The author discusses the inspiration for his phenomenally successful book, a touching story of a widow and the young family who moves in with her, and their discovery of the first gift of Christmas and what Christmas is really about.

    But your success could take the life of your only child. What would you do?That is the agonizing dilemma faced by Matt Weatherly, Black Ops veteran turned top cyber security expert. A ruthless killer is using his son as a pawn to destroy the state-of-the-art web of security Matt's company has spent the last seven years creating. Racing against the clock, Matt is forced to navigate the deadly, night-cloaked streets of Los Angeles, staying one step ahead of the killer and the dogged pursuit of the police, before the deadline passes and consumes everything he loves.

    But the shooter wasn’t acting alone.Roger Heller was part of something bigger…A conspiracy of scientific experiments, missing citizens, and ancient secrets threatening the island and its people.Behind it all: the enigmatic Blake Conway.Can Jon Conway piece the mystery together before he loses someone else that he loves?Can Roger Heller’s surviving family move on from his heinous actions?Will Cassidy’s addictions destroy her new family with Emma and Jon?Can Milo trust the mysterious Don Bellows?What will happen when Brock Houser launches his own investigation?WhiteSpace is a character-driven, mysterious, sci-fi thriller that would be right at home with superbly scripted TV shows like LOST, The Killing, and Fringe.

    Hephaestus Books represents a new publishing paradigm, allowing disparate content sources to be curated into cohesive, relevant, and informative books. To date, this content has been curated from Wikipedia articles and images under Creative Commons licensing, although as Hephaestus Books continues to increase in scope and dimension, more licensed and public domain content is being added. We believe books such as this represent a new and exciting lexicon in the sharing of human knowledge. This particular book is a collaboration focused on Novels by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

    And he's vanished without a trace.In a town that's obsessed with dark secrets, where the currency of power is information, The White House has kept a huge one for decades. Charged with the task of protecting and defending the Office of the Presidency from threats both outside and in, the keeper of secrets-the Body Man-has been in the shadows since the 1960s.The Body Man has been a unique protector of American presidents ever since a previous well-known president used the first Body Man to usher women, diplomats, and other heads of state into the White House via a secret tunnel. The Body Man is drawn from the Secret Service, but he isn't on the classic protective detail, and he reports to no one. Once his term is over, he's given a huge payout and a one-way ticket to anywhere on Earth.With a CIA conspiracy buff named Zed and The Body Man's aged neighbor Rose, former US Army Ranger and FBI Special Agent Eli Payne and his new probationary agent Kat Stone must find the Body Man before it's too late-and the trail may lead directly to the Oval Office itself.

    In these four stories—“Ministerial Aid,” “Slick-Tongued Devil,” “Toys for Tots,” and “Unbalanced” (three of which have been sent to Johnson’s fans over the years in the author’s “Post-it” e-mails)—Walt is alternately at his best and his worst. He helps a somewhat delusional elderly victim of domestic abuse while sporting a bathrobe and a mean hangover on New Year’s Day. He’s sidelined by grief when his wife’s obituary reappears in the paper and there’s an unexpected knock on his door two days before Christmas. He strives to help even those who don’t want it when he picks up a young female hitchhiker, and he’s forced into some last-minute Christmas shopping by the Greatest Legal Mind of Our Time, during which he might just end up saving a young Navy chaplain’s Christmas.Full of Longmire’s dry wit and good heart, Christmas in Absaroka County is a holiday must-have for every Longmire and Craig Johnson fan, and it also includes the first chapter of The Cold Dish, the first novel in the Walt Longmire Mystery Series. Amazon review

    As the novel opens, Jack's twin brother, a Denver homicide detective, has just killed himself. Or so it seems. But when Jack begins to investigate the phenomenon of police suicides, a disturbing pattern emerges, and soon suspects that a serial murderer is at work - a devious cop killer who's left a coast-to-coast trail of "suicide notes" drawn from the poems of Edgar Allan Poe. It's the story of a lifetime - except that "the Poet" already seems to know that Jack is trailing him. . . Here is definitive proof that Michael Connelly is among the best suspense novelists working today. Blood Work: Thanks to a heart transplant, former FBI agent Terrell McCaleb is enjoying a quiet retirement, renovating the fishing boat he lives on in Los Angeles Harbor. But McCaleb's calm seas turn choppy when a story in the "What Happened To?" column of the LA Times brings him face-to-face with the sister of the woman whose heart now beats in his chest. From her, McCaleb learns a terrible truth: that the donor of his heart was not killed in an accident, as he'd been told, but was murdered. Wracked with guilt over the fact that he's alive because another human being was killed, McCaleb embarks on a private investigation of his donor's murder - a crime as horrific as anything he ever encountered as a serial killer investigator for the FBI.

     I could tell you my name, but then I’d have to kill you. Forced to live in seclusion, my only contact with the outside world is with my online chat buddies. I give out different screen names with every person except with one: Confessor. To him, and only him, my name is Blackbird. He is my soul mate. At least online. I make a living buying and selling used computers. Usually I can just ignore the stuff that’s left on the machine by the previous owner, but the desktop picture on my newest acquisition stops me cold. It’s the face of the man who killed my father twenty years ago. The man who sent me into hiding. The first time, anyway. I start digging through the machine, telling Confessor about my every move. Except the part about wanting to avenge my father’s murder. A dead body gives me the perfect excuse to leave my nest and head to Tennessee, to find the murderer, and to reclaim my life. Once there, I find myself torn between two men, and pining for my mysterious Confessor. And just when I think I’ve got things solved, my past is revealed, throwing my plans of vengeance into chaos.

    Five walks of life. Every day they come together at the white shoe law firm Olmstead & Taft. But they’re not lawyers. They’re “Printers”: blue-collar guys consigned to the dark basement of the firm charged with copying, collating and delivering the mountains of paperwork that document millions of dollars of sensitive legal secrets.Until the five are approached by an ambitious young attorney who teaches them what they have: insider information. Together they make a plan: take the classified documents that pass through their hands every day and use them to get rich. They create a joint account to deposit the spoils. An account with a safeguard-each one only knows one section of the access code.Which means that for all five conspirators, there’s no way out. But as too much money piles up to go unnoticed, the Printers will discover there’s one thing even worse than being an outsider: being in too deep.“FIFTEEN DIGITS is a taut, gripping thrill-ride that appeals to the white collar criminal in all of us. I couldn’t put it down.”–Terence Winter, Creator and Executive Producer of Boardwalk Empire, Executive Producer and Writer of The Sopranos“FIFTEEN DIGITS reads like John Grisham and Martin Scorsese’s nasty love child. Brimming with unique, indelible characters, it’s a cautionary tale of greed, jealousy and vice.”–Shawn Ryan, Creator and Executive Producer of The Shield

    A desperate man, dressed all in black, feverishly seeks refuge for himself and the squirming bundle he holds tightly against his breast. Agent Paul Kagan’s bundle is a baby who has the power to change the course of global events. His pursuers are his former colleagues—members of the Russian mafia who will stop at nothing to accomplish their mission. Now Kagan is a spy on the run—he must ensure this baby’s survival, even if it will cost him his own life. Just a short distance away, Kagan will find an unexpected pair of allies—a mother and her young son, who huddle together after a horrible episode of domestic violence leaves them home alone, with no means of transportation.And so, with the exquisitely honed skills of his profession and the help and good faith of a weary woman and a disillusioned boy, Kagan must take on forces that will stop at nothing. In the course of a wild and violent night, the unlikely trio learn lessons of generosity, courage, and selflessness, discovering within themselves the luminous strength of the true Christmas spirit.

    But when her older brother Mac becomes the main suspect, Savannah launches a secret investigation in order to clear her brother’s name. Savannah has inherited a gift, one that might reveal who the culprit is if she can stay one step ahead of the killer, who is closer than she thinks.

    Into The Cove comes Sally Brainerd, daughter of murdered Amory St. John of Washington, D.C., seeking sanctuary, and FBI Special Agent James Quinlan who's undercover and after her. He's got a murder to solve, and he believes she's the key. But is she really?The Maze (Susan Ericksen, Ruth Bloomquist, Jill Sovis): Lacey Sherlock's life is forever changed when her older sister's body is discovered in an abandoned warehouse. She is the fourth victim of the String Killer, the name given by the media to a murderer who leads his victims into a maze with a ball of twine. Seven years after Belinda's death, Lacey, now an FBI agent, is paired up with computer whiz Dillon Savich, who has developed a predictive program to aid in the apprehension of serial killers. When the String Killer strikes again, Lacey spots his handiwork, resulting in his capture. The suspect confesses, but maintains that he did not kill Belinda. No sooner does Lacey confirm his innocence of that crime, than an attempt is made on her life. Suspecting her attacker is the same person who murdered her sister, Lacey and Dillon know they must solve the mystery - before they become the killer's next victims.Eleventh Hour (Sandra Burr, Ruth Bloomquist, Mike Council): When FBI agent Dane Carver's twin brother, Father Michael Joseph, is brutally murdered in his San Francisco church, husband-and-wife agents Lacey Sherlock and Dillon Savich take a personal interest in the investigation. Then Nicola "Nick" Jones, a homeless woman and the only witness to the shooting, is scared out of her mind because she is trying to hide from her own monsters - who are drawing closer and closer. The chase goes from San Francisco to the Premiere Studios in Los Angeles and its new television hit, a show all about murder.

    A weekend camping trip with a small group of friends seemed like the perfect distraction from a messy personal life, but as Zack and his friends made their way to the camping ground at Drifter’s Folly Memorial Park, he couldn’t shake the feeling something was terribly wrong. Zack should have listened to his gut, because he and his friends aren’t the only ones in the forest. Someone else is watching—someone with dark intentions. And he wants to play a game...

    This set contains Girl Jacked, Jack Knifed, Jacks are Wild and Jack and the Giant Killer. The Jack Stratton mystery collection that has 500+ Five-Star reviews with over 200,000 eBooks and paperbacks in distribution. If you love mysteries with action, humor and a dash of romance, try the Jack Stratton Collection today. Girl Jacked Police Officer Jack Stratton is hiding. Hiding from the world. From pain. From the memories of losing his best friend, Chandler, in Iraq. Suffering from PTSD, and isolated from those he cares about, the last thing Jack expects to hear is his foster sister Michelle is gone – Chandler’s sister. The words cut straight to his core. Although the police think she just took off, he knows Michelle would never leave those she loved behind – like he did. Now he must take action, find Michelle and bring her home... or die trying. The first novel in the Jack Stratton Mystery Collection introduces us to handsome rogue, Jack Stratton, and his dark past. With a debt of honor to his dead foster brother, Chandler, Jack’s guilt drives him into a world of deception and lies. As Jack’s walls begin to crumble, he must navigate the quirky characters that seep into the mystery of his foster sister’s disappearance. And in the sleepy community of Darrington, like so many things in this world, nothing is as it appears to be. The hidden mysteries that often go unnoticed begin to emerge as Jack and his new unpredictable sidekick begin to turn over the rocks. Following a trail that has grown cold, Jack must tread carefully to protect his job, his family, and his own life… Jack Knifed Handsome Police Officer Jack Stratton is the “hometown hero cop with a heart of gold.” Constant nightmares have forced him to seek answers about his rough childhood, and the dark secrets that lay hidden there. With Replacement by his side, Jack travels to Hope Falls to solve a murder that occurred before he was born. Everyone in the small town remembers the unsolved murder of Steven Ritter, but after 27 years, no one thought that someone would look into it – They don’t know Jack. Jacks are Wild Handsome, white-knight, Police Officer Jack Stratton is back in this action-packed, thrilling adventure. When his sexy, old flame disappears, no one thinks it’s suspicious except Jack and one unbalanced witness. Jack feels in his gut that something is wrong. He knows that Marisa has a past and if it ever caught up with her – it would be deadly. Determined to buck the critics, and listen to his instincts, he and his young, feisty sidekick plunge ahead and start to track down leads hoping to find Marisa in time. The trail leads them into all sorts of trouble – landing them smack in the middle of an all-out Mob war between the Italian Mafia and the Japanese Yakuza. When evidence surfaces that Marisa was kidnapped, Jack must navigate between the warring parties, assassins, and cold-blooded hit men to outwit the cunning kidnappers before it is too late. As the body count rises, the stakes in this game are life and death – with no rules except one – Jacks are Wild. Jack and the Giant Killer Jack Stratton is back in another action-packed, thrilling adventure. While recovering from a gunshot wound and the loss of his job on the police force, Jack’s romance with feisty Replacement continues to develop. When Replacement gets a seemingly harmless private investigation job—locate the owner of a lost dog—Jack begrudgingly assists. Little do they know that it will place them both into the cross hairs of a merciless serial killer.

    It's 1920 and Christmas is coming. Major Lennox finds a body on his doorstep - why on his doorstep? Was it to do with the Countess? Was it about the ruby necklace? Lennox must go to Melrose Court, home to his uncle, Lord Melrose, to uncover the mystery. But then the murders start and it snows and suddenly everything becomes very complicated...