Southern Fiction Thrillers

When she runs into her friend's deadbeat dad at the local deli, undertaker Emma Lee Raines can't wait to tell Mary Anna Hardy that he's back in Sleepy Hollow, Kentucky, after five long years. Cephus Hardy may have been the town drunk, but he didn't disappear on an epic bender like everyone thought: He was murdered. And he's heard that Emma Lee's been helping lost souls move on to that great big party in the sky. Why do ghosts always bother Emma Lee at the worst times?

Four years ago, the Eternal Slumber Funeral Home put Chicken Teater in the ground. Now undertaker Emma Lee Raines is digging him back up. The whole scene is bad for business, especially with her granny running for mayor and a big festival setting up in town. But ever since Emma Lee started seeing ghosts, Chicken's been pestering her to figure out who killed him.

A young woman is rescued from an attempt by her poacher father to drown her in a Florida swamp by a mysterious woman alleged to have magical powers. Fearful at first, the young woman learns to trust the secretive woman, who has chosen to hide out in the depths of a hostile environment. The younger woman returns to civilization to claim the farm her father would have stolen from her and to build a relationship with the man she has loved since they were children.

Jerica and Jesse settle into Summerleigh and count themselves lucky to start their family in the beautiful old home. With the renovations nearly complete, Jerica uncovers Loxley Belle's name carved into a wooden desk in a forgotten shack near the old home. Along with the discovery comes the feeling that the last Belle girl needs her help. Jerica and Jesse do their best to piece together the past and find that the youngest Belle had secrets of her own.

With an extraordinary gift for suspense, McKissack brings us 10 original, spine-tingling tales inspired by African-American history and the mystery of that eerie half hour before nightfall—the dark-thirty.

En un mundo dominado por la tecnología, un apagón mundial obligará a un grupo de amigos a replantearse qué es aquello que nos hace humanos. Domingo de la Super Bowl. Año 2022. Cinco amigos han quedado para cenar en un apartamento en Manhattan. Una profesora de Física jubilada, su esposo y su exalumno esperan a la pareja que se unirá a ellos tras un accidentado vuelo desde París. La conversación abarca desde las apuestas deportivas hasta el bourbon y el manuscrito de 1912 de Einstein sobre la teoría de la relatividad.

Foster kid Briar Givhans grew up on the wrong side of the Charleston society tracks. She has no idea who her parents are or where she came from. She showed up as a toddler on the door step of a fire station with a note stuck to her back with just her name and age on it. No one ever claimed her. Now she's an adult and has long since given up on figuring out her true identity. And then Hell's Belles comes knocking on her door.

Dale and Deloris Justen have searched for weeks for the perfect place for a long delayed honeymoon. When the messages start showing up in Deloris' business emails, the one she uses only for her book sales under the name of Deloris Blue, she wondered if the last name had something to do with the fantastic offers and coupons for the Bonnie Blue Lakeside Lodge. She never considered for a second the final decision to go there was anyone's but her own.

Uneasiness permeated Chattanooga where Mary Beth Roper grew up. Every conversation she overheard is heated, yet her banker-father was hesitant to reveal the facts. Will Tennessee secede and force them into a war? She was an adult and demanded he tell her the truth, yet she feared the heated politics she’d seen. Then she learned a rogue customer threatened their bank. Somehow, she must find a way to work with Peter Chandler, her father’s partner, even though she can’t bear to be near him. As she unraveled an impossible puzzle, she learned to value her faith.

Harper Rogers, a moderately successful writer, finds herself back in the charming town of Palm Park, nestled in the heart of northeast Florida. Eager to rebuild her life after a painful divorce, Harper agrees to meet an old friend for a seemingly innocent coffee catch-up. Little does she know, this casual encounter will stir up a dark blend of mystery and danger.

What do you get when you have a southern town, a corrupt sheriff, the Mob, a rogue FBI agent and a burgeoning drug trade?? A thrilling novel written by a former sheriff loosely based on his experiences as an ex-New York prosecutor who found himself elected as the chief law enforcement officer of a Florida coastal county. The story centers around a fictional Florida County where the local FBI is seeking assistance from the Department of Justice to stem the growing international drug trade in their district. Thrust into this toxic brew of corruption is Jack Bondera, an undercover agent for a secret municipal corruption unit of DOJ known as the MCIU. Jack, an eighteen year veteran of the FBI and MCIU, will have all of his talents and courage tested as he goes undercover as a newly hired deputy sheriff in Bosley County. The battle tested staff of the unit provide him with support and intelligence, but it is an unexpected source that becomes the pivotal piece of the investigation. The story culminates in a standoff that threatens Jack’s life and in a surprise he is confronted by the forces of corruption in the county. With some local southern assistance, Jack prepares for the pivotal battle between good and evil.

The bayou holds many secrets. One of them is what really happened to Lisette, a beautiful Creole teenager who died on the last day of school. Everybody in Fanchon's reclusive bayou parish knows Lisette died in a boating accident, but when the police take a closer look, they unearth the dead girl and find a surprise in her grave.

Her father always warned her that the bayou was a mysterious and dangerous place. She never suspected that the greatest danger of her life was lurking in New York City. Before their bags are unpacked one of two Cajun girls in fresh from Louisiana is found savagely murdered in New York. All the clues point to a wild animal, a perplexing development for a third floor apartment. Lacking a suspect the police accompany the murdered girl's French speaking roommate back to her reclusive Southern Louisiana town in search of a lead.

Troika is loosely based on a real-life experience. A normal day in the Deep South turns into a nightmare, as Chantal discovers that beauty and terror trace the fault lines between life and death. She fights to understand why a good woman, her friend Aida, is stricken with a debilitating illness that steals her mind and reason. When Aida's terrifying visions are revealed, what price does it have when it's shared with Chantal?

There is a killing spree in the small town of Avery, Texas. A shroud of fear and suspicion falls over everyone in town. Shortly after it begins, an intern at the local paper finds a mysterious letter.

Sunshine, massages, and drinks with little umbrellas in them. That's what cruises are all about, right? Maybe, unless you're a witch with a habit of finding trouble. When Noelle and crew go on a cruise to celebrate the death of the town's biggest bully, they find themselves in the middle of a robbery gone awry. Can they help a new friend get her grandma's pearls - and her life - back before the ship gets back to port?

Sheriff Teague Castro made a mistake 10 years ago that cost him the love of his life. But Jenny Northcutt has always been the woman for him, and he’s ready to do whatever it takes to get a second chance. Teague cooks up a plan to woo Jenny, but a local theft could ruin both the Christmas holiday and his odds of winning her over. Now, with a mysterious crime to solve, Teague must once again keep a secret from Jenny. Will their painful past repeat itself, or will they get the gift of a second chance at love?