Austin detective Maggie Parker has seen some weird things in her day, but finding a surly gnome rooting through her garage beats all. Her world is about to be turned upside down in a frantic search for four Elementals. Not three, not five...but four. Why is it always four? Each one has an artifact that can keep the Earth humming along, but they need her to unite them. But the forces against her might get there first. A compass, a telescope, and untapped magic are her only tools.

I knew three things about my life before adoption: I was a baby rescued from a blazing house fire, I was found in the arms of a dead man, and no one ever came to claim me. No one. Not ever. Now, as a Montreal detective, I'm dedicated to hunting truths for a living. Unheard voices. Cold cases. Unsolved mysteries. Unearthing secrets hidden in the shadows is my jam. Until the fae veil falls . . . When the world learns magic is real, everything changes. Montreal begins seething with prana energy, dormant genes activate, and seemingly normal humans experience magical awakenings.

Solve a murder, save her mother, and stop the apocalypse? No problem. She has a foul-mouthed troll on her side. For Austin homicide detective Leira Berens, happy is running down bad guys and solving crimes. And she's damn good at it. Which is why when the Light Elf prince is murdered, the king breaks a centuries old treaty and crosses between worlds to seek her help.

Julie Meadows is down on her luck when she receives an e-mail drafting her into the Official Para-Military Agency. She didn't expect "para" to mean paranormal. Her partner is an Aether Elf prince, her boss is a Were . . . something, and the IT department is staffed by literal trolls. The prospect of a steady job and financial security draws her into a world filled with every myth and legend she's ever read about. Julie dives into the magical, mystical, and downright fantastic when she and her partner, Taylor, are tasked with finding new recruits for the Agency.

Welcome to the Midwest, America's Heartland, home to a hidden community of witches and wizards. When Maria Apple receives a strange music box for her 19th birthday, everything changes. She begins to showcase odd magical abilities, glowing blue, seeing ghosts, and talking to creatures that shouldn't be able to talk, all while trying to juggle the task of being a typical teenage girl. Now, not only does Maria learn she is a witch, but her grandfather, Ignatius, reveals he was once a famous warrior from a planet named Oriceran.

Included in this collection, totaling almost 35 hours of audio, are the following audiobooks: Book One, The Rebellious Sister; Book Two, The Uncooperative Warrior; Book Three, The Defiant Magician; Book Four, The Triumphant Daughter; and Book Five, The Loyal Friend.

Johnny Walker was a good bounty hunter in his day. James Brownstone good. But everybody has a line. Johnny found his when his teenage daughter was murdered. Who was the killer? Even Johnny couldn't figure it out. Everybody's favorite dwarf retreated to his cabin in the swamp with his two hound dogs by his side and retired with his guns, his whiskey, and his memories. Except magical monsters weren't done with him...yet.

Skills include wielding dual magics, stabbing bad guys with the pointy end, and protecting the good people of Seattle from dark wizards. Also wraps a mean sashimi roll. The name Brownstone evokes a certain reaction no matter who hears it. And for Alison Brownstone that’s both a blessing and a curse. But it’s time for her to step out of her dad’s shadow and make a new name for herself. She just has to decide what she wants that name to mean.

A godless miracle worker. A suicidal teenager. Can a young woman save the dying when the backlash whittles away at her life? Jane Davis isn’t a hero. A twenty-five-year-old rebellious vagabond, she’s stupefied when she discovers she’s developed supernatural powers. Desperate for answers, her search catapults her into the orbit of a disturbed teen carrying a devastating secret—magic and horrific monsters are spreading.

Ivy Sylvan thought after losing her job, her apartment, and her boyfriend, that having no other option but to move in with her flunkee brother would be the cherry on top of her bad luck sundae, but after finding a dead body, she realized things can always get worse.

She’s happy renovating homes and occasionally thumping bad guys until she learns of a mysterious artifact hidden under the house she’s working on. Everybody from humans to orcs to werewolves wants it, and they’re willing to kill to get it. Things go from bad to worse when someone frames her for murder.

Jesse James is a normal 18-year-old, even if her parents are the best faerie bounty hunters in New York. Jesse’s only concern is how to pay for college, but that changes the night her parents disappear. Equipped with her parents’ weapons and her own smarts, Jesse enters the dangerous world of bounty hunting in search of her mother and father. In her quest, she encounters all manner of Fae, but the scariest is Lukas, the mysterious, imposing faerie who offers to help her find her parents.

After suffering a life-changing accident, Natalie Simmons is ready to begin living again. Two distinctly different women enter her life, and she finds herself drawn to both. A choice has to be made. Will she pick the right one or unknowingly choose the devil in disguise?

"Happily Ever After" wasn't supposed to come with a do-over option. But when my husband of 20 years packs up and heads for greener pastures, and my son heads away to college, that's exactly what my midlife becomes. A do-over. This time, though, I plan to do things differently. Age is just a number, after all, and at 40 I'm ready to carve my own path. Eager for a fresh start, I make a somewhat unorthodox decision and move to a tiny town in the Sierra foothills.

Tess McBray was dying. The solstice syndrome had no cure, and she resigned herself to an early grave. But just when she gave up on survival, all her symptoms mysteriously disappeared. All but one symptom, anyway. Something is wrong with Tess’ hands. They absorb any material they touch, and her skin turns to wood, steel, or concrete. It doesn’t take this comic book obsessed 21-year-old long to figure out what’s going on: somehow, she’s developed super powers. And she’s not the only one; across the country, people are coming forward and sharing their gifts with the world.

Tess McBray was dying. The solstice syndrome had no cure, and she resigned herself to an early grave. But just when she gave up on survival, all her symptoms mysteriously disappeared. All but one symptom, anyway. Something is wrong with Tess’ hands. They absorb any material they touch, and her skin turns to wood, steel, or concrete. It doesn’t take this comic book obsessed 21-year-old long to figure out what’s going on: somehow, she’s developed super powers. And she’s not the only one; across the country, people are coming forward and sharing their gifts with the world.

Included in this collection, totaling almost 35 hours of audio, are the following audiobooks: Book One, The Rebellious Sister; Book Two, The Uncooperative Warrior; Book Three, The Defiant Magician; Book Four, The Triumphant Daughter; and Book Five, The Loyal Friend.

Adam Binder has the Sight. It’s a power that runs in his bloodline: the ability to see beyond this world and into another, a realm of magic populated by elves, gnomes, and spirits of every kind. Years after his brother Bobby had him committed to a psych ward, Adam is ready to come to grips with who he is, to live his life on his terms, to find love, and maybe even use his magic to do some good. Hoping to track down his missing father, Adam follows a trail of cursed artifacts to Denver, only to discover that an ancient and horrifying spirit has taken possession of Bobby’s wife.

The kids at school call Billy "Dragon Breath" for good reason. His breath is bad! It isn't the normal, morning-mouth bad; it's the hot-as-fire, "don't-you-dare-get-near-me" bad. And hearing "Dragon Breath" ringing in his ears, he constantly tries to cool his oral volcano. Trouble erupts when his hot breath sets off the fire sprinklers in the boys' restroom at school, and his parents learn that they've kept their secret for too long. Billy finally discovers the secret. His father was once a dragon!

When the crows gather over a remote Navajo Reservation in the deep Southwest, it is a sign that the thin veil that separates our world from the one beyond is about to open. Without a barrier between life and death, things pass between both worlds. Some of them are good. Most of them are not.

At 15, Chance Fortunato has seen more evil than most people ever will. Indentured by his father to the demon count Dulka, he's been taught dark magic and forced to do his infernal master's dirty work for eight years. But now Chance has figured out a way to defeat his master and free himself. His new life with his mother and sister is far from easy, and freedom has its own perils. Normal life is hard enough, but even in a mundane-looking high school, there are paranormal threats from both sides of the mystical fence.

Centuries ago, the followers of the new gods defeated the old gods and the folk of legend, banishing them from the world of man. With their departure, magic faded from the land. The Milesian Accords had provisions for a new challenge, though, and the Exiled Gods have sent their minions back to our world to seek out a champion to fight for them and a druid able to wield the magic needed to fulfill the challenge. A descendant of the druid who participated in the original challenge, Liam Knox doesn’t know anything about the Accords or his ancestors....

Secrets and lies can’t stay buried forever in Cedar Valley. In the summer, hikers and campers pack the small Colorado town’s meadows and fields. And in the winter, skiers and snowboarders take over the mountains. Season by season, year after year, time passes, and the lies, like the aspens and evergreens that surround the town, take root and spread deep. Now, someone has uncovered the lies, and it is his murder that continues a chain of events that began almost 40 years ago.

Bullets fly during a dangerous mission, and Major Mark Lopez is critically injured. A Blackstone soldier, Mark is transferred to the North Dakota hospital, where he meets a pretty nurse, Mia. After Mark recovers from surgery, he is discharged from the hospital with orders to rest; not that he does. But when he returns to the hospital again and again with minor - and not-so-minor - injuries, Mia suspects he’s only coming to see her. When someone from Mark’s past comes to him for help, more blood is shed, and Mark must put his life on the line to keep Mia safe.

It's been said that all great literature boils down to one of two stories—a man takes a journey, or a stranger comes to town. While mystery writers have been successfully using both approaches for generations, there's something undeniably alluring in the nature of a stranger: the uninvited guest, the unacquainted neighbor, the fish out of water. In the newest collection of stories by the Mystery Writers of America, each author weaves a fresh tale surrounding the eerie feeling that comes when a stranger enters our midst, featuring stories by prolific mystery writers.