Book picks similar to
Death for Hire by Joseph Nazel


mystery-and-crime
urban-literature
african-american-black-literature
b-dont-have-yet

Never Say Never


Dwayne S. Joseph - 2005
    Original.

Street Players


Donald Goines - 1973
    He's known as "Earl the Black Pearl," and he's left the homeboys behind—way behind. He's cool, sharp as an ice crystal, and it seems that no one can touch him. Until someone even higher up puts the heat on and his friends begin dropping like flies—of lead poisoning. That's when Earl fights back...and all hell breaks loose!

The Corner II


Alex Richardson - 2009
    He rules with an iron fist, but when someone from his past steps back in his life, he realizes that he must protect that person from the streets.Lisa—the fast life is no longer something she has a passion for. Her time away gave her plenty of time to think of how her love of money caused her to lose the one the truly loved. She gets a second chance at love, but will deceit creep into this relationship causing it to fail?LaTanza—is a beautiful sister with a haunting past. When she met Carlos Fuentes, the son of Chicago’s leading Latin drug dealer, at the young age of sixteen she immediately fell in love. Now older and married to Carlos she is rich, safe and wants for nothing. But when she eavesdrops on a conversation between Carlos and his father, she hears that the senior Fuentes doesn’t like his son being married to a black woman and wants him to father an all Latin son to carry the family tradition. This sends the unstable LaTanza over the edge. Fearing that she and her daughter will be left out in the cold she carries out a deadly plan—a plan to become ‘The Queenpin’.Rivalries explode. Love is found while it is also lost. Betrayal causes people to hurt the ones they love—all for the love of money. Who will come out on top—or even alive?BioA former undercover narcotics detective, Alex Richardson’s familiarity with the seamy side of the streets adds a steamy kind of street cred and realism to his gritty page turning novels. He spends his time between Chicago and Fort Wayne, Indiana.

A Forever Kind of Love


A'zayler - 2015
    Just the thought of being in love is enough to immerse a person in happiness. The genuineness and feelings involved in a loving relationship has the tendency to take over your whole body, but there’s one thing. Is it forever? Like most people Layah never planned to fall in love, but when she did, she couldn’t stop it. Falling head first into this passionate relationship with Nassir Jordan, is anything but promising. Being from two totally different worlds brings about more complications than either of them are prepared for. Nassir is everything Layah could have ever dreamed of plus more. Being with him is the highlight of her young life, and she plans to do everything in her power to make it last. Unlike Layah, Nassir is no stranger to uncertainty and hardships. Those two things are a part of his everyday life. That is until he gives in to the feelings he’s grown for this upper-class beauty from the suburbs. Having grown up in the hood, Nassir believes in anything but happy endings. He’s learned the hard way that you must work for the things you want. This is a lesson well learned when the raw emotions he feels for Layah begins to emerge. Trying the best friend thing worked for a while until his budding fascination got the best of him. Finally welcoming contentment into his life Nassir refuses to let it go. Together, they’re determined to make their undying love last forever.

Shades of Jade (Strivers Row)


Gloria Mallette - 2000
    Louis. Wayne. Eric. Marissa had been warned: One of these days you're gonna mess with the wrong woman's husband. But she doesn't care. Aside from an occasional bout of guilt, she feels no shame, because after all, if their wives were doing what they were supposed to, then their husbands would not be seeking her company. Marissa dates married men - four of them concurrently because it's easier. She gets all of the trappings of a relationship - love, wining and dining, physical pleasure - without any of the pain - cooking, laundry, and the day-to-day maintenance of a relationship. But when it appears that one of the wives of the men she is dating is out to get her - wants her dead, in fact - Marissa begins to reexamine the choices she's made. Her selfishness gives way to vulnerability and fear, and she comes to the conclusion that she deserves a man all her own. But will she survive long enough to find Mr. Right?From the Trade Paperback edition.

Forever and a Day


Jasmine Barber - 2013
    But unlike most people when breaking off a long term relationship with the man you once loved, Brielle is much happier single than she has ever been. Until an unexpected weekend of fun with her best friends leads her to meet and become attracted to none other than Royalty Records CEO, Kiyan Sanchez. After taking a chance with Kiyan, Brielle finds herself again hurt by another man's actions and words. Now second guessing if it was too soon to be taking a shot at love, she's ready to give up on men and love all together. What Brielle doesn't know is Kiyan is on a mission to teach her a lesson on how to forgive past mistakes and look forward to the future, with him as the new man in her life. However, Kiyan isn't the only one lurking in the shadows ready to teach Brielle a life changing lesson. Prepare yourself and get ready to embark on the journey of friendship, love, and betrayal.

Devout


Takerra Allen - 2014
    Have you ever cherished the pain because you knew the kind you’d face without them would be way too unbearable? That’s me. To young Neeka Perry, Denny is one thing. In the streets, he’s a whole other entity. But she was brave enough to love both sides, upside down, all around, and back again. He provided her with all a girl could believe she dreamed of – security, desire, and most enviably, genuine love, all wrapped up in gold and diamonds.He removed her far from the course of her ordinary college girl lifestyle and swept her into his world of whimsical madness. For this and more, her love went beyond loyalty. She was devout… devout to him. But is there a such thing as too much passion? Can you love someone too much? And when you realize the person you love and the person everyone fears can also be the one everyone loves and you can one day soon fear, who will save you? Especially when the person you need saving from, is yourself…? Stop right there. I don’t want to be saved. I’ve shackled myself to him with love. And I swallowed the key. I’m in this for the long run. I am devout.

God Forgives, The Streets Don't


Blake Karrington - 2012
    No one outside of his crew is safe from the death and destruction that ensues, and it isn't long before the streets bow to his will. On the other side of the city, as Chez's legend flourishes his longtime enemy Mann's hatred grows to explosive proportions. Unable to except what he sees as disrespect when one of his partners is murdered by a member of Chez's crew, Mann contacts his cousins in New York and enlists their help in his scheme to avenge his homie and steal Chez's shine in the process. When Supreme and his brother's arrive, the already deadly streets get even hotter. Not even Mann is prepared for the storm that he has begun, and when it is all over Chez's whole world will be turned upside down.

Donald Writes No More


Eddie Stone - 1977
    The complete Goines story!

Freedom is Not Free (Rashard "Stone" Mysteries #1)


King James - 2010
    Stone is apart of an elite fugitive task force known in the streets of Houston as the “Ghost Squad”. The young officer’s life is suddenly interrupted and he has to return to his hometown to bury his father. Stone discovers that his father, had unfinished business with a dangerous organization. The members of this organization will stop at nothing to maintain their secrets and power that has kept them wealthy for years. The reader will discover that a small city like Montgomery, Alabama can have serious big city crime. Get ready to dive into a book that is full of action and suspense.

This Is Life


Shakara Cannon - 2012
    Sequel to This Can't Be Life

What's His Is Mine


Daaimah S. Poole - 2006
    A tale of good girls and gold diggers, Adrienne, Zakiya, Tanisha and Cherise are about to find out that getting rich comes with its own price - and it may be more than they ever want to pay.

Trust No Man


Ca$h - 2005
    Terrence aka Youngblood is a young and jiggy stick-up kid in ATL with strict street principles respect for the code of his game, loyalty to those who are loyal to him, and much baby mama drama. Shan, Youngblood s cocaine sniffin baby mama, violates him when she hooks up with one of his partnaz while Youngblood is serving a bid. When Youngblood touches down, it s on and poppin . Rich kid, a flamboyant drug kingpin wants to put Youngblood on his team, but Youngblood prefers to get his the fast way the ski mask way. When Youngblood hits a big lick, he finds out that more money means more problems. Who can he trust? The answer will leave you speechless. TRUST NO MAN is a story of murder, sex, money, bling, love, and betrayal. Get ready to have your every emotion touched. TRUST NO MAN will do that!

Pipe Dream (Strivers Row)


Solomon Jones - 2001
    Black drew hard, squinting as the smoke rushed into his lungs."Where do you want to start?"the lawyer said, lighting a cigarette of his own."I guess there’s only one place to start; at Broad and Erie."Johnny Podres, a politician whose record against corruption had been propelling him straight to the mayor’s office, is found murdered in a North Philly crack house.Enter Samuel Jackson, a.k.a. Black, a drug addict who knows better, a man embittered by the fact that he can’t seem to escape from his addiction to crack cocaine or, for that matter, from himself. Though he was once a family man with a wife and son, Black’s only concern these days is getting his next high, that is, until he stumbles across a friend and fellow addict, Leroy, and both become prime suspects in the Podres murder. Black and Leroy hook up with two female pipers: Clarisse, a registered nurse who is slowly losing to crack any semblance of a respectable life, and Pookie, who already has lost it. Soon the hunt is on for all four as they try to stay one step ahead of a police department under tremendous pressure to solve the case—because if a killer isn’t found soon, this could blow up into one of the biggest scandals in Philadelphia history. Solomon Jones weaves a suspenseful story against the backdrop of corruption in the Philadelphia police department and centers it on a group of drug addicts who, in the process of fleeing the law, come to terms with their own addiction, leading to some devastating consequences.

Ride or Die Chick: The Story of Treacherous and Teflon


J.M. Benjamin - 2007
    Never having the opportunity to know his biological mother, he was raised by his father, who happened to be a notorious gangster. Deprived of a normal childhood, his father educated him on what awaited him on the streets of Virginia. When the time comes for Treacherous to make some sudden decisions, he has no idea they will land him in the very place that he is trying to avoid. Teflon Jackson is a beautiful woman who is the end result of a horrible union. Having a loving mother who was a prostitute and a pimp for a father, Teflon's childhood was far from a fairytale. Bearing witness to the abusive relationship between her parents, Teflon was determined not to follow her mothers footsteps. Tragedy strikes and Teflon finds herself having to utilize all of the tricks that her mother taught her after she is forced into the streets to fend for herself. Years later, Treacherous and Teflon's paths cross. What starts out as a potentially bad situation genuinely blossoms into a bond that becomes unbreakable. Ride or Die Chick: The Story of Treacherous and Teflon is about two people who come from nothing and are willing to sacrifice anything to gain everything. This is a modern day tale of Bonnie & Clyde and built on a love that is stronger than that of Romeo and Juliet. A bonafide gangster, Treacherous is confident that he can't lose, as long as he has his Ride or Die Chick!