African American Crime Fiction

Markita “Kita” Jones is a young woman with the world at her fingertips. A high school student with beauty and brains to match, she’s well on her way to Howard University. However, on her 18th birthday, she watches her dreams die during a drive-by shooting that claims the life of her brother. Overnight, Kita transforms from a naïve schoolgirl into a savvy street hustler on a mission to find her brother’s killer. With the help of her best friends, Kenya and Alexis, Kita quickly begins making more money and more enemies than she ever could’ve imagined.

Though battle-wounded and scarred, Raphael has survived the criminal underworld in Benin with the help of the US government. Together with his wife, Essie, and their adoptive son, Kaion, they enjoy a seemingly picture-perfect life. Their harmony is shattered when CIA agent Rhys unexpectedly shows up at their doorstep. No aspect of life comes without a cost, and Raphael soon realizes that even his comfortable existence has a price.

On an icy day in February, African American grandmother Vera Moon arrives home to find her grown son Charlie brutally murdered. She vows to find the killer who has managed to elude the police. Not knowing where to begin, Vera is involved in a suspicious hit-and-run car accident, witnessed by a young Irish American woman, Dani, on the run from the train-wreck of her own life.

Sometimes, a woman owns little more than the deep, hidden wishes of her heart, and those don’t count for much in a place like Mississippi, at least for folk like Victoria. What’s the cost of getting precisely what you want? She quickly becomes trapped in a cutthroat world of wealth, privilege, and power. When Victoria is offered everything she’s ever wanted, will she succumb to temptation, or will she find a way to resist?

Wilder Frank is a successful Jamerican comedian based in Chicago who suffers from an inherited illness. He leads an upright life and is content bringing laughter to the world, until he falls into a side hustle and loses his identity. Will he find himself? This story offers a peek into the fateful human tendency to never have enough.

Best friends Sophie, Diamond, and Angel find themselves with their backs against the wall and owing an extremely dangerous man. Short on funds, limited options, and a severe debt hanging over their heads forces the trio to take "getting to the bag" to a new level. While dripping mad sex appeal laced with money schemes, these ruthless vixens hatch a bulletproof plan, and before long—Jack Girlz is born.

A successful businesswoman who used to play by the rules. A cautious single mother who never took chances. A gorgeous rebel out of money and almost out of time. Each loves a man unjustly sentenced to long prison terms by former prosecutor Hammond Grey. They've tried every legal remedy to get justice-only to see Hammond climb ever higher up the political ladder and secure himself behind power and privilege. So when Kim, Jayda, and Harley meet in a support group, they've got no options left. It's time for them to launch Plan B.

Essence best-selling authors Kiki Swinson and Noire have attracted huge audiences for their sexy, anything-goes fiction. Lifestyles of the Rich and Shameless features a novella from each author. Swinson’s electric “Shamelessly Rich” showcases a spoiled bad girl facing a life-changing choice. And in Noire’s “Puttin’ Shame in the Game,” three gorgeous ladies set their sights on a wealthy cop.

Alibi Island is a legendary paradise hidden away deep in international waters. The only law is money. You’ve got to pay to play, but it’s all fair game if you’re rich enough. It's a lucrative business. What happens on the island stays on the island. That’s the promise. But it is a lie. Everything that happens is recorded. All of that footage becomes blackmail material down the line, as the island's secret power brokers look to cement their stranglehold on power. And when a senator’s daughter’s disappearance is linked to the island, all of its darkest secrets are at risk.

After being released from a five-year prison sentence for an armed robbery gone sideways, Tarzan Brixton makes a vow to his dying mother to change his ways. With his mother’s medical bills piling up, the temptation of the criminal life becomes too real once again. His solution is to escape the rough streets of New York for the equally ruthless beaches of Kingston, Jamaica. He soon creates a drug-running empire while falling in love with a beautiful Jamaican woman named Maya.

Not since 'The Wire,' has a more engrossing tale been told about life on the mean streets. This urban tragedy focuses on a maniac who plucks victims from the fruits of the street. Meet Poet and Taye, friends since childhood, now two dope boys out to achieve big dreams. Poet's plans of growing the business includes taking over a kingpin's drug game in a neighboring community, while Taye has a completely different agenda. Success or failure is all the same in the ghetto, when only one thing is certain . . . no one will ever miss a dope boy.PLUS! It started with The Rogue Prophet, now the ...

Southside Gangsters is the only mafia tale untold. The untold story of Chicago’s south side in the 1950s, the story of the black gangsters, the story of the black mob. The wheel games were the best kept money making secret that produced $20,000 a day. The black policy kings, the famous James brothers, controlled it. The James brothers, Frankie and Johnny, were well educated crooks who made their money and kept peace in the streets. Once Johnny was in prison for tax evasion he was persuaded by mob capo, Sam Gianelli to teach him the rackets.

After dispatching the Bonnie & Clyde robbing duo that hit his spot, LAFAYETTE is left to deal with a lengthy prison sentence and hired killas behind the wall. With nowhere to run or hide, Lafayette realizes that his back is against the wall. His only hope is to find allies inside of The Belly of the Beast, or prepare to find himself lying in a body bag. The murder of family members brings out the head of The Sanchez Cartel, DIABLO. The Mexican gangsta is on a war path and will stop at nothing to avenge his people. Unable to get his hands on Lafayette, the drug lord sets his sights on ...

Lafayette made a move on his rise to power that comes back to haunt him. His mistake puts him at odds with one of the most dangerous drug cartels south of the border. If he doesn’t give them what they want then he and everyone he loves will be executed. Will he bow down to an opponent far greater than him? Or will he choose to bear arms? A botch hit lands one of Lafayette’s hittas behind bars. He finds himself with a decision to make. He can take his chances and hope that the killa doesn’t snitch or he can put a green light on him and guarantee it. Will he follow his first mind and ...

He’s the son of a kingpin. She’s the assassin who wants to kill his father. Falling in love was never part of the plan. Leah’s world shattered the day her sister was taken. Years later, she’s built herself into a weapon—sharp, relentless, untraceable. Her only mission? Find the man responsible and destroy everything he’s built. But when her path crosses with Jackson Davis—the mysterious, too-charming neighbor with secrets of his own—everything changes. He’s sexy, guarded, and hiding something dark. And Leah can’t afford distractions. Especially not the kind that leave ...

Trevon Harrison returns in the climactic ending of the Miami Nights series. He has to face the demanding life of fatherhood with two different baby mothers, LaToria, known as Kandi, and Jurnee. His life in front of the camera continues, dripping with lust and unexpected turmoil. Being an adult film star and a father of two toddlers pushes Trevon to the breaking point, while drama erupts between the mothers of his children as they secretly battle their jealousy toward each other. An issue from Trevon's past brings a downpour of problems that force him to react in ways that he never imagined ...

In 1972, Veronica Smith is arrested for murdering her fiancé just one week before their lavish wedding. At just 11 years old, Alexandria Smith has just witnessed the horrid crime committed by her mother. Veronica tries maintaining a level of sanity in an insane environment, and sanity comes with a price that Veronica does not want to pay. Both Veronica and her daughter face tumultuous obstacles to rise above the torment they've endured as children; one will lean on her faith as the other loses sight of her faith.

First Degree Sins What do you do when your back is against the wall? What happens when you see no way out? Many people believe they’ll do the right thing, however, what happens when things spiral out of control and the wrong things happen ... like murder? Welcome to First Degree Sins where Lisa loses her grip on living and snaps because life just has far too many jagged edges from her perspective, so before she bleeds out from every deep wound life gives her, she makes the fatal moves no one sees coming.

Brice Simpson is a newly promoted heroic detective with a secret past. He's riding the waves of fame, but he still feels he has something to prove, so Detective Simpson picks up a cold case on the murder of a 14-year-old girl. He's convinced the case will bring him redemption for his past indiscretions, but he soon finds out that the details surrounding the girl's murder may hit closer to home than he expects. When his younger sister goes missing, Brice's life is thrown into a tailspin that may cost him everything he has worked for.

Dovey Johnson Roundtree was most famous for her successful defense of an indigent Black man accused of the murder of Mary Pinchot Meyer, a prominent White Washington, DC, socialite, in 1965. Despite her triumph in this high-profile case, Roundtree continued to represent the poor and the underserved. She was the first lawyer to bring a bus-desegregation case before the Interstate Commerce Commission, clinching the ruling that enabled Robert F. Kennedy to enforce bus integration. She was also among the first Black women to enter the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps.