"Passion Killers" will make your toes curl for the hapless Mrs Palmer, and "The Odstock Curse" may well induce goosebumps as a Gypsy curse is repeated in the present. Among the fifteen tales are two featuring Peter Lovesey's forthright police detective, Peter Diamond, and two with the amateur sleuth, Bertie, Prince of Wales, in rumbustious form. The collection also include "The Pushover," winner of the Mystery Writers of America's Golden Mysteries short story prize, and "Quiet Please—We're Rolling," both nominated for Britain's Crime Writer's Association Short Story Dagger. **

    He's been taken for everything he has. He's lost his house, his restaurant business, his savings, his car, his best friend, his faith—all to his conniving ex-wife. But that was seven years ago. He picked himself up, left Chicago, and started over in Peoria, Arizona, running the Roundhouse Bar and Grill. He doesn't look back on those bad years; there's no point. Not until two curious cops show up at the Roundhouse.Faith, Butch's ex-wife, has been murdered, and the evidence points to him. Stunned, Butch quickly realizes that the black-hearted woman is going to ruin him again, from her grave. Lucky for Butch, the Old Blue Line, a group of retired—but still sharp and tenacious—former legal and law enforcement coots, have taken it upon themselves, as a favor, to make sure he doesn't cross that thin line. After the dust settles, Butch's life is again upended—when a little red-haired ball of fire, Sheriff Joanna Brady, takes a seat at his bar.__________1 hour 56 minutes 50 seconds

    Darkness creates monsters.Everything in Dakota Dale’s life was measured before and after Christian Salyer. He’d kidnapped and tortured her, leaving behind a broken body and damaged mind. She’d convinced herself she killed him, but her memory was flawed and she no longer knew what was real. She only knew she was desperate to find the truth.Christian’s body was never found and the murders were starting again. Was Salyer still alive? Was Dakota following the trail of bodies, or were the bodies following her?The answers were trapped behind the barriers she’d built in her mind. Until a faded photograph with a chilling message arrived on her doorstep.Would you die for her?

    

    In the past, Cole a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, worked for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Time Magazine. Now, he’s returned to the paper where he started his career, The Chicago Sentinel. Instead of writing the big stories, he’s doing the work of a rookie reporter. His “big story of the day” is a cat caught in a tree. During its rescue, the cat’s owner takes her Good Samaritan neighbor hostage. Cole witnesses something so disturbing it reawakens the journalist’s desire to write again.Returning to the paper, Cole finds a desperate message asking for help from Ellie, one that got away. The one that has continually haunted his life. Cole drops everything and flies to California. He must find what would make her so desperate, she would call him after so many years. Cole finds her terminally ill, and abandoned by her husband. He discovers while Ellie was heavily medicated, she mistakenly signed a Power of Attorney. Now her estranged daughter Erin’s inheritance, won’t go to her, but her abusive step-father. Cole vows to find the girl and right the situation.The path to keeping his word is blocked at every turn by the husband who abandoned her, his shady real estate deals, violent con men, street thugs and the lure of a fortune in diamonds that unite them. The anger, sorrow, and crippling guilt of twenty years fires Cole's drive to keep a promise, that in the end, will heal and return the soul to the great journalist.Beaten, bloody but determined, Cole Sage conquers greed and hatred with a strength that only love, and a will as hard as diamond, can achieve.

    Not everyone can. Who decides? Desperate to save his daughter from a mysterious sickness, Daniel applies for the Methuselah Treatment. If she gets it, his daughter won’t just recover, she’ll live forever. But the drug is tightly controlled, and only the special, the talented, and the truly deserving ever receive it. There is nothing special about Daniel’s destitute ten- year-old girl—or is there?

     My mother used to tell me that evil only comes to those who are looking for it, and maybe she was right. Corruption and death walk hand and hand in this town. I refuse to give in, but giving up seems to be my only option. As a detective, I’ve seen enough killing for ten lifetimes, and now, leaving is the only way to keep my sanity. I never thought that my last case while training my replacement would have a stranglehold on me personally. It’s like the Hangman is placing the noose around my neck, and the rope is only getting tighter.

    But what if those first impressions are wrong? When Grace deHaviland chases a bail jumper to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, a long way from her home turf of Columbus, Ohio, she may discover the answer -- with deadly consequences."A fascinating point of view character." - Kristine Kathryn Rusch"Grace deHaviland is one tough cookie." - Suspense MagazineThe pulse-pounding first short story in the Grace deHaviland bounty hunter seriesBy the author of Crystal White and Amber Alert

    New York City bookstore owner Otis Parker is dead, killed by a falling bookcase. A tragic accident? Corey isn’t so sure. With deadpan humor and skeptical eye, the determined detective is on the case, and everyone who has the misfortune to be connected to Parker is a suspect—the failing mystery writer in town to sign books; the beautiful young wife, and the bookstore employee who appears to be more nervous than aggrieved. In his debut Kindle Single, DeMille deftly maneuvers through the twists and turns of this fast-moving story, delivering his legion of fans yet another gripping read.

    What happens at the private club stays at the private club! When Meg Riley lost her job as an attorney, she never thought she'd end up working for a private club. But when she met the handsome and elusive, Greyson Twining, she knew she couldn't turn the job down; even though she didn't really know what the position entailed. Greyson Twining is the owner of the private club and he knows that it's a mistake to hire, Meg. However, there is something about the way she smiles at him that makes him forget his own reservations. And then there's the call from, Brandon Hastings telling him not to hire Meg. A call he should have listened to more closely. As, Meg and Greyson embark on day one of training, neither of them realize that there are secrets about to come out that will completely alter both of their lives.

    So I locked us away, safe inside the gates of our island home. Or so I thought.I knew it was a bad idea to let anyone in, but I needed help. And Nanny Bexley was a dream come true: an excellent resume and tons of energy.But just one week after she came into our lives, the dream turned into a nightmare. And there was no one I could trust.If I wanted to see my daughter again, I would need to step outside and find her myself.Welcome to Liar’s Island… a stand-alone series of interconnected, novella length domestic thrillers set in the picture-perfect community of Liars Island. Here, nothing is quite as it seems.On this island, families and friendships are more than meets the eye … secrets, deceptions, and jealousies threaten to ruin everything these influential people have built. But it isn’t only the rich that live here … and power comes in all shapes and sizes. Everyone here is a liar … just how far would you go to get what you want?

    D. Warren confronts the strangest case of her career in this exclusive eBook short story by the #1 New York Times bestselling author.D. D. Warren was pretty sure she'd seen it all. Then a man walks into police headquarters, attempting desperately to convince the squad that he's dead. Explaining to him that he's very much alive, they finally send him on his way . . . and then hours later, he turns up actually dead. And it's on D. D. Warren to figure out how and why the dead man died . . . twice.Plus: an early look at Gardner's next riveting thriller, Never Tell.

    When she brings him back to his house, she finds his owner—Todd Burke, a well-known local businessman and founder of an organic supplements company—dead on the bathroom floor. As a detective interviews Shelby, a medical examiner inspects the body, and more cops search Todd’s home, it becomes clear that the victim’s life was less picture-perfect than his clean-cut persona might lead you to believe.

    The mysterious death is reminiscent of the work of a serial killer who terrorized Katie’s hometown five years ago. The police arrested Katie’s brother for the murders, but the trial and her brother’s behavior left her with plenty of questions.After a second killing nearby, Katie is afraid that the Shock Killer, the man who had forced her into hiding, was back to involve her in a second round of murders. Even more frightening is the fact that Katie might have to come face-to-face with her brother and learn the truth of the murders.

    To many it wouldn’t matter that she now uses her considerable skills to re-steal valuable works of art and return them to their rightful homes. She’s still a thief. So that’s why Kat’s surprised when an Interpol agent comes to her one snowy evening, asking for Kat’s help. The Magi Miracle Network was set to auction off a very rare, very valuable Faberge egg two days before Christmas, but the egg’s been stolen and now the charity’s reputation—and their future—is on the line. Kat’s family and Interpol might be opposite sides of most jobs, but someone just stole Christmas. Now it’s up to Kat and her crew to steal it back. The Grift of the Magi is a Heist Society novella and is approximately half the length of the other novels in the series. It stands alone, but if you want read more about Kat and her crew check out Heist Society, Uncommon Criminals, and Perfect Scoundrels.