Butch O'Neal is a fighter by nature. A hard-living ex-homicide cop, he's the only human ever to be allowed in the inner circle of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. And he wants to go even deeper into the vampire world—to engage in the turf war with the lessers. He's got nothing to lose. His heart belongs to a female vampire, an aristocratic beauty who's way out of his league. If he can't have Marissa, then at least he can fight side by side with the Brothers... Fate curses him with the very thing he wants. When Butch sacrifices himself to save a civilian vampire from the slayers, he falls prey to the darkest force in the war. Left for dead, he's found by a miracle, and the Brotherhood calls on Marissa to bring him back. But even her love may not be enough to save him...

Once upon a time, back at Darrow-Harker School, Beatrice Hartley and her six best friends were the cool kids, the beautiful ones. Then the shocking death of Jim—their creative genius and Beatrice's boyfriend—changed everything. One year after graduation, Beatrice is returning to Wincroft—the seaside estate where they spent so many nights sharing secrets, crushes, plans to change the world—hoping she'll get to the bottom of the dark questions gnawing at her about Jim’s death. But as the night plays out in a haze of stilted jokes and unfathomable silence, Beatrice senses she’s never going to know what really happened. Then a mysterious man knocks on the door. Blithely, he announces the impossible: time for them has become stuck, snagged on a splinter that can only be removed if the former friends make the harshest of decisions. Now Beatrice has one last shot at answers... and at life. And so begins the Neverworld Wake.

Freeze! This is Nancy's coldest mystery yet! It's winter break, and Nancy, George, and Bess can hardly wait for Sunday. That's the day of the big snow festival in town. This year the girls are entering the snow sculpture contest. They already know what they are making, too: They are going to build swans from the ballet Swan Lake! Nancy and her friends only have three days to make the most fantastic sculpture they can. But when someone begins wrecking their statues each night, the girls worry that they'll never finish in time. Will Nancy and her friends put the freeze on this sneak in the snow, or will their chances of winning the competition melt away?

From James Lee Burke, called “America's best novelist” by The Denver Post, comes a brand new e-short about a young man's encounter with the infamous Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow—a story that becomes the first chapter in Burke’s upcoming novel Wayfaring Stranger. Sixteen-year-old Weldon Holland has had to grow up fast as he tries to support his family in the aftermath of the agricultural disaster of the Dust Bowl. One night, a carload of strangers appears on the Hollands' property, carrying the air of incipient danger underneath a veneer of pleasantries. Weldon finds himself inexplicably drawn to the group of trespassing vagabonds—who, despite being camped out on a hidden riverbank in the middle of nowhere, drive the most expensive automobile that Weldon has ever seen. In the unbearable, rainless heat of a Dust Bowl summer, Weldon will find himself mixed up in an encounter with the infamous bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde—an encounter that changes the course of Weldon's life…and history itself. Rich with criminal and social history of the American West and a young boy’s struggle to become a man, “A Dust Bowl Tale of Bonnie and Clyde” is just the beginning of Weldon Holland’s story.

Brought onto the investigation to explore all the leads no one expected to pan out, Officer Morgan finds himself on the trail of the mysterious and elusive Dolls. It's a lead that takes him into a world far stranger and more real than he had ever imagined and into something far more dangerous than he had bargained for.Officer Morgan never expected to find anything like this when he joined the investigation. No one had anticipated the big gangs and mobsters leaving town, or that the occult community would start handing out strange warnings. Finally they cornered some of the areas criminal middle men, only to find that the two groups were saying some strangely similar things. "Something big is coming into town. Lay low or get out." Then the bodies started to pile up. Morgan has started poking around where no one else thought there were any answers to find, and found himself in the middle of something far stranger and more dangerous than he could have imagined.

They say you can't fight city hall, but with the untimely death of Mayor Alvin Swanson, aka, "Big Al," the door of opportunity opened wide. As a small town mortician, Frank saw an opportunity to avenge the wide-spread corruption Big Al infused into every business deal. If his plan worked, he could take out all the crooked city council members as well. He could bring hope to the city.February is the month to celebrate dead presidents. Frank wanted to celebrate a few more presidents himself, especially the green, paper presidents of Jackson, Grant and Franklin.February was a slow month in the mortuary business. For Frank’s funeral home, February was deathly quiet, literally, that is, until the untimely demise of one of the more notorious, local dignitaries came to pass. Frank took special pleasure in the death of Al Swanson, the sixteen-term mayor of their community.Al was a tyrant. In a larger metropolitan area they might have politely called him an autocrat. In a third world country he would have been a dictator or even an iron-fisted, authoritarian despot. But in the small community of Bollinger Mills, Al was nothing but a mean-spirited, loud-mouth bully, a common street thug with strong connections and a weak conscience. Intimidation secured his repeated election victories (often running unopposed) to the office of mayor where his personal greed and unchecked corruption could be cloaked under the protective facade of "official city business."Al’s ego was as large as his physical stature. His imposing frame and excessive body weight, along with his obnoxious obsession for inflating his self-importance awarded him the nickname, “Big Al.”Big Al always got what he wanted. Always. Big Al forced his personal agenda through the city council with subtle personal threats and often outright, physical coercion with blatant suggestions of violence and bodily harm. When he said it was, “Don’t worry about it, it’s just business; nothing personal,” people knew it was personal and should take him seriously. They knew it was wise to obey his impulsive whims. People found it easier to comply with Big Al’s desires than to contradict what would be inevitable. To acquiesce was more pleasant than the alternative.

With money running out, Maggie made the decision to star in an adult film. But what she didn't count on was her boss—and everyone else at work—finding out. Now Maggie's boss won't leave her alone, and he escalates their relationship to the breaking point, and beyond.Seeing ghosts is so passe anymore. A whole cottage industry of capturing and publishing them in a blizzard of mediums and outlets has exploded in popular culture. Even speaking to them has had the whole eerie mystery sucked right out of it by reality show mediums What if the dead desperately needed something other than communion with the living though? What if there were consequences for ignoring them? Deadly consequences. How much or who would you sacrifice to avoid their demands?

In this fifth release in a series, Ken takes the reader on a journey winds amongst stories ranging in settings from the eastern shores of England to the Gold Coast. These locations serve as the perfect backdrop for Ken's character's to come to life.'Lunch on Lowestoft Pier' is another of Ken's delightful collection of short stories. This time they are predominantly based in his home country England plus a few more from the Gold Coast just for variety. These stories, as always, are short and punchy, just the right length to read in your lunch break.In his fifth volume of short stories, Ken has something to offer everyone. New characters include nurses at work, secret service agents, school boys getting up to mischief and so on. Ken's ability to draw the reader into every day lives of regular people is most unique. You too can be immediately transported to a time and era that possibly no longer exists, so you can either reminisce, or choose your own adventure - in any event, your reading needs are more than catered for, with this smorgasbord of saga's. Whatever your choice, you will not be disappointed as the unexpected unfolds with every word, slowly revealing the conclusion like a mini Agatha Christie mystery.

Jemima Shore is anticipating some peaceful research in the British Library when sinister things occur, a vicious murder and a disappearance. Jemima then finds herself involved in a tangle of possible motives and conflicting relationships.

They are dying, one by one: wealthy middle-aged women in an exclusive Connecticut suburb. Their murderer remains at large. Nora Chancel, wife of publishing scion Davey Chancel, fears she may be next. After all, her past has branded her a victim. . . . ** * Then Davey tells Nora a surreal story about the Hellfire Club, where, years before, he met an obsessed fan of Chancel House’s most successful book, Night Journey—a book that has a strange history of its own. . . . **Suddenly terror engulfs Nora: She must defend herself against fantastic accusations even as a madman lies in wait. And when he springs, Nora will embark on a night journey that will put her fears to rest forever, dead or alive. . . . From the Paperback edition.

Enjoy more Sugar. Join Clara at the rat pit. Relax with Mr Bodley as he is lulled to sleep by Mrs Tremain and her girls. Find out what became of Sophie. Michel Faber revisits the world of his bestselling novel The Crimson Petal and the White, conjuring tantalising glimpses of its characters, their lives before we first met them and their intriguing futures. You'll be desperate for more by the time you reluctantly re-emerge into the twenty-first century.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Gorky Park and Havana Bay comes another gripping novel of loyalty, betrayal, and intrigue on the eve of the greatest military conflict in the history of mankind.... DECEMBER 6 Amid the imperialist fervor of late 1941 Tokyo, Harry Niles is a man with a mission -- self-preservation. But Niles was raised by missionary parents and educated in the shadows of Tokyo's underworld -- making his loyalties as dubious as his business dealings. Now, on the eve of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Niles must decide where his true allegiances lie, as he tries to juggle his Japanese mistress and an adulterous affair with the wife of a British diplomat; avoid a modern-day samurai who is honor-bound to kill him; and survive the machinations of the Japanese high command, whose plans for conquest may just dictate his survival. Set in a maelstrom of personal temptations and mortal enemies, with a remarkable anti-hero caught in a land he can never call his own, DECEMBER 6 is a triumph of imagination, history, and riveting storytelling.

So I agreed to play the part of Esther Rackham in a film about the heist that gave River Heights its name, and there was all this trouble on the set, and I figured out who was behind it. Case closed, right? Wrong! Once the camera starts rolling, a huge fire breaks out on the set, setting back production again. We're running out of time and funds. At least the fire turns up a key clue about who started it, but I'll have to continue juggling acting and sleuthing. Because it might be up to me to save this film from going up in flames....

Corley Brown murdered his wife and children, and it's the most gruesome crime Detective Sergeant Aaron Kincaid has ever seen. Even though Kincaid—along with everyone else—knows Brown did it, the detective isn't satisfied until he knows why. But understanding the mind of a multiple murderer may be too much for Kincaid to suffer through.Romance can be a surprise, even if you're ready for everything…Parajumper Nic D'Onofrio just buried his best friend. The motto of his rescue squad is Simpliciter Paratus: Absolutely Ready, but the only thing Nic feels ready for is vacation. After finding a damsel in distress on the side of the road, he can't help but spring into action.Julie is stranded, out of gas, and beautiful. She's also wearing her pajamas and can only remember her first name. When she won't let Nic take her to the hospital, they'll do the only logical thing: go back to his condo together.When Nic learns that Julie's family has been murdered and someone shows up looking for her, he knows this is a situation he can't handle alone. He needs the teamwork and the camaraderie of the entire Air Force 506th Rescue Squad to save the day.True Valor is the first installment in a five-book military romance series. If you like heartwarming chemistry, page-turning suspense, and wholesome romance, then you'll love this series starter.

New York City medical examiners Laurie Montgomery and Jack Stapleton return in this stunning new novel from the ?master of the medical thriller? (New York Times)?a ripped-from-the-headlines tale of an innovative doctor's dangerous downward spiral.