Urban Thriller

After learning on her sixtieth birthday that she’s one of five Crones destined to save the world, Claire Emerson has been desperately trying to acquire the lifetime of magic she missed out on. But the mages who are out to destroy everything she loves aren’t waiting, and when one of the other Crones ends up on Claire’s doorstep—wounded and unconscious—Claire knows she’s out of time. Leaving the safety of her warded house, she goes in search of the remaining Crones… only to find them under siege by the mages and their nearly indestructible monster.

Welcome to Spellbound, where paranormal is the new normal. This charming, feel-good series has it all: A magical town with an enchanting secret. A feisty heroine with a heart of gold. A fallen angel with a redemption arc. A snarky owl. And, of course, cozy mysteries galore. Grab your latte with a shot of sparkle, settle into a comfy chair, and escape to Spellbound. This collection includes A Touch of Magic, A Drop in the Potion, Hemlocked and Loaded, and All Spell Breaks Loose.

First setting: an all-male prep school in Arizona, where two sensitive freshmen form a bond based on their interest in magic tricks. Second setting: the labyrinthine house of a weird magician uncle in New England, where the two boys spend a memorable summer being trained in the art of illusion. Or is it real magic? Third setting: an alternate world where dark forces are at play - forces that first show up at the school, but intensify their power the summer.

A group of mountain climbers, caught in the dark, fight to survive their descent; in the British countryside, hundreds of magpies ascend into the sky, higher and higher, until they seem to vanish into the heavens; a professor and his student track a zombie horde in order to research zombie behavior; an all-girl riding school has sinister secrets; a town rails in vain against a curse inflicted upon it by its founders; and much more.

Emily Glass thought a move to Atlanta was just what she needed to jump-start a new life. But after her roommate and best friend is attacked by a man with superhuman strength, she discovers an underworld to Atlanta she never expected. Recruited by a strange organization with an enigmatic agenda to help apprehend the attacker, she soon finds herself doing strange side jobs for them. To make things more complicated, the boss at her day job expresses romantic interest.

With her knack for being in trouble's way, Sookie witnesses the firebombing of Merlotte's, the bar where she works. Since Sam Merlotte is now known to be two-natured, suspicion falls immediately on the anti-shifters in the area. Sookie suspects otherwise, but her attention is divided when she realizes that her lover, Eric Northman, and his "child", Pam, are plotting to kill the vampire who is now their master. Gradually, Sookie is drawn into the plot - which is much more complicated than she knows.

I’m Val Thorvald, and I’m an assassin. When magical bad guys hurt people, I take care of them. Permanently. This doesn’t make me popular with the rest of the magical community — as you can tell from the numerous break-ins and assassination attempts I’ve endured over the years. But thanks to my half-elven blood, a powerful sword named Chopper, and a telepathic tiger with an attitude, I’ve always been able to handle my problems with aplomb. Maybe some cursing and swearing, too, but definitely aplomb.

A collection of Smith's apace adventure stories featuring Captain Volmar, including the never before published novella, "Red World of Polaris."

Amid the dizzying rides, tantalizing games of chance, and fanciful attractions of a state fair, two teenage sweethearts on the cusp of life and love's pleasures find their way to a shadowy carnival tent brimming with curiosities. There, from the bizarre and enthralling Gypsy Mummy, a mechanized merchant of dreams and prognosticator of tomorrows, the young couple learns what fate promises for them. But fate, for Odd Thomas and Stormy Llewellyn, is something altogether different: full of dark corners, sharp edges, and things no seer or soothsayer could ever anticipate.

A story of youth and promise, of loss and the search for love, of secrets and destiny, Blackwood Farm brings together the Vampire Chronicles and the story of the Mayfair Witches, and is Anne Rice at her mesmerizing best.

Annette Marie presents Book One in the Guild Codex: Warped series. Make sure to check out the companion series, The Guild Codex: Spellbound and The Guild Codex: Demonized, available now.

Eli Gac has been ten moves ahead of Doc since beginning his deadly game of cat and mouse, with Tucker’s life as the prize. Doc is willing to go as far as is needed to save his friend, including sacrificing his own life. But as the battle of wits leaves Doc with no other options, will he be ready to do the unthinkable?

It is the spring of 1895, and more than a decade of combating eldritch entities has cost Dr. John Watson his beloved wife Mary, and has nearly broken the health of Sherlock Holmes. Yet the companions do not hesitate when they are called to the infamous Bedlam lunatic asylum, where they find an inmate speaking in R’lyehian, the language of the Old Ones. Moreover, the man is horribly scarred and has no memory of who he is. The detectives discover that he was once a scientist, a student of Miskatonic University, and one of two survivors of a doomed voyage down the Miskatonic River.

It begins with a dead body at the far end of Baker Street tube station, all that remains of American exchange student James Gallagher - and the victim's wealthy, politically powerful family is understandably eager to get to the bottom of the gruesome murder. The trouble is, the bottom - if it exists at all - is deeper and more unnatural than anyone suspects...except, that is, for London constable and sorcerer's apprentice Peter Grant.

Odd Thomas is back where it all started…because the time has come to finish it. Since he left his simple life in the small town of Pico Mundo, California, his journey has taken him to places strange and wonderful, mysterious and terrifying. Across the land, in the company of mortals and spirits alike, he has known kindness and cruelty, felt love and loss, saved lives and taken them - as he's borne witness to humanity's greatest good and darkest evil.

Anthony Award-winning author Charlaine Harris has earned a devoted fan base with her USA Today and New York Times best-selling Sookie Stackhouse mystery series. All Together Dead features more dark but frequently hilarious adventures of buxom, blonde, beautiful, and telepathic cocktail waitress Sookie, who prefers the company of vampires to that of the living.

Rosemary and Athena's lives are thrown as the big Summer Solstice festival brings a series of mysterious events. Rosemary's chocolate shop plans are being waylaid by strange disappearances and uninvited visitors. Meanwhile, Athena is sure the astrological lessons at Myrtlewood Academy hold the key to unlocking the town's latest mystery, even if her mother doesn't want to hear about it. Can Rosemary and Athena manage to work together and cast aside their stubbornness before thousands of festival-goers succumb to a magical catastrophe?

Michael Gallatin is a British spy with a peculiar talent: the ability to transform himself into a wolf. Although his work in North Africa helped the Allies win the continent in the early days of World War II, he quit the service when a German spy shot his lover in her bed. Now, three years later, the army asks him to end his retirement and parachute into occupied Paris. A mysterious German plan called the Iron Fist threatens the D-Day invasion, and the Nazi in charge is the spy who betrayed Michael’s lover. The werewolf goes to France for king and country, hoping for a chance at bloody vengeance.

Wedding fever has come to Bon Temps, Louisiana! Unfortunately, buxom, blonde, beautiful, and telepathic cocktail waitress Sookie is not the bride-to-be, so she takes the opportunity to travel to New Orleans on family business. As heir to the estate of her newly dead cousin Hadley, Sookie unearths a big secret. Soon it becomes clear that more than a few people will do anything to stop Sookie from looking into Hadley's past.

The earth’s oldest and darkest magic has been stirred, and from it the berserkers have risen once more. The last time they walked the earth, it trembled under their weight and the blood that flowed from their rampage nearly drowned the world. Alex has offered Doc a choice: Doc's life in exchange for the world. But even if Doc sacrifices himself, will that actually be enough to sate the blood lust of the berserkers? Has Doc finally met an opponent he can't beat?