Cold Snap: A Viking Cat Mystery


Codi Schneider - 2021
    In this village lives a cat named Bijou. But she’s no ordinary house cat; her ancestors were mousers on Viking longships, and their blood runs through her veins. Since her battle skills are hardly needed in this modern age, however, she spends her energies running the Fox Burrow Pet Inn with her human, Spencer, and her assistant, Skunk, a mentally negligible Pomeranian. Together, the happy trio has created a safe haven for their four-legged guests.But when Eddy Line, a handsome baker from California, comes to the inn―along with his piglet and pit bull puppy―everything changes. Spencer falls for Eddy, Bijou is unhappy with the sudden changes to her clan, and the townspeople are anything but welcoming; in fact, threats are made against Eddy when he buys the town’s historic firehouse in order to open a bakery.Then a shocking murder/dognapping occurs on the night of the bakery’s grand opening, and Bijou finds herself thrust into a tangled mystery. To solve it, she will have to summon her inner Viking―and fight tooth and claw for her new clan.

Broken Ice


J.R. Rain - 2019
    Rain and Matthew S. Cox! Mina Barrett is the CIA’s best defense against the Dominion. She’s young, charming, intelligent, motivated… and she’s a vampire. Twenty years ago, vampires revealed themselves to the world. Society hadn’t expected them to be real at all, much less a species entirely separate from humans. The government feared hostile foreign powers would also seek to exploit their psychic talents, and put out a call for recruitment. After a childhood spent in isolation, Mina saw a chance for adventure and signed on the dotted line. Unlike the Dominion, she doesn’t feel humans are inferior creatures and works to stop others of her kind from enslaving them. A deep cover asset discovers information that vampires want to keep out of human hands. The CIA sends Mina in to bring him—and his information—out alive. But the Dominion has their sights set on the secrets buried for centuries beneath a Siberian glacier… secrets that could reshape the world.

The Safe Place


Anna Downes - 2020
    Until he meets Emily.Emily is perfect.Scott offers Emily a summer job as a housekeeper on his remote, beautiful French estate. Enchanted by his lovely wife Nina, and his eccentric young daughter, Aurelia, Emily falls headlong into this oasis of wine-soaked days by the pool. But soon Emily realizes that Scott and Nina are hiding dangerous secrets, and if she doesn't play along, the consequences could be deadly.Superbly tense and oozing with atmosphere, Anna Downs's debut is the perfect summer suspense, with the modern gothic feel of Ruth Ware and the morally complex family dynamics of Lisa Jewell.Welcome to paradise...will you ever be able to leave?

Such a Pretty Smile


Kristi DeMeester - 2022
    Known only as The Cur, he leaves no traces, save for the torn bodies of girls, on the verge of becoming women, who are known as trouble-makers; those who refuse to conform, to know their place. Girls who don’t know when to shut up.2019: Thirteen-year-old Lila Sawyer has secrets she can’t share with anyone. Not the school psychologist she’s seeing. Not her father, who has a new wife, and a new baby. And not her mother—the infamous Caroline Sawyer, a unique artist whose eerie sculptures, made from bent twigs and crimped leaves, have made her a local celebrity. But soon Lila feels haunted from within, terrorized by a delicious evil that shows her how to find her voice—until she is punished for using it.2004: Caroline Sawyer hears dogs everywhere. Snarling, barking, teeth snapping that no one else seems to notice. At first, she blames the phantom sounds on her insomnia and her acute stress in caring for her ailing father. But then the delusions begin to take shape—both in her waking hours, and in the violent, visceral sculptures she creates while in a trance-like state. Her fiancé is convinced she needs help. Her new psychiatrist waves her “problem” away with pills. But Caroline’s past is a dark cellar, filled with repressed memories and a lurking horror that the men around her can’t understand.As past demons become a present threat, both Caroline and Lila must chase the source of this unrelenting, oppressive power to its malignant core. Brilliantly paced, unsettling to the bone, and unapologetically fierce, Such a Pretty Smile is a powerful allegory for what it can mean to be a woman, and an untamed rallying cry for anyone ever told to sit down, shut up, and smile pretty.

The Tree of Knowledge


Daniel G. Miller - 2021
    Imagine a person who can visualize ten steps ahead, not simply in the game of chess, but in every human interaction.Imagine a person who could anticipate what you say before you said it, who could see a punch before it was thrown. Imagine a person who could see the chess game of politics, economics, and power itself unfold long before it happens.Imagine a secret that could make all of this possible.Mathematics professor Albert Puddles is such a person, and as he is thrust into a murder and burglary investigation on the Princeton campus he finds that there is such a secret buried within an obscure cipher. The discovery leads Albert to team up with an aging mentor, a curious graduate assistant, and an unusual “book club” on a frantic chase across the country to recover the secret and clear his name.Through this adventure, Albert rediscovers a woman from his past and is forced to confront his own understanding of love, rationality, power, and the limits of the human mind.The #1 Bestseller and BookLife Editor’s Pick“The Tree of Knowledge is a dynamite read... reminiscent of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code but smarter, sharper... A thrill ride with no seatbelt but what an incredible view.”—Junot Díaz, New York Times bestselling author and winner of the Pulitzer Prize

No Second Chances


Rio Youers - 2022
    The best villain since Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels . . . This one is hot.” —Stephen KingLuke Kingsley’s glory days are behind him. A star on the rise, his life and career imploded after his soul singer wife, Lisa Hayes, disappeared without a trace, silencing a very public and tumultuous marriage. Most people, especially an avenging PI, think Luke got away with murder. The last thing he expects is to be pulled back from the brink by a starstruck stranger.Wannabe actress Kitty Rae has chased her dreams all the way from Kentucky to Hollywood. Saving a washed-up actor’s life wasn’t one of them, but she believes in Luke—as much as she believes her own career is just one lucky break away. For now, she works for Johan Fly, a charismatic, wealthy, and seriously unbalanced drug dealer to the rich and famous. When Johan discovers that Kitty has been skimming the product, he vows to make her pay.As Luke steps up to help Kitty, he uncovers a web of violence and corruption, as well as a single, enticing clue about his wife's disappearance. Barreling across the Mojave Desert, Luke and Kitty set off to find the long-lost Lisa. But Johan, hungry for vengeance, is hot on their trail. There’s no limit to what he will do to find them. And in a world where fortune favors the ruthless, there’s also no limit to what Luke and Kitty will have to do to survive.

The Perfect Son


Lauren North - 2019
    But no one is listening to her. After her husband, Mark, died suddenly in a terrible accident a few months earlier, the only thing keeping Tess together is Jamie. As they struggle to make sense of their new life without Mark, they find joy in brief moments of normalcy like walking to school and watching television together. Life is hard without Mark, but Tess has Jamie, and that's what matters.But there in the hospital, confused and surrounded by people who won't listen, Tess’s world falls apart. To save her son, she must piece together what happened between Mark's death and Jamie's birthday, but the truth might just be too much for her to bear.

Eye of the Moon


Ivan Obolensky - 2018
    Everyone has a secret, and nothing is what it seems. You’ll love this deftly crafted, gothic mystery because of its intricate plot, fascinating characters, and unexpected twists and turns. It will keep you wondering what will happen next.Get it now.“Involving the occult, stolen treasure, family secrets, and financial sabotage, Eye of the Moon is sumptuous in its description of white-tie dinner parties and sexual tensions with baronesses, and sharp in its maneuvering of several secret puzzles at once.” -IndieReader, IR Approved“A classic Victorian mystery, set in modern times with intrigue, ghosts, rivalries… through letters, diaries and narratives, Eye of the Moon weaves a richly layered, spellbinding story.” -Jefferson Hawkins, author“A deftly crafted and simply riveting gothic mystery by a master of the genre, Ivan Obolensky’s Eye of the Moon is especially and unreservedly recommended.” -Midwest Book Review

Redhead


Ian Cook - 2011
    Now the sacrifices begin…In 1921, in the ruined city of Carthage near Tunis, a red-haired French archaeologist hears the cries of long-dead children as he stumbles upon a legendary sacrificial site. Shortly afterwards, he is viciously attacked by a hawk.Back in present-day London, flame-haired journalist Rebecca Burns investigates strange and macabre events which seem to be directed against redheads worldwide. Together with young astrophysicist Dr Jim Cavendish and Professor Larry Burton, an authority on ancient civilisations, she is drawn into an age-old feud…a feud that threatens the very existence of redheads everywhere.

You Can't Catch Me


Catherine McKenzie - 2020
    Thanks to the private detective who rescued her, she reintegrated into society, endured an uncomfortable notoriety, and tried to put it all behind her. Then, at an airport bar, Jessica meets a woman with an identical name and birth date. It appears to be just an odd coincidence—until a week later, when Jessica finds her bank account drained and her personal information stolen.Following a trail of the grifter’s victims, each with the same name, Jessica gathers players—one by one—for her own game. According to her plan, they’ll set a trap and wait for the impostor to strike again. But plans can go awry, and trust can fray, and as Jessica tries to escape the shadows of her childhood, the risks are greater than she imagined. Now, confronting the casualties of her past, Jessica can’t help but wonder…Who will pay the price?

Blaze Returns


Bill Runner - 2021
    Ten years in the special forces and five years in the US Marshals have made Blaze a trained investigator and expert in combat.Blaze does not fight his opponents; he puts them down. He strikes first. And hard. Takes them out. Fast.Deputy Marshal Carter has gone missing in Little Butte, Nevada. The Dawsons own the town. The Mexican cartel is moving in on their meth business. A gang war is coming to town. Director Flynn asks Blaze to return for one last assignment.It is up to Blaze to find Carter before all hell breaks loose.

Eden


W.A. Schwartz - 2020
    In present-day California she struggles to care for her teenage daughter and manage the considerable stressors of her own complicated life. She is stunned to receive a call from the sheriff in Eden.Construction crews working on the site of her childhood home have made a hideous discovery. They have unearthed the decades-old remains of a girl, strands of hair and clothing still attached to the bones. Evelyn is devastated by the phone call. The Eden coroner informs her officials there suspect the remains may be those of her sister.Evelyn, who has mentally reduced her childhood to a series of blotchy Images and fragmented memories, fears something sinister may await her in Eden. Perhaps something she is unable to remember. She has no desire to return. Her fragile internal world is suddenly threatened with collapse by this discovery and the pressure to return home to help identify the remains.The discovery of the body sets in motion a series of events leading inevitably to the uncovering of secrets dating back multiple generations; terrible events that may involve the entire town of Eden. As Evelyn pursues the answers to the mysteries presented she finds her sanity, her life, and the life of her daughter threatened. She must face truths about her mother, Gwen, and her father as well as the rest of her family. Ultimately she must peel back the layers of her own consciousness, face her memories, and delve deeper into painful questions about her sister, and finally herself.Eden is a complex novel. Set against a background thick and sensuous with Southern beauty and imagery-the the live oak and Spanish moss and cypress swamps play roles nearly as big as the characters themselves-the book explores the devastating nature of secrets When played as a silent conspiracy between generations and yet the ultimate power of love to overcome.

Wisconsin Vamp


Scott Burtness - 2014
    He's not one of them.When truckstop diner cook and mediocre bowler Herb Knudsen becomes a vampire, his once simple life gets a bit more complicated.Herb’s not even sure how it happened. He wasn’t bitten by a vampire, which means there’s no one around to help him learn the ropes. With no one to guide him, Herb fumbles into his newfound abilities, courting disaster with every step.Despite learning each new lesson the hard way, being a vampire isn’t all bad. He’s stronger, a little sexier, and a heck of a lot better at bowling. Even Lois, the girl of his dreams, is starting to notice him. But he can’t drink beer, the bodies are piling up, and his best friend Dallas isn’t just getting suspicious – he’s getting jealous.When Lois is caught in the middle of the two friends' escalating rivalry, keeping his dark secret becomes the least of Herb's concerns.Booze, bowling, bake sales, bar fights, babes, blood and karaoke... Who would have thought that being undead would make life so exciting?

The Last Orphan


Jeffrey Lowder - 2019
    Two years after his mother and father were murdered in an attack on their California-bound wagon train, little Tommy Dunning crouches in an old root cellar, quivering with cold—and raw fear. Somewhere just above him, men are searching, army men who want to take him away from the only home he remembers. Local settler Eva Dunning believes with every thread of her being that God delivered the orphan to be raised by her. She watches and prays the soldiers will not find the child. But forces beyond her control are closing in. Major James Carleton has orders to collect the boy, Eva’s husband Bennet is threatening to expose their secret, and back in Arkansas, the aging Ruby Seddon is hiring a ruthless gunslinger to help rescue her grandson, no matter the cost in blood or gold. The Last Orphan is the journey of a precocious five-year old and two strong women, each of whom believes God has chosen her to raise the boy in love and the “correct” faith tradition.

Exposé


Paul Ilett - 2014
    If you've ever wanted to see one of the tabloid papers brought down, then this is the novel for you. Just brilliant." ☆☆☆☆☆ Sarah Woodall, GoodreadsTabloid journalist Valerie Pierce is hiding a secret of her own, and it's about to be exposed. Valerie Pierce has led a charmed life. For decades she has enjoyed the rewards of being a top newspaper journalist and columnist. Influential, wealthy and connected, Valerie can make or break careers with just a few choice words.But superstar actor Adam Jaymes has had enough of seeing his private life splashed all over the pages of Valerie's newspaper, The Daily Ear. Now married to one of the world's wealthiest men, he finally has the resources to take his revenge. Adam is launching a deliciously mischievous plot to turn the tables on Valerie and her tabloid colleagues, by investigating their private lives - and exposing their secrets for all to see.Exposé is a sensational thriller dripping with black humour. If you like characters you love to hate, sizzling satire, and hilarious surprises, then you’ll adore Paul Ilett’s addictive, page-turning satirical thriller.“Brilliantly observed and devilishly demanding. Exposé is a can’t-put-it-down riot. A triumph." ☆☆☆☆ Jake Hook, TheGayUK“Great writing. A fantastic debut novel from a former journalist” ☆☆☆☆ Jenny Green, The Sun