African American Crime Mystery

When Harlem gets off on a murder charge due to insanity, the asylum he’s sent to feels worse than death, with one exception: the beautiful Nurse Daphane. As their relationship grows, so do the stakes: She has the ability to help him escape, and he has the ability to set her free from her abusive relationship. Yet Harlem has one big secret: He was perfectly sane when he committed his crime. But in the end, Daphane’s own secret may be the deadliest of all....

Knox Baker has been missing for weeks. When his cell phone is discovered in Farah Cotton’s possession, his family wants to know how she obtained it. Always deceitful, Farah quickly devises a clever lie to buy time. The problem is that there is one living person who knows the truth - Eleanor McClendon. Della Baker, Knox’s mother, senses that Farah is lying. To help discern her son’s whereabouts, she calls upon two deadly family members from Mississippi. They waste no time converging on Platinum Lofts to find their lost family member, no matter who they must kill in the process.

All Enzo aka Shawn Banks, and Bianca "Angel" Smith wanted to do was leave the evidence of their old life behind them, but the past always has a way of coming back to haunt you. When International King Pin, Damien Orlando, was taken down, the streets of Atlanta thought DOA's reign of terror was over, but sometimes even tied up ends can unravel. Step into the underworld of the NFL, where E.N.G.A takes on a whole new meaning, especially for Angel and Enzo.

In the fifth Leonid McGill novel, Leonid finds himself in an unusual pickle of trying to balance his cases with his chaotic personal life. Leonid is approached by an unemployed office manager named Hiram Stent to track down the whereabouts of his cousin, Celia, who is about to inherit millions of dollars from her father's side of the family. Leonid declines the case, but after his office is broken into and Hiram is found dead, he gets reeled into the underbelly of Celia's wealthy old-money family.

Dodgers is the story of a young man named East who works for an LA drug gang, sent by his uncle along with some other teenage boys - including East's hotheaded younger brother - to kill a witness connected to a major case, who is hiding out in Wisconsin. The journey takes East out of a city he's never left and into an America that is entirely alien to him, and over the course of his journey the book brings in elements from a diverse array of genres, ranging from crime fiction to road narrative to coming-of-age novel.

Exotic dancer Ceazia Deveareux has grown accustomed to the luxurious lifestyle she was living before the death of her boyfriend, Vegas Jackson. Even though she was the one who caused his death, Ceazia feels no guilt. She believes she still deserves to have the finest of everything, and she's determined to get it. Vegas' brother Snake is patiently waiting for the day that he can avenge his brother's death. The only problem is that he has a fascination with strippers, and the sexy Ceazia might prove to be more than he can resist.

J-Rite is 100 percent blackhearted. New to the city of Grand Rapids but not new to making money, she was born a straight gangster. The pint-size exotic dancer turned street hustler is caught up in living the black American hood dream. She has no "off" button or filter when it comes to getting paid. With a team of murder-minded goons ready to do nothing but win, win, win, J-Rite makes enemies of everyone, including the man she loves, all because they dare to stand in the way of her being on top.

Persia Chandler has managed to get her life back on track. Things are calm at home, she's preparing to leave for college, and she is even feeling confident enough to start dating again. More importantly, she's drug free and plans to stay that way - until Chucky slithers back into her life. He's determined to make Persia his again, and he isn't willing to take no for an answer. When trying to woo her doesn't work, Chucky plays hardball and gives Persia an ultimatum: go along with his latest twisted plot, or have her junkie past exposed to the new man in her life, Philadelphia Eagles rookie quarterback, Vaughn Tate.

Xavier "Scarecrow" Wallace, a mixed-race MMA fighter on the wrong side of thirty, is facing the fight of his life. Xavier can no longer deny he is losing his battle with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), or pugilistic dementia. Through the fog of memory loss, migraines, and paranoia, Xavier does his best to stay in shape by training at the Philadelphia gym owned by his cousin-cum-manager, Shot, a retired champion boxer to whom Xavier owes an unpayable debt. With his memory in shreds and his life crumbling around him, can Xavier hold on to the focus he needs to survive?

In 1992, Los Angeles burned. In the aftermath of the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots, a ground-breaking ceremony at the infamous intersection of Florence and Normandie unearths the body of a Korean liquor store owner. Black private eye Ivan Monk searches for the killer—many suspect the motives for the murder were racial. But then another body turns up, and while the FBI and the Rolling Daltons, the largest gang in the city, dog Monk’s trail, Monk questions who the real perpetrators are and whether he can prevent more from dying, including himself, before he uncovers the truth.

Essence best-selling authors Kiki Swinson and Noire have attracted huge audiences for their sexy, anything-goes fiction. Lifestyles of the Rich and Shameless features a novella from each author. Swinson’s electric “Shamelessly Rich” showcases a spoiled bad girl facing a life-changing choice. And in Noire’s “Puttin’ Shame in the Game,” three gorgeous ladies set their sights on a wealthy cop.

Jamison "Kango" Watts was once known as an invisible man, a quiet "fixer" who always got the job done with clean hands and cash in his pocket. Now, he's living the quiet life in DC, running a soul food restaurant. When he learns about an old friend's death, Kango returns to Brooklyn for the wake - and barely survives after a masked gunman puts two slugs in him. Someone has a score to settle, a beef Kango can't afford to bring back to his new life in DC.

Augustus 'Gus' Martin is an embattled LAPD negotiator. Evelyn 'Lynn' Kennedy is the new Police Commissioner hired under curious circumstances. Thrust into an explosive terrorist crisis, they must trust one another to save the lives of over thirty hostages. But as the bodies drop, what they are faced with is a chess match against the most formidable criminal mind either has ever faced. What is really happening and why? Will any hostages survive?

With a drug addict mother and a drug lord father, Aphtan learns how to fend for herself at an early age. Being the princess of an empire has its perks - until her father gets arrested. From stealing clothes and food to committing fraud, Aphtan does what she has to do to take care of her mother and herself. But when her schemes prove problematic, she turns to a new hustle: dancing at Pearl Tongue, the most notorious strip club in Texas.

Phox Bello is a fearless, headstrong, high-stepping bombshell of a boss who will do just about anything to secure her empire. The thought of having to collaborate or partner with anyone makes Phox itch with contempt. Hades Metellus is a man who reigns supreme. Everything he touches turns to gold or ash if he so desires. Hades controls everything from his mafia throne, and the power feeds his soul. The thought of having to share space at the top is a concept that he could never wrap his head around, but he better be prepared to get spun. What happens when the two bosses link up?

TV investigative reporter Topher Davis, the only Black journalist on that beat, has exactly three weeks to do one final story before his position is eliminated due to corporate budget cuts. Enlisting the aid of his sister, SFPD Homicide Detective Lynn Sloan, he decides to investigate what the families of Blacks killed by police—and the families of the cops themselves—go through when tragic events like this occur. Instead, they find themselves involved in an ever-expanding mystery as more officers who’ve committed the same offense turn up dead.

On an icy day in February, African American grandmother Vera Moon arrives home to find her grown son Charlie brutally murdered. She vows to find the killer who has managed to elude the police. Not knowing where to begin, Vera is involved in a suspicious hit-and-run car accident, witnessed by a young Irish American woman, Dani, on the run from the train-wreck of her own life.

Markita “Kita” Jones is a young woman with the world at her fingertips. A high school student with beauty and brains to match, she’s well on her way to Howard University. However, on her 18th birthday, she watches her dreams die during a drive-by shooting that claims the life of her brother. Overnight, Kita transforms from a naïve schoolgirl into a savvy street hustler on a mission to find her brother’s killer. With the help of her best friends, Kenya and Alexis, Kita quickly begins making more money and more enemies than she ever could’ve imagined.

My world was built on lies and secrets, eating away at the good parts of me. When knowing too much incriminating information could get you killed, your only choices are to adapt or die. There are things about me others would never understand. Yet, one knowing look from her and I realize that my world just got more complicated. She could be my sanctuary in more ways than one. Or she might just be the siren leading me to my demise.

Meet Marcel and Sabrina, a hitman and a bookkeeper for the Mob. The couple should have never met, let alone fallen in love. When they decide to go against the grain, all hell breaks loose. Somebody wants them dead; they just don't know who. It could be Leo, Marcel's jealous older brother; Othello, Sabrina's crooked father; or it could be The Family, a roundtable of the top contenders in the underworld. There is no honor amongst thieves. Marcel and Sabrina will find the old adage to be true the hard way.