Literature Urban African American Thriller Mystery

Faith Newsome has it all: a loving husband, beautiful daughter, and a stable life as the owner of a thriving shoe boutique in Washington, DC. Yet a part of her feels as if she’s not who she seems to be, as if she’s living a lie. When Faith gets kidnapped by a group of goons while walking to her car, she suddenly remembers who she is - not the suburban wife and mother whom she convinced herself to be, but Champagne, the daughter of one of the most ruthless killers and drug dealers in New York City who went missing and was presumed dead years prior.

The Game Don't Change opens with DeMarco Jones' escape from a juvenile detention facility. Successfully evading the law, DeMarco builds his reputation on the streets of Queens as a fearless and charismatic drug hustler. Though he is only 16, women of all ages can't get enough of him. But DeMarco soon finds that he must battle ferociously to maintain his new kingpin status.

Dee Dee is as laid back, sassy, and cute as they come, but having two overprotective brothers like Jay and Bee, who have clout in the Memphis streets, makes finding and building a relationship seriously hazardous to a brother's health. Things move fast for Jay and Bee after hooking up with a new contact. All of the training that Jay was secretly putting Dee Dee through comes into play as Jay and Bee are locked up in the county jail for selling to an informant. The game is dominated by thugs until Dee Dee hits the scene.

Fresh out of the Marines with only five grand in his pocket, Menage is looking to make his presence and his flamboyant taste in cars and clothes felt on the extravagant, flossed-out streets of Miami. When Menage discovers that he has a flair for flipping stolen cars into more cash than he can handle, he befriends Dwight, who helps him with his operation. Menage soon learns that when doing shady business, shady characters lurk where you least expect them. Follow Menage as he balls outta control, outrunning the law and bullets that may bear his name.

Harlem is a beautiful, smart, and funny 17-year-old. She lives in the projects with her drug-addicted parents. Harlem must fend for herself and at times do a little hustling of her own to feed their habit. As if things can’t get worse, Harlem’s world is turned upside down when her mother dies from a drug overdose and her father pulls the ultimate betrayal by prostituting her. Harlem is pushed into an adult world and into the hands of a crime and drug lord named Chief, who gives Harlem every luxury she has ever dreamed of, and more pain and suffering than she can stand.

Born to the game, the younger Santanas found themselves forced to fill their mothers’ shoes after the two sisters were indicted by the feds. Instead of sticking to the blueprints they inherited, they deviated far from the script. The money, power, and respect shot straight to their heads, and they used their status as a weapon. Now, their deadly display of violence and bloodshed has drawn heavy attention and heat to the family name.

While searching for her brother’s killer, Deondra “Dee Dee” Davis, out of jail on bail, must deal with a ruthless drug lord, the mob-connected Robinson brothers, a hired assassin, and unexpected love - all while eluding Detectives Gary and Perkins, who want nothing more than to see her behind bars.

When Billie was eight years old, her father was murdered. Ever since that day, she has vowed to bring every criminal to justice, especially the man responsible for her father's death. Twenty years later, Billie is still on a mission to rid the streets of criminals. If she can't do it legally, then she takes matters into her own hands.

After she brought down the Make Money Crew, Newark's most notorious bank-robbing gang, she was able to make peace with the son she never knew. His memory is even starting to feel like a blessing rather than a curse. She and her on-again, off-again husband, Tank, are back on and stronger than ever. But just when she thought she could put away her undercover identity as Queen and just be Naeema, Tank is attacked while out on a job guarding a high-profile celebrity.

Markita “Kita” Jones is a young woman with the world at her fingertips. A high school student with beauty and brains to match, she’s well on her way to Howard University. However, on her 18th birthday, she watches her dreams die during a drive-by shooting that claims the life of her brother. Overnight, Kita transforms from a naïve schoolgirl into a savvy street hustler on a mission to find her brother’s killer. With the help of her best friends, Kenya and Alexis, Kita quickly begins making more money and more enemies than she ever could’ve imagined.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown, and Caesar King feels weighted to the ground. The Five Families are in complete disarray, and Caesar realizes too late that stepping down was the wrong thing to do. It’s up to him to make the puzzle whole again. But when another war comes to their doorsteps and a past mistake comes back for blood, death rips through the boroughs like a tornado. In the end, there might not be any pieces left to put back together.

Life is supposed to be easy and carefree when you are young, but if you live in Washington, DC, that's not always the case. Flashing back to the 1990s, listeners enter the lives of four black men looking to gain money, power, and respect. These four brothas come from different walks of life, but they have one thing in common: They are trying to make fast money in the harsh inner city. However, when the money comes too easily, there's usually a price attached...the ultimate price.

Lenny Wells is living his best life as the star football player in high school. It's his senior year, and he is preparing to leave for college in a few months. Everything would be perfect if only his girlfriend, Andrea, would let go and move on with her life. But Andrea has other plans for Lenny and their relationship. She is prepared to do whatever it takes to prove to Lenny that he belongs to her, and nothing and no one will change that.

TV investigative reporter Topher Davis, the only Black journalist on that beat, has exactly three weeks to do one final story before his position is eliminated due to corporate budget cuts. Enlisting the aid of his sister, SFPD Homicide Detective Lynn Sloan, he decides to investigate what the families of Blacks killed by police—and the families of the cops themselves—go through when tragic events like this occur. Instead, they find themselves involved in an ever-expanding mystery as more officers who’ve committed the same offense turn up dead.

The audiobook is a story about two brothers, Kelvin “Kels” Johnson, Jr., and Malik “Lil Ghadi” Johnson. Each of them had eager desires to follow in their father’s legacy for success and power. They wanted to finish the goal their father, Kelvin “Ghadi” Johnson, Sr., started before his incarceration, as well as try to achieve the goal of getting out of the game without getting scarred like their father did. Kelvin “Ghadi” Johnson, Sr.’s name ran throughout the streets of the Eastson Neighborhood, but not even his name could stop what his sons were about to face.

After serving 10 hard years in the joint for armed robbery, JC is ready for some payback. His targets, the three childhood friends - now crimelords - who betrayed him to save themselves, are about to have everything they've worked for ripped right out of their hands.

Former gang member Y. Blak Moore grew up in Chicago’s housing projects before becoming a poet and noted novelist. His gritty fiction captures the mean streets with an authenticity few writers can match.... The Apostles run Chicago’s streets. Now “Solemn Shawn,” their legendary leader, wants out. But the head of The Governors has a score to settle. So before Shawn can make a better life for his pregnant girlfriend, he must fight one last war.

Between running an illegal gambling house and preparing for her husband to be released from prison, Lauryn learns a vicious lesson in family values and how dealing with family can be like dealing with a total stranger. It will only take a single bullet to divide her family, but even more bullets to bring it back together.

Son of a black gangster and an Italian mother with ties to a high profile mobster, the deadly mixture allows Spaz to become the most ruthless gangster in the City of Brotherly Love. What starts off as a plot to move his mother out of the lethal streets of North Philly, turns into a multi-million dollar drug enterprise.

When retired FBI forensic psychologist Spencer Berry and his dog break up a scuffle between gang members, in the process of chasing one with a gun, they end up discovering the nude remains of a young woman partially submerged in a creek behind the home of police spokeswoman Deidre Lawrence. The deceased appears to be the victim of the Park Killer, a serial murderer terrorizing Sinclair Heights, Oregon over the past three years.