A disgraced ex-cop turned private investigator is hired by the dead woman’s father and immediately becomes the target of a violent ex-convict. An enigmatic music star performs damage control on her links to the dead woman. And a professional killer who idolizes Keith Richards is brought into town by a mysterious employer. DEAD WOOD is what great mysteries are all about: love, hate, faith and vengeance, all wrapped up in an explosive story that simply refuses to let up. HARD ROCK (John Rockne Mystery #2) Private Investigator John Rockne is determined to find out who is responsible for the brutal murder of a young man in Grosse Pointe. A contract killer known only as The Spook wants to keep the truth buried forever. Rockne quickly uncovers a series of dark secrets with ties to his own tortured past. HARD ROCK is a thrilling conclusion to the bestselling crime novel DEAD WOOD. COLD JADE (John Rockne Mystery #3) Once a cop in the well-to-do Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe, John Rockne was dismissed from the force after making a tragic mistake that resulted in the brutal murder of a young man. Now working as a private investigator, John is hired by a man whose daughter is missing and he soon discovers the young woman was living a secret life under the name Jade. John quickly realizes the world Jade had entered was a dangerous one filled with thieves, drugs, pimps and murderers. He has no idea if he can find her…and bring her out alive. “Dan Ames' writing reminds me of the great thriller writers -- lean, mean, no nonsense prose that gets straight to the point and keeps you turning those pages.” --Robert Gregory Browne, author of Down Among the Dead Men "As gritty as the Detroit streets where it's set, DEAD WOOD grabs you early on and doesn't let go. As fine a debut as you'll come across this year, maybe any year." --Tom Schreck, author of Out Cold, A Duffy Dombrowski Mystery “From its opening lines, Daniel S. Ames and his private eye novel DEAD WOOD recall early James Ellroy: a fresh attitude and voice and the heady rush of boundless yearning and ambition. Ames delivers a vivid evocation of time and place in a way that few debut authors achieve, nailing the essence of his chosen corner of high-tone Michigan. He also deftly dodges the pitfalls that make so much contemporary private detective fiction a mixed bag and nostalgia-freighted misfire. Ames’ detective has family; he’s steady. He’s not another burned-out, booze-hound hanging on teeth and toenails to the world and smugly wallowing in his own ennui. This is the first new private eye novel in a long time that just swept me along for the ride. Ames is definitely one to watch.” — Craig McDonald, Edgar-nominated author “Dead Wood is a fast-paced, unpredictable mystery with an engaging narrator and a rich cast of original supporting characters.” –Thomas Perry, New York Times bestselling author of The Butcher’s Boy.

    The past month she has done things she never knew she was capable of while hunting for her kidnapped daughter.Eva Rae has risked everything,-her career,-her newfound love,-her freedom.She’s looking for the man they call the Iron Fist. The trail has led her to Miami.Meanwhile, Miami is under attack. Hundreds of passengers in the Metrorail are exposed to a deathly nerve gas on a peaceful Monday morning. When Eva Rae Thomas sees her daughter on the surveillance footage from the attack, she knows it is no coincidence. But by the time she uncovers the chilling truth of how it is all connected, it might be too late.- SAY YOU LOVE ME:What would you do if your brother was accused of a horrible crime, and you were certain he didn’t do it?Life is not done throwing Eva Rae Thomas curveballs.A phone call turns her life upside down – once again. The call is from her father, the man she hasn’t seen in thirty-six years, not since he kidnapped her sister in a supermarket.Now, he is back in Florida, and he needs her help. Her younger brother – who she didn’t know existed – has been arrested on Amelia Island. The boy is in a coma after being shot by an officer during the incident. But his father doesn’t believe the police, and he asks for Eva Rae’s help to prove it.At the same time, a serial killer is planning one of the most horrific mass killings in history.Will Eva Rae find it in her heart to help her father after what he did to her? Will facing him again set her free or pull her under?

    This terrific boxset brings together Wes Markin's first three bestselling novels in the terrifying and shocking DCI Yorke series. Book 1: One Last Prayer for the Rays. School should be the safest place in the world. Not this winter. Detective Michael Yorke faces his most harrowing case yet. When 12-year-old Paul disappears from school, Yorke’s only clue is a pool of animal blood. Fearing the worst, he turns toward the most obvious suspect, recently released local murderer, Thomas Ray.But as the snow in Salisbury worsens, Ray’s mutilated body is discovered, and Yorke is left with no choice but to journey into the sinister heart of a demented family that has plagued the community for generations. Can he save the boy? Or will the evil he discovers change him forever? Book 2: The Repenting Serpent A vicious serial killer slithers from the darkness, determined to resurrect the ways of a long-dead civilisation.When the ex-wife of one of DCI Michael Yorke’s closest allies is left mutilated and murdered, Yorke and his team embark on their greatest test yet. A  deeply personal case that will push them to their very limits. And as Yorke’s team are pulled further into the dark, the killer circles, preparing to strike again.  Book 3: The Silence of Severance Your wedding day should be the most unforgettable day of your life. And this is one wedding that will never be forgotten. When a police officer’s wedding day ends in brutality and chaos, DCI Michael Yorke is pulled away from his own wedding and into the bloodiest chain of events Wiltshire has ever seen.As a heatwave tightens its grip on Salisbury, Yorke and his team face a race against time to find the most sinister and intelligent adversary they have ever faced. Christian Severance. But as the team chase Severance into the shadows of a dark past, Yorke’s own history starts to drag itself into the present. Can they stop Christian Severance before he achieves the unthinkable? And will Yorke survive the revelations that claw at him from the darkness? Praise for One Last Prayer for the Rays: "An explosive and visceral debut with the most terrifying of killers. Wes Markin is a new name to watch out for in crime fiction, and I can't wait to see more of Detective Yorke."  – Bestselling Crime Author Stephen Booth ‘A pool of blood, an abduction, swirling blizzards, a haunting mystery, yes, Wes Markin’s One Last Prayer for the Rays has all the makings of an absorbing thriller. I recommend that you give it a go.’ – Bestselling Author Alan Gibbons  ‘Wes Markin has created a really high energy novel that I just want to rave about everywhere.

    Canaryville will be the flashpoint—violent, insular, bare-knuckle Irish, and fiercely defensive of what little neighborhood it has left.As the Southside musters for its massive Irish-only but now-banned St. Patrick’s Day parade, extremist groups descend from all sides. A grisly double-homicide occurs at Canaryville’s eastern border. Within hours, a pub bomb explodes at the western border. Amid the rage and carnage, a third targeted homicide rocks the neighborhood.Embattled homicide lieutenant Denny Banahan races to prove the killings are a purge within the Irish mob, not the graffiti-implied threats of another “Red Summer”—Chicago’s horrifying rampage of racial murder and arson in 1919. But the shocking secrets that Denny’s detectives begin to exhume may say otherwise.Buried in those secrets are Denny’s deep and tragic childhood roots in Canaryville, and his major sins in the violent Black neighborhoods that surround it. The explosive combination will make Denny the one cop who might stop Chicago’s long-predicted descent into Red Summer, or the one who will finally ignite it.

    To learn more about Kevin’s home life, he gets to know the boy’s father, Tucker, who’s a lobsterman. James is able to put his suspicions to rest, and the two families begin to form a friendship. When a kid at the local recreation center dies of an overdose, Detective Maya Morrow adds the case to the long list related to the drug problem plaguing the small New Hampshire coastal town of Newborough. But her investigation gets her much too close to the dangerous players. Both the Morrows and the Flynns are holding dark secrets, and when their lives collide, tragedy is inevitable."A harrowing tale of abuse and addiction, told in a beautiful way that will touch your heart. This book was very emotional, very driven..." Kelly Smith Reviews "I was not expecting the level of emotional intensity that this novel achieves. Taking on Water is a horrific theater of human nature. And it begins with James." The Coffee Pot Review

    And that of strangers, too. Wherever she goes, she’s being watched. Each stalker is different from the last, except for one thing—their alarming obsession with Nicki.Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Nicki’s father is turning to someone who can protect her: retired private detective and ex–Navy SEAL Jon Lancaster. Teaming up with FBI agent and former abduction victim Beth Daniels, Lancaster can help—his way. He’s spent most of his career dispatching creeps who get off on terrorizing the vulnerable. Unlicensed, and unrestricted, he plays dirty…But this case is unusual. Why so many men? Why this one girl? Does Nicki have something to hide? Or do her parents?Trawling the darkest depths of southern Florida, Lancaster faces a growing tide of secrets and deception. And the deeper he digs, the more he realizes that finding the truth won’t be easy. Because there’s more to this case than meets the eye.

    What they find goes beyond money and transforms them both. It all starts with a key, embossed with the letters CB, and a cryptic reference to Deep Deuce, a neighborhood once filled with hot jazz and gangs of bootleggers. Out of those threads is woven a tapestry of history, romance, drama, and mystery; connecting two generations and two families in the adventure of a lifetime.

    The soon-to-be ex-husband winds up with a bullet in his back, and the prime suspect is Jeri's client.DON'T TURN YOUR BACK ON THE OCEANJeri is looking to catch a respite from the PI life to relax and visit family in lovely Monterey on the California coast. Now, what's the worst thing that could happen on a PI's vacation? A dead body on the beach, most likely.NOBODY'S CHILDIs a Jane Doe uncovered at a construction site the body of her client's long-lost daughter Maureen? If so, what's become of Maureen's two-year-old daughter?

    Nice work if you can get it. And if you can avoid making the kind of enemies—mobsters, local officials, politicians, and industry good ole’ boys among them—who would gladly contribute to your untimely demise. MILLION DOLLAR STAIRCASEWill thinks fast when he discovers his girl friend’s the victim of a frame-up. He sees instantly why they can’t go to the cops—the mayor, the city manager, and for all Will knows, every official in town could be in on it. It’s the latest offensive in a case of municipal bullying that’s busted many a bank account and broken many a heart—something that sounds so boring you could doze off just reading the words: Eminent Domain. But it’s anything but boring when it enters your life as the legal justification for waltzing in and power-grabbing your property-- business, buildings, and all.GUILTY MONEYWill Harper thinks his latest story’s about Florida’s prison problems. It seems that budget cuts have led to police departments turning to creative schemes to raise money. Grove County’s version involves arresting citizens for minor charges and then driving up their bail when a search of the citizen’s home too conveniently turns up drugs.But the usual guilty money scheme has been improved upon by a corrupt deputy, Deke Snyder, who’s skimming money from the jail. Once Will finds that out, Deputy Deke sics all his buddies on him–which include every cop in town.FLORIDA BURNINGA toxic algae bloom in Lake Okeechobee that’s as thick as guacamole. A deadly pollutant from a cane field. And an environmentalist dead in a cane field fire. Coincidence? Florida PI Will Harper knows damn well it’s not.THE FLORIDA SHUFFLESeems like Will’s got it made. The semi-retired investigative journalist is living the dream aboard his yacht WanderLust with his new live-in girlfriend Callie, a social worker at a rehab center. And, tired of getting beat up on the job, he’s finally whipping himself into shape. But it’s not all Florida coast sunsets, kayak adventures, sweaty bike races, and steak dinners on the boardwalk. Callie learns her employer has a history of setting clients up in shady sober homes in exchange for financial kickbacks—and one of those homes has lostthree of its patients to “accidental” overdoses in the past four months.Turns out it’s just the tip of the iceberg.This mystery anthology is custom-made for Florida mystery connoisseurs, and the cherry on top is Will’s liveaboard trawler, harking straight back to the grand tradition of marina-living PIs like John D. McDonald’s Travis McGee and Randy Wayne White’s Doc Ford. Fans of classics like those and more recent Florida tales by Wayne Stinnett and Dawn McKenna will be thrilled to discover this tempting tropical series—but so will anyone looking for the kind of private investigator who really cares.

    Three men are murdered to get a dull, forgotten painting. A crazy, pointless heist? Or something far more sinister?In this action-packed crime-thriller, the tough ex-cop and firearms specialist Kite is up against a foreign spy who’s planning havoc and mayhem, not an art show. To complicate matters, Kite’s being followed by a kooky – and sexy – young woman. Where does she fit in? Even worse, Kite’s got a shameful secret in his past that he thinks is well hidden – until he realises someone’s on to it and the odds stack up to produce an action-packed thriller.What Kite is chasing down isn’t just a painting: it’s the most explosive art in the world. Can he stop the impending cataclysm?

    When one of the candidates is burned to death in a fiery blaze, Clint Wolf and Susan Wilson go straight from their honeymoon to investigating a brutal homicide. While there are a number of suspects, evidence and witnesses are lacking, and narrowing the list down becomes a challenge. A late night attack on a Mechant Loup police officer leads to a curious discovery, but exactly how this discovery factors into the case is anybody's guess. Clint will have to reach out to the local media for help...and it might turn out to be the best decision he's made throughout the case. However, no one will be rejoicing when this investigation is over, and it's unlikely anyone from the police department will ever be the same again. BUT NOT FORMIDABLE It’s a warm September afternoon in the sleepy town of Mechant Loup, a tornado has just ripped through town, and Detective Clint Wolf is searching for a missing school teacher. Not only are details sketchy and witnesses nonexistent, but a formidable Category 4 hurricane is heading straight for the Louisiana coast--and it’s threatening to erase every scintilla of evidence that might lead to the missing woman. Even as the outer rain bands of the hurricane begin battering Mechant Loup, Clint makes a grisly discovery in the dead of night and suddenly realizes he’s dealing with a cold-blooded killer--but that revelation leaves him with more questions than answers. When the pieces of the investigative puzzle finally start falling into place, Clint will have to answer a question of his own--did he finally meet a suspect he couldn't take down? BUT NOT FOR LOVE On the living room floor of a lonely farm house in Chateau Parish, Louisiana, there rests the body of a young woman named Allie—the victim of a horrific attack. A little farther to the south, Detective Clint Wolf is leaving the Mechant Loup Police Department when he hears the screams of a terrified female. Jumping into action, he responds to the area and arrests the woman's husband for attacking her with a pipe. Almost immediately after Clint wraps up the arrest and returns home, Police Chief Susan Wilson receives a welfare call from Allie’s mother saying she hadn’t heard from Allie in hours. When Clint responds to the welfare concern with Mallory Tuttle, a detective from the Chateau Parish Sheriff’s Office, they discover Allie’s body. An investigation ensues and it isn’t long before they make an arrest for murder. However, when another woman is killed days later, they delve deeper into Allie’s case and unearth some disturbing similarities. A tip from a young boy and a trip to the northern mountains of Georgia might shed some light on the motive, but locating the killer will be anything but easy—or safe.

    Which will make her husband--what?Well, if he's the ex-cop who solved the murder of the president's first husband and brought the killers to justice...and if he's not the kind of guy to stand on formality...and if he doesn't want to be the head of the FBI...and if he takes out a license and becomes the first private eye to live in the White House...That would make him The President's Henchman.Jim McGill's first case is to find out who is stalking a member of the White House press corps, before that stalker turns the tables on McGill and maybe even threatens the president herself. He also has to be a shadow adviser to a young Air Force investigator who is looking into a he-said-she-said charge of adultery leveled against a female colonel working at the Pentagon, a case with the potential to derail the new president's administration before it has a chance to begin.

    How did her husband of twelve years never hear her sing?Cathy Tolliver, an insurance claims adjuster is processing a simple Christmas tree fire claim. When a hundred thousand dollar necklace shows up missing a week later from Wanda Rose's townhome, Cathy is suspicious. When two people are dead, she wonders if she will be next.What Others are Saying about The Blue Rose“Wow! That’s all I can say.”“I didn’t see the ending coming!”“I should know better than to try and figure out a Terry Toler plotline.”“So, the character takes the plunge and goes on the journey and what a journey it was!”

    BREAK THE STORY. STAY ALIVE.ONE YEAR AFTER the 9/11 attacks, Alex Vane--a brilliant, fitness-obsessed reporter for The New York Standard--wants nothing more than to break into the flashy world of TV news. But when he uncovers the scoop of a lifetime, his tightly controlled world is rocked: his editor buries his story, a source turns up dead, and Alex finds himself at the center of a violent media conspiracy.AS HE RECEIVES TIPS from a mysterious source, Alex enlists the help of a captivating professor, Camila Gray. Aided by an Internet genius, a billionaire's sexy widow, and a washed-up sports reporter, Alex and Camila discover a $500-million secret that could derail the largest media merger in history.IT'S A SECRET THAT unearths dark memories from Alex's past. It's a secret that leads back to the morning of 9/11. And it's a secret that could get them both killed.IN HIS DEBUT MEDIA THRILLER, A.C. Fuller brings you a young journalist chasing the biggest story of his career--from the courtrooms of New York City to the beaches of Hawaii, from a crowded newsroom to a lavish boardroom at the top of a media empire.

     PARALLAX VIEW, originally published in 2013: It's spring 1987, and CIA clandestine operations agent Tracie Tanner is tasked with what should be a relatively simple mission: deliver a secret communique from Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to U.S. President Ronald Reagan. After smuggling the document out of East Germany, Tracie believes she is in the clear. She's wrong. A shadowy cabal is work, people who will stop at nothing to prevent the explosive information contained in the letter from reaching the White House. Soon, Tanner is knee-deep in airplane crashes and murder, paired up with a young Maine air traffic controller and on the run for their lives, unsure who she can trust at CIA, but committed to completing her mission, no matter the cost... ALL ENEMIES, originally published in 2014: It's the early fall of 1987, and when United States Secretary of State J. Robert Humphries is kidnapped out of his Washington, D.C. home at gunpoint, all evidence points directly to the Soviet Union as the responsible party. Still recovering from her injuries suffered earlier in the summer, covert ops specialist Tracie Tanner is tasked by CIA Director Aaron Stallings to follow the evidence and recover Humphries safely from the Soviets. There's only one problem - Tanner's not convinced the Soviets are involved. Soon, she's ruffling feathers, risking her career, and once again running for her life, betting everything on a hunch that might just get her and Humphries killed and result in the start of World War Three… THE HITLER DECEPTION, originally published in 2015: It's November 1987, and the disappearance of an elderly West German man results in CIA Director Aaron Stallings dispatching Tracie Tanner to the scene. Working with the assistance of a CIA operative she's not sure she can trust, Tracie faces her toughest assignment yet - pick up the trail of the mysterious Amber Room key, utterly unique and critical to unlocking the mystery of a missing cache of treasure worth an unimaginable sum. Meanwhile, lurking in the background is a man long-believed to have taken his own life in the dying days of World War II, but who may, in fact, be very much alive. Adolph Hitler. And he's waiting to resume his rightful place atop the Thousand Year Reich. Readers of the Tracie Tanner thriller series have come to expect international intrigue and a lightning-fast plot. THE HITLER DECEPTION delivers, raising the bar with treasure, treachery, and a Tracie Tanner pushed to the very limit of her abilities and endurance. ---------- Suspense, thrills, twists, and a surprisingly human - and fallible - hero make THE TRACIE TANNER COLLECTION a must-have for any thriller fan. You'll find yourself compulsively turning the nearly one thousand action-packed pages deep into the night... ---------- Praise for the Tracie Tanner novels: "Allan Leverone's PARALLAX VIEW is a sure-footed, masterful thriller with a breakneck pace that never lets up. Faced with the deepest act of betrayal in U.S. history, CIA agent Tracie Tanner must call on every tool she has---and her every last reserve to see the mission through." -- J. Carson Black, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of THE SHOP and HARD RETURN "PARALLAX VIEW...is a powerhouse full-throttle spy thriller...It is a taut and thoughtful journey back to the dying days of the Cold War...it will keep you up, and on the edge of your chair, long into the night.