Fiction

“My name…is Sam Sailor. Like the others…I am trapped here. And will die here.”

In 1984, Iris Sailor’s brutal fall on the ice unravels everything—her memory, doping secret, and figure skating career. Dumped by her coach/boyfriend and banned from competing, Iris finds herself utterly alone, wishing there was some way she could reconnect with her estranged sister, Sam.

When she returns home after her fall from grace, she finds an old postcard tucked alongside the rest of her mail. Strangely, the card advertising Nova Bay is postmarked September 14, 1981—the same day Sam disappeared. As she’s about to chuck it in the trash, Iris realizes there’s only one word scribbled on the back: HELP.

Tracing clues to a briny Northern California cove, Iris discovers a series of cassette tapes left behind by Sam, who narrates the story of her disappearance three years before. To uncover Sam's fate—and reclaim her own—Iris must piece together fractured memories and let go of the past before her sister and future are lost forever. But will she sink or swim under waves of crippling fear and dark family secrets?

“My name…is Sam Sailor. Like the others…I am trapped here. And will die here.”

In 1984, Iris Sailor’s brutal fall on the ice unravels everything—her memory, doping secret, and figure skating career. Dumped by her coach/boyfriend and banned from competing, Iris finds herself utterly alone, wishing there was some way she could reconnect with her estranged sister, Sam.

When she returns home after her fall from grace, she finds an old postcard tucked alongside the rest of her mail. Strangely, the card advertising Nova Bay is postmarked September 14, 1981—the same day Sam disappeared. As she’s about to chuck it in the trash, Iris realizes there’s only one word scribbled on the back: HELP.

Tracing clues to a briny Northern California cove, Iris discovers a series of cassette tapes left behind by Sam, who narrates the story of her disappearance three years before. To uncover Sam's fate—and reclaim her own—Iris must piece together fractured memories and let go of the past before her sister and future are lost forever. But will she sink or swim under waves of crippling fear and dark family secrets?

He laces his fingers into my hair and slowly draws me in, his powerful hand gently threaded into the wet strands. I whimper, from fear more so than pain. It doesn’t hurt. But each word is enunciated as he warns, “Do. Not. Ever. Steal. From. Me. Again.”

Corliss Bell would do anything to bring her older sister, Aven, back to life. She’d give up her dreams of being a professional ballerina. She’d resign herself to never leaving the small seaside town of The Pins. Hell, she’d even make a deal with a demon. After all, demons are masters of death.

When a town mystic tells Corliss there’s a demon living nearby who may be the key in returning Aven to life, she’s emboldened by the idea of getting her beloved sister back. Corliss sneaks into the demon’s dilapidated mansion to beg for his help. But instead of finding him, she discovers a pair of enchanted red ballet slippers and steals them. The demon comes to reclaim what is his but finds Corliss and the slippers hopelessly intertwined. He imprisons her in his mansion, forcing her to dance for him every evening as punishment for stealing. Far from a helpless captive, Corliss begins working out a plan to bring Aven back to life, as soon as she can convince the demon—Orrin—to help her.

Hauntingly beautiful, with lush prose and a vividly creepy atmosphere, A Dance With Death is a compulsively juicy read that will wind its way into your psyche. Part horror, part magic—this is the gothic love story you didn't know you were missing.

He laces his fingers into my hair and slowly draws me in, his powerful hand gently threaded into the wet strands. I whimper, from fear more so than pain. It doesn’t hurt. But each word is enunciated as he warns, “Do. Not. Ever. Steal. From. Me. Again.”

Corliss Bell would do anything to bring her older sister, Aven, back to life. She’d give up her dreams of being a professional ballerina. She’d resign herself to never leaving the small seaside town of The Pins. Hell, she’d even make a deal with a demon. After all, demons are masters of death.

When a town mystic tells Corliss there’s a demon living nearby who may be the key in returning Aven to life, she’s emboldened by the idea of getting her beloved sister back. Corliss sneaks into the demon’s dilapidated mansion to beg for his help. But instead of finding him, she discovers a pair of enchanted red ballet slippers and steals them. The demon comes to reclaim what is his but finds Corliss and the slippers hopelessly intertwined. He imprisons her in his mansion, forcing her to dance for him every evening as punishment for stealing. Far from a helpless captive, Corliss begins working out a plan to bring Aven back to life, as soon as she can convince the demon—Orrin—to help her.

Hauntingly beautiful, with lush prose and a vividly creepy atmosphere, A Dance with Death is a compulsively juicy read that will wind its way into your psyche. Part horror, part magic—this is the gothic love story you didn't know you were missing.

On Monday, March 30 in the year 1220, the day after Easter, in a field outside the town of Hexham in northern England, the body of a young child, Alfred, is discovered -- murdered. Lord Godwin, Bailiff of Hexham and in the service of the Archbishop of Canterbury, is summoned to the scene. Alfred has been strangled, but even more shocking are the wounds marking his body: his palms bear puncture wounds, as if iron nails had been drive through them, and his left side has been pierced with a knife. Godwin reckons that Alfred died on Good Friday.

Why would someone kill a child on Good Friday? And why would his body be marked in imitation of the crucifixion of Christ? Soon a rumor begins to spread that the Jews had murdered young Albert, and a mob seizes all the Jews in Hexham, an extended family of nine. Godwin's first task is to prevent the Jews' murder by the mob, his second to find the person guilty of the horrible murder.

A disillusioned and battle-weary ex-Crusader, Godwin sets out to find the murderer as a means of atoning for his part in the crusade -- and for coming back when his dearest friend and kinsman Aidan did not. Will he be successful? Will the Jews' lives be spared? Will the murderer be exposed? And will Lord Godwin ever discover -- wherever -- the forgiveness he seeks for failing to protect the life of Aidan?

A swoony contemporary western romance, Rancho de Amor brings city sensibilities and country values together in a hilarious and heartfelt story of finding love in unexpected places.

In a last-ditch effort to save a New York publishing house facing imminent closure, editor Catherine Doyle travels across the country to the small town of Sisquoc, California, in search of the famous Loretta de Bonnair, an elderly recluse and breakout author of the bestselling romance novel that has the nation in a fervor. Despite her own disappointment with love and misgivings about the novel, Catherine’s determined to beat out the competition to offer Ms. de Bonnair a book deal she can’t refuse.

But as Catherine wanders the town interviewing the locals, she slowly realizes something: no one has ever seen the mysterious author. Not even the post office has her address. The only clue to Ms. de Bonnair seems to come in the form of a certain handsome blue-eyed cowboy with a penchant for bar fights. But if Catherine wants to save her job and the publishing house, she’ll have to get closer to this stranger, even if it means trusting him.

The searing debut novel of poet and writer Anne Coray, Lost Mountain is an impassioned story of love, loss, environment, and politics against a landscape facing threat of destruction.

"Anne Coray, the author of three poetry collections, has brought her observational and writing skills to fiction that demonstrates both her attention to language and her passion for her home place. . . Lost Mountain is many things: a love story between the two main characters, a portrait of a small and isolated community, a mystery, a paean to salmon and lives that surround salmon, a not-very-disguised critique of a megamine project, and an example of eco-fiction--environmentally conscious literature."
--Anchorage Daily News

When news of an open-pit mining project hits the remote Alaskan hometown of Whetstone Cove, young widow Dehlia Melven barely takes in the town's nervous chatter. The Ziggurat corporation promises the mine will be fifteen times larger than all the mines in Alaska combined, but Dehlia's thoughts are consumed by the loss of her late husband and the future of her security. At least the new arrival of solar energy expert Alan Lamb brings a distraction and a different dynamic to the small community--one that's surprisingly more interesting than expected.

For Alan, Whetstone Cove offers a fresh start to a job away from all the bureaucracy and politics he'd been running away from. Plus, there's Dehlia, the beautiful and enigmatic artist who begins to occupy more and more of Alan's thoughts. But with Ziggurat's looming presence, he knows it is only a matter of time before the corporation would take over his livelihood as well as the town's way of life. He can't bear the thought of being connected let alone paid by Ziggurat—yet leaving would also mean losing Dehlia forever.

Inspired by the Pebble Mine project in Alaska, Lost Mountain is an exploration on the interconnectivity of the natural world woven into the narrative of people's strength and resistance. Readers will enter a familiar world where environment plays an encompassing role in not just politics of society but in real relationships and careers, and in the hopes and dreams we dare to have.

A swoony contemporary western romance, Rancho de Amor brings city sensibilities and country values together in a hilarious and heartfelt story of finding love in unexpected places.

In a last-ditch effort to save a New York publishing house facing imminent closure, editor Catherine Doyle travels across the country to the small town of Sisquoc, California, in search of the famous Loretta de Bonnair, an elderly recluse and breakout author of the bestselling romance novel that has the nation in a fervor. Despite her own disappointment with love and misgivings about the novel, Catherine’s determined to beat out the competition to offer Ms. de Bonnair a book deal she can’t refuse.

But as Catherine wanders the town interviewing the locals, she slowly realizes something: no one has ever seen the mysterious author. Not even the post office has her address. The only clue to Ms. de Bonnair seems to come in the form of a certain handsome blue-eyed cowboy with a penchant for bar fights. But if Catherine wants to save her job and the publishing house, she’ll have to get closer to this stranger, even if it means trusting him.

The searing debut novel of poet and writer Anne Coray, Lost Mountain is an impassioned story of love, loss, environment, and politics against a landscape facing threat of destruction.

"Anne Coray, the author of three poetry collections, has brought her observational and writing skills to fiction that demonstrates both her attention to language and her passion for her home place. . . Lost Mountain is many things: a love story between the two main characters, a portrait of a small and isolated community, a mystery, a paean to salmon and lives that surround salmon, a not-very-disguised critique of a megamine project, and an example of eco-fiction--environmentally conscious literature."
--Anchorage Daily News

When news of an open-pit mining project hits the remote Alaskan hometown of Whetstone Cove, young widow Dehlia Melven barely takes in the town's nervous chatter. The Ziggurat corporation promises the mine will be fifteen times larger than all the mines in Alaska combined, but Dehlia's thoughts are consumed by the loss of her late husband and the future of her security. At least the new arrival of solar energy expert Alan Lamb brings a distraction and a different dynamic to the small community--one that's surprisingly more interesting than expected.

For Alan, Whetstone Cove offers a fresh start to a job away from all the bureaucracy and politics he'd been running away from. Plus, there's Dehlia, the beautiful and enigmatic artist who begins to occupy more and more of Alan's thoughts. But with Ziggurat's looming presence, he knows it is only a matter of time before the corporation would take over his livelihood as well as the town's way of life. He can't bear the thought of being connected let alone paid by Ziggurat—yet leaving would also mean losing Dehlia forever.

Inspired by the Pebble Mine project in Alaska, Lost Mountain is an exploration on the interconnectivity of the natural world woven into the narrative of people's strength and resistance. Readers will enter a familiar world where environment plays an encompassing role in not just politics of society but in real relationships and careers, and in the hopes and dreams we dare to have.

When marine biologist Ray Berringer and his student crew embark on an oceanographic cruise in the Gulf of Alaska, the waters are troubled in more ways than one. Ray's co-leader, a famed chemist, is abandoning ship just as the ocean's pH is becoming a major concern. Something at their university is corrosive, and it's going to take more than science to correct. Powerful bonds are forged among offbeat characters studying the effects of ocean acidification on pteropods, a tiny, keystone species, in this cutting-edge CliFi novel. (Includes author Q&A and reading group discussion questions.)

When marine biologist Ray Berringer and his student crew embark on an oceanographic cruise in the Gulf of Alaska, the waters are troubled in more ways than one. Ray's co-leader, a famed chemist, is abandoning ship just as the ocean's pH is becoming a major concern. Something at their university is corrosive, and it's going to take more than science to correct. Powerful bonds are forged among offbeat characters studying the effects of ocean acidification on pteropods, a tiny, keystone species, in this cutting-edge CliFi novel. (Includes author Q&A and reading group discussion questions.)

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, The Book That Changed the World

Monster: Publishing to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and a movie starring Elle Fanning as Mary Shelley, Monster is a brilliant fictionalized biography akin to The Other Boleyn Girl.

Frankenstein: Two centuries ago this year, the young woman who invented science fiction was only 20 when she wrote the book that became Frankenstein. Mary Shelley said, “People ask how I, then a young girl, could think of, and dilate upon, so hideous subject?”

Gothic Romance: Her father gave her a far better education than any woman of the age could hope for and made her the victim of ongoing incest. At 15, she became involved with one of the greatest poets in England and made love to him on her mother’s grave. When she was 16, she escaped from home by running away for a six week walking tour of Europe and formed a ménage a trois with Shelley and her sister.

Mary Shelley - Frankenstein: Her immediate influences were two of the greatest poets of the age. Her lover, Percy Shelley, coached her to expand her understanding of writing. Her mentor, Lord Byron, challenged her to prove she was as good a writer as the best poet-philosophers of the Enlightenment. Both men admired her mind, and both wanted more. By the time she was 20, she published the book that changed the world.

If You Loved Titanic, You’re Going to Like Lusitania Lost!

Lusitania Lost: The author of the Conan the Barbarian series turns his novelistic eye to real-life history of World War 1 in a “Titanic meets the Guns of August” spy thriller.

A Lusitania spy thriller: History, romance, action. This is the final voyage of the Lusitania, the world's fastest luxury liner torpedoed by a German U-boat in the first year of the Great War. The story is told above and below decks, in the capitals and battlefields of Europe. We meet world leaders, the swank Broadway party set on shipboard, and the relentless submarine crew who fired the torpedo that launched America into war.

Romance, intrigue and murder: Alma Brady is on the run from a New York mob boss. Desperate to escape Big Jim Hogan and his murderous gang, she joins a group of nurses bound for the Great War in Europe. Their ship is the Lusitania, the most celebrated luxury liner of 1915, with a passenger list of Broadway and Continental celebrities headed for certain doom. Aboard the Lusitania she meets Matthew Vane, a war correspondent who wants to find out what secret weapons may be hidden in the Lusitania cargo hold. During the one-week voyage, the characters are drawn into romance, intrigue and murder, culminating in a disaster whose full harrowing details have never been revealed in history or fiction.

Lusitania horror and hope: Even with the threat of German U-boats and the too-recent Titanic disaster, who can guess that the passengers aboard Lusitania face dangers more horrifying than any on the war-torn battlefields across the Atlantic? Nor does Alma realize how relentlessly her past will pursue her. And, the lover she meets is a daredevil reporter intent on probing the Lusitania’s innermost secrets. His quest may lead them both into even greater peril, or give rise…just possibly…to hope.

Sherlock Holmes Historical Fiction Thriller

"Novelist and literary historian, Breck England, sheds light on the little-known detective work of super sleuth Sherlock Holmes in America. " ―Leonard Carpenter, author of Conan the Barbarian series

Learn the answers to many tantalizing Sherlock Holmes questions in a book that takes you into the dark place in the life of Holmes B.W. (Before Watson), or, as he said, “before my biographer came to glorify me.”

Historical fiction thriller. The Tarleton Murders, the record of “one of those pretty little problems” Holmes solved in the pre-Watson years, has never been brought to light until now. The discovery of this previously unknown manuscript opens a window onto the mysterious early years when Holmes was struggling to set himself up as a “consulting detective”―a previously unknown profession.

The early Sherlock Holmes. So begins a frantic journey that takes Holmes and his friend from Rome (where they save the Pope) to Paris to London to Liverpool, across the Atlantic during the most dangerous hurricane in twenty years, to the backwoods of Georgia (infested by the Klan), and eventually into the midst of Atlanta’s highest society―with growing awareness of a plot that threatens the very existence of the United States. Along the way we encounter George Bernard Shaw, Joel Chandler Harris, Pope Leo XIII, the artist Mary Cassatt, Moriarty himself―and Moriarty’s wife! And in the midst of the fun we make some astounding discoveries, such as the true identity of Moriarty, the fate of the Vatican Cameos, and to top it all off, Mycroft’s schoolboy nickname.

Also discover:

• How did Holmes know so much about the Ku Klux Klan?
• How did he acquire such a rich acquaintance with America?
• Did he really prevent a Second Civil War?

If you’ve read Sherlock Holmes in America by Martin H. Greenberg or Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Undead Client by M. J. Downing, you’ll love Breck England’s The Tarleton Murders.

How Would You Spend Your Last Few Hours on Earth?

Early readers called So This Is the End "a breath of fresh air,” "moving and beautiful," and something with which you’ll "fall in love the instant you start reading.”

#1 New Release in Science Fiction & Fantasy 

In Nora Hamilton’s world, doctors have found a cure for death, with just one caveat—it only lasts for 24 hours. This beautifully-written novel poses a thoughtful question: how would you spend your last 24 hours before death?

One more day. One more chance to tell family you love them, feel the grass beneath your feet, or finally speak your mind. So This Is The End follows Nora Hamilton as she navigates her last 24 hours before death, and she is determined to do something meaningful with her last moments. While looking for unique bucket list ideas, a friend suggests going on one last first date. What happens next is like a love story. Of course Nora would fall in love in her last 24 hours before death.

Enter: Renzo. Ren, for short. Their connection is immediate. Nora wants love, no lies. Should she tell Ren the truth about her condition—that she has less than 24 hours left before her second death? How will he react? Is it unethical to fall in love with someone if you only have one day left on earth? Or is love a gift, even when it's found on the final day a person has left? 

Inside So This Is The End, you’ll find:

• A love novel about taking chances, making your own rules, and how love does prevail
• How to treat all days like your final days—escape mundane living
• A moving romantic drama about finding love in your last 24 hours before death

If you liked The Midnight Library, Me Before You, or The Light We Lost, you’ll love So This Is The End.

#1 New Release in Middle Eastern Historical Fiction ─ A Heart-Pounding International Thriller with a Shocking Mystery

For fans of Dan Brown’s Inferno and the works of David Baldacci and Daniel Silva, comes a political thriller which will have you guessing until the end.

A race against time: Like an arch with an uncertain keystone, the world trembles around the holiest spot on Earth—the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It’s a crisis of the near future, and the slightest vibration can bring down devastating world war.

A dangerous adventure in conspiracy and suspense: The tremors start with the Pope’s apparent suicide and the disappearance of the most sacred of artifacts. Thrown unwillingly together, Ari, an Israeli intelligence agent, and Maryse, an Interpol art expert plagued by a violent past, trace the dim outlines of a conspiracy that threatens to bring about the end of everything.

A secret society threatens to ignite war as an age-old mystery unravels: In the days to come, they chase across Europe an unknown enemy who can manipulate genetics, transform lead into gold, and ignite a nuclear explosion with a whisper. And what is the aim of the four enigmatic men who make up the oldest, most secret society in the world—to save it or destroy it? Follow Ari and Maryse as they race toward the golden Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, where they must find the answers by a certain day—The Day of Atonement.

The Day of Atonement is an epic and electrifying thriller that will have readers shocked with its twists and entertained with each adrenaline-packed page.

A Completely Original and Captivating Dystopian Alternate History

#1 Best Seller in Absurdist Fiction

An ambitious feat of engineering and a continent in crisis. The Atlantropa Articles is an epic saga by YouTuber Cody Franklin (Alternate History Hub), with contributions from YouTuber Joseph Pisenti (Real Life Lore).

In an alternate history timeline, World War II never takes place. Instead, a plan is put into effect by Hitler and the Nazi party to drain the Mediterranean Sea. They promise fertile land, millions of jobs and endless energy, new land to be settled, and living space for a crowded continent. To realize this new world, all of Europe came together and signed a treaty called ‘The Atlantropa Articles’.

Nazism survives in a new Europe. By promising to bring endless energy through hydro-electricity and employing millions to build the dams, fascism only cements itself as a mainstream ideology. Hitler is seen as a modern Napoleon, one of the greats for his time. Nazism never disappears.

The Reich remains eternal. Two millennia later, the Reich runs the world. Aryans have become a race of their own, outnumbering their neighbors and ruling with a messianic passion towards Hitler. Europe has been united under the banner of the swastika.

The sea is gone and the promise failed. But the plan of a fertile lush land was never realized. The project took decades longer than anticipated. By the time it is completed, what they find is a salty barren world. Now the Mediterranean Sea is a desert basin known only as the Kiln. Southern Europe has been abandoned. This is where Ansel’s story begins—a story of discovery, lies, and false prophets. The Atlantropa Articles is an astounding science fiction, alternate history tale that will thrill and transport you with its detailed world and startling intimacy.

If you’re a fan of books by Harry Turtledove, Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle, or Stephen King’s 11/22/63, you’ll love The Atlantropa Articles.

Hard Science Fiction Films that Predict Future Technology

“As the breakneck advance of technology takes us into a world that is both exciting and menacing, sci-fi films give us an inkling of what is to come, and what we should avoid.” —Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, and host of Big Picture Science

#1 Best Seller in Nanotechnology, Computers & Technology, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Mechanical Engineering, and Robotics & Automation, Cybernetics, and Experiments & Projects

Dr. Andrew Maynard, physicist and leading expert on socially responsible development of emerging and converging technologies, examines hard science fiction movies and brings them to life.

Science and technology are radically changing our world. Films from the Future is an essential guide to navigating a future dominated by complex and powerful new technologies. The jump from room-filling processors to pocket-size super computers is just the beginning. Artificial intelligence, gene manipulation, cloning, and inter-planet travel are all ideas that seemed like fairy tales but a few years ago. And now their possibility is very much here. But are we ready to handle these advances? As Maynard explains, “Viewed in the right way―and with a good dose of critical thinking―science fiction movies can help us think about and prepare for the social consequences of technologies we don’t yet have, but that are coming faster than we imagine.”

Dr. Maynard looks at twelve sci-fi movies and takes us on a journey through the worlds of biological and genetic manipulation, human enhancement, cyber technologies, and nanotechnology. Gain a broader understanding of the complex relationship between science and society. The movies include old and new, and the familiar and unfamiliar, providing a unique, entertaining, and ultimately transformative take on the power and responsibilities of emerging technologies.

Read books such as The Book of Why, The Science of Interstellar, or The Future of Humanity? Then you’ll love Films from the Future!

A Florida Mystery Twenty Years in the Making

If you liked The Trespasser by Tana French, The Tuscan Child by Rhys Bowen, or New Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton, you’ll love The Miracle of St. Lazarus.

Miami, Florida 1992: A few weeks after Hurricane Andrew wreaks devastation and havoc across South Florida, a father and his infant daughter crash their car into a canal. The man’s body is recovered, but his baby girl is never found.

Twenty-three years later: After reports of alleged sightings of the girl, the case is reopened by police. Detective Maria Duquesne has been assigned to the case, but she has very little in the way of clues. Is it really possible that the girl has not died? Or is this simply the persistence of a desperate mother who will not accept the death of her daughter?

A cozy mystery with a unique lens: Author Uva de Aragón provides a multifaceted portrait of the Latino communities of Miami and Hialeah, creating an exciting thriller that will appeal to readers who enjoy mysteries with female sleuths.

Uva de Aragón has published a dozen books of essays, poetry, short stories, and the novel Memoria del Silencio, which is now offered in its first translation into English. Some of her short stories and a play have also been translated and appear in textbooks and anthologies such as The Voice of the Turtle, Cuba: A Traveler's Literary Companion, Cubana, and Cuban-American Theater. The Miracle of St. Lazarus is the newest soon-to-be bestseller in her incredible literary career.

Your New Favorite Book of Mysteries

If you are a fan of The Best American Mystery Stories series, you’ll love The Book of Extraordinary Historical Mystery Stories.

Some of the Best New Mysteries: The Book of Extraordinary Historical Mystery Stories features outstanding new stories of crime, dering do, fast-paced adventures and puzzles set in the past, ranging widely over the centuries and offering a cornucopia of mysteries, dark deeds, investigations and a fascinating array of investigators both professional and amateur.

Never-Before-Seen Stories from Your Favorite Mystery Authors: Collected by one of the genre's eminent editors, Maxim Jakubowski, whose many anthologies like The Mammoth Book of the Adventures of Professor Moriarty have attracted attention and awards, The Book of Extraordinary Historical Mystery Stories features never before seen stories by some of the most renowned American and British crime and thriller authors of today, and includes Linda Stratmann, Amy Myers, Lavie Tidhar, Jane Finnis, O'Neil de Noux, Ashley Lister, Eric Brown, Kate Ellis, A.K. Benedict and many others.

A Heart-Pounding International Thriller With a Shocking Mystery

For fans of Angels and Demons, Origin, The Da Vinci Code, and other books by Dan Brown, Brad Thor or Daniel Silva, comes a religious and political mystery that will have you guessing until the very end.

An Incredible Weapon. In the beginning, the Lord sent mighty cherubim with a flaming sword to guard the holiest place on earth, the mount of Jerusalem, where the golden Dome of the Rock stands today. Now mysterious conspirators threaten to ignite a world war in the same place, with a “flaming sword” of a different kind.

The Epicenter of Monotheistic Faiths. Anciently, Solomon’s Temple stood on this spot, making it holy to the Jewish faith. According to the gospels, Christ was crucified near this spot, making it holy to Christians. Finally, the prophet Mohammed took his flight to heaven from this spot, making it holy to Muslims. A threat to this epicenter of three contesting faiths could shake apart the delicate balance of peace and bring down global ruin.

Secrets Upon Secrets. In this concluding volume of The Day of Atonement series, follow Israeli agent Ari and his companion, Interpol agent Maryse, as they race across multiple continents toward the mount of Jerusalem—and a shocking discovery that could mean the end of everything. 

The Flaming Sword is a fast-paced fiction that takes us right to the heart of Jerusalem. Can roiling religious wars end in time to save the world?

A Collection of the Best and Newest Private Eye Mysteries

“I have been a fan of Maxim Jakubowski for years. There just is no finer mystery writer and editor anywhere.” ―Alexander Algren, author of Out in a Flash: Murder Mystery Flash Fiction

Collected by one of the genre's eminent editors, Maxim Jakubowski. Dive right into the mysterious and thrilling world of amateur sleuths and private eye stories! One of the best mystery books of this century, this volume features outstanding new stories of crime, derring-do, fast-paced adventures, and puzzles, featuring hardy amateur sleuths ranging from young to old and grizzled private eyes whose patches cover the city streets, all in the hallowed tradition of Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, Philip Marlowe and more.

Never-before-seen stories from your favorite mystery authors. Jakubowski’s many anthologies, like The Book of Extraordinary Historical Mystery Stories, have attracted plenty of attention and awards. His newest collection, The Book of Extraordinary Amateur Sleuths and Private Eye Stories, features never-before-seen stories by some of the most renowned American and British crime and thriller authors of today. Whether the victim was done in at the party uptown or discovered in the other room of a particularly difficult individual, these mysteries will have you gripping at the edge of your seat.

Also don’t miss other mystery books by Maxim Jakubowski:

• The Book of Extraordinary Impossible Crimes and Puzzling Deaths
• The Book of Extraordinary Historical Mystery Stories
• The Book of Extraordinary New Sherlock Holmes Stories
• The Return of Sherlock Holmes

If you're a fan of The Best American Mystery Stories series, The Dead Daughter series by Thomas Fincham, or Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado, you’ll love The Book of Extraordinary Amateur Sleuths and Private Eye Stories.

A Novel of Redemption from Addiction and a Broken Family

“A Clean Heart picks at the knot of addiction and recovery insistently and with a wholesomeness intriguingly at odds with its subject. I enjoyed this book.” –Thomas Beller, author of The Sleep-Over Artist

Carter Kirchner struggles to stay sane and sober as a counselor at Six West, an adolescent drug treatment center run by Sister Mary Xavier, a hard-drinking nun with an MBA. The young Kirchner is caught between Sister Mary’s plan to rescue the center by reforming a hard-case kid and the dysfunctional staff’s clumsy plan to intervene on their boss’s drinking. Meanwhile, Carter’s mother―who never forgave him for giving up a promising hockey career to treat his own addiction―lands in the hospital with an advanced case of cirrhosis. Before Carter can help the young addict commissioned to his care or safely navigate the staff’s dysfunctional intervention effort, he must rescue himself from his family’s broken past.

A Clean Heart is a novel by John Rosengren, a writer and recent nominee for a Pulitzer Prize who knows the territory of addiction. He went through treatment at age 17 and has been clean and sober since 1981. He also worked in adolescent treatment centers when he was younger. John Rosengren’s articles have appeared in more than 100 publications, including The Atlantic, New Yorker, Reader’s Digest, Sports Illustrated, and Utne Reader.

If you are a fan of the 2018 films Ben is Back or David Sheff’s Beautiful Boy or have read addiction memoirs such as If You Love Me or We All Fall Down, you will love reading John Rosengren’s A Clean Heart.

The stories of four generations of strong, vibrant women both idiosyncratic and adventuresome, each with a rich tale to tell.

Born at the end of the Nineteenth Century and nestled in South Western Italy, Catarina Pensbene’s life in Perdifumo is full of sun-drenched olive orchards, lush grape vines, delicious peasant food, family and love. Because of an unexpected plunge into an untenable situation, Catarina decides to take a huge risk to become a mail order bride and sets out across the ocean.

Interwoven with Catarina’s Ring is the story of her witty and self-deprecating granddaughter, Juliette Brice. Born and raised in Northern California, Juliette experiences an unfortunate tragedy that serves as the impetus for her to shake up her life, and travel to her grandmother’s homeland, where she enrolls in a six-month cooking class in Lucca, Italy. While abroad, Julliette becomes romantically involved with a handsome Italian man, yet her destiny dictates she is to return to California once her class ends. Through the author's attention to detail and employing both historically accurate and thoroughly modern storytelling, Catarina's Ring serves up Italian delicacies, luminous characters, a delicious escape and completely inspiring story.

If you enjoyed books like Where the Crawdads Sing, When We Believed in Mermaids or Before We Were Yours; then you’ll love Catarina's Ring.

A marriage story. How much is too much to want?

"I've been waiting a long time for this book." ―Rebecca Makkai, author of The Great Believers and Music for Wartime

2020 IPPY Award Winner for Literary Fiction
2020 NIEA Winner for General Fiction and Best Cover 

In this elegant and honest novel, a young couple must navigate that fine line between the things they want for themselves and the the things they want together, and it appears each will have to make a choice―the person they love or the life they want.

Mary Cassatt Miller, the director of an Atlanta home for older women, and famous photojournalist Ethan Graham want a life together. Despite Ethan’s work taking him to the streets of Afghanistan, he agrees that after three years, he will stop traveling.

But, nine weeks before their third anniversary, Cass is unsure whether Ethan will ever give up the work he loves. As the clock counts down, it doesn’t help that Singer, the artist-bartender, is always in Atlanta, and the enthralling Setara, the subject of Ethan’s most famous photograph, is also his business partner.

A new danger in Afghanistan changes everything. 

Paperback includes a Reader's Guide, perfect for Book Clubs and all Lovers of Fiction:

• This story of marriage will inspire discussions about feminist books, a person's sense of self, the question of whether or not to have a family, individual passions, romance versus love, romance inspired by lovers, missed anniversaries and marriage conflicts. 
• Features relatable characters with a sense of self, family dynamics and a journey through romance, love disapointment, secrets, conflict, passion, and danger. 
• A novel that’s perfect for lovers of fiction, romance stories, and feminist books

Lovers of fiction and fans of feminist books like Writers & Lovers by Lily King, An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, Life Drawing by Robin Black you’re going to love Cynthia Newberry Martin’s novel Tidal Flats.

Holmes and Watson Return in These New Sherlock Holmes Stories

“Sometimes a brief zap of great writing is just what you’re in the mood for or have time for. That’s when anthologies like his are ideal....intellectually outstanding.”—New York Journal of Books

Recognized as “the best short mystery and crime fiction of the year” by Leonard Carpenter, Maxim Jakubowski presents a collection of never before seen fiction short stories from some of the best mystery and thriller writers today.

Your favorite sleuths return. An icon of detective fiction, readers have come across Sherlock Holmes and his mythical stories of crime and adventure for generations. In this new short story anthology, literature reunites with the beloved British detective, his powers of deduction, and his unerring quest for the truth.

A cornucopia of British detectives, dark deeds, and derring-do. Collected by one of the genre's eminent editors, The Book of Extraordinary New Sherlock Holmes Stories features the timeless detective alongside favorite Sherlock Holmes characters, like Moriarty, Holmes, and Watson. Bringing together some of the most renowned American and British authors of crime today, this bumper volume of short stories for adults features:

• Jon Courtenay Grimwood
• Lavie Tidhar
• David Stuart Davies
• John Grant
• Rose Biggins
• David N.Smith
• O'Neil De Noux
• Rhys Hughes
• Catherine Lundoff
• Mark Mower
• Matthew Booth
• Martin Daley
• Jan Edwards
• Ashley Lister
• Keith Brooke
• Naching T.Kassa
• Phillip Vine
• Bev Vincent
• Keith Moray
• and Nick Sweet

If you’re looking for British historical mysteries, detective mystery books, or anthology bookss—or enjoy Anthony Horrowitz novels  The Complete Sherlock Holmes or The Best American Mystery Stories 2019—then you’ll love The Book of Extraordinary New Sherlock Holmes Stories.

A Survivor Story Featuring Strong Female Characters, an Undercover Cop, and the Hills of San Francisco

“After you read… ‘human trafficking’ will never be a concept for you again—but instead a personal affront to your very soul.” —Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean

Winner 2020 Indie Book Award for Most Inspirational Fiction

With the perfect mix of tragedy and humor, love and loss, pain and redemption, this riveting novel explores the lives of two spectacularly brave and resilient trafficked women living in a San Francisco safe house.

A contemporary survivor story. Raised in Thailand and brought to the United States against her will, quiet and intelligent Suda is hiding from a sex trafficking ring and the man she believed was on her side. Claire, admired as bright and beautiful in high school, now hides her striking looks and wears her sharp wit as a protective shield. Determined to show Suda and Claire a path that allows for a life of their own, Simone, the safe house operator, offers them a haven and a healing path to the future.

Part suspense, romance, and social novel. Moving between the hills of Thailand and San Francisco, this incredible novel traces the journey of two trafficked women pursuing healing and hope. With strong female  characters, an undercover cop, and a warmhearted Christian, Across the Deep is an unforgettable, alluring, suspenseful story  about the resilience of the human spirit, of lives stolen and enduring hope for the future.

If you enjoyed novels like Girl in Pieces, The Sea of Lost Girls, Please See Us, and Then She Was Gone, then you’ll love Across the Deep.

A True Crime Thriller

“Fascinating, mesmerizing, and so darkly atmospheric that you keep looking over your shoulder as you read.” —Diana Gabaldon, internationally-bestselling author of the Outlander series

Winner of Two Historical Fiction Awards in 2018 (IPPY Gold Medal Award and National Indie Excellence Award)
#1 Bestseller in Historical Ireland

In this historical murder thriller, author Erika Mailman (also winner of the 2007 Bram Stoker Award for her novel The Witch’s Trinity) brings the true story of the brutal murder of Lizzie Borden’s father and stepmother into new focus by adding a riveting contemporary narrative.

With historical detail and taut, modern storytelling, Erika Mailman writes a captivating novel about identity, choices, freedom, and murder. She offers readers a fresh perspective on the notorious 19^th century crime and explores the trials of immigrants seeking a better life while facing down fear and oppression, today and throughout history. Intelligent and detailed, The Murderer’s Maid is a gripping read from beginning to bloody conclusion.

The Murderer’s Maid interweaves the stories of two women, the 19^th century servant of infamous Lizzie Borden and the other a 21^st century modern-day barista fleeing from an attempt on her life. Irish maid Bridget Sullivan, trapped by servitude and afraid for her own safety, finds herself an unwilling witness to the tensions in the volatile Borden household. In 2016, Brooke, the illegitimate daughter of an immigrant maid, is unknowingly connected to the legendary 19^th century crime. Brooke struggles to conceal her identity and stay a jump ahead of the men who want to kill her.

If you have read and enjoyed Lizzie Borden books such as The Life and Trial of Lizzie Borden, A Private Disgrace, The History and Haunting of Lizzie Borden, Parallel Lives, The Secrets of Lizzie Borden, or The Fall River Tragedy; you will love Erika Mailman’s award winning true crime thriller The Murderer's Maid.

Everyone’s Favorite British Detective Is Back!

Read the newest and most thrilling stories about the most famous super sleuth in this new novel by critically acclaimed author, Maxim Jakubowski.

Revisit Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s legacy. Sherlock Holmes and Watson have been household names and icons for generations. In this new anthology by Maxim Jakubowski, you can read all about the dynamic duo in a new light. From brand new stories, to deeper looks into famous Sherlock Holmes cases, you’ll fall in love with these short detective stories.

The perfect book for Sherlock and mystery fans alike. Whether you are a Sherlock super-fan, or an avid crime and mystery reader, The Return of Sherlock Holmes is the perfect novel for you. With brand new, mind-boggling stories, you can delve into the world of Sherlock Holmes and his crime-solving abilities. In this book, you can read:

• All new Sherlock Holmes stories
• The return of the world-famous British detective
• And so much more!

If you enjoyed books like American Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Collection or Sherlock Holmes: Complete Collections & Stories, then you’ll love The Return of Sherlock Holmes.

Gina balances between her current life in California and her past in Maine. Torn between the two, she does what any architect will do. She deconstructs her old childhood home piece by piece and with it, the secrets it carries.

In the months following her parents’ fatal car accident in Maine, architect Gina Gilbert is coming apart: anxious with her two young children, alienated by her clients’ grand house dreams, and no longer certain she feels at home in San Francisco.

While she and her sister Cassie are cleaning out their childhood home on the coast of Maine, they stir up painful memories and resentments over family possessions. A legendary collection of historically significant letters is missing from the artifacts they unearth, supporting a decades-old suspicion that their aunt or estranged cousin has stolen them.

Threatened by the loss of the old house and its extraordinary seaside landscape, Gina finds her heart swinging wildly between Maine and California, creating conflict with her husband, Paul. To learn what the Maine house means to her, she approaches it objectively, as an architect, bringing it to life on paper. Her family’s story unfolds room by room: the darkroom from which her gentle but passive father, Ron, ran his photography business, the kitchen where her volatile mother, Eleanor, toiled under the weight of dashed dreams. As children, Gina and Cassie warily navigated rooms permeated with toxic secrets hobbling Eleanor and Ron’s marriage.

As Gina deconstructs the house, startling truths are revealed, changing family history and allowing Gina and Cassie to begin healing family wounds. Gina has the chance to search the recesses of her heart, too, discovering within her a vitalizing compassion and an awakened understanding of what makes a house a home.

If you enjoyed books like The Dancing Girls, The Murmur of Bees, or Little White Secrets; then you’ll love Dream House.

A marriage story. How much is too much to want?

"I've been waiting a long time for this book." ―Rebecca Makkai, author of The Great Believers and Music for Wartime

2020 IPPY Award Winner for Literary Fiction
2020 NIEA Winner for General Fiction and Best Cover 

In this elegant and honest novel, a young couple must navigate that fine line between the things they want for themselves and the the things they want together, and it appears each will have to make a choice―the person they love or the life they want.

Mary Cassatt Miller, the director of an Atlanta home for older women, and famous photojournalist Ethan Graham want a life together. Despite Ethan’s work taking him to the streets of Afghanistan, he agrees that after three years, he will stop traveling.

But, nine weeks before their third anniversary, Cass is unsure whether Ethan will ever give up the work he loves. As the clock counts down, it doesn’t help that Singer, the artist-bartender, is always in Atlanta, and the enthralling Setara, the subject of Ethan’s most famous photograph, is also his business partner.

A new danger in Afghanistan changes everything. 

Paperback includes a Reader's Guide, perfect for Book Clubs and all Lovers of Fiction:

• This story of marriage will inspire discussions about feminist books, a person's sense of self, the question of whether or not to have a family, individual passions, romance versus love, romance inspired by lovers, missed anniversaries and marriage conflicts. 
• Features relatable characters with a sense of self, family dynamics and a journey through romance, love disapointment, secrets, conflict, passion, and danger. 
• A novel that’s perfect for lovers of fiction, romance stories, and feminist books

Lovers of fiction and fans of feminist books like Writers & Lovers by Lily King, An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, Life Drawing by Robin Black you’re going to love Cynthia Newberry Martin’s novel Tidal Flats.

A World of Sexy Sleuths, Mysterious Missus, and Female Villains

A delightful menu of villainy and seduction. Dangerous women are a steadfast tradition of crime and mystery books. Choose between stories that compare to mystery best sellers, tales that feature the smart sleuth, the daring detective, the mystery date-turned-nemesis, or the baby-faced beauty. Perfect for fans of crime novels, fiction, strong female characters, or mystery and suspense books, The Extraordinary Book of Femme Fatales honors its heritage with stories featuring strong women and female villains who have mastered the art of seduction.

Marvelous mysteries, hand-picked by an expert. Maxim Jakubowski, one of the top best selling authors in mystery fiction books, has scoured the genre for the best new mystery and thriller stories featuring femme fatales. In The Extraordinary Book of Femme Fatales, he presents the best of the best in mystery literature featuring strong women, fiction, and good for her stories.

Inside The Extraordinary Book of Femme Fatales, you’ll find:

• Stories with strong female leads, female villains, and more
• Crime, seduction, and adventure
• A look at what happens when women are the big bad heroes

If you liked The Maidens, The Jealousy Man and Other Stories, or The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021, you’ll love The Extraordinary Book of Femme Fatales.

Some of the Latest and Best from the Whodunnit Genre

“...simply the best short mystery and crime fiction of the year and a real treat for crime-fiction fans.” ―Leonard Carpenter, author of the Conan the Barbarian books and Lusitania Lost

The Book of Extraordinary Impossible Crimes and Puzzling Deaths is the latest collection from legendary murder mystery editor and writer Maxim Jakubowski. Filled with impossible murders and puzzling plot twists that keep your eyes on the page and brain on the mysteries until the last page.

Clever fictional crime stories. Some of mystery fiction's most inventive talents from the USA and UK offer a series of brand-new ingenious murder stories that will have you scratching your brow until the very last minute and delighting in Machiavellian solutions. Enjoy the third volume in Mango's innovative collections of the best crime stories fiction has to offer.

Enigmas and puzzling plot twists. Crime mystery fiction can be full of impenetrable conundrums and endless question marks when the story itself becomes a reality-defying puzzle for the sleuth to solve. A murder has been committed but how could it have happened? Was the room locked from the inside? Why does the body show no sign of violence? Where is the murder weapon?

Fresh innovative murder stories. Maxim Jakubowski’s latest book features never before seen stories by some of the most renowned American and British crime and thriller authors of today, including British Science Fiction Award winner Eric Brown, Derringer Award winner O'Neil de Noux, and multiple CWA Dagger Award winners and nominees.

A fan of Maxim Jakubowski’s The Book of Extraordinary Historical Mystery Stories and The Book of Extraordinary Amateur Sleuth and Private Eye Stories? Reader of books such as Best American Mystery Stories 2018, Her Body and Other Parties, or The Big Book of Female Detectives? A movie goer who liked Clue or Knives Out? Jakubowski’s latest book is for you.

Finalist for the 2023 Banff Mountain Book Award for Mountain Fiction & Poetry
An Anchorage Daily News Favorite Book of 2023

Kim Heacox, author of the National Outdoor Book Award-winning novel Jimmy Bluefeather, returns with a new, brilliant novel about family love and the lengths one will go to protect it.

The small town of Strawberry Flats sits on a remote Alaska coast, peacefully left to itself—until controversial plans for a road and a bridge threaten to upend everything.

Former trapper Salt d’Alene never thought he’d find himself in the midst of such a dispute, but he’ll do anything to provide the best care for his son Solomon, recently diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. Eleven-year-old Kes Nash just wants her father—back from war in Afghanistan—to be normal again. And circling the perimeter of the town is a wolf, Silver, and his pack, quietly watching.

Told from three alternating perspectives, On Heaven’s Hill is a vividly powerful story about rediscovering hope and finding new life in the aftermath of trauma. Filled with humor and compassion, it depicts the best of America, a place composed of wildness and kindness.

BOOK ONE OF THE BUTTERFLY TRILOGY

From New York Times bestselling author Kathryn Harvey comes an arousing, passionate story of three women’s hidden desires and the place called Butterfly, where dreams are kept and where fantasies come to life.

Above an exclusive men’s store on Rodeo Drive there is a private club called Butterfly, where women are free to act out their secret erotic fantasies. Only the most beautiful and powerful women in Beverly Hills are invited to join: Jessica, a lawyer who longs for the days when men were men, and women dressed to please them; Trudie, a builder who wants a man who will challenge her—all of her—with no holds barred; and Linda, a surgeon, who uses masks to unmask the desires she hides even from herself.
But the most mysterious of them all is the woman who created Butterfly. She has changed her name, her accent, even her face to hide her true identity. And now she is about to reveal everything to realize the dream that has driven her since childhood—the secret obsession that will carry her beyond ecstasy, or destroy her and everyone around her.

The long-anticipated spring offensive pitches the Union and Confederate armies against each other on the Virginia Peninsula, and it appears that Richmond and the fledgling Confederacy are doomed. As the Southerners fall back before the slowly advancing Northern army, Mac is reunited with his older brother, Will, when Stonewall Jackson's triumphant troops arrive from the Shenandoah Valley to blunt the Federal onslaught. The fortunes of the Southern army change dramatically when Robert E. Lee is made commander.

Lee's army strikes a stunning blow to the Northern army as his legions cross the Potomac River into Maryland. When the Federals intercept the Rebels near Antietam Creek, the two brothers are brought together in the bloodiest trial of the war thus far. The air is thick with shot and shell as wave after wave of Northern soldiers are hurled upon the Southern lines grouped near the town of Sharpsburg and a river of death.

Antietam is the third book in this ten-volume series, spanning the Civil War and describing one Southern family. As the Brannon brothers answer the call to arms the family finds itself struggling with dilemmas it had never imagined.

The narrative of Chancellorsville begins in Mississippi and the situation on the western front. Before reaching Vicksburg, Cory Brannon stumbles into a campsite where all is not well and briefly encounters a cautious Confederate patrol. A veteran of the battles of Forts Henry and Donelson and Shiloh, but not a soldier in the Confederate army, h continues to search for Lucille Farrell, the daughter of his late employer. When he finds her, he also discovers that he may have a role to play in supplying the South with the food, weapons, and ammunition being brought in through Texas by blockade-runners. The path, however, is strewn with renegades and outlaws, and on the horizon there may be a rival for Lucille’s affections.

Meanwhile, Cory’s brothers, Will and Mac, enjoy a brief visit with the family members still in Culpeper. Will is greatly relieved that his mother, Abigail, who had banished him from the farm in the weeks before the war, now welcomes him with open arms. Brother Titus’s marriage to Polly Ebersole comes as a surprise to the two brothers in gray, but their presence stirs a sense of obligation and duty in the hotheaded Titus. Shortly after the two return to their units—Will to the Shenandoah with Jackson and Mac with Stuart near Richmond—the Confederate cause claims another Brannon, this one a gifted rifleman.

In December 1862 a new Union commander launches another campaign to claim the Southern capital, and Ambrose Burnside brings the Federal army to Fredericksburg. With him marches the conscience-driven Nathan Hatcher. When the battle breaks loose, Will and Mac are on the right side of the Confederate line, and Titus is on the left. After the terrible bloodletting of the Federal defeat, news comes that Titus has been lost. The brothers carry the information back to Culpeper, where the aloof Polly surprisingly grieves over the loss of Titus, her husband. She reaches out to the Brannon family and finds a comforting response from the people she has tried to keep at arm’s length.

In early 1863 a fitful calm pervades the Virginia front until yet another Union commander is named. Joe Hooker leads his army into the wooded wilderness of the Rappahannock again and confidently stakes his fortunes to an encounter with Robert E. Lee near the roadside inn at Chancellorsville. As the battle rushes toward them, Will and Mac witness the boldest move a field commander can make and the greatest loss the Confederacy can struggle to bear.

Chancellorsville is the fourth book in a series of historical novels spanning the Civil War.

Criminal defense attorney Darcy Cole has his hands full. In the middle of one of the biggest cases of his distinguished career, an unsatisfied former client puts out a contract on his life. To make matters worse, Darcy is suffering through a midlife crisis. Although he is a successful attorney, he feels old and lost and weary, and during his frequent sleepless nights he wonders just what he has to show for his life.

Darcy’s beautiful, self-centered client, Lynne Tobias, has been charged with arranging the murder of her wealthy husband for the insurance money. Her flamboyant behavior creates problems for her defense, and the suspense mounts as Darcy duels with a brilliant female prosecutor who matches his courtroom strategies trick for trick. When justice finally prevails, the verdict is as unpredictable as the ending.

Vicksburg is the fifth volume in a series of historical novels spanning the Civil War featuring the Brannon family of Culpeper County, Virginia. The focus turns to the west and the Southern stronghold of Vicksburg, Mississippi, where Cory Brannon is working to keep the town supplied by wagon train and railroad from Texas.

Vicksburg is the key to the Mississippi River and the future of the Confederacy, and Abraham Lincoln wants to put that key in his pocket. For almost a year the Federal army and navy have tried to dislodge the Confederates, but they have gained nothing. Finally, Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, the hero of the battles at Forts Henry and Donelson and the battle of Shiloh, is dispatched to take the town.

Cory and the woman he loves, Lucille Farrell, are working with her uncle, Col. Charles Thompson, and a small contingent of dedicated Southerners. In the spring of 1863, as the Union army begins to close in, Cory must abandon that venture to take on a vital mission for Confederate Gen. John Pemberton, the commander in charge of Vicksburg's defenses. At the end of Cory's journey, however, is an even more dangerous foray into Western Tennessee and over the border into Kentucky with the horse soldiers of Nathan Bedford Forrest, Cory's mentor from the battle of Shiloh. To help save Vicksburg, Cory becomes both a cavalry raider and even a spy.

Yet his efforts cannot prevent the inevitable as the Yankees eventually surround and lay siege to Vicksburg. With the Northern army set to seize the city, Lucille must also cope with additional challenges as she encounters a returning friend with secret plans of his own. The Federal bombardment, illness, injury, and starvation all take their toll on the defenders of Vicksburg, forcing Cory and Lucille to face decisions that threaten not only their love but their very lives.

The third volume in The Tennessee Frontier Trilogy, The Canebrake Men is a saga of adventure set in the period from 1785 to 1800. In it Cameron Judd paints a portrait of the unforgettable men and women whose vision, passion, and pain gave rise to the new nation, such as:
-- Joshua Coulter, who had made a life amid the dangers of the rugged frontier and had been tamed by the Tennessee Wilderness, only to discover again a deep restlessness that stirred in his heart
-- Owen Killefer, who set out for the Chickamauga country as a boy to avenge a bloody crime
-- Emaline Killefer, who was torn from her family in a bloody raid by a British deserter and taken to live among the Chickamauga as his unwilling wife
-- John Sevier, the frontiersman who led raids against the Indians and was named governor of a would-be state the federal government never recognized
-- Andrew Jackson, a brash young lawyer with a fiery temper, who first met Joshua Colter as an opponent in a brawl but soon became a strong ally and loyal friend

Readers enthralled by the works of great mystery and crime writers will find something new in Opening Shots. This collection offers not only the first published short stories of twenty prominent writers, but also features each author’s recollections of the trials and thrills of making that unforgettable first sale. 

Opening Shots humanizes legendary writers and revisits the cutting-edge work from which raw talents broke through in bold and sometimes experimental fashion. Joan Hess’s “Death of a Romance Writer” offers a nifty and humorous literary twist—an inside joke—that Hess describes as “a dollop of revenge for all the abused heroines of romantic fiction.” But there’s nothing funny about James Sallis’s “Jim and Mary G,” a disturbing story with a sad conclusion that can be interpreted in more than one way. Says Sallis, “I was just starting to try and write stories that might be read in several ways, or on several levels, simultaneously.” 

Between its wide variety of stories and styles and its candid personal reflections from the authors themselves, Opening Shots is a compelling anthology that entertains and offers a glimpse beyond the page and into the mind of the writer. 

The narrative of Chancellorsville begins in Mississippi and the situation on the western front. Before reaching Vicksburg, Cory Brannon stumbles into a campsite where all is not well and briefly encounters a cautious Confederate patrol. A veteran of the battles of Forts Henry and Donelson and Shiloh, but not a soldier in the Confederate army, h continues to search for Lucille Farrell, the daughter of his late employer. When he finds her, he also discovers that he may have a role to play in supplying the South with the food, weapons, and ammunition being brought in through Texas by blockade-runners. The path, however, is strewn with renegades and outlaws, and on the horizon there may be a rival for Lucille’s affections.

Meanwhile, Cory’s brothers, Will and Mac, enjoy a brief visit with the family members still in Culpeper. Will is greatly relieved that his mother, Abigail, who had banished him from the farm in the weeks before the war, now welcomes him with open arms. Brother Titus’s marriage to Polly Ebersole comes as a surprise to the two brothers in gray, but their presence stirs a sense of obligation and duty in the hotheaded Titus. Shortly after the two return to their units—Will to the Shenandoah with Jackson and Mac with Stuart near Richmond—the Confederate cause claims another Brannon, this one a gifted rifleman.

In December 1862 a new Union commander launches another campaign to claim the Southern capital, and Ambrose Burnside brings the Federal army to Fredericksburg. With him marches the conscience-driven Nathan Hatcher. When the battle breaks loose, Will and Mac are on the right side of the Confederate line, and Titus is on the left. After the terrible bloodletting of the Federal defeat, news comes that Titus has been lost. The brothers carry the information back to Culpeper, where the aloof Polly surprisingly grieves over the loss of Titus, her husband. She reaches out to the Brannon family and finds a comforting response from the people she has tried to keep at arm’s length.

In early 1863 a fitful calm pervades the Virginia front until yet another Union commander is named. Joe Hooker leads his army into the wooded wilderness of the Rappahannock again and confidently stakes his fortunes to an encounter with Robert E. Lee near the roadside inn at Chancellorsville. As the battle rushes toward them, Will and Mac witness the boldest move a field commander can make and the greatest loss the Confederacy can struggle to bear.

Chancellorsville is the fourth book in a series of historical novels spanning the Civil War.

Following on the heels of the successful first volume of this series, the stories in this stellar field include:

"Final Rites" by Doug Allyn • "Don't Kill a Karate Fighter" by William Chambers • "Entrapped" by Harlan Coben • "Yellow Gal" by Michael Collins • "Together" by Jeffrey Deaver • "The Rough Boys" by Harlan Ellison • "Tole My Cap'n" by Joe Gores • "Layover" by Ed Gorman • "A Bunch of Mumbo-Jumbo" by Jan Grape • "The Cure" by David Handler • "Till Tuesday" by Jeremiah Healy • "Village of the Dead" by Edward D. Hoch • "Chalk" by Evan Hunter • "It's a Wise Child Who Knows" by Stuart Kaminsky • "Who Killed Cock Robin?" by H. R. F. Keating • "Medford & Son" by Dick Lochte • "Thieves' Honor" by John Lutz • "Not All Brides Are Beautiful" by Sharyn McCrumb • "Manslaughter" by Joyce Carol Oates • "You Don't Know What It's Like" by Bill Pronzini • "The Disappearance of Penny" by Robert J. Randisi • "A Victim Must Be Found" by Henry Slesar • "Blue Rose" by Peter Straub • "A Bad Night For Burglars" by Lawrence Block

In this eighth volume of the ten-volume Civil War Battle Series, the action returns to northern Virginia and Culpeper County. The long absent Titus Brannon returns home on Christmas Day, 1863, just over a year since his disappearance during the battle of Fredericksburg. As much as his family is startled to learn that he is alive, he is surprised to find that his wife, Polly, is now married to his brother Henry. And she is pregnant.

Unwilling to accept Polly and Henry's marriage, Titus insists that Polly is still his wife, and a judge agrees. He refuses to divorce her, and later Polly's body is found at her father's plantation. The evidence points to Titus, and he is arrested and jailed.

As spring approaches, Will Brannon recuperates from his Gettysburg wound and returns to his regiment. In the meantime, a new commander leads the Union army into northern Virginia—U.S. Grant. To block Grant's march on Richmond, Robert E. Lee attacks. Grant, however, does not retreat after this surprise engagement but marches on. The two armies clash again and again, maneuvering ever closer to the Rebel capital.

Will throws himself into the battles with abandon. At last his pain ends at the portentously named crossroads, Cold Harbor.

After Titus's innocence is proven, he joins the partisan rangers of John S. Mosby. This guerrilla-style warfare suits his nature, and the rangers so effectively harass the Federals in the rich farmland of the Shenandoah that Grant dispatches a special force to squash Mosby. This unit adopts a policy of total war in the valley so as to undercut Mosby's support.

Titus vows vengeance on the Yankees for this wanton destruction, but even he knows that there is little chance that the tide will be stemmed. Both the Confederacy and the Brannons have suffered much in the year 1864. Now even the hotheaded Titus begins to wonder if the nation and his family will survive into 1865.

In the midst of fraud and deception, murder and betrayal, Darcy battles a legal system that seems more adept at administering injustice than in protecting the innocent.

Sometimes a simple plea bargain is not what it appears to be, as criminal defense attorney Darcy Cole learns when he takes the case of Harry Feigler, a Chicago attorney who specializes in expunging the records of men who have been caught soliciting prostitutes. Sometimes also, Darcy reminds his associate Kathy Haddon, when a husband regularly comes home in the evening smelling like a bar and claiming to have been out with "friends," there may be no cause for alarm. Sometimes, too, a black man accused of murder in an apparently open-and-shut drug case has been set up and is innocent, and a beautiful, apparently distraught young woman who reports the disappearance of her boyfriend to the police is lying to distract attention from a real crime.

Sometimes even a middle-aged police officer whose life is spiraling toward disaster discovers the inner qualities of character that attracted him to law enforcement in the first place, and the luck of the draw in emergency room physicians brings together a disenchanted lawyer and an overworked doctor in a romance that sizzles from the moment they first meet. These story lines, which at first glance appear to have no connection to one another, come together with high drama and humor in Plea Bargain. Nothing, it seems, is as it appears, and Darcy must sift through the illusions and deceptions to come to the actual truth. 

Criminal defense attorney Darcy Cole is facing one of the biggest cases of his distinguished career, but at the same time he must deal with his own midlife crisis. He has just won an acquittal for his client—beautiful, self-centered Lynne Tobias—from the charge of murdering her husband, a prominent Chicago attorney. But now Cole and Tobias are facing federal charges of conspiracy to defraud an insurance company in connection with the death of her husband.

This new charge has been brought by the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Owen Dempsey, who is running for governor. He knows that prosecuting Tobias will provide him with massive, and free, election-year publicity. A notorious self-promoter, Dempsey has a reputation as a ruthless politician with an infallible knack for getting the right kind of headlines.

Cole, however, is exhausted, worn out. A brilliant criminal defense attorney, he has made his career the central focus of his life. While he appears to be a successful man, he has had no personal life since his wife divorced him years earlier. He feels old and lost and weary. During his sleepless nights, he sits alone in his penthouse apartment overlooking Lake Michigan, trying to imagine what sort of lives the people on the expressway below live, remembering the mistakes he's made, and wondering if he has anything to show for his life.

By day, however, Cole is energetic and intimidating. He out maneuvers his opponents and plots brilliant strategies to defend his client from the government's charges, anticipating the dirty tactics of Dempsey's office and devising a few of his own.

Complicating matters is Anthony Benvenuti, Jr., who has put out two contracts for Cole's death. The youngest son of Tony "the Babe" Benvenuti, a prominent figure in the Chicago underworld, Tony Jr. is bitter about his conviction for drug-related offenses and blames Cole, his attorney. Although the father has decreed that nobody is to accept the contracts, two freelances are missing and presumed to be hunting for Cole. 

Filled with brilliant legal maneuverings and surprise after surprise, The Advocate spins a complicated, frightening, often humorous path through a spectacular federal trial, ruthless organized crime activity, a verdict that is totally unexpected, and a conclusion that will leave even the most avid mystery readers wondering why they didn't see it coming. 

Roy is a good husband, Penny reminds herself, but he can pinch a nickel until Thomas Jefferson hollers "Uncle!" A hard, dominating man, he bristles when Penny offers to roll the coins—no wife of his needs to waste time rolling mere pennies.

Penny has never kept a secret from her husband, but as her hoard of castaway change grows, she discovers that having money of her own gives her the power to make her own decisions. Beginning with something as small as a furtive trip to a fast-food restaurant in a Georgia town, she finds that small change can eventually lead to big changes.

Thirty-four years later, Roy finds a check for $1,500 drawn on an account bearing only Penny's name. He is bewildered, wondering how his wife, who has never worked outside their home in her entire life, managed to come by so much money. His quest to unravel this mystery leads him to other discoveries about the woman he thought he knew so well. Roy learns just how many lives Penny has touched and just how well his wife had known his secrets all those years—and her example shows him how to begin life anew.

Small Change is a deceptively simple story that explores the human condition in a rich emotional portrait. A remarkable tale of an ordinary housewife who leaves an extraordinary legacy, it reminds us of the true spirit of charity, the effects of poverty, and the tragic self-silencing that limits the richness of far too many women's lives.

The third volume in The Tennessee Frontier Trilogy, The Canebrake Men is a saga of adventure set in the period from 1785 to 1800. In it Cameron Judd paints a portrait of the unforgettable men and women whose vision, passion, and pain gave rise to the new nation, such as:
-- Joshua Coulter, who had made a life amid the dangers of the rugged frontier and had been tamed by the Tennessee Wilderness, only to discover again a deep restlessness that stirred in his heart
-- Owen Killefer, who set out for the Chickamauga country as a boy to avenge a bloody crime
-- Emaline Killefer, who was torn from her family in a bloody raid by a British deserter and taken to live among the Chickamauga as his unwilling wife
-- John Sevier, the frontiersman who led raids against the Indians and was named governor of a would-be state the federal government never recognized
-- Andrew Jackson, a brash young lawyer with a fiery temper, who first met Joshua Colter as an opponent in a brawl but soon became a strong ally and loyal friend

Following on the heels of the successful first volume of this series, the stories in this stellar field include:

"Final Rites" by Doug Allyn • "Don't Kill a Karate Fighter" by William Chambers • "Entrapped" by Harlan Coben • "Yellow Gal" by Michael Collins • "Together" by Jeffrey Deaver • "The Rough Boys" by Harlan Ellison • "Tole My Cap'n" by Joe Gores • "Layover" by Ed Gorman • "A Bunch of Mumbo-Jumbo" by Jan Grape • "The Cure" by David Handler • "Till Tuesday" by Jeremiah Healy • "Village of the Dead" by Edward D. Hoch • "Chalk" by Evan Hunter • "It's a Wise Child Who Knows" by Stuart Kaminsky • "Who Killed Cock Robin?" by H. R. F. Keating • "Medford & Son" by Dick Lochte • "Thieves' Honor" by John Lutz • "Not All Brides Are Beautiful" by Sharyn McCrumb • "Manslaughter" by Joyce Carol Oates • "You Don't Know What It's Like" by Bill Pronzini • "The Disappearance of Penny" by Robert J. Randisi • "A Victim Must Be Found" by Henry Slesar • "Blue Rose" by Peter Straub • "A Bad Night For Burglars" by Lawrence Block

In this eighth volume of the ten-volume Civil War Battle Series, the action returns to northern Virginia and Culpeper County. The long absent Titus Brannon returns home on Christmas Day, 1863, just over a year since his disappearance during the battle of Fredericksburg. As much as his family is startled to learn that he is alive, he is surprised to find that his wife, Polly, is now married to his brother Henry. And she is pregnant.

Unwilling to accept Polly and Henry's marriage, Titus insists that Polly is still his wife, and a judge agrees. He refuses to divorce her, and later Polly's body is found at her father's plantation. The evidence points to Titus, and he is arrested and jailed.

As spring approaches, Will Brannon recuperates from his Gettysburg wound and returns to his regiment. In the meantime, a new commander leads the Union army into northern Virginia—U.S. Grant. To block Grant's march on Richmond, Robert E. Lee attacks. Grant, however, does not retreat after this surprise engagement but marches on. The two armies clash again and again, maneuvering ever closer to the Rebel capital.

Will throws himself into the battles with abandon. At last his pain ends at the portentously named crossroads, Cold Harbor.

After Titus's innocence is proven, he joins the partisan rangers of John S. Mosby. This guerrilla-style warfare suits his nature, and the rangers so effectively harass the Federals in the rich farmland of the Shenandoah that Grant dispatches a special force to squash Mosby. This unit adopts a policy of total war in the valley so as to undercut Mosby's support.

Titus vows vengeance on the Yankees for this wanton destruction, but even he knows that there is little chance that the tide will be stemmed. Both the Confederacy and the Brannons have suffered much in the year 1864. Now even the hotheaded Titus begins to wonder if the nation and his family will survive into 1865.