Noir Fiction

Fuminori Nakamura's Akutagawa Prize-winner plunges us into the depths of a young man's winding, troubled psyche. An unnamed taxi driver in Tokyo has experienced a rupture in his everyday life. He cannot stop daydreaming of suicide, envisioning himself returning to the earth in what soon become terrifying blackout episodes. His live-in girlfriend, Sayuko, is in a similarly bad phase, surrendering to alcoholism to escape the memory of her miscarriage.

Canisia Lubrin's debut fiction is that rare work of art—a brilliant, startlingly original book that combines immense literary and political force. Its structure, deceptively simple, is based on the infamous Code Noir, a set of real historical decrees originally passed in 1685 by King Louis XIV of France defining the conditions of slavery in the French colonial empire. The original code had fifty-nine articles; Code Noir has fifty-nine linked fictions—vivid, unforgettable, multilayered fragments filled with globe-wise characters who desire to live beyond the ruins of the past.

In a close-knit, blue-collar town, the shocking murder of a resident sends shockwaves through the community. Jacquie Underdown's gripping novel, "All That Was Left Unsaid," delves into a web of suspicion, where three women find themselves entangled in a dangerous game of secrets and betrayal. As the investigation unfolds, the spotlight falls on Tina, Maddison, and Isabelle, each carrying their own burdens and hidden pasts. Tina's relentless quest for truth takes her on a perilous journey, where familiar faces blur the lines of trust. Maddison, trapped in a loveless marriage and battling ...

This quartet of crime stories about deadly books, penned by award-winning contemporary mystery writers, includes The Little Men, What's in a Name?, The Book of the Lion, and From the Queen.

When Aisling Conroy's boyfriend Jack is found in the freezing black waters of the river Corrib, the police tell her it was suicide. A surgical resident, she throws herself into study and work, trying to forget - until Jack's sister Maude shows up. Maude suspects foul play, and she is determined to prove it. Cormac Reilly is the detective assigned with the re-investigation of a seemingly accidental overdose 20 years ago - the overdose of Jack and Maude's drug-and-alcohol-addled mother. Reilly is under increasing pressure to charge Maude for murder when his colleague Danny uncovers new evidence....

The loner, Erlendur, has recently joined the police force as a young officer. The beat on the streets in ReykjavIk is busy: traffic accidents, theft, domestic violence, contraband.... And an unexplained death. When a tramp he met regularly on the night shift is found drowned in a ditch, no one seems to care. But his fate haunts Erlendur and drags him inexorably into the strange and dark underworld of the city.

In the ancient Singing Gorge, where sound travels in mysterious ways and sacred ceremonies have been performed for millennia, Special Investigator Odysseus "Odie" Kalaris is called to investigate when ethnomusicologist Dr. Simon Parker is found dead at the base of a cliff. What begins as a possible accidental fall evolves into something far more sinister, revealing connections between sacred ceremonial recordings and powerful academic, commercial, and political interests. When Odie discovers Parker's recording equipment is missing and evidence of a struggle at the cliff edge, he must ...

People mistake her for an average teenage girl … That’s often their last mistake. After being the youngest and the most dangerous assassin at the secret Italian facility that teaches young women how to kill, Rose abandoned her training to live as a normal teenager. Years later, her dark past and worst enemies catch up with her and destroy everything she holds dear. Now she only has one thing on her mind—a deadly vendetta. She won’t rest until there is blood on her hands one more time. Even if some of the blood ends up being her own. Blood & Roses is the first book in the Vigilante ...

When construction workers uncover preserved human remains at Kingfisher Station—a luxury resort development in rural Australia—Detective Maya Thorne is called back to the hometown she fled as a teenager. The discovery is eerily similar to a case she solved months earlier, but this time it's personal: the development borders her childhood home, which she abandoned. The victim is identified as Elaine Mercer, an environmental consultant who disappeared eight years ago while investigating water rights during the region's worst drought in decades. Maya quickly discovers that Elaine had ...

Jack Till, who has retired from the LAPD after a respected career as a homicide detective, now works as a private investigator, comfortable chasing down routine cases while visiting his 24-year-old daughter, Holly, who has Down Syndrome. But when the parents of a recently murdered young girl, about Holly's age, ask for his help when the police come up empty, Till reluctantly takes the case.

Three hundred years after a global pandemic, Webster City is the last city left on Earth. Major Carl Davidson of the Internal Security Bureau investigates the suspicious death of a brilliant biochemist and discovers a dark plot to wipe out the last of mankind. A post-apocalyptic thriller.

Some women take control. Others were born for it. In this tightly curated collection of three high-heat femdom stories, dominant women command attention—and obedience. From a teasing wife with a winning bet, to a woman who disciplines her husband with pleasure and precision, these tales explore control, service, and erotic surrender. Whether you crave authority, training, or just a bit of psychological edge—these women get what they want. Note: All three stories in this bundle were previously published. They’ve been selected from our backlist and repackaged for new readers seeking ...

There’s a voodoo woman in New Orleans who knows your darkest secrets French Quarter paranormal investigator Wyatt Thomas learns he’s permanently linked to the spirit of a man with whom he’d fought a duel during another lifetime. The only person who can free Wyatt from his curse is long-dead voodoo queen Marie Laveaux. To seek her help, he must travel back to Antebellum New Orleans, succeed in his endeavor, or be trapped in the past forever. When Wyatt meets his former lover at the Mulatto Ball, he doesn’t know if he wants to return. While Wyatt is time traveling, detective Tony ...

Set in 1991, just as Star Trek: The Next Generation has rocketed the cast to global fame, the young and impressionable actor Brent Spiner receives a mysterious package and a series of disturbing letters, that take him on a terrifying and bizarre journey that enlists Paramount Security, the LAPD, and even the FBI in putting a stop to the danger that has his life and career hanging in the balance.

Artemus Black doesn't believe in fate...but even a hardened Hollywood PI can question destiny when cases turn ugly. With an assistant who mocks him relentlessly, an obese cat that loathes him, a romantic life that's deader than Elvis, money problems, booze, nicotine, and anger management issues, how much worse can it get? The answer is plenty, and Black finds himself in a web of deceit, betrayal, and murder - and bad hair days.

"Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep." ~ John Milton, Paradise Lost. Seattle, mid-1990s: She was meant to walk the earth unseen. Some call it covert, and most people weren't supposed to notice her. But Emi Rye came to Seattle to solve a murder that didn't actually happen. At least, according to Seattle PD. They claim her best friend came here to marry a man she met on the Internet. But instead of jumping into wedded bliss, Julia took a dive off the bridge. The cops put it down as the lovesick suicide of a delusional stalker. Emi doesn't...

When a nurse is murdered on her way home from nightshift, Jack and his team go on the hunt for her killer. As more victims are uncovered, Jack finds himself tracking a murderer afflicted by a unique psychosis - one that leaves him free to maim and kill without a shred of remorse. Facing a new type of killer in an unfamiliar city, DCI Jack Logan is about to be pushed to his limits, before being forced to realize just how little he truly knows.

"Imaginative, Intriguing, Prophetic. Hartnett at his best!" –Joe Edd Morris, author of The Prison Escaping an assassination attempt, the underground figure El Buscador lands in Brooklyn’s Gowanus, home of a toxic canal. His mortal adversary, developer Timothy Tolland, has proposed for Gowanus a magnificent canal district, featuring humpbacked bridges, majestic ramps, and inspired industrial architecture. Distrustful of Tolland’s intentions, El Buscador works to undermine the project. Soon, he understands that the only way to succeed is to become the thing that he hates. Complicating ...

A woman stumbles out of the frozen woods with a gunshot wound and no memory of who she is... In the middle of a brutal winter, a near-dead woman collapses on the road into Raven’s Hollow, a remote Idaho town buried in snow. She has no ID. No phone. No memory. Just a USB drive on a cord around her neck—and a gunshot wound that should have killed her. Sheriff Jake Offerman has seen his share of strange things, but nothing like this. As a deadly storm seals the town off from the outside world, he digs into the mystery of the woman the locals are calling Jane Doe. Why was she running? Who ...

A NEO-NOIR HONEYMOON IN HELL: A Suspenseful Tale of Love, Murder, and Fate John thought he had left behind his days of drinking and killing, but as he and his new bride, Cherry, embark on their honeymoon in the jungles of Malaysia and Borneo, they are haunted by ghosts from their past. The release of nihilist criminals connected to John's SAS background brings death and destruction to their luxury island resort. Just when they think they can escape the darkness, their paradise is raided by savage pirates, revealing that everything is connected and they are unable to outrun their destiny. ...