Monster Fiction

Three complete stories in one collection! This volume includes The Growling Bear Mystery, The Mystery of the Lake Monster, and The Mystery of Peacock Hall.

After disgracing themselves at a high society New Year's Eve party in Philadelphia in 1944, Madeline Hyde and her husband, Ellis, are cut off financially by his father, a former army colonel who is already ashamed of his son’s inability to serve in the war. Ellis and his best friend, Hank, decide that the only way to regain the colonel's favor is to succeed where the colonel very publicly failed - by hunting down the famous Loch Ness monster.

After dropping out of med school, Lucy Sullivan thought her skill with a scalpel would only be useful for her hobbyist taxidermy. Life takes another unexpected turn when she becomes the doctor for a most unusual patient: one who's already dead. Or undead, rather. Subject X-14, The Revenant—aka Victor—may be a collection of stitched-together corpses with a hunger for human flesh, yet Lucy soon finds herself grappling with an unexpected fondness for her patient. Despite her general fear of getting close to people, she wants to make him happy just as badly as she wants to cut him open.

Death isn’t always the end. I was a soldier, fighting for the lives of the whole world, when I went and got myself obliterated by this magic alien monster. I figured that was it. Game over, done. But, then I woke up in a different body, in a strange world full of dust and ruins, with awesome martial arts skills I’d never had before. Not to mention a chi gift thing that seemed to work a lot like magic. And, there were these words seared into my brain like a motivational quote: You can save them. You can save all of them.

I thought I wanted to know what I was. Now that I’ve discovered the answers aren’t so pretty, it turns out there are no take backs. The most powerful monsters in existence fear this one mortal thief. Unfortunately, that means they’re set on stamping out my existence. The demon who was my strongest ally has been caught in the middle, his freedom and his life on the line. And that’s before we get into the genocidal psycho who’s about to unleash a catastrophe that could destroy both our worlds all by itself.

Auroro, the man with a countdown on his life and his two assets, the wildland elf, Rynissie, and the strange catgirl, Chesheer are finally nearing Cerulean-in-the-Mountain. Auroro is set on accomplishing the task given to him by the woman he's smitten with, but things aren't so easy when one is easily distracted by the strange delicacies offered by the city with the most toxic hospitality.

Imagine searching your whole life for answers, and then finally finding them. A part of you is excited to know the truth. Another part of you is damaged, because you realize why it was so hard to learn answers. Secrets aren't usually very pretty. In the midst of all of it, the four monsters I've gotten too attached to are about to be reunited with the one woman they all once loved so deeply that they sacrificed everything for an eternity with her. They said they hated Arion, but I never see hatred when they're around him. I see frustration, resentment, anger, and pain, never hatred.

I'm having a hard time. And no, that's sadly not an innuendo. Depression is slipping back into my life like a toxic ex, and I know I need to do something before it consumes me. So when I run into the man of my dreams on my first attempt to get out of the house, it feels like fate.

Tony Platz had the respect of his peers, a career on the fast track, and the body of an Olympian. There was only one problem: It was an open secret he carried a torch for his already-married partner. When a raid put her in the hospital and finally exposed her husband's ongoing infidelity, Tony got shipped out to Oolytau. Tayra Manes worked hard, graduated the academy, and became the first of her kind to join the Non-Human Investigative Corps. There was only one problem: She was a griffin, and not everyone approved of her being allowed to serve in the previously all-human NHIC.

Grace has a job she loves, a community she adores, and plenty of friends . . . but her lack of bedroom action has left this event planner too horny to think. When one ill-advised night at the bar leads to her giving an exhibitionistic show to an unknown presence outside her bedroom window, she thinks she's hit a new low. When her voyeur turns out to be a nebbishly charming mothman, Grace needs to decide if she can trust her body—and her heart—with this garnet-eyed stranger before he flies out of her life for good.

My husband killed me. Then he screwed his way through the city. The only problem? I didn’t stay dead. It seems killing me woke something deep inside, something so dark and buried so deep I never knew it was there. I don’t know what I am, I don’t really care. All I can think about is revenge, even as the monsters in the dark start to surround me. Their horns and black eyes, mouths filled with fangs claiming I am theirs.

In the Clandoms, every person is born with wings, along with the ability to fly. But there has always been one deadly restriction to this gift—a rule that must never be broken. Flying in cloudy skies summons gargols, vicious stone monsters that will tear any poor trespassers apart. History doesn't tell where the gargols came from, or why they're so intent on punishing those who soar too high. But now Ellie Meadows thinks she knows why. An aspiring knight turned wanted fugitive, Ellie has seen the truth with her own eyes.

Sunny has spent years of her life hiding from her own desires and hiding them from those she loves. Forced to face the idea of denying that part of herself forever, Sunny takes a nose dive out of her routine and into her fantasies. All she needs is the help of Monster Smash Agency and one exceptionally talented Orc. Khell'ar has mastered his work with Monster Smash Agency, satisfying his clients with perfect expertise. Guiding inexperienced Sunny into a new realm of extreme pleasures should be easy, simple. All he has to do is follow her requests, play his part, and not form a mating bond.

When I took a job at the Monster Relations Bureau, the last thing I wanted was to stand out. There's just one problem—a grumpy, unapproachable dragon shifter who can't keep his golden eyes off me. Getting involved with Ewan Blair is the definition of a bad idea. Not only is he completely off-limits as the Bureau's Director, but the way he looks at me—like he'd devour me one moment, and wishes he never met me the next—should be enough warning to stay far away. But I've always had a reckless streak.

An existence spent being forced to kill others to satiate a monster. Where the only thing to look forward to was the blessed, if brief, period of time between paying that bribe. Except that very same monster is and isn’t Rene. It just happened to live inside his own mind and force him to do what it wanted - rather than him being an actual monster. That was Rene’s entire life until a fateful day changed that. A day that his career as a hitman for hire built on the monster’s needs will end. Where Rene will be forced to atone for his actions. To be held accountable and judged.

For most kids, catching fireflies is a fun summer activity. For twelve-year-old Serwa Boateng, it's a matter of life and death. That's because Serwa knows that some fireflies are really adze, shapeshifting vampires from the forests of Southeastern Ghana. Adze prey on the blood of innocents, possessing their minds and turning them into hulking monsters, and for generations, slayers like Serwa and her parents have protected an unknowing public from their threats.

England, 1890. Vampires are alive and well in North Yorkshire, leastwise in the minds of the uneducated. Librarian Rosa Edwards intends to drive a stake through the heart of such superstitions. But gossip flies when the mysterious Sir James Morgan returns to his shadowy manor. The townsfolk say he is cursed. James hates everything about England. The weather. The rumours. The scorn. Yet he must stay. His mother is dying of a disease for which he’s desperately trying to find a cure—an illness that will eventually take his own life.

They say every proud man must fall. Mortals who fancy themselves gods will one day kneel. I thought myself invincible; Apollo on Earth. Mocked my brother when he succumbed to such a fate. Before I noticed the blue-haired nymph lurking in the background. Cora Astor shouldn’t have come to this island. She sneered in my direction, beguiling me with her disgust. As a Wolfe, hunting is in my blood. Getting what I want is my nature. Even when I know I can never have it. Though I cannot keep her, I plan to relish the chase.

The story of a teenage girl who's turning into a monster—literally. Chloe Dark is an ordinary girl in an extraordinary world. But when her closest friend is kidnapped and the police seem powerless to help, she sets out to find her alone. But things are not what they seem and in this dystopian world, anyone can be a target.

This three-book omnibus includes the first three books in the Charlie Rhodes Cozy Mystery series. Included are: The Bigfoot Blunder, The Chupacabra Catastrophe and The Werewolf Whoops. Sit back and enjoy the ride. The laughter and tears will stick with you long after the story ends.