest friends, from their days together in Vietnam, has been arrested for murder. Worse yet, he is subject to the iron hand of the United States Army. The evidence against him is strong enough to send him to the gas chamber. Sampson is certain his friend has been framed, and Alex's investigation turns up evidence overlooked-or concealed-by the military authorities. Drawing on their years of street training and an almost telepathic mutual trust, Cross and Sampson go deep behind military lines to confront the most terrifying-and deadly-killers they have ever encountered. Behind these three highly skilled killing machines there appears to be an even more threatening controller. Discovering the identity of this lethal genius will prove to be Cross's most terrifying challenge ever. On his visits home, Alex must confront another, more harrowing mystery: what's the matter with Nana Mama? As he explores the possibility of a new relationship with a woman who offers him new hope, Alex must also confront the fact that his beloved grandmother is only human.

THE THOMAS BERRYMAN NUMBER

The most terrifyingly efficient hit man alive stalks his biggest prize yet - the country's leading African-American citizen, the mayor of Nashville. In a desperate race against time, one Southern reporter must dog him across six states to get the story of a lifetime and stop a July 4th assassination of a beloved American leader.

THE SEASON OF THE MACHETE

Forsaking a life of leisure for the things he believes him, Peter Macdonald prepares for a confrontation on a vacation island with psychopathic killers-for-hire Damian and Carrie Rose.

BLACK MARKET

Racing from Manhattan to Paris and finally to the Oval Office itself to stop the mysterious Green Band's efforts to destroy Wall Street, Caitlin Dillon teams up with Federal Agent Arch Carroll to hunt down the Operation Black Market terrorists.

THE MIDNIGHT CLUB

Alexandre St. Germain is the most powerful member of the Midnight Club - a secret society of international crime bosses who are "untouchable". John Stefanovitch is the one cop who can bring him down - until St. Germain gets him first with a shotgun blast. But Stef is not dead - not yet anyway - and although wheelchair bound, he enlists the help of a beautiful journalist and a tough Harlem cop to destroy his most dangerous prey.

HIDE AND SEEK

Beautiful singer-songwriter Maggie Bradford has it all - hit recordings, sold-out concerts, fame, money, and two adorable children. But Maggie has a secret: more than a decade ago, she killed her first husband. And now she's in jail awaiting trial - for the murder of her second husband.

SEE HOW THEY RUN (Previously published as The Jericho Commandment)

His wife is murdered at a party. His brother is killed at the Academy Awards. Now his former sweetheart is running for her life. Dr. David Strauss is soon obsessed with finding the explosive secret behind his family's murders - a secret born in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. His search takes him on a harrowing trek across Europe, and finally to the Moscow Olympics, where he will face the most terrifying surprise of his life.

WHEN THE WIND BLOWS

Frannie O'Neill, a young veterinarian whose husband was recently murdered, discovers something amazing in the woods near her animal hospital. Kit Harrison, a troubled FBI agent pursuing the murder case against orders, soon arrives on her doorstep. And then there is 11-year-old Max, Frannie's startling discovery.

CRADLE AND ALL (previously published as Virgin)

Anne Fitzgerald, a former nun turned private detective, is asked by the Archdiocese of Boston to investigate the strange case of two pregnant teenagers who, according to a secret religious prophecy, are destined to deliver both an unspeakable evil and a miraculous force into the world. Caught between the certainty of science and the possibility of a miracle, Anne finds herself at the epicenter of a cosmic clash between good and evil.

THE BEACH HOUSE (with Peter De Jonge)

Jack Mullen is in law school in New York City when the shocking news comes that his brother Peter has drowned in the ocean off East Hampton. Jack knows his brother and knows this couldn't be an accident. Someone must have wanted his brother dead.But the powers that be say otherwise. As Jack tries to uncover details of his brother's last night, he confronts a barricade of lawyers, police, and paid protectors who separate the multibillionaire summer residents from local workers like Peter. And he learns that his brother wasn't just parking cars at the summer parties of the rich. He was making serious money satisfying the sexual needs of the richest women and men in town. The Beach House reveals the secret lives of celebrities in a breathtaking drama of revenge-with a finale so shocking it could only have come from the mind of James Patterson.