Crime City

Married life for Tap and Pepper isn't turning out quite the way they planned. The ranch is gone and they've moved to Cheyenne where Tap finds himself a job as acting marshal in a town that has little regard for the law. And it's not a pretty sight!

The City of Falling Angels opens on the evening of January 29, 1996, when a dramatic fire destroys the historic Fenice opera house. The loss of the Fenice, where five of Verdi's operas premiered, is a catastrophe for Venetians. Arriving in Venice three days after the fire, Berendt becomes a kind of detective - inquiring into the nature of life in this remarkable museum-city - while gradually revealing the truth about the fire.

In 2002, acclaimed journalist Randall Sullivan’s groundbreaking book LAbyrinth ignited a firestorm with its startling disclosures about corruption in the LAPD. It told the story of Russell Poole, a highly decorated LAPD detective, who uncovered a cabal of “gangsta cops” tied to Marion “Suge” Knight’s notorious rap label, Death Row Records, and allegedly to the murders of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. Over 20 years later, no one has been held accountable for their killings.

A pregnant woman has been murdered in a brutal, ritualistic way: burned, hung, and then placed upside down in a Bronze Age cauldron. When Unai “Kraken” Lopez de Ayala discovers the victim is his first love, Ana Belén Liaño, memories of their time together come flooding back, and with them reminders of a dark secret long buried.

Akashic Books’ acclaimed series of original noir anthologies has set a high standard for portraying cities and their neighborhoods in all their dark and violent splendor. Now, Mexico City Noir surpasses that standard with phantasmagorical tales of double-dealing, corruption, violence and self-delusion.... This collection is such a varied literary feast.

After a long Labor Day weekend, 73-year-old Eugene Washington is found dead in his Leimert Park home. At first blush, his death seems unremarkable- heat wave combined with food poisoning from a holiday barbecue. But something in the way Washington died doesn’t make sense. LAPD Homicide Detective Elouise "Lou" Norton is called to investigate the death and learns that the only family Washington had was the 6,000-member congregation of Blessed Mission Ministries, led by Bishop Solomon Tate. But something wicked is lurking among the congregants of this church.

In Daisy de Melker, Ted Botha weaves together a fantastic cast of killers and con men, detectives and lawmen, journalists and authors – even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Herman Charles Bosman – to depict a grand and desperate city. For almost twenty years, Daisy hid in the shadows but when someone finally spoke up about the suspicious deaths around her, it led to a trial like nothing the City of Gold had ever seen and spread her name across the world.

In 1987, a heroin addict murdered an Emmy Award-winning choreographer in Manhattan. Then a wealthy LA surgeon and his teenaged son were targeted. In 1991, an out-of-work redneck flew to London with cyanide to poison three members of a male exotic dance review. If the poison didn’t work, he was told to use a hammer to beat them to death. The true story behind the Hulu/Twentieth Century Fox TV eight-part series Welcome to Chippendales.

The woman falls. Her body begins to shake. Her brown eyes turn upwards, showing a mix of panic and desperate hope. She takes a deep breath and says one word: Blake. Then her eyes close, her face pales, and she goes still forever… The victim: Shannon, a woman who went out of her way to help the lost and hopeless, left abandoned to die by the side of the road. Where was she in those last few days before her death, and why was she so frightened?

River City is plagued by a serial rapist. His attacks are becoming more brutal and Detective John Tower is sure that he’ll go from rape to murder if he isn’t stopped soon. Meanwhile, the rapes stir up ghosts for both Officer Katie MacLeod and Officer Thomas Chisolm. Both struggle to put those haunted memories to rest even as they are drawn into the center of Tower’s investigation. When a series of missteps and near misses push the rapist even further, everyone involved must face their old fears...or be destroyed by them.

Previously published as ShadowMan. There is something terribly wrong in Sanctuary City. When Maggie Bychowski starts her new job as a police officer in Sanctuary City, the small northern California town appears as bucolic as its name. But three young girls are beginning to find out that their beloved home town has a dark, writhing underbelly. When Shadowman, an online fantasy character, starts luring local girls into doing his deadly bidding, Maggie is the only one who can save the town from a powerful evil that threatens to destroy everyone and everything in its path.

It's a profile, like all the others on the online dating site. But as NYPD Detective Kat Donovan focuses on the accompanying picture, she feels her whole world explode, as emotions she’s ignored for decades come crashing down on her. Staring back at her is her ex-fiancé Jeff, the man who shattered her heart - and who she hasn’t seen in 18 years. Kat feels a spark, wondering if this might be the moment when past tragedies recede and a new world opens up to her.

It is the nightmare of every community – a school shooting. In 2001, When a disturbed teenager masterminds this terrible event, everyone in River City is plunged into the darkness that surrounds it. The students and teachers try to survive, and the men and women of RCPD try to save them. But when things go horribly wrong, everyone seems to be looking elsewhere for someone to blame. Officer Katie MacLeod is among many who discover that the nightmare doesn't end when the shooting stops.

Countless criminals have made their mark on Chicago and the surrounding communities. Chicago Sun-Times journalist Jon Seidel takes listeners back in time to the days when H. H. Holmes lurked in his "Murder Castle" and guys named Al Capone and John Dillinger ruled the underworld. Drawing upon years of reporting, and with special access to the Chicago Daily News and Chicago Sun-Times archives, Jon Seidel explains how men like Nathan Leopold, Richard Loeb, and Richard Speck tried to get away with history’s most disturbing crimes.

Joanna "Jonsie" Hunter is a little rough around the edges. Outspoken and strong willed with a streak of defiance, she can give most guys a run for their money. She also happens to be Queen City Royalty. With the territories surrounding the city divided between two rival gangs, she lives a life of wealth and privilege afforded not only by her social standing, but also her brother, Nicky - the leader of the Queen City Dukes.

When two bombs exploded at the densely crowded finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, the whole world watched in shock as the story unfolded. First, the death toll and life-altering injuries. Next, the identification of the suspects - Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev - and the tense manhunt that brought Boston to a standstill. And, finally, the courageous and inspiring recovery of a wounded American city. Long Mile Home is the riveting tale of that tragic, surreal, and ultimately inspiring week.

Still recovering from her brother’s murder, Detective Tess Richards transfers out of Homicide, only to find herself in the center of a deadly undercover operation. When a young woman is found dead after a hit-and-run, all evidence points to Everchange, a high-profile self-help organization renowned for attracting rich and famous members. As Tess leaves Homicide to take a job within the Seattle Intelligence Unit, she is quickly sent undercover into the Everchange castle on Whidbey Island.

He’s a master of the human mind. But can he get away with murder? Dr. Eric Leroy hungers for literary fame. Exhausted after years of listening to his rich clients wallowing in their worries, the psychiatrist intends to pursue his true passion of writing murder mysteries. And with his most obnoxious patient in mind, he crafts a killer plot to write exactly what he knows.... The nation is shocked when a famous Seattle resident and his wife are found dead in their upscale Madison Park neighborhood. It looks like murder-suicide, but Detective Blake Stephenson isn't convinced.

It was the perfect summer job—until it turned into her worst nightmare. Bridgett is enjoying an idyllic summer as the nanny for Leo, the son of Paul and Emily Cooper—a famous actor and renowned charity founder. Not only is she generously compensated to care for Leo at the couple’s Seattle waterfront estate, she develops a special bond with the little boy. In addition to the financial perks of the job, Bridgett has fallen into a summer love affair with Chris, a landscaper who works at the property. It’s the Fourth of July.

Times are tough for the River City Police Department. The city budget is collapsing, forcing an already understaffed department to contemplate laying off cops. The community is upset over the handling of recent events, and their anger is impacting the agency from the ground up. Negotiations with the police union are somehow both heated and stagnant at the same time.