Book picks similar to
Burn Cards by Christopher Irvin


crime
good-reads-giveaways
crime-noir
novella

Issa Hood Love Story: Jacquelyn & Finesse


La'Quana Jones - 2018
    The two met through their older siblings, Vezo (Finesse’s brother) and Tula (Jacquelyn’s brother), who were business partners in the dope game. Jacquelyn is a smart mouth young woman with sex-appeal, and Finesse is a good looking, successful dope boy. This story shows you some back story on the young couple and some obstacles they had to face to stay together. Finesse is used to having multiple women, but he is tired of the games they play with each other. When he meets Jacquelyn, he is drawn to her like a moth to a flame. He would do anything to keep her, including lie to her about cheating on her with her classmate, Porsha. Jacquelyn isn’t pleased when Porsha teases her about spending time with Finesse in front of everyone. He left her crying and alone. She ends up fighting and knocking Porsha to the ground. Things take a turn when Jacquelyn refuses to talk to Finesse. He shows her an abusive side she’s never seen before, but that draws her closer to him. Can she stay with a man that humiliated her? Emotions get aroused when there is an unexpected death in Finesse’s family. His first mind is to murder anything moving. Will he end up dead or in jail trying to get revenge? Everything he ever loved and believed in no longer matters. When Jacquelyn tries to make him calm down, he doesn’t listen and leaves the house looking for answers. Jacquelyn is a nervous wreck, as her gut feeling tells her that Finesse isn’t coming home. Join me on this emotional read as you step into the lives of Jacquelyn & Finesse.

Issa Hood love Story: Dallas & Dinero


Shykel W. - 2018
    With an adorable baby girl and everything else you could think of, they were hood royalty. Dinero ran the streets of Baltimore, while Dallas stood by his side. The streets respected them and people knew what he was capable, but that didn’t stop a blast from the past from coming and stirring up some drama. When the past comes back to haunt Dinero and test his marriage, will he respect his vows or will he fulfill his needs for that moment? With drama stirring up in the streets and innocent bystanders getting caught in the crossfire, the city of Baltimore will feel the wrath of Dallas and Dinero.

Issa Hood Love Story: Iesha & Stone


Stormy - 2018
    That just may be the case for semi-single Iesha. She finds the courage to leave her no-good baby daddy but has trouble staying completely away from him. He’s a great father to their daughter but a terrible spouse to her. She’s adjusting to being single, but a chance encounter with the notorious Stone may have her reconsidering being alone. Stone finds himself a single father after his baby mama decides she’s not ready to be a mother to their three-week old son. He finds himself in a bind and ends up needing the chick he only had intentions on one nighting. He had no plans on Iesha becoming someone he depends on, but things never go as planned. Find out what happens when two people with no intentions of finding love collide. Is Iesha just what the doctor ordered for Stone, or is she just another notch in his belt? Can Stone be everything she lacked in her previous relationship, or are all men the same?

Issa Hood Love Story: Libra & Janiero


Chante Amor - 2018
    Just when she feels like life is starting to get better and she’s officially graduated from high school is the very moment her mother makes a move that literally pulls the rug from underneath her and shatters her life into a million pieces. Homeless and devastated, she runs into the arms of Janiero Wilkes, the hood’s finest, and her life changes forever. Meet Janiero Wilkes, a young hustler on the rise who prides himself on being a faithful and doing what he has to do to raise his two children but, when his dramatic ex/baby mother Eboni shows back up on the scene and tries to stake her claim, he finds himself in a web of lies and deceit that only the Lord himself can get him out of. Creed, Eboni’s on again and off again lover, pops up with literally one thing on his mind and that is making a come up, and he doesn’t care if he has to rob, kill, or steal; he’s determined to get it all by any means necessary. This novella is full of twists and turns, ups and downs that will have your emotions all over the place and an ending that you won’t see coming.

The Death Factory


Greg Iles - 2014
    A long short story featuring Penn and Tom Cage that fills in a critical period in their past, one that helps to set up the action in the coming trilogy, Natchez Burning, The Bone Tree and Unwritten Laws.

Aftermath


Elle Charles - 2014
     Every action has a consequence and this is the aftermath. My name is Kara Petersen. I am one of life’s survivors, but my life has not been easy. I am the product of a dysfunctional, broken home and parents who don’t care. Fallen from grace, abandoned and betrayed, I am now alone. Then there was hope. A boy, a saviour. He saved me, empowered me, and gave me the strength and courage to leave. To live. His actions will not be in vain. I will do whatever it takes to survive. My name is Sloan Foster. I am one of life’s failures, but my life has not been fair. I am the product of a loving home, a mother and father who adored each other, until death paved the way for the devil. Trapped inside a world with a gilded façade, I have always felt alone. Then there was hope. A girl, an angel, a beacon of pure light in the dark. She subconsciously called to me, reached deep into my soul, unknowingly claiming a part of myself I had let die years ago. I promised I would do whatever it took to be her protector. My promises were unachievable and futile. I will do whatever it takes to find her again. Please note this is a 36,000 word novella, chronicling the lives of Kara and Sloan and the ‘missing’ eight years. It is not a continuation of the present story, and should be read after Fractured and Tormented.

The Killing


Lionel White - 1955
    The two million bucks should be enough to last him a lifetime or two. But a two-faced dame has another idea: Let Johnny do the work, then she'll grab the swag for herself and her boyfriend.

Retard


Daniel I. Russell - 2015
    Back then, it was par for the course, the situation attracting only gossip and disapproval, but of course everyone was too busy to intervene..." December, 1987. Single mother Christine Stephenson watches with envy as the Birthday boy opens his present. A Fabled Four action figure. Her special son is obsessed with The Fabled Four but how could she possibly afford such a gift? Not that he deserved it. Wesley simply couldn't behave. She'd find a way, being such a good parent.

You Play the Black and the Red Comes Up


Eric Knight - 1938
    When Dick commits one crime and plans another, the police arrest him for a crime he actually did not commit. Dick attempts to reconcile with his family and find his way out of LA’s seedy underworld. You Play the Black and the Red Comes Up was a bestseller when originally published in 1938 and is a noir classic.

The Corner of Olive and Oak


Aubreé Pynn - 2020
    Just when he thinks all he’ll have to show for his life is the barbecue shop and street life, a beautiful, alluring woman walks in and steals his heart.As love comes in like a whirlwind can Andru live the best of both worlds with Pumae or will a figment from his past make him choose.

Witness to Myself (Hard Case Crime #19)


Seymour Shubin - 2006
    When he was a teenager, his family rented a camper for a few weeks during a summer vacation and traveled to Cape Cod. During that brief stay on a quiet stretch of sandy beach, Alan -- whose adolescent life was characterized by "bewilderment and self-loathing" -- stumbled across a young girl trying to get a kite out of a tree. But instead of helping the girl, he sexually assaulted her. When the girl started screaming, he panicked and silenced her with an act of violence. He ran back to his family's camper, and they eventually returned home as if nothing had happened. Now Alan is assailed by guilt: Did he kill the girl or not? He has to know More than a half century after Shubin's crime fiction classic Anyone's My Name (1953), this novel takes a decidedly restrained look at pulp mystery. The brutal sexual crime -- which is the linchpin for the whole story -- is quickly glossed over in a few paragraphs and hardly ever mentioned again. As a result, the story line loses much of its knuckles-to-jawbone intensity, and instead of developing into an adrenaline-fueled whodunit, Witness to Myself becomes more of a psychological study in guilt, paranoia, and, ultimately, redemption -- a rare bullet-free Hard Case Crime release that is as melancholic as it is disturbing. Paul Goat Allen

The Barbed-Wire Kiss


Wallace Stroby - 2003
    The Jersey Shore ain't what it used to be, but ex-state trooper Harry Rane still calls it home. After his wife's death, Harry got careless, got shot, and he left the force. He's a changed man, leads a quiet life, except when it comes to helping his friends...Now an old buddy of Harry's wants a big favor. He owes $50,000 to a Jersey crime boss and needs Harry to get him more time to repay the loan. That sounds like a plan...except for the green-eyed, redheaded complication. The mobster's married to a gorgeous lady who once fell hard for Harry. And history is about to repeat itself.Trying to help his friend pay off his debt but inexorably drawn to the girl, soon Harry is between a rock and a hard place. His chances of getting up and staying alive look to be about a million to one....

White Heat


Paul D. Marks - 2012
    Duke Rogers finds himself in a racially charged situation. The case might have to wait... The immediate problem: getting out of South Central Los Angeles in one piece during the 1992 Rodney King riots and that's just the beginning of his problems.Private investigator Duke Rogers finds an old "friend" for a client. The client's "friend," an up and coming black actress, ends up dead. Duke knows his client did it. Now, feeling guilty, he wants to find the client/killer. He starts his mission by going to the dead actress' family in South Central L.A. - and while there the Rodney King riots ignite. And while he tries to track down the killer he must also deal with the racism of his partner, Jack, and from the dead woman's brother, Warren. He must also confront his own possible latent racism - even as he's in an interracial relationship with the murder victim's dead woman's sister.

Scarred: A Love Lost: A Domestic Violence Novella


Bianca - 2018
    So bright, she was blinded by the persistent and ever so charming, Issac Rosenberg. Unable to resist his charm, Somaya goes against her parents’ demands and dates him anyway. Years later, she’s deep into a relationship she can’t see herself escaping from. Everything that once glittered, has lost its shine, and the man she fell in love with is no longer the same. Will Somaya be able to flee her once fairytale lifestyle, or will it leave her scarred?

Knock Three-One-Two


Fredric Brown - 1959
    For as the net tightened around the killer more and more people became entangled in a chain of events that ended in an explosion of maniacal savagery.