Science Fiction Detective

The name's Lomax-Alex Lomax. I'm the one and only private eye working the mean streets of New Klondike, the Martian frontier town that sprang up forty years ago after Simon Weingarten and Denny O'Reilly discovered fossils on the Red Planet. Back on Earth, where anything can be synthesized, the remains of alien life are the most valuable of all collectibles, so shiploads of desperate treasure hunters stampeded here in the Great Martian Fossil Rush.

Life on magical parole can be a real witch… I’ve got a final shot at freedom, but when my strongest ally is found murdered, everything is on the line—including my own life. With my rag-tag band of supernatural friends in tow, I have to launch my biggest—and most dangerous—investigation yet. I’ve got to stop the killer without setting off the SPA’s alarms or else I can kiss my last chance goodbye.

When Cole Harper is compelled to return to Wounded Sky First Nation, he finds his community in chaos: a series of shocking murders, a mysterious illness ravaging the residents, and re-emerging questions about Cole’s role in the tragedy that drove him away 10 years ago. With the aid of an unhelpful spirit, a disfigured ghost, and his two oldest friends, Cole tries to figure out his purpose and unravel the mysteries he left behind a decade ago. Will he find the answers in time to save his community?

Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. And along with her enigmatic assistant Kai, she's posted to an alternative London. Their mission - to retrieve a dangerous book. But when they arrive, it's already been stolen. London's underground factions seem prepared to fight to the very death to find her book. Adding to the jeopardy, this world is chaos-infested - the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic. Irene's new assistant is also hiding secrets of his own.

It is the autumn of 1880, and Dr. John Watson has just returned from Afghanistan. Badly injured and desperate to forget a nightmarish expedition that left him doubting his sanity, Watson is close to destitution when he meets the extraordinary Sherlock Holmes, who is investigating a series of deaths in the Shadwell district of London. Several bodies have been found, the victims appearing to have starved to death over the course of several weeks, and yet they were reported alive and well mere days before.

It is 1890, and in the days before Christmas, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson are visited at Baker Street by a new client. Eve Allerthorpe, eldest daughter of a grand but somewhat eccentric Yorkshire-based dynasty, is greatly distressed, as she believes she is being haunted by a demonic Christmas spirit. Her late mother told her terrifying tales of the sinister Black Thurrick, and Eve is sure that she has seen the creature from her bedroom window. What is more, she has begun to receive mysterious parcels of birch twigs, the Black Thurrick’s calling card.

Best-selling author Jasper Fforde begins an effervescent new series. It's Easter in Reading - a bad time for eggs - and no one can remember the last sunny day. Humpty Dumpty, well-known nursery favourite, large egg, ex-convict and former millionaire philanthropist, is found shattered beneath a wall in a shabby area of town.

When Charley is rudely awakened in the middle of the night by her best friend who tells her to get dressed quickly and tosses clothes out of the closet at her, she can’t help but wonder what Cookie’s up to. Leather scrunch boots with a floral miniskirt? Together? Seriously? Cookie explains that a friend of hers named Mimi disappeared five days earlier and that she just got a text from her setting up a meet at a coffee shop downtown....

GFL star Quentin Barnes is an orphan born into a culture that prizes family connections above all. He spent his youth struggling with poverty. When he signed his deal with the Ionath Krakens and became rich, one of the first things he did was hire a private detective to find out if his family is still alive. The Detective is the story of that search, as seen through the eyes of Frederico Esteban Guissepe Gonzaga — a.k.a. “Fred,” a master of disguise and a truly dangerous human. But Fred’s past is just as big a mystery as is the whereabouts of Quentin’s family.

Welcome to Portlock: where the dead don’t always stay that way. When a human inspector drops dead in the Chrome Mine, things get messy fast. The dwarves are up in arms, swearing the mine is cursed, and when a second body turns up—this time without its head—all fingers point to the local hag. But I’ve met Matilda. She’s terrifying, sure, but she doesn’t seem like the elaborate crime scene type. More of a ‘crush you under a landslide’ kind of gal. Still, with the dwarves baying for blood and a murderer on the loose, I need answers before this case spirals out of control.

The Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter backlist lights up the night. In her eighth adventure, Anita Blake can't turn her back on a former lover during the full moon. Especially since he's behind bars - and he's a werewolf.

Sidelined by his war injuries in 1916, Captain Hastings travels to his friend’s estate at Styles Court to recover from his wounds. As the summer heats up, a tragic murder occurs, and Hastings calls upon the services of his old acquaintance Hercule Poirot. With seemingly unrelated clues - a scrap of a burned will, a false beard, and an empty packet of bromide - the brilliant detective launches his first investigation on English soil and forges an enduring friendship.

London, April 1812. Eighteen-year-old Lady Helen Wrexhall is on the eve of her debut presentation to the Queen. Her life should be about gowns and dancing, and securing a suitable marriage. Instead, when one of her family's housemaids goes missing, Lady Helen is drawn to the shadows of Regency London. There, she finds William, the Earl of Carlston. He has noticed the disappearance, too, and is one of the few who can stop the perpetrators: a cabal of powerful demons that has infiltrated every level of society.

After finding himself caught up in one of Louisiana’s oldest and bloodiest family rivalries, Detective Dave Robicheaux must battle the most terrifying adversary he has ever encountered: a time-traveling superhuman assassin.

Nora is more certain than ever that she is in love with Patch. Fallen Angel or no, he is the one for her. Her heritage and destiny may mean that they will always be enemies, but there is no turning her back on him. And yet their biggest challenge lies ahead. Can their love survive a seemingly insurmountable divide? The lines are drawn, but it's unclear which sides have been taken. And in the end, will there be enough trust left to rebuild what has been broken?

Descendants of the Fates are always born in threes: one to weave, one to draw, and one to cut the threads that connect people to the things they love and to life itself. The Ora sisters are no exception. Io, the youngest, uses her Fate-born abilities as a private investigator in the half-sunken city of Alante. But her latest job leads her to a horrific discovery: somebody is abducting women, maiming their life-threads, and setting the resulting wraiths loose in the city to kill.

The Federal Bureau of Magic Cozy Mystery books are full-length humorous paranormal cozy mysteries. This collection includes Great Balls of Fury, Fury Godmother, and No Guts, No Fury.

Despite the rumors, I'm definitely not a witch, my VHS tapes are not cursed, and renting one absolutely will not hurt anyone. Unless they forget to return it on time—late fees are killer. Kidding! As a werewolf, I can smell everyone's emotions. Guilt stinks like rotten fish, happiness is citrusy, and buttery popcorn...well, that's just my snack. But it's all too overwhelming. To make matters worse, a visitor ends up dead in front of my video rental shop and rumors spread fast. Gossiping ghosts and busybody vampires claim my movies magically murdered him.

Green might be my best color, but I never thought I’d play the part of the jealous girlfriend. Evangeline might be a certified supernatural celebrity, but that doesn’t mean she can toss her flirtatious smile at my newly minted boyfriend. Before I can wrench Adam from Evangeline’s clutches, I have an amnesiac ghost begging for help and find myself smack dab in the middle of another murder investigation. I have to track down a killer and save my new relationship … all without landing myself in a witch’s duel.

Humans have always been fascinated by darkness. Especially the darkness of a city at night, when the black sky is made ever more inky by the pools of illumination dropped under streetlights. Whether the mean streets be in an alternate past charmed with dark magic or the dirty alleyways of futuristic crowded space stations, the city—and its darkened streets—will always fascinate us. Here then, an anthology of all new stories of science fiction and fantasy with a hardboiled noir twist that acknowledge that the city is a living, breathing entity...and it isn’t always on our side.