Crime Horror Fiction

After four years working in a New York brothel to pay off a debt to the mob, Nina is nearly paid up and ready to go home. She just needs to see one more client, a recluse who always pays a half-million in cash for a night with the brothel's best girls, but this last trick soon becomes a battle for Nina's soul. Meanwhile, the brothel's sadistic madam has been secretly hoarding money so she can move up in her family's organization, and she's depending on that windfall to tip the scales in her favor, but her driver Ramón has other ideas.

Serial killer Frank Haid, dubbed the Painkiller by Chicago police and media, murders 18 people - all paralytics. Commanded by an unseen presence that he calls ''Father'' and that speaks in the voice of an uncle whose rotting corpse he keeps in the living room, Haid destroys his victims (what's left of them) and evidence in a way that puzzles police. Hardest hit are residents of Marclinn, a home for the handicapped, where survivors decide they must track down the madman themselves.

Thirteen years ago, Jori Trahan’s boyfriend vanished without a trace. Now, after moving back home to Alabama to care for her ailing grandmother and autistic brother, she comes face-to-face with the deadly mystery behind his disappearance. Jori has a rare form of synesthesia, meaning she can “hear” colors; to her, tones of voice are as unique as fingerprints. With the help of this ability and a sympathetic cop, Jori comes dangerously close to uncovering the truth. But those responsible will go to any length - including murder - to keep their dark secrets buried.

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.

When a wealthy and gorgeous woman asks PI Frank Orpheus to find her missing identity, he just can't say no - even if the case leads him into a criminal underworld more horrific than anything he ever imagined. Private detective Frank Orpheus, searching for a mysterious woman’s missing identity, finds himself entangled in a web of underworld characters far nastier than any he’s ever met.

For years, Cinna has been forced to serve her wealthy cousins rather than attend society events alongside them. She has waited for the chance to exact revenge. When a ball at the castle is announced, promising to bring many powerful people to town, she seizes the opportunity to strike. She bets her best friend, Johann, a small-time thief and con man, that she can land a greater score the night of the ball than he can. But as their plots unfold, things begin to unravel. By the end of the night, the castle’s on lockdown, a duchess is dead, a mansion has burned to the ground.

When the lights go out and the city sleeps, a monster preys on the children of Henderson. The little girl next door to Debbie Swanson disappears from her bed, the next day the child's body is found in the river. Debbie may hold the key to what is happening in Henderson, but it is locked away in a childhood memory so terrifying that to remember could destroy her sanity.

New York, 1938. The German consulate has been attacked, leaving all but one of the Nazi diplomatic corps brutally murdered. Only Jethro Dumont, the Green Lama, and his associates, Jean Farrell, Ken Clayton, and Lieutenant Caraway, can find out who's behind this horrible crime. But as the Green Lama's investigations deepen, he discovers a crime far greater than any ever committed by man and learns a secret that will define the course of his destiny.

Rae faces a dilemma when her brother, Kenan, announces a man wants to buy their log cabin in Virginia. A place abandoned after they helplessly watched their parents tortured and killed inside. Reluctantly, Rae agrees to sign over the deed once Kenan mentions their six friends are taking a road trip with them for moral support. The next morning, two of their friends have disappeared. And worse, someone has sabotaged their two rented Jeeps, leaving them stranded. Alone in the woods, 30 miles from civilization with no cell phone reception, the weekend turns into a deadly game.

Following a near death experience, 25-year old Arie Stiles decides she might as well take the job nobody else wants: a crime scene clean-up technician. It’s good money, which she could use, and death doesn’t hold a lot of mystery for her. Or so she thinks. Arie isn’t on the job long before discovering she’s been “gifted” with a new psychic talent - the ability to scry. Whether she wants to or not, Arie can read the memories of the dead in their blood.

Ever since a drunken one-night stand gone wrong, single mother Meredith Banks can't seem to shake Christian Morgan, the hypnotically attractive and dangerously obsessive intern from her office. It started with the late-night phone calls, the hang-ups, the unwanted visits to her row home in Detroit. Now her son, Troy, all that matters in her world, has gone missing after school.

When the gleaming new Manderley Resort opens in 24 hours, Santa Barbara's exclusive beachfront hotel will offer its patrons the ultimate in luxury and high-tech security. No indulgence has been ignored, no detail overlooked. But all the money in the world can't guarantee safety. As hotel manager Tessa and her employees ready the hotel for its invitation-only grand opening, a killer is in their midst. One by one staff are picked off with ruthless precision.

When a traveling carnival stops in the sleepy countryside, 16-year-old Josie Crowley is psyched to go with her new friend, Freya. But what started out as a fun-filled night of games, candied apples, and Ferris wheel rides quickly spirals into a gut-wrenching encounter with one of the carnival attractions. Once the excitement is over, Lamison is missing one of its residents. When Freya is nowhere to be found, Josie suspects the carnival has something to do with her disappearance.

A series of seemingly motiveless murders of supernatural creatures points to a vigilante targeting the supe community of Scranton. Markowski wouldn’t normally have much of a problem with that, but his daughter may be next on the killer’s list... Justin Gustainis was born in Northeast Pennsylvania in 1951. He attended college at the University of Scranton, a Jesuit university that figures prominently in several of his writings. He is currently a Professor of Communication at Plattsburgh State University.

Jimmie Putnam is an ordinary man by any measure. By day, he works as a law clerk. At night, when he can't fight the cravings, he becomes a collector. He takes great care of his human things, and when they've been on their best behavior, he even takes them out of his freezers. Florel Ross has been mostly invisible since the death of her twin, who died 20 years ago at the hands of a serial killer. Obsessed with justice, Florel is willing to risk anything for the answers she craves: What goes on in the mind of a serial killer?

After a decade spent fighting the enemy abroad and keeping his country safe, Delta Force Operator Mark Talon is ready to settle down with the love of his life. But Talon's world crumbles when his fiancée becomes the victim of a murderous cult. The military man now has a new foe in his crosshairs, and this promises to be a very different war.

Usually, former Delta Force soldier John Powers is delighted to hear from Casey McBride, the widow of John's brother-in-arms Braden and mother of John's five-year-old godson Ian. But Casey is calling because she has just killed two of three intruders to her Boulder, Colorado home. And when John hears that Ian, under hypnosis to find a cure for his acute aqua phobia, has claimed to be the reincarnation of an assassinated US senator, he tells Casey to get out of the house, now.

Dr. Lacy Miller is the Chief Medical Examiner for New York City. She sees many murders go unsolved and her need to find the persons responsible for the crimes leads her to develop a serum. A serum that will allow the dead to tell her their story. This highly unethical practice comes crashing down around her as the FBI and CDC become involved. The ripple effect of the serum continues to stack up leaving the world forever changed.

Plagued with a rare disease that prevents him from recognizing faces, Billy carries a photograph in his pocket that is his only way of identifying his next target. Killing is in Billy's bloodline as a member of Philadelphia's dangerous Farren crime family. While Billy stalks Philadelphia, Detective Kevin Byrne is assigned to a series of bizarre home-invasion cases and is joined by his former partner turned assistant district attorney, Jessica Balzano.

Lex, a teenage Grim Reaper, has the power to damn souls - and it’s getting out of control. Her boyfriend, Driggs, is dead - sort of. She’s a fugitive, on the run from the maniacal new mayor of Croak and the townspeople who want to see her pay the price for her misdeeds. Uncle Mort rounds up the Junior Grims to flee Croak once again, but this time they’re joined by Grotton, the most powerful Grim of all time. Their new mission is clear: Fix his mistakes, or the Afterlife will cease to exist, along with all the souls in it.