Inside Writing Mystery, Noir & Detectives

Facing the truth can be deadlier than facing the killer.Ten days to keep a lie.Ten plagues if you deny.Ten ways to watch them die.Five years ago, when Detective Jena Campbell put the Leviticus Killer behind bars, she locked her darkest secret away with him. Something never meant to surface. Something better left to rot with the madman who had destroyed so many lives.When a strange man calling himself Azrael appears on social media with threats to unleash ten plagues, ten deaths, in ten days, unless Leviticus is released, Jena is forced to reopen that door and face her past.Unable to share what she knows, she turns to the only man who can help her find Azrael before he kills again, the man she condemned. Jena quickly learns the only thing more terrifying than facing him, is facing herself.

Life as a New York City police officer is nothing like what you see on television. Of course, it can be fast-paced and action-packed. But unlike the soy boys you see running around with fake guns on the silver screen, NYPD cops are responsible for their actions. Crash a car, lose a prisoner, or get mouthy with the wrong supervisor, and there will be consequences.The penalties are severe and designed to make you think twice before stepping out of line. Suspension to the loss of vacation days, you can also find yourself working in another borough. The NYPD is well stocked with an army of bureaucratic sycophants who do the department’s bidding. After a while, you realize you’re a cog in a machine that views you as disposable. A hero one day, a goat the next; you can never train enough for a job that can kill you.Lazy coworkers, combative criminals, and a close call with an HIV infection can make you think twice about your career choice. To survive in this chaotic environment, you have to be able to laugh in the line of duty.

2024 International Firebird Book Award Winner (2x) - Political Thriller & Speculative Fiction2024 Storytrade Award Finalist - Suspense / Thriller2024 Hollywood Book Festival Honorable Mention - Political ThrillerWith the soul of American democracy in the balance, one man will defy all odds.Former Senator Jackson Piper stands at the podium, about to accept the 2044 nomination for President of the United States. The Pittsburgh stadium vibrates with thunderous applause, and the passionate cheers of 70,000 citizens create a thunderous roar. His calls for New Optimism, New Freedoms, and New Vitality for America electrify them. They are poised to rewrite the political rulebook while reforming the nation by resurrecting Teddy Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party.As the crowd's excitement reaches a fever pitch, Jackson Piper takes a deep breath and begins his speech. The setting is tense, with the fate of the nation hanging in the balance. However, Jackson is determined to bring a new era of hope and progress to America. His passion and charisma captivate the audience, and they are ready to follow him to the ends of the earth.But there are darker forces at play. What stands in their way is the corrupt President Warner. With unlimited resources and a ruthless agenda, he is determined to win a second term and maybe more. Piper and his allies must navigate a treacherous landscape of espionage, fake news, and assassination attempts to come out on top.Accompany Jackson and his team on a pulse-pounding quest to rescue the Republic. Guided by the strategic mind of Ron Bender and the assistance of his sentient A.I. companion Ziggy, they must outsmart their adversaries and battle for the destiny of their nation. Will they triumph over the corrupt forces arrayed against them, or will they succumb to the Curse of Tippecanoe?This enthralling political thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat until the final page. Drawing from his own experiences as a former political operative, the author crafts a chillingly believable narrative of power and corruption in American politics. Don't miss the inaugural installment in the compelling Bull Moose Series.This book is a must-read for fans of political thrillers like "The Manchurian Candidate" and "All the President's Men." Buy now before the price changes and get ready for a heart-pumping adventure through the cutthroat world of presidential elections.

After a near-death experience, Sunny Randall is ready to lighten her load as a PI, that is until she is called upon by billionaire media magnate Bill Welch to investigate the disappearance of his son, Dylan, the cofounder of the Gonzo Energy Drink company. Lazy, unscrupulous and a notorious partier, Dylan isn’t exactly reliable. But Dylan’s mother, Lydia, insists this time is different. She knows him. He’s her son. And she believes he’s in serious danger.Unable to turn down the Welches’ life-changing offer, Sunny takes on the case, starting off by befriending Dylan's smart young business partner, Sky, who seems like his polar opposite. Sky is bright, innovative, ambitious and empathetic -- yet surprisingly, she adores Dylan, and desperately wants Sunny to find him.As Sunny traces the marks left behind by Dylan’s past, she must unearth all the skeletons in his closet. She discovers not only his bad behavior with women, but also his reckless moves within the business world, producing an energy drink that, despite its marketing, has proven dangerous and even deadly. Still, Sky insists he’s a good man. Who is Dylan, really? And why has he vanished? When bodies start to pile up, Sunny must find answers quick, before she—and those she cares about—get caught in the crossfire.

After years of personal and professional turmoil, things are finally looking up for Columbus, Ohio, private eye Andy Hayes. As Sick to Death opens, Andy is relishing his new gig: a drama-free, family-friendly stint as a guard at the Columbus Museum of Art. What could be better than regular hours, a steady paycheck, and an attractive coworker who may be just as interested in him as he is in her? Right on schedule, Andy’s newfound equilibrium comes crashing down when he interrupts the theft of a painting by famed Ashcan school realist George Bellows—and is promptly fired for breaking museum protocols. Helping him thwart the robbers is a young woman whom Andy has caught staring at him several times at the museum. To his shock, she reveals she’s an adult daughter he never knew he had, the result of a one-night stand during his misspent youth a quarter century earlier. But Alex Rutledge, about to enter the Columbus Police Academy, isn’t looking for family time. She wants to hire her newly discovered father to find the driver who killed her mother, Kate, five months earlier in a still unsolved hit-skip accident. Even as Andy reels from this personal development, he uncovers troubling details about Kate’s death that increasingly point toward murder and an angry anti-vax sentiment roiling below the surface at the hospital where she worked. Complicating Andy’s case, he finds himself in the crosshairs of an FBI investigation into the attempted art theft. With time running out and his and Alex’s lives on the line, Andy rushes to defend his reputation as a private eye and find Kate’s killer.

From the award-winning author of Fragile Brilliance comes another gripping Ronan McCullough thriller.Recovering from the emotional and physical damage of his last case, Ronan McCullough is trying to put his life back together. But when a federal agent's charred remains surface, linked to a professor's encrypted money laundering scheme, Ronan becomes embroiled in a high-stakes game of life and death with someone who is willing to kill everyone that knows anything about the encryption codes.Ronan soon uncovers several dark secrets and learns that nobody is being honest with him, including the people he trusts the most. When the encryption codes are stolen and Ronan learns their real purpose, he finds himself in a race to stop a plan that will make it nearly impossible to stop the funding of dangerous crimes.As the body count rises and secrets are unearthed, Ronan must navigate a web of deceit to uncover the truth. How will Ronan succeed when the main suspect is a set of numbers?

Preston & Child continue their #1 bestselling series featuring FBI Special Agent Pendergast and Constance Greene, as they take a final stand against New York’s deadliest serial killer: Pendergast’s own ancestor…and Constance’s greatest enemy. A desperate bargain is broken…Constance Greene confronts Manhattan’s most dangerous serial killer, Enoch Leng, bartering for her sister's life – but she is betrayed and turned away empty-handed, incandescent with rage. A clever trap is set…Unknown to Leng, Pendergast’s brother, Diogenes, appears unexpectedly, offering to help—for mysterious reasons of his own. Disguised as a cleric, Diogenes establishes himself in New York's notorious Five Points slum, manipulating events like a chess master, watching Leng’s every move…and awaiting his own chance to strike. A vengeful angel will not be deterred…Meanwhile, as Pendergast focuses on saving the unstable Constance in her fanatical quest for vengeance, she strikes out on her own: to rescue her beloved siblings from a tragic fate and take savage retribution on Leng. But Leng is one step ahead and has a surprise for them all…

In this heart-pounding debut thriller for fans of Lisa Jewell and Celeste Ng, a first-generation Vietnamese American artist must confront nightmares past and present. . . .Annie “Anh Le” Shaw grew up poor, but seems to have it all now: a dream career, a stunning home, and a devoted husband and daughter. When Annie’s mother, a Vietnam War refugee, dies suddenly one night, Annie’s carefully curated life begins to unravel. Her obsessive-compulsive disorder, which she thought she’d vanquished years ago, comes roaring back—but this time, the disturbing fixations swirling around in Annie’s brain might actually be coming true.A prominent art patron disappears, and the investigation zeroes in on Annie. Spiraling with self-doubt, she distances herself from her family and friends, only to wake up in a hotel room—naked, next to a lifeless body. The police have more questions, but with her mind increasingly fractured, Annie doesn’t have answers. All she knows is this: She will do anything to protect her daughter—even if it means losing herself. With dizzying twists, You Know What You Did is both a harrowing thriller and a heartfelt exploration of the refugee experience, the legacies we leave for our children, and the unbreakable bonds between mothers and daughters.