No Magical Creatures

Martina Monroe has hit rock bottom. Demoted to chasing cheating spouses and petty cons, her once-promising career as a private investigator is circling the drain after a DUI ruined her reputation. When a mysterious new client requests her by name to track down the identity of an infant in a decades-old family photograph, Martina sees her shot at redemption. But there’s a catch — she has to return to the one place she swore she’d never set foot in again: her hometown.

Back in a city that holds more secrets than she ever left behind, Martina quickly realizes the photograph is just the tip of a very deadly iceberg. Bodies are piling up, each one closer to the truth she’s digging up. Partnered with Detective August Hirsch, a hard-nosed cop, Martina must navigate a labyrinth of lies, buried betrayals, and a brutal killer who will stop at nothing to keep the past buried.

As the stakes rise and her own dark history comes back to haunt her, Martina is faced with an impossible choice: solve the case and confront her demons… or become the next victim of a lethal game she never knew she was playing.

Grim(ace) while you work… Aisling Grimlock is having a bad week. Well, actually, she’s having a bad life — not that she’s complaining. Okay, she’s totally complaining. After being laid off from her secretarial position, she has no choice but to join the family business, and now she’s a full-time grim reaper. That’s right. She collects and transfers souls to the hereafter. Cool, huh? Not quite. On the second day of her new job, Aisling (literally!) stumbles over a dead body that’s not on her list and the stakes are suddenly raised because, when a name isn’t on the list, that means someone stole it (and that’s never a good thing). Aisling’s family, which consists of a tempestuous father and four overbearing older brothers, are hot on the case – but the answers they’re coming up with aren’t exactly soothing. It seems a contingent of wraiths have descended on the area, and they’re not just dangerous for unsuspecting souls and the general populace. The Grimlock family is at risk, too. If that weren’t bad enough, Aisling finds herself inexplicably drawn to Detective Griffin Taylor – the police officer who considers her a murder suspect. Oh, and she’s a wraith-magnet — although, truth be told, she’s more interested in Detective Taylor. Aisling is determined to prove that she has what it takes to be a great reaper – even if it means risking her life and proving her father and brothers wrong when it comes to her competence level. When things finally become clear, will Aisling survive long enough to make things right? Or, will she fall prey to the wraiths and the individual controlling them?

After dealing with terrorist attacks and an EMP attack on America’s infrastructure, Talon finally thought he was on his way home. But the tragic death of one of his team has the rest of the groups morale low and everyone is feeling sorry for themselves. The latest encounter with a terrorist cell has inadvertently bought Talon’s group to the attention of the Iranian Supreme Command. Which in turn has declared war on Talon’s group and ordered other Iranian assets to hunt down and destroy Talon’s group. To make matters worse, Talon is talked into an ill-advised rescue attempt in a trade that should have assisted him in getting back to Texas. The obstacles are adding up against Talon, but he is determined that nothing will stop him from getting home to his family.

Prince Kostya has his life planned out: obey his father the king, marry an appropriate woman, and ascend the throne. After decades of political turmoil in his tiny country, the least he can do is serve his people well. That means doing what’s expected of him.

Enter Hazel Sung, American hot mess — emphasis on hot. Hazel’s in Kostya’s tiny country for a good time, not a long time. She’s spent the past month backpacking Europe after dropping out of medical school, and she’s ending her tour by spending a month with her ambassador mom.

It’s unfortunate that, at their first formal meeting, she’s in sweats and hasn’t showered in two days. It’s bad that at her welcome banquet, she accidentally drinks too much and has to leave. And when he catches her up on the ramparts one night, it’s completely terrible how much she makes the serious, strait-laced prince laugh.

Kostya shouldn’t even be looking at the ambassador’s daughter, let alone sneaking out of the castle to show her the city. Kissing her goes against every rule he knows, but Hazel makes it so easy to forget. And scaling the castle wall to her bedroom? That could cause an international incident.

But when the crown is at stake, who will Kostya choose–his country, or the woman he loves?

A drunk, washed-up pilot. America in turmoil in the wake of unprecedented disasters. How long until both are pushed beyond the breaking point?

Lou Caldwell has lost his reason to live. After a tumultuous career in the Air Force, he drowns the guilt of his son’s suicide one bottle of whiskey at a time. But the depressed, grounded pilot considers taking one last assignment when a General from his past desperately needs his help.

Hoping time away from home will help both he and his wife find some peace, Lou sets out to quietly assess military readiness as Operation Venom Spear targets emboldened cartels. But as each day brings new heights of violence to a decaying society, Lou knows deep inside that both he and all Americans will have to face their demons to come out alive on the other side.

With the likelihood of war growing more each day, will he deal with his darkest demons in time to be ready?

Meet Kangaroo.
He’s a superpowered secret agent who’s about to face his toughest mission yet:
Vacation.

Kangaroo isn’t your typical spy. Sure, he has extensive agency training, access to bleeding-edge technology, and a ready supply of quips and retorts. But what sets him apart is the pocket: a portal that opens into an empty, seemingly infinite, parallel universe. Kangaroo is the only person in the world who can use the pocket, and he’s pretty sure his agency only keeps him around to exploit this superpower for their own purposes.

After he bungles yet another mission, Kangaroo gets sent away on a mandatory “vacation.” While trying to make the most of his exile aboard an interplanetary cruise to Mars, two passengers are found dead, and Kangaroo risks blowing his cover to investigate. However, it turns out he’s not the only spy on the ship — and he’s just starting to realize that there is a massive conspiracy to unravel.

Now, when a hijacker takes over the ship and threatens to crash it into Mars, Kangaroo has to stop the disaster which would shatter the delicate peace that’s existed between Earth and Mars ever since the brutal Martian Independence War. A new conflict could devastate the entire Solar System. Billions of lives are at stake and it’s up to Kangaroo, and Kangaroo alone, to save them.

Weren’t vacations supposed to be relaxing?

Christmas Eve 1721

When seventeen-year-old Richie Jackson finds an old man nearly dead in the snow, he drags him to the Half Moon pub near Skidby Mill.

Richie won’t make it back home to North Burton in this blizzard and Nana won’t get the supplies he’s carrying for Christmas Day neither. He’ll get a right earful.

There are some rich and unsavoury folk trapped in the sleepy pub because of the weather. Mr Bentley has promised his guests a Yuletide supper fit for the best country house in all the East Riding. Thank God Richie is there to help the landlady, Mrs Turner.

There’s more afoot than just the food, ale and the songs, and if Richie is going to get out alive, he’ll have to play his cards right, literally.