American Mysteries

In the heart of the South, a timeless adage holds true: Southern charm is hard to beat. Meet E’Shanti, a stunning belle, a good girl at heart, and her best friend Ramona, as they embark on a spring break adventure from Alabama’s rustic landscapes to the wet city of Miami. The duo’s plan is to let loose and party, but little do they know that their trip will be filled with unexpected thrills. What starts off as a simple mishap – a spilled drink from E’Shanti’s hand – spirals into a three-day rendezvous, with the sexy, local savage Zek. He’s older, street savvy, mysterious, ...

I’m a wolf who can’t shift, and because of that, I’ve been treated like nothing my entire life. I was tired of it—tired of staying in a place where I was constantly overlooked. The night I decided to leave it all behind, I found him—broken, bloody, and abandoned in the woods. I broke the rules and snuck him back to his side of the territory, knowing it could cost me my life. I wasn’t expecting him to want to get to know me. We’re from different packs, packs that have been on the verge of war for as long as I can remember. But despite it all, I fall fast and hard for him.

"Anasazi Strip" is set in the isolated area north of the Grand Canyon known as the Arizona Strip, a spectacular land of redrock and long-forgotten civilizations. This is the first book in the Jenny Hatch mystery series, featuring Forest Service archaeologist Jenny Hatch, a tough red-haired lady who has dedicated her life to unraveling the mysteries of the ancient Anasazi who called the Arizona Strip home from the time of Christ until their vanishing act around 1200AD. This is a story about industrial strength pothunting, the illegal raiding of Indian ruins, by a retired federal judge and a ...

A bag of chips. That's all 16-year-old Rashad is looking for at the corner bodega. What he finds instead is a fist-happy cop, Paul Galluzzo, who mistakes Rashad for a shoplifter, mistakes Rashad's pleadings that he's stolen nothing for belligerence, mistakes Rashad's resistance to leave the bodega as resisting arrest, mistakes Rashad's every flinch at every punch the cop throws as further resistance and refusal to STAY STILL as ordered.

It’s another murder in the little town of Roble. But not to worry, Romaine and Auntie Zanne are on it! It’s the 100th Boule of the Distinguished Ladies’ Society of Voodoo Herbalists. They’ve gotten together to eat, drink, be merry and vote for the next Lesser Mambo, a lifetime appointment second only to the Most High (bet you’ll never guess who holds that position). But the second in command spot keeps becoming vacant—that’s because the women who fill it keep dying off. This time though, it looks like murder. During an alcohol-infused dinner and a tall glass full of absinth, a...

Romaine Wilder, big-city medical examiner with a small-town past, has been downsized and evicted. With few other options, she’s forced to return to her hometown of Roble in East Texas, leaving behind the man she’s dating and the life she’s worked hard to build. Suzanne Babet Derbinay, Romaine’s Auntie Zanne and proprietor of the Ball Funeral Home, has long since traded her French Creole upbringing for Big Texas attitude. She’s a member in a number of ladies’ auxiliaries and clubs, including being in charge of the Tri-County Annual Crawfish Boil and Music Festival. Hanging on to ...

We are behind, and below, the scenes of JFK's presidential election, the Bay of Pigs, the assassination - in the underworld that connects Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago, DC....

A Marine returns home after suffering wounds from an RPG blast that killed many of his squad members, including his best friend. He now faces brutal battles at home. Sully’s parents are estranged, his father is an invalid, and the family ranch is nearing bankruptcy. Murdering thieves are stealing champion horses and disappearing into the desert like ghosts. While attempting to make peace with his abusive father, Sully discovers the shocking secrets that drove his parents apart. Deeply resentful, he works with his father solely for the survival of the ranch. Sully finds comfort in Maggie, ...

When newly appointed Sheriff Shea Callahan and her college friends plan a girls' weekend in a secluded cabin on Misty Mountain, they expect laughter, wine, and memories of their last carefree days together. But the weekend takes a dark turn when a group of strangers notices their matching "Girls' Weekend" T-shirts at a small-town gas station. What begins as innocent curiosity quickly spirals into a harrowing game of cat and mouse as the women find themselves stalked and terrorized by men who seem to know every move they make. With the clock ticking and their lives on the line, Shea must ...

Mystery, ghosts, and laughs… Add a splash of romance! Four paranormal cozy mysteries in one bundle! Set in New York City, Mandy, Rick and Jackie the ghostly drag queen dig in the four murder mysteries! Perfect for fans of Janet Evanovich, Jana Deleon, Amanda M. Lee and Sophie Kinsella! GRAB a copy and join their wicked ride NOW! FREE on Kindle Unlimited! Book1: Wicked for Hire Medical student Amanda Meyer thought she had her life all planned out until people started dying the moment they touched her. Being cleared of any wrongdoing didn’t stop the medical school from expelling her, and ...

Doing Time: For the prison writers whose work is included in this anthology, it means more than "serving a sentence"; it means staying alive and sane, preserving dignity, reinventing oneself, and somehow retaining one's humanity. For the last quarter century the prestigious writers' organization PEN has sponsored a contest for writers behind bars to help prisoners face these challenges. The contest honors the best short stories, plays, essays, and poems among hundreds submitted annually by men and women nationwide.

As Paris rediscovers its joie de vivre, Tabitha Knight, recently arrived from Detroit for an extended stay with her French grandfather, is on her own journey of discovery. Thanks to her neighbor and friend Julia Child, another ex-pat who's fallen head over heels for Paris, Tabitha is learning how to cook for her Grandpere and Oncle Rafe and Tabitha's sojourn is proving thoroughly delightful. That is, until the cold December day they return to Julia's building and learn that a body has been found in the cellar.

It’s the 1950s. Thousands of people every day pass through Smoke Tree, California, on Route 66. The Mother Road. The two-lane blacktop that stretches from Chicago to LA. A few make a quick stop in the isolated, Mojave Desert town. Some stay. Some are dangerous. And a few are downright deadly. Burke Henry is deadly. He drives into Smoke Tree on a motorcycle on a cold, windy, winter day. His panniers are stuffed with cash. Lots of cash. Who is he? What does he want? Why a tiny town like Smoke Tree? Nobody knows, but they’re all dying to find out. And so are some men from Oklahoma. Members...

With few other options, African American classical musician Gethsemane Brown accepts a less-than-ideal position turning a group of rowdy schoolboys into an award-winning orchestra. Stranded without luggage or money in the Irish countryside, she figures any job is better than none. The perk? Housesitting a lovely cliffside cottage. The catch? The ghost of the cottage's murdered owner haunts the place.

“Hex Kitchen transports you to a delicious world of culinary magic and fantastical, sometimes deadly, competition where every dish keeps you at the edge of your plate—wondering who will win the next move and what bite may be their last.” —Elizabeth Karmel, best-selling cookbook author, and Chopped and Iron Chef judge Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meets The Hunger Games in this mouthwatering, magical, and murderous fantasy. Hex Kitchen is a once-a-decade tournament where contestants have to cook magical dishes that are to die...and maybe even to kill...for. Kenzie has perfected ...

When Zane Talbot unexpectedly walks into her life, Jenna Parker can't take her eyes off the handsome entrepreneur. The head of a lucrative marketing enterprise, Zane immediately recognizes Jenna’s talent and offers the struggling artist a position in his firm. Flattered and intrigued by this charming businessman’s offer, Jenna simply can’t say no. She also can’t deny the electricity between them, and Zane can’t deny it either. An intense romance soon blossoms, and Jenna finds herself living the life she’d dreamed of for so many years. However, things quickly sour when Zane’s ...

A lost and frightened horse plods down the National Mall, startling the crowd. When Gabriel Du Pré spots the confused animal, the connection is immediate, for neither of these creatures belongs in the sweltering heat of a DC summer. Du Pré, a Métis Indian from the wilds of Montana, calms the horse and leads it to the nearest policeman. Du Pré is in Washington to play his people’s music for a Smithsonian festival, but after leading the horse to safety, he encounters a murder instead.

In the middle of an important investigation,Smoke Tree Substation Commander Carlos Caballo, known up and down the Colorado River Valley as "Horse," is suddenly called away to find a man who has shot an inspector at the California Agricultural Inspection station in the tiny desert community of Vidal, California. A California Highway patrolman has found the car abandoned alongside Highway95. When Horse and and the patrolman force open the trunk, they discover a body: the man's wife. Horse realizes he and his deputies must find a killer who is on foot in the vast, unpopulated area where the ...

In the foothills of the desert mountains west of Smoke Tree, someone has murdered Caleb and Eunice Clovis. They were impoverished squatters living a life of bare subsistence far off the beaten track in a miserable lean-to made of discarded lumber and cast off building materials. Who would want to kill them? And why? There seems to be no motive for the crime. Lieutenant Carlos Caballo, known throughout the Lower Colorado River Basin simply as “Horse,” is charged with solving the crime. A crime that might not have been discovered for months or even years except for a minor twist of fate. ...

C. J. Box, #1 New York Times best-selling author of the hugely popular Joe Pickett series, selects the best short mystery and crime fiction of the year in this annual “treat for crime-fiction fans” (Library Journal).