Stephen J. Cannell has 17 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 5 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.3★ across 3 ratings. The most-rated is The Prostitutes' Ball.
The Prostitutes' Ball
Summary
It’s a few days before Christmas when Detective Shane Scully and his wife, Alexa, respond to a call in the Hollywood Hills. The crime scene is the pristine backyard swimming pool of a once-immaculate mansion on Skyline Drive, the site of an infamous murder decades prior, in which a family was killed in cold blood on Christmas Eve. In the ensuing years, the house has been shuttered and left exactly as it stood on that terrible night. Shane and Alexa arrive to discover the after-math of a lavish party. The revelers have fled, leaving three dead bodies, all shot with the same gun. One is acclaimed film producer Scott Berman. The others, a pair of gorgeous women in their early 20s. Scully is assigned to the case along with his new partner, Sumner Hitchens. Hitch has a reputation in the department as a self-promoter; he sold the story rights to one of his cases to a film production company — and he has the millions to show for it. Scully and Hitch begin to investigate, and the case looks to be open-and-shut: The two young women were hired prostitutes, and there’s a security video of an angry husband firing on all three. A simple case of revenge. But there’s a catch: The detectives discover a single spent bullet casing that doesn’t match the rest. From that single bullet emerges a story that spans thirty years — a tale of love, murder, suicide, and one of the biggest financial frauds in L.A. history. It’s a story fit for the screen — and Hitch is determined to get it there, no matter what it takes. But someone has gone to great lengths to cover up the crime, and as Scully and Hitch get closer to the answer, they find themselves in a killer’s crosshairs. The case could be the makings of a blockbuster Hollywood film — but only if Scully gets out of it alive.
©2010 Stephen J. Cannell (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
White Sister
Summary
Leaving L.A.'s Parker Center, Shane Scully and his wife, Alexa, agree to meet at home in one hour. Shane gets there; Alexa doesn't. In the middle of the night, he's called to a crime scene on Mulholland Drive: The African-American victim, who appears to be a Crip gangbanger, has been executed gangland style. Shockingly, the body is in Alexa's car and her gun is found nearby. But Alexa is missing. Shane's frantic investigation into his wife's disappearance soon takes him inside a bitter and violent feud between two rival hip-hop record companies. At the center of this war is one of the most lethal adversaries he's ever encountered: Stacy Maluga, a trashy, beautiful, Lady Macbeth-like white woman raised in Compton, married to a multi-millionaire rap mogul and known in the gangsta hip-hop world as the White Sister. Shane is no stranger to big trouble, but this time he's met his match in a powerful and media-savvy enemy who could put him in jail, order a hit on him, or utterly destroy his reputation. Worse, Shane fears that his wife may be dead and that the White Sister is behind it.
©2006 Stephen J. Cannell (P)2006 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC
At First Sight
Summary
Meet Chick Best - a middle-aged, self-absorbed, disaffected, California dot.com millionaire. Other than his house and high-priced foreign cars, Chick's most expensive possession is his trophy wife, Evelyn.
Evelyn is good at spending Chick's money, money that has pretty much run out. His other personal possession is his drug-addled 16-year-old daughter, Melissa. Though concerned about his life and family, Chick resigns himself to a miserable state of acceptance.
That is, until he, Evelyn, and Melissa take a Christmas vacation in Maui. With this, Chick's life changes. He experiences unrequited love at first sight when he observes Paige Ellis. His obsession, exceeded only by his need to possess her, isn't diminished when he learns that she is happily married. Instead, he befriends Paige and her near-perfect husband, Chandler.
A short time later, Chick's obsession compels him to drive to Paige's house, where he runs down and kills Chandler in a drug-store parking lot. He attends the husband's funeral, feigning compassion for Paige. Several months later, with his lust for Paige in high gear, Chick stages a carjacking and murders Evelyn. Evidence that Chick has planted in and around the car implicates an ex-convict.
When he calls Paige with the news of Evelyn's murder, she returns the favor and comes to comfort Chick in what she thinks is his time of need. Chick, however, has other ideas. Will Paige learn the truth before it's too late?
©2008 Stephen J. Cannell (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
Final Victim
Summary
Leonard Land, a computer genius and a multi-personality maniac, is systematically murdering women. Wired to the cyberpunk subculture of Death Metal and Satan worship, he shifts personalities from The Rat - smart and cunning - to The Wind Minstrel - God and the Devil. Renegade U.S. Customs Service agent John Lockwood teams up with Chicano master hacker Malavida Chacone and stunning forensic criminologist Karen "Awesome" Dawson to track the deranged genius. The trail leads them deep into the Florida swamps, and when Land discovers that they have infiltrated his computer programs, the hunters become the hunted.
©1996 by Stephen J. Cannell (P)1996 by Dove Audio, Inc.
The Tin Collectors
Summary
L.A. police detective Shane Scully comes under investigation by Internal Affairs (derisively known as "the tin collectors") after he kills his ex-partner who was one of the mayor's bodyguards. Temporarily reassigned, so that he can remain under the department's watchful eye, Scully finds that more than his badge is at stake when he is set up to take the rap in a deadly plot of corruption and conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of the LAPD.
©2007 Stephen J. Cannell (P)2007 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
The Devil's Workshop
Summary
Stacy Richardson is a microbiology graduate student at the University of Southern California, taking her final doctoral exams. In the middle of her "Quals," Stacy learns that her husband, head of the university's Microbiology Department, has "committed suicide" while on sabbatical at a super-secret bio-weapons lab known as the Devil's Workshop. Meanwhile, two train-riding hobos, "Lucky" Cunningham and "Hollywood Mike", are traveling near Vanished Lake, Texas, where the newest generation of bio-weapons is secretly being tested. A bio-accident at Vanishing Lake turns the town into a living hell; one of the many casualties is Hollywood Mike, who, it turns out, is the son of egomaniacal, larger-than-life motion picture producer Buddy Brazil. An unlikely trio, Stacy Richardson, Lucky Cunningham, and Buddy Brazil work to expose the horrific truth about the Devil's Workshop while trying to stop a gang of white supremacists from "detonating" the frightening new bio-weapon.
©2000 Stephen J. Cannell (P)2012 Random House Audio
Cold Hit
Summary
Shane Scully and his partner are assigned to the case of "the Fingertip Killer", a serial murderer preying on homeless veterans in Los Angeles. Every two weeks he strikes: he beats his victims, then shoots them in the back of the head. Once they're dead, he cuts off their fingertips, closes their eyes, and tosses them in the river. The latest killing, however, does not quite fit the pattern. It appears to be the work of the Fingertip Killer, but Scully suspects an elaborate copycat murder meant to hide a criminal conspiracy. A bullet pulled from the victim's skull produces what police call a "cold hit", an unexpected ballistics match linking one unsolved case to another, and the previous victim was an LA Police officer, killed 10 years earlier. After heavy-handed FBI agents throw him off the Fingertip Killer case, Scully teams up with his wife and boss, Alexa, and a pair of tough cops from the LAPD's anti-terrorism squad. Outside the law and deep undercover, they fight to see justice done for the slain officer, and, possibly, to unravel a murderous plot with connections high up in the Homeland Security office.
©2005 Stephen J. Cannell (P)2005 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC
The Prostitutes' Ball
Summary
It’s a few days before Christmas when Detective Shane Scully and his wife, Alexa, respond to a call in the Hollywood Hills. The crime scene is the pristine backyard swimming pool of a once immaculate mansion on Skyline Drive, the site of an infamous murder decades prior, in which a family was killed in cold blood on Christmas Eve. In the ensuing years, the house has been shuttered and left exactly as it stood on that terrible night.
Shane and Alexa arrive to discover the aftermath of a lavish party. The revelers have fled, leaving three dead bodies, all shot with the same gun. One is acclaimed film producer Scott Berman. The others, a pair of gorgeous women in their early 20s.
Scully is assigned to the case along with his new partner, Sumner Hitchens. Hitch has a reputation in the department as a self-promoter; he sold the story rights to one of his cases to a film production company - and he has the millions to show for it. Scully and Hitch begin to investigate, and the case looks to be open-and-shut: The two young women were hired prostitutes, and there’s a security video of an angry husband firing on all three. A simple case of revenge.
But there’s a catch: The detectives discover a single spent bullet casing that doesn’t match the rest. From that single bullet emerges a story that spans 30 years - a tale of love, murder, suicide, and one of the biggest financial frauds in L.A. history. It’s a story fit for the screen - and Hitch is determined to get it there, no matter what it takes. But someone has gone to great lengths to cover up the crime, and as Scully and Hitch get closer to the answer, they find themselves in a killer’s crosshairs. The case could be the makings of a blockbuster Hollywood film - but only if Scully gets out of it alive.
©2010 Stephen J. Cannell (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
Cold Hit
Summary
Shane Scully and his partner are assigned to the case of "the Fingertip Killer", a serial murderer preying on homeless veterans in Los Angeles. Every two weeks he strikes: he beats his victims, then shoots them in the back of the head. Once they're dead, he cuts off their fingertips, closes their eyes, and tosses them in the river. The latest killing, however, does not quite fit the pattern. It appears to be the work of the Fingertip Killer, but Scully suspects an elaborate copycat murder meant to hide a criminal conspiracy. A bullet pulled from the victim's skull produces what police call a "cold hit", an unexpected ballistics match linking one unsolved case to another, and the previous victim was an LA Police officer, killed 10 years earlier. After heavy-handed FBI agents throw him off the Fingertip Killer case, Scully teams up with his wife and boss, Alexa, and a pair of tough cops from the LAPD's anti-terrorism squad. Outside the law and deep undercover, they fight to see justice done for the slain officer, and, possibly, to unravel a murderous plot with connections high up in the Homeland Security office.
©2005 Stephen J. Cannell (P)2005 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC
Vertical Coffin
Summary
The Edgar and Emmy Award-winning writer and producer delivers a high-concept thriller of inter-bureau conspiracy and betrayal A nightmarish series of events sweeps LAPD's Sergeant Shane Scully and his wife (and boss), Alexa, into the vortex of an enormous, jurisdictional firestorm. First, a sheriff's deputy, a friend of Shane's, is gunned down while serving a routine search warrant. His fellow deputies blame the incident on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, whom they angrily accuse of failing to warn them that the suspect had a huge arsenal of illegal weapons in his house. Soon thereafter, a member of the ATF Situation Response Team is shot to death, followed by the sniper murder of a member of the Sheriff's Special Enforcement Bureau. At the request of the Mayor, the LAPD - an uninvolved and unbiased agency - assigns Shane to investigate. He is given an impossible deadline to find a solution before these two elite and deadly SWAT Teams kill each other off amid a hurricane of horrible publicity. Stephen Cannell is one of television's most prolific and recognized producers. His Shane Scully series has been gaining a growing audience since the publication of The Tin Collectors, and Vertical Coffin is his best outing yet.
©2004 Stephen J. Cannell (P)2004 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC
On the Grind
Summary
Charged with misconduct in a high-profile solicitation of murder case, Scully is forced to resign from the LAPD or face criminal prosecution. His wife Alexa leaves him, seeking a divorce for his alleged dalliance with the accused in the case, a well-known Hollywood actress. His son, Chooch, horrified by these events, won't speak to him.
In order to make a living, Scully seeks employment where he can: the Haven Park, California PD. Haven Park is a small, incorporated city near downtown LA, populated largely by illegal immigrants. The department is known for its corruption, in effect the Mayor's personal goon squad and collection agency. As Shane gets involved, he learns that things are rarely what they seem.
Relentlessly harassed by an over-zealous FBI agent, the beautiful Ophelia Love, and under the constant, sometimes violent, extremely paranoid scrutiny of his new comrades-at-arms, Shane finds that Alex may be the only one who can get him out of this new mess alive. But is she willing to?
©2009 Stephen J. Cannell (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
Vigilante
Summary
Lita Mendez was a thorn in the LAPD’s side. An aggressive police critic and gang activist, she’d filed countless complaints against the department. So when she’s found dead in her home, Shane and Hitch fear the worst: that there’s a killer in their ranks.Outside the crime scene, Nixon Nash, the charismatic host of a hit reality show called Vigilante TV, has set up shop with his television crew. Nash’s show is dedicated to beating the cops at their own game, solving murders before they can. Now he has the murder of Lita Mendez in his sights and he presents the detectives with a choice: either join his team or prepare for a public takedown.But Scully suspects that Nash isn’t the folk hero he seems. If a detective got in his way, just how far would the TV host go in the name of self-promotion? On the heels of The Prostitutes’ Ball, called “the best Scully yet” (Kirkus Reviews) and “perfectly fresh” (Booklist), this new novel from the celebrated author has Detective Scully risking everything to save himself, his family, and the job he loves.
©2011 Stephen J. Cannell (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
Hollywood Tough
Summary
The New York Times best-selling author and Emmy Award-winning writer/producer sets his next action-packed thriller in the high-stakes world he knows best: Hollywood. Back on the LAPD and hailed as a hero after taking down a deadly gang of rogue cops in The Viking Funeral, Shane Scully finds himself unwittingly involved in a criminal scheme to take over the movie business. Soon, he will have to go deep undercover to take down a Hollywood conspiracy. At a glamorous party with his new wife, Alexandra, Shane hears a world-famous director make an ominous remark about the strange deaths of his ex-wives. This is more than police business, it’s personal: Alexandra’s closest friend is engaged to the producer. When he looks closer, Scully discovers that the director’s mysterious past may hide deadly secrets. To uncover them, he must work alongside a former down-and-outer-turned-Hollywood impresario to infiltrate the movie business’ violent dark side, a world where deals are settled with handshakes but broken with the spilling of blood, and where the danger to Shane’s loved ones is all too real.
©2003 Stephen J. Cannell (P)2003 Macmillan Audio
The Pallbearers
Summary
Abandoned by his parents as an infant, Scully was reared in an orphanage, Huntington House. The only positive thing in his young life was the attention of the Home’s director, Walter “Pop” Dix. Pop, an avid surfer, would take a small group of kids for early morning surfing. He was the father none of them ever had.That was 30 years ago. Now, Shane is forced to revisit these memories when Pop is found dead, the victim of an apparently self-inflicted shotgun blast. He leaves a message asking six specific people, all of whom attended Huntington House, to be his pallbearers, and Shane is one of the chosen. He and his fellow pallbearers don’t believe it was a suicide. That leaves murder. But why, and by whom?Together, the pallbearers embark on a dangerous odyssey in pursuit of justice for Pop, and for retribution against those responsible for his death. Their journey takes them up against an unforeseen adversary whose power and influence far exceed anything they could have imagined.
©2010 Stephen J. Cannell (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
Hollywood Tough
Summary
The New York Times best-selling author and Emmy Award-winning writer/producer sets his next action-packed thriller in the high stakes world he knows best: Hollywood Back on the LAPD and hailed as a hero after taking down a deadly gang of rogue cops in The Viking Funeral, Shane Scully finds himself unwittingly involved in a criminal scheme to take over the movie business. Soon, he will have to go deep undercover to take down a Hollywood conspiracy. At a glamorous party with his new wife, Alexandra, Shane hears a world famous director make an ominous remark about the strange deaths of his ex-wives. This is more than police business, it's personal: Alexandra's closest friend is engaged to the producer. When he looks closer, Scully discovers that the director's mysterious past may hide deadly secrets. To uncover them, he must work alongside a former down-and-outer-turned-Hollywood impresario to infiltrate the movie business's violent dark side, a world where deals are settled with handshakes but broken with the spilling of blood, and where the danger to Shane's loved ones is all too real.
©2003 Stephen J. Cannell (P)2003 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC
Vigilante
Summary
Lita Mendez was a thorn in the LAPD's side. An aggressive police critic and gang activist, she’d filed countless complaints against the department. So when she's found dead in her home, Detective Scully and his partner Hitchens fear the worst: that there's a killer in their ranks. Outside the crime scene, Nixon Nash and his television crew have set up shop. Nash is the charismatic host of a hit reality show called "Vigilante TV," dedicated to beating the cops at their own game: solving murders before they can. Now he has the murder of Lita Mendez in his sights. He presents the detectives with a choice: either join his team, or prepare for a public takedown. But Scully knows that Nash isn't the folk-hero he seems. He will do anything in the name of self-promotion. If a detective got in his way, would he be prepared to kill? In this new novel, Scully will have to risk everything save himself and the job he loves.
©2011 Stephen J. Cannell (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
Runaway Heart
Summary
The New York Times best-selling author combines medical sciences and action-packed suspense in this stunningly original thriller What if the military's foot soldiers were not our sons and daughters, but genetically engineered animals programmed to kill, with superhuman strength and speed and just enough intelligence to follow orders blindly? This is exactly the weapon that a top-secret government agency is developing in the desert. Attorney Herman Strockmire, a rumpled man with a very big but defective heart, is a champion of lost legal causes who becomes involved when his employee is literally torn limb from limb by one of the creatures. At great personal risk, Herman, his beautiful daughter and law partner, Susan, and ex-LAPD detective Jack Wirta, plunge headlong into harm's way, finding themselves in a nightmare beyond anyone's wildest imagination.
©2003 Stephen J. Cannell (P)2002 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC