Rob Hart has firmly established himself as one of the best crime writers of his generation with his acclaimed Ash McKenna series, and in TAKE-OUT Hart has collected 18 stories of culinary crime and noir that will have you savoring every deadly bite. In the title story, a gambler falls into debt with the enigmatic owner of a Chinatown gambling parlor, and must run odd—and sometimes dangerous—deliveries to clear his ledger. In "How to Make the Perfect New York Bagel," the owner of one of New York City's last old-school bagel shops has to defend his storefront—in the past, from the mob, and in the present, from a bank. In "Creampuff," a bakery with the hottest pastry in town has to hire a bouncer to control the unruly line, with tragic results. In these stories and more, some never before published, Rob Hart explores the enticing and dangerous intersection where food and hospitality cross paths with crime and noir. Some stories are funny. Some of are dark. But each...

Named one of the Best Books of the Summer by Publishers Weekly Named a Hot Summer Read by the Boston Globe Amateur private investigator Ash McKenna's time is about to expire—on his visa, that is. Having fled the demons that haunted him in the U.S., Ash has been laying low in Prague for nearly three months. Now, it's time to move on. But as he contemplates his next stop, a man named Roman appears, claiming to work for the U.S. government, and possessing intimate knowledge of Ash's many sins. Sins nobody should know. Roman offers to protect him...in exchange for a favor.It sounds simple: a bank employee named Samantha Sobolik is set to receive a package containing covert information in a handoff on the Charles Bridge. Ash must intercept the package, and deliver the contents to Roman. Ash refuses—until Roman threatens to kill his mother. Out of options and too far away to protect her, Ash agrees.But when Ash gets to the bridge,...

Ash McKenna used to be an amateur private investigator—emphasis on 'amateur'. Despite the best of intentions, he made a mess of his life in New York, so he tried to build a new one in Portland. But after a traumatic turn of events, he ends up on his friend's commune in the Georgia woods, binge-drinking cheap whiskey to keep the nightmares at bay, and waiting for his passport to come in so he can flee the country.Then one of the camp's residents is found dead. Crusty Pete is sprawled in the dirt, having fallen from the rope bridge. It's written off as an accident, but Ash suspects Pete was murdered. So he starts poking into Pete's death, only to find the supposedly peaceful community houses a rogue faction preparing to commit an unspeakable act of violence.Ash has to make a choice: Keep running, or accept what he's good at and try to stop them. But he doesn't know who to trust, or where the faction is planning to strike. The task is daunting enough, but grows even...

Cloud isn't just a place to work. It's a place to live. And when you're here, you'll never want to leave."On the surface, The Warehouse is a thrilling story of corporate espionage at the highest level, but dig a little deeper and you'll find a terrifying cautionary tale of the nightmare world we are making for ourselves."—Blake Crouch, New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter Paxton never thought he'd be working for Cloud, the giant tech company that's eaten much of the American economy. Much less that he'd be moving into one of the company's sprawling live-work facilities. But compared to what's left outside, Cloud's bland chainstore life of gleaming entertainment halls, open-plan offices, and vast warehouses...well, it doesn't seem so bad. It's more than anyone else is offering. Zinnia never thought she'd be infiltrating Cloud. But now she's undercover, inside the walls, risking it all to ferret out the...

As an amateur PI with a bent moral compass, Ash McKenna is good at finding people—but not at staying out of trouble. Between his own violent tendencies, the shadow cast by his father's death, and a self-destructive revenge quest, he made a mess of his life in NYC. Figuring it was time for a change of scenery Ash relocated to Portland, taking a job as a bouncer in a vegan strip club. And he hasn't had to hit anyone in six months.So when one of the club's dancers asks Ash for help finding her daughter, he declines, content to keep the darkness in his past. But soon Ash is held at gunpoint by a man in a chicken mask, and told to keep away from the girls. Unfortunately Ash isn't good at following directions either.As Ash navigates an unfamiliar city, he finds himself embroiled in a labyrinthine plot involving a ruthless drug cartel and a scandal that could reach one of the most powerful men in Portland. Ash is dead set on finding the missing girl, but realizes that in...

"Ash McKenna is my favorite kind of hero, a tough guy romantic with a smart mouth and a dark past."—Chelsea Cain The final book in Rob Hart's acclaimed Ash McKenna series shows that Ash can go home again...but it might cost him everything. Amateur private investigator Ash McKenna is home. After more than a year on the road he's ready to face the demons he ran away from in New York City. And he's decided what he wants to do with his life: Become a private investigator, for real. Licensed and everything. No more working as a thug for hire. But within moments of stepping off the plane, Ginny Tonic, the drag queen crime lord who once employed him—and then tried to have him killed—asks to see him. One of her newest drag queen soldiers has gone missing, and Ginny suspects she's been ensnared by the burgeoning heroin scene on Staten Island. Ginny wants Ash to find her. Because he's the best, and because he knows Staten Island, his home borough. Ash is...

Ashley McKenna is a blunt instrument. Find someone, scare someone, carry something; point him at the job, he gets it done. He generally accepts money upon completion, though a bottle of whiskey works, too—he's comfortable working on a barter system. It's not the career he dreamed about (archeologist) but it keeps him comfortable in his ever-changing East Village neighborhood.That's until Chell, the woman he loves, leaves him a voicemail looking for help—a voicemail he gets two hours after her body is found. Ash hunts for her killer with the grace of a wrecking ball, running afoul of a drag queen crime lord and stumbling into a hard-boiled role playing game that might be connected to a hipster turf war.Along the way, he's forced to face the memories of his tumultuous relationship with Chell, his unresolved anger over his father's death, and the consequences of his own violent tendencies.New Yorked takes you deep into the seedy underbelly of New...