African American Mystery Thriller Suspense

Between running an illegal gambling house and preparing for her husband to be released from prison, Lauryn learns a vicious lesson in family values and how dealing with family can be like dealing with a total stranger. It will only take a single bullet to divide her family, but even more bullets to bring it back together.

Son of a black gangster and an Italian mother with ties to a high profile mobster, the deadly mixture allows Spaz to become the most ruthless gangster in the City of Brotherly Love. What starts off as a plot to move his mother out of the lethal streets of North Philly, turns into a multi-million dollar drug enterprise.

The Lebensborn Alliance begins 11 years after The Lebensborn Experiment ends. It is now 1956, and the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement. Former Sergeant Kapp Johnson gets enlisted as Dr. Martin Luther King's bodyguard and moves to Montgomery, Alabama. Hans has inherited millions from his uncle and buys the Vancouver Daily Times. As Managing Editor, Hans sends Adok to Montgomery to report on the bus boycott. When Adok gets involved with the local KKK and goes missing, Hans' prophecy he would one day meet Sergeant Johnson again comes true.

A century after Appomattox, the civil rights movement won full citizenship for black Americans in the South. It should not have been necessary: by 1870 those rights were set in the Constitution. This is the story of the terrorist campaign that took them away.

In February 1971, racial tension surrounding school desegregation in Wilmington, North Carolina, culminated in four days of violence and skirmishes between white vigilantes and black residents. The turmoil resulted in two deaths, six injuries, more than $500,000 in damage, and the firebombing of a white-owned store before the National Guard restored uneasy peace. Despite glaring irregularities in the subsequent trial, 10 young persons were convicted of arson and conspiracy and then sentenced to a total of 282 years in prison.

While searching for her brother’s killer, Deondra “Dee Dee” Davis, out of jail on bail, must deal with a ruthless drug lord, the mob-connected Robinson brothers, a hired assassin, and unexpected love - all while eluding Detectives Gary and Perkins, who want nothing more than to see her behind bars.

Evelyn Thomas may have bitten off more than she can chew when it comes to her relationship with Brandon Fletcher. It seems he is trying to clone her into an exact replica of his beloved fiancee, Cassandra, who was brutally murdered. He's also still obsessed with finding Cassandra's killer. When Cassandra's aunt Ruby is arrested for murder, she proclaims her innocence. She points the finger at Jabbar, a police officer who was having a secret affair with Cassandra before her death. Accusations fly and secrets are revealed as Brandon seeks the truth.

Fresh out of the Marines with only five grand in his pocket, Menage is looking to make his presence and his flamboyant taste in cars and clothes felt on the extravagant, flossed-out streets of Miami. When Menage discovers that he has a flair for flipping stolen cars into more cash than he can handle, he befriends Dwight, who helps him with his operation. Menage soon learns that when doing shady business, shady characters lurk where you least expect them. Follow Menage as he balls outta control, outrunning the law and bullets that may bear his name.

Harlem is a beautiful, smart, and funny 17-year-old. She lives in the projects with her drug-addicted parents. Harlem must fend for herself and at times do a little hustling of her own to feed their habit. As if things can’t get worse, Harlem’s world is turned upside down when her mother dies from a drug overdose and her father pulls the ultimate betrayal by prostituting her. Harlem is pushed into an adult world and into the hands of a crime and drug lord named Chief, who gives Harlem every luxury she has ever dreamed of, and more pain and suffering than she can stand.

Born to the game, the younger Santanas found themselves forced to fill their mothers’ shoes after the two sisters were indicted by the feds. Instead of sticking to the blueprints they inherited, they deviated far from the script. The money, power, and respect shot straight to their heads, and they used their status as a weapon. Now, their deadly display of violence and bloodshed has drawn heavy attention and heat to the family name.

The Game Don't Change opens with DeMarco Jones' escape from a juvenile detention facility. Successfully evading the law, DeMarco builds his reputation on the streets of Queens as a fearless and charismatic drug hustler. Though he is only 16, women of all ages can't get enough of him. But DeMarco soon finds that he must battle ferociously to maintain his new kingpin status.

What else is there for two brothers to inherit but a killer hustle when they come from a long line of hard core hustlers? Jason and Darius Jensen find the answer to this question as they learn to grind hard in the streets at a very young age. By chance, a high-level heroin supplier named George partners up with the brothers and loads of money begin falling into their laps. All seems well until a gruesome murder changes Jason's mind about his future.

With a race against time and evil oozing from every surface, Shatina and Max are in for the fight of a lifetime. Will they get Shatara back, or will Shatina lose her twin sister forever?"

By 22, Kareem Bezel has made it to the top rung of the New York fashion scene, and he has done everything, including fraud, theft, receiving stolen property, theft by deception, identity theft, and embezzlement, to get there. His crafty spree of thievery propped his older brother, Andre Bezel's illicit drug business right into the cross hairs of corrupt DEA Agent Lucas McKenzey.

Life couldn't get better for the Crescent Crew. With an exclusive Mexican pipeline, they've got the Southern drug trade on lock. Former founder Qwess is leveraging rap superstardom to break the music industry's commercial stranglehold. And former leader Reece is fresh off a five-year prison bid - and out to forever secure the Crew's dominance. But as Reece is working a brutal vendetta, a Crew mutiny will drag him back into all-out street war. Now, between the ambitious young Crew and ruthless OG Reece, only one can live to reign....

It was supposed to be easy money. A few exchanges for cash, one big payoff, and then life would be better than ever with bills all paid and money in her pocket. But the plan fell apart and now she's made an enemy. He's a drug cartel leader out to destroy any competition - and get payback by any means necessary....

Dawn and Reese Spencer just can't get ahead. Between her desperate desire to start a family and his gambling debts, they barely keep afloat, even with well-paying Norfolk International port jobs. But their calculating co-worker has the perfect plan: help him smuggle containers of precious, illegal - human - cargo past US Customs. Reese persuades Dawn that no one will get hurt. Then several immigrants turn up dead on arrival. Now the Feds and cold-blooded loan sharks are closing in, as the real brains behind the operation start killing off loose ends.

Trained to be a Special Forces killer, Leader came back from his tours of duty broke - and near-broken. So when the streets came calling, he rose from ruthless hood enforcer to a powerful international cartel's most feared "cleaner". And when tragedy hit home, his sensitive son, Justus, turned out to be a natural assassin - and unshakably loyal to his father. Together, they are an unstoppable team that leaves no trace behind.... Until a mysterious woman from nowhere begins working Leader's deep-hidden weaknesses. Slowly, she's exploding all his secrets....

A former journalist with a knack for unraveling dirty secrets, Khloe Mercer figures if she's going to risk her life, she might as well make big money as a private investigator. But this reckless newbie needs a major case to make her name - and really show she can handle Norfolk, Virginia's toughest streets. When a narcotics detective's widow needs someone to investigate her disgraced husband's so-called suicide, Khloe jumps at the lucrative fee - and the clues that the Norfolk Police Department is rotten from top to bottom.

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.