African American Suspense

In God Don't Play, trouble comes a woman's way just when she thinks she's finally got it all figured out. Annette Goode couldn't be happier with where she is in life. She has a good job, a comfortable home, and a wonderful husband and daughter. But tough times lie ahead. Out of the blue, Annette begins receiving anonymous hate mail and threatening phone calls. It seems her life isn't as settled as she thought, and demons from her past surface in unexpected ways.

Sixteen-year-old Diamond "Ray-Ray" Jenkins has it made in the shade, until one wrong move by her parents turns their lives upside down. Their secret of taking from the wrong street King in the Trap, Damien Orlando, has now put her in peril. The death of her parents signals an end to Diamond's semi-perfect life, putting her in the hands of evil. Her only salvation is to learn the game, and to put her trust in a kid wearing a hoodie.

Some of the best-known and most influential pieces of crime fiction have been from African American writers. Be it Walter Mosley's great Detective Easy Rawlins, or the mean streets of Harlem at the hands of Chester Himes, the stories and characters in this anthology have shaped the mystery genre with their own unique viewpoints and styles. Contributors to the collection include Robert Greer, Chester Himes, Walter Mosley, Cary Phillips, Frankie Bailey, and Richard Wright.

A successful businesswoman who used to play by the rules. A cautious single mother who never took chances. A gorgeous rebel out of money and almost out of time. Each loves a man unjustly sentenced to long prison terms by former prosecutor Hammond Grey. They've tried every legal remedy to get justice-only to see Hammond climb ever higher up the political ladder and secure himself behind power and privilege. So when Kim, Jayda, and Harley meet in a support group, they've got no options left. It's time for them to launch Plan B.

Jason Gaines, better known as Hot Shot, has just buried his mother, father, and little brother after a home invasion. Now the only thing on his mind is finding the people responsible and punishing them severely for taking all that he cared for in this world. Before he can take action, he has to get his money right, and that means turning up his hustle. So, Dallas is off to get money from the streets. He has the connections to get him anything from drugs to weapons. His hustle has to remain on point, so he can then redirect his focus on finding the people who murdered his family.

Detroit hustlers Free and Six have been together seven years, but their relationship has been nothing but drama. Free hasn't been faithful, and Six has taken out her hurt by physically hurting the other women. Free ends up in jail for three years, and when he's sprung, he's not happy to learn that Six has been living the high life on his dime and has blown through $100,000! Then Six gets entangled in one of Free's schemes and finds herself in a role almost too good to be true.

New York Times best-selling author Mary Monroe takes you on the ultimate twist-filled ride with her Lonely Heart, Deadly Heart series. For two restless women looking for satisfaction, too much of a good thing is never enough - even as a lethal passion closes in. Best friends Lola Poole and Joan Proctor-Riley have finally found the love and excitement they've always longed for. Online-dating an endless line of wealthy, no-strings-attached lovers is the perfect escape from their unfulfilling lives.

Robyn and Aries are "The Murder Mamas", contract killers from Los Angeles who take no prisoners. It doesn't take them long to link up with Hollywood's biggest drug kingpin, who hires them to take out a snitch and a judge. But the plans backfire, and they complete only half the job. Robyn is caught and put on death row, and Aries goes on the run. She winds up in the islands, where she takes up a new life as a mother and wife and tries to forget who she once was.

Dontay Walker had it rough growing up in the projects with a drug-addicted mother who forced him to become a man at the young age of 15. His father was a rolling stone, having multiple children with many women. Dontay always fought for his father's attention - until taking his spot became more important than gaining his love. Now, at the age of 30, Don is the leader of one of the most successful and most feared drug organizations in the city of Philadelphia.

Los Angeles, 1948: Easy Rawlins is a black war veteran just fired from his job at a defense plant. Easy is drinking in a friend's bar, wondering how he'll meet his mortgage, when a white man in a linen suit walks in, offering good money if Easy will simply locate Miss Daphne Money, a blonde beauty known to frequent black jazz clubs.

After news of the attempted murder of his estranged fiancée, Gucci, Animal has two things on his mind: love and gunplay. With the help of his mistress, the deadly Red Sonja, Animal manages to elude his captors in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, and washes up on the shores of Miami, Florida. He's one step closer to home, but it may as well be a world away. Animal is still a wanted fugitive, and getting to New York undetected proves to be trickier than he thought.

January 1970 finds Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, LA’s premier Black detective, at 50 years of age despite all expectations. He has a loving family, a beautiful home, and a thriving investigation agency. All is right with the world… and then Amethystine Stoller, his own personal Helen of Troy, arrives. Her ex-husband is missing. A simple enough case. But even as Easy takes his first step in the investigation he trips. He falls into the memory of things past. Little things, like loss, love, a world war, and a hunger that has eaten at him since he was a Black boy on his own.

Desire raises the stakes - and the danger. This collection includes Desperate Housewife, Sinful, and L.A. Confidential.

Novie swore she'd never do two things in her lifetime: head up the family drug trade and be some man's baby momma. Unfortunately, when she meets Genesis Kane, things don't go quite as she'd planned. Genesis is an attorney with a reputation for being a "piranha in pinstripes" both in and out of the courtroom. With Novie's mother bugging her to help the family or disappear and her father on a mission to keep reaping land, cars, and more side chicks no matter the cost, Novie is feeling pressured.

Titus Crown is the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County, Virginia. In recent decades, quiet Charon has had only two murders. But after years of working as an FBI agent, Titus knows better than anyone that while his hometown might seem like a land of moonshine, cornbread, and honeysuckle, secrets always fester under the surface. Then a year to the day after Titus’s election, a school teacher is killed by a former student and the student is fatally shot by Titus’s deputies. As Titus investigates the shootings, he unearths terrible crimes.

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.

To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Ray Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably priced furniture, making a decent life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver's Row don't approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it's still home. Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his façade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger all the time.

Trudy Bell needs to do something to spice up her life and hopes that her new job with the Bon Voyage Travel Agency will do the trick. But envy for her boss' glamorous lifestyle turns into a downward spiral that could end up costing her more than just her job.

He's successful, kind, and sensitive - the type of man every woman wants. And truck driver Calvin Ramsey just loves women - especially the lonely, unappreciated ones he meets online, like Lola Poole. His deceitful ex-wife taught him that women really appreciate someone who cares about their deepest feelings and problems.

It's been two years since Johnny Mayfield's murder rocked Amber, Alabama. His death, along with the illicit personal scandals that preceded it, created more drama than the town had ever seen. But now life is back to normal, at least for his widow, Geneva. Or so it seems. Happily remarried, Geneva has to admit her life is better than ever. Her upscale salon is thriving, and she finally has the baby she always wanted.