American Mysteries

Desmond Aloysius Limerick (“Dez” to all) is a retired mercenary, and enthusiastic amateur musician, currently in Southern California, enjoying the sun and sitting in on the occasional gig, when the hotel he's at falls under attack. A skilled team attempts to kidnap the chief legal counsel of Triton Expeditors, a major military contractor—in fact, Petra Alexandris is the daughter of the CEO—but their meticulously planned, seamlessly executed scheme runs into the figurative "spanner-in-the-works," Dez himself.

Part time travel, part crazy school, full-time fun! A fast-moving mystery adventure for children ages 8-14. When a mysterious package arrives in the mail with a tricorn hat and toy soldiers inside, fourteen-year-old Daniel, of course, tries on the hat. Now he's in for it because the hat won't come off and he must wear the hat to school! Daniel suddenly finds himself up against classroom bullies, Redcoats pounding on the schoolroom door, and his life turned upside down. Is his American history report really coming to life? How will Daniel and his friend Rebecca ever survive? This book ...

Alice Chen doesn’t believe in true love, but she does believe in cold, hard cash. Buckling under the weight of student debt and her mother’s medical bills, Alice will do anything to make bank–even star on Dawn Tay’s Inferno, the hot new reality TV show designed to push couples to their breaking point. The show is Alice’s chance to sip cocktails on the beach and win a cash prize of a million dollars. But when her fiancé cheats on her with another contestant, Alice is faced with a choice.

It was supposed to be a fancy, intimate dinner party by the pool. Instead, Lana Lee’s first-ever catering event turns into full-course madness when a domestic worker is found dead. Is the party’s host Donna Feng, the sweet-and-sour owner of the Asia Village shopping plaza where Ho-Lee is situated, somehow to blame? That’s what Lana―whose plate is already plenty full with running the restaurant, pleasing her often-disapproving mother, and fretting over her occasionally serious boyfriend Detective Adam Trudeau―must find out.

Brynn Henderson experiences the worst day of his life when his father, Jameson Henderson, screenwriter and CEO of Henderson Studios, is tragically murdered. Brynn worked by his father’s side producing movies for years and doesn’t know what his life will look like without his father in it. Brynn wants justice and soon after his father’s death, he learns of a secret that has been kept for years that forever changes his family. Brynn is left to split his father’s billion-dollar fortune with his brothers, but shocking information about control of Henderson Studios makes it hard to move ...

Sarah Myers has a great job! A governess for a rich wealthy Bay Area family comes with its added benefits. A car, a home in a trendy San Francisco neighborhood. Life is divine --until it truly isn’t and the cards fall apart. An unexpected affair and an insane proposal from the wealthy patriarch... and everything hits the fan. Now she is unable to tell what her role is in this mansion. She is surprised by the wealthy wife’s acceptance of her relationship with their perfect doctor husband. She confides in her best friend, a girl she has known since childhood about her love and the strange...

The transporting stories in this year’s The Best American Mystery and Suspense are populated by those who exist on the fringe of our society and want more than what life has dealt them: A haunted veteran turned career criminal is on the run. An injured fighter turned bouncer seeks vengeance for his lost love. An assassin on his last job finds himself questioning his life choices and breaks all the rules to understand his final victim.

For over twenty five years, The House of Three Murders has squatted, abandoned and decaying, deep inside a dense mesquite and tamarisk thicket in the middle of the vast Mojave Desert. The infamous house was the site of gruesome and bloody multiple murders. The murders have gradually passed into barely-remembered Mojave Desert legend, but the house remains, foreboding, forlorn and nearly forgotten. Then, on a moonlight November night in 1960, five people are there at the same time. Well, four technically, because one of them has just died from a gunshot wound! Three of the five are teenagers...

A MAN SHOULD NOT DROWN IN A DESERT! BUT ONE HAS. TWICE! Teenage outsiders from the desert town of Smoke Tree find a body floating in a cistern beneath a desert moon, but an autopsy shows the man drowned elsewhere. Why move a drowned man and stage a false drowning? As Deputy Johnny Quentin, investigates, he discovers that the man's wife is also missing. Johnny must find her before the killer claims another victim. Find her in a section of open desert larger than some states. The new deputy, haunted his his tours as a Ranger in Vietnam and the death of his best friend there, must put his ...

Kandy Kane’s perfect world has crumbled, and even though she has many secrets; she’s definitely not alone. Her mother Gina, and her Uncle Wayne have kept a secret from her. A secret of twenty-one years to be exact, and their confession has left her completely devastated. As Kandy suppressed memories starts to emerge, she realizes it was her mother’s forbidden affair that causes her to be brutally raped at eleven, and that she’s a product of an affair that shouldn’t have happened. Heartbroken to know Lorenzo isn’t her biological father but is the real culprit that sexually ...

We are behind, and below, the scenes of JFK's presidential election, the Bay of Pigs, the assassination - in the underworld that connects Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago, DC....

After a casual weekly dinner with her brother Alex, Mackenzie’s life is shattered when a brutal ambush leaves her to believe Alex is dead—his killers connected to a notorious crime boss. Fleeing for her life, Mackenzie seeks refuge at the Rocking W Ranch with Levi, her brother’s best friend and former military police. As she struggles to cope with the trauma, Levi vows to protect her and help unravel the mystery behind Alex's murder. In the quiet town of Misty Hollow, danger lurks as secrets are uncovered. Mackenzie and Levi are thrust into a deadly game of cat and mouse, where ...

They'll risk their lives to protect a woman in danger. But given a second chance at love, will they risk their wounded hearts? Book 1: Brett, Her Bodyguard A brother missing, two children in jeopardy… Security specialist Brett Jarvis and nanny Ashley Lamott have nothing in common—apart from both loving his twin niece and nephew. When his brother disappears, the children and their nanny are threatened. He’ll do whatever it takes to protect them and find his brother. But forced on the run together, attraction flares. The bodyguard will keep those he loves safe, but how safe is his heart...

Spanning from a mediocre spa in Florida, to New York’s gritty East Village, to death row in Alabama, this collection reveals boundless suspense in small, quiet moments, offering startling twists in the least likely of places. From a powerful response to hateful bullying, to a fight for health care, to a gripping desperation to vote, these stories are equal parts shocking, devastating, and enthralling, revealing the tension pulsing through our everyday lives and affirming that mystery and suspense writing is better than ever before.

Jun Nakayama was a silent-film star in the early days of Hollywood. By 1964, he is living in complete obscurity, until a young writer, Nick Bellinger, tracks him down for an interview. When Bellinger reveals that he has written a screenplay with Nakayama in mind, Jun is intrigued by the possibility of returning to movies. But he begins to worry that someone might delve too deeply into the past and uncover the events that abruptly ended his career in 1922. Like the changing social and racial tides in California - and the unsolved murder of his favorite director.

Yoshi Lomax loves playing dirty. She'll do whatever it takes to win a case - including bribing cops, sleeping with her superiors, and convincing her DEA pals to make evidence disappear. But when Yoshi runs out of tricks while defending a Haitian mob boss, the gangster makes one thing clear: Yoshi either wins the case or loses her life.

Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady—ah, lady of a certain age—who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her Gen-Z son is up to. Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing—a dead man in the middle of her tea shop.

Colin Dickey is on the trail of America's ghosts. Crammed into old houses and hotels, abandoned prisons and empty hospitals, the spirits that linger continue to capture our collective imagination, but why? His own fascination piqued by a house hunt in Los Angeles that revealed derelict foreclosures and "zombie homes", Dickey embarks on a journey across the continental United States to decode and unpack the American history repressed in our most famous haunted places.

At 33, Ryan Kealey has achieved more in his military and CIA career than most men can dream of in a lifetime. He's also seen the worst life has to offer and is lucky to have survived it. But being left alone with his demons is no longer an option. The CIA needs him badly, because the enemy they're facing is former U.S. soldier Jason March. Ryan knows all about March - he trained him.

In the gripping finale, Stacy, and Ace return to Brooklyn from Miami, only to face unexpected turmoil. Ace, having momentarily escaped the streets to carve out a place in the music industry, finds his dreams shattered due to Stacy's reckless antics. Her irresponsible behavior within their Looney Toons Posse leads to the loss of Ace's crucial music contract, thrusting their friendship into jeopardy. As tensions escalate, Ace is faced with a heartbreaking decision that forces him to confront Stacy in a way he never envisioned. With emotions running high, the group spirals into chaos, leading ...