Dark Mystery

As the edge of winter slices through Washington, DC, Josie Bates testifies before Congress about the Albanian blood feud that sent Hannah Sheraton and Billy Zuni fleeing for their lives while Archer reluctantly abandons a trail that has gone cold in his search for the teenagers. Determined to stay one step ahead of the authorities who want Billy back and a blood feud that will only be satisfied when he is dead, Hannah and Billy head north. There they will hunker down in the darkest corner of earth they can find and wait for the danger to pass.

As if the last few months haven’t been hard enough—complete with threats on her life and the return of her first love, Jon—Annie has to figure out whether or not to believe a woman who claims to be her sister, Sarah, who was abducted 24 years ago at age five. Annie’s eight-year-old daughter, Kylie, has plenty of questions about what’s going on in her mother’s life—but there are some stories Annie doesn’t want uncovered.

Vienna, 1814. As the powers of Europe gather to negotiate peace, there's little to be found for Kasper Stark, working for the chief of Austria's secret police. In a city rife with schemes and double dealing, every prince and lady's maid is spying or party to some plot. When a Prussian count is found dead on the eve of the peace conference, Kasper falls into into a deadly game of revenge and conspiracy. Faced with virtuoso liars, quicksand allegiances, and his own unscrupulous commander, Kasper races to unmask the killer, before the investigation reveals his own impossible secrets.

When 19-year-old Charlene Major is brutally slain in broad daylight, Detective Sergeant Ewan Striker fears a connection to a spate of animal thefts to the north of the city. He knows that some unscrupulous thieves steal pets for bait. But not this time. Striker believes this thief steals to torture and kill. And that can only mean one thing. If this shocking murder is indeed an escalation from animal to human, this man kills for one reason only. Pleasure.

These are stories that explore the scarred outposts of desperation and desire, sickness and death, sex and decay. Within this audiobook, you will also find the acclaimed novella Nearly People (nominated for awards by the International Horror Guild and the British Fantasy Society), in which a woman's search for food in a nightmarish city brings her attention from an enigmatic man known as The Dancer, and a host of terrible epiphanies.

You might as well know this going in: Lawrence Block's new novel is not for everyone. It's recounted in journal form by its protagonist, and begins when he walks into a roadhouse outside of Bakersfield, California, and walks out with a woman. And rapes and murders her. But, um, not in that order. Right. But it's what he does with the rest of his life that's really interesting....

Solve the murder to save what’s left of the world. Beyond the island there is nothing: the world was destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched. On the island it is idyllic: 122 villagers and three scientists living in peaceful harmony. The villagers are content to fish, farm and feast, to obey their nightly curfew, to do what they’re told by the scientists.

Scottsdale, Arizona, may not be the liveliest place on earth, but it's never been as dead as this. The first annual Old Town Zombie Walk is announced, and Mel, Angie, and the Fairy Tale Cupcake crew are donning their best undead attire to sell some horror-themed desserts to the hungry hordes. But fun turns to fright when Mel finds a real dead body in a prop casket outside of the bakery's truck - and the corpse looks alarmingly like a zombie of their own. Mel worries that someone near and dear was the real target.

Addison Stern is unparalleled when it comes to spinning a story. A ruthless PR executive, Addison is the star employee of the infamous Ovid Blackwell Group where the rich and famous go to hide all their secrets. Connor Windell, on the other hand, is in the business of finding out information others would rather keep hidden. He used to be LA's top private investigator until a betrayal from his ex-girlfriend ruined his reputation and sent him into early retirement. That ex? None other than Addison Stern. Connor has one chance to redeem himself and salvage his career, but he needs Addison’s help.

When Ren Sharpe was 14, she was kidnapped by a shadowy organization called FATE and trained to be a human weapon. Now, four years later, she receives her assignment: protect Gareth Young at all costs. Currently a student at Texas A&M, Gareth will someday change the world. FATE calls people like Gareth "FIPs" - future important people - and they're everywhere, each with a FATE-trained shadow.

For Sergeant Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police, the case begins when he finds a pair of boots in the rabbit brush beside a wilderness trail. The boots' owner lies nearby, his palms and soles "scalped" in what appears to be a witch's scavenging. The federal investigators tell Chee to mind his own business. But a series of disturbing events draws Chee into a dangerous web of intrigue spun by Navajo sorcery and white greed.

Sharon Davis, tenacious NYPD homicide detective, is determined to catch a ruthless serial killer who disfigures the faces of beautiful, young women before killing them. Sharon's pursuit of the elusive killer leads her to the glamorous fashion world and threatens to unveil the dark secret of an influential socialite in New York's elite. The detective uncovers the involvement of a famous supermodel gravely unaware of the great danger lurking. The more she investigates, mind-taunting discoveries begin to scratch the surface.

Ever, her men, and a couple of extra friends are finally starting to unlock the truth of the missing students, but a new lead gives them some shocking news that none of them could've predicted and sends Ever into a tailspin.

Two years ago Joseph King was convicted of murdering his wife and sentenced to life in prison. He was a "fallen" Amish man and, according to local law enforcement, a known drug user with a violent temper. Now King has escaped, and he’s headed for Painters Mill. News of a murderer on the loose travels like wildfire and putting Chief of Police Kate Burkholder and her team of officers on edge. A nightmare scenario becomes reality when King shows up with a gun and kidnaps his five children from their Amish uncle’s house. He’s armed and desperate with nothing left to lose.

Glow-in-the-dark footprints; eyewitness accounts of a ghost haunting school grounds - something doesn't add up! Ghosts don't have feet, do they? Either way, Jigsaw Jones and his partner Mila Yeh are on the case, and they'll do whatever it takes to solve this spooky new mystery...even if it means they have to be at school extra late!

Anita Blake is a vampire hunter. But when someone else sets his sights on her prey, she must save them both from the inferno.

Harry Keogh is the man who can talk to the dead, the man for whom every grave willingly gives up its secrets, the one man who knows how to travel effortlessly through time and space to destroy the vampires that threaten all of humanity.

Lawyer Bobby Carter did a lot of work for the wrong type of people. Now he’s dead and it was no accident. Besides a distraught family and a heap of powerful friends, Carter’s left behind his share of enemies. So, who dealt the fatal blow? DC Jack Laidlaw’s reputation precedes him. He’s not a team player, but he’s got a sixth sense for what’s happening on the streets. His boss chalks the violence up to the usual rivalries, but is it that simple? As two Glasgow gangs go to war, Laidlaw needs to find out who got Carter before the whole city explodes.

The delectable Phryne Fisher has been invited to the Last Best party of 1928. When three of the guests are kidnapped, Phryne finds she must puzzle her way through the scavenger hunt clues to retrieve the hostages. This is another sparkling mystery from Australia's Queen of Crime, Kerry Greenwood.

Ever since raiders from the north began attacking villages, Lady Nicole Montagna has known that defending her people would come at a cost. The betrothal of her sister Chloe to a neighboring lord seems the perfect solution, forging a powerful alliance. But shortly before the wedding, Nicole is shocked to discover that her sister is with child - and not by her husband-to-be. Now she must make a choice, and she has just hours to decide.