John Lutz has 26 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 23 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 2 ratings. The most-rated is Darker Than Night.
Mister X
Summary
He mutilates his victims. Slices their throats. And carves an X into their flesh. Five years ago, he claimed the lives of six women. Then the killings abruptly stopped - no one knows why. Ex-homicide detective Frank Quinn remembers - which is why he's shocked to see one of the dead women in his office. Actually, she's the identical twin of the last victim, and she wants Quinn to find her sister's murderer. But when the cold case heats up, it attracts the media spotlight - and suddenly the killings start again....
©2010 John Lutz (P)2010 Random House Audio
Darker Than Night
Summary
Ex-homicide cop Frank Quinn is still reeling in the wake of an elaborate setup that ended his career, but a new case presents a chance to salvage his reputation. A killer dubbed "The Night Prowler" has begun terrorizing the citizens of New York City. Unseen, he enters couples' homes. Unsuspected, he lingers until the perfect moment arrives to murder his victims. With the body count climbing, it's up to Quinn to unlock the mystery of a madman's past and end his bloody reign of terror. Quinn has his work cut out for him, because in the city of New York, any one of eight million faces could be that of a killer - or his next target.
©2004 John Lutz (P)2004 Books on Tape
Fear the Night
Summary
He comes out when the sun goes down. He delivers death from the barrel of a rifle. He's made New York City his shooting gallery. Men and women, natives and tourists, young and old, have all been his victims. The press has named him The Night Sniper. He taunts those who would try to stop him, threatening to increase the body count unless legendary retired homicide detective Vin Repetto is willing to engage him in a lethal game of cat and mouse. Repetto paid his dues. Over 20 years on the force, obtaining a captain's rank and injured in the line of duty, he's earned his retirement. Yet he can't help feeling responsible for the lives The Night Sniper has taken, and will continue to take if his challenge remains unanswered. The decision is snatched from his hands when the next victim is murdered right before Repetto's eyes. Now, the game is truly set to begin, but The Night Sniper doesn't realize that they're playing by Repetto's rules
©2005 John Lutz (P)2005 Books on Tape, Inc.
Burn
Summary
Joel Brandt swears he’s never met the woman before. His wife dead six months before, the small-time businessman is perplexed when Del Moray police inform him that a local woman, Marla Cloy, has accused him of harassing her. According to her, Joel has been lurking outside of her house, following her car, even assaulting her at the grocery store. Brandt says it’s all a lie, but the police don’t believe him. He goes to Fred Carver, an ex-cop turned PI, for help clearing his name. The harder Carver looks, the less he understands. There is no apparent connection between the two people, and yet one of them is trying to destroy the other’s life. When this game turns deadly, who will be the first to go?
©1995 John Lutz (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
Kiss
Summary
Fred Carver is hired by his good friend, Lieutenant Alfonso DeSoto of the Orlando police, to investigate the death of his uncle at Sunhaven, a local nursing home. Carver is harassed by Raphael Ortiz, a viciously depraved thug bent on discouraging Carver from investigating Sunhaven.
Before he can solve this shocking case, he must battle to stay alive - and confront some personal demons of his own in the process.
Narrated by:
Bill Weideman
Chuck Davis
Pamela Klein
Carlo V. Spataro
David Dressel
Steve Yankee
Gina Sierra
Maurine Gutowski
Roger Dressler
Pedro Rivera-Muniz
©2008 John Lutz (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
Bonegrinder
Summary
A bloodthirsty lake monster menaces a small town in the Ozarks.... When the men find him, the boy’s legs look like they were run through a wood-chipper. He’s bleeding heavily and near death, but he still has strength to tell them of the monster that attacked him: a dark, massive creature that emerged from the bottom of the lake. The child dies before he can say more. c When another body is found chewed to pieces, the Sheriff begins to wonder what evil lies at the bottom of Big Water Lake.
©1977 John Lutz (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
Better Mousetraps: The Best Mystery Stories of John Lutz
Summary
Thirty-five short stories by Edgar-winning novelist Lutz are included here, following a perceptive introduction by Nevins. Reflecting the ingenious plotting and characterizations in Tropical Heat, Nightlines and the author's other full-length adventures, these entries are a bonanza for discriminating listeners. The first section contains tales of tortuous suspense, notably “High Stakes” about a man forced by thugs onto a six-inch ledge outside a hotel room 12 stories above the pavement. Every second of his vertiginous ordeal, trying to open a locked window, causes palpitations for the listener. In the second section, Lutz spikes the menace with sophisticated comedy. “Understanding Electricity” is a delicious tale of a customer “overcharged” by a power company and scheming for revenge. He accomplishes this with a power outage and a literal shock. (“Watt now?” the office secretary asks herself as her electric typewriter dies.) Nevins appends a checklist of the author's publications.
©1988 John Lutz (P)2013 David N. Wilson
The Night Caller
Summary
Ezekiel "Coop" Cooper is lonely. He's no longer with the NYPD due to cancer that's in remission. His daughter Bette is in New Jersey, and he doesn't talk with her about anything personal, but he loves her. He's looking forward to seeing her at the family bungalow, but when he gets there, he finds her dead, curled up in a way that suggests a ritual murder. He investigates the death, eventually joining forces with a mystery writer who believes a serial killer has murdered Bette. By the time they put all the pieces together, they realize that the killer is extremely dangerous, and could be headed to kill more people they know. This book puts a new shine on a classic thriller plot.
©2001 John Lutz (P)2001 Books on Tape, Inc.
Chill of Night
Summary
The Justice Killer There’s a twisted serial killer stalking the streets of New York City, dealing his own perverse version of justice. He kills swiftly and silently, leaving his calling card - a red "J" - on the bodies of his prey. His victims have one thing in common: They’ve all been jurors in the city’s most infamous cases - cases in which the killer was found "not guilty". Overnight, the Justice Killer has the city in a stranglehold. And there’s only one man who has a shot at finding him.... Homicide detective Artemis Beam made his reputation hunting down serial killers. After getting shot by an armed robber - and stepping on the wrong toes in the NYPD - he’s been retired. The city needs him now, and finding the killer is his chance to get back into the life he loves. As the body count climbs and the city’s legal system fails, the Justice Killer thinks he’s outsmarted the cops. But Beam isn’t officially a cop anymore...and he doesn’t have to play by the rules....
©2006 John Lutz (P)2006 Books on Tape
Twist
Summary
Kill... or be killed. Frank Quinn is a decorated ex-cop. A former homicide detective specializing in tracking serial killers. Now his niece, Carlie Clark, needs help. Someone is stalking her, and the NYPD can’t stop him. A blonde, blue-eyed beauty, Carlie fits the victim type of the killer who’s been terrorizing women — leaving them bound, gagged, and tortured with surgical precision. To win against the most personal adversary of his career, Quinn will have to set the perfect trap. All he needs is the perfect bait….
©2013 John Lutz (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
Bloodfire
Summary
When a nervous husband asks him to track down his heroin addict wife, Fred Carver learns that not every client can be trusted. When he meets Bob Ghostly, it’s hardly the first time that Fred Carver has been asked to find a missing spouse. But Ghostly’s tale about a beautiful woman who fled for no apparent reason doesn’t quite convince Carver, who presses for more detail. Finally Ghostly admits it: His wife was beautiful, intelligent, and kind, but she was also a heroin addict. She fled their Florida home with half their savings - nearly $10,000 - and he’s afraid she’s going to put it straight into her veins. Carver goes looking for the troubled young bride, but when she shows up on her own - terrified and looking for protection - a routine case becomes one that could prove lethal for the well-meaning PI.
©1991 John Lutz (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
The Night Spider
Summary
John Lutz is fascinated by the nighttime dangers that await women alone. In The Night Spider, he improvises a new variation on this theme with a thriller about a serial killer who preys upon women living in high-rises. With few visible means of entry, the mysterious stalker kills women while they sleep in their beds behind securely locked doors. Like his namesake, he leaves his victims wrapped in their bed sheets and stabbed repeatedly, having them slowly bleed to death with their mouths frozen in a silent scream. The few clues left on the scene point to a wall-crawling, glass-cutting predator who easily eludes the best minds on the police force. Now a determined detective must stop him, before time runs out for his next victim.
©2003 John Lutz (P)2003 Books on Tape, Inc.
Flame
Summary
Private detective Fred Carver becomes embroiled in another strange case. A new client in an unusual situation leaves Carver's office and gets into his car. The car explodes upon ignition and only a charred corpse remains. Identify questions develop and Carver's case turns into murder. The compelling plot twists and turns around Carver in Lutz's own masterful style. A multi-voice production, including narrators Bill Weideman, Richard Bonge, Chuck Davis, Harry Honig, Pamela Klein, Tom Casaletto, Carlo Spataro, Richard Oman, and David Dressel.
©2008 John Lutz (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
Pulse
Summary
Some Killers Come Back For More The killer's depravity is insatiable. What he does to his victims is unthinkable. Homicide detective turned P.I. Frank Quinn has seen this M.O. before. A demented ritual, it's the work of Daniel Danielle - a notorious serial killer who blurs the line between male and female, human and monster. Danielle disappeared ten years ago. Is a copy cat repeating the crimes? Or has Danielle made a deadly return? Either way, this time the killing won't stop....
©2012 John Lutz (P)2012 Random House Audio
Urge to Kill
Summary
Homicide detective Frank Quinn can't stay retired when a new breed of murdering madman is on the prowl. In a city terrorized by bloody brutality, Quinn and his team hunt a psychopath who lures beautiful women into a night of unbridled passion, then wakes them to a vicious, drawn-out death. Stumbling over a trail of horribly defiled bodies, Quinn can't seem to catch up to the killer - because the killer is about to catch up to him.
©2009 John Lutz (P)2009 Random House
Spark
Summary
Hattie Evans, a retired schoolteacher, isn’t one to fuss. When her husband drops dead of a heart attack, she does her best to move on without too many tears. After all, Jerome was 70 years old. But an anonymous note, asserting that her husband was murdered, shakes her resolve, and she seeks out help. The police are useless, save that they send her to Fred Carver - a former Orlando cop who turned PI when a bullet shattered his left knee. Her case takes Carver into the depths of Solartown: an old-age mecca where 70 is the new 40, golf carts are the only way to get around, and death from natural causes is nowhere to be found.
©1993 John Lutz (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
Hot
Summary
When Henry Tiller barges into Fred Carver’s office, the old man seems crazy. He tells a paranoid story about one of his neighbors on the sunny Florida Key where he makes his home—a wealthy man whom he suspects of using his yacht to run drugs. A young boy recently washed up on the beach, Tiller says, and he’s certain it was murder. Carver is uninterested until he learns that the old man’s grandson died a few years earlier: another casualty of cocaine addiction. It’s only been three years since Carver’s own son was murdered, and he’s too sentimental to turn down the case. When Tiller turns up dead himself, a victim of a suspicious hit-and-run, a little smuggled cocaine becomes the least of Carver’s troubles.
©1992 John Lutz (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
Slaughter
Summary
LOVE THEM TO PIECES A beautiful jogger, drained of blood, dismembered, then meticulously reassembled on the grass in Central Park. Subway derailments, plummeting elevators, collapsing construction cranes, apartment explosions - all creating a bloody, senseless puzzle. Detective Frank Quinn knows that even while the slayer is taunting the cops and the public, he's also screaming to be caught. But Quinn will have to risk everything he holds precious to bring in this killer....
©2015 John Lutz (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
Scorcher
Summary
Scorcher, the fourth title in a series that includes Tropical Heat, Flame, and Kiss, again features Florida private detective Fred Carver.A serial killer is on the loose, a maniac wielding a homemade flame thrower fashioned from a scuba tank. He has murdered three people - and one of them is Carver's eight-year-old son.Carver will do anything to find his son's killer and exact a father's revenge. All clues point to the brilliant schizophrenic son of one of Florida's wealthiest families, and when the suspect goes on the run, Carver sets out to hunt him down.A gripping story of long-buried secrets and burning hate, Scorcher is a taut, explosive, and thoroughly unforgettable mystery.
©2008 John Lutz (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
Serial
Summary
The killer becomes the hunted. She was gagged. Violated. Tortured. Nailing the killer is priority number one and only the best will do - that means Frank Quinn. And Quinn wouldn't want it any other way. Because he recognizes the victim. Years ago, as a homicide detective, he saved her young life. Now the hunt is on, and deep in his gut, Quinn welcomes it. He knows he's seeing the work of a truly twisted serial killer. Except it's not the ritual weapon that makes this killer so disturbing. It's who he kills - and how he makes them suffer….
©2011 John Lutz (P)2011 Random House