Here, young Scottish surgeon Felix Carswell and Chief Constable Major Giles Vernon are tasked to uncover the truth in three complex tales of murder and detection set in Early Victorian England. The Hanging Cage Summoned to the bleak market town of Whithorne in the midst of a winter storm, Major Giles Vernon and police surgeon Felix Carswell are embroiled in another challenging investigation. A beautiful young heiress has been found dead in her bed, and although suicide seems the most likely cause, the circumstances soon point to a tangle of illicit relationships and painful secrets. As Major Vernon pursues the truth behind Annabella Barker's death, further shocking events soon unfold, including another suicide At the same time, called in to deliver a son and heir, Carswell is drawn into the affairs of the eccentric Yardley family at Whithorne Castle, but it is no distraction from his anxieties about his troubled relationship with Sukey Connolly. Major Vernon, for his part, unexpectedly encounters an old acquaintance and is forced to question both his past and his future. When a partial skeleton is found in a culvert, events begin to take a still darker turn, and Vernon and Carswell must pursue an unimaginable evil. As November floods threaten the bridges of Northminster itself, dangerous enemies emerge close to home and the struggle for justice becomes a matter of life and death. The Hanging Cage is the fourth Northminster Mystery, featuring early Victorian detectives Vernon and Carswell. The Ghosts of Ardenthwaite Something is amiss at Ardenthwaite. Ghostly apparitions have been seen, so terrifying that the mistress of the house and the servants have deserted the place. Colonel Parham, the tenant, asks his landlord Felix Carswell and Major Giles Vernon to determine what is going on. But their investigations soon takes an unexpected turn, leaving them in confusion and doubting their own sanity. Shortly afterwards, a man dies in Northminster Infirmary, the victim of a brutal and systematic attack which seems to point to dangerous criminal forces hitherto unknown in the city. Vernon has his suspicions as to who is behind it, and with Carswell's assistance he begins to unpick a complex network of alliances and enemies. Yet, as their best witnesses meet brutal fates, they are forced to face the grim possibility of failure. Having been forced into unpleasant compromises to gain access to the truth, Giles is further unsettled by the return of Emma Maitland to Northminster, now engaged to another man. As she assists him with the case, he begins to realise all that he has lost. For Felix Carswell, a bizarre and other-worldly encounter with a beautiful, spirited young woman throws up the possibility of an extremely advantageous marriage. Eleanor Blanchfort is an heiress and Lord Rothborough's ward. Has destiny brought them together as she suggests, and can Felix find the will to resist such a dazzling temptation? The Echo at Rooke Court Felix Carswell returns from his blissful wedding journey and is at once called to the bedside of a young man fighting for his life.

    

    ACP Rathore is investigating the homicide. As the events begin to unleash Rathore digs upon secrets too dark and dangerous. As he proceeds, the question becomes more and more haunting - Who Killed Roger? Michael Rodriques, the Deputy Chief Minister of Goa? Shirley Fernandes, Roger's wife? One or more of the other artists? Or, an individual for whom Roger refused to perform? The Search is the most astonishingly impudent, ingenious and altogether a fast-paced murder mystery ever written by an Indian author.Note: This is an expanded version of the short story Who Killed Roger.

    They are on their way to visit his parents for Christmas, but they never arrive.Tim has an unshakable feeling that something will go horribly wrong even before they set off. What happens is far worse than he could have imagined.The tragedy that occurs sees grief-stricken Tim back in his investigator role, seeking justice.

    

    Meanwhile, a dark and blurry photograph puts the entire town on high alert, and the election recount goes Sinfully haywire. It's all fun and games until bodies start turning up... and Fortune might just be the next victim.Fan Fiction: works written by adoring fans of the original author, using the original author's characters and settings. Jana DeLeon has graciously allowed certain authors to write in her world and Aunt Tillie is proud to be one of them. Jumbalaya was Tillie's first effort, and she hopes you will enjoy this and other stories by fan fiction authors. The timelines for these stories may not coincide with current Jana DeLeon stories, but they should fit almost anywhere within the Miss Fortune series.

    Set in Carlisle - on the border between England and Scotland and much else besides - Call & Response introduces DS Samantha 'Pepper' Wilson and her North Division CID team. In this first episode Pepper struggles to cope with the madness and sadness of everyday policing, whist covering for an absent boss and adapting to a new Superintendent who's come straight from a supermarket's supply chain to British policing's chain of command. And matters take a serious turn when a case of 'revenge porn' is reported, involving members of a minority ethnic group, and one of Pepper's young DCs is assaulted, within spitting distance of Carlisle's shiny new Police HQ. Both cases are delicate and potentially inflammatory, and Pepper's short fuse is trimmed still more by the return to Carlisle of a dangerous career criminal with whom Pepper grew up, and whose reappearance could have dangerous implications for her, the city, and its now almost vanishingly 'thin blue line'.

    The series you didn’t know you’ve been missing. From lauded author Mark Hazard comes a new off-beat crime series about a man with one name, a hidden past, and an uncontrollable urge to root out villainy. Mere weeks after returning from his final deployment, Corus is a cadet at an elite police academy in Seattle. While doing grunt work at a local precinct, he comes across a set of diamonds taken from the scene of an unsolved hit-and-run. Not only did the diamonds go unclaimed, but the still-living victim is nowhere to be found. When the diamonds turn out to be fakes, it’s one too many oddities in an attempted murder with no suspects. Instincts forged in covert action plunge Corus headlong into criminal ranks, but taking the fastest route to answers runs roughshod over the delicate procedural approach he’s supposed to be learning. Corus knows he’s threatening his new life and career in the process, but putting the mission before self-preservation is the hardest habit of all to break. The one man who can help Corus sort through his issues is the least likely of all. Albert Chu is a cheery and childlike cadet who's failing the academy but has a knack for getting into Corus' head. In trying to rein Corus in, he ends up proving his mettle, and together they fight to prevent multiple murders and foil a kidnapping plot, even while the eye of the law they hoped to serve is turned on their actions.Can Corus unite the lines of duty pulling him in different directions, or will he end up another casualty of the war he brought home?Through Corus’ journey runs a cracking mystery/crime story with humor, thrills, and a cast of well-drawn side characters, from small-time gangsters and rodeo riff-raff to Corus' wife who grapples with her own grifter impulses. The Deputy Corus series is precisely the blend of action and depth that readers of James Patterson and Lee Child are looking for.What readers are saying about the series: “…Nuance of character development that is often lacking these days. - especially with books that deal with military or police.” “A heck of a caper that'll make you laugh a lot more often than most crime novels.” “Not at all the same cookie cutter outline that most crime writers follow for their main character. It's much more complex and enjoyable.” "Exactly the story I was waiting for!" "In Lines of Duty, Hazard paints a scene with his words that transported me into a new world and created thought-provoking and enticing dilemmas. This story is entertaining and engaging. I recommend Lines of Duty 100% to anyone who loves a good mystery." "If you’re looking for a paint-by-numbers procedural, this isn’t the book for you, but if you crave deeply human crime drama with a fair share of thrills and humor, then this is a must-read." “This series is as enjoyable as Lee Child’s Reacher books.”

    

    

    When his mysterious employer, Eli Glinn, gives him an eyebrow-raising mission, he has no reason to refuse. Gideon's task: steal a page from the priceless Book of Kells, now on display in New York City and protected by unbreakable security. Accomplishing the impossible, Gideon steals the parchment--only to learn that hidden beneath the gorgeously illuminated image is a treasure map dating back to the time of the ancient Greeks. As they ponder the strange map, they realize that the treasure it leads to is no ordinary fortune. It is something far more precious: an amazing discovery that could perhaps even save Gideon's life.Together with his new partner, Amy, Gideon follows a trail of cryptic clues to an unknown island in a remote corner of the Caribbean Sea. There, off the hostile and desolate Mosquito Coast, the pair realize the extraordinary treasure they are hunting conceals an even greater shock-a revelation so profound that it may benefit the entire human race . . . if Gideon and Amy can survive.

    One of them would die for her; the other would kill to keep her safe.**Find out why The Soul Summoner series has been a #1 bestseller in Paranormal Suspense and has been downloaded over 100,000 times, earning hundreds of 5-Star ratings. Enjoy the first two books in the series in one convenient bundle at 50% off the cover price!**THE SOUL SUMMONER (Book 1)Blessed or cursed with a connection to the souls of others, Sloan Jordan can see the best in people...and the worst. With nothing more than a glance at a photograph, she can judge the living from the dead and the good souls from the evil ones. For twenty-seven years, she's kept her ability a secret, but eleven young women have been murdered in the mountains of North Carolina, and Sloan may be the only hope of finding their killer.She has just agreed to help Detective Nathan McNamara with the case, when a stranger--who is as alluring as he is terrifying--shows up at her doorstep with a dark past and another puzzling mystery: she can't see his soul at all.Now Sloan is on the hunt for a deadly psychopath with two irresistible men. One of them would die for her, and the other would kill to keep her safe.THE SIREN (Book 2)All the missing victims of North Carolina's deadliest serial killer have been found, all except Rachel Smith. When the FBI produces a photo proving Rachel is alive and well in Texas, one case is closed but another one is opened. Either this is a case of mistaken identity or there are more people than just Sloan Jordan and Warren Parish who seem to walk the earth without a soul.Along with Detective Nathan McNamara, Sloan and Warren travel south to find Rachel and solve the biggest mystery of all: determining who--or what--they really are.

    Life is good until the father who abandoned her as an infant turns up dead in the swamp. Who else can help her but Ida Belle, Gertie and Fortune? And they've got their work cut out for them as they try to solve two mysteries - who Hugo Ancelet really was, and who killed him?

    So a small island off the north coast of Scotland in a 16th century castle seems to be just the job.After all, two out of three isn’t bad. At first the place seems idyllic: The wild landscapes are breathtaking, the northern lights otherworldly and the fire-side talk, fuelled by good whisky and good Angus steak, is fascinating. Maybe a bit too fascinating when it leads to a forty year old mystery about a man murdered, shot with a .38 in a locked room in circumstances which are, quite simply, impossible. And when the island is cut off by a storm, and an identical murder is committed, well, what are two cold case cops on honeymoon to do…?Book 12: The Butcher of WhitechapelIt was the first time John Stone had been back to London for fifteen years. Last time had been on an exchange program between the NYPD and Scotland Yard: an exchange of skills and experience that was supposed to last six months, but went one for a year and a half. This time he was on honeymoon with his partner and wife, Carmen Dehan. And it seemed, as they prepared to return home, that history was repeating itself.Because, as they were leaving the hotel for the airport, the call came; the call that said they had to stay, the call that said the killer was back, the one he’d been searching for fifteen years ago, the one who haunted all his secret nightmares - the one that got away.So now he has to share his dark secrets, and his nightmares, with his new bride. Book 13: Little Dead Riding Hood An eighteen-year-old girl sets out one November night to walk five blocks down Gleason Avenue to her boyfriend’s house. He calls her and she tells him she’s on her way. It’s a walk that should take ten minutes, but she never arrives.When she does turn up, it’s five days later, washed up on the banks of the River Bronx, in Soundview Park, strangled to death.The detective who investigates the murder, a friend of the family, finds no forensic evidence, nothing of interest in her phone records, no witnesses to the abduction or the murder. Nothing. The case goes cold.Until her brother, Samuel, comes forward with new evidence he has found. And then the cases is handed to Detectives Stone and Dehan of the 43rd Precinct. They start asking the difficult questions, like how did she get into the river in the first place, and then the case starts heating up again…

     BUT NOT FORBORNE Clint Wolf is in a race against time--leaving little time for sleep--as he tries to find a missing teenager. Rose Murdock was supposed to board Bus 23 for school early one winter morning in Mechant Loup. However, when her mother returns home from work that evening and checks the answering machine, she realizes Rose never made it to school. While a frantic call to the police department finally sets things in motion, the sixteen-year-old student has already been missing for nearly twelve hours and Clint is acutely aware that the victim could be halfway across the country or even dead at that point. Wasting no time, the Mechant Loup Police Department--with assistance from members of the community and deputies with the Chateau Parish Sheriff’s Office--launches a full-scale search for the girl while Clint begins gathering evidence and interviewing potential witnesses. It isn’t long before Clint begins developing potential suspects, but finding enough evidence to make an arrest is another matter. As the hours turn into days and searchers find no trace of the student, Clint begins to wonder if he’ll ever find a bread crumb that will lead to Rose Murdock. Or--like Abigail--will this be yet another young girl he couldn’t save? BUT NOT FOREWARNED It’s Mardi Gras in Mechant Loup and a dog complaint pulls Clint Wolf away from the town’s yearly parade. Happy to be away from the bustling crowds, noise, and lights, he responds to the complaint and arrives just in time to stop a man from shooting a friendly German shepherd that posed no threat to anyone. After addressing the man heatedly, he attempts to return the dog to its home, but instead finds a seemingly empty house, an abandoned detective car, a set of keys on the ground, and a single drop of blood in the driveway. It’s unclear if anyone is home, as nearly all of the townspeople are attending the parade and no one will answer his persistent knocking, but Clint is determined to find the source of the blood. Finally, his attention is drawn to the neighboring property, where he locates an off-duty officer bound and gagged and barely clinging to life. As though things weren’t bad enough, Clint soon stumbles upon a ghastly murder scene that will shock even him to his core, and it will inject sheer terror into the hearts of the rest of the town’s citizens. The one person who might hold the key to the case is in a coma, leaving Clint to delve deep into the lives of the victims in hopes of finding the killer--or killers. Clint’s biggest fear is not solving the case--it’s wondering what he might do once he comes face to face with the killer. BUT NOT FOREBODING When four college students set out into the swamps in search of the elusive Louisiana black bear, they find more than they bargained for. Now, one of them is missing and the others are stranded without a boat in the alligator-invested wilderness. When one of the concerned parents calls the Mechant Loup Police Department, Clint and Melvin begin searching for the overdue group. Their search takes them deep into the swamps and late into the night, and it isn’t long before Clint develops a foreboding feeling of déjà vu. This dreaded feeling only grows more intense as the investigation progresses, and Clint is left wondering if this incident is connected to a case he worked nearly two decades ago. If Clint is not careful, he might find out...the hard way.