At the close of the year 1918, forced to flee England, Sherlock Holmes and his nineteen-year-old apprentice Mary Russell enter British-occupied Palestine under the auspices of Holmes’s enigmatic brother, Mycroft. Their arrival coincides with a rash of unsolved murders that has baffled the authorities and seems unrelated to the growing tensions in the area among Jew, Moslem, and Christian. Still, no one is too pleased at Holmes’s insistence on reconstructing the most recent homicide in the desert gully where it occurred. What they unexpectedly uncover will lead Russell and Holmes through an exotic gauntlet of labyrinthine bazaars, verminous hovels, cliff-hung monasteries—and into mortal danger. In the jewel-like city of Jerusalem, they will at last meet their adversary, whose lust for power could reduce the city’s most ancient and sacred place to rubble and ignite a tinderbox of hostilities just waiting for a spark. Views: 19
Continuing the exploration of the father-son dynamic that he began in the short story AT THE DINER, author Neil Plakcy expands on the theme with a look at the lives of seven men in the town of Stewart's Crossing. Through all of their trials and tribulations, the men make a pact to stick to their dedication to their fathers and the fathers they themselves are destined to become. Views: 19
Aaron Stiles is dead. He's been dead for four years but doesn't seem to know it. He's waiting for his partner Bill to come home, and until that happens, he's not going anywhere. The trouble is, Bill Somers won't be coming home—ever—because he's dead, too. The official verdict was suicide, but...The last thing Elliott Smith needs in his latest renovation project is a ghost, especially one who won't let him sell the place until he solves the mystery of who killed Bill. Elliott has John to help with the spectral side of things, but that leaves Elliott with the quandary of how to get information on the case. After all, he can hardly explain he's investigating on behalf of one dead man with the assistance of another. Views: 19
The bestselling author of the Blood Books delivers a masterful new urban fantasy. Alysha Gale is a member of a family capable of changing the world with the charms they cast. Then she receives word that she’s inherited her grandmother’s junk shop in Calgary, only to discover upon arriving that she’ll be serving the fey community. And when Alysha learns just how much trouble is brewing in Calgary, even calling in the family to help may not be enough to save the day. Views: 19
Detective Darren Corliss is hanging by a thread. In between recovering from a near-fatal wound and returning to work at a hostile precinct, he's struggling to help care for his ailing brother. His partner and boyfriend, Detective Andreas Ruffner, wants to help, but doesn't know how. And with his own family crises brewing, Andreas is spread almost as thin as Darren.For cops, though, life takes a backseat to the job. When a stack of unsolved homicides drops into their laps, Andreas and Darren think they're unrelated cold cases. But when a connection surfaces, they find themselves on the tail of a prolific serial killer who's about to strike again.Except they've got nothing. No leads. No suspects. Just a pile of circumstantial evidence and a whole lot of hunches. Time is running out to stop the next murder — and to pull themselves back from their breaking points. Views: 18
Gay bookseller and reluctant amateur sleuth Adrien English's writing career is suddenly taking off. But when murder makes an appearance at a dinner party, who should be called in but Adrien's former lover, handsome closeted detective Jake Riordan, now a Lieutenant with LAPD. Views: 18
It'll take more than one man's love to tame her wild heart. The Onic Empire, Book 4 Bithia, newly crowned empress of Diola, indulges herself with as many men as it takes to satisfy her voracious passion. Now that it's time to continue the family line, though, her advisors expect the unthinkable: for her to submit to one man from a sexually primitive planet. Drahka disobeyed his tribe's strict sexual rules once. The shame still haunts him. He longs for a fresh start, but breaking one cardinal rule-a man gives, a woman takes-is not an option. His struggle to learn local customs is complicated by a mentor whose eyes hunger for the empress…and for him. Viltori is exhausted. He's tried to teach Drakha that there are many ways to find pleasure, only to be met with anger, even violence. Touching the handsome primitive only sharpens his unbearable lust for Bithia, making him wonder if execution for failure wouldn't be a blessing. When Bithia witnesses the results of Viltori's training, she realizes only these two men can fill her empty heart, inspiring her to take command of the throne at last. Except those who've held the reins thus far have a sinister reason for keeping Bithia-and her new consorts-in their place. Warning: This erotic romance contains a lusty empress, a primitive alpha male, a dedicated acolyte with domineering tendencies, copious amounts of hot m/m and m/f/m sex, secret torments, burning desires clashing with duty, and a little bit of meddling by future gods. Views: 18
Twelve O'Clock Tales is the fourth collection of short fiction by legendary novelist and memoirist, Felice Picano (The Lure, Like People in History, True Stories). A personal homage to the storytellers of his youth, Edgar Allen Poe, E.F. Benson, and H. P. Lovecraft, as well as his acquaintances, Arthur C. Clarke and Harlan Ellison. Eleven dark tales, eerie, bizarre, and dreamlike, the tales will thrill and disturb, discomfort and titillate, enthrall and leave you wondering. Picano ranges across time and space, from tribal West Africa to the American heartland, to a lab in Venezuela, and a California Highway fifteen years from now. His characters range from a teen accident survivor with a secret, to a far-future scholar forced to travel to a galactic backwater, to a retired L.A. cop who dabbles in astrology, and a peasant girl in B.C.E. Israel encountering the strangest of strangers. The thirteen tales include brand new stories and acknowledged Picano masterworks... Views: 18
Cowboys, blue-collar men, and hot redneck boys. One thing they all have in common is Wranglers, and they're all falling in love in this eight-story collection. From Navy SEALs to rodeo riders to a food truck chef, all these men want is to find someone to share their lives. Views: 18
