Books Tagged With what - topic - crime

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Summary: Another spaceship, another explosion. Harold Galahad would love to wake from this particular nightmare that is so eerily similar to the events that cost him his beloved wife and destroyed his soul. But the only way out is by saving the ship and its entire crew. If you ask Harold Galahad, he isn’t fit to lead a crew or command a ship. But nobody is asking Harry. Instead, he finds himself back on the bridge, on a ship stranded in space, no help in sight, only kept alive by remnants of a gradually failing life support system. His crew? A nurse running out of tentacles and eyes to care for all the wounded, a chief engineer who knows all about her systems but struggles with people, a chief of security who thinks everything can be solved with paragraphs from the Company’s handbook, a cursing chief of logistics, an anxiety-ridden communications officer, and a first officer who stays mysterious and feigns ignorance. This ship needs a captain to avert a complete disaster that includes the death of everyone on board. Can Galahad overcome his trauma? Can he find solutions where there are none? And worst of all, can he unravel all the mysteries surrounding the ship, its crew and the system they all work for? If you enjoy a complex tale that brings a human element to all species that travel space, combined with a multi-layered mystery, and starring a broken hero, Herald Petrel by Strange Seawolf will deliver. Warning: contains adult language and a considerable amount of swearing -- it is a cargo space ship in a desperate situation, after all.

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Summary: In a world where a werecat virus has changed society, Roan McKichan, a born infected and ex-cop, works as a private detective trying to solve crimes involving other infecteds. The murder of a former cop draws Roan into an odd case where an unidentifiable species of cat appears to be showing an unusual level of intelligence. He juggles that with trying to find a missing teenage boy, who, unbeknownst to his parents, was “cat” obsessed. And when someone is brutally murdering infecteds, Eli Winters, leader of the Church of the Divine Transformation, hires Roan to find the killer before he closes in on Eli. Working the crimes will lead Roan through a maze of hate, personal grudges, and mortal danger. With help from his tiger-strain infected partner, Paris Lehane, he does his best to survive in a world that hates and fears their kind… and occasionally worships them.

Word Count: Click here to reveal101000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: With a click, the bread fell into the toaster. One circuit fired the heating coils. Others monitored bread temperature and color. Yet another circuit was quite unlike all the rest— as exotic as it was sinister; when it activated, 368 people would die. In the 22nd century, the justice system is airtight in the domed city of Arcadia. Human error has been removed. Yet somehow, a well-intentioned young kleptomaniac named Rainville falls through the cracks and is wrongfully convicted of mass murder. He is exiled to Wychwood Prison, a crumbling necropolis beyond the dome where the dead outnumber the living, where the inmates are also the guards. News of the crime follows him, and he becomes a marked man. Rainville’s only hope for survival is becoming the first inmate in history to escape Wychwood. Can he do it? The fate of Arcadia depends on it.

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Summary: Biology professor Roman Janz was walking across campus and planning his next plant-collecting trip to Brazil, when something stung him on the neck. And now… now he’s wandering in the dark, in the blue, floating, disembodied, and confused. There has to be a good explanation, if he can just find someone, anyone, he can actually talk to about it. Xavier Faulkner is intelligent, creative, and made millions when he sold his tech-security company. But all his wealth and skills couldn’t keep his sister Tam from being poisoned by food contamination. She lived, but her health was damaged, and her job as a cop is gone. In the antebellum house he moved them to, Xavier hopes to find both a distraction and maybe a purpose for their lives. But the old house seems to come with strange noises, and odd blue lights, and maybe― if Xavier isn’t just going crazy― a naked guy, walking away into the blue…   This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love’s Landscapes" event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story. Dear Author, I just moved into this old antebellum home I bought with the intentions of restoring. I often find myself awoken in the night by strange noises I cannot identify or hear during the day. At first, I think it’s just a dream… this seemingly phantom always walking away. Who is he and how can I get him to finally turn around and see me? 79,000 words

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Summary: New Hopeland City may be the birthplace of Tech Shifter gear, but it isn’t the only place that likes to blend technology with folklore. Now, a new nightmare is stalking the streets… When PI Cassie Tam is attacked on the way home one night, she expects the police to get involved. What she doesn’t expect is to be forced into acting as bait to lure out a lunatic in a tech-suit that’s literally out for blood. But past actions have consequences, and doing so may be the only way she can get a clean slate from the city’s law makers. If only that didn’t mean having to face down a wannabe vampire.

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Summary: Lieutenant Mike Oliver has long dreamed of a Patrol ship berth, flying between the stars—surely this time his application will be successful. What he doesn’t expect, is to be sent to establish a Patrol station on Asra, a tiny mining settlement on a frozen mudball of a planet, blanketed with nitrogen storms. Deeply resentful, Mike suspects he is being discriminated against. The only option he can see is to become celibate, at least while he is on Asra. And that means rejecting the advances of both Callan Rian, the colony’s flamboyant Governor, and sexy Dane, Callan’s business partner, despite the growing attraction. While sexual tension mounts between them, a far more sinister danger is lurking, and when Callan is abducted, Mike will have to choose—between his ambition and his heart. (Gay / Romantic Sci-Fi) A novella in the Aurigan Space Saga

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Summary: With a serial killer on the loose, the baffling mystery of Aiden’s past, and their tenuous budding romance, Aiden and Fouchard tread through a world of magic and myth on padded shoes, terrified to stir up something neither can control or defeat. Aiden Mercer’s life now centers around lounging on the sunny beaches of his adopted country with a beer in one hand and a coffee in the other while admiring the local male population. After a rough life as a respected detective in DC, playing it cool shouldn’t be too hard, right? With the magical community on his case and dead bodies piling up around town, the responsibility of finding their killer seems fated to fall on him and deny him of his easy living. Then there is Naël. Cantankerous merman Naël Fouchard's life is focused on bringing up and protecting his little sister. When DNA found at the scene of the murders mark him as the prime suspect, Naël seeks out the help of Aiden, whose reputation as a detective grossly belies his lazy lifestyle and apparent lack of ambition. The chemistry between the strong, stoic Naël and the easygoing Aiden is undeniable, no matter how many walls Aiden builds. If this unlikely pair can’t come to terms with their feelings for each other long enough to catch the killer, their emotional turmoil might yet allow the murderer to kill them instead.

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Summary: The Education Continues at Providence Paranormal College! Five more books, no waiting. Read. Laugh. Catch a case of the feels. Book 6: Roundtable Redcap: Can Fred rescue his brother from the Fae Queen with just reluctant Psychic Irina to help? Book 7: Better Off Undead: Lane and his vampire punk band Night Creatures are broke and broken. Can they pick up their pieces and shine in a Battle of the Bands? Book 8: Ghost of a Chance: Ghostly Horace and his Medium, Bianca, must solve a mystery to save Professor Watkins. Book 9: Nine Lives: It's time for Olivia Adler to trust her instincts or Tony Gitano just might die for good. Book 10: Fae of Fae Knot: The family that's Fae together can't stay together. The series concludes as they bend the tantamount Faerie Law to its breaking point.

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Summary: Four members of The Vampire Guard—Forge, Blair, Declan, and Lucas—face a dangerous and elusive enemy. And this time, it’s personal. When massive tech outages impact everything from Wi-Fi to traffic control, Blair, Forge, Declan, and Lucas think it’s a simple matter of catching troublesome hackers. But they quickly realize far more is at stake. Millions of dollars in art are the target of a thief who’s not afraid to kill---and he’s no stranger. Not only has he escaped capture, twice, a decade ago, but he’s had a hand in life-altering tragedies throughout their lifetimes. Once it becomes clear that art theft is just a fraction of his plan for mass destruction, they realize time is running out. The clock’s ticking. Catastrophe is imminent. Can they find and disarm all the bombs in time or will countless lives be lost?

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Summary: 1899 years after the Catastrophe, Bridges is run by the Mob. As its steam-driven infrastructure fails, a new faction rises. Can she stop them? The Red Dog Conspiracy follows the story of 22-year-old small-time private eye Jacqueline Spadros beginning from her first major case: the missing little brother of her best friend, whose murder ten years before in front of her still haunts her nightmares. The only clue? A Red Dog stamp across the alley from where the boy was last seen. Dodging the man - seemingly mad - who has publicly threatened her life, placating her brutal, sadistic father-in-law, and dealing with her feelings about her ex-lover, while being married to one of the city's biggest drug lords: Jacqui is a busy woman. Her life is about to get much busier. From the very first page, Jacqui is dragged into a web of lies, secrets, and betrayals which both endangers her life and the lives of those she loves. Dark, gritty, violent steampunk crime fiction which keeps you guessing to the very end. If you like crime fiction, noir, Victorian/historical, gritty steampunk, psychological thrillers, hardboiled mystery, hard sf, dystopian, or mafia romance you will love this set. This digital box set comprises Act 1 of a 13 part serial novel. Included in this set: The Jacq of Spades: Part 1 of the Red Dog Conspiracy The Queen of Diamonds: Part 2 of the Red Dog Conspiracy The Ace of Clubs: Part 3 of the Red Dog Conspiracy If made into movies, this set would be rated R for bad language, graphic violence, smoking and alcohol use, child kidnapping, teenagers murdered (a serial killer is on the loose), and sexual content (Jacqui is married, after all). Welcome to the Family.

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Summary: She escaped Spadros Manor, but her troubles are only beginning. Not even hostile mobs, assassins, drive-by shootings, and an explosive encounter with her worst enemy can stop private eye and mafia wife Jacqueline Spadros. She's on a quest to destroy the Red Dog Gang - before they destroy her. Dark, gritty, violent steampunk crime fiction which keeps you guessing to the very end. If you like crime fiction, noir, Victorian/historical, gritty steampunk, psychological thrillers, hardboiled mystery, hard sf, dystopian, or slow burn mafia romance you will love this series. If made into movies, this set would be rated R for bad language, graphic violence, smoking and alcohol use, pregnancy loss, child injury/murder, animal injury/death, and sexual content (Jacqui is married, after all). This digital box set comprises Act 2A of a 13 part serial novel, which brings us to the midpoint of the story. Included in this set: The King of Hearts: Part 4 of the Red Dog Conspiracy The Ten of Spades: Part 5 of the Red Dog Conspiracy The Five of Diamonds: Part 6 of the Red Dog Conspiracy The Two of Hearts: Part 7 of the Red Dog Conspiracy The Red Dog Conspiracy is one giant book - please read the first three books in the series (start with The Jacq of Spades, or read Red Dog Conspiracy Act 1) before beginning this set.

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Summary: Shadows of the Past is the new novella collection set in The Cassie Tam Files universe! Enjoy two new stories that follow PI Cassie Tam and her girlfriend Lori Redwood as they deal with the fallout from LV48. This book is part of a series and needs to be read in sequence. A Week in New Hopeland When Lori Redwood agrees to help out her girlfriend, PI Cassie Tam, by going undercover at a local shipping firm, she gets more than she bargained for. Her ‘boss’ Mr. Graves is a misogynist and a bully, and has been targeting one girl in particular. Cassie is known to him, and he tends to be cautious around Tech Shifters. Which means that Lori may be the best person for the job. Will Lori be able to help Cassie gather enough evidence for the police to act, or will she become the next target? Shadows of the Past PI Cassie Tam is not the only person who lives with regrets, and like most people, she just wants to get on with her life. But in New Hopeland, the past never remains buried. When she’s hired to track a stalker that’s been using some interesting tech to mask their identity on the city’s security cameras, Cassie ends up face-to-face with her darkest memory. Can Cassie find out who’s responsible before her past mistakes tear her – and her friends – apart?

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Summary: We aren't a we without all of us. Chaos reigns in The Sleepless City and it’s really beginning to piss Detective Jonas Forge off. He’s separated from his soulmate, Blair Turner. A separation he fears might be permanent. Nothing is going right. It’s as if the universe is conspiring against him. A long closed off door buried deep within his psyche cracks open when a turn of events he never saw coming flips his world upside down. There’s a monster behind that door and he’s not sure where the monster leaves off and he begins. Hallucinations grip the town and everyone in it, threatening to tear the family in Boggs’s Castle to shreds. The only way forward is to bare all to each other. While Forge and Declan confront horrors from their shared past, they all learn a terrible truth about vampires—one not even imagined in their worst nightmare. Demons lurk around every corner, seeking to cause havoc. Unless the tenuous thread woven between Blair and Forge is strong enough to pull Forge to safety, those demons might just be his demise. Can they turn it all around and control a monster in order to defeat a demon? If you like imperfect heroes with tarnished pasts who don’t know how to quit, then you’ll love Shifting Chaos by Elizabeth Noble, the action-packed, emotional conclusion to The Sleepless City. Author's note: This book was originally published in 2015. It has been rewritten with new chapters and scenes and re-edited.

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Summary: A collection of tales filled with monsters, be they human or beast, ranging in setting from dystopia to pitch black noir and even general silliness. From the ludicrous to the frighteningly plausible; from deep space to after the end of the world. There are clumsy werewolves and bloody revenge, monster sleep overs and a dieting fad sure to kill your appetite. Whether looking into the past or the future, you're sure to find that stuff gets really weird.

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Summary: Stop a murder, save two planets! Who she is: Sibyl Blue, single mom, undercover detective, and damn good at her job. What she wants: to solve the mysterious benzale murders, prevent more teenage deaths, and maybe find her long-lost husband. How she’ll get it: seduce a millionaire, catch a ride on his spaceship, and crack the case at the edge of the known galaxy.  

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Summary: Race, an ex-cop private eye in a world where most people are conditioned so that they cannot commit an act of violence, must release a savage artificial personality, Ralf, that was implanted in him when he did a deep-cover mission as a police officer, to rescue Astra, the woman he secretly loves, from the crime syndicates who have used a drug to turn her into a sex slave. Race succeeds at the cost of the crime syndicates discovering that Ralph is still alive. The syndicates want their assassin back and think nothing of toppling Race’s sanity to achieve their ends. Can Race maintain control of his body? Freed of the drug’s effect, will Astra return his affections? And what of Ralph, can a sociopath learn to love and what changes might that bring?

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Summary: Returning to the frozen planet Aren died on was bound to have complications... Major Aren Dalsgaard's newest assignment is to investigate a series of murders on the frigid planet, Drass, where relations between the Treaty settlers and the indigenous inhabitants have taken a nasty turn. A linguist and trained xenologist, Major Dalsgaard should be the ideal Special Investigations Officer for this case, but Drass is where he died, over a hundred and twenty years ago. Sent by his family to the chigyel city, Nyachung finds himself confronted with a murder charge, racial prejudice, and a man who claims to be a hero from his grandmother’s generation. The man could be crazy or he could be lying to manipulate Nyachung, but the sincerity in those spring-green eyes disturbs him more than anything else he's encountered in the foreigners’ city. Evidence that makes no sense, mysterious boxes, and a suspicion that they can't trust anyone in the city drives the major and Nyachung together and out into the wilderness. No one's telling Major Dalsgaard everything, but every step leads him closer to a feeling of imminent catastrophe if he can't wrap this case up in time.

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Summary: The one secret which could destroy everything ... After financial disaster and the zeppelin bombing, the city of Bridges is reeling. Three of the four Families are implicated, and an inquest is called to investigate. After her failure to prove Jack Diamond's guilt in David Bryce's kidnapping and the deaths of her friends, private eye and mobster's moll Jacqueline Spadros has had enough. While she and her former lover Joseph Kerr try to learn who killed their family friend, they also begin making plans to leave the city. But the secrets Jacqui has kept over the years are coming back to cause her serious trouble. Will she be able to escape Bridges? Or will she be forced to face the terrible consequences of her lies and trickery once and for all?

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Summary: What if the man you swore to protect ordered you to commit genocide? Fifteen hundred years after the Catastrophe, Inventor Benjamin Kerr built the domed neo-Edwardian city-state of Bridges in the center of the former U.S. Three hundred years later, Bridges is in trouble. King Taylor Kerr is elderly, the economy is struggling, and corruption is rampant. Forty years ago, a fence was built outside of the "Pot of Gold" — the city proper — to keep out the growing numbers of homeless. This number has increased to over a hundred thousand, whole generations knowing nothing but life in the tent camps. Xavier Alcatraz is head of the Palace Guard. When King Taylor is assassinated by his son, who then gives the order to slaughter everyone outside the fence, Xavier must choose between his vows and his conscience, making a choice which will affect Bridges for generations to come.   Set 100 years before the Red Dog Conspiracy series, this dark, violent story brings you a collision of science fiction, steampunk, and war fiction - Downton Abbey meets Black Hawk Down in a city gone mad.

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Summary: The Big Cinch embeds readers in a magic-laced St. Louis, once known as Mound City, home of the indigenous Americans’ Mississippian ancestors. Little evidence of their civilization survives in 1924, apart from the popular Piasa monster image, invoked to sell plows as well as ornament civic pageants. Sean Joye, a recent Irish immigrant, tried to avoid fae attention and ignore his magical abilities since childhood. A young veteran of 1922’s Irish Civil War, he aims to atone for his assassin past and make a clean life in America.  Sean helps a wealthy, powerful, magic-dabbling family—founders of the most exclusive club in town, the Piasa Lodge--with a discreet inquiry or two. Sexually involved with a secretive, high-society flapper, he falls hard for her fiancé, a Great War flying ace with a few secrets of his own. But Sean asks the wrong questions about a kidnapped toddler and missing Native American artifacts and becomes a suspect in his lover’s bludgeoning and a tycoon’s murder. Can he master the paranormal abilities he’s rejected for so long in time to protect the innocent and save his own skin?