Urban Thriller

They were just kids when Claudette McPhearson took them all in. Eight of them all together. All different races and ethnic makeups, but she loved them as her own. One woman taught them how to love, trust, and respect one another. She was the only glue that kept them together, the only one they wanted to please and never let down. She had been their light at the end of a long troublesome tunnel - it shined so bright. Then, one dreadful day, it all came to a crashing halt.

Rosemary and Athena's lives are thrown as the big Summer Solstice festival brings a series of mysterious events. Rosemary's chocolate shop plans are being waylaid by strange disappearances and uninvited visitors. Meanwhile, Athena is sure the astrological lessons at Myrtlewood Academy hold the key to unlocking the town's latest mystery, even if her mother doesn't want to hear about it. Can Rosemary and Athena manage to work together and cast aside their stubbornness before thousands of festival-goers succumb to a magical catastrophe?

Lissianna has been spending her centuries pining for Mr. Right, not just a quick snack, and this sexy guy she finds in her bed looks like he might be a candidate. But there's another, more pressing issue: her tendency to faint at the sight of blood . . . an especially annoying quirk for a vampire. Of course it doesn't hurt that this man has a delicious-looking neck. What kind of cold-blooded vampire woman could resist a bite of that?

Atlanta was always a dangerous city. Now, as waves of magic and technology compete for supremacy, it’s a place caught in a slow apocalypse, where monsters spawn among the crumbling skyscrapers and supernatural factions struggle for power and survival. Eight years ago, Julie Lennart left Atlanta to find out who she was. Now she’s back with a new face, a new magic, and a new name - Aurelia Ryder - drawn by the urgent need to protect the family she left behind.

Helen Lambert has lived several lives-a young piano virtuoso in 1890s Paris, an actress in 1930s Hollywood, a rock star in 1970s Los Angeles - only she doesn't know it. Until she meets a strange man who claims he's watched over her for centuries, bound to her from the beginning. At first, Helen doesn't believe him. Her life is as normal as any other modern career woman's. Then she begins having vivid dreams about ill-fated love and lives cut short. Caught in a curse, Helen will be forced to relive the same tragic events that ruined her previous lives.

Earth as Riven knew it has merged with Zazir and Elhisterii to form the post-apocalyptic creation of the Elysium known as Panu. Here, errant goblins and vulnerable elves battle it out, ungodly monsters spawn like crazy, suicide zombies run wild, and the streets are strewn with human remains. On a mission to find his sister, Allie—out there somewhere battling her own demons—Riven quickly learns that every time he kills his bloodlust only increases, bringing him ever closer to becoming a full-blown harbinger of doom. But maybe a vampiric hero is just what this mad new world needs.

It begins with a dead body at the far end of Baker Street tube station, all that remains of American exchange student James Gallagher - and the victim's wealthy, politically powerful family is understandably eager to get to the bottom of the gruesome murder. The trouble is, the bottom - if it exists at all - is deeper and more unnatural than anyone suspects...except, that is, for London constable and sorcerer's apprentice Peter Grant.

Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring wardrobes, shattered Brooka glassware, and vandalized Liripip sofa beds—clearly someone, or something, is up to no good. To unravel the mystery, five young employees volunteer for a long dusk-till-dawn shift and encounter horrors that defy imagination.

Sometimes a graveside goodbye isn't the end. That's usually when I get a middle of the night phone call. In this case, the person seeking help from their friendly neighborhood reaper is none other than the director of Beechwood's funeral home. Who may be more of a frenemy than a friend. Oops. Here's to hoping I can help rid the funeral home of its latest unwanted guest without burning the last bits of kindling on the bridge back to Karla's good graces. After all, if there's one person you want on your side, it's a summoner of the dead.

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.

Peter Grant is facing fatherhood, and an uncertain future, with equal amounts of panic and enthusiasm. Rather than sit around, he takes a job with émigré Silicon Valley tech genius Terrence Skinner's brand new London start up - the Serious Cybernetics Company. Drawn into the orbit of Old Street's famous "silicon roundabout", Peter must learn how to blend in with people who are both civilians and geekier than he is.

With war brewing in Europe, German troops have marched, unopposed, into Austria and many Austrians are fleeing their homeland. One of them is a brilliant alchemist with a top secret recipe that the Nazi’s want, so someone is going to have to go to Austria and get him. Naturally, American spymaster William Donovan has someone in mind, Alex Lockerby.

Drew Hayes presents the fifth book in the Fred, the Vampire Accountant series.

In this dark and gritty collection - featuring short stories from Jim Butcher, Seanan McGuire, Kevin J. Anderson, and Rob Thurman - nothing is as simple as black and white, light and dark, good and evil.... Unfortunately, that's exactly what makes it so easy to cross the line.

Once the streets pull you in, they own you. Or at least that's the way it's been for Nautica. Growing up in the hood, all she's ever known is the fast life - fast money illicitly made through scandals and relentless scheming. But when a big scam nearly finishes her off, she decides she wants more out of life than the hustle and tries to make a new life for herself on the East Coast.

A number-one New York Times best-selling author, Charlaine Harris penned the addictive Sookie Stackhouse series. In Day Shift psychic Manfred Bernardo is hounded by the press after a client drops dead during a reading. Turning to the local vampire's lover for help, Manfred hopes she can put the squeeze on the scandal before someone else is put on ice.

In this spellbinding novel, Lestat, rebel outlaw, addresses the tribe of vampires, telling us the mesmerizing story of how he became prince of the vampire world, and of the formation of the Blood Communion, and how his vision for the Children of the Universe to thrive as one, came to be.

As a child, Henry Cadmus lived on Catalina Island, a scenic vacationland off the Southern California coast. But Henry's experiences were far from idyllic. Today, even though Henry has seen firsthand the horrors of war, the ghastly images that haunt his dreams are ones he associates with his childhood... and the island: a snarling pig-man holding a cleaver; a jackal-headed woman on a high balcony, dripping blood; strange occult rituals... and worse. If it was up to Henry, he would avoid the island entirely.

The year is 1988. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since the fourth grade. But after an evening of skinny-dipping goes disastrously wrong, Gretchen begins to act...different. She's moody. She's irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she's nearby. Abby's investigation leads her to some startling discoveries - and by the time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate of Abby and Gretchen will be determined by a single question.

One month after Nora's violent induction to the dangerous supernatural side of Detroit, she's finally settling into her new life as the underworld's token human. All she wants to do is mind her own business, enjoy her new friends, and stay safe. But that's easier said than done when she's such an enigma to everyone around her. Thanks to her unique psychic abilities, she's garnered a reputation for being mysterious and powerful. When the alpha of a local werewolf pack asks her to help him figure out who is stealing from him, she can't say no.