First Mystery

In their battle to save Earth from becoming another conquest of the alien Kasari Collective, Mark and Heather Smythe have struck crucial blows against the enemy. But their best efforts have still failed to derail the completion of the wormhole gateway that would give the insidious extraterrestrial invaders access to the planet - and doom humankind as helpless slaves of the Kasari hive mind.

1915, London: Working in the dusty bookshop that her Aunt Violet mysteriously inherited, Hannah Merrill is accustomed to finding twists in every tale. But discovering her beloved best friend Lily-Anne – with a paperknife through her heart – in the middle of the bookshop, is not a plotline she saw coming. The case is anything but textbook. With the discovery of a coded German message, and Hannah’s instinct that Lily-Anne’s husband is keeping secrets, she determines to get to the bottom of it. She can’t do it alone though.

On February 24, 1986, 29-year-old newlywed Sherri Rasmussen was murdered in the home she shared with her husband, John. The crime scene suggested a ferocious struggle, and police initially assumed it was a burglary gone awry. Before her death, Sherri had confided to her parents that an ex-girlfriend of John’s, a Los Angeles police officer, had threatened her. The Rasmussens urged the LAPD to investigate the ex-girlfriend, but the original detectives pursued only burglary suspects, and the case went cold.

Roxie Helton crawled away bleeding from the wreck of her life. Now she's finally found a new start, the ghost of that tragedy won't leave her alone. She tried Search and Rescue, now she's trying the Cold Case Department and Vanguard. When she's assigned the case that killed a cop years ago, she gets more than she bargained for and it almost seems like her ex isn't quite as dead as everyone thinks. Can she trust the man she thought she had to give up?

Adolescence is a time of "firsts." First kiss. First love. First loss. First job. And in this case, a very different type of "first": murder. This short story collection of murder mysteries adds a sinister spin to the joy and pain of firsts that have always been a major part of life, whether it be high school cliques who take the term "backstabbing" too seriously, stumbling upon a body on the way home from school, or receiving a Snapchat message that promises something deadly.

The arrival of the Malor spacecraft proved, once and for all, that humanity is not alone in the universe...the path of destruction it left behind showed that aliens are not always friendly. Remaining on Earth, Sydney and Brian must now face the aftermath of the Malor invasion. When a mysterious stranger shows up on Sydney's doorstep in the middle of the night, she's drawn into an urgent mystery: There has been a massive increase in alien abductions around the globe, despite the breakdown of Malor technology - and someone powerful is trying to keep it quiet.

A year after young engineering student Rip Cantrell discovered the first flying saucer buried deep in the sands of the Sahara, another saucer is brought up from the bottom of the Atlantic. The recovery is funded by a pharmaceutical executive who believes that the saucer holds the key to an anti-aging drug formula that space travelers would need to voyage between galaxies. But one of his technicians, Adam Solo, an alien marooned on Earth for a thousand years, steals the saucer, hoping to summon a starship to rescue him.

How did the universe come to be? What happened during the very first instant of its existence? Scientific discovery and the Big Bang theory go into exquisite detail about the development of the universe after that first instant, but we remain in the dark about how it all began. Or do we? Join the authors in a riveting exploration of science’s latest advancements in cosmology, and the Bible’s esoteric dimension, which teaches the deepest cosmological insights into the fundamental workings of the universe.

Psychic Nora Ashcroft is somewhere she never thought she'd see again: her old world. Desperate to bring Tanner and Eva back to Eastwind as soon as possible, she faces a major up-levee battle in New Orleans. Because without any money or a clear place to start, finding two witches in the city could require more magic than she alone possesses. When she catches wind of mysterious slayings among the local vampires and witches, her only shot at finding her friends could be to unmask a murderer. But time is running out, and a dangerous cloaked figure is running amok....

At the start of a new century, a shocking murder transfixes Manhattan, forcing bitter rivals Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr to work together to save a man from the gallows. Just before Christmas 1799, Elma Sands slips out of her Quaker cousin’s boarding house—and doesn’t come home. Has she eloped? Run away? No one knows—until her body appears in the Manhattan Well. Her family insists they know who killed her. Handbills circulate around the city accusing a carpenter named Levi Weeks of seducing and murdering Elma. But privately, quietly, Levi’s wealthy brother calls in a special favor.

It is the twelve days of Christmas, and Mrs. Tiffany Lathrop is happily juggling her duties as a new mother and a librarian to Catharine, the Duchess of Beaufort. Her employer receives a mysterious letter from an old paramour, the Marquess of Harwood, who is the biological father of Catharine’s son. He promises to leave his estate and fortune to Beau if he can see the boy before he dies.

When a disabled spaceship enters Earth's atmosphere, seven members of the advanced Tosok race are welcomed by the world. Then a popular scientist is murdered, and all evidence points to one of the Tosoks. Now, an alien is tried in a court of law -and there may be far more at stake than accounting for one human life.

Storming the Gap: First Strike reveals the explosive origins of the Third World War and delves into the opening salvos of the conflict between NATO and the Warsaw Pact in a world where the Cold War turns hot in 1985. This epic story is told from a range of viewpoints - through the eyes of the decision-makers in Washington as well as the tankers and infantry fighting through hills and towns of southern Germany.

Danny and Sharon Evans are desperate for answers. Why did their seemingly happy daughter try to take her own life? When a stranger approaches Danny saying he knows who’s to blame, Danny is tempted, despite Sharon’s reservations. And when his new friend offers them revenge, how can he walk away? But little does Danny know he is being invited to play a terrible game. A game that won't just change lives – it will end them. DI Joel Norris knows this is no ordinary case when two seemingly unconnected murders hit his desk within a matter of days.

Bree’s new home is luxurious and private, with a fancy Beverly Hills address. What a shame it’s not hers. Widowed, penniless, living in her car, and out of options, she’s climbed the fence and crashed in the pool house. All she wants is a good night’s sleep. But when Sophie, the absentee owner, finds her, she gets a whole lot more.

A delectable variety of real paranormal tales you are sure to binge... First responders are those that aid us in our time of need. But have you ever wondered that some of their calls may not be classified as "typical"? Ever wondered what happens when you mix ghosts with dispatchers? How about accident sites? I know I have. That is why this book came to be. After interviewing multiple types of first responders, from 911 operators to police to firemen, you will hear the experiences they cannot quite explain as anything less than "ghostly".

It began as a game, a treasure hunt in an old German castle. For Vicky Bliss, tall, beautiful, and brilliant, it is also a challenge, a chance to bring an arrogant young man down a notch or two. And all things considered, it would have been no contest.

First Thrills will include never-before-published stories by New York Times best-selling authors including Lee Child, Stephen Coonts, Jeffery Deaver, Heather Graham, Joan Johnston, John Lescroart, Alex Kava and Deb Carlin, Michael Palmer (with Daniel James Palmer), Karin Slaughter, and Wendi Corsi Staub.

Amelia is fresh from her victory over ARC when a massive hurricane strikes New Orleans. In the aftermath, a pile of bodies is found and all evidence points to the Wraith as the perpetrator. Has the killer of evil lost her grip on reality and started murdering indiscriminately? Or is there something even more dangerous in the world than the Wraith? With every superhero in North America gunning for Madisun Dumas, Arsenal has to race against the clock and stand up to her own teammates to prove the vigilante's innocence.

When Meredith Mitchell bumps into her old school friend Rachel Hunter at the Chelsea Flower Show, she is shocked to discover that she was the first wife of her companion, Chief Inspector Alan Markby. But the meeting is not the only surprise; before the afternoon is out, Markby has a death on his hands.