Urban Crime Fiction

Epi Dalmau is a desperate man. Early one morning, he carries a duffle bag into a dingy bar in a rough neighborhood of Barcelona. Four other people are in the bar: his brother Alex, his good friend Tanveer, the bartender, and a Pakistani man who wandered in to use the restroom. Epi grabs a hammer out of his duffle bag and attacks Tanveer. After a brief struggle and a couple of blows, Tanveer lies dead on the floor and Epi flees the bar. Alex and the bartender plan to find and protect Epi, while blaming the murder on the unfortunate Pakistani man, who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It's 1968, New York City is in a state of mayhem, and private eye Alex Novalis is flat broke. So he accepts a mundane missing persons gig from wealthy construction mogul Gabriel Kravitz, whose 18-year-old daughter, Lydia, has disappeared. The only lead is that Lydia had been sleeping with Jerry Pedrosian, a radical artist and known womanizer. But there are few clues, and everyone in Lydia's life seems to be hiding something... including her miniskirted best friend, Andrea Marshall, who Novalis is inconveniently attracted to.

This one is brilliant. Mud Street, the introduction to OzValt Grant - former sniper, former Homicide Detective, now consulting at the DenMark Police Department. Rabies abound in the most horrific way starting on Mud Street and leading along a yellow brick road of death and mourning. Snuffed introduces our hero to an underground network of snuff directors. A serial killer is targeting women in DenMark and killing them on display.

There can be only one: one man with two loyal friends and secrets from the past that will ultimately shake up the entire hood in Chicago; one man on a mission to destroy anyone who doesn't abide by his rules, including tricky bitches who drop to their knees behind closed doors yet stand tall against him when the time comes to collect the almighty dollar; one man with enough swagger in his walk and confidence in his talk and the skills and mindset to build an empire.

The Detective Story Club's first short story anthology is based around a London detective club and includes three newly discovered tales unpublished for 100 years, plus a story bearing an uncanny resemblance to a Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes story but written some seven years earlier.

Thanks to James Johnson's ground-breaking technology, the drug game and oil exports are now on life support. His prophecy has been fulfilled. However, the Saudi Arabian Oil King, Shalik Khalid, has unleashed a vicious death squad on American soil. The message is clear, and now the surviving members of the Johnson clan must regroup, while the architect of their movement lies in critical condition. The reigns have been passed down and now there exists one logical decision for the heirs to the throne. "Bring to them what they brought to us!"

Faolan O'Connor spent his life killing for men like Legs Diamond and Lucky Luciano, and now it's his turn to face the music. But when vampire Darcy Killian offers him immortality, Faolan enters a world of violence, wealth, and power beyond anything he's ever imagined.

Lucy Keiver has come back from service in the country to London’s notorious Campbell Road. She’s there to care for her mum, the forthright and feisty but much loved Matilda, recovering after a savage attack almost left her dead. Despite the depression affecting the country, Lucy is lucky to find a job as a Lady’s maid. But when she is unfairly dismissed, Lucy is forced to take a job in a rather unsavoury nightclub - something nice girls just don’t do.

A small-town sheriff has some unfinished business in the big city.... Jack Lamburt doesn’t negotiate with drug dealers. When he learns that his girlfriend Debbie’s sister is keeping company with New Jersey gang leaders, he opts to spring her the only way he knows how. With a hail of bullets and blood.... On his quest to get Debbie’s sister free, Lamburt attracts the attention of an FBI agent eager to take the vigilante down. Things get even hairier when a drug lord goes on the war path to reverse the sheriff’s rescue mission with some deadly revenge.

In his quest for cash and beautiful women, Jamell White, a.k.a. Sugar Daddy, runs a game on some of the biggest hustlers on the Gulf Coast, including a psychotic drug dealer, a crooked cop, and a Puerto Rican cartel.

The BGR sisterhood is the most notorious and respected gang in Scotland Heights. In spite of her gang’s powerful reputation, 17-year-old Patience is ready to step down as BGR’s leader. The problem is that the same way she was jumped into the gang is the only way the other members will let her out - if they’ll let her out at all. As Patience plans her farewell from the hood, Denim Mitchell overhears that Patience is being set up by her own BGR sisters. Will Denim find out who is behind the plot to betray Patience and stop them in time?

A hard-working daddy's girl, Precious Cummings is sure she's going to college. But when her father is murdered, she discovers he lied for years about money they never had - and hid a shocking family secret. Shattered and lost, she starts hangin' with savvy hood chick Keisha - and falls hard for DaVon, LA's most powerful drug dealer. As his new lady, Precious soon gets the best of every luxurious thing - and fast learns the ropes of her lover's lethal hustle.

Nobody ever gave Jamil Rock anything - much less hope. To survive a rough home life and one bad break after another, he became his hood's most successful drug dealer. With loyal friends at his back, Jamil coolly takes care of business and never thinks too far ahead - until Gia Ellis walks into his life. Suddenly, ruling the streets is nothing compared to the instant heat, and alluringly innocent aura, Jamil can't resist....

Being raised in the game by conniving, money-hungry, married-to-the-streets parents, the only thing 17-year-old Porsha Jackson was sheltered from was fairytales. Calvin, her father, is one of the most feared and respected drug dealers in the city, and Trinity, her mother, has a reputation for a firm hand and on-point aim. From hustling and grinding to balancing a few hours of school a week to keep social services off the family's back, Porsha has been groomed from an early age to hold her own and help run the family's business.

A war is brewing between the hunters and the vampires, and Chloe is determined to strike against the vampires before they have a chance to attack the hunter community. Chloe tries to convince the hunter community, and most especially tries to convince Drew, that they should move against the vampires first instead of waiting for an attack. The group of new friends - Oscar, Alice, Drew, Chloe, and Christina - are distracted by news reports of a vigilante who is saving innocent humans against what can only be vampire attacks.

The only clue to his identity was a small medallion with the words "Lazarus Gray" stamped on it. He took that name and became one of Sovereign City's greatest heroes, forming an alliance with other lost souls like himself. Together, they are Assistance Unlimited...and now they face their greatest threats ever!

After five years’ hard time, ex-soldier Hugh Marlowe emerges into the free world ready to fight anyone who stands in his way. Rough justice is all he knows. But when a beautiful, vulnerable woman asks for his help, Marlowe quickly finds himself a world away from the London gangland that he knows in a different life with its own problems.

Annabelle Décor is a woman betrayed who is on a mission to punish infidelity, marking her victims with the makeup of those they have deceived. From his position of power, Death watches the story unfold before his eyes. Is this merely a woman driven crazy or a possession by an old and vengeful god?

His mother tragically dies of cancer, his once perfect world is turned upside down, and the coldhearted streets of Detroit couldn’t care less. Now, Lonnie McKay, homeless and alone, is caught up in the system at the mercy of others. Faced with women who could possibly help him but refuse to do so, he soon develops a vindictive dislike for every female with whom he comes in contact. Under the influence of anything he can take to get high, a delusional Lonnie sets no limits to what he’ll do to make these women pay - including murder.

Be ready for some action, humor, and mystery in this anthology with short stories. You’ll listen about gangsters, witches, magic potions, interrogations, werewolves, and murder. Several stories have a murder victim, while others are all about theft or robberies. But in many cases, they spark the imagination and make up for a great way to sit back, relax, and read or listen to stories from a completely different world.