Science Fiction Detective

Two novellas set in Aliette de Bodard’s award-winning, critically acclaimed Xuya universe, a timeline where Asia became dominant, and where the space age has Confucian galactic empires of Vietnamese and Chinese inspiration. Contains The Citadel of Weeping Pearls and The Tea Master and the Detective.

The missing dead call to Violet. They want to be found.Violet can sense the echoes of those who've been murdered and the matching imprint that clings to their killers. Only those closest to her know what she is capable of, but when she discovers the body of a young boy she also draws the attention of the FBI, threatening her entire way of life. As Violet works to keep her morbid ability a secret, she unwittingly becomes the object of a dangerous obsession.

Working homicides in New York City, there will always be disquieting cases, but this one has me in a cold sweat. When Bishop and I discover a high-ranking wizard has been tied down and tortured as part of some unhinged ritual, we know all hell is about to break lose. What’s worse, our lead suspect is a member of the Arcane Council, and when you cross the Council, you tend to disappear without a trace. Victims deserve justice—it’s my job—but one wrong move will see me share their fate. Curl up with One Foot in the Grave and discover the motive behind this unusual case.

Throughout history and infinite dimensions, there exists a secret group of supernatural investigators operating on the fringes of society, lurking in the shadows, working strange cases with little reward. They are hardboiled zombies and ghosts, mythological creatures, ass-kicking vampires, tortured humans, and uncanny sleuths whose normal is the bizarre and weird.

In the quaint, rain-soaked town of Willowbrook, an unlikely duo forms a detective agency like no other. Grib, a clever goblin with a knack for problem-solving and a mischievous sense of humor, teams up with Grandma Maggie, a witty and resourceful retired librarian, to tackle the town's most baffling mysteries. The story kicks off on a stormy night, with Grandma Maggie seeking Grib's help to uncover the truth behind a series of strange symbols appearing around Willowbrook.

I’m Jinx, a private investigator, a truth seeker, and a wizard. You'd think of all those skills would make it so easy for me to get to the heart of things. And honestly? I thought I knew what had happened to my parents that night. But I've taken a tumble down the rabbit hole and everything I thought I knew was topsy turvy. I'm trying to get my head screwed on right, but some rude SOB keeps trying to kill me. Worse, I think it's the same guy that targeted my parents. I need to stay alive long enough to bring him to justice. The problem with that is that it looks like we've got a mole.

Picking up where Berton Roueche's The Medical Detectives left off, The Deadly Dinner Party presents 15 edge-of-your-seat, real-life medical detective stories written by a practicing physician. Award-winning author Jonathan Edlow, MD, shows the doctor as detective and the epidemiologist as elite sleuth in stories that are as gripping as the best thrillers.

It was like a nightmare, but there was no waking up. When the night began, Nora had two best friends and an embarrassingly storybook one true love. When it ended, she had nothing but blood on her hands and an echoing scream that stopped only when the tranquilizers pierced her veins and left her in the merciful dark. But the next morning, it was all still true: Chris was dead. His girlfriend Adriane, Nora's best friend, was catatonic. And Max, Nora's sweet, smart, soft-spoken Prince Charming, was gone.

World War III has left the world ravaged by nuclear radiation. A lucky few escaped to the Alaskan wilderness. They've survived for the last thirty years by living off the land, being one with nature, and hiding from whoever else might still be out there. At least, this is what Juneau has been told her entire life. When Juneau returns from a hunting trip to discover that everyone in her clan has vanished, she sets off to find them. Leaving the boundaries of their land for the very first time, she learns something horrifying: There never was a war.

Eleven-year-old David is about to meet his new stepsister, Amanda, who is only one year older than he is. Amanda arrives at their big old house wearing a huge tattered shawl and carrying a sharp-eyed crow in a cage. She is hardly what David expects. Before long, she introduces David to a strange world of witchcraft and the occult. At first, spells and potions are fun. He enjoys the spooky chants and smoky seances. Even his younger brother and sisters join in, making sure their parents suspect nothing.

You're 14 and find yourself on your own. Your father, who has developed the world's cutting edge research on virtual electronic game-playing, has been missing for weeks. And suddenly you're being hunted by men with guns, your picture is on the news, and, worst of all, something seemingly impossible is chasing you - a savage, man-eating dinosaur. How can that be? Why is everyone trying to capture you? And what is your strange connection with this 21st-century prehistoric monster?

In the city of New Eden, 1928, the lines between man and machine blur. Detective Mark Thompson, a veteran grappling with his own cybernetic augmentations, faces a chilling series of murders. Sents, the city's synthetic workforce, are being brutally killed, each body marked with a tarot card. Partnered with the enigmatic Sent detective, RB-2219, Thompson delves into the underbelly of New Eden, where pleasure houses cater to humanity's darkest desires and whispers of a Sent uprising simmer in the shadows.

18-year-old Rowan James has spent her whole life harboring unpleasant truths—that’s what happens when you can smell lies on the teller’s breath—and building walls around herself to block them out. Like her younger sister, Linden, who can taste the feelings of others, Rowan has long struggled with her gift, which has taught her that everyone distorts the truth, and no one is who they seem to be. So when her old rival Hadrian Fitch shows up on her front porch—bloodied and bruised and asking for the kind of help only she can provide—her first instinct is distrust.

Sweets Porter is having a tough time between keeping her grades up at the Paranormal Institute for Witches and running Bailey’s Bakery and Sweets while Char and Mr. Bailey are off on their honeymoon. When things take a shocking turn after the Bailey’s welcome home party, the Witch Squad is forced to intervene.

Magic is real, and hungry—trapped in ancient texts and artifacts. Only a few who discover it survive to fight back. Join Detective Sal Brooks, newest recruit to a black-ops magic hunting team backed by the Vatican, as she travels the world to keep the supernatural in check.

At the very southern tip of South America looms an isolated finishing school. Legend has it that the land will curse those who settle there. But for Mavi - a bold Buenos Aires native fleeing the military regime that took her mother - it offers an escape to a new life as a young teacher to Argentina’s elite girls. Mavi tries to embrace the strangeness of the imposing house - despite warnings not to roam at night, threats from an enigmatic young man, and rumors of mysterious Others. But one of Mavi’s 10 students is missing, and students and teachers begin to behave as if possessed.

Danny didn’t know what she was looking for when she and her mother spread out a map of the United States and Danny put her finger down on Tempest, California. What she finds are the Grays: a group of friends who throw around terms like queer and witch like they’re ordinary and everyday, though they feel like an earthquake to Danny. But Danny didn’t just find the Grays. They cast a spell that calls her halfway across the country, because she has something they need.

There are no secrets in Saintstone. From the second you're born, every achievement, every failing, every significant moment are all immortalized on your skin. There are honorable marks that let people know you're trustworthy. And shameful tattoos that announce you as a traitor.

Fletcher Moon has never been like other kids. For one thing, he has had to suffer the humiliating nickname "Half Moon" because of his short stature. But the real reason Fletcher is different is that ever since he was a baby, he's had a nose for sniffing out mysteries. And let's just say, it's not a skill that has been appreciated by many people, including his own family.

When his 5-year-old neighbor goes missing, Jack can't help feeling responsible. He should have taken Cody home when he found him riding his bicycle near the Pine Barrens. And then a lost man wanders out of the woods after being chased all night by...something. Jack knows, better than anyone, that the Barrens are dangerous - a true wilderness filled with people, creatures, and objects lost from sight and memory. Like the ancient, 15-foot-tall stone pyramid he, Weezy, and Eddie discover. Jack thinks it might have been a cage of some sort, but for what kind of animal, he can't say.