Showing results by publisher "Blackstone Audio, Inc." in Crime Fiction

In 1958 Detroit, neighbors on Alder Avenue struggle to care for one another amid a city rife with conflicts that threaten their peaceful street. Grace, Alder’s only expectant mother, eagerly awaits her firstborn; her best friend, Julia, prepares to welcome twin nieces; and Malina sets the tone with her stylish dresses, tasteful home, and ironfisted stewardship of St. Alban’s bake sale. Life erupts when childlike Elizabeth disappears while in the care of Grace and Julia. All the ladies fear that the recent murder of a black woman at the factory on Willingham Avenue where their husbands work may portend what has become of Elizabeth.

The halls are decked, the deck is stacked, and here comes that jolly old elf. Junior Bender, divorced father of one and burglar extraordinaire, finds himself stuck inside the Edgerton Mall, and not just as a last-minute shopper (though he is that too). Edgerton isn't exactly the epicenter of holiday cheer, despite its two Santas, canned Christmas music, chintzy bows, and festive lights. The mall is a fossil of an industry in decline; many of its stores are closed, and to make matters worse, there is a rampant shoplifting problem.

Los Angeles burglar Junior Bender is in the middle of burgling a house and has just gotten his hands on one of the world's rarest stamps when the job goes terrifically wrong. After barely escaping, Junior realizes the danger is far from over. He's gotten himself on the wrong side of a man whose name is synonymous with violence, and to save his own skin he's set off a chain reaction of blackmail, strong-arming, and escalating crime.

Max and Angela are going down. When we last saw Max Fisher and Angela Petrakos, Max was being arrested by the NYPD for drug trafficking, and Angela was fleeing the country in the wake of a brutal murder. Now both are headed for eye-opening encounters with the law - Max in the cell blocks of Attica, Angela in a quaint little prison on the Greek island of Lesbos.

Traumatized by a recent life-or-death investigation, Sharon McCone flees to her ranch in California's high desert country to contemplate her future. Deep depression shadows her days and nights, and a chance encounter with a troubled, highly secretive Native American woman begins to haunt her dreams. Even though she is determined not to investigate anything during her stay - and perhaps not ever again - McCone is drawn into the plight of the young woman and her dysfunctional family.

Cal Claxton is determined to reinvent himself as a small-town lawyer in the aftermath of his wife's suicide. Once a hard-charging Los Angeles prosecutor, he nowlives in solitude in an old farmhouse overlooking Oregon's wine country. When a scruffy, tattooed kid shows up asking for help in solving a cold case - that of his mother's murder - Cal wants to say no. Times are tough, and he's no private eye, anyway. But the kid, who calls himself Picasso, has ridden a bicycle in the rain all the way from Portland, and something about his determination touches Cal.

After six long years of political genocide carried out against the American people by the administration of President Benjamin Franklin Luder, the nation is stunned when Luder announces that he is issuing an executive order to suspend the next presidential election for "the good of the country," giving him an unconstitutional third term as president. Luder has slowly and systematically robbed the citizens of various liberties and freedoms through similar acts, and in the process he has nearly destroyed the once-greatest country on earth.

Detective First Grade Brian McKenna and his partner Cisco Sanchez are chasing a killer that all of New York City is rooting for, a vigilante of supreme technical skill, physical power, and intelligence who signs himself "Justice". Justice is executing drug dealers, helping the police close unsolved cases, and providing those in need with stolen drug money - creating a nightmare for the police commissioner, the mayor, and the two detectives

Max Fisher used to run a computer company; Angela Petrakos was his assistant and mistress. But that was last year. Now Max is reinventing himself as a hip-hop crack dealer, and Angela is back in Ireland hooking up with a would-be record setter - in the field of serial killing. Will their paths cross again?

While running surveillance in an industrial section of Scottsdale, P.I. Lena Jones discovers the body of a woman connected to Second Zion, an infamous polygamy cult based in northern Arizona. Lena joins forces with Rosella, a former polygamist "sister wife," to find the victim's killer and soon discovers a shocking secret: in a society where one man can have ten wives, nine men will have none. Second Zion makes certain these possible rivals don't stick around.

The South Carolina backcountry is no place for a young girl to grow up in the 1760s, but 16 year-old Emily Stewart wouldn't have it any other way. She loves the settlement of 96 where her father Breck Stewart runs a tavern with his family, including Emily's embittered older brother, Donnan. But there's much to fear, too. Gangs of murderers, thieves, and robbers terrorize the country with impunity. Pleas to the government in Charlestown fall on deaf ears.

High season is coming to an end, and fishing guide Jake Trent suddenly has some time on his hands. As the ex-lawyer ponders rekindling his romance with park ranger Noelle Klimpton, a surprise call from a long-lost love lights up his phone.

It's been years since law school graduation, when Jake last saw Divya Navaysam. Now a DC lobbyist, Divya wants Jake to come to Washington for a consulting job - immediately.

Leaving behind a successful career as a stunt double in Hong Kong to escape entanglements with the Chinese Mafia, Louie Mo now makes his living in Los Angeles as a hired knee-breaker, putting fear into the hearts of people reneging on payments to investors.

Brooding expat and journalist Paul Leibovitz is beginning to imagine a new life for himself in Hong Kong, one in which the grief over a recent family tragedy doesn't consume him and his love for Christine Wu brings him great joy. When Christine gets an unexpected and emotionally-charged letter from her estranged brother, Paul journeys with her to a remote village outside Shanghai, where a mysterious illness is affecting the locals.

A newly minted member of Henley & Hargrove, Pasadena's oldest and snobbiest law firm, Jack MacTaggart is assigned to handle an insurance claim on behalf of socialite Sydney Everett. Hush Puppy, Sydney's champion show horse, has died unexpectedly, and attending veterinarian George Wells confides to Jack that the great horse's death was anything but natural. Jack's investigation leads him into the high-stakes world of professional show jumping and down a path to romance, intrigue, and an old blackmail scheme that further implicates his client.

The Diviner’s Tale is at once a journey of self-discovery and an unorthodox murder mystery, a tale of the fantastic and a family chronicle told by an otherwise ordinary woman.

Six days into their search for a man who put a .32-caliber bullet into a South African antique dealer, neither Kramer of the Murder Squad nor his Bantu assistant, Zondi, has a single lead in the case. On the seventh day, Mrs. Digby-Smith opens the trunk of her car and discovers the hideous, tied-up corpse of her younger brother. Two violent crimes - seemingly unconnected. But as Kramer and Zondi pursue their investigation, startling connections turn up in the sordid underworld of Terkkersburg and in the secret, unresolved enmities of World War II.

Years ago, South Florida cop Jack Carpenter beat up a murder suspect named Simon Skell, a dangerous predator with a penchant for playing the Rolling Stones' "Midnight Rambler" as he tortured young women. When Jack lost his temper, he lost his job and marriage, too; so as Skell's early release from prison draws near, the tarnished hero, now a specialist in missing-child cases, sees an opportunity to make things right.

Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each story is set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book. In the wake of Chicago Noir, Twin Cities Noir, and Kansas City Noir - all popular volumes in the Akashic Noir Series - comes the latest Midwest installment, St. Louis Noir. Masterfully curated by Scott Phillips, author of The Ice Harvest (adapted for film, starring John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton), this volume will chill the listener with heartland menace.

Nicolette Scott is an archaeologist whose knowledge of early airplanes has won her kudos as an expert, a reputation for ignoring authority, and a job at the Smithsonian. Shortly after she begins working there, she is thrilled to be included in the museum's latest project. E-Group, a large pharmaceutical company, is equipping an expedition to a remote region of Alaska, where a Japanese "Val" bomber plane was shot down during World War II.