Mystery Books

  • One Across, Two Down

          Two things interest Stanley Manning: crossword puzzles, and the substantial sum his wife Vera stands to inherit

  • Strawberry Shortcake Murder (Hannah Swensen Mysteries)

    When the president of Hartland Flour chooses cosy Lake Eden, Minnesota, as the spot for their first annual Dessert Bake-Off, Hanna

  • The Amateur

    A spy thriller classic from the author of The Company Before Robert Littell vaulted onto the bestseller

  • Plum Island

    The hair-raising suspense of The General's Daughter... the wry wit of The Gold Coast...this is vintage Nelson DeMille at the peak

  • Windmills of the Gods

    She's on the glinting edge of East-West confrontation, a beautiful and accomplished scholar who has suddenly become our newest amb

  • The First Eagle

    For acting Lieutenant Jim Chee, the murder of a Navajo Tribal Police officer seems like an open-and-shut case when he discovers

  • Heart of the World (Carlotta Carlyle Mysteries)

    SHE'LL GO TO THE END OF THE EARTHWhen private investigator Carlotta Carlyle learns that Paolina, the teenaged

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Mystery Movies

  • Basic

    Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Taye Diggs, Giovanni Ribisi. John McTiernan's double-crossing, multi-layered military thriller a

  • Orphan

    The tragic loss of their unborn child has devastated Kate and John, taking a toll on both their marriage and Kate's fragile psyche

  • The Game

    Nicholas Van Orton is a shrewdly successful businessman who is accustomed to being in control of each facet of his investments and

  • Fallen (Snap Case Packaging)

    Homicide detective Denzel Washington must track down a serial killer he caught once before...and who was already put to death! Was

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Mystery Authors

Robert Ludlum biography

Ludlum

 

 

Robert Ludlum

(1927 - 2001)

Robert Ludlum (May 25, 1927 – March 12, 2001) was an American author of 25 thriller novels. The number of his books in print is estimated between 290–500 million copies.[1] They have been published in 33 languages and 40 countries. Ludlum also published books under the pseudonyms Jonathan Ryder and Michael Shepherd.

Ludlum was born in New York City. He was educated at The Rectory School then Cheshire Academy and Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. While at Wesleyan, Ludlum joined the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. Prior to becoming an author, he had been a United States Marine, theatrical actor and producer. His theatrical experience may have contributed to his understanding of the energy, escapism and action that the public wanted in a novel. He once remarked: "I equate suspense and good theater in a very similar way. I think it's all suspense and what-happens-next. From that point of view, yes, I guess, I am theatrical." Some of Ludlum's novels have been made into films and mini-series, including The Osterman Weekend, The Holcroft Covenant, The Apocalypse Watch, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. A non-Ludlum book supposedly inspired by his unused notes, Covert One: The Hades Factor, has also been made into a mini-series. The Bourne movies, starring Matt Damon in the title role, have been commercially and critically successful (The Bourne Ultimatum won three Academy Awards in 2008), although the story lines depart significantly from the source material.

Ludlum died in 2001 in Naples, Florida of a heart attack.

Ludlum's novels typically featured one heroic man, or a small group of crusading individuals, in a struggle against powerful adversaries whose intentions and motivations are evil, adversaries capable of using political and economic mechanisms in frightening ways. The world in his writings was one where global corporations, shadowy military forces, and government organizations all conspired to preserve (if it was good) or undermine (if it was evil) the status quo.

Ludlum's novels were often inspired by conspiracy theories, both historical and contemporary. He wrote that The Matarese Circle was inspired by rumors about the Trilateral Commission, and it was published only a few years after the commission was founded. His depictions of terrorism in books such as The Holcroft Covenant and The Matarese Circle reflected the theory that terrorists were only pawns of governments or private organizations that wished to use terror as a pretext for establishing authoritarian rule, not isolated bands of ideologically motivated extremists.

Ludlum uses the same fixed titling pattern of The [Proper Noun] [Noun] for most of his books. Subsequent to his death, books written by other authors have carried the phrase Robert LudlumTM on their covers, thus asserting the name Robert Ludlum as a trademark. The actual author (not technically a ghost writer) is identified insid

Information source: wikipedia