Urban Mystery Thrillers

Pierce Ambrose. That was the name of the man I'd been sent to kill. The man I'd failed to kill. I have one day left to make good on my contract before the thugs holding my sister and her son start sending me pieces of them. Pierce Ambrose. A man with a secret I didn't uncover until it was too late to turn back, too late to give up on trying to kill him. Now, if I want to see my sister and nephew again, I have to try one last time. My name is Mac Brennan, and this time I'm playing for keeps.

Amid the dizzying rides, tantalizing games of chance, and fanciful attractions of a state fair, two teenage sweethearts on the cusp of life and love's pleasures find their way to a shadowy carnival tent brimming with curiosities. There, from the bizarre and enthralling Gypsy Mummy, a mechanized merchant of dreams and prognosticator of tomorrows, the young couple learns what fate promises for them. But fate, for Odd Thomas and Stormy Llewellyn, is something altogether different: full of dark corners, sharp edges, and things no seer or soothsayer could ever anticipate.

At the novel's center: the vampire Lestat de Lioncourt, hero, leader, inspirer, irresistible force, irrepressible spirit, battling (and ultimately reconciling with) a strange otherworldly form that has somehow taken possession of Lestat's undead body and soul. This ancient and mysterious power and unearthly spirit of vampire lore has all the force, history, and insidious reach of the unknowable universe.

Growing up on the cold, mean, inner-city streets of Baltimore is Netta, leader of an all-girl clique called the Pussy Pound. With no father and a dope fiend for a mother, Netta learns at an early age how to use her beauty and her body to get the things she wants: money, cars, and jewelry. Chasing the almighty dollar, she meets Black, a local drug dealer with a deep-seated hatred for New Yorkers who falls head over heels in love with her. With a broken heart, Black discovers that Netta is only after his money and seeks the ultimate revenge against her life.

Atlantica - the forgotten isle, the glittering gem in the cesspool of humanity's future. Anything you do inside your own home is allowed. Those with obscene wealth find it a haven, while every major country of in the world craves the secrets they believe are buried in the mist. Where mystery happens, John Chambers can exist: ex-soldier, gritty realist, detective. It's whispered that John "Dick" Chambers is the man you go to when you need someone who can't be bought.

After he fails to save a stranger from being mauled to death by a bear, a young mercenary is saddled with the baby girl the man died to protect. Now, 16 years later, that young mercenary has grown up to become cynical sword jockey Eddie LaCrosse. When his vacation travels bring him back to that same part of the world, he can't resist trying to discover what has become of the mysterious infant. He finds that the child, now a lovely young teenager named Isadora, is at the center of a complicated web of intrigue.

When Drake left me behind, I thought my heart would break. But before I could change my mind and follow him, Princess Morda of the Silverblood found me. I'm now back at my coven, viewed as a heroine for having succeeded in my suicide mission. But I don't feel like a heroine. Among escapades to meet Drake - who has his own problems to deal with - and navigating the complicated rules of a place I once loved, I find myself lonely and lost. But I can't surrender to the darkness now. A war is coming and I have a key part to play.

A new case throws Leonie back into the arms of the man who broke her heart. While she'd rather stab him and get on with her life, her professional principles demand that she hunt down her client's fiendish assailant before innocent humans get caught in the crossfire. But when things take a sinister turn, Leonie finds herself in a deadly fight not just for her heart, but for her very soul.

Merit, the Sentinel of Chicago's Cadogan House, is pregnant. She's ready to meet her daughter but also excited to see her feet again. While out on an evening walk, Merit stops to help a man in need, only to find herself the victim of a kidnapping attempt. Someone with a serious debt to some very serious people thinks Cadogan House will pay a rich reward for Merit's return.

Anthony Award-winning author Charlaine Harris has earned a devoted fan base with her USA Today and New York Times best-selling Sookie Stackhouse mystery series. All Together Dead features more dark but frequently hilarious adventures of buxom, blonde, beautiful, and telepathic cocktail waitress Sookie, who prefers the company of vampires to that of the living.

Danielle Garrett presents Book 1 in the Magic Inn Paranormal Mysteries.

Ever since her ex-boyfriend spread lies about her, Becca Chandler is suddenly getting all the guys - the ones she doesn't want. Then she saves Chris Merrick from a beating in the school parking lot. Chris is different. Way different: He can control water - just like his brothers can control fire, wind, and earth. They're powerful. Dangerous. Marked for death. And now that she knows the truth, so is Becca.

The Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter backlist lights up the night. In her eighth adventure, Anita Blake can't turn her back on a former lover during the full moon. Especially since he's behind bars - and he's a werewolf.

Zaena has been sent as an Elven emissary to learn and build a relationship with humanity. She's only two hundred and fifty years old, so time should be on her side. Except she gets involved in a brutal gang war in the first month of landing on the shores of the West Coast of the United States. San Francisco, to be exact. Zaena quickly learns that her knowledge of humanity is closer to the twentieth than the present-day twenty-first century. So much for her teachers' study of humanity's television shows.

When roguish playboy Adam Kingsley meets the stunning Tantra instructor Kathryn Delcour, he falls hard. An intense sexual chemistry sizzles between them from their first shared glance to the soul-cleansing Tantra session they experience together. While Adam recovers from injuries after saving Kathryn's life, she instructs him in the sensual practice of Tantra. He becomes her willing student as their tantric lovemaking brings Adam to sexual highs he never dreamed were possible.

Brianna and Shan couldn't be more different. From her $1,200 weave to her closet full of Gucci, Prada, and Chanel, Brianna believes that men were born to bankroll her lifestyle. Shan likes to make her own money by working for a living at a men's prison - and prefers Sean John, Baby Phat, and Fubu to Jimmy Choo. Still, despite appearances, Shan and B are sisters where it counts - or so they think....

Crispin is a mosaicist, a layer of bright tiles. Still grieving for the family he lost to the plaque, he lives only for his arcane craft. But an imperial summons from Valerius the Trakesian to Sarantium, the most magnificent place in the world, is difficult to resist. In a world half-wild and tangled with magic, a journey to Sarantium means a walk into destiny. Bearing with him a deadly secret and a Queen's seductive promise, guarded only by his own wits and a talisman from an alchemist's treasury, Crispin sets out for the fabled city. Along the way he will encounter a great beast.

Ruby is terrified to cave to her feelings for Sean and risk him crushing her heart. Sean is pumped to spend a week with Ruby in Paris on their senior class trip, and he’ll wait however long until she’s ready to take things further. But when Ruby’s best friend sneaks out the first night to meet a mysterious French boy, Ruby goes after her with two classmates, but caves to another temptation: attending mystery boy’s exclusive party in the Paris catacombs, the intricate web of tunnels beneath the city, home to six million long-dead Parisians. Only they never reach the party.

Zephyr, Alabama, is an idyllic hometown for eleven-year-old Cory Mackenson - a place where monsters swim the river deep and friends are forever. Then, one cold spring morning, Cory and his father witness a car plunge into a lake - and a desperate rescue attempt brings his father face-to-face with a terrible, haunting vision of death. As Cory struggles to understand his father's pain, his eyes are slowly opened to the forces of good and evil that surround him.

Lamin Michaels learned at his mother's knee the importance of chasing paper, so it's no surprise he gets into the drug game when he's just a teenager. When he meets Zion, a product of the New York City foster care and prison systems, Lamin knows he's met the perfect partner in crime. Together they build a huge narcotics empire.