Who among us does not like to read. Of course we all love to read and that is why we got our beloved Kindle. With that comes all of the more than 800000 different and new books we have yet to discover or that one book we loved as a kid that we kept until it fell apart. Still we are also now adults with responsibilities and bills and we need a way to indulge in our favorite pass time without forking over our food money. Here is a list I compiled of 50 books that can help ease the pain of the cost but will indulge the reader in all of us.
Birthright
What if the next stage of evolution was caused by the oversight of man and what if that oversight was a simple medical mistake?
Raine Donnelly is born three months premature by emergency surgery after his critically injured mother is admitted to the hospital, having been the victim of a drunk driver though her early expectant state is not discovered until after a series of x-rays are performed to assess the nature and extent of her injuries.
Now as an adult, Raine knows about none of this and lives a quiet, functional and strictly routine life in Colorado though his life begins to spiral hopelessly out of control as he begins to have blackouts and believes he’s hallucinating. He also starts to have the most dastardly effect on electrical equipment as for whatever reason, machines malfunction or short out completely when he gets anywhere near them while he’s upset or confused.
His doctor thinks he may have a brain tumor and insists on further testing though that may prove somewhat difficult when a nameless and faceless someone keeps trying to put bullet holes in him and when he meets the wife and children about whom he has no memory, his life becomes even more complicated, partially because his wife is furious at him because she’s thought him dead for three years.
Now, drawing on all his courage and what little understanding he can piece together with the help of his wife, Raine must unravel the mystery of his past and discover and accept who and what he is without getting he and his family killed.
Not What She Seems
Steven Ashton, a billionaire from New York, and Emily Grant, on the run from the law…and when they meet he can’t help falling for her. What he doesn’t know is that interfering in her life will put his own life in danger.
When billionaire Steven Ashton couldn’t stand his high society social life anymore, he left the stress of New York on a vacation for his soul. The need to meet real down to earth people led him to a small Nebraska town. He didn’t want to lie about who he was, but he couldn’t exactly tell them the truth.
Emily could have easily fallen in love with Steven, under different circumstances, but her past was catching up with her and she needed a new life. If the authorities found out about her, she could lose the one thing that meant everything, her four year old son.
Wrecker
Jane thought a loveless marriage was as bad as it could get.
Steve thought life was perfect with a hired man to do his chores.
They were both wrong.
Jane Havelock is coping a day at a time in a bad marriage when her husband Steve hires handyman Rob Manteo for a never-ending series of odd jobs around the house. At first Jane is repulsed by Manteo, a huge, muscular man with primitive communication skills. But revulsion reluctantly gives way to curiosity and even fascination as loneliness drives her into a precarious friendship with Manteo. He’s morose and mysterious, but there’s definitely more to him than meets the eye. He seems to be hiding something.
As her marriage and her husband’s career crumble around her, Jane digs into Manteo’s past and uncovers a horrible secret. She knows now that it was more than chance that brought Manteo into their world, but it may be too late.
Chasing Hunter
Suspenseful and action-packed, Chasing Hunter by Cort Malone is a fast-paced thriller filled with plot twists, deception, and intrigue. Framed for a brutal murder, Jake Hunter, a summer associate at a prestigious Manhattan law firm, finds himself caught up in a harrowing game of cat and mouse that puts his friends and family in grave danger. When Jake discovers his mentor, the firm’s biggest rainmaker, lying in a pool of blood and near death, the attorney’s final words lead Jake to evidence that could topple the highest ranks of the Russian mafia. Unable to go to the police, who are convinced that he is the killer, Jake is forced to go on the run. With only three days to save himself, his new girlfriend, and his kidnapped younger brother, Jake’s time is running out. Unsure of who to trust, and faced with a dark secret from his past, Jake quickly learns that nothing is as it seems. Only one thing is certain-with the Russian mob, the FBI, two mercenary spies, and a private detective all hot on his trail-everyone is Chasing Hunter.
The End of Marking Time
Gifted housebreaker, Michael O’Connor, awakens inside an ultramodern criminal justice system where prison walls are replaced by surveillance equipment and a host of actors hired to determine if he is worthy of freedom. While he was sleeping, the Supreme Court declared long term incarceration to be cruel and unusual punishment and ordered two million felons released. The result was utter chaos and the backlash from law-abiding citizens and police departments reshaped the United States. Felons now enter reeducation programs where they live freely among the population. At least that’s what they think. In reality they are enslaved to an army of counselors and a black box that teaches them everything they failed to learn from kindergarten through adulthood. Michael believes he’s being tested by the black box, but what he slowly begins to realize is that everything he does is evaluated to determine whether he lives or dies.
Disintegration
When a mysterious fire destroys his home and shatters his family, Jacob Wells is pulled into a downward spiral that draws him ever closer to the past he thought was dead and buried.
Now his twin brother Joshua is back in town, seeking to settle old scores and claim his half of the Wells birthright. Jacob’s wife Renee is struggling with her own past and her attempts to salvage Jacob are driven by guilt and ambition.
As Jacob and Joshua return to the twisted roles they adopted at the hands of cruel, demanding parents, they wage a war of pride, wealth, and passion. They share a poisonous obsession with the provocative, manipulative Carlita, whose immigrant family helped build the Wells fortune.
Joshua wants other things, too, but Jacob’s desires are divided between the forbidden love he can’t possess, the respectability he can never have, and the revenge he is dying to taste. And Renee has dark motives of her own.
If only Jacob can figure out which of them to blame. But the lines of identity are blurred, because Joshua and Jacob share much more than blood.
And the childhood games have become deadly serious.
The Riverhouse
When painter Shane Bellamy attempts to relaunch his life by moving into a remote summer cottage on the Missouri river, he becomes enthralled by the property’s original owners, famed depression-era artist Gustav Wilhelm and his wife, Marlena; painting their long-dead secrets of betrayal and revenge in a series of increasingly bizarre works, Shane finds that he has not only recreated their dark story on canvas, he has brought it dreadfully back to life all around him.
Visit the official website: www.riverhousebook.com
In the wake of his divorce and the loss of his New York art job, Shane is bereft and directionless. The cottage provides the perfect escape: small, picturesque, and lonely. There, he becomes fascinated with the history of the cottage, and that of its larger sister property, the Riverhouse, now demolished.
Shane embarks on an unusual painting project: recreating the Riverhouse on canvas, as it might have looked when it was first built. As the painting develops, surprising Shane both with its style and its strange, silent strength, he finds that the image is a sort of portal, inviting him into the Riverhouse’s past. He learns of its owners, portrait artist Gustav Wilhelm, known for his arrogance as much as his genius, and of Wilhelm’s wife, the beautiful but ignored Marlena. Their story blooms in Shane’s mind like a dark rose, full of deepening mystery and harrowing secrets.
Gradually, Shane comes to realize that the decades’ old drama isn’t yet finished. Ghosts haunt the cottage, particularly the intriguing Marlena, and Shane finds himself inexplicably drawn to her, despite her otherworldly hatred of his tentative new love, art agent Christiana.
Eventually, Shane finds himself caught in the spiraling collision course of his own life and that of the Riverhouse, which has secretly risen from its dead foundation. He knows he should escape and yet he cannot seem to walk away. After all, he thinks, ghosts can’t harm the living. Can they?
Secondary Targets
What would you do if you found out everything you thought you knew about your father turned out to be a lie?
After being bitten by the genealogy bug, Grace Hendricks awakens a conspiracy that’s been lying dormant–ever since she disappeared shortly after her father’s funeral eleven years ago. Now, here in the present, his military records have been tampered with and his death certificate is no longer on file.
In an effort to unravel the mystery she turns to Eric Wayne, an old flame she thought she’d tucked safely away into the past. Eric has no intentions of getting involved with Grace and her crazy allegations, until he realizes that someone else is buried in his former commanding General’s grave.
Old Town
Lin Zhe, one of China’s most prolific writers, paints an unforgettable picture of an ordinary family caught up in the maelstrom that was China’s most recent century. Her narrative ranges across the entire length of China, to California and back again, to the battlefields of the Anti-Japanese War of Resistance and the brutal “struggle” sessions of the Cultural Revolution. But it always returns to this family’s home in Old Town, that archetypical, old-fashioned, and vanishing place steeped in the traditions of South China. Ms. Lin examines the inner strength that sustains people’s lives in their darkest hours, when religious and political faith falter. And yet, a vein of irony and droll humor runs through this powerful story. Lin Zhe’s novel may be understood as a love story, memoir, history, or allegory. For the non-Chinese reader it provides a rare and moving insight into Chinese lives in a century of fearsome upheaval. This book was originally published under the title Riddles of Belief…and Love – A Story.
Identity Crisis
A simple domestic abuse case turns deadly when the alleged abuser is killed and Stephanie Ann “Sam” McRae’s client disappears. When a friend asks Sam to find Melanie Hayes, the Maryland attorney is drawn into a complex case of murder and identity theft that has her running from the Mob, breaking into a strip club and forming a shaky alliance with an offbeat private investigator to discover the truth about Melanie and her ex-boyfriend.
With her career and life on the line, Sam’s search takes her from the blue-collar Baltimore suburbs to the mansions of Gibson Island. Along the way, she learns that false identities can hide dark secrets, and those secrets can destroy lives.
The Summer Son
Mitch becomes “the summer son” when his parents split up. His kind mother lives in Olympia, Washington, where Mitch attends school. His irascible father lives in Utah and Montana. A “doodlebugger” who runs a “truck-mounted drilling rig” and searches for uranium and natural gas, Jim puts his too-young “summer son” to work, along with Mitch’s older brother, Jerry. But in the fateful summer of 1979, Jim-a violent, boozy, foulmouthed man with a hair-trigger temper-drives Jerry away, leaving gentle Mitch defenseless. In 2007, Mitch’s life is unraveling, and his wife convinces him to confront his estranged father. As Mitch and Jim circle each other like wrestlers, long-buried truths, brutal crimes, and lies are brought to the surface. In his second novel, Lancaster writes with deceptive directness, rendering the sensuous world with high-definition precision, from a rattlesnake to a sunset to Jim’s drunken aggression, while slowly revealing the complexity of his damaged characters’ psyches. A classic western tale of rough lives and gruff, dangerous men, of innocence betrayed and long, stumbling journeys to love. –Donna Seaman
Crack-Up
Argus Ward is a former U.S. Secret Service agent who runs a protection agency catering to the rich and famous. His best-kept secret–which he shares with lawyers, doctors and even psychiatrists–is his status as a high-functioning paranoid schizophrenic. One day, with little warning, he turns psychotic for the first time in twenty years. He lands in a secure psychiatric facility, charged with the murder of his most famous client, high tech industry billionaire John Helms, the wealthiest man in America.
Argus has no memory of the killing. A blood test suggests to him that some unknown enemy had switched his anti-psychotic medication with identical-looking dummy pills to purposely drive him insane.
A sign of lingering paranoia? His doctor thinks so. Even his wife.
Yet Argus escapes incarceration to prove his theory. With the law on his trail and a ticking time bomb in his head–due to a lack of medication–he discovers that his disease had been “weaponized” by a powerful group to secretly assassinate John Helms as part of a multiple assassination conspiracy of world-wide significance.
Or has Argus simply lost his mind again? What in the end is “real” and what is only imagination in his story?
And what is justice for the criminally insane?
Come lose your grip on reality. Read CRACK-UP.
Fire and Ice (Liam Campbell)
Alaska State Trooper Liam Campbell, demoted and reassigned to the remote bush town of Newenham, literally steps off the plane into a murder scene. Dealing with death is never simple, but when the woman leaning over the body proves to be Liam’s old flame, it’s evident that his new job is about to become much more complicated.
From Newenham’s cast of eccentric-and sometimes hair-trigger-residents, to the intricate ballet of fishing boats rushing against time to catch their limit, Stabenow captures the contagious spirit of melancholy madness that pervades America’s last frontier. Of course, small town tensions tend to simmer just beneath the surface, and murder, once done, has a tendency to happen again…
New York Times bestseller and Edgar Award winner Dana Stabenow, a life-long Alaskan, is best known for her Kate Shugak series of mysteries. She has created a compelling new protagonist in State Trooper Liam Campbell.
Coffee Clutch (Jan Birch Mysteries)
In the first Jan Birch mystery, a sixties homemaker maintains a tight circle of friends in her Upstate New York suburban neighborhood. When the divorcée down the street is murdered, the women attribute her death to a hobo they’d seen months before. Quickly, though, Jan begins to suspect that the hobo had left the neighborhood long before and the murderer may be one of her dear friends.
PLEASE NOTE: COFFEE CLUTCH IS INCLUDED THE DEVELOPMENT: THREE JAN BIRCH MYSTERIES. IF YOU HAVEN’T BEGUN THE SERIES PLEASE CONSIDER PURCHASING THE DEVELOPMENT. THANK YOU.
Baltimore Blues
Downsized ex-reporter Tess Monaghan spends her days working part-time at the bookstore owned by sexy Aunt Kitty and trying not to fall into the disgustingly polluted Patapsco from her city-owned boat. When rowing buddy Rocky pays her what looks like a fortune to follow his fiance, the trail leads to murder with Rocky the prime suspect. “Uneven” is the word for this first novel-hometown and newspaper backgrounds are alive from page one, but characters are cartoons until chapter 15 (out of 30) when Tess investigates the victim. Suddenly the story perks up to a believable pageturner. If Lippman continues the promise of the second half of Baltimore Blues while adhering to advice attributed to Elmore Leonard to cut out the parts people won’t read, mystery fans can anticipate an engrossing series.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Death of a Cure (A Thomas Briggs Novel)
We know them as humanitarians. Of this we are sure, we are certain, their calling unimpeachable. They have forsaken success in industry and in government that was surely theirs just for the taking. This personal sacrifice is for us. More importantly, for those we love. They are servants of a greater good. In return, we entrust them with our time, our talents and our money — all we can give. They move the hearts of our children, our friends and our coworkers all of whom enlist sponsors that contribute even more money based on miles hiked or biked along traffic laden thoroughfares. We look to them to lead us from the heartbreak — the overwhelming emotional devastation that cripples us as our lives derail when someone we love is struck down by a cruel and life-robbing disease. We hold them to a higher standard. They are better. We need them to be. They are the caretakers of our hope.
But is our dream of a cure really their mission? Have we been deceived? Could it be a cruel duplicity, a personal deceit, phenomenal in its audacity, yet nothing more to them than an evil means to a selfish end? A falsehood perpetrated against the trusting, abetting positions of power. Our hope blinding us from the truth. Have the lifestyles, the position and the money become their true motivation? Have they come to see the disease, our enemy, as their benefactor? How far would they go to protect the enemy?
Would they kill?
DEATH OF A CURE is a novel of mystery, suspense and action. The murder of one good man by a respected colleague is more than a crushing personal deception, it is an unequaled violation of the trust of thousands afflicted by a horrible disease.
In a first person account, the brother of the murdered man, a military surgeon born to wealth and accustomed to success, is thrust into the role of homicide investigator. Quickly discovering that his skills as a detective are frustratingly insufficient, he calls upon a woman from his past for help. Together they unravel layers of evil and organized deception revealing that the true work of this healthcare charity has little to do with curing the terrible disease born by a trusting constituency.
Murder was just another means to a hidden end.
Healing Touch
Divorced mother of one, Tracy Campbell is trying her best to stay out of small town gossip. A mysterious lump on her throat is making it hard. Handsome Dr. Jeremy Nelson is making it harder
Healing Touch is a 23,000 word novella about learning to love a second time.
Could you fall in love with a toddler in tow and an entire town watching?
Aces and Knaves
Karl Patterson, sometime baseball card dealer without visible means of support, doesn’t get along all that well with his father, even though he lives in the guest house of his dad’s estate on the Palos Verdes Peninsula near Los Angeles rent free. So he is surprised when Richard Patterson, who is founder and CEO of a successful software company called Dionysus, asks for his help to determine whether the number 2 man of Dionysus, Ned Mackay, has a gambling problem. Perhaps it’s because Karl may or may not be a compulsive gambler, himself, depending on whom you ask.
Richard assigns his executive assistant, the exotic and ambitious Arrow, to work with Karl. She appears to have some blood from every ethnic group you can name, and the best of each. She helps Karl connect with Ned, and Karl wangles an invitation to fly with him to San Francisco, which brings up the question of what Ned’s relationship is to James Buchanan, a puzzling person who likes puzzles, runs what appears to be an illegal gambling casino, and is CEO of a San Francisco conglomerate that owns a piece of just about everything worth owning.
Before Karl can make any progress, Ned is found dead in San Francisco with cocaine in his car. Karl is questioned by the San Francisco police, and now finds himself trying to determine what happened to Ned, and what effect this will have on his father and Dionysus. Questions about James remain, because he seems to want to gain control of Dionysus, and may help Karl buy an expensive baseball card.
Events keep Karl involved long after his father wants him out. Before he’s through, he’ll be a frequent flyer between L.A. and San Francisco, with sidetrips to Scotland and England. He will have to learn how to work with Arrow, get along with Jacie, Richard’s young wife, try to improve his relationship with his father, and–if he wants to survive–watch his back.
Hardly Knew Her
New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman has been hailed as one of the best crime fiction writers in America today, winning virtually every major award in the genre. The author of the enormously popular series featuring Baltimore P.I. Tess Monaghan as well as three critically lauded stand-alone novels, Lippman now turns her attention to short stories-and reveals another level of mastery.
Lippman sets many of the stories in this sterling anthology, Hardly Knew Her, in familiar territory: her beloved Baltimore, from downtown to its affluent suburbs, where successful businessmen go to shocking lengths to protect what they have or ruthlessly expand their holdings, while dissatisfied wives find murderous ways to escape their lives. But Lippman is also unafraid to travel-to New Orleans, to an unnamed southwestern city, and even to Dublin, the backdrop for the lethal clash of two not-so-innocents abroad. Tess Monaghan is here, in two stories and a profile, aligning herself with various underdogs. And in her extraordinary, never-before-published novella, Scratch a Woman, Lippman takes us deep into the private world of a high-priced call girl/madam and devoted soccer mom, exploring the mystery of what may, in fact, be written in the blood.
Each of these ingenious tales is a gem-sometimes poignant, sometimes humorous, always filled with delightfully unanticipated twists and reversals. For people who have yet to read Lippman, get ready to experience the spellbinding power of “one of today’s most pleasing storytellers, hailed for her keen psychological insights and her compelling characterizations,” (San Diego Union-Tribune), who has “invigorated the crime fiction arena with smart, innovative, and exciting work” (George Pelecanos). As for longtime devotees of her multiple award-winning novels, you’ll discover that you hardly know her.
Honeymoon for Three (Gary Blanchard)
It is 1964, 10 years after Gary Blanchard’s high school adventures in The Hayloft. He and his love, Penny, are going on the trip of their lives, and, oh yes, they’re getting married along the way. What they don’t know is that they’re being stalked by Alfred, a high school classmate of Penny who has a bellybutton fetish.
Gary and Penny met through a Los Angeles computer matching service, and they’re positive they’re meant for each other. Penny is afraid that her previous flip attitude toward marriage may jinx her. Her best friend, Emily, was murdered a year ago, two days before her own wedding-and she was ideal marriage material. Why should Penny be luckier?
Alfred has never been successful with girls-he attributes his problems to his outie bellybutton-but he knows that Penny is the girl for him. He intends to get her any way he can, and he is prepared to do whatever is necessary to el
Four Years from Home
It is 1964, 10 years after Gary Blanchard’s high school adventures in The Hayloft. He and his love, Penny, are going on the trip of their lives, and, oh yes, they’re getting married along the way. What they don’t know is that they’re being stalked by Alfred, a high school classmate of Penny who has a bellybutton fetish.
Gary and Penny met through a Los Angeles computer matching service, and they’re positive they’re meant for each other. Penny is afraid that her previous flip attitude toward marriage may jinx her. Her best friend, Emily, was murdered a year ago, two days before her own wedding-and she was ideal marriage material. Why should Penny be luckier?
Alfred has never been successful with girls-he attributes his problems to his outie bellybutton-but he knows that Penny is the girl for him. He intends to get her any way he can, and he is prepared to do whatever is necessary to el
Hotline to Murder
“I like the characters…as well as the Hotline for the setting. This is a great mystery.”
Tony Schmidt joins the Central Hotline in sunny Bonita Beach, California to improve his listening skills. Shahla Lawton joins the Hotline to fulfill a volunteering requirement for her high school. Neither one expects to get mixed up in a murder investigation.
But that is before Shahla’s best friend, Joy, also a listener, is murdered. Tony and Shahla discover that they are able to uncover information that the police can’t. Information about the “inappropriate” callers who haunt the Hotline, and information about other people with a connection to the Hotline who may have hidden motives to kill the beautiful Joy. Questions arise. Will the murderer strike the Hotline again? And if the murderer does strike again, will Shahla be the next target?
Although he has been out of college for years, Tony still lives with his college roommate, Josh, and his lifestyle might be described as extended fraternity. Faced with the responsibility of taking calls from people who range from disabled to obsessive to abused to suicidal, and also of helping to solve a murder, Tony finds he has to mature fast. Since this involves admitting that girls like Shahla can be smart and dedicated, and not just underage sex objects, as Josh sees them, the relationship between Tony and Josh may suffer.
Tony and Shahla have harrowing adventures together in venues ranging from Southern California to Las Vegas, as they try to distinguish the annoying-but-harmless callers from the dangerous, and figure out whether the murderer might just be somebody not connected with the Hotline.
Simon’s Choice
“But Daddy, who will live with me in heaven?”
Doctor Simon Bailey has everything a man could ever want.
Then his beautiful daughter is diagnosed with Leukemia.
He can almost accept her impending death.
He can almost accept the fact that he will have to live without her.
But he cannot stand the thought of his little girl having to face death alone.
He answers her innocent question in a moment of desperation, testing his marriage, his professional judgment and his sanity to the limit.
As cracks form in Simon’s previously perfect family, we wonder, as do his loved ones … will he really make the ultimate sacrifice?
Combining poignant moments of both humour and pain, ‘Simon’s Choice’ is a penetrating account of parenthood at the sharp-end.
Thirteen Diamonds (Lillian Morgan)
Lillian Morgan is bored with life in a retirement community, but she gets more excitement than she hoped for when a fellow resident drops dead at the bridge table–while holding a perfect hand of thirteen diamonds. Intrigued by the astronomical odds against this happening, she uses her mathematical background plus assistance from her beautiful granddaughter and friends to prove that a murder was committed–but not everybody wants her to find the murderer.
All Is Bright
Thirty-year-old Elise Andrews couldn’t bring herself to marry Griffin, her childhood friend turned sweetheart, so she let him walk away. Eight months after their breakup, she arrives in her hometown of Chicago on Christmas Eve and hears a voice from the past calling her name in the grocery store. It’s Griffin’s mother, Janice, who invites Elise over for a neighborhood gathering of eggnog and carols.
Walking into Janice’s house sends Elise tumbling headlong into memories of her relationship with Griffin-and with Janice, who exudes the kind of warmth Elise ached for after her own mom passed away when she was six. But Griffin has moved on, and suddenly Elise doubts her decision to give him up and lose her chance at being folded into his wonderful family. Confused and reeling, she goes in search of an answer to a universal question: How do we say good-bye to people we’ve loved without losing everything they’ve meant to us?
Heartwarming and witty, All Is Bright is a charming story about coming home for the holidays-and finding gifts in the most unexpected of places.
Take the Monkeys and Run (A Barbara Marr Murder Mystery)
Film lover Barbara Marr is a typical suburban mom living the typical suburban life in her sleepy little town of Rustic Woods, Virginia. Typical, that is until she sets out to find the missing link between a bizarre monkey sighting in her yard and the bone chilling middle-of-the-night fright fest at the strangely vacant house next door. When Barb talks her two friends into some seemingly innocent Charlie’s Angels-like sleuthing, they stumble upon way more than they bargained for and uncover a piece of neighborhood history that certain people would kill to keep on the cutting room floor.
The Half Life
Jennifer Weiner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of nine books, including Good in Bed, In Her Shoes, which was made into a major motion picture, and Fly Away Home. A graduate of Princeton University, Jennifer is also the co-creator and executive producer for the ABC Family show State of Georgia. To learn more, visit www.jenniferweiner.com.
The Chronicles of Marr-nia (Short Stories Starring Barbara Marr)
Four funny and touching short stories featuring soccer mom and movie lover, Barbara Marr, who made her debut appearance in the hilarious murder mystery, Take the Monkeys and Run.
Includes the laugh-out-loud mystery short story, “Missing Impossible.” When Barb decides to tag along on a PI job with Colt, things don’t go quite as planned, and she finds herself in yet another sticky situation. (A between-the-novels short)
Other short stories: “Taming the Hulk,” “Top Lawn,” and “The Road to Shangri-La.” Also, just for fun, the author has added two BONUS shorts with different themes. All-in-all – a collection sure to entertain.
Know It All
SHORT STORY
From the bestselling author of MILKRUN and ME VS ME comes a story of friendship, flip-flops…and fortune telling.
Shaun’s new roommate, Dee, claims to be a little bit psychic (“Can you be a little bit psychic? Is that like being a little bit pregnant?”) Dee insists that Shaun’s ex-boyfriend Brahm is about to meet and fall in love with someone new. A redhead. At Jeremiah’s. Shaun doesn’t believe in psychics, and even if she did, she’s over Brahm. Definitely over him. But maybe she should head over to Jeremiah’s just in case…
*KNOW IT ALL originally appeared in the collection GIRLS’ NIGHT IN
*15 and up
Foreclosed: A Mitzy Neuhaus Mystery
Mitzy Neuhaus is the top selling Realtor in Portland, but even her office is dead in this economy. Foreclosed is the word no homeowner wants to hear and Mitzy is determined to save the incredible mansion on her street from that fate. But with the homeowner desperate to keep Mitzy away from his property and Alonzo, the dangerously hot rival investor trying to snatch it out from under her, Mitzy knows she has to work fast, or the economy won’t be the only thing dead…
The Truth About Dating
Lifelong introvert Quinn Malone was sick of spending her evenings at home, doing crossword puzzles and watching reality TV. Successful, smart, and funny, 38-year old Quinn embarks on a quest to find a man, using blind dates, speed, and internet dating to get things moving.
Quinn overcomes her shyness to suffer through dates that are so bad, they’re funny (see the chapter on hunchbacks). With the help of good friends, she successfully transitions through the seven stages of dating: excitement (I’ve still got it!); infatuation (he makes me feel beautiful); disappointment (he looks nothing like his online photo); anger (why is he online if he’s married?); fatigue (I can’t bear the thought of another date); depression (I’m going to grow old and die alone); and acceptance (dating: it is what it is). Through the triumphs and heartbreaks of dating, and of life in general, Quinn uncovers the resilient, dynamic person she’s always been. The question is, has Mr. Right been waiting in the wings all along?
The Truth About Dating is a full-length novel, approximately 120,000 words. If you find any errors in the May 2011 version of this ebook, contact the author via her blog and she will gift you a copy of her latest book.
Hot Tea (The Tea Series)
The characters in Hot Tea are people you’d like to know and part of a family that welcomes you with open arms. Almost 70,000 copies have been sold. You will find that the ‘Tea’ series is a fast fun read.
Cara O’Flynn finds herself in an unusual position. She’s quit her job and can afford to take a few weeks to find a new career. Plus, her roommate has run off and left her with an empty room to fill. If she can just accomplish those two tasks before her mother finds out she has no income and no one to help pay bills, she’s in good shape.
The problem – Cara didn’t plan for three careers in as many days, nor did she anticipate the new guys that dropped in her lap. And then there’s her sister Teagan, while always helpful and funny, she can be a bit annoying at times.
When you’re Irish, all things (good and bad) come in threes. It’s inevitable. Cara should have remembered not to forget that part. Cara and Teagan bring laughter, intelligence and family tradition to every experience they encounter.
Hot Tea is the first book in the Tea series. The Tea series is a hybrid of the traditional novel and the serial novel. Hot Tea is a full-length novel (approximately 64,500 words) and leads directly into Sweet Tea. Please note: Hot Tea is now professionally edited and formatted.
Doan & Carstairs Mysteries, Book One: Holocaust House (The delightful mystery classic!)
NOTE: This edition has a linked “Table of Contents” and has been beautifully formatted (searchable and interlinked) to work on your Amazon e-book reader, Amazon Desktop Reader, and your ipod e-book reader.
Doan, the ‘hero’ of this story is a small-time detective with a dry, sardonic wit, and a huge Great Dane (Carstairs–don’t call him a “pet”) in these absolutely delightful series of humor-tinged mysteries. Great fun that shouldn’t be missed!
In ‘Holocaust House’ the duo is given the job of protecting a young heiress who is on the verge of inheriting millions. This is the book that introduces the duo, but the other three books are more humorous and feature the Great Dane much more prominently. A great read nonetheless!
This is the original and unabridged version of this classic. A must-have for fans of classic mysteries!
Fairy Tale Fail
Of all the twenty-something women who are hopeless romantics, Ellie Manuel is more “hopeless” than “romantic.”
Even after her Prince Charming broke up with her, she just won’t give up … because fairy tale heroines don’t live “happily ever after” right away, silly, they’re tested first!
Determined to pass the test, she spends the next year restoring herself to the girl Prince Charming had fallen in love with in the first place.
Until she discovers that life without him might not be so bad after all: her career is taking off, her confidence is back, and the cute guy at work is no longer a stranger.
So when is it okay to quit on a fairy tale?
Mina V. Esguerra is a writer, editor and communications consultant living in Metro Manila, Philippines. Her first novel, My Imaginary Ex, is available in print in the Philippines.
The Cinderella Curse
Please note that this is a novella equivalent to 70 pages of a hardback novel.
From the acclaimed author of Reunion comes the hilarious tale of a girl who whacks a witch, gets cursed, and becomes a pumpkin at midnight. Sound strange? She thinks so.
Cindy had a fairy tale life – well, not literally – but she was pretty and popular. Then one fateful autumn day, while picking apples, she encountered a real-life witch. After accidentally clocking the witch on the head with her basket of apples, the angry witch put a spell on her. As Cindy would soon find out, she was destined to live out her nights turning into a pumpkin at midnight. Talk about a crimp in your social life!
There is only one antidote for Cindy’s terrible curse – if only she knew what it was. Hilarity ensues as Cindy attempts to lead a normal life as a part-time pumpkin.
Wrapped
Set against a canvas of frenzied corporate New York City, a family farm in rural Ohio, a glass-and-chrome skyscraper in the medieval city of Milan, and a villa on the Ligurian coast, this a fast-paced story of ambition, displacement, loyalty, and love.
Twenty-two-year-old Andrea Carole is smart. Smart enough to ooze through a double math/economics degree at Cornell. Smart enough to duck serious relationships. Not smart enough to duck a dangerous romance with a handsome stranger thirty years her senior.
Across the Atlantic, Massimo Bassanini is in trouble. At fifty-three, used to wrangling his way in love, family, and corporate war, he’s a successful entrepreneur with a problem: he needs a new financial adviser, someone as driven and brilliant as he is. One phone call to New York, and the stage is set for a collision of cultures, generations, and desire.
Spam & Eggs: A Johnny Denovo Mystery (The Johnny Denovo Mysteries)
What Does It All Mean?
Five years ago, when neuroscientist John A. Novarro helped with a highly sensitive government investigation, he had no idea how it would change his life – separating him from his past, giving him a new identity, transforming him into Johnny Denovo, the world-famous Detective of the Mind.
Now, the Denovo name is the bane of high-stakes criminals the world over.
When Johnny’s finely honed senses detect codes hidden in spam emails, the puzzling phrases and suggestive metaphors hint at a plot to steal rare and valuable objects. Soon, Johnny learns that something even more sinister is brewing. As he tracks the emails to their source, events explode into an adrenalized, trans-Atlantic race to prevent a geopolitical catastrophe.
Will his allies, nerve, media savvy, and knowledge of the human brain be enough to unhinge the criminal mastermind? Or will he become another victim of a ruthless conspiracy?
“Wow! ‘Spam & Eggs’ is a fast-paced, intelligent thriller fueled by the author’s razor sharp observational skills, understanding of metaphor and psychology, and inspired intuition. It challenges you with an impossible puzzle, then resolves with delightful surprises and a satisfying soufflé of a finish. Can’t wait to meet Johnny Denovo on his next adventure.” – Sharon Livingston, PhD
His Brother’s Keeper
What is Sanctuary? Is it a place? A person? A state of mind? Can two people who have never had a safe place find one in each other and if they do can they keep the rest of the world out?
Mac has been a single mom to her four younger siblings for more than half her life and now to her own daughter. Always from the wrong side of wherever, she struggles daily to show those she loves that life isn’t all bad and that there is hope. She gives to others so much though that she has little left for herself.
Cody was born to wealth, prestige and power and has always been an embarrassment to his family. After spending time in prison for something that he didn’t do, he has now decided to stop trying to please anyone but himself. Now is his time to live life as he sees fit, where he wants, how he wants, with whom he wants.
The deception of life that no one tells you about is that it isn’t about momentous times or those serious decisions you get to think about and worry over. It really is just one long string of day to day stuff and any seemingly inconsequential decision can tangle up that string of day to day things and include everyone in your life in the mess.
Can these two face the truths about themselves, their families, their decisions and untangle all the knots that have held them separate for years? Can they push the world away enough to find that safe place with each other?
Hideaway Hospital Murders (Greg Tenorly Suspense Series – #2)
Macy is a live-in nurse who cares for a pediatrician’s
mother during the day, and fantasizes about the doctor at night. But when a seductive
new woman comes into his life, Macy sees her dreams of happiness slipping away.
As the wedding day approaches, she must make her move, or lose him forever. But
the bride’s evil sister will have something to say about that.
Across town, one of Greg
Tenorly’s elderly piano students is brutally murdered. He and his girlfriend
begin to investigate, which ultimately leads them to the doctor’s house, where they
make a startling discovery: a secret hospital ward, buried deep beneath the house.
But none of the patients are alive.
The Naked Gardener
Artist Katelyn Cross loves Greg Mazur and he loves her. He wants to be married but a previous relationship that went sour has made Katelyn overly cautious about any permanent commitment. And what about Greg’s first wife? He lost her to cancer and Katelyn worries that he’s only looking for a replacement. What’s a girl to do? Canoe down a river with five gal pals, camp out, catch fish, talk about life and men. The problem is, a river can be as unpredictable as any relationship and just as hard to manage. On their last day, when the river turns wild, the women face the challenge of a lifetime and find that staying alive means saving themselves first while being open to help from a most unlikely source. As Katelyn navigates the raging water, she learns how to overcome her fear of change in a world where nothing stays the same. When Katelyn returns to her garden, she’ll face one more obstacle and the naked gardener will meet the real Greg Mazur.
What bloggers are saying about The Naked Gardener:
http://rochellekaminsky.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/rochelle-loves-a-good-book/
This is a quick read and I’d recommend it for the lovely descriptions of the garden and the surprises that happen on the adventurous canoe ride.
http://foreigncircuslibrary.blogspot.com/2011/01/naked-gardener-by-lb-gschwandtner.html
The characters are appealing, both as individuals and as a group, and I was quickly pulled into their story. 4 strong stars- a great way to ring in the new year!
http://everydaylifeofamamaandwife.blogspot.com/2010/12/review-of-naked-gardener-by-l-b.html
“I would hands down read anything that L. B. Gschwandtner writes.”
http://whisperingwriter.blogspot.com/2010/12/naked-gardener-by-lb-gschwandtner.html
“I enjoyed the book, and would recommend it. Now, whenever I see a garden, I’ll probably think, ‘That chick from The Naked Gardner book would be in the buff here.’”
http://100starsorless.blogspot.com/2010/11/naked-gardener-by-l-b-gschwandtner.html
“…the book surprised me in such a great way. Both the writing style combined with the interests and the voice of the book’s main character, Katelyn, spoke to me in a way that seemed incredibly close to life. Within the first few chapters I began to wonder if I was really reading fiction or if I was somehow mistaken and reading non-fiction instead. I even went so far to check the back of the book and online as well. It was indeed fiction and this really impressed me. One of the things I enjoyed most at the beginning of the novel was the description of gardening and Katelyn’s summer home. The gardening scenes reminded me much of both my mother and grandmother in their own gardens (okay, leave out the naked part, and there you go). However, as the book continued and Katelyn’s group of friends went on a weekend-long canoe trip this burst of reality came to life on a whole new level for me. The conversations these women have and their reactions to each other were yet again faithful to the way (I believe) many women actually act in real life.”
http://booknaround.blogspot.com/2010/11/review-naked-gardener-by-lb.html
“… the novel is not really about gardening naked; it is about the freedom to make the choices that drive our lives.”
http://www.psychoticstate.net/2010/11/book-review-naked-gardener-by-lb.html
“I thought The Naked Gardener was a satisfying read with an underlying female empowerment theme. It left me feeling grateful for the circle of female friends I have and desiring a girls’ weekend with them (although perhaps not canoeing!) I would not hesitate to recommend The Naked Gardener as a subtle, yet fulfilling, read.”
In her first novel, award winning writer L B Gschwandtner explores the push and pull of love, a woman’s need to maintain her individuality within marriage, and the bonds that can make women stronger even when the world feels as if it’s breaking apart.
Suspect/Victim
A wife is murdered in a brutal, bloody knife attack at her rural Harrisburg, Pa., home. Almost immediately, her sleeping husband is a prime suspect. Meanwhile, a truck driver-turned serial killer is roaming the interstates for more female victims, and no one is tracking his bloody trail.
Journalist John Luciew takes you inside the bungled Pennsylvania State Police investigation and traces each tortured step in a three-year journey to justice with a compelling and revealing nonfiction narrative account that reads like a novella.
You’ll step into the shoes of the accused husband, who quickly goes from distraught victim to prime suspect. And you will be inside the police interrogation room for his 11-hour grilling.
You’ll see the bloody trail of evidence police overlooked as a budding serial killer who despises women continues to prowl quiet neighborhoods in close proximity to busy truck stops and bustling interstates.
You will follow the seemingly random path of the masked, black-clothed killer as he roams suburban developments during late-night “human hunts.” An unlocked door or an open-air patio can be the difference between life and death.
This murder machine has no motive other than to kill women. Even more chilling, there’s no rhyme or reason to his attacks — other than the anonymous interstates connecting his crimes. Before he’s finished, the trail of death and assault hop scotches from Pennsylvania to New Jersey to Massachusetts.
Meanwhile, oblivious police in Pennsylvania are fixated on a motive. Who else but family would know that a wife would be on her patio at 2 a.m.? All signs point to her husband. A grand jury is convened. Subpoenas are issued. Homicide charges could be imminent.
The clock is ticking in a real-life drama of life and death, freedom and imprisonment.
How many women must suffer under a serial killer’s knife before he is stopped? How far will police push an innocent man? Who will piece together the murderous truth?
John Luciew unravels this riveting true story and displays the bravo journalism and sharp eye for facts that have fueled his ripped-from-the-headlines fictional thrillers KILL THE STORY, ZERO TOLERANCE, SECRETS OF THE DEAD and FATAL DEAD LINES.
Only this time, his chilling account of actual events will leave you wondering whether it could happen to you.
Also included are two long-form narrative nonfiction pieces on life inside Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system. This journalism directly influenced and informed Luciew’s juvenile justice-themed thriller, ZERO TOLERANCE. See how with an extended excerpt of Zero Tolerance, also included, that shows how the facts inspired the fiction.
This nonfiction Kindle book contains approx. 22,000 words.
Swallow
Sophie Hegel is a shy New York lawyer from small-town Florence Arizona, known not for the Renaissance but for housing a large prison. She’s just graduated from Yale Law School and landed her first job when, one evening she feels a fist-like ball form at the base of her throat. Diagnosed with the psychological condition Globus Sensate, this “fist-ball” wreaks havoc on her life, causing difficulty eating, speaking, and eventually breathing. With a cast of characters that includes a pornographer father, a sister with a knack for getting knocked up by denizens of the town pen, a tough-talking fashion maven, a painter of male nudes, an eccentric Sing Sing-residing client and a bevy of privileged Manhattan attorneys and judges, Swallow is a dark comedy about the distance that can separate fathers and daughters, and about a young woman’s struggle to survive in a world of pedigreed professionals for which she has no preparation.
Truck Stop – A Psycho Thriller
Before the events of Jack Kilborn’s epic horror novel AFRAID…
Before the events of J.A. Konrath’s critically acclaimed thrillers FUZZY NAVEL and CHERRY BOMB…
Before the events of Jack Kilborn’s and Blake Crouch’s #1 Amazon Kindle bestseller SERIAL…
Three hunters of humans meet for the ultimate showdown at the TRUCK STOP.
Taylor is a recreational killer, with dozens of gristly murders under his belt. He pulls into a busy Wisconsin truck stop at midnight, trolling for the next to die.
Chicago Homicide cop Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels is a long way from home, driving to meet her boyfriend for a well-earned vacation. She pulls into the truck stop for a quick cup of coffee and stumbles into her worst nightmare.
Jack’s no stranger to dealing with psychos, but she’s got her hands full trying to stop Taylor. Especially since he’s getting help from someone just as deadly; a portly serial maniac named Donaldson…
TRUCK STOP is a 15,000 word thriller novella that ties together Konrath’s and Kilborn’s works, with terrifying results.
A prequel to SERIAL, which has been downloaded more than 200,000 times, TRUCK STOP is an eighteen-wheeled ride straight into hell. Not for the faint of heart. Let the reader beware.
*Note: TRUCK STOP is fully contained in SERIAL UNCUT. BAD GIRL + TRUCK STOP + SERIAL = SERIAL UNCUT.
This ebook also includes an exclusive interview: JA Konrath talks with Jack Kilborn, plus excerpts from their latest books, CHERRY BOMB and AFRAID.
It also includes a bonus:
An excerpt from the Jack Daniels/Alex Chapa novella FLOATERS, by J.A. Konrath and Henry Perez.
Praise for JA Konrath’s thriller FUZZY NAVEL:
“FUZZY NAVEL is Konrath at his best – a hilariously heartstopping thriller.” – Linda Fairstein, author of Lethal Legacy
“This gripping novel is an adrenalin rush.” – Library Journal
“This book moves so fast it was like having the words fired into my head by a machine gun.” – Crimespree
Praise for AFRAID by Jack Kilborn:
“AFRAID is a masterpiece of unrelenting horror. And I’m not exaggerating. Masterpiece. It’s the best piece of fiction I’ve read in several years. It simply NEVER lets up.” – James Rollins, author of The Doomsday Key
“A bloody, terrifying, hurtling assault across a landscape of non-stop mayhem. A guilty, guilty pleasure.” – F. Paul Wilson, creator of Repairman Jack
“AFRAID is a true page turner, a novel that offers a million mile a minute action and suspense. Definitely, a must have with constant thrills and chills.” – Heather Graham, author of Deadly Gift
“Never have I read a novel so gruesome and simultaneously relentless. This book throbs with unmitigated, inexorable. sheer friggin’ TERROR. You’ll probably need a shrink when you’re done.” – Edward Lee, author of The Golem
“Fast and ferocious, this is a dangerous thriller that will take a bite out of you. An absolute must read for anyone who loves the adrenaline rush of a shocking story told with style, speed and savage grace.” – Jonathan Maberry, author of Patient Zero
About the Author:
J.A. Konrath is the author of seven novels in the Lt. Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels thriller series. The latest is SHAKEN, published by AmazonEncore. He also wrote the horror novels AFRAID, TRAPPED, ENDURANCE, and DRACULAS under the name Jack Kilborn, and the sci-fi novel TIMECASTER under the name Joe Kimball. (featuring Jack Daniels’s grandson as the hero, coming out in 2011.)
Wish List
Be careful what you wish for! When Buddy Pancake and his drinking buddies stumble across the Wish List website, they jokingly post their “impossible” wishes. Imagine their surprise when, one by one, the wishes start coming true! But Buddy and his pals neglected to read the fine print explaining the price they must pay for the wishes they’ve been granted. Wish list is a compelling, nail-biting, laugh-out-loud thriller in the tradition of Saving Rachel.
BAD GIRL (Lucy’s Prequel to Serial)
Before the events of Blake Crouch’s horror novels DESERT PLACES and LOCKED DOORS…
Before the events of Jack Kilborn’s and Blake Crouch’s #1 Amazon Kindle bestseller SERIAL…
The year is 1995, and a young girl with psychopathic tendencies named Lucy (the sweetheart from SERIAL) has run away from home to a mystery convention to see her favorite author in the world: Andrew Z. Thomas.
But Lucy has problems, and not just the psychopathic kind…to start with, the hotel won’t rent a room to a 15-year-old girl. So she does a bad, bad thing, which only gets worse when a couple of horrifying killers, Orson Thomas, and his protégé, Luther Kite, catch her trying to cover up a nasty mess.
BAD GIRL is a thriller novella that brings all of Crouch’s most terrifying villains to the same hotel.
A prequel to SERIAL, which has been downloaded more than 200,000 times, BAD GIRL is not for the faint of heart. Let the reader beware.
BAD GIRL also contains a bonus interview with Blake, plus excerpts from all four of his novels.
*Note: BAD GIRL is fully contained in SERIAL UNCUT. BAD GIRL + TRUCK STOP + SERIAL = SERIAL UNCUT.
About the Author:
BLAKE CROUCH was born near the piedmont town of Statesville, North Carolina in 1978. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated in 2000 with degrees in English and Creative Writing. Blake is the author of four novels and numerous short stories. He lives with his family in southwest Colorado, where he is at work on a new book. His website is www.blakecrouch.com.
Praise for Blake Crouch’s ABANDON:
ABANDON would make an excellent movie, switching back and forth between the plain-but-sturdy homes, saloon and church in 1893 and the same structures rotting to dust in 2009…a clever dual story.
CHARLOTTE OBSERVER
ABANDON [is] two separate works of past and present seamlessly melded together into a single novel that demands to be read in one sitting, so you can better appreciate the beauty of Crouch’s storytelling…[O]ne of those books that almost instantly puts you in the mind of a classic.
BOOKREPORTER
Haunting, fast-paced, and thoroughly engrossing… ABANDON is one of the most original tales of ghosts, greed and gold I’ve come across. Crouch aligns both eras so perfectly, it’s as if the characters are occupying the same breath within the space/time continuum. ABANDON will be one of the most talked-about books of the summer.
THE MADISON COUNTY HERALD
Ambitious…the palpable suspense just keeps building, and many thriller fans-especially those who like a touch of horror-will lose sleep to find out how it all ends.
BOOKLIST
ABANDON is terrific…a great storyteller hitting his stride.
LEE CHILD
Indie Chicks
This exciting anthology contains stories from twenty-five women from different parts of the world. Their ages differ, as do their backgrounds and locations, but one thing they all have in common is a spirit of independence and a determination to not only succeed, but prevail. Whether their struggles are to maintain balance between motherhood and career, escape from an abusive relationship, or to step out in faith and pursue a dream, all of these women have forged their own path.
As women, one of our most powerful “gifts” is the ability to encourage one another. This book is an effort to encourage women across the world. These twenty-five women share stories that will make you laugh, inspire you, and maybe even make you cry. Their hope is that these stories will inspire YOUR independent spirit and allow you to live the life you were meant to live.
In addition, each woman has included a “sneak peek” into one of her own novels.
All proceeds from this book will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation which fights breast cancer – a disease all too close to home for many of us. Our prayers and best wishes are with those who are struggling with this terrible and devastating disease. Buy a book for yourself and “gift” one to the important women in your life. Together, we can make a difference. Thank you for your support.
Foreword by Karen McQuestion
Afterword by Beth Elisa Harris
Compiled by Cheryl Shireman
Formatting by Heather Marie Adkins
Stories included:
Foreword by Karen McQuestion
Knight in Shining Armor by Shea MacLeod
Latchkey Kid by Heather Marie Adkins
Write or Die by Danielle Blanchard
The Phoenix and The Darkness by Lizzy Ford
Never Too Late by Linda Welch
Stepping Into the Light by Donna Fasano
One Fictionista’s Literary Bliss by Katherine Owen
I Burned My Bra For This? by Cheryl Shireman
Mrs. So Got It Wrong Agent by Prue Battten
Holes by Suzanne Tyrpak
Turning Medieval by Sarah Woodbury
A Kinky Adventure in Anglophilia by Anne R. Allen
Writing From a Flour Sack by Dani Amore
Just Me and James Dean by Cheryl Bradshaw
How a Big Yellow Truck Changed My Life by Christine DeMaio-Rice
From 200 Rejections to Amazon Top 200! by Sibel Hodge
Have You Ever Lost a Hat? by Barbara Silkstone
French Fancies! by Mel Comley
Life’s Little Gifts by Melissa Foster
Never Give Up On Your Dream by Christine Kersey
Self-taught Late Bloomer by Carol Davis Luce
Moving to The Middle East by Julia Crane
Paper, Pen, and Chocolate by Talia Jager
The Magic Within and The Little Book That Could by Michelle Muto
Write Out of Grief by Melissa Smith
Afterword by Beth Elisa Harris
Stop by our Facebook page! http://www.facebook.com/IndieChicksAnthology
Alone
BONUS: This edition includes the full text of the novel plus the following content:
— Lisa Gardner on Detective D.D. Warren: Who was the inspiration for D.D. Warren? Find out in this essay.
— An excerpt from Lisa Gardner’s Love You More.
— From the network that brought you Mad Men, and The Walking Dead, comes an addictive crime thriller with crushing twists. Get an exclusive peek at the script for The Killing, AMC’s newest original series, which tracks the murder of a Seattle teenager and the gripping investigation it sparks. April 3 at 9/8c, only on AMC.
Alone . . . Massachusetts State Trooper Bobby Dodge watches a tense hostage standoff unfold through the scope of his sniper rifle. Just across the street, in wealthy Back Bay, Boston, an armed man has barricaded himself with his wife and child. The man’s finger tightens on the trigger and Dodge has only a split second to react . . . and forever pay the consequences.
Alone . . . that’s where the nightmare began for cool, beautiful, and dangerously sexy Catherine Rose Gagnon. Twenty-five years ago, she was buried underground during a month-long nightmare of abduction and abuse. Now her husband has just been killed. Her father-in-law, the powerful Judge Gagnon, blames Catherine for his son’s death . . . and for the series of unexplained illnesses that have sent her own young son repeatedly to the hospital.
Alone . . . a madman survived solitary confinement in a maximum security prison where he’d done hard time for the most sadistic of crimes. Now he walks the streets a free man, invisible, anonymous . . . and filled with an unquenchable rage for vengeance. What brings them together is a moment of violence-but what connects them is a passion far deeper and much more dangerous. For a killer is loose who’s woven such an intricate web of evil that no one is above suspicion, no one is beyond harm, and no one will see death coming until it has them cornered, helpless, and alone.
Crime Stories
This collection features twenty short stories from humorous thriller writer J.A. Konrath. Included are a few hardboiled tales, some noir, some parody and satire, a few straight-out comedy pieces, and a few stories that didn’t fit into Konrath’s other two collections, Horror Stories and Jack Daniels Stories.
The twenty stories include:
The Big Guys – Flash fiction, winner of the Derringer Award.
A Fistful of Cozy – A satire of the mystery cozy genre.
Cleansing – An ancient crime of biblical proportions.
Lying Eyes – Solve it yourself, given the clues.
Perfect Plan – Another solve it yourself. Don’t you remember One Minute Mysteries and Encyclopedia Brown?
Piece of Cake – Another solve it yourself, originally featured in Woman’s World.
Animal Attraction – Solve it yourself.
Urgent Reply Needed – A cautionary tale about dealing with spammers.
Blaine’s Deal – A parody of hardboiled noir.
Light Drizzle – A light-hearted send-up of hitman stories.
An Archaeologist’s Story – How digging up old bones leads to fresh corpses.
Don’t Press That Button! – An essay about the gadgets in the James Bond universe, and which you need to buy.
Piranha Pool – A writer seeking criticism pays the ultimate price.
A Newbie’s Guide to Thrillerfest – Never been to a mystery conference? Here’s the in-depth dirt.
Inspector Oxnard – He’s either brilliant, or too stupid to breathe.
One Night Only – A sports fan ends up in jail, all for the love of the game.
Could Stephanie Plum Car Really Get Car Insurance? – An essay about Janet Evanovich’s famous character.
Cozy or Hardboiled? – Take the test to find out which type of book you’re reading.
Addiction – What’s the worst drug you can get hung up on?
Weigh To Go – A humor column about health clubs.
Specially formatted for Kindle with an interactive table of contents, this ebook also includes excerpts from Whiskey Sour and Disturb by J.A. Konrath.
About the Author:
JA Konrath is the author of seven novels in the Lt. Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels thriller series. The latest is SHAKEN, published by AmazonEncore. He also wrote the horror novels AFRAID, TRAPPED, ENDURANCE, and DRACULAS under the name Jack Kilborn, and the sci-fi novel TIMECASTER under the name Joe Kimball. (featuring Jack Daniels’ grandson as the hero, coming out in 2011.)
The Lake and 17 Other Stories
Seventeen short horror stories from the author of 33 A.D. and Saying Goodbye to the Sun.
The Lake – Five college boys answer an ad to spend Spring Break by a remote lake in northern Maine, only to find out they should have gone to Panama city like everyone else.
The Spider and the Fly – A deranged old man leads a young boy into a trap, but who is really hunting who?
Exhibit A – Listen to a budding serial killer as he explains himself to his first victim.
Plus 14 mini horror “bites.”
BONUS: One Last Dinner Party – additional short story by David Dalglish, author of the Half Orc series.
***Be sure to check out David’s second collection, Devil Music and 18 Other Stories, for more twisted horror shorts, including the follow up to this collection’s EXHIBIT A.***
David McAfee is the author of the vampire novels 33 A.D. and Saying Goodbye to the Sun as well as the horror novel, NASTY LITTLE F!#*ERS. His next novel, The Gallows Tree, is scheduled to be released in Spring 2011. David is currently working on the oft-asked for sequel to 33 A.D.
David lives in Knoxville, TN with his wife, daughter, and a small army of loyal but dysfunctional pets. As of this writing, he and his wife are expecting their first child together, who will no doubt grow to be just as deranged as the rest of the McAfee clan.
God help us all.
A Little Girl In My Room & Other Stories
A Little Girl in my Room & Other Stories is a collection of dark flash fiction by Claire Farrell. This book is Rated R: Adults Only. Some may find the themes addressed disturbing. Content includes child abuse, rape, suicide, murder and violence.
This dark fiction collection contains 12 short stories:
Skeleton in the Closet and Childlike Bride – What happens to the vulnerable when they are taken advantage of then abandoned?
A Friend – A lonely ghost bears witness to a Halloween prank that ends in tragedy.
Frozen and Frozen in Reverse – Parallel stories detailing an attack in the words of the victim and then the rapist.
Ready or Not – What’s your idea of hell?
Justice – The lengths the heartbroken will go to for justice . . . or revenge.
Forever Young – Sometimes regrets come too late.
Peace, Deals, A Great Day, A Little Girl in my Room – Four offerings of the supernatural kind.