Urban Mystery Thrillers

Vampire Cat Crawfield is experiencing a new role as a mother. Turns out, trying to manage a perfect domestic life for her daughter is more...challenging than Cat ever imagined. Since things have finally quieted down in the undead world, her husband, Bones, suggests that Cat recharge by spending a girls-only getaway with her best friend, Denise. Cat and Denise intend to spend the week doing nothing more than dancing, drinking, and sightseeing. Unfortunately, they stumble across a deadly summer solstice ritual.

We're the D'Artigo sisters: Half-human, half-Faerie, we are savvy - and sexy - operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. But our mixed-blood heritage short-circuits our talents at all the wrong times. My sister Delilah shapeshifts into a tabby cat whenever she's stressed. Menolly's a vampire who is still trying to get the hang of being undead. And me? I'm Camille - a wicked-good witch. Except my magic is as unpredictable as the weather, which my enemies are about to find out the hard way.

Welcome to Jewell, North Carolina, a small strip of land on the Crystal Coast with no stop signs or traffic lights, but it's got a whole lot of magic. Ruby Mae Jewell helps run the family business of selling antiques and refurbished goods. But with old objects, you never know when one of them possesses more than just dust and cobwebs. When Rue hits up a flea market, she gets more than she bargained for. Finding a potentially dangerous magical object, she has to get it off the market and out of mortal hands.

Billy Harney was born to be a cop. The son of Chicago's chief of detectives, whose twin sister is also on the force, Billy plays it by the book. Alongside Detective Kate Fenton, Billy's tempestuous, adrenaline-junkie partner, there's nothing he wouldn't sacrifice for his job. Enter Amy Lentini, a hard-charging assistant state's attorney hell-bent on making a name for herself - who suspects Billy isn't the cop he claims to be. They're about to be linked by more than their careers.

Tracking down Aunt Lavender's kidnapper is proving to be more difficult than running through a swimming pool filled with peanut butter. Every lead we uncover ends with more questions than answers.

Precious Ramotswe, Botswana's premier lady detective, is a little short on help. The codirector of the agency, Grace Makutsi, is busy with her own case, her client none other than their erstwhile assistant, Mr. Polopetsi, who has unwittingly involved himself in a pyramid scheme. The agency's other assistant, Charlie, may also need more help than he can offer, as he is newly embroiled in a romance with a glamorous woman about whom the others have their doubts.

There have been ghosts on the London Underground, sad, harmless specters whose presence does little more than give a frisson to traveling and boost tourism. But now there's a rash of sightings on the Metropolitan Line and these ghosts are frightening, aggressive, and seem to be looking for something. Enter PC Peter Grant, junior member of the Metropolitan Police's Special Assessment Unit, AKA The Folly, AKA the only police officers whose official duties include ghost hunting.

Tabloid reporter Hope Adams appears to live the life of an ordinary working girl. But, in addition to possessing the beauty of a Bollywood princess, Hope has other unique traits. For she is a half-demon - a human fathered by a demon. And she has inherited not only a gift for seeing the past but a hunger for chaos - along with a talent for finding it wherever she can.

Bob Howard is a computer-hacker desk jockey, who has more than enough trouble keeping up with the endless paperwork he has to do on a daily basis. He should never be called on to do anything remotely heroic. But for some reason, he is.

My life was going just fine by most standards. I ran a successful business in a tight-knit magical community, and lived just blocks from a beautiful lake and series of hiking trails. Then Selene showed up. According to some magical code I inherit my aunt's ancient familiar; a grumpy ten-pound cat with a broken filter. She fancies herself something of a saber-toothed tiger, and claims to have wrestled the thread of her ninth life from the hands of the Fates themselves—although, I'm pretty sure that last part isn't true. Almost positive.

Aspen is a Norm. A non-magic. A human. And in this supernatural city, that's a quick way to wind up dead. Or worse. She didn't plan on becoming an apprentice to Lucien Dunadine, one of the strongest members on the Council of Mages. She really didn't plan on taking part in a deadly competition against Isak Uchida, her handsome, aggravating, deadly opponent. But with something sinister going down in the magic boroughs, they'll all have to work together if they want to uncover the source of an ancient evil threatening their home.

Zoe’s hard-won peaceful life is shattered when a devious thief targets her most prized possession—a vibrant portrait that’s her last connection to her long-dead brother. It’s a painting that also holds the secrets of a forgotten artist who created recipes for the most breathtaking colors ever seen. When the canvas disappears and murder follows, Zoe must unravel a palette of deadly puzzles. With her quick-witted sidekick Dorian and their eclectic group of friends, Zoe races to catch a killer, evade a secret society, and recover her beloved painting.

Kitty Norville is a midnight-shift DJ for a Denver radio station---and a werewolf in the closet. Sick of lame song requests, she accidentally starts "The Midnight Hour," a late-night advice show for the supernaturally disadvantaged. After desperate vampires, werewolves, and witches across the country begin calling in to share their woes, her new show is a raging success.

Brighton Longfield is kinda bad at life. She's divorced, childless, and she just got fired...again. With dwindling savings and few prospects, she packs her possessions into a U-Haul and sets out for the little town of Coventry, where she inherited a dilapidated old house from her Great Aunt "Mad" Maude Tuttlesmith. Coventry is supposed to be a stop in the road for Brighton. The plan is to fix up the house, sell it, and then figure out what to do with her life. You know what they say about the best-laid plans.

My name is Danica James. I'm a cop with the Arcane Division. Most mages have the ability to manipulate the elements - fire, water, air, earth, electricity. My magic only works on machines and electrical devices. They call me a magitek. That doesn't help much with demons and vampires, let alone criminals with lethal magikal powers.

Rue's always known her vampire boyfriend's fears have always been that his past deeds would come back to haunt him and hurt her. When someone from Luke's past insists he return to his ancestral home, Ruby Mae insists on returning with him. While in Italy, she finds out just how much the death of his long-lost sister is affecting his whole family, and she makes it her mission to solve her murder. But when her own life gets threatened as she gets closer, will Ruby be able to find out the truth before she becomes the next victim?

Deftly blending such genres as mystery, science fiction, and classic literature, Jasper Fforde’s gleefully irreverent New York Times best-selling Thursday Next novels defy categorization. In this sixth installment, the threat of all-out Genre war looms over BookWorld. But with the real Thursday Next retired in the real world, the Council of Genres has no other choice than to tap the fictional Thursday to save the day. Her mission as emissary is to prevent the brewing war—but her task is made more difficult by a hidden foe manipulating events.

With the birth of their son Asher, Harper and Knox are both more powerful and more vulnerable than they've ever been before. Asher's charm has seduced even the devil himself, but Harper knows that the real villain is still out there and as desperate as ever to see the Primes fall. They're laying low, and there's no way to tell which one of their circle is really a deadly foe. When the final horseman makes their move, Harper and Knox will have to use all the considerable power at their disposal.

Victoria can't wait to start college, but there's a hitch - she can't remember anything before arriving on campus. Her memories finally spark when she sees her ruggedly handsome math professor, but she senses something terrible happened. The shock on his face affirms her fears. Toby is an alpha wolf who never thought he'd see his true love again - not after she died in his arms. Nothing could have prepared him for her walking into his class. But to his dismay, not only has she forgotten the past, she doesn't even know who she is.

All I want is to pay the rent and find a boyfriend. But an insane vampire thinks I hold the key to his takeover of the city, and I have a new stalker. At least for now, I've dodged the Illuminati's Hunters, but life is still a little too challenging. Rival vampire lords want to use me against each other, and the mysterious members of the Columbia Club are offering bounties for vampires and werewolves. I'm lucky that the gang at Rosie's has my back, because I'm going to need them.