But it all comes crashing down when his cheating wife leaves him and the brother he hasn’t seen in years shows up at his doorstep. The meeting between long-lost siblings is hardly a warm family reunion because, along with his ex-con brother, comes Randall Calderone, a hulking, psychopathic Aryan Brotherhood member with vicious skills honed in the Mexican cartel drug trade. The two ex-cellmates have a “favor” to ask Jack: they want him to help them rob the local bank by kidnapping the bank manager and holding her family hostage. Before Jack knows what to do, he’s in possession of almost a million dollars in stolen cash with a relentless FBI Agent hounding him, his brother’s psycho partner threatening mayhem (and his brother’s life) unless he hands over the cash, and an attractive girl playing him for the small-town loser he seems to be. Can Jack tap into the skills learned in a bizarre upbringing save his and his brother’s life? The hours are ticking down on Jack as he walks a tightrope with everyone watching his every move; will he survive or will the forces of darkness and justice closing in fast take him down like a house of cards under strobe lighting?

    At first everyone thinks it's a heart attack or stroke. But then it is discovered that he was poisoned. Who would do this and why? Finding that out falls to Sergeant Winston Windflower of the RCMP along with his trusted side-kick Eddie Tizzard. Along the way they discover that there are many more secrets hidden in this small community and powerful people who want to keep it that way. Windflower also discovers two more things; a love of living in a small community that is completely different from his up-bringing in a remote Indian reserve and maybe the love of his life. He gets a taste of East Coast food and hospitality as well as a sense of how crime and corruption can linger beneath the surface or hide in the thick blanket of fog that sometimes creeps in from the nearby Atlantic Ocean.

    This is only the start. Jack’s Back…’The chilling message, left by the killer on a wall near the body, and written in the victim’s own blood, catapults the detectives into a race against time as they strive to discover the New Ripper’s identity and stop him from striking again.With his every move being closely monitored by the media, and the top brass at the Yard breathing down his neck to get a quick result, Tyler begins to worry that if he doesn’t catch the elusive killer soon, the case will be taken away from him and his career will be left in tatters.The investigation isn’t helped by the interference of rookie reporter, Terri Miller. When fate throws her a lead, all she sees an opportunity to scoop the opposition and bag herself a major exclusive, but by following the tantalising clues that the sadistic killer has taken to leaving her, is she merely playing into his hands?Jack’s Back is a gritty, fast paced roller-coaster of a crime thriller with an explosive finale. Full of twists and turns, it will keep you eagerly turning the pages until the very end.What readers are saying: Only an ex-murder detective could have written with the kind of passion and detail that I found in these pages. I could not put it down! Amazon.co.uk reviewer. A fantastic read from beginning to end! Well written, gripping plot, brilliantly intriguing 5/5. Amazon.co.uk reviewer. Brilliant book, really good police procedural, probably the best I’ve read and I’ve read hundreds. Can’t wait till the next in the series. Amazon.co.uk reviewer. Fantastic read, what a thrill ride. Loved the depth of the characters. Amazon.com reviewer.Tyler’s adversary is a ruthless serial killer with a fascination for black magic; a cunning psychopath who is convinced the original Ripper murders were a series of sacrificial rituals designed to bring power and influence. Just like his namesake, the man the media soon dubs ‘The New Ripper’ plans to kill five women and then disappear. Can Tyler stop him, or will the other women who have been earmarked for death suffer the same gruesome fate as the first victim?Grab a copy of Jack’s Back and start enjoying Mark Romain’s page turning debut today. But be warned, this is not a book for the squeamish!

     Two days after private eye Mason sees a drunken Australian kicked to death in Bangkok’s notorious Soi Cowboy, he is approached by one of the men involved. Mobster Raymond Long owns nightclubs on the seedy sex strip and wants Mason to find his American accountant, who has disappeared, taking with her a computer hard drive. Mason is about to turn him down, when he realises the missing accountant is his friend Nathalie West. A British Army veteran of the Afghan war, Mason has seen his share of conflict - but finding out why Nathalie was secretly working for scum like Raymond Long pushes him beyond even his combat-hardened limits. Mason and his Thai partner Dixie urgently need to discover why the missing hard drive is so important – and to get to Nathalie before Long’s murderous gang find her. The arrival from Vancouver of a psychotic hitman representing Raymond Long’s mob bosses only adds to tension that mounts all the way to a late night climax on the banks of the Chao Phraya River. By the author of the critically-praised Yin Yang Tattoo, (Sandstone Press, 2010), Bangkok Cowboy is the first in a series of action-packed Mason & Dixie crime thrillers set within the grimy folds of one of the world’s great cities.

    

    Sophia had not thought twice about taking up her friend's offer to move to Oregon to help her run the successful general store she had started some years before when faced with a spinster's lot in life. Levi Kirtman was more than irate at being denied his birthright. When his paternal uncle gave him the ultimatum to find a wife in order to get the deeds to the ranch which should by all rights be his after his father's passing, he dug his heels in and refused. He would live without the ranch rather than be pushed into marrying. Then he met the woman his uncle had in mind after reading her advertisement, and he saw her as a pretty enough solution to his many problems. Can a man cure his greed and addiction through deception and cruelty? Was this the life the Lord had intended for a widow and her young son in a strange town? Would Eli find a loving family to finally call his own?

     Dean Wilder makes sure of it. The daughter of a United States Senator is found brutally murdered in a quiet park, and an ex-professional basketball player is accused. In the series debut, criminal defense lawyer Dean Wilder can't resist the chance to represent someone who is as crazy as anyone can be without being criminally insane. A defense lawyer with a conscience, Wilder steps into the case knowing the trouble will run deep. Politicians, lawyers, psychologists, and crooked cops push Wilder to the edge. Under mounting media pressure, can Wilder find the real killer before he strikes again? Smart and witty, this legal thriller will take you for a ride through the courtroom, and leave you with twists and turns that you didn’t see coming.

    But her interview gives way to interrogation when suave Lord Stephen Astwick meets a chilly end on the tranquil skating pond. With evidence that his death was anything but accidental, Daisy joins forces with Scotland Yard so the culprit can't slip through their fingers like the unfortunate Astwick slipped through the ice...THE WINTER GARDEN MYSTERY: So who put the body in with the spring bulbs?The merest hint of spring has arrived in Cheshire, and so has young reporter Daisy Dalrymple. The feisty flapper's visit is a breath of fresh air for gloomy Occles Hall. But while photographing the rather barren grounds, Daisy spots that someone's been digging among the first green shoots - and much to her horror unearths the corpse of missing parlour maid Grace Moss.So begins an extraordinary adventure, as first the dead woman's shocking secret is revealed and then Daisy swiftly realizes she needs to catch the killer before she herself is left pushing up the daisies...REQUIEM FOR A MEZZO: With dashing Scotland Yard detective Alec Fletcher at her side, Daisy Dalrymple is enjoying a splendid performance of Verdi's Requiem featuring her neighbour Muriel Westlea's celebrated sister, Bettina. But the show comes to an abrupt end when what emerges from the star's gifted vocal chords is literally a dying gasp. Daisy soon learns that the doomed diva was notoriously difficult and had more than her share of enemies. There's a philandering tenor, a burly Russian bass and even her own vocal coach husband, with whom she had a turbulent relationship.Did one of them poison the singer? Or was it someone determined to see that Daisy's investigation ends on as bitter a note as Bettina's last performance...MURDER ON THE FLYING SCOTSMAN: Daisy's in danger of heading off the rails!Daisy's embarking on a journey to Edinburgh and her biggest worry is that she has forgotten her book, so how will she pass the time? Her concern proves to be pointless, however, as once the journey begins Daisy finds a pint-sized stowaway on board - Belinda, the daughter of dreamy Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher, Daisy's beau.No sooner has this problem revealed itself than Daisy and Belinda run into a bickering Scottish clan en route to the deathbed of the head of the family. But before the express reaches its first stop, one of the greedy McGowans has turned up dead. Is it murder? Daisy's willing to bet her first-class ticket it is - after all, the victim was the heir-in-waiting and she's sharing the carriage with an entire family of suspects who have everything to gain by his death...

     Isaac Gilpatrick witnesses the killing of old Marshall Blodgett, and when his mother Ione is threatened with death - or worse - he is intimidated into remaining silent. But the guilt he carries wears at Isaac's nerves, until he can bear it no longer and vows to put the information into the new marshal's hands. Unfortunately, Marshal TJ Osgood arrives in town too late. He finds Isaac silenced for good after a crooked judge ordered him hanged. Now, with an under-aged deputy and a hound dog as his only allies, Osgood must sort out the truth, protect the bereaved Ione Gilpatrick, and bring a rough bunch of backwoods timber thieves to justice. That is, if Ione doesn't beat him to it....

    This is no ordinary hairdresser. Viv Fraser Ph.D and stylist to the Edinburgh establishment, has a double life as an investigative journalist and finds herself involved in some hair-raising, not to mention explosive scenes, as she trawls the seamier side of her city. In this fast-paced mystery Viv investigates the case of a missing teenage boy, but her efforts are hampered by people trying to save their own skin. Always top of his class, Andrew’s school blazer turns up on a river path without him. As she picks at the veneer of the Capital’s gay scene Viv discovers an unsavoury mix of lies, jealousy and sexual deceit. Determined to find Andrew, she ignores threats on her life and continues to dig in places that even Detective Marconi has yet to explore.

    Everyone knows revenge is a dish best served cold but no-one knows this better than John Hayes.After dealing with the mercenaries sent to kill him in Oman, John realizes he can never live in peace knowing that the man who sent them, the man ultimately responsible for endangering the woman he loves, is still roaming free.To hunt him down John must return to where it all began.India.

    This one starts out with eight stories of women who have murdered their partners (husbands, boyfriends or significant others). It also tells 25 stories of women who have murdered their children. These 25 stories were originally published in Hell 2.5 which has since been unpublished. Many of the high profile cases were covered in the first two books in the series. Hell 3 holds many cases that may not have made national headlines but are no less chilling than the headline grabbers.The book closes with two stories from what we might call the lighter side of hell.

    My organic grocery store was thriving; I had a charming and tender new guy in my life who was looking like he might be the real deal. And then my estranged sister reappeared in my life. I couldn’t have been happier.Until I wasn’t. Someone was stalking me. My sister was flirting with my boyfriend, and I was pretty sure he was flirting back.Someone was dead, and everyone might be lying.Welcome to Liar’s Island… a stand-alone series of interconnected, novella-length domestic thrillers set in the picture-perfect community of Liars Island. Here, nothing is quite as it seems.On this island, families and friendships are more than meets the eye … secrets, deceptions, and jealousies threaten to ruin everything these influential people have built. But it isn’t only the rich that live here … and power comes in all shapes and sizes.Everyone here is a liar … just how far would you go to get what you want?

     Cam Derringer is Key West’s favorite PI. While working out of his element in New York City, he becomes caught up in a deadly game of kill or be killed. The assassin known only as BLOODSHOT draws aim on Cam and his closest friends. It appeared to be a game dreamed up by a few bored millionaires until the shots became more deadly. Cam weaves his way through a battle of wits with the assassin using all his skills both above and below the law. With a new suspect at every turn, this fast-paced thriller leads Cam down a path of destruction, where he has to choose between reality and romanticism and ultimately between life and death.

    54 pages of summaries and analysis on A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oe.This study guide includes the following sections: Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, Quotes, and Topics for Discussion.