A woman is shot as she waits for her train to work. An hour later, a second woman is gunned down as she rides an elevated train through the Loop. Two hours after that, a church becomes the target of a chemical weapons attack. The city of Chicago is under siege, and Michael Kelly, cynical cop turned private investigator, just happens to be on the scene when all hell breaks loose.

Kelly is initially drawn into the case by the killers themselves, then tasked by Chicago’s mayor and the FBI to hunt down the bad guys and, all things being equal, put a bullet in them. Kelly, of course, has other ideas. As he gets closer to the truth, his instincts lead him to a retired cop, a shady train company, and an unnerving link to his own past. Meanwhile, Kelly’s girlfriend, Rachel Swenson, becomes a pawn in a much larger game, while a weapon that could kill millions ticks away quietly in the very belly of the city.

The Third Rail is stylish, sophisticated, edge-of-your-seat suspense from a new modern master.

 

To read an excerpt, click HERE. 

Michael Harvey is the author of The Chicago Way and The Fifth Floor, and is also a journalist and documentary producer. His work has won numerous national and international awards, including multiple Emmy Awards, two Primetime Emmy nominations, and an Academy Award nomination. He holds a law degree from Duke University, a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University, and a bachelor’s degree in classical languages from Holy Cross College. He also owns a bar in Chicago.

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It seems like just another quiet night at Elaine's. Stone Barrington and his former cop partner Dino are enjoying their drinks when in walks former client and all-around sad sack Herbie Fisher… with a briefcase full of cash and in need of a lawyer.

But while he’s trying to fend off Herbie, Stone is propositioned by another potential client, this one a bit more welcome. A beautiful MI6 agent, Felicity Devonshire has a missing persons case she needs solved—and she knows from experience how very useful Stone can be.

Stone’s investigation takes him into the posh world of embassy soirees and titled privilege, where high society meets government intrigue. And when trouble follows him from his luxurious Manhattan brownstone to his tranquil summer home in Maine, Stone has to decide what to do with the explosive information he’s uncovered.

 

To listen to an audio excerpt, click HERE. 

Stuart Woods (born January 9, 1938 in Manchester, Georgia) is an American novelist. Woods has published forty-one novels in a twenty-eight year career, and has now had twenty-six consecutive New York Times best sellers. In the past he has written two novels a year and has increased that to three novels a year, at the request of his publishers. He publishes each year in January, April and September. Woods is a licensed, instrument-rated private pilot, Woods' most prolific series of novels focus on Stone Barrington, a former NYPD detective turned lawyer who is of counsel to a prestigious law firm and handles cases with which the firm does not wish to be publicly associated. The novels are noted both for a strong cast of recurring characters such as Barrington's ex-partner Dino Bacchetti, frequent use of the New York restaurant Elaine's as a setting and Stone's frequent exploits with women, travel and fine dining. Stone, like Woods, is also an experienced pilot and frequent references are made to his aircraft.

Would you like to read this novel? You can buy it on Amazon by clicking HERE. 

—Prologue

A rising star who has garnered some of Europe’s most important literary prizes, Juli Zeh has established herself as the new master of the philosophical thriller. With In Free Fall, she now takes us on a fast-paced ride through deadly rivalry and love’s infinite configurations.

Against the backdrop of Germany and Switzerland, two physicists begin a dangerous dance of distrust. Friends since their university days, when they were aspiring Nobel Prize candidates, they now interact in an atmosphere of tension, stoked by Oskar’s belief that Sebastian fell into mediocrity by having a family. When Sebastian’s son, Liam, is apparently kidnapped, their fragile friendship is further tested. Entrusted with uncovering the truth, Detective Superintendent Schilf discerns a web of blackmail, while at the same time the reality of his personal life falls into doubt. Unfolding in a series of razor-sharp scenes, In Free Fall is a riveting novel of ideas from a major new literary voice. With the recent success of works in translation, such as Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire, Zeh is poised to take off.

To read an excerpt, click HERE.

Juli Zeh (born on June 30, 1974 in Bonn) is a German novelist. Her first book was Adler und Engel (in English: Eagles and Angels), which won the 2002 Deutscher Bücherpreis for best debut novel. She traveled through Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2001, which became the basis for the book Die Stille ist ein Geräusch. Her other books are Das Land der Menschen, Schilf, Alles auf dem Rasen, Kleines Konversationslexikon für Haushunde, Spieltrieb and Ein Hund läuft durch die Republik. Juli Zeh has lived in Leipzig since 1995. Zeh studied human rights law in Passau and Leipzig, passing the Zweites Juristisches Staatsexamen - comparable equivalent to the U.S. bar exam - in 2003. She also has a degree from the Deutsches Literaturinstitut Leipzig.

Would you like to read this book? You can buy it on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Private Investigator Regan Reilly and her husband, Jack "no relation" Reilly, head of the NYPD Major Case Squad, are about to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. They are looking forward to a quiet romantic weekend out of town. Wouldn’t you know their choice of destination provides them with anything but! 

Regan and Jack had considered going to Bermuda, but instead they decide to spend four days at his parents’ beautiful beachfront home on Cape Cod, a wonderful spot where they’d never been alone. During the summer the house overflowed with Jack’s family, bubbling with activity from morning until night. But to be up there for a weekend in April, just the two of them, sounded like a perfect escape. 

Arriving at the Cape late at night, Regan and Jack are just in time to experience the beginning of a major storm. The next morning, Cape Cod Bay is quite a sight, churning with whitecaps. The wind is howling ferociously. Sheets of rain are pelting the house. Regan is looking forward to settling in the den with Jack and watching the storm. 

In the bedroom, Regan opens the curtains to find Skip, the Reillys’ young caretaker, pressing his nose against the glass, supposedly checking for leaks. A moment later, Jack arrives home from the market, two gossipy older women who live up the street in tow. A branch crashed through their living room window, and they need a place to stay. When Regan thought things couldn’t get any worse, Skip comes running into the house, distraught that he’d just discovered Adele Hopkins, the woman renting the house next door, in a heap at the bottom of her staircase to the beach. Regan and Jack run back down with him, but huge waves are crashing on the shore. Hopkins is gone, presumably swept out to sea. 

Who was Adele Hopkins? No one knows. The sixty-ish loner, who moved in five months ago, shunned her neighbors. Even her landlords, friends of the Reillys, have no idea how to locate her next of kin. Discovered in her dining room are stacks of apology cards she’d not yet sent and bags of decorative pillows that are embroidered with the saying grudge me, grudge me not. 

Regan and Jack begin an investigation to help their friends track down Hopkins’s family. They start by interviewing two young women who own the shop where Adele had bought the pillows. Pippy and Ellen opened Pillow Talk after they both lost their jobs. When a newspaper article revealing the terrible way the women had been treated by their former employers was posted on the Internet, business took off, they started to become well-known, and the Pillow Talk website became a place for people who had had similar experiences to vent their feelings. 

Pippy and Ellen just received an anonymous e-mail from someone who spews venom about her former rowing coach—Adele Hopkins. Could she be the same Adele Hopkins? 

Regan and Jack’s search for clues to this mysterious woman’s identity makes for an anniversary weekend they’ll never forget! 

To read an excerpt from Chapter One, click HERE.

Carol Higgins Clark (born 1956) is an American mystery author. She is also the daughter of fellow suspense writer Mary Higgins Clark, and has co-authored several novels with her mother. Born in New York City, Clark received her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College in 1978 and then studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. She is the author of the Regan Reilly mystery series. She has also acted in several films. Clark's New York apartment building, The Belaire, was hit by a small plane on October 11, 2006 flown by New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle. Her 38th floor condominium was just a floor below the main impact zone. She was not injured in the accident. Clark has appeared on the game show To Tell The Truth.

Jessica Fletcher knows that creativity must be nurtured. So when a young lady from Cabot Cove shows promise as a singer and songwriter, Jessica and a local citizens committee send Cyndi on a scholarship trip to Nashville, Tennessee, where she can benefit from professional instruction.

Only weeks later, Cabot Cove is shocked to hear of the cold-blooded murder of a brash country music publisher-by the young talent Cyndi! And as Cyndi's mother begs Jessica to help her daughter, Jess heads to the country music capital of the world to help the wayward starlet.

Jessica finds that the murdered man was no country gentleman, with a list of ex-wives, cheated partners, swindled singers, and stolen songs that has Jessica swinging to-and-fro in the search for a killer. And if she can't uncover the culprit soon, Jessica knows that poor Cyndi will never get the chance for an encore...

To listen to an excerpt, click HERE.

Donald Bain (born 1935) is a United States author and ghostwriter, having written over 80 books in his 40-year career. A graduate of Purdue University, he is the recipient of many writing awards. Bain is a professional jazz musician as well as a writer. He is married to Renée Paley-Bain, who is also a writer.

Jessica Fletcher (born Jessica Beatrice McGill, and writes under the initialed J.B. Fletcher) is a fictional character portrayed on the American television series Murder, She Wrote by veteran Tony-winning actress Angela Lansbury. She portrayed her for 12 years on the show, and from 1997-2003 in four TV movies, giving her a 19-year run. This program was one of the most successful of the 1980s and 1990s on the CBS television network.

The latest in the "quirky, enchanting, mystical, and addictive" (Annette Blair) series by national bestselling author Madelyn Alt.

Stony Mill, Indiana's newest witch, Maggie O'Neill, has been attached at the hip to the smoking-hot Marcus Quinn. Things couldn't get any better- until her sister Mel gives birth to not one, but two babies...

Maggie's visiting Mel in the hospital when a whispered conversation in a cafeteria sends chills down her spine. She can't make out what they're saying, but Maggie knows malice when she hears it. The next night, death visits the hospital...twice. Nobody bats an eye, but Maggie knows something sinister is haunting the hospital. Now she'll need help if she's going to tie two murders to one killer. 

Madelyn Alt is the author of the Bewitching mystery series. Chronicling life for an offbeat group of ghosthunters in anything-but-normal Stony Mill, Indiana. These exciting stories are giving readers spills, chills, and thrills—of both the supernatural and all-too-natural kind. A born aficionado of all things paranormal, Madelyn currently spends her days toiling away in the mundane world of business and her nights writing tales of the mysterious. Madelyn writes from her home, an 1870s-era Victorian in Northeast Indiana, and is undoubtedly hard at work on the next Bewitching mystery.

 

China Bayles is fit to spit when her husband's troubled ex-wife, Sally, shows up at her herb shop, claiming to be broke with nowhere else to turn. China isn't sure if it's the goodness of her heart or the scent of Christmas wreaths, but she invites Sally to stay. 

Then China starts receiving menacing calls from an "ex" of Sally's, who seems to have a connection to the murder of her parents nearly a decade ago. With her P.I. husband out of town, it's up to China to weed out the truth behind whatever it is Sally's running from before danger catches up to all of them.... 

Susan Wittig Albert (born 1940) is a mystery writer from Vermilion County, Illinois, United States. She is the author of the China Bayles herbal mysteries, a popular and acclaimed series centering around the title character's deductive reasoning and knowledge as an herbalist and ex-lawyer, who solves murders with her best friend, Ruby Wilcox, owner of a New Age shop. She writes a column for Country Living Gardener magazine. Her writing career has included the Nancy Drew mysteries under the penname Carolyn Keene in the 1980s. She is a popular guest speaker at both herbal clubs and women's groups around the country. Albert has described her books as "cozy mysteries," because they do not describe much violence or gratuitous behavior. She and her husband, Bill, have also co-written the The Robin Paige Victorian Mysteries, a series of a dozen mysteries set in the Late Victorian era. Albert is also the author of The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter, a series of mysteries featuring author Beatrix Potter. She currently resides in Bertram, Texas, near Austin, with her husband, Bill Albert.

The big day is swiftly approaching for Nikki Sands--Manager of the Malveaux Estates in Napa Valley—and her fiance Derek Malveaux, who owns the winery. But when they start receiving cryptic messages questioning their belief in fate, things quickly turn fatal…

As the wedding grows closer, it seems the entire affair is cursed. A chewing gum fiasco forces Nikki to cut her hair and go platinum blonde. Then Derek's old college buddies, along with an assortment of old flames and frustrating family relations, show up to work Nikki's last nerve. But when Nikki's close pal Simon is shot as he walks her down the aisle, Nikki realizes that she has to find a matrimonial murderer before her wedding becomes someone's funeral. 

To read an excerpt, click HERE.

Michele Scott is the author of the popular Wine Lover’s Mystery Series and The Michaela Bancroft Mysteries (a.ka. The Horse Lover’s Mysteries). She graduated from The University of Southern California with a degree in communications, where she studied journalism and hoped to be a reporter. Today Michele has nine books out with more on the way. Michele writes full time now and lives in San Diego with her very supportive husband, children and just a “few” animals. 

The inimitable Richard Jury returns in a thrilling tale of mystery, madness, and mistaken identity

Three months have passed since Richard Jury was left bereft and guilt- ridden after his lover's tragic auto accident, and he is now more wary than ever. He is deeply suspicious when requested on a case far out of his jurisdiction in an outlying village where a young woman has been murdered behind the local pub. The only witness is the establishment's black cat, who gives neither crook nor clue as to the girl's identity or her killer's.

Identifying the girl becomes tricky when she's recognized as both the shy local librarian and a posh city escort, and Jury must use all his wits and intuition to determine the connection to subse­quent escort murders. Meanwhile, Jury's nemesis, Harry Johnson, continues to goad Jury down a dangerous path. And Johnson, along with the imperturbable dog Mungo, just may be the key to it all.

Written with Martha Grimes's trademark insight and grace, The Black Cat signals the thrilling return of her greatest character. The superintendent is a man possessed of prodigious analytical gifts and charm, yet vulnerable in the most perplexing ways. 

To listen to an audio excerpt, click HERE.

Martha Grimes (born May 2, 1931) is an American author of detective fiction. She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to D.W., a city solicitor, and to June, who owned the Mountain Lake Hotel in Western Maryland where Martha and her brother spent much of their childhood. Grimes earned her B.A. and M.A. at the University of Maryland. She has taught at the University of Iowa, Frostburg State University, and Montgomery College. Grimes is best known for her series of novels featuring Richard Jury, an inspector with Scotland Yard, and his friend Melrose Plant, a British aristocrat who has given up his titles. Each of the Jury mysteries is named after a pub. Her page-turning, character-driven tales fall into the mystery subdivision of "cozies." In 1983, Grimes received the Nero Award for best mystery of the year for The Anodyne Necklace.

In this latest Orchard mystery, amateur sleuth Meg Corey takes a bite out of crime... 

Granford newcomer Meg Corey has more than enough to do, between restoring the colonial house she's inherited and trying to manage her orchard. Then a trio of young chefs fresh out of cooking school arrives in town to open a restaurant using local foods, and Meg volunteers to help them out.

But then one of the chefs is found dead in a farmer's pig wallow. When Meg begins looking into the death, her investigation digs up some old town secrets–and Meg soon realizes that they have a locally grown killer on their hands.

Sheila Connolly tried lots of careers before turning to writing mysteries, and then sold two series to Berkley Prime Crime–in the same year. Through a Glass, Deadly, the first in the Glassblowing Mystery series, appeared in March 2008 under the name Sarah Atwell, followed by Pane of Death in November 2008 and Snake in the Glass in October 2009. Through a Glass, Deadly was nominated for the Malice Domestic Agatha Award for Best First Novel. The Orchard Mystery series debuted with One Bad Apple by Sheila Connolly in August 2008; the sequel, Rotten to the Core, followed in July 2009.

Bart Minnock, founder of the computer-gaming giant U-Play, enters his private playroom, and eagerly can't wait to lose himself in an imaginary world, to play the role of a sword-wielding warrior king, in his company's latest top-secret project, Fantastical.

The next morning, he is found in the same locked room, in a pool of blood, his head separated from his body. It is the most puzzling case Eve Dallas has ever faced, and it is not a game. . . .

NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas is having as much trouble figuring out how Bart Minnock was murdered as who did the murdering. The victim's girlfriend seems sincerely grief-stricken, and his quirky-but-brilliant partners at U-Play appear equally shocked. No one seemed to have a probA-lem with the enthusiastic, high-spirited millionaire. Of course, success can attract jealousy, and gaming, like any business, has its fierce rivalries and dirty tricks-as Eve's husband, Roarke, one of U- Play's competitors, knows well. But Minnock was not naive, and quite capable of fighting back in the real world as well as the virtual one.

Eve and her team are about to enter the next level of police work, in a world where fantasy is the ultimate seduction-and the price of defeat is death. . . .

You can read an excerpt from Chapter One, HERE.

J.D. Robb is a pseudonym for Nora Roberts. Nora Roberts (b. Eleanor Marie Robertson, October 10, 1950 in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA), is a bestselling American author of more than 165 romance novels, and she writes as J.D. Robb for the "In Death" series. She also has written under the pseudonym Jill March, and by error some of her works were published in the UK as Sarah Hardesty. Nora Roberts was the first author to be inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. As of 2006, her novels had spent a combined 660 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List, including 100 weeks in the number-one spot. Over 280 million copies of her books are in print, including 12 million copies sold in 2005 alone. Her novels have been published in 35 countries.