In Hard Up! A Tale of Champion City, the first story in J. Walt Layne’s From the Pen of…, a man with no name and a monkey on his back roll into Champion City in the wee hours. There's no rest for a man in trouble with the mob. Personal demons and dead bodies revisit a man hard up and down on his luck.Pro Se Productions, the home of the Pro Se Single Shot Signature line of digital singles, announces the first tale in a new author focused digital single imprint. From the Pen of J. Walt Layne features stories by the Author of Pro Se Productions’ Champion City series of books (A Week in Hell, Breathless). Within this imprint, Layne will explore both familiar fields and new grounds of storytelling.In Hard Up! A Tale of Champion City, the first story in J. Walt Layne’s From the Pen of…, a man with no name and a monkey on his back roll into Champion City in the wee hours. There's no rest for a man in trouble with the mob. Personal demons and dead bodies revisit a man hard up and down on his luck.From the Pen of J. Walt Layne. A Pro Se Single Shot Signature writer’s imprint from Pro Se Productions.

A pair of federal agents from either side of the US–Mexico border target a cartel kingpin They call him “Cuchillo,” the Knife. Not because he kills with a blade—he has plenty of men to do that kind of work for him—but because his mind is so sharp. As Mexico’s government wages war on the drug cartels, it takes brains to survive, and Cuchillo has not just survived—he has prospered. But when Cuchillo begins to cut too deeply, the federal police of both the United States and Mexico step in to dull his blade. P. Z. Evans and Alejo Díaz know the Hermosillo cartel is planning an attack on a tourist bus in Sonora, and they know they will have to capture or kill Cuchillo to stop it. The cartel leader has one weakness: rare, old books. To destroy the intellectual’s evil empire, this unlikely pair of international police will have to appeal to his inner bibliophile.

In Molly Harper's newest paranormal romantic comedy, Ben, Gigi's old boyfriend, must find a way to save his new love after a freak Ultimate Frisbee accident. But will she want to live after she finds out how Ben had to save her? In this exciting addition to Molly Harper’s beloved Half-Moon Hollow series, the focus is on Gigi’s ex-boyfriend Ben. When his new girlfriend is killed in a freak Ultimate Frisbee accident, he’s determined to save her, no matter the cost, even if it means bringing her into the darkness of vampire life!

Gladys and Annie Barnes are impoverished sisters who have seen better times. They live in a modest cottage in the backstreets of Highate with Mr Fisher, a mild but eccentric old man living secretively in the attic above them. Their quiet lives are thrown into confusion when a new landlord takes over, a dreaded and unscrupulous 'rackman'. He installs his wife in part of the cottages in the hope that there she will recover from an unspecified malady. With a mounting sense of fear, Gladys and Annie become convinced she is possessed by an evil spirit...

Saxson Olaru is one of the select, the few, the elite... As a ruthless sentinel sworn to protect the ancient Vampyr king and the house of Jadon, he has “HOJ” literally inscribed on his heart: a heart that was tragically broken centuries earlier, when human hunters slayed his mother and Dark Ones murdered his father. Having survived the unthinkable, he never dreamed he would come this close to another human predator, let alone a female pretending to be his destiny. Kiera and Kyla Sparrow are twin sisters: humans, living very different lives. While Kiera is selfless, clever, and talented, Kyla is dark, duplicitous, and damaged—she belongs to a secret society of vampire-hunters, and she has sworn to destroy as many as she can. When Saxson’s Blood Moon appears in a February sky, and the matching constellation, Cetus the Sea Monster, appears on Kiera’s wrist, Kyla knows exactly what it means: The celestial gods have chosen her beautiful sister to be the eternal mate of an immortal vampire—she just doesn’t know which one. And it really doesn’t matter. If Kyla can recreate the sacred emblem on her own inner wrist, she can take Kiera’s place and commit the ultimate Blood Betrayal. When duty, obedience, and honor clash with a deep, gnawing intuition, an honor-bound warrior will be forced to choose between allegiance to the house he loves and the quiet voice within, whispering: “Warning!” One wrong move. One wrong choice. And all will be lost forever.

For untold years, the perfectly preserved mummy had lain forgotten in the dusty basement of Boston s Crispin Museum. Dubbed Madam X, the recently rediscovered mummy is, to all appearances, an ancient Egyptian artifact. But medical examiner Maura Isles discovers a macabre message hidden within the corpse horrifying proof that this centuries-old relic is instead a modern-day murder victim. When the grisly remains of two other women are found, it becomes clear to Maura and Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli that a maniac is at large. Now Maura and Jane must unravel a murderer s twisted endgame before the Archaeology Killer adds another chilling artifact to his monstrous collection."

What if the world's worst serial killer...was your dad? Jasper "Jazz" Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say. But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could—from the criminal's point of view. And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod. In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret—could he be more like his father than anyone knows?

The acclaimed, award-winning, bestselling author of The Cartel—voted one of the Best Books of the Year by more than sixty publications, including the New York Times—makes his William Morrow debut with a cinematic epic as explosive, powerful, and unforgettable as Mystic River and The Wire. Our ends know our beginnings, but the reverse isn’t true . . . All Denny Malone wants is to be a good cop. He is "the King of Manhattan North," a highly decorated NYPD detective sergeant and the real leader of "Da Force." Malone and his crew are the smartest, the toughest, the quickest, the bravest, and the baddest, an elite special unit given carte blanche to fight gangs, drugs, and guns. Every day and every night for the eighteen years he’s spent on the Job, Malone has served on the front lines, witnessing the hurt, the dead, the victims, the perps. He’s done whatever it takes to serve and protect in a city built by ambition and corruption, where no one is clean—including Malone himself. What only a few know is that Denny Malone is dirty: he and his partners have stolen millions of dollars in drugs and cash in the wake of the biggest heroin bust in the city’s history. Now Malone is caught in a trap and being squeezed by the Feds, and he must walk the thin line between betraying his brothers and partners, the Job, his family, and the woman he loves, trying to survive, body and soul, while the city teeters on the brink of a racial conflagration that could destroy them all. This is the great cop novel of our time and a book only Don Winslow could write: a haunting story of greed and violence, inequality and race, crime and injustice, retribution and redemption that reveals the seemingly insurmountable tensions between the police and the diverse citizens they serve. A searing portrait of a city on the edge and of a courageous, heroic, and deeply flawed man who stands at the edge of its abyss, The Force is a masterpiece of urban realism full of shocking and surprising twists, leavened by flashes of dark humor, a morally complex and utterly riveting dissection of modern American society and the controversial issues confronting us today.

Can a lowly gumpaw hope for love with a girl who rides in a jewel-encrusted carrier? Feline investigator Leon, with opposable thumbs and the ability to talk, is possibly the most dangerous cat in the galaxy. Indentured to the Security department of Gamma Station until the cost of his creation is paid off, Leon alternates between harassing his human partner/roommate Devin and fighting sleazoid criminals, yet still finds time to flirt with the lovely Leila, an exotic Burmese who lives in the swankiest level of the station. Will he win her heart, and more important—will he win his freedom?

The Galactic Hegemony has been around a long time, and it likes stability--the kind of stability that member species like the aggressive, carnivorous Shongairi tend to disturb. So when the Hegemony Survey Force encountered a world whose so-called "sentients" "humans," they called themselves—were almost as bad as the Shongairi themselves, it seemed reasonable to use the Shongairi to neutralize them before they could become a second threat to galactic peace. And if the Shongairi took a few knocks in the process, all the better. Now, Earth is conquered. The Shongairi have arrived in force, and humanity's cities lie in radioactive ruins. In mere minutes, more than half the human race has died. Master Sergeant Stephen Buchevsky, who thought he was being rotated home from his latest tour in Afghanistan, finds himself instead prowling the back country of the Balkans, dodging alien patrols and trying to organize scattered survivors without getting killed. And in the southeastern US, firearms instructor and former Marine Dave Dvorak finds himself at the center of a growing network of resistance putting his extended family at lethal risk, but what else can you do? On the face of it, Buchevsky's and Dvorak's chances look bleak, as do prospects for the rest of the surviving human race. But it may well be that Shongairi and the Hegemony alike have underestimated the inhabitants of that strange planet called Earth

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

The Black Velvet Mystery Keene, Carolyn 1999 Nancy and her friend are modeling in a local fashion show. Someone maliciously cuts a hole in the beautiful black velvet jacket Nancy's friend is wearing, and Nancy must solve the case.

The Indian island of North Sentinel is home to the Sentinelese, one of the world's last uncontacted tribes. On an expedition to the island Dr. Zakir Khan is killed - not with spears and arrows - but with a gun. As investigators attempt to discover who - or what - is inhabiting the island, shocking secrets will be uncovered. Secrets that will rewrite history and endanger the lives of millions.From the deserts of Syria to the favelas of Brazil and the temples of India, an ancient evil is lurking. An evil that aims to alter the course of humanity... Although just thirty miles from the bustling Indian city of Port Blair, North Sentinel Island is one of the remotest places on Earth. Inhabited by the Sentinelese, a Stone-Age tribe that violently resists all outsiders, the island has never been explored.Dr. Zakir Khan hopes to become the first to peacefully contact the Sentinelese. Unsurprisingly, his expedition, like all others, ends in failure. However, instead of being driven off by spears and arrows, Zakir is gunned down.Admiral Vimal Chaudri of the Indian Navy is charged with leading the investigation. As he attempts to discover who - or what - is inhabiting the island, he will uncover shocking secrets. Secrets that may cost the admiral, and millions more, their lives.

Professional psychic Abby Cooper has invested in a fixer-upper, hoping to make a killing in the real estate market. But a killing of another kind puts her plans awry, as the ghost of a murdered woman and some troublesome poltergeists lead her into a mystery that stretches all the way back to World War II.  

San Francisco. Summer, 1947. A dame walks into a saloon . . . It’s not every afternoon that an enigmatic, comely blonde named Stilton (like the cheese) walks into the scruffy gin joint where Sammy "Two Toes" Tiffin tends bar. It’s love at first sight, but before Sammy can make his move, an Air Force general named Remy arrives with some urgent business. ’Cause when you need something done, Sammy is the guy to go to; he’s got the connections on the street. Meanwhile, a suspicious flying object has been spotted up the Pacific coast in Washington State near Mount Rainer, followed by a mysterious plane crash in a distant patch of desert in New Mexico that goes by the name Roswell. But the real weirdness is happening on the streets of the City by the Bay. When one of Sammy’s schemes goes south and the Cheese mysteriously vanishes, Sammy is forced to contend with his own dark secrets—and more than a few strange goings on—if he wants to find his girl.