Search results for ""Camcat Publishing""

When a reformed fake medium accepts a dinner invitation from a charming Egyptologist, he doesn't expect to find himself grappling with an ancient ghost. As a dark figure from his past closes in, he must choose between saving his hide and following his heart.

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You can run fast. You can run far. But you can't outrun your family. Long distance runner Riley has been fighting various bewildering symptoms for months, from vertigo to fainting spells. Worse, her doctors can't tell her what's wrong, leaving her to wonder if it's stress or something more threatening. But when her brother's fiancée is killedand he becomes the prime suspectRiley must prove his innocence, despite the toll on her health. As she reacquaints herself with the familiar houses and wild woods of her childhood, the secrets she uncovers take her on a trail to the real killer that leads right back to the very people she knows best and loves most. For readers who enjoy Deer Season by Erin Flanagan, All Good People Hereby Ashley Flowers, and A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham.

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Not every fishmonger can be a secret agent.Journey to an unnamed mountainous country in central Europe at the end of the Great War. Enter Citizen Orlov, a simple fishmonger and an honest, upright citizen, who stumbles into the Ministry of Security, and consequently a hidden world of espionage and secrecy. His first assignment? To safeguard the King when he visits the scenic town of Kufzig.But Orlov soon discovers that his ministry handler, the alluring but-couldn't-possibly-be-a-femme-fatale Agent Zelle, is planning not to protect the King but to assassinate him. Caught in a web of plot and counterplot, confusing loyalties, and explosive betrayals, Orlov finds himself on trial for murder. He has an opportunity to clear his name—but with his friends, mother, and fellow citizens' lives in the balance, freedom comes at a high cost.

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No one cares that you cured cancer if you also cloned a horde of dinosaurs and let them rampage down the street.Supergenius and quasi-villain Rex normally can't go a week without accidentally endangering Decimen City with her science shenanigans. It's been two weeks since her genetically engineered dinosaurs rampaged through towna good streak for herbut the peace is broken when actual villain Last Dance sets his sights on Decimen. And he wants Rex's help. Before Rex can say I didn't do it, superheroes who've dragged her to jail on her worst days are crowding her lab to conscript her into quasi-herodom. Rex would rather stay out of it and deal with the dinosaurs that keep calling her Mom, but she can't ignore that she was somewhat responsible for Last Dance's villainy. She'd kept a very disorganized lab. And he was such a nosy brother. She failed to help him back then, but maybe if she stops him nowand keeps the heroes fooledshe can finally set things right.

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No one cares that you cured cancer if you also cloned a horde of dinosaurs and let them rampage down the street.Supergenius and quasi-villain Rex normally can't go a week without accidentally endangering Decimen City with her science shenanigans. It's been two weeks since her genetically engineered dinosaurs rampaged through town—a good streak for her—but the peace is broken when actual villain Last Dance sets his sights on Decimen. And he wants Rex's help. Before Rex can say "I didn't do it," superheroes who've dragged her to jail on her worst days are crowding her lab to conscript her into quasi-herodom.Rex would rather stay out of it and deal with the dinosaurs that keep calling her Mom, but she can't ignore that she was somewhat responsible for Last Dance's villainy. She'd kept a very disorganized lab. And he was such a nosy brother. She failed to help him back then, but maybe if she stops him now—and keeps the heroes fooled—she can finally set things right.

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What lies in the past should not be uncovered. When Abbie Adams, a historian-turned-journalist, is hired to investigate a cold-case murder from 1969, she jumps at the chance. But soon after she begins researching the case, she realizes that Frank Wexler, the faculty advisor who tanked her thesis and a member of a powerful family in town, is connected to the crime and is definitely not talking.As Abbie tracks down the remaining living witnesses, she slowly pieces together the events of that fateful night, and yet is not a single step closer to solving the case. Were the police back then told to stand down? To cover up the crime?When her witnesses suddenly wind up dead, it becomes clear that Abbie has stumbled upon a sensitive truth that threatens to tear the fabric of the southern town apart. The killer could still be out there, and now he could be hunting her.

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She made her decision. Now she has to live with it.Durkhanai Miangul sealed her lover's fate when she sent him through a door where either a lady or a lion awaited him. But her decision was only the beginning of her troubles. Durkhanai worries that she might not be the queen her people need or deserve when conflict threatens her kingdom. Her presumed-dead father comes back with a vengeance and wishes she join him in his cause. But her family's denial of his revenge forces Durkhanai to take matters into her own hands and she must decide whether to follow the traditions of her forefathers or forge a new path on her own.

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A Ghostly Window Into the PastNurse Nellie Lester can't escape death. Fleeing Chicago at the height of the 1918 Spanish flu, she takes a nursing job at a decrepit mansion on a desolate Michigan island, convinced the island holds the secret to her mother's murky past. The only problem? Her dead mother seems to have followed her there. Nightly she's haunted by a ghostly presence that appears in her bedroom. But is it her mother or something more sinister?When the frozen body of the prior nurse is unearthed, Nellie suspects the nurse's death and her family's history are connected to a mysterious group that disappeared from the island twenty-four years earlier.As winter closes in, and past and present converge, Nellie's grip on reality loosens. Someone on the island is hell-bent on keeping the mansion's secrets—someone who wants revenge.

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"A pitch-perfect combination of action, mystery, and humor." —Anthony Award-winning author Gigi Pandian for Jove Brand Is Near Death "Fans of both superheroes and pulp noir are sure to love Crawford's action-packed dialogue and descriptions." —Library Journal, for Heroes Ever Die The King is Dead, and the Game is Afoot. The hit TV show, The Lands Beyond, has become a cultural phenomenon, influencing fashion and baby name trends. Its creator, R. R. Reynard, masterminds the story each season, pitting the cast against each other in a toxic, kill or be killed, environment. But Reynard has even greater ambitions.He's formed a feudalistic society of superfans who are willing to do anything to rise in the ranks and be officially canonized as a character on The Lands Beyond. With the show set to enter its final season, the cast, crew, and superfans attend a convention at the historic Chateau D'Loire. While holding court, Reynard is murdered, and the notebook holding all the secrets, twists, and endings disappears.Enter Ken Allen, former D-list actor turned private eye.As the body count rises, Ken discovers the stakes are far greater than just a television show. And the fantasy neophyte is about to learn that all is fair in love and war in The Lands Beyond.For readers who love fun mysteries like the Spenser Series by Robert B. Parker, the Stephanie Plum Series by Janet Evanovich, and the M Murder Series by Anthony Horowitz.

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Defying all for the love of a bewitching lass. Breena MacRae, a healer from Skye with a touch of witchery in her blood, embarks on a dangerous search for her missing father. She arrives on the Isle of Coll, seat of the vile Campbells. There, she encounters the debonair future chief to the Dunbar Clan, Egan, who rescues her from a Campbell sentry. Egan Dunbar is on Coll to keep the peace between the feuding Campbells and Dunbars. But when he catches Breena in a lie, he agrees to help her find her father to pay back an old debt and get to the bottom of the secrets she's hiding. As their attraction for each ignites like a firestorm, Breena and Egan realize a future together could trigger deadly consequences—a clan war between the Campbells and the Dunbars. Is Egan willing to betray his clan for love, even though he knows Breena is keeping secrets from him? Can Breena trust him with her family secret and put those she loves at risk?

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In a family like that, you won't need enemies. In the waning days of the Catskills hotel era, Stanley and Rachel Roth, the owners of the Cuttman Hotel, were practically dynasty—third generation proprietors of a sprawling resort with a grand reputation. The glamorous and gregarious matriarch, Rachel. The cunning and successful businessman, Stan. Four beautiful children. A perfect family deserving of respect and loyalty. Or so it seemed. Fast forward forty years. The Roths have lost their clout. When skeletal remains are found on the side of the road, the disappearance of Trudy Solomon, a coffee shop waitress at the Cuttman in 1978, is reopened. Each member of the Roth family holds a clue to the case, but getting them to admit what they know will force Detective Susan Ford to face a family she'd hoped never to see again.

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2021 Foreword INDIES FinalistA Mystery Scene Magazine 2021 Editor's PickThe name is Allen. Ken Allen.These days Ken Allen is a nobody.But once upon a time, his name was Brand. Jove Brand.Eighteen years ago, Ken Allen played the famous fictional superspy in Near Death, a movie so bad it was never meant to be seen. Since then, Ken has faded into cult obscurity, but when his celebrated successor is killed in the same ghastly fashion as the villain in Near Death, Ken is cast as the prime suspect.The only way for Ken to clear his name is to go full method and once again play the part of Jove Brand, except this time it's for real. As murder surrounds him, the secrets behind Near Death Ken fought to keep buried for eighteen years begin to surface.

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She knows a liar when she sees one. He knows a fraud when he meets one.In a steam-powered world, Miss Constance Haltwhistle is the last in a line of blue-blooded rogues. Selling firearms under her alias, the "Brass Queen," she has kept her baronial estate's coffers full. But when US spy J. F. Trusdale saves her from assassins, she's pulled into a search for a scientist with an invisibility serum. As royal foes create an invisible army to start a global war, Constance and Trusdale must learn to trust each other. If they don't, the world as they know it will disappear before their eyes.If you like the Parasol Protectorate or the Invisible Library series, you'll love this gaslamp fantasy—a rambunctious romantic romp that will have you both laughing out loud and wishing you owned all of Miss Haltwhistle's armaments.

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It sucks being someone's unfinished business. The Starbreakers were heroes, until a tragedy broke them apart. Only now, years later, have they begun to make peace with each other. The rest of the world is a different story. There has been a breakout in the prison known as Oblivion, and now the worst of the worst have been turned loose on an unsuspecting world. Desperate to contain the crisis, the right hand of the king has called the disgraced Starbreakers back into service. After all, they were the ones who put most of these villains away in the first place. As the Starbreakers scatter to face friends and foes of the past, it's a fight for peace in the kingdom they call home, and a fight to protect the legacy they left behind. It's also exactly the opportunity their enemies have been waiting for.

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Hannah has never been that girl, the one everyone looks at, the one everyone talks about. She is that girl's best friend. But when Hannah meets Seth, the handsome and charming newcomer, she wonders if, for once, she might be chosen first. Until Braelyn and Seth meet, and Braelyn sweeps his attention away as only she can. Hannah is left to watch the first boy she's ever truly liked date not only someone else but her best friend.When Seth unexpectedly breaks up with Braelyn, she is hysterical. Braelyn is used to ruling the school with a Gucci-clad fist, but her first taste of heartbreak leaves her questioning herself. Hannah decides to help her get over her recent heartbreak using the '6 easy steps to get over a guy' while secretly walking herself through the process to move on fromSeth once and for all. Because she and Braelyn have rules. Because their rules are sacred and ensure their friendship lasts. Because even though he is no longer dating Braelyn, you never, ever date your best f

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Hannah has never been that girl, the one everyone looks at, the one everyone talks about. She is that girl's best friend. But when Hannah meets Seth, the handsome and charming newcomer, she wonders if, for once, she might be chosen first. Until Braelyn and Seth meet, and Braelyn sweeps his attention away as only she can. Hannah is left to watch the first boy she's ever truly liked date not only someone else but her best friend.When Seth unexpectedly breaks up with Braelyn, she is hysterical. Braelyn is used to ruling the school with a Gucci-clad fist, but her first taste of heartbreak leaves her questioning herself. Hannah decides to help her get over her recent heartbreak using the '6 easy steps to get over a guy' while secretly walking herself through the process to move on fromSeth once and for all. Because she and Braelyn have rules. Because their rules are sacred and ensure their friendship lasts. Because even though he is no longer dating Braelyn, you never, ever date your best f

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Beware of jewelry that calls to you.Andi Wyndham has been able to communicate with spirits since she was a kid. When a bone pendant carved into the likeness of a girl's face calls to her at a gem show in Pennsylvania, she can't resist buying it and a sister piece. When she discovers the girls are missing runaways and the pendants made of human bone, Andi is drawn into a mystery that will force her to confront her gifts, her guilt, and the ghosts haunting her.Pendant Girls Mariah and Bennie urge Andi to find a man they call "Fisherman," a master of disguise. Teaming up with a handsome P. I. and a South Carolina sheriff, Andi must find the girls' bodies and put their souls to rest, before the Fisherman casts his deadly net to trap Andi.

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Saving an alien planet is nothing compared to meeting your sales quota. Untrained tag-along, Marcus Aimond, aboard humanity's first intergalactic exploratory commerce vessel has a singular mission: sell off-brand misprinted merchandise. When the rookie and his crew encounter the Nerelkor, a frog-like civilization, he is thrust head-first into an alien civil war. The opposing factions, Rejault and Dinasc, are stuck in an ill-fated feud driven by deep-rooted ineptitude. To avoid the planet's total annihilation and establish a local sales office, Aimond and the crew must survive arena combat, reshape the very structure of the planet, establish world peace, and stay alivefor the sake of positive branding, of course.

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Beware of jewelry that calls to you.Andi Wyndham has been able to communicate with spirits since she was a kid. When a bone pendant carved into the likeness of a girl's face calls to her at a gem show in Pennsylvania, she can't resist buying it and a sister piece. When she discovers the girls are missing runaways and the pendants made of human bone, Andi is drawn into a mystery that will force her to confront her gifts, her guilt, and the ghosts haunting her.Pendant Girls Mariah and Bennie urge Andi to find a man they call "Fisherman," a master of disguise. Teaming up with a handsome P. I. and a South Carolina sheriff, Andi must find the girls' bodies and put their souls to rest, before the Fisherman casts his deadly net to trap Andi.

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The problem with the devil isn't that he's evil; the problem is that he's charming. When a violent, decades-long feud between two powerful men comes to a head in the small settlement of Bladestay, Colorado, cunning resident Theo Creed must use her wits to stay alive. Disguising herself as a young boy, seventeen-year-old Theo bluffs her way into the inner circle of August Gains, the magnetic leader of the violent gang that has descended on her town. But the deeper Theo gets into the con, the more she starts to question her loyalties.Complicating her subterfuge is a mysterious outlaw whose small moments of kindness contradict the blood he has on his hands, making Theo wonder who, exactly, is conning who. To save her town, Theo must parse facade from reality and choose between the barefaced malevolence she's infiltrated and an evil she didn't know lurked at home.For readers who enjoy No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy and Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee.

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"A pitch-perfect combination of action, mystery, and humor." —Anthony Award-winning author Gigi Pandian for Jove Brand Is Near Death "Fans of both superheroes and pulp noir are sure to love Crawford's action-packed dialogue and descriptions." —Library Journal, for Heroes Ever Die The King is Dead, and the Game is Afoot. The hit TV show, The Lands Beyond, has become a cultural phenomenon, influencing fashion and baby name trends. Its creator, R. R. Reynard, masterminds the story each season, pitting the cast against each other in a toxic, kill or be killed, environment. But Reynard has even greater ambitions.He's formed a feudalistic society of superfans who are willing to do anything to rise in the ranks and be officially canonized as a character on The Lands Beyond. With the show set to enter its final season, the cast, crew, and superfans attend a convention at the historic Chateau D'Loire. While holding court, Reynard is murdered, and the notebook holding all the secrets, twists, and endings disappears.Enter Ken Allen, former D-list actor turned private eye.As the body count rises, Ken discovers the stakes are far greater than just a television show. And the fantasy neophyte is about to learn that all is fair in love and war in The Lands Beyond.For readers who love fun mysteries like the Spenser Series by Robert B. Parker, the Stephanie Plum Series by Janet Evanovich, and the M Murder Series by Anthony Horowitz.

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No one is safe. Not when the Dollmaker lurks in the shadows.When Dawn Hildegard's best friend Rose is kidnapped by "The Dollmaker," a crazed serial killer who creates "art" from women's bodies, she drops everything to find her—including her dream of becoming a doctor. With the help of a handsome new acquaintance and his mysterious brother, they set off to find the killer. Although they quickly become friends, Dawn cannot shake the uneasy feeling that the brothers know more about the murders than they admit.As more and more victims are found murdered and displayed throughout town, Dawn must use her wits to find Rose before it's too late. And before she too becomes the Dollmaker's next victim.

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The sequel to Jason Offutt's award-winning novel, The Girl in the Corn, which critics have raved is an outstanding blend of horror, speculative fiction, and apocalyptic fantasy topped with madness (HorrorDNA) and a haunting, unsettling, gripping novel (Richard Thomas, a Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson nominee).Evil comes in pretty packages. Thomas Cavanaugh's life is now a blur, a blend of foggy memories and hidden horrors. When his fae girlfriend Jillian begins to act strangely, he wonders whether he should put an end to their relationship. Then Jillian does the unthinkable and vanishes with four-year-old Jacob Jenkins, a boy with terrifying supernatural powers. Suddenly, years later, Jacob reappears unaged, claiming to have been in another world. Sheriff Glenn is called in to investigate a series of violent murders, all with evidence pointing toward the boy from two worlds. Someone with dark magic is devouring souls but for what purpose? Thomas and his allies must prepare for a b

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No one cares that you cured cancer if you also cloned a horde of dinosaurs and let them rampage down the street.Supergenius and quasi-villain Rex normally can't go a week without accidentally endangering Decimen City with her science shenanigans. It's been two weeks since her genetically engineered dinosaurs rampaged through town—a good streak for her—but the peace is broken when actual villain Last Dance sets his sights on Decimen. And he wants Rex's help. Before Rex can say "I didn't do it," superheroes who've dragged her to jail on her worst days are crowding her lab to conscript her into quasi-herodom.Rex would rather stay out of it and deal with the dinosaurs that keep calling her Mom, but she can't ignore that she was somewhat responsible for Last Dance's villainy. She'd kept a very disorganized lab. And he was such a nosy brother. She failed to help him back then, but maybe if she stops him now—and keeps the heroes fooled—she can finally set things right.

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Sometimes being immortal makes you wish you were dead. Celeste Crenshaw has survived her parents' grisly murders, grueling and gender-biased police training, a battle with rogue vampires, and even her own death. While immortality might seem a dream come true, can she accept the strings attached?Celeste spends the start of her immortal life being mentored by the Elders of the Hollow Earth. They release her once they feel certain Celeste has honed her supernatural powers. But little do they know, Celeste isn't wholly committed to granting eternal life to those deserving. Upon a return home to her immortal lover, and the Kansas City Detective Squad, she battles mortal foes, not so unlike the demonic undead. And when a fellow detective falls victim to a murderous gang member, Celeste faces a gut-wrenching decision and the possible wrath of the Elders.

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Does doing one bad thing make you a bad person? Sixteen-year-old Emily Keller, known by the media as Keller the Killer, is accused of causing the deaths of four family members, including young children. Emily is one of the youngest females to be accused of a crime so heinous, making this the nation's biggest trial of the year. But what really happened that fateful night—and who's responsible—is anything but straightforward.Living in a trailer park in Baltimore with her twin brother and alcoholic mother, Emily's life hasn't been easy. She's had to grow up fast, and like any teen, has made questionable decisions in a desperate attempt to fit in with her peers. Will her mistakes amount to a guilty verdict and a life in prison? It's up to the jury to decide.For readers who enjoy Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll, 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher, and One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus.

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Sabotage, murder, cover-ups. Just another day on the Moon.After 35 years of living on the Moon, cranky old oxygen farmer Millennium Harrison has stumbled onto a hidden facility in the shadows of the Slayton Ridge Exclusion Zone with a radiation leak and a deadly secret. Mil's discovery leads to the death of a young astronaut, sabotage, murder, and cover-ups that may go all the way to the Chief Administrator of the space agency. Unfortunately, she happens to be Mil's estranged daughter, busy trying to secure her own legacy—the first international mission to Mars.With time ticking down to a limited launch window, enemies, friends, and even family may do anything to ensure the truth doesn't come out. Or will history finally catch up with a deadly scheme that has the potential to destroy the moon and eradicate all life on Earth? It seems the planet's only hope is a cantankerous guy who never really liked those people in the first place.For readers who enjoy 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke, Artemis by Andy Weir, MoonFall by Jack McDevitt.

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The gift of magic may be a curse. After her desert-transforming wish, Emel follows Saalim to Madinat Almulihi to reclaim all she has lost. But the seaside city is not what she expected. When she is tasked with assisting the palace healer, she is faced daily with the reminder that Saalim—focused only on seeking the revenge of those who killed his family—does not remember her at all.Cursing the magic that destroyed her love and brought her to an unwelcoming city, Emel regrets her decision to leave her settlement. That is, until she meets Kas. Though inscrutable, he is the first person to help her forget her past, and the pull of finding happiness with him tempts her from the life she wished for with Saalim.But darkness waits in the desert, and not all people in Madinat Almulihi are what they seem. When Emel understands she is entangled in the fate of the city—and of Saalim—she is faced with the realization that magic may be the most powerful card in her hand. It might be the only way to save all that she loves, but if she plays her hand wrong, it could destroy everything.

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“The gradual but compelling unraveling of this family mystery captivated me.” —Naomi Hirahara, Edgar Award-winning author of Hiroshima Boy and Clark and Division“This book is a true delight to the senses!” —Keri Wilt, speaker, historian, and great-great-granddaughter of Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of The Secret GardenA Modern Gothic Retelling of The Secret Garden. Still grieving her mother’s death, American photographer Mari Lennox is sent to document Yanagi Inn, an old, dilapidated ryokan outside Kyoto, Japan. By day, Mari explores the inn and its grounds, taking striking photographs and uncovering layers of mystery shrouding the old resort—including an overgrown, secret garden on a forbidden island. At night, eerie weeping (which no one else seems to hear) keeps her awake. Despite the warnings of the staff, Mari searches for the source of the ghostly sound—and discovers a devastating secret tying her family’s history to the inn, and its mysterious, forlorn garden.For readers who enjoy The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and The Haunting of Brynn Wilder: A Novel by Wendy Webb.

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“I soon found myself consuming page after page of compelling narrative of likeable characters and horrific circumstance.” —Ginger Nuts of Horror“When the Night Bells Ring is delightfully creepy . . .” —Booklist, Starred ReviewDon't awaken what sleeps in the dark. In a future ravaged by fire and drought, two climate refugees ride their motorcycles across the wasteland of the western US, and stumble upon an old silver mine. Descending into the cool darkness of the caved-in tunnels in desperate search of water, the two women find Lavinia Cain’s diary, a settler in search of prosperity who brought her family to Nevada in the late 1860s. But Lavinia and the settlers of the Western town discovered something monstrous that dwells in the depths of the mine, something that does not want greedy prospectors disturbing the earth. Whispers of curses and phantom figures haunt the diary, and now, over 150 years later, trapped and injured in the abandoned mine, the women discover they’re not alone . . . with no easy way out. The monsters are still here—and they’re thirsty.

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Everyone has secrets. Some of them may kill you.When a Delaware real estate mogul is murdered, newspaper journalist Brian Wilder wants the scoop on the killing, including the meaning behind the mysterious loaf of bread left with the corpse. Reverend Candice Miller, called to minister to the grieving family, quickly realizes that the killer has adopted the symbolism of sin eating, a Victorian-era religious ritual, as a calling card. Is it the work of a religious fanatic set to punish people for their missteps, or something even more sinister?As more victims fall, Brian and Candice follow a trail of deceit and blackmail, hoping to discover the identity of the killer—and praying that their own sins won't catch the killer's attention.

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Death Makes Great TV.Frankie Percival is cashing in her chips. To save her brother from financial ruin, Frankie—a single stage performer and mentalist who never made it big—agrees to be assassinated on the most popular television show on the planet: Death Warrant. Once she signs her life away, her memory is wiped clean of the agreement, leaving her with no idea she will soon be killed spectacularly for global entertainment.After years of working in low-rent theaters, Frankie prepares for the biggest performance of her life as her Death Warrant assassin closes in on her. Every person she encounters could be her killer. Every day could be her last.She could be a star, if only she lives that long.

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Beware of what lurks in the corn. Fairies don't exist. At least that's what Thomas Cavanaugh's parents say. But the events of that one night, when he follows a fairy into the cornfield on his parents' farm, prove them wrong. What seems like a destructive explosion was, Thomas knows, an encounter with Dauðr, a force that threatens to destroy the fairy's world and his sanity.Years later, after a troubled childhood and a series of dead-end jobs, he is still haunted by what he saw that night. One day he crosses paths with a beautiful young woman and a troubled young man, soon realizing that he first met them as a kid while under psychiatric care after his encounters in the cornfield. Has fate brought them together? Are they meant to join forces to save the fairy's world and their own? Or is one of them not who they claim to be?

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Beware of what lurks in the corn. Fairies don't exist. At least that's what Thomas Cavanaugh's parents say. But the events of that one night, when he follows a fairy into the cornfield on his parents' farm, prove them wrong. What seems like a destructive explosion was, Thomas knows, an encounter with Dauðr, a force that threatens to destroy the fairy's world and his sanity.Years later, after a troubled childhood and a series of dead-end jobs, he is still haunted by what he saw that night. One day he crosses paths with a beautiful young woman and a troubled young man, soon realizing that he first met them as a kid while under psychiatric care after his encounters in the cornfield. Has fate brought them together? Are they meant to join forces to save the fairy's world and their own? Or is one of them not who they claim to be?

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2021 Foreword INDIES FinalistA Mystery Scene Magazine 2021 Editor's PickThe name is Allen. Ken Allen.These days Ken Allen is a nobody.But once upon a time, his name was Brand. Jove Brand.Eighteen years ago, Ken Allen played the famous fictional superspy in Near Death, a movie so bad it was never meant to be seen. Since then, Ken has faded into cult obscurity, but when his celebrated successor is killed in the same ghastly fashion as the villain in Near Death, Ken is cast as the prime suspect.The only way for Ken to clear his name is to go full method and once again play the part of Jove Brand, except this time it's for real. As murder surrounds him, the secrets behind Near Death Ken fought to keep buried for eighteen years begin to surface.

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Christmas thought her ADHD was a liability. Turns out, it is a superpower. Seventeen-year-old Christmas Miller is looking forward to a summer of sunbathing and waterskiing at her home in Sweet Lake with Lexi, the one friend who gets her completely, ADHD and all. But the day of Lexi's arrival, the girls have an almost-argument and worse, that night, they discover another friend, Lemy, floating face down in the lake. Though reeling from her rift with Lexi, Christmas is determined to find out who attacked Lemy, even if it means she must confront her own mother's possible involvement in the crime.Christmas would do anything to protect her beloved Sweet Lake community, but when the lake becomes polluted and people around her start getting hurt, Christmas must face the profound problems in Sweet Lake—and in her own family.

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She knows a liar when she sees one. He knows a fraud when he meets one.In a steam-powered world, Miss Constance Haltwhistle is the last in a line of blue-blooded rogues. Selling firearms under her alias, the "Brass Queen," she has kept her baronial estate's coffers full. But when US spy J. F. Trusdale saves her from assassins, she's pulled into a search for a scientist with an invisibility serum. As royal foes create an invisible army to start a global war, Constance and Trusdale must learn to trust each other. If they don't, the world as they know it will disappear before their eyes.If you like the Parasol Protectorate or the Invisible Library series, you'll love this gaslamp fantasy—a rambunctious romantic romp that will have you both laughing out loud and wishing you owned all of Miss Haltwhistle's armaments.

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Caf? au lait, career epiphanies, and love triangles. Just a typical day at your summer job. When recent business school grad and meticulous ten-year planner, Kat McLauren, takes an unplanned au pair position in the French Riviera to schmooze a future employer, she haphazardly upholds her reputation while rejuvenating a local tourism magazine, grappling with three unruly kids, and avoiding a romance with the host family's eldest son. But if a summer full of well-aged wine, sizzling flirtation, and a bit of betrayal can promise one thing, it's that sometimes the best things in life are the ones we don't plan for. For readers who enjoy The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas, Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy, Eloise and the Grump Next Door by Emma St. Clair and Jenny Proctor, and It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey.

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Six suns, six blasts in the sky; a seventh one, and the earth will die. In the isolation of the Himalayas, the snows still fall, but they are tinged with the ash of a nuclear winter; the winds still blow, but they wail with the cries of ghosts. The seventh and final blast is near. As the world heaves its final breaths, the people of the Tibetan plateau—civilization's final survivors—are haunted by spirits and terrorized by warlords. Though the last of the seven prophesied cataclysms is at hand, young Karma searches for a father who disappeared ten years earlier, presumed dead.Driven by a yearning to see his father again before the end, and called by an eerie horn unheard by anyone else, Karma forges into the Himalayas and discovers that his father's disappearance may be linked to a mystical mountain said to connect the physical world with the spirit lands—and a possible way to save their doomed future.For readers who enjoy Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, The Book of M by Peng Shepherd, The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin, The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro, and The Children of Men by P. D. James.

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What happens when good people make one bad decision?Imagine you are on the way to a remote mountain cabin with your friends. Upon arrival, you discover an abandoned armored van with fifteen million dollars on board. Would you take the money?Nova and her friends answer with a resounding yes. Perhaps their answer would have been different had they known that a professional killer was already tracking down the money. Or that a legendary creature known as the Wraith roams the mountain, ravenous with hunger.Thinking they're safe and anonymous, Nova and her friends divvy up the stolen cash, unaware who or what is after them, unaware that soon they will be fighting for their lives.For readers who enjoy The Ritual by Adam Nevill and The Terror by Dan Simmons.

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If photos could speak.Still grieving his toddler's death, Detective Dan Brennan of the Philadelphia P.D. returns to the force and is assigned to investigate a socialite's fatal fall down her mansion's staircase. But the open-and-shut case is turned on its head when the victim's daughter alleges her mother was murdered. Her evidence? The dead. The vintage photographs of past murder victims displayed on the mansion's walls have told her so.Compelled to listen to the reclusive teen's pleas, Brennan begins to investigate her mother's death and the disturbing secrets hidden in that house. Each vintage photograph is tied to a quartet of cold cases with a disturbing commonality. As the wealthy family's long, sordid history threatens to bury Brennan, he realizes he has to make a choice: save his career, or risk it all for the chance to hear his daughter's voice again.

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You can’t outrun your past. After surviving a car crash, a young woman wakes from a coma with amnesia, a battered face, and no identity. Horrific flashbacks and nightmares convince her psychiatrist that a repressed tragedy is the source of her memory loss. Her efforts to track down clues to her identity reveal a suspicious stalker following her every inquiry, hot on her trail for some dark reason. Her best defense against a forgotten killer is terrifyingly locked inside her head. With more violence hitting the newspaper headlines, Kay races to stop the bloodshed, but everyone has deadly secrets to hide—even her—forcing her to choose between living a horrific lie or defending the truth with her life.

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What happens in Oasis, stays in Oasis.Lisette's father killed the King. His execution leaves Lisette alone, disgraced, and without the magic he intended to pass on to her. In Oasis, that's a problem. Glutted with enchanted performers, Oasis is a sin city where courtiers pay in gold to drink, gamble, and above all, be entertained. To survive on its competitive streets, Lisette peddles paltry illusions in place of magic.Desperate to prove herself, Lisette enters into a deadly competition to be chosen as the highest-ranked magician in the world, the Queen's Jester. But her rival, the irritatingly handsome Luc, possesses the one thing Lisette does not—real magic. Lisette will do anything to win, but when evidence implicating the Queen in her husband's murder surfaces, Lisette must choose between redeeming her family name, or seizing the fame she's hungered for her entire life.

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In a Queendom divided, can one girl unite the realms?Jacs, an inventor's apprentice from the Lower Realm, has only ever dreamed of what the land among the clouds holds. That is until she finds a letter from Connor, an Upperite boy hoping to learn more about the land below. Little does Jacs know, Connor is actually Prince Cornelius of the Queendom of Frea. With wooden boats and hot air balloons, the two begin a secret correspondence. But their friendship is divided by a heavily-guarded bridge and an inescapable prejudice.The strength of their bond was thought to transcend distance and time, but when the royal family visits the Lower Realm, the Queendom's feud is reignited.To save her people, Jacs must infiltrate the Upper Realm and earn her place to compete in the Contest of Queens. In a story about friendship, love, bravery, and defying gravity, Jacs will strive to prove that a Queendom is strongest when united.

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