Urban Mystery Thrillers

We are in a small room with the vampire, face to face, as he speaks--as he pours out the hypnotic, shocking, moving, and erotically charged confessions of his first two hundred years as one of the living dead. . . He speaks quietly, plainly, even gently . . . carrying us back to the night when he departed human existence as heir--young, romantic, cultivated--to a great Louisiana plantation, and was inducted by the radiant and sinister Lestat into the other, the "endless," life....

After eight years spent locked up, Max has gotten very good at being a prisoner. He knows the guards, the inmates, and how to survive. But the parole board has decided that he has sufficiently reformed, and it's time for him to say good-bye. When Max reaches the outside world, he finds that freedom doesn't make anything easier. Based on his own experiences in prison, Edward Bunker first drafted No Beast So Fierce in the 1950s, while incarcerated in San Quentin State Prison.

Grier is nursing a broken heart after Boaz announced his engagement to another woman, but life goes on. Or it would if vampire assassins would stop taking pot shots at her every time she leaves Woolworth House. Seriously, who sends archers to deliver murdergrams these days? To protect herself, Grier must pull out all the stops, even if it means revealing her darkest secret. All eyes are on her, and - for the first time - she begins to understand why Linus wears so many masks.

Five years ago, mage private investigator Alice Worth escaped her grandfather Moses Murphy's organized crime syndicate. Now, her grandfather's war with local boss Darius Bell has drawn her out of hiding and put her in the crosshairs of not one but two merciless crime lords. Her decision to intervene in their war has endangered everyone Alice cares about and threatens to destroy the life she's built for herself, including her relationship with alpha werewolf Sean Maclin.

Gideon's planning a heist, to steal the only thing that matters from the worst man in the world. To get past his security, he's going to need a crew who can do the impossible...but luckily, he has the right people in mind. The Damned, the Ghost, the Wild Card...and his ex-girlfriend, Annie Anybody. A woman who can be anyone, with the power to make technology fall in love with her. If things go well, they'll all get what they want. And if they're lucky, they might not even die trying.

I am Blair Sheach, and my life will never be the same. Newfound powers don't make a hero overnight, but somehow I've become the last line of defense for the city of London. Vampires and demons crawl the streets, magic cops suck at keeping them in line, and the easy job I took to pay my rent has turned into something far more complicated. The cheating deadbeat my client hired me to find just so happens to be the necromancer hell-bent on destroying London, and it's up to me to stop him.

When I was invited to the secretive castle DuMoir, I knew I'd end up dead. The guests might be excited by the exclusive tour around the estate, and the ending ball that concludes it, but I know better. The castle's inhabitants are vampires. And they want our blood. I must find a way to survive their feast, because I'm not here as a clueless visitor. I'm here for a reason. Undercover work can be hard, but I've been through worse. That is, until I unwillingly become a blood slave to Drake, a mysterious, brooding vampire prince.

With Charleston's council poised to take over Honeysuckle Hollow, the town and all of its people must band together to prove they don't need to be absorbed into the big city magical district. What better way to show off the small supernatural Southern town than to host a barbecue contest and some classic broom racing?

Jolene Hartgrave, here! I went from being a top dog lawyer to a hangdog pet psychic in the ruff part of town, all thanks to a pesky curse that gave me the gift of gabbing with animals. But my luck is finally looking up. I’ve teamed up with a hottie police officer and his snarky, lie-sniffing German shepherd to catch criminals. From a murdered fashion icon spinning a web of lies to the killed curator of an occult museum, I’m doggedly helping the police bring the bad guys to justice.

The paranormal world just can't seem to cut Ren a break. Just when she thought she could finally settle into normal - well, relatively normal - life as the last of the dragon shifters with her four alpha mates, she finds her people on the brink of a supernatural war. The vampires have decided all shifter kind must be exterminated, and they've got the firepower to make good on that goal. Ren's got plenty of fire of her own, of course. But she's only one dragon, and there are a whole lot of vampires.

All I want is to pay the rent and find a boyfriend. But an insane vampire thinks I hold the key to his takeover of the city, and I have a new stalker. At least for now, I've dodged the Illuminati's Hunters, but life is still a little too challenging. Rival vampire lords want to use me against each other, and the mysterious members of the Columbia Club are offering bounties for vampires and werewolves. I'm lucky that the gang at Rosie's has my back, because I'm going to need them.

When the Lords of the Icelandic Elves summon me to use my talents to find a lost dragon's egg, I find it hard to say no. I've seen what a dragon can do, and a young, just-hatched dragon is a being of pure destruction. But word of the egg gets out, and the race to find it begins. Mages from many realms are on the hunt - including a dragon - and they don't always play well together. Unless I want to join the casualties, I need to find that egg and return it to where it belongs. Luckily, I have help, but I wish that damned golden-winged Nephilim would keep his shirt on.

Who would suspect that the same mind that created the most famous literary detective of all time also took on the eternally popular genre of vampires? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a contemporary of Bram Stoker, gave us some fascinating works of vampire fiction. From the bloodsucking plant in "The American's Tale" to the bloodsucking wife in "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire," he reveled in the horror created by creatures who survived on the blood of men and women.

Every hustler's reign ends in one of two ways: prison or death. Refusing to let that prediction become a reality, Julius "Jules" Carter creates new rules to an old game. Strategically, he forms one of the most notorious drug operations Harlem has ever seen. Jules thinks the game is his biggest challenge - until he meets Tish. Young and ambitious, Tish is determined to escape from Harlem's allure, but her love for Jules has her rooted. It isn't long before she's tangled in Julius' web of lies and deceit.

The Red Bottom Bandits may be the world's most fashion-forward gang of masked outlaws. They're the talk of DC for their daring robberies and fly gear. And their latest caper is penned by Ashley Antoinette (of Ashley & JaQuavis) at her sultry, streetwise best.

Since the 1970s, FantasticLand has been the theme park where "Fun is Guaranteed!" But when a hurricane ravages the Florida coast and isolates the park, the employees find it anything but fun. Five weeks later, the authorities who rescue the survivors encounter a scene of horror. Photos soon emerge online of heads on spikes outside of rides and viscera and human bones littering the gift shops, breaking records for hits, views, likes, clicks, and shares.

When Ishmael Jones and his partner Penny are asked to escort a VIP on the late-night train to Bath, it would appear to be a routine case. The Organisation has acquired intelligence that an attempt is to be made on Sir Dennis Gregson’s life as he travels to Bath to take up his new position as Head of the British Psychic Weapons Division. Ishmael’s mission is to ensure that Sir Dennis arrives safely. How could anyone orchestrate a murder in a crowded railway carriage without being noticed and with no obvious means of escape?

Villains have all the fun - everyone knows that - and this anthology takes you on a wild ride through the dark side! The top villains from 16 urban fantasy series get their own stories - including the baddies of New York Times best-selling authors Jim Butcher, Kevin Hearne, Kelley Armstrong, Seanan McGuire, and Jonathan Maberry. For every hero trying to save the world, there's a villain trying to tear it all down.

At the Great New York Cookie Swap, pastry chefs bake up their very best for charity. Clare is in charge of the beverage service, and her famous Fa-la-la-la Lattes make the gathering even merrier. But her high spirits come crashing down when she discovers the battered body of a hard-working baker's assistant. Police suspect a serial attacker whose escalating crimes have become known as "the Christmas Stalkings". Clare'sboyfriend, NYPD detective Mike Quinn, finds reason to believe even more sinister forces are involved.

Zombie, Indiana explores the impact of an invading zombie horde on a trio of Hoosier protagonists…each of whom have some dark secrets to keep. When the governor’s daughter mysteriously disappears on a field trip, IMPD Special Sergeant James Nolan, scholarship student Kesha Washington, and Governor Hank Burleson must all come together not only to find the governor’s daughter, but also to undertake a quest to redeem the very soul of the state itself…all while under constant attack from the living dead.