Dark Crime Fiction

Before he became Shadow, he was just Sean. Though to the media, the FBI, and a hundred police agencies he was The New Jersey Devil, The Steel Samurai, The Saint Louis Slaughter, and dozens more. These stories are the tales of how Sean learned discipline and the martial arts skills that have served him so well: from his time in college, where a series of accidents leads to him finding his sensei, to his life at Boston Implantables as one of their most gifted and inspired engineers, to becoming one of the more successful serial killers of the superhero era.

Fred Van Lente's brilliant debut is both an homage to the Golden Age of Mystery and a thoroughly contemporary show-business satire. As the story opens, nine comedians of various acclaim are summoned to the island retreat of legendary Hollywood funnyman Dustin Walker. The group includes a former late-night TV host, a washed-up improv instructor, a ridiculously wealthy "blue collar" comic, and a past-her-prime Vegas icon.

Life at sea isn't always tranquil. Anchored off a small uninhabited cay in the Bahamas, Chase witnesses another boat being boarded. Before he can react, the skipper of the other vessel is kidnapped. Chase rushes over to find the skipper's teenaged daughter hiding in a locker.

It’s my first day back at work, the grief I’m carrying is still with me, but I file it away and put on my professional face to greet my new patient. As a successful psychiatrist and criminologist, I’m used to working with damaged minds. But I’m not prepared for Trent Davis. Sitting across the table from me, his warm brown eyes shine. He laughs easily and part of me can't help but like him, despite what his file says he’s capable of. Then a package arrives for Trent, with my home as the return address. And everything falls apart…

Alex Bledsoe’s fantasy novels have drawn rave reviews for their ingenious blend of classic fantasy and hard-boiled detective fiction. Now Bledsoe returns with an all-new tale of intrigue and murder.

Led to an isolated Appalachian Mountain town by a trail of disturbing murders, FBI special agent Violet Rainwater’s determined to catch a serial killer with a twisted agenda. With locals refusing to reveal their secrets, Violet’s only ally is Detective John Orlando. But even John has an ulterior motive—he’s convinced this case is connected to his wife’s murder.

Reporter Freya Sinclair has always known she was different. While waiting on the outcome of an autism assessment, Freya uproots her life in Glasgow, quitting her job at one of Scotland’s top broadsheets and taking a local beat in her childhood home of Orkney. But her plans for a quiet life are shattered when human remains are exhumed by a winter storm on Orkney’s wild Atlantic coast. The identity of the bones opens old wounds in the islands, and sheds light on a darker truth nobody wants to accept.

Veranix Calbert leads a double life. By day, he’s a struggling magic student at the University of Maradaine. At night, he spoils the drug trade of Willem Fenmere, crime boss of Dentonhill and murderer of Veranix’s father. He’s determined to shut Fenmere down. With that goal in mind, Veranix disrupts the delivery of two magical artifacts meant for Fenmere's clients, the mages of the Blue Hand Circle. Using these power-filled objects in his fight, he quickly becomes a real thorn in Fenmere's side.

Only days after a corrupt election and brutal street war, one last bloodthirsty game has begun. The players? The 22 most powerful, notorious people in New Reynes. After realizing they have no choice but to play, Enne Scordata and Levi Glaisyer are desperate to forge new alliances and bargain for their safety. But while Levi offers false smiles and an even falser peace to the city’s politicians, Enne must face a world where her true Mizer identity has been revealed...and any misstep could turn deadly.

Ari Thór Arason is a local policeman whose tumultuous past and uneasy relationships with the villagers in an idyllically quiet fishing village in Northern Iceland - where no one locks their doors - continue to haunt him. The peace of this close-knit community is shattered by the murder of a policeman - shot at point-blank range in the dead of night in a deserted house. With a killer on the loose and the dark Arctic winter closing in, it falls to Ari Thór to piece together a puzzle that involves tangled local politics, a compromised new mayor, and a psychiatric ward.

Luce O’Brien is the only daughter of an Irish mob boss. She always knew her virginity would be sold to the highest bidder, and had prepared herself for that eventuality. However, she was not prepared for the monster she was promised to, nor the dark prince who would turn her life upside down. When all is lost and her crew is at stake, Lucinda O’Brien must fulfill her duty to her family. She is given to an Irish boss in Harlem to marry—his virgin bride.

Seth Ramsey is a normal guy, working a normal job in Tempe, Arizona. He stops for coffee every morning at the Stardust Café. The only thing wrong with his life is the suicide of his sister. What he doesn't know is that his sister was also a patron of the café, and that her connection to the establishment may have led to her murder, not suicide. Uncovering her relationship with the café owner, Tomas, Seth is determined to find out the truth, even as it leads him to a group of "Delegates" who have unusual abilities. How will Seth navigate this new reality and get the answers he needs?

New Year's Eve should be a time for celebrating. A chance to spend time with loved ones and look forward to the year ahead. For DSI William Lorimer, however, this New Year's Eve will be one that he will never forget. Called to a house after gunshots are reported, the carnage he finds there will have a powerful impact on his life - leaving him questioning his future with Police Scotland.

Too quiet. A talented hacker who got caught; Brigid Banaghan is now forced to work with a secret deep ops unit. But she won't reveal any more to these renegade feds than she has to. Especially not to Raider Tanaka, her control freak of a bodyguard and handler. It's enough that his body is tensed for action and his heated gaze is always on her.... Too sharp. Raider knows there's more to his new assignment than he's been told. Why send a deadly agent of his experience to guard a computer genius - even a gorgeous, unpredictable, undisciplined one?

Maui is sacred places, ancient artifacts, and the dark lava of deepest passions.

Nothing ever goes easy for detectives Lei Texeira and Michael Stevens. An investigation into heiau desecrations must take a backseat to the emergence of an enemy who targets those closest to them, leaving shrouds as a calling card. Lei and Stevens face challenges of the body, mind, and heart in this seventh in the best-selling Lei Crime Series.

Drugged and kidnapped from his Edinburgh home, the realisation soon dawns that he’s been locked inside a shipping container - but what Bart doesn’t know is that he’s now heading for France, where his unspeakable fate is already sealed.... DCI Ava Turner and DI Luc Callanach are working on separate cases that soon collide as it becomes clear that the men and women being shipped to France are being traded for women trafficked into Scotland. With so many lives at stake, it seems an impossible task - but there’s no option of failure when Bart and so many others will soon be dead...

Dr. Blair Harbour, once a wealthy, respected pediatric surgeon, is now an ex-con down on her luck. She's determined to keep her nose clean and win back custody of her son. But when her former cellmate begs for help to find her missing daughter, Blair is compelled to put her new-found freedom on the line. Detective Jessica Sanchez has always had a difficult relationship with the LAPD. And her inheritance of a multi-million dollar mansion as a reward for catching a killer has just made her police enemy number one.

18-year-old rebellious prodigy Eve is the youngest member of the Monarch City police squad. When she and her buttoned-up partner Bella are assigned their first case, finding missing teenager Molly F. Saint, they discover the dark, gritty underbelly of a city in turmoil, where a shadowy organization is magically experimenting on kidnapped girls — and turning them into monsters.

As a shaky truce between suburban gangsters starts to unravel, schlubby civilian Scott Clark has other things on his mind: if he can't afford to buy out his ex-father-in-law, Scott's about to lose the only house he's ever called home. In the red-hot urban housing market, he doesn't have a chance - until he and his best friends take the desperate measure of staging a fake drive-by shooting on the property to push down the asking price. But then Scott's mobster-posturing stunt attracts the attention of the real criminals.

In the secret heart of London, under the cover of endless darkness, is the Nightside. But enter at your own risk. The party animals who live here may be as inhuman as their appetites. My name is John Taylor. The Nightside is my home, and I've got a brand new full-time job there (in addition to my private eye work) as Walker—the Voice of the Authorities. I'm also marrying the love of my life, Suzie Shooter, the Nightside's most fearsome bounty-hunter. But nothing comes easy here. Not life. Not death. And for certain, not happily-ever-after.