African American Fiction Mystery

"Once begun, listeners will find narrator Maggie Thompson unstoppable."—School Library Journal (Starred Review) Noni Reid has grown up in the shadow of her mother, Dr. Radiance Castine, renowned scholar of Black literature, who is alarmingly perfect at just about everything. When Dr. Castine...

Smoke Kings is a powerful and propulsive novel with a diverse and unforgettable cast of characters. Like Steph Cha's Your House Will Pay it explores decades of racial tensions through a fictional landscape where the line between justice and revenge is blurred.

Animal, the gentle and kind-hearted family man, is still infamous for turning at any moment into a cold-blooded killer. Animal is the product of ruthless abuse and the unforgiving streets - he is the product of the world we all live in. Is there anything that could push you to the breaking point of murder? Are you absolutely sure there isn't? After all, there's an Animal in all of us.

Ali is a drug dealer slash business man who tries to change the way the game is played by giving back to the community. But at the same time, he has to keep a close eye on his childhood crime partner, G-Money, who has a strong hatred for the police. Ali's life takes a serious turn when a local rival, a crooked cop, his pregnant girlfriend, and his little brother come into the picture.

The past few months have been a living hell for Persia. Seemingly overnight, she has fallen from grace and found herself scraping rock bottom, all in the name of two lovers - Chucky and cocaine. One was supposed to love her and the other take away the pain, but they've both fallen short on their promises. The last time she saw either one of them was the night she almost lost her life.

Ricky Rice is a middling hustler with a lingering junk habit, a bum knee, and a haunted mind. A survivor of a suicide cult, he scrapes by as a porter at a bus depot in Utica, New York, until one day a mysterious letter arrives, summoning him to enlist in a band of paranormal investigators comprised of former addicts and petty criminals, all of whom had at some point in their wasted lives heard what may have been the voice of God.

When two best friends’ hobby of crashing weddings takes a deadly turn, they’re forced to embark on a road trip of survival in this addictive thriller. “The hairpin turns and killer twists of this propulsive bad-girls-gone-worse thriller will have you hanging on for dear life!”—Layne...

“With Your House Will Pay, Steph Cha has taken a dark moment in Los Angeles’s violent history and cracked it wide open, creating a prism of understanding—of the pull of generational violence and its enduring devastation, but also of the power of human grace against all odds. It’s a...

Persia Chandler has managed to get her life back on track. Things are calm at home, she's preparing to leave for college, and she is even feeling confident enough to start dating again. More importantly, she's drug free and plans to stay that way - until Chucky slithers back into her life. He's determined to make Persia his again, and he isn't willing to take no for an answer. When trying to woo her doesn't work, Chucky plays hardball and gives Persia an ultimatum: go along with his latest twisted plot, or have her junkie past exposed to the new man in her life, Philadelphia Eagles rookie quarterback, Vaughn Tate.

When Laila James, self-proclaimed "Golden Goddess," sets her sights on Marcus and shops a reality show based on their affair - and then a dangerous stalker threatens his family - Vanessa turns to her best friend Nia to save her marriage and her life.

Philadelphia lawyer Bennie Rosato has her eye focused firmly on the bottom line, especially since she has three dedicated young associates and a very pregnant secretary on her payroll, and she takes a professional risk, charging into a class action lawsuit that could make -- or break -- her...

Easy Rawlins, L.A.'s most reluctant detective, comes home one day to find Easter, the daughter of his friend Chrismas Black, left on his doorstep. Easy knows that this could only mean that the ex-marine Black is probably dead, or will be soon. Easter's appearance is only the beginning, as Easy...

A New York Times Best Mystery Novel of the Year In the second installment of the Nanette Hayes Mystery series, Nan is on her way to Paris in search of a missing relative. . . but will she lose more than just her heart in the city of love? Nanette's life is finally getting back to normal when her...

Blanche White is a plump, feisty, middle-aged African-American housekeeper working for the genteel rich in North Carolina. But when an employer stiffs her, and her checks bounce, she goes on the lam, hiding out as a maid for a wealthy family at their summer home. That plan goes awry when there's a murder and Blanche becomes the prime suspect. So she's forced to use her savvy, her sharp wit, and her old-girl network of domestic workers to discover the truth and save her own skin.

It's a hard knock life for Saucy Sarita Robinson, and the rules of the game are clear: Get yours or get had. When her father gets popped in an armed robbery and her mother turns to drugs, Saucy is left to scratch out a life for herself on the streets of Harlem, and this city-slick vixen refuses to become a victim. Young, hot, and hungry for the spotlight, Saucy uses her assets to get whatever she wants: 128th Street has its own rules, and she knows them well.

A man’s quest to escape his past life is an uphill battle. After seeking a Cuban voodoo doctor to receive a spiritual advantage on his upcoming court case, Saint opens up Pandora’s box. The Santeria voodoo seemed to work, but at what cost? His dangerous visit to Cuba came with much more than he anticipated. He entered an underground secret society of high stakes gambling. He also gets tangled in a web of heinous crimes, money games, and backstabbing.

Corrupt elements of the South African Intelligence Services are stalking Morne Delport, a South African industrialist and his eclectic band of friends. When no one is watching, their phones are tapped, they are followed, and violence is sanctioned against them. They are in a race to save their countrymen, and forever separate themselves from the legacy of Apartheid, but powerful forces have other plans. They are watching and wanting their wealth for their own.

"A dark and riveting page-turner with an intelligent twist." —Nadine Matheson, author of The Jigsaw Man, on Someone Had to Do It ON ASHER LANE, SOME SECRETS ARE WORTH KILLING FOR… Simone’s mother was murdered when she was thirteen. When her father was convicted, everything changed...

On Christmas Eve, 1951 in New Orleans, fifteen-year-old Johnnie Wise is sold into prostitution by her domineering mother, and her dreams of being an Evangelist or nightclub singer like Billie Holiday vanish like the notes of an old song. In her new life, surrounded by powerful men with even more powerful secrets, Johnnie finds that she can use romance with the men that pay to sleep with her to her advantage, and the teenage girl finds herself thrown into a world of wealth, bribery, and cold-blooded gangsters. But, the underbelly of New Orleans in the fifties isn’t without its dangers.

A smash debut novel from rising star Yasmin Angoe, Her Name Is Knight features an elite assassin heroine on a mission to topple a human trafficking ring and avenge her family....