A crowd gathers, horrified, curious, staring at the corpse on the pavement. It is July 12, 1969, and John Lee is dead. This is the story of John Lee's murder in the words of four men who knew him.

    Once theking is murdered, however, the Byrne siblings are met with viciousopposition. In a mission to prove themselves, both boys try to manup and adjust to leading the kingdom, their sister, Citi, is out ofcontrol and sleeping with the enemy.As the facts surrounding their father's murder begin to comeout, the brothers are caught up, forcing Citi to run the empire herfather built. With a new man in her life, Citi vows to Guard TheThrone by any means necessary. But being queen can be deadly.

    Tortured by the unsolved slayings of his wife and young daughter, he is a man consumed by guilt, regret, and the desire for revenge. When his former partner asks him to track down a missing girl, Parker finds himself drawn into a world beyond his imagining: a world where thirty-year-old killings remain shrouded in fear and lies, a world where the ghosts of the dead torment the living, a world haunted by the murderer responsible for the deaths in his family—a serial killer who uses the human body to create works of art and takes faces as his prize. But the search awakens buried instincts in Parker: instincts for survival, for compassion, for love, and, ultimately, for killing.Aided by a beautiful young psychologist and a pair of bickering career criminals, Parker becomes the bait in a trap set in the humid bayous of Louisiana, a trap that threatens the lives of everyone in its reach. Driven by visions of the dead and the voice of an old black psychic who met a terrible end, Parker must seek a final, brutal confrontation with a murderer who has moved beyond all notions of humanity, who has set out to create a hell on earth: the serial killer known only as the Traveling Man.In the tradition of classic American detective fiction, Every Dead Thing is a tense, richly plotted thriller, filled with memorable characters and gripping action. It is also a profoundly moving novel, concerned with the nature of loyalty, love, and forgiveness. Lyrical and terrifying, it is an ambitious debut, triumphantly realized.

    Condos are sprouting like weeds, FOR SALE signs are popping up overnight, and the neighbors she’s known all her life are disappearing. To hold onto her community’s past and present, Sydney channels her frustration into a walking tour and finds an unlikely and unwanted assistant in one of the new arrivals to the block—her neighbor Theo.But Sydney and Theo’s deep dive into history quickly becomes a dizzying descent into paranoia and fear. Their neighbors may not have moved to the suburbs after all, and the push to revitalize the community may be more deadly than advertised.When does coincidence become conspiracy? Where do people go when gentrification pushes them out? Can Sydney and Theo trust each other—or themselves—long enough to find out before they too disappear?

    Mekhi knew from the first moment he saw Rylee that she would be his wife. He doted on her and placed her on the pedestal that she deserved to be on. He cherished her. Or so Rylee thought. Rylee’s picture perfect life became a cracked glass frame when Mekhi’s true intentions were revealed.  As fate would have it, Zyra’s brother Zyrian is standing in the wings preparing to put the glass pieces back together again.  Will Rylee be willing to walk away from all that she has ever known with her husband Mekhi? Will she be willing to swim in new uncharted waters with Zyrian? Will Mekhi fight for who he believes rightfully belongs to him and only him? Will Zyrian’s persistent interests complicate Rylee’s thoughts? With a host of supporting characters and Mekhi’s extreme disdain for Zyrian, the situation gets more complicated at every turn. Will Mekhi be able to stop Rylee from committing what he considers the ultimate sin with Zyrian or will his secrets run her right into the arms of the man that he despises the most?

    Our narrator must piece together the history of his blighted existence and discover the agents of its cruel end. What he doesn’t expect is that digging for the truth will demand plenty of lying.

    After witnessing her mother s gruesome murder as a child, she is now left piecing together the fragments of her shattered psyche as an adult. Quickly, she is drowning in years of frustration and confusion with no promise of relief. Sinister visions and undying spirits haunt Rain relentlessly, driving her deeper into darkness and lunacy. Rain s grandmother, GiGi, tries her best to help Rain face the truth, urging her to confront her past, but the past is too painful it s easier to hide. As Rain struggles desperately to define herself, she's forced to brave her live-in siblings: a violent and narcissistic brother, Danny, who resents her weakness and Carmen, her promiscuous and hostile older sister, who wishes Rain would disappear. In her fragile mental state, Rain is ill-equipped to handle the chaos of their ruptured lives. When Rain, Carmen, and Danny are submerged into the horrors of prostitution, drug-addiction, domestic violence, and murder, Rain is left alone to face her internal demons and find her identity, with no one to answer to, but herself.

    Entering the drug game is his ticket to the finer things in life, but it’s called a game for a reason. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. After marrying Shayla, attaining a lakeside property, and having anything he wants at his fingertips, he should be living the good life. But there’s always someone coming for the number one spot.Shayla Wilson gives up everything for her first love. Her pursuit of being a psychiatrist to help the mentally ill, attending church, and ties with her family are all broken when she marries Titus. However, she loves him too much to let go. Along with Titus, her best friends Gladys LaQuinn and Rhonda Jackson are all Shayla needs until the day she finds out that the people closest to her are not who they say they are. What will Shayla do when her beautiful, expensive, expertly designed house of lies threatens to fall?As rival drug cartels invade their lakeside property and friends unveil themselves as foes, will the walls come falling down around Titus and Shayla, or will they survive the darkest test of their lives?This is the second edition of Secrets of a Kept Woman, which has been edited and revised with 10,000 words of new content added.

    But when he forcibly ends the moneymaking scheme of a made man, he gets in the kind of trouble that can lead to a bullet behind the ear. Saved by the grace of his boss and exiled to upstate New York, Isaiah begins a new life, a quiet life without gunshots or explosions. Except a teenage girl disappears, and Isaiah isn't one to let that slip by. And delving into the underworld to track this missing girl will get him exactly the kind of notice he was warned to avoid.

    The quiet girl from Brooklyn refused to go back to the projects– being raised by her selfish aunt her whole life was the push she needed to run far away and never return. According to Ms. Hudson, actions have always spoken louder than words, so when a blast from the past resurfaces and refuses to take “no” for an answer, Nia decides to give him one hour of her time. Surprisingly, one hour turns into a week, a week transpires into months and before she knows it, the two have become a couple. Together, East and Nia don’t paint the perfect-picture– they have nothing in common, and in fact, he’s the complete opposite of everything she stands for. Dangerous, thrilling, edgy, secretive, and quiet describes her current beau. East is definitely living life in the fast lane. Selling any and everything he can get his hands on and not knowing when the FEDS or worst, friends disguised as enemies will be his downfall. East doesn’t care about her flashy lifestyle as long as the cameras don’t land on him. Nia isn’t who she “post” to be, surviving in the projects wasn’t easy, she didn’t always possess her sassy attitude. When what was supposed to be a fun date night for the couple leads to Pandora’s Box being opened, Nia is left feeling betrayed. In this new suspenseful and quite romantic series from NAKO, love has been put to the ultimate test. Can the past be forgiven?

    As they embark on their search to find their soul mates, they navigate the full-contact sport known as being a SSBFLA (successful, single, black, female in L.A.) and negotiate the shark-infested waters of making a name for themselves professionally in Hollywood.Can Trista, the hyper-driven celebrity agent, find the time to schedule a meaningful romance? Will Amaya, the sexy starlet, convince the married hip hop-label exec she has been seeing to leave his wife, or will the NBA star steal her heart in the final seconds? After undergoing a complete makeover, will Vivian, the jaded gossip columnist, win back the father of her child?As seductive as it is empowering, The Vow is a page-turner that will keep you cheering for these women as they discover that their desire to find a husband isn't as important as finding themselves.

    Being the good girl that she was, she had never smoked, drank, or done any drugs a day in her life. She had never even had a boyfriend, nor a first kiss. Pilar never found anyone worthy until one eventful night where she ran into one of the most sought-after men in her town. Legacy Powers came from an unstable household and had to practically raise himself and the adults around him. Known for his striking looks and charming demeanor, he kept three women in rotation and ran from commitment. That was until he ran into a rare beauty that set a fire in his once cold heart. Despite these two being total opposites, they find themselves incredibly drawn to each other like a magnet. After the first mishap on the first night they met, time quickly passes as they try to forget each other. However, what’s meant to be will be, despite what the journey throws at them. Could Pilar handle Legacy’s lifestyle and was Legacy ready to let his past life go? Will these two figure it out together or end up going their separate ways after the chaos ceases?

    Supreme Court.Avery Keene, a brilliant young law clerk for the legendary Justice Howard Wynn, is doing her best to hold her life together--excelling in an arduous job with the court while also dealing with a troubled family. When the shocking news breaks that Justice Wynn--the cantankerous swing vote on many current high-profile cases--has slipped into a coma, Avery's life turns upside down. She is immediately notified that Justice Wynn has left instructions for her to serve as his legal guardian and power of attorney. Plunged into an explosive role she never anticipated, Avery finds that Justice Wynn had been secretly researching one of the most controversial cases before the court--a proposed merger between an American biotech company and an Indian genetics firm, which promises to unleash breathtaking results in the medical field. She also discovers that Wynn suspected a dangerously related conspiracy that infiltrates the highest power corridors of Washington.As political wrangling ensues in Washington to potentially replace the ailing judge whose life and survival Avery controls, she begins to unravel a carefully constructed, chesslike sequence of clues left behind by Wynn. She comes to see that Wynn had a much more personal stake in the controversial case and realizes his complex puzzle will lead her directly into harm's way in order to find the truth. While Justice Sleeps is a cunningly crafted, sophisticated novel, layered with myriad twists and a vibrant cast of characters. Drawing on her astute inside knowledge of the court and political landscape, Stacey Abrams shows herself to be not only a force for good in politics and voter fairness but also a major new talent in suspense fiction.

    Ray McMillian loves playing the violin more than anything, and nothing will stop him from pursuing his dream of becoming a professional musician. Not his mother, who thinks he should get a real job, not the fact that he can't afford a high-caliber violin, not the racism inherent in the classical music world. And when he makes the startling discovery that his great-grandfather's fiddle is actually a priceless Stradivarius, his star begins to rise. Then with the international Tchaikovsky Competition—the Olympics of classical music—fast approaching, his prized family heirloom is stolen. Ray is determined to get it back. But now his family and the descendants of the man who once enslaved Ray's great-grandfather are each claiming that the violin belongs to them. With the odds stacked against him and the pressure mounting, will Ray ever see his beloved violin again?

    He's also a knight errant who's wary of credit cards, retirement benefits, political parties, mortgages, and television. He only works when his cash runs out and his rule is simple: he'll help you find whatever was taken from you, as long as he can keep half.