American Detective Fiction

Joe King Oliver’s beloved Grandma B has found a tumor, and at her age, treatment is high-risk. She’s lived life fully and without regrets, and now has only a single, dying wish: to see her long-lost son. King has been estranged from his father, Chief Odin Oliver, since he was a young boy. He swore to never speak to the man again when he was taken away in handcuffs. But now, Grandma B’s pure ask has opened King’s heart, and through his hunt, he gains a deeper understanding of his father as a complicated, righteous man—a man defined by women, a man protected by women, a man he wants to know.

Along the ever-changing border of gentrifying Los Angeles, 17-year-old Monique Darson is found dead at a condominium construction site, hanging in the closet of an unfinished unit. Homicide Detective Elouise "Lou" Norton's new partner, Colin Taggert, fresh from the comparatively bucolic Colorado Springs police department, assumes it's a teenage suicide. Lou isn't buying the easy explanation. For one thing, the condo site is owned by Napoleon Crase, a self-made millionaire...and the man who may have murdered Lou's missing sister, Tori, 30 years ago.

In the snowy Aerie Valley of Aspen, Colorado, asking too many questions can result in abduction and death. Greed and vengeance trigger a chain of events fraught with monstrous corruption and violent struggles in the snowbound communities where Indigenous and Non-Native people share a landscape of natural wonder and exorbitant riches. In a race against a perilous deadline, Kayne Sorenson and Nick Sechi must uncover a murder-for-hire scandal that plagues this playground of winter activities and a land sacred to an ancient and noble people. When blood revenge demands justice, who will win and ...

The residents of Alaska’s largest national park are stunned by the death of one of their oldest members, 87-year-old Old Sam Dementieff...even private investigator Kate Shugak. Sam, a lifelong resident, dubbed the “father” of all of the Park rats - even though he had no children of his own - was especially close to Kate, his niece, but even she is surprised to discover that in his will he’s left her everything, including a letter instructing her simply to, “find my father".

It’s another murder in the little town of Roble. But not to worry, Romaine and Auntie Zanne are on it! It’s the 100th Boule of the Distinguished Ladies’ Society of Voodoo Herbalists. They’ve gotten together to eat, drink, be merry and vote for the next Lesser Mambo, a lifetime appointment second only to the Most High (bet you’ll never guess who holds that position). But the second in command spot keeps becoming vacant—that’s because the women who fill it keep dying off. This time though, it looks like murder. During an alcohol-infused dinner and a tall glass full of absinth, a...

If he loves her, he loves her – career woman or addict – despite what they say about her value. They can’t speak for black women. They can’t speak for the man who has found his one. No man ever fell in love with a table; he doesn’t much look at that table if his heart is full. This black love, romantic thriller is a testing ground for the statements above, as its plot applies pressure from all sides. Lulu, a depressed, kept-wife disappears. When she returns to her husband, Russ, back to the confines of their mansion and their cold-war marriage, the scare of her disappearance leads...

Dr. Sandra Tanner is an award-winning author. What is the significance of a dislocated shoulder, an upcoming family reunion, and cellophane wrappers? They all interweave to solve a four-year-old murder. But how? When private investigator Kadence McKnight learns of her family’s strong adverse reactions to the upcoming quinquennial family reunion, she realizes she has a problem on her hands. She knows the backlash is because the murderer of Satrine Campbell has not been captured. Satrine’s body was found four years ago, a few feet beyond the back fence of the McKnight family cemetery, ...

"Beneath a Buried House is a wonderful book, full of twists and turns and surprises." –Crime-Spree Magazine Things aren't always what they seem. Tulsa Police Detective, Kenny Elliot's quest to uncover the truth behind the death of a transient, makes him a target—from whom or what, he isn't sure. When he brushes the dirt from the surface of an apparent John Doe overdose case, he finds a labyrinth of misdirection and deception, and a trail, which leads him to an encounter with an aberration in human nature, the likes of which he's not prepared to deal with. Drawing on his strength of ...

Tinseltown's awards season is in full swing, and everyone is obsessed with dressing up, scoring free swag, and getting invited to the biggest awards shows of the year. But when celebrity publicist Lyla Davis is killed, the festive mood comes to an abrupt halt. Apprentice private eye Dayna Anderson thinks she's uncovered the killer. Unfortunately, what starts as an open-and-shut case turns out to be anything but.

A gang war is looming. A young boy is caught in the middle. A young black teen, Kamal, approaches Detective Linn McFarland with the offer to help her and the chief-of-police bring down his uncle, a crime lord. Hesitant at first, Linn agrees when the boy threatens to get involved with or without her. She takes the boy and his family under her wing, determined to protect them at all costs. Even if it means her life is forfeit. A gang new to Upton Falls is pitting one rival member against another and using teens from the homeless park to do their dirty work. Danger rises to a new high as Linn ...

The Navajo Nation police are on high alert when a U.S. Cabinet Secretary schedules an unprecedented trip to the little Navajo town of Shiprock, New Mexico. The visit coincides with a plan to resume uranium mining along the Navajo Nation border. Tensions around the official’s arrival escalate when the body of a stranger is found in an area restricted for the disposal of radioactive uranium waste. Is it coincidence that a cult with a propensity for violence arrives at a private camp group outside Shiprock the same week to celebrate the summer solstice?

Maura Donovan discovers a body in the ravine behind her pub. And then the Irish gardai reveal that the victim's face has been battered beyond recognition. Who is the faceless victim? Who wanted him dead? And why was his body dumped in the backyard of Sullivan's Pub? Even after the dead man is finally given a name, nobody admits to knowing him. In the tight-knit world of Leap, no one is talking - and now, it's up to Maura to uncover the dark secrets that lurk beneath the seemingly quiet town.

In Alaska, people disappear every day. In Aleut detective Kate Shugak's Park, they've been disappearing a lot lately. Hikers head into the wilderness unprepared and get lost. Miners quit without notice at the busy Suulutaq Mine. Suicides leave farewell notes and vanish. Not only are Park rats disappearing at an alarming rate, but so is life in the Park as Kate knows it.

A small boy and a young girl make a contract to kill. A school girl and her young brother arrive at private detective Jack Hamma's office. They scatter coins over Jacks desk, the contents of their piggy bank, and ask Jack to shoot dead two men. They want to save a forest and take revenge for the murder of their parents. Murder, revenge and retribution combine with Jacks wry humor to make this a great read. ‘The same fast paced action we've come to expect from a Jack Hamma story.’ ‘Flows well as we travel with Jack across the world, from the wilds of Yorkshire to the depths of the ...

January 1970 finds Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, LA’s premier Black detective, at 50 years of age despite all expectations. He has a loving family, a beautiful home, and a thriving investigation agency. All is right with the world… and then Amethystine Stoller, his own personal Helen of Troy, arrives. Her ex-husband is missing. A simple enough case. But even as Easy takes his first step in the investigation he trips. He falls into the memory of things past. Little things, like loss, love, a world war, and a hunger that has eaten at him since he was a Black boy on his own.

June Kato has had better weeks. June reluctantly agrees to help a friend in the police department with an undercover sting at a yakuza nightclub. Things go wrong in a hurry when she uncovers the truth about the business. Young women are being trafficked from Asia, forced into the dark trade of late night entertainment by the local crime boss. But before she can get back to the safety of daylight, she finds herself only minutes from her own death. Faced with a literal deadline, will June use brains or brawn to fight her way to survival?

Los Angeles Homicide Detective Elouise "Lou" Norton and her partner, Colin Taggert, arrive at the scene of a tragic house fire. Juliet Chatman perished in the blaze, along with her two children. Left behind is grieving husband and father Christopher Chatman, hospitalized after trying to rescue his family. Chatman is devastated that he couldn't save them. Unless, of course, he's the one who killed them.

Inside Alaska's biggest national park, surrounding the town of Niniltna, a gold mining company has started buying up land. The residents of the Park, are uneasy. "But gold is up to nine hundred dollars an ounce," is the refrain of Talia Macleod, the popular Alaskan skiing champ the company hired to improve their relations with Alaskans. And she promises much needed jobs to the locals. But before she can make her way to every village in the area to make her case at town meetings and village breakfasts, there are two murders—one a long-standing mine opponent, and Ms. Macleod herself.

Don't blink A gripping thrill ride begins when Oklahoma private investigator Buck McDivit witnesses a murder and finds himself possessing an ancient artifact with mystical powers. The investigation leads him to the Spiro Mounds Archeological Museum, where he meets the gorgeous Chief Archeologist Thorn Little Deer and discovers someone recently stole the artifact he now possesses—the priceless Black Cup of Oklahoma. A deadly ex-Army Ranger with the nickname Blade may be responsible for both the theft and the murder. As Buck sets out to catch the thief, he joins a cryptid expedition to the ...

Previously published as Deadly Secrets: Hidden Guilt by Madalena Melchior. SECRET GUILT London, 1905. Under the pretext of retrieving some books he has left behind at Number 221B, Sherlock Holmes temporarily trades his small farm upon the Downs, five miles from Eastbourne, and his beehives, for Baker Street. Before he has time to unpack his Gladstone, however, there's already a client at the door asking for his help with a case. So much for retirement...