First Mystery

Matt Kearns and the remnants of the scientific team return to a ravaged America. Modern medicine has failed to halt the spread of the flesh-consuming parasite, and humans have been forced to hide, even from one another. The infected roam the cities and suburbs of a ruined nation. But the devastating effects on human physiology are only the beginning. Something has been let loose, something that the team were not prepared for - human nature itself.

California in the 1960s is a time of free love and peace on Earth. But the times, they are a'changing, and Gareth Brendan is trying his best to keep up. When his wealthy, powerful uncle gives him control of an underground newspaper, Gareth finds an outlet for all the radical thoughts and ideas he's kept inside. Suddenly, he's the head of an empire of casinos and clubs, movies and magazines, surrounded by models and pimps who cater to the ultra-rich.

Dylan First, a brilliant psychologist, is haunted by the horrific discovery of her past. Her mentor and father figure, a brilliant psychiatrist and professor, was secretly a serial killer. He is behind bars, but with everything Dylan thought she knew turned upside down, she feels lost when the FBI suddenly comes knocking. A new killer is using her mentor’s trademark signature. And they need Dylan to dissect his mind and stop him before it’s too late.

In the freezing night sky over Nazi Germany, Harry Wakefield faces a terrible choice - jump from his crippled RAF bomber without a parachute or burn to death as it crashes to earth. Harry jumps...and survives the long fall with barely a scratch. Twenty years later, a powerful earthquake rocks the Berwyn Mountains in North Wales, waking Harry and his family from their sleep. Convinced that a plane has crashed on a nearby peak, Harry races up the mountain, only to discover the wreckage is not an aircraft. It’s something else entirely. And there’s a living, breathing survivor.

Venice, 1731. Opera is the popular entertainment of the day, and the castrati are its reigning stars. Tito Amato, mutilated as a boy to preserve his enchanting soprano voice, returns to the city of his birth with his friend Felice, a castrato whose voice has failed. Disaster strikes Tito’s opera premier when the singer loses one beloved friend to poison and another to unjust accusation and arrest.

In debt after her husband's unexpected death, Meg Rosenthal secures a job as a teacher at an upstate New York boarding school. Leaving suburban Long Island, Meg and her teenage daughter, Sally, embark on a new life in Arcadia Falls, a beautiful but isolated small town and the inspiration for a number of magically eerie fairy tales.

When Michael Garrick, a young White House lawyer, begins dating the irresistible First Daughter, Nora, he's instantly spellbound, just like everyone else in her world. A world where power is an aphrodisiac, your father is the President, your close friends wear earpieces and carry guns, and everyone watches your every move...

Aly and AJ are off on a whirlwind concert tour, and their first stop is New York City! Before their big show, the sisters will be guest stars at the opening of Girls Rock Academy, a school for girls who love to rock. But when the school’s equipment disappears on the day of the opening, Aly and AJ are on the case. Can the girls solve the mystery of the missing guitars in time for the school’s opening?

The comet, Cain, came from beyond our solar system, its debris containing elements unknown. Now, in the isolated region of Fairbanks, Alaska, the skies shift and stretch as an interstellar dust cloud seeds the atmosphere. When a plane shudders its way through pulpy, swirling, bruise-shaped clouds, lit with sudden cracks of lightning, the sky opens and the aircraft vanishes…but only for a minute. When the flight lands, everyone on board and in the community will be changed forever.

Detective Katie Scott stares in horror at what she and her service dog Cisco have discovered: seven shallow graves, the bodies of young women each wrapped carefully in a blanket and buried in makeshift coffins. Miles of abandoned farmland stretch out from the treeline behind her. Has Katie uncovered the horrifying graveyard of a monster who has been stealing Pine Valley’s daughters for years?

An Englishwoman is found dead in a house near Rome. Her distraught husband enlists the help of his closest friend, Chris Bronson, who discovers an ancient inscription on a slab of stone above their fireplace. But who are the liars? And what is it they are lying to protect? Pursued across Europe, Bronson uncovers a trail of clues that leads him back to the shadowy beginnings of Christianity; to a chalice decorated with mysterious symbols; to a secret code hidden within a scroll. And to a deadly conspiracy which – if revealed – will rock the foundations of our modern world.

The Spanish Flu killed 30 million people worldwide in 1918. Now with history threatening to repeat itself, a scientific expedition speeds toward a remote island in the Arctic Sea to recover strains of the lethal virus preserved under layers of ice. For Washington Post reporter Frank Daly, it is the story of a lifetime. But his plan to join the expedition is ruined by a ferocious storm that delays him. And when he meets up with the ship upon its return to port in Norway, it is clear something has gone wrong.

From the outbreak in Afghanistan to the struggles at sea, Brad and his comrades realize the war for humanity has only just begun. And there's no guarantee any of them will survive the long journey home....

They seeded the new world with everything to get life started. A few thousand years later a lone starship’s engines fail, marooning the crew and passengers. The planet is a nightmare of giant mushroom forests and insects grown to monstrous killer proportions.

Historical cozy mystery set in Los Angeles, CA, in 1926. Mercy Allcutt, Boston Brahmin, wants to experience life in all its grittiness. How better than by working for a down-on-his luck PI in Hollywood? Once she discovers what PI actually stands for, she knows Mr. Ernest Templeton is the boss for her. Together, they must cope with a stray child, kidnapping, blackmail, murder, a toy poodle, a vamp, a stalker, Mercy's overactive imagination and Ernie's strong protective streak.

It's a warm August morning in 1926 Los Angeles, California. Mercedes Louise Allcutt (Mercy to her friends) is thrilled to be going to her job as secretary to private investigator Ernie Templeton - until she opens the door and discovers her mother on the doorstep. Known to her friends as Honoria and her daughters as The Wrath of God, Mrs. Allcutt is the very last person earth whom Mercy wants to see, barring a couple of coldblooded murderers she's met in the past few weeks.

Michael has been alone in the fight of good verses evil since the beginning of time. A member of the royal first family of light and darkness, he represents the only chance that the rest of humanity has against the darkness, except that he is not human. Michael is the son of Cain, grandson of Adam, and he represents good and evil. Michael begins writing a declaration to the world to expose the evil that Cain represents as well as the name that Cain was cursed with when he was cast out of the first family.

First Thrills will include never-before-published stories by New York Times best-selling authors including Lee Child, Stephen Coonts, Jeffery Deaver, Heather Graham, Joan Johnston, John Lescroart, Alex Kava and Deb Carlin, Michael Palmer (with Daniel James Palmer), Karin Slaughter, and Wendi Corsi Staub.

Angelina's boyfriend believes she will come back with the right amount of coercion if he gets rid of her "friend." Charley is willing to come along for the ride and the chance to do what he does best. Terry must realize that humans have free will and do not react well when you make decisions for them. He can't protect those who want to protect him, so what does Terry do? Nothing intelligent until he deals with Angelina's feelings. It might just be better to face the alien without his pistol.

When Meredith Mitchell bumps into her old school friend Rachel Hunter at the Chelsea Flower Show, she is shocked to discover that she was the first wife of her companion, Chief Inspector Alan Markby. But the meeting is not the only surprise; before the afternoon is out, Markby has a death on his hands.