How better to live out his dream then to open a peaceful little bar in the Florida Keys? Far from the madness of war, Mackey lives his life on his own terms, mixing umbrella drinks for his customers and maintaining his anonymity.But even in Paradise things change”...Out of the darkness a mysterious ship docks behind The Paradise Shack and patrons begin to disappear.What is the horrific secret that this vessel is carrying?Now Mackey must rely on the set of skills he so desperately has tried to disavow. The conspiracy he will uncover will have more profound ramifications than just a few missing tourists. The ship’s purpose is more complex than he could ever imagine. A mission that is so unprecedented that Mackey will end up doubting his own loyalties.No matter which side you find yourself rooting for, Trouble in Paradise will leave you wondering “what if?”

    Those trapped inside the castle are used to dealing with the volatile mix of light-fingered teens and obnoxious tourists; less so a truckload of explosives and a hidden agenda. For Catherine and her team, it's a recipe for a potentially deadly day off. Tense, twisted and laugh-out-loud funny, Siege Mentality is a day-trip you won't forget. For more from Catherine McLeod, read the Jasmine Sharp trilogy, beginning with Where the Bodies are Buried , a sample from which is included with this short story.

    She was even going to be on TV for a big national contest. Until a serial killer put an end to her dreams. Now her ghost has come to Thulu and La Fi to save her dog from the killer. La Fi is a medium and Thulu is a finder and together they find justice for the dead. The detectives take the case, but they find more than a lost pup. They discover a heartbreaking secret and a seasoned killer already on the prowl for his next victim. And this time their walk on the darker side of the paranormal puts their own lives at risk. "Ghost Dancer" is the third novelette from the Modern Magics series.

    You’re miles from anywhere. You have no clothes, no food, no money... You’re dead, Mason.”As far as everyone else is concerned, Mason Bushing died over a year ago, but now he’s running from Dr. Harlow who is secretly conducting an unauthorized experiment for a drug he calls Purify. It saved Mason’s life, but Mason is focused on getting what he wants most—his old life back. His plans change when he realizes his wife is more interested in the insurance money she inherited than seeing him alive. His best friend doesn’t believe his story, and the police intend on charging him with fraud and assault after he almost kills his wife’s boyfriend.Warren is a detective who’s assigned the case. He’s been on personal leave because his wife died. His investigation turns up suspicions of lying, disturbing coincidences, and related homicides.When Mason becomes the prime suspect, he’s forced to run again.Imagine having to run from someone who saved your life. Imagine everyone thinking you’re dead, but you’re really alive. Questions, accusations, conspiracies… murder. What if this was all caused by a drug that’s creating the next physical evolution of man? What would you do if you were Purified?

    DS Logan McRae investigates after a year off the job sick – but knows time is running out fast…Dying Light: A woman is found dead by the docks, in the heart of Aberdeen’s Red Light District. For DS Logan McRae it’s a bad start to another bad day. Rosie Williams is just the first – how many more will die?Broken Skin: A serial rapist leaves a string of victims as DS Logan McRae’s investigations suggest that someone in the local bondage community has developed a taste for full-blown violence. The Granite City’s seedy side is about to be exposed…

    As she begins to translate the writings she realizes three very important facts. This is a book of prophecy foretelling the end times; it is the personal diary of Jesus Christ; and she has been chosen to save mankind from the next cataclysmic event. But when she discovers a small piece of fabric tucked inside the scroll, she and her husband David, a geneticist, are propelled into a life of science, secrecy and government conspiracy.

    Where did it come from? Whose is it? Those questions will be answered in an overnight drama that’s also a journey into the past - a saga of love, lust, greed, double-crossing, prison, betrayal and redemption on that long, crooked road to the truth. Found money looks like easy money, but looks can be deceiving.

    At an age when most babies are cooing "Mama, " Popo was speaking in complete sentences. He was reading college textbooks when he was still too young for nursery school. Popo may just be the smartest human being on Earth. And he spends all his time listening to the radio . . . to white noise that comes drifting down from the sky like stardust. Chill Bent is a two-time loser with a hair-trigger temper. After the death of Popo's mother, the ex-con assumes responsibility for his nephew, vowing to protect the boy from a government eager to strip away his African-American heritage and exploit his genius like a natural resource. Together, Popo and Chill are about to embark on an extraordinary journey into the farthest reaches of the mind and the soul . . . a journey you will never forget. In this stunning new speculative fiction short story by the bestselling author of Blue Light, part of an interconnected collection of stories called Futureland, a young African-American genius searches for God with the tools of cutting-edge science. Look for the complete volume of Futureland, available now.

    Little does she know she would meet that one special love, an unexpected love. That one true love is Mike Ramsey and he's a U.S. Marshal. As their love grows, so do their troubles. Someone is stalking Lana. Mike has to figure out who it is before the stalker gets Lana. Not only does he have to protect her, he must find the connection between Lana and the killer before it's too late. They soon find out this stalker also wants Mike dead, and he'll go through any lengths for that to happen. Mike's team find out how desperate this man is when he starts murdering.

    and a small town holds a shocking secret waiting to be unearthed...Amazon best selling mystery authors J.S. Donovan, Roger Hayden, James Hunt and Alexandria Clarke invite you to explore this riveting mystery box set! These stories have collectively accumulated 250+ 5-star reviews!A missing father, decade old murders, and an Antebellum-era mansion invaded by the spirits of the dead, private investigator/unexpected plantation inheritor Evelyn Carr has her hands full. Assisted by her husband, Evelyn chases answers. With each mystery solved, another arises... along with new adversaries. The truth hides within her family's dark past, but some secrets, once unearthed, cannot be reburied.The Haunting of Winchester MansionIn the small town of Black Bay, a vacant, forgotten house sits atop an overlooking bluff. When Bailey and Bodhi Taylor move in and begin renovations, the house seems perfect. But things move on their own, screams echo from the basement, and Bailey sees a shadowy figure out of the corner of her eye. Is the house haunted? And if it is, what does the ghost want with Bailey?The Curse of the House on Cypress Lane There sits a large house on Cypress Lane in the small town of Ocoee, Louisiana, and its history is intertwined with the town itself. A feud was born within its walls, and it is there where it will die. The Cooley family finds themselves in the middle of a fight that started long before they arrived. Will they make it out alive, or will they become another casualty in the fight between the living and the dead?The Haunting of Bechdel Mansion  One couple must unearth the secrets of a small-town murder before it's too late.A young couple from the city move to a small town, looking for a fresh start. They soon find their dream house in an old Victorian mansion and everything seems perfect, that is, until they experience strange supernatural occurrences linked to an unsolved mass murder from forty years ago. Unearthing the secrets buried within the mansion won't be easy. Can they solve the mystery in time, or will they face the same doomed fate as the tenants who came before them?

    She has yet to nominate an heir.The crown looks set to fall to James of Scotland.But it is far from inevitable.Gowrie, a sinister Scottish traitor, has arrived in England. On him is a document containing a shocking secret that will compromise King James.Languishing in prison, artful thief Ned Savage is freed by his patron, the queen’s principal secretary, Sir Robert Cecil. His mission is to find the document before it can be made public. If he succeeds, his life will be spared.But he is not alone in seeking Gowrie.On his trail are a ruthless gang of conspirators. The Red Cross Plot aims to prevent any foreigner from taking the English throne. And the Knights of the Red Cross will kill to secure the document.In a journey that will take him from London to Derbyshire and Scotland, Savage must foil the Red Cross Plot, protect King James’s darkest secret, and keep himself safe from execution.And he must do it all before the curtain falls on Elizabeth’s reign.

    Eddie Flynn in the book that won the 2012 Northern Crime competition. "Eddie Flynn is part Philip Marlowe, part Eddie Gumshoe, a likeable wisecracking guy ... humour ... violent confrontations ... well recommended." - EUROCRIME "... great concise writing style ... fast paced action ... Donovan makes you feel as though you are uncovering the truth ... well worth reading." - NEWBOOKSMAG Family feuds, booze and bad company. Teenager Rebecca Slater's walk on the wild side has taken a downward spiral. And now she's disappeared. But her family don't seem to have noticed. Wealthy, private, dysfunctional, the Slaters deny that their daughter is missing – even as they block all attempts by Rebecca's friends to contact her. So the friends contact a private investigator. Eddie Flynn is good at finding people. And he's good at spotting lies. It doesn't take him long to see through the Slaters' denials. So he digs around, and isn't too surprised when some unpleasant people come scuttling out of the cracks in their perfect world. But for these people the teenager's disappearance is part of a plan. One that's too important to be threatened by an investigator with more persistence than sense. So it's time for the investigator to disappear...

    Their honeymoon was idyllic and Liz is blissfully happy—at first. But she feels increasingly uneasy in her lavish new home. Huntington House and its staff still seem to be in the thrall of David’s first wife. In fact, the housekeeper, Mrs. Hoffman, has made it clear that Liz can never measure up to the stunning, sophisticated, deceased, Dominique. Though Dominique drowned in a yachting accident, Liz still senses her spirit in the house. She hears unexplained noises…sees shadowy figures vanishing down the long corridors. The scent of Dominique’s favorite flowers fills the air. But Liz’s fears are more than insecurity. Two young women connected to Huntington House have already met terrible deaths. More will die—and soon. Because behind the house’s polished façade is an unimaginable secret and a love turned to twisted, unnatural obsession…Praise for William Patterson’s The Inn "The Conjuring meets The Shining in William Patterson's deliciously creepy thriller.  Fast-paced, horror-filled, clever and impossible-to-predict, this heart-pounding tale will leave you breathless." --Kevin O’Brien, New York Times bestselling author

    Although they suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, they come back to their hometown and reunite in the defunct school building. Old flames are rekindled, fears are ignited, and their lives are about to explode in a whirlwind of memories, haunted by the spirit of David Ray, the troubled teen who killed many of the students. Once they're inside the school, they discover that a dark entity has joined them. It has come to collect a debt long overdue and someone has to pay. Will Tanner and his classmates overcome their fears, putting the pieces of their lives back together, or will they be consumed by their worst nightmare? Find out in this suspenseful thrill ride that will keep you guessing and engaged with a lovable cast of characters.

    On a rainy April morning, she is reading auras at Spiritual Palms when Susan Burke walks in. A keen observer of human behavior, our unnamed narrator immediately diagnoses beautiful, rich Susan as an unhappy woman eager to give her lovely life a drama injection. However, when the "psychic" visits the eerie Victorian home that has been the source of Susan's terror and grief, she realizes she may not have to pretend to believe in ghosts anymore. Miles, Susan's teenage stepson, doesn't help matters with his disturbing manner and grisly imagination. The three are soon locked in a chilling battle to discover where the evil truly lurks and what, if anything, can be done to escape it.“The Grownup,” originally appeared as “What Do You Do?” in George R. R. Martin’s Rogues anthology.