Lieutenant Davenport’s sanity was nearly shattered by two murder investigations. Now he faces something worse…Two killers. One hideously scarred. The other strikingly handsome, a master manipulator fascinated with all aspects of death. The dark mirror of Davenport’s...  more

Lieutenant Davenport’s sanity was nearly shattered by two murder investigations. Now he faces something worse…Two killers. One hideously scarred. The other strikingly handsome, a master manipulator fascinated with all aspects of death. The dark mirror of Davenport’s soul…This is the case that will bring Davenport back to life. Or push him over the edge.

When Travis McGee discovers a face from his past lying in a pool of blood on a cheap motel room floor, he wants answers. But so far, all he has are questions--plus the dubious inheritance of his friend's vengeance-driven girlfriend, and a valuable ancient Aztec golden idol. Part rebel, part...  more

When Travis McGee discovers a face from his past lying in a pool of blood on a cheap motel room floor, he wants answers. But so far, all he has are questions--plus the dubious inheritance of his friend's vengeance-driven girlfriend, and a valuable ancient Aztec golden idol. Part rebel, part philosopher, and every inch his own man, Travis McGee plunges into a wild and perilous trek for a killer that takes him from the Lauderdale beaches to the seething corruption of American expatriates in a distant Mexican town, to the lush high life of the California jet set. "A master storyteller, a wizard of dialogue, characterization, and plot." Chicago Tribune Book World

Jody never asked to become a vampire. But when she wakes up under an alley Dumpster with a badly burned arm, an aching neck, superhuman strength, and a distinctly Nosferatuan thirst, she realizes the decision has been made for her. Making the transition from the nine-to-five grind to an...  more

Jody never asked to become a vampire. But when she wakes up under an alley Dumpster with a badly burned arm, an aching neck, superhuman strength, and a distinctly Nosferatuan thirst, she realizes the decision has been made for her. Making the transition from the nine-to-five grind to an eternity of nocturnal prowlings is going to take some doing, however, and that's where C. Thomas Flood fits in. A would-be Kerouac from Incontinence, Indiana, Tommy (to his friends) is biding his time night-clerking and frozen-turkey bowling in a San Francisco Safeway. But all that changes when a beautiful undead redhead walks through the door ... and proceeds to rock Tommy's life -- and afterlife -- in ways he never imagined possible.

Christmas is coming. But erudite attorney Gerry Fletcher got his present early: his wife?s body with a knife buried in it. Though he shamelessly cops to being happy she?s dead, his alibi is airtight and all signs point to a burglary gone bad. But even when detectives Steve Carella and Bert Kling...  more

Christmas is coming. But erudite attorney Gerry Fletcher got his present early: his wife?s body with a knife buried in it. Though he shamelessly cops to being happy she?s dead, his alibi is airtight and all signs point to a burglary gone bad. But even when detectives Steve Carella and Bert Kling follow the clues to a junky punk and get a full confession, Carella can?t quit thinking there?s something about the case that?s as phony as a sidewalk Santa?s beard. Maybe it?s because the victim?s husband wants to pal around with the suspicious cop on a cryptic pub-crawl through the urban jungle. Or maybe it?s the dead woman?s double identity and little black book full of secret lovers. Whether she was Sarah the shrewish wife or Sadie the sex-crazy swinger, there?s more to her murder than just a bad case of ?wrong place, wrong time.? And Carella won?t rest till his cuffs are on the killer.

Science fiction, literary fiction, horror, urban fantasy, poetry, comedy -- this collection of short stories and poetry from the award-winning creator of Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter has a little bit of everything. Have Spacecat, Will Travel spans a decade of novelist John G....  more

Science fiction, literary fiction, horror, urban fantasy, poetry, comedy -- this collection of short stories and poetry from the award-winning creator of Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter has a little bit of everything. Have Spacecat, Will Travel spans a decade of novelist John G. Hartness' career, with short stories featuring Bubba the Monster Hunter, The Dead Old Ladies Detective Agency, and a few new characters you may not have met before. Stories from series include: Have Spacecat, Will Travel is from the “Salvage Universe” series of books from various authors. On a Hill Far Away has Lila Grace from the “Dead Old Ladies Detective Agency” book. Shiny is from the “Queen of Kats” series. Walk the Dinosaur has Bubba in New Mexico Knight of the Green from the anthology “Camelot 13” has updated versions of the Knights of the Round Table Stand-alone short stories: Fair Play is a short story about serial killers. Don’t Stop Believing is about a mage who hunts demons. Cheers a drunk and a funeral Dance in the Graveyard an amateur wrestler hunts ghosts The Christmas Lights Jeremiah's first holiday season as a widower. Reunion Jessica Bates is tricked into going back to her school where years earlier she was the only survivor of a devastating fire. Also included are some of the author's favorite examples of his narrative-style poetry that he describes as "redneck failed songwriter poetry." Inspired by David Childers, John Hiatt, John Prine, and Jason Isbell, the stories created in these poems will stay with you long after you close the book.

?You?ll have to speak a little louder,? the voice said. ?I?m a little hard of hearing.?Between a highly successful cat burglar and a hippie crucifixion, the 87th Precinct definitely doesn?t need the Deaf Man showing up again?especially since his two previous appearances resulted in blackmail,...  more

?You?ll have to speak a little louder,? the voice said. ?I?m a little hard of hearing.?Between a highly successful cat burglar and a hippie crucifixion, the 87th Precinct definitely doesn?t need the Deaf Man showing up again?especially since his two previous appearances resulted in blackmail, murder, and general havoc. But at least they have him now...unless he had them first.The Deaf Man can hardly contain his glee. Detective Steve Carella is about to inadvertently help him rob a bank. Each day, he mails Carella a picture to keep the game going. The first two are pictures of J. Edgar Hoover, while the next ones involve George Washington. All are clues, obviously. But how do they add up? And will the 87th Precinct find out before the Deaf Man has the last laugh?A tough, taut, and hilarious mystery, Ed McBain?s classic novel will captivate a new generation of police procedural fans.

LAPD Lieutenant Milo Sturgis is a fine homicide detective, but when he needs to get into the mind of a killer, he leans on the expertise of his best friend, the brilliant psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware. While Sturgis has a knack for piecing together the details of a crime, Delaware can decipher...  more

LAPD Lieutenant Milo Sturgis is a fine homicide detective, but when he needs to get into the mind of a killer, he leans on the expertise of his best friend, the brilliant psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware. While Sturgis has a knack for piecing together the details of a crime, Delaware can decipher the darkest intents driving the most vicious of perpetrators. And there’s no better place for the doctor’s analytical skills to shine than a rowdy hall full of young men and women intoxicated on life and lust . . . and suddenly faced with the specter of death. Summoned to a run-down former strip joint, Delaware and Sturgis find themselves crashing a wild Saints and Sinners–themed wedding reception. But they’re not the only uninvited guests. A horrified bridesmaid has discovered the body of a young woman, dressed to impress in pricey haute couture and accessorized with a grisly red slash around her neck. What’s missing is any means of identification, or a single partygoer who recognizes the victim. The baffled bride is convinced the stranger snuck in to sabotage her big day—and the groom is sure it’s all a dreadful mistake. But Delaware and Sturgis have a hundred guests to question, and a sneaking suspicion that the motive for murder is personal. Now they must separate the sinners from the saints, the true from the false, and the secrets from those keeping them. The party’s over—and the hunt for whoever killed it is on.

Lee Child, David Morrell, and M.J. Rose all agree: Jack Daniels is the one to watch! Anthony Award finalist J.A. Konrath?s latest novel featuring the feisty female police detective serves up another thriller Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels of the Chicago Police Department is back, and once again...  more

Lee Child, David Morrell, and M.J. Rose all agree: Jack Daniels is the one to watch! Anthony Award finalist J.A. Konrath?s latest novel featuring the feisty female police detective serves up another thriller Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels of the Chicago Police Department is back, and once again she?s up to her Armani in murder. Someone is sending Jack snuff videos. The victims are people she knows, and they share a common trait -- all were involved in one of Jack?s previous cases. With her stalwart partner hospitalized and unable to help, Jack follows a trail of death throughout the Midwest, on a collision course with the smartest and deadliest adversary she?s ever known. During the chase, Jack jeopardizes her career, her love life, and her closest friends. She also comes to a startling realization -- serial killers have families, and blood runs thick. Rusty Nail features more of the laugh-out-loud humor and crazy characters that saturated Whiskey Sour and Bloody Mary, without sacrificing the nail-biting thrills. This is Jack Daniels? third, and most exciting, adventure yet!

It?s January. The weather is cold?and it?s about to feel even colder. Detectives Carella and Kling of the 87th Precinct stand at the edge of their jurisdiction staring down into a ditch filled with six naked, murdered bodies. But who put them there and why? As Carella and Kling dive deeper...  more

It?s January. The weather is cold?and it?s about to feel even colder. Detectives Carella and Kling of the 87th Precinct stand at the edge of their jurisdiction staring down into a ditch filled with six naked, murdered bodies. But who put them there and why? As Carella and Kling dive deeper into the mystery of the six, they find themselves walking into a deadly battle among three teenage gangs: the Hispanic Death?s Heads, the African American Scarlet Avengers, and a white gang known as ?the clique.? Racing to put together the clues before a criminal mastermind and a full-blown gang war tear the city apart, Carella and Kling need to use every trick in their arsenal. Hail to the Chief is one of the finest in bestselling author Ed McBain?s 87th Precinct series. An edgy thriller with marvelous characters that speeds toward an explosive final act.

Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom, a hero, the Chosen One, was born . . . and so begins every fairy tale ever told. This is not that fairy tale. There is a Chosen One, but he is unlike any One who has ever been Chosened. And there is a faraway kingdom, but you...  more

Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom, a hero, the Chosen One, was born . . . and so begins every fairy tale ever told. This is not that fairy tale. There is a Chosen One, but he is unlike any One who has ever been Chosened. And there is a faraway kingdom, but you have never been to a magical world quite like the land of Pell. There, a plucky farm boy will find more than he's bargained for on his quest to awaken the sleeping princess in her cursed tower. First there's the Dark Lord, who wishes for the boy's untimely death . . . and also very fine cheese. Then there's a bard without a song in her heart but with a very adorable and fuzzy tail, an assassin who fears not the night but is terrified of chickens, and a mighty fighter more frightened of her sword than of her chain-mail bikini. This journey will lead to sinister umlauts, a trash-talking goat, the Dread Necromancer Steve, and a strange and wondrous journey to the most peculiar "happily ever after" that ever once-upon-a-timed.

In Darynda Jones's Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet, sometimes being the grim reaper really is that. Grim. And since Charley’s last case went so awry, she has taken a couple months off to wallow in the wonders of self-pity. But when a woman shows up on her doorstep convinced someone is...  more

In Darynda Jones's Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet, sometimes being the grim reaper really is that. Grim. And since Charley’s last case went so awry, she has taken a couple months off to wallow in the wonders of self-pity. But when a woman shows up on her doorstep convinced someone is trying to kill her, Charley has to force herself to rise above. Or at least get dressed. She quickly realizes something is amiss when everyone the woman knows swears she’s insane. The more they refute the woman’s story, the more Charley believes it. In the meantime, the sexy, sultry son of Satan, Reyes Farrow, has been cleared of all charges. He is out of prison and out of Charley’s life, as per her wishes and several perfectly timed death threats. But his absence has put a serious crimp in her sex life. While there are other things to consider, like the fact that the city of Albuquerque has been taken hostage by an arsonist, Charley is having a difficult time staying away. Especially when it looks like Reyes may be involved. Just when life was returning to normal, Charley is thrust back into the world of crime, punishment, and the devil in blue jeans.

There are dark forces at work in our world (and in Manchester in particular), so thank God The Stranger Times is on hand to report them . . . A weekly newspaper dedicated to the weird and the wonderful (but mostly the weird), it is the go-to publication for the unexplained and...  more

There are dark forces at work in our world (and in Manchester in particular), so thank God The Stranger Times is on hand to report them . . . A weekly newspaper dedicated to the weird and the wonderful (but mostly the weird), it is the go-to publication for the unexplained and inexplicable. At least that's their pitch. The reality is rather less auspicious. Their editor is a drunken, foul-tempered and foul-mouthed husk of a man who thinks little of the publication he edits. His staff are a ragtag group of misfits. And as for the assistant editor . . . well, that job is a revolving door - and it has just revolved to reveal Hannah Willis, who's got problems of her own. When tragedy strikes in her first week on the job The Stranger Times is forced to do some serious investigating. What they discover leads to a shocking realisation: some of the stories they'd previously dismissed as nonsense are in fact terrifyingly real. Soon they come face-to-face with darker forces than they could ever have imagined. The Stranger Times is the first novel from C.K. McDonnell, the pen name of Caimh McDonnell. It combines his distinctive dark wit with his love of the weird and wonderful to deliver a joyous celebration of how truth really can be stranger than fiction.

The dog days of August are making the 87th Precinct feel like the inside of an oven. But things can always get hotter. With nearly half the squadroom on vacation, Detectives Carella and Hawes look into what appears to be an ordinary warehouse fire?but Carella and Hawes rarely see anything...  more

The dog days of August are making the 87th Precinct feel like the inside of an oven. But things can always get hotter. With nearly half the squadroom on vacation, Detectives Carella and Hawes look into what appears to be an ordinary warehouse fire?but Carella and Hawes rarely see anything ordinary, and this is no different. The trail from the warehouse leads uptown to the murders of a junkie and a suspected prostitute. They soon discover a shady ghetto redevelopment deal may have gruesome ties that run deep into the city?s underbelly. Full of fascinating characters and dialogue that tears up the pages, Bread follows a bloody money trail through the city?s back alleys and dark corners. This installment of the 87th Precinct series is bestselling author Ed McBain at his grittiest.

Raised in the wilderness by her late great-uncle, Vida is a young woman with an almost preternatural affinity for nature, especially for the wolves that also call the forested mountains home.  Formed by hard experience, by love and loss, and by the prophecies of a fortune teller, Vida just...  more

Raised in the wilderness by her late great-uncle, Vida is a young woman with an almost preternatural affinity for nature, especially for the wolves that also call the forested mountains home.  Formed by hard experience, by love and loss, and by the prophecies of a fortune teller, Vida just wants peace.  If only nearby Kettleton County didn’t cast such a dark shadow. It’s where Jose Nochelobo, the love of Vida’s life and a cherished local hero, died in a tragic accident.  That’s the official story, but Vida has reasons to doubt it.  The truth can’t be contained for long.  Nor can the hungry men of power in Kettleton who want something too: that Vida, like Jose, disappear forever.  One by one they come for her, prepared to do anything to see their plans through to their evil end.  Vida is no less prepared for them.  Vida, the forest, and its formidable wonders are waiting.  She will not rest until goodness and order have been restored.

Ten-time Bram Stoker Award-winner Joe R. Lansdale (Bubba Ho-tep) returns with this wicked short story collection of his irreverent Lovecraftian tributes. Lansdale is scarily down-home in these tales, merging his classic gonzo stylings with the eldritch vibes of H. P. Lovecraft. Knowingly...  more

Ten-time Bram Stoker Award-winner Joe R. Lansdale (Bubba Ho-tep) returns with this wicked short story collection of his irreverent Lovecraftian tributes. Lansdale is scarily down-home in these tales, merging his classic gonzo stylings with the eldritch vibes of H. P. Lovecraft. Knowingly skewering Lovecraft’s paranoid mythos, Lansdale embarks upon haunting yet sly explorations of the unknown, capturing the essence of cosmic dread. A sinister blues recording pressed on vinyl in blood conjures lethal shadows with its unearthly wails. In order to rescue Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn traverses the shifting horrors of the aptly named Dread Island. In the weird Wild West, Reverand Jebidiah Mercer rides into a possessed town to confront the unspeakable in the crawling sky. Legendary detective C. Auguste Dupin uncovers the gruesome secrets of both the blue lightning bug and the Necronomicon. Exploring the darkest corners of the human psyche, here is a lethally entertaining journey through Joe Lansdale’s twisted landscape, where ancient evils lurk and sanity hangs by a rapidly fraying thread. Table of Contents Introduction by Joe R. Lansdale “The Bleeding Shadow” Dread Island “The Gruesome Affair of the Electric Blue Lightning” “The Tall Grass” "The Case of the Stalking Shadow" “The Crawling Sky” "Starlight, Eyes Bright" In the Mad Mountains

A mother and a daughter try to do right by a town and each other before it's too late. What's happening in Acker's Gap, West Virginia? Three elderly men are gunned down over their coffee at a local diner, and seemingly half the town is there to witness the act. Still, it happened...  more

A mother and a daughter try to do right by a town and each other before it's too late. What's happening in Acker's Gap, West Virginia? Three elderly men are gunned down over their coffee at a local diner, and seemingly half the town is there to witness the act. Still, it happened so fast, and no one seems to have gotten a good look at the shooter. Was it random? Was it connected to the spate of drug violence plaguing poor areas of the country just like Acker's Gap? Or were Dean Streeter, Shorty McClurg, and Lee Rader targeted somehow? One of the witnesses to the brutal incident was Carla Elkins, teenaged daughter of Bell Elkins, the prosecuting attorney for Raythune County, WV. Carla was shocked and horrified by what she saw, but after a few days, she begins to recover enough to believe that she might be uniquely placed to help her mother do her job. After all, what better way to repair their fragile, damaged relationship? But could Carla also end up doing more harm than good -- in fact, putting her own life in danger

Supernatural fantasy's best antihero returns, in the high-octane follow-up to Richard Kadrey's acclaimed Sandman Slim James Stark, a.k.a. Sandman Slim, crawled out of Hell, took bloody revenge for his girlfriend's murder, and saved the world along the way. After that, what do you do...  more

Supernatural fantasy's best antihero returns, in the high-octane follow-up to Richard Kadrey's acclaimed Sandman Slim James Stark, a.k.a. Sandman Slim, crawled out of Hell, took bloody revenge for his girlfriend's murder, and saved the world along the way. After that, what do you do for an encore? You take a lousy job tracking down monsters for money. It's a depressing gig, but it pays for your beer and cigarettes. But in L.A., things can always get worse. Like when Lucifer comes to town to supervise his movie biography and drafts Stark as his bodyguard. Sandman Slim has to swim with the human and inhuman sharks of L.A.'s underground power elite. That's before the murders start. And before he runs into the Czech porn star who isn't quite what she seems. Even before all those murdered people start coming back from the dead and join a zombie army that will change our world and Stark's forever. Death bites. Life is worse. All things considered, Hell's not looking so bad.

She's a catwalk model who has everything: a boyfriend, a career, a loyal best friend. But when a sudden motor 'accident' leaves her disfigured and incapable of speech, she goes from being the beautiful centre of attention to being an invisible monster, so hideous that no one will...  more

She's a catwalk model who has everything: a boyfriend, a career, a loyal best friend. But when a sudden motor 'accident' leaves her disfigured and incapable of speech, she goes from being the beautiful centre of attention to being an invisible monster, so hideous that no one will acknowledge she exists. Enter Brandy Alexander, Queen Supreme, one operation away from being a real woman, who will teach her that reinventing yourself means erasing your past and making up something better, and that salvation hides in the last place you'll ever want to look. The narrator must exact revenge upon Evie, her best friend and fellow model; kidnap Manus, her two-timing ex-boyfriend; and hit the road with Brandy in search of a brand-new past, present and future.

Steve Carella does not fit the picture of a big city detective. Well mannered and the consummate professional, he lacks the rough-hewn edges of the men who devote their lives to fighting crime on the streets. But there is one thing that tears him up?one thing that drives him to the edge of his...  more

Steve Carella does not fit the picture of a big city detective. Well mannered and the consummate professional, he lacks the rough-hewn edges of the men who devote their lives to fighting crime on the streets. But there is one thing that tears him up?one thing that drives him to the edge of his much darker side. When a madman rapes and kills his first victim in the 87th Precinct but leaves the second alive after a brutal knifing, Carella relentlessly hunts the man down. But the detective is in for a shock when the surviving victim recognizes the assailant in a police lineup... A probing, intimate crime thriller that exposes the deeper recesses of the 87th Precinct?s main character, Blood Relatives is an Ed McBain classic. His mastery of character, dialogue, and place come together in a brooding powerhouse of a novel.

In the quiet of twilight, on an early autumn day, twenty-six-year-old Elisa Vandersteel is killed while riding her bicycle along the Charles River. It appears she was struck by lightning -- except the weather is perfectly clear with not a cloud in sight. Dr. Kay Scarpetta, the Cambridge Forensic...  more

In the quiet of twilight, on an early autumn day, twenty-six-year-old Elisa Vandersteel is killed while riding her bicycle along the Charles River. It appears she was struck by lightning -- except the weather is perfectly clear with not a cloud in sight. Dr. Kay Scarpetta, the Cambridge Forensic Center’s director and chief, decides at the scene that this is no accidental Act of God. Her investigation becomes complicated when she begins receiving a flurry of bizarre poems from an anonymous cyberbully who calls himself Tailend Charlie. Though subsequent lab results support Scarpetta's conclusions, the threatening messages don't stop. When the tenth poem arrives exactly twenty-four hours after Elisa’s death, Scarpetta begins to suspect the harasser is involved, and sounds the alarm to her investigative partner Pete Marino and her husband, FBI analyst Benton Wesley. She also enlists the help of her niece, Lucy. But to Scarpetta's surprise, tracking the slippery Tailend Charlie is nearly impossible, even for someone as brilliant as her niece. Also, Lucy can't explain how this anonymous nemesis could have access to private information. To make matters worse, a venomous media is whipping the public into a frenzy, questioning the seasoned forensics chief's judgment and "a quack cause of death on a par with spontaneous combustion."

As far as he call tell, Frederick is a demon. "Born" in Virginia in the early 1980s, he hasn't a clue where he came from or why, but his irresistible desire to occupy a human body seems pretty demony to him. Plus, a number of a-hole priests have tried to exorcise him from...  more

As far as he call tell, Frederick is a demon. "Born" in Virginia in the early 1980s, he hasn't a clue where he came from or why, but his irresistible desire to occupy a human body seems pretty demony to him. Plus, a number of a-hole priests have tried to exorcise him from some of his favorite bodies. Yeah, it works, but not for the reasons they think. It's just super annoying being yelled at in Latin and sometimes the priests get really, really into it, and their mouths get all frothy and spittle droplets shoot out and land on your cheek or in your eye. It's just gross. So f--k it. He leaves with a heartfelt "Enjoy the drooly meatsack!"  What those morons never realize is that once Frederick takes over a body, the previous occupant's consciousness and memories are forever erased. It's an inevitable side effect that gives Frederick pause when switching bodies, but not so much as to actually halt his ongoing enjoyment of human lives. Departures are not so much "Good lord, what have I done?" moments as much as, "Aww. How sad." Frowny face emoji - not crying face emoji. You get the point.  After a few decades exploring the world in various bodies, Frederick finds himself burnt out on the wild life, deciding he'll return to America, explore the mystery of his origin, and maybe even find someone tolerable enough to love for more than a month. In his hometown of Leesburg, Virginia, his mission bears fruit much faster than expected. He meets an enchanting woman, and her current boyfriend looks like a great foot-in-the-door. Typically, Frederick avoids maintaining a bodies' prior relationships (it requires agonizingly boring pre-research to avoid detection) but - as noted above - he's loose with the phrase "f--k it."  And everything falls into utter chaos. 

WELCOME TO SAFE HAVEN, POPULATION 907... Nestled in the woods of Wisconsin, Safe Haven is miles from everything. With one road in and out, this is a town so peaceful it has never needed a full-time police force. Until now... A helicopter has crashed on the outskirts of town and something...  more

WELCOME TO SAFE HAVEN, POPULATION 907... Nestled in the woods of Wisconsin, Safe Haven is miles from everything. With one road in and out, this is a town so peaceful it has never needed a full-time police force. Until now... A helicopter has crashed on the outskirts of town and something terrible has been unleashed. A classified secret weapon programmed to kill anything that stands in its way. Now it's headed for the nearest lights to do what it does best. Isolate. Terrorize. Annihilate. Soon all phone lines are dead and the road is blocked. Safe Haven's only chance for survival rests on the shoulders of an aging county sheriff. And as the body count rises, the sheriff realizes something even more terrifying - maybe death hasn't come to his little town by accident...