African American Mystery Suspense

Having earned starred reviews and a fervent following for her urban Christian fiction, Leslie J. Sherrod delivers the first in a riveting new series. In Losing Hope, Sienna St. James thinks she’s finally close to getting over her long-lost, globetrotting husband. Or so she thinks. One Tuesday, everything begins to come apart when a succession of strange events - including the mystery surrounding a girl named Hope - brings her past, present, and future into question.

Now that Nate Kenny has ex-wife Monica back in his arms, it's time to give marriage a second chance. Yet those plans are shattered when Nate and Monica are gunned down in their home. Nate recovers, but Monica falls into a coma. When she eventually regains consciousness, she awakens to a world of infidelity, duplicity, and scheming that could once again lead to spilled blood.

Essence® best-selling authors Kiki Swinson and De’nesha Diamond are two rising stars in the world of urban fiction. Heist presents two novellas starring young women hustling their way to the top of the game through daring robbery schemes. In Swinson’s The Ultimate Heist, pampered Shannon Marshall is accustomed to a big-money lifestyle. Her world is shattered, however, when her man is thrown into prison for gun running.

The most ruthless ride-or-die women of Memphis saved their empire by nearly destroying the streets. But as unexpected new rivals rise and brutal secrets shatter lives, betrayal means winner rules all. Putting out chaos with gasoline is one play that even the women of the Dirty South can't control. One merciless kill vaults good-girl-gone-bad Ta'Shara into gangland's power elite - but an enemy she doesn't see is targeting everything she can't afford to lose.

While attending the National Association of Black Journalists conference, Alex discovers the dead body of a publishing bigwig who was about to be toasted as journalist of the year. As Alex investigates, she uncovers deadly secrets - and puts her own life in danger.

After enforcer Richard “Rico” Sanders stepped in to protect his girlfriend from a local mob boss’s hot-headed nephew, all hell broke loose. When the smoke cleared, the nephew had vanished and three goons lay dying where they’d stood. Fighting for his life, Rico was alive but gravely wounded. Out of the hospital but not fully recovered, he needed a place to crash - a place where he wouldn’t be found. A place like the cabin owned by lawyer Paul Elliott, whose life Rico had saved more than once.

Exotic dancer Ceazia Deveareux has grown accustomed to the luxurious lifestyle she was living before the death of her boyfriend, Vegas Jackson. Even though she was the one who caused his death, Ceazia feels no guilt. She believes she still deserves to have the finest of everything, and she's determined to get it. Vegas' brother Snake is patiently waiting for the day that he can avenge his brother's death. The only problem is that he has a fascination with strippers, and the sexy Ceazia might prove to be more than he can resist.

Cassandra, grandniece to Woodson and Ivy Lisle, is a college student caught up in the highly charged atmosphere of the days following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. When the granddaughter of Woodson and Ivy's friends goes missing, Cassandra is sucked into a dangerous mystery that threatens to expose long-buried secrets and jeopardize the life of anyone who asks too many questions.

Dontay Walker had it rough growing up in the projects with a drug-addicted mother who forced him to become a man at the young age of 15. His father was a rolling stone, having multiple children with many women. Dontay always fought for his father's attention - until taking his spot became more important than gaining his love. Now, at the age of 30, Don is the leader of one of the most successful and most feared drug organizations in the city of Philadelphia.

Elston becomes torn between doing what is right and facing the consequences or hiding behind a lie, and that’s when Brenda Vander, a total stranger, appears out of the darkness into Elston’s life to help him and herself to him. Elston is thrown into a world of lies and deception and is unable to focus on what should be the happiest time of his life. Elston is blackmailed into being unfaithful to his soon-to-be wife and telling lies all so he can save himself, and never once does he listen to his conscious so he can make the right and just decision.

Son of a black gangster and an Italian mother with ties to a high profile mobster, the deadly mixture allows Spaz to become the most ruthless gangster in the City of Brotherly Love. What starts off as a plot to move his mother out of the lethal streets of North Philly, turns into a multi-million dollar drug enterprise.

Essence best-selling authors Kiki Swinson and Noire have attracted huge audiences for their sexy, anything-goes fiction. Lifestyles of the Rich and Shameless features a novella from each author. Swinson’s electric “Shamelessly Rich” showcases a spoiled bad girl facing a life-changing choice. And in Noire’s “Puttin’ Shame in the Game,” three gorgeous ladies set their sights on a wealthy cop.

Enzo and Angel are back and this time with a vengeance. Micah was hell-bent on forcing their hands and pushing them back into the lifestyle they'd left behind after Damien Orlando's demise. With time ticking away along with Enzo's desire to keep his career and family intact, he will become the monster Micah accused him of being. Enzo will embrace the darkness that flows freely through his veins and make Micah rue the day he awakened the sleeping giant.

Meet Kara, a young detective on a dubious mission to locate the person that assassinated her father when she was a child. No child should witness a parent violently murdered before their eyes. This horrific tragedy she suffered has caused Kara to become permanently scarred and emotionally distant as an adult. The psychological issues she now has run deep.

A market savvy schoolteacher makes a million bucks for his stock investment club but loses it all when tech stocks go belly up. With their money gone, the middle-class businessmen turn to robbing banks to keep up their opulent lifestyle. For their penchant for hitting a bank before going to work, the Atlanta press dubs them, "The Morning Glory Gang".

Torn between her proud African-American family and colleagues who still can't deal with diversity, L.A.P.D. homicide detective Charlotte Justice returns to an investigation she once had to leave behind. Thirteen years before, Justice's husband and child were murdered in their own driveway. Now Charlotte is on edge again, bedeviled by bloody memories, a violent incident involving a fellow officer, and a cold case that turns red-hot.

Following a bitter divorce, Troy Kirkwood is murdered, leaving his five-year-old daughter, Meika, in the care of her grandparents. But then Troy's crack-addicted ex-wife resurfaces, demanding custody of Meika. As the family fights to stay together, Troy's brother struggles to solve the murder.

Just weeks after tracking down a killer known as the Angel of Death, Detective Mike Coletti stands at Mary Smithson’s grave, mourning the woman whose betrayal nearly cost him his life. He’s joined there by Mary’s beautiful half sister, Lenore. Moments later, a gunshot splits the air, placing Coletti on a collision course with the Gravedigger, a killer hellbent on deciphering the secret of life and death. As bodies drop and tensions mount, clues are plucked from the victims, and one thing is abundantly clear—Lenore is the killer’s ultimate target.

Sixteen-year-old Diamond "Ray-Ray" Jenkins has it made in the shade, until one wrong move by her parents turns their lives upside down. Their secret of taking from the wrong street King in the Trap, Damien Orlando, has now put her in peril. The death of her parents signals an end to Diamond's semi-perfect life, putting her in the hands of evil. Her only salvation is to learn the game, and to put her trust in a kid wearing a hoodie.

Shannon Mitchell gambled that betraying her husband's biggest heist ever was her way out of the game for good. Losing that bet put her in lockdown - and at the top of Todd Mitchell's revenge-fueled hit list. Now she'll work every seductive move and lethal play to survive. 'Cause when it comes to wreaking her own vengeance, this devious beauty isn't taking any prisoners....