Archives de catégorie : Fiction

THESE VILE HEARTS de Melody Robinette

For fans of Geneva Lee, Rebecca Yarros, and Holly Black, THESE VILE HEARTS is the perfect pacy, steamy crossover read for readers craving their next deadly fae fix.

THESE VILE HEARTS
by Melody Robinette
Putnam, 2026
(via Park, Fine & Brower Literary)

Maddox Sinclair’s father told her to never trust a dryad. At the age of eight she learned why: dryads murdered her mom and dad before her eyes. Now at twenty-six, Maddox is freshly laid off and desperate—f or a home, for a future, and, as a type-one diabetic, for a way to pay for the insulin that keeps her alive. Utterly without options, she flees to the forest where her parents were killed to make a binding pact with a dryad queen: kill the queen’s immortal enemy, the Redwood King, and be cured of her disease before the broken healthcare system sends her to an early grave.

In the redwood treetops, adopted Prince Castor is plagued by a curse that kills anyone foolish enough to love him. It’s been a year since the Redwood King—a lover of cruel and twisted games—made Castor an offer he couldn’t turn down: get a mortal to fall in love with him by the Sylveris Solstice and be freed of his curse. But should he fail, he’ll be imprisoned for a year in the Tree of Exile, a place of dark magic that drives its inhabitants mad. Castor hasn’t had any luck yet…and with the solstice fast approaching, time is running out.

When Maddox mistakes Castor for the king, Castor knows this mortal stranger—who knows nothing about his curse— is his last chance at freedom. But while Castor will stop at nothing to seduce Maddox, she’s scheming to get him alone so she can drive her dagger through his heart. As the pair’s sparks accidentally kindle a romantic fire, Castor must decide: damn the woman he has feelings for, or give up his future and freedom? And can Maddox untangle the web of secrets she’s in before she kills the wrong man, or worse…falls for a cursed prince, sealing her fate once and for all?

Melody Robinette is a dark fantasy author who grew up living in a daydream. A lover of all things macabre and fantastical, she now lives in Austin, Texas with her cocktail crafting husband, Ben, and their two ridiculous felines. As a type one diabetic, she has joined the #insulin4all movement and strives to spread awareness about her disease. When she isn’t writing, she can be found playing D&D, hunkering down in a coffee shop with a good book, or begging her cat Edgar Allan Poe Tato to sit with her.

YOU ARE THE DETECTIVE: THE CREEPING HAND MURDER de Maureen Johnson & Jay Cooper

November 1933. London. Seven people receive mysterious letters. Someone knows their terrible secrets. They are summoned to a posh townhouse where one is stabbed right in front of the others, but somehow no one saw a thing. Can you help Scotland Yard solve the mystery?

An interactive murder mystery from the bestselling author and illustrator of Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village.

YOU ARE THE DETECTIVE:
THE CREEPING HAND MURDER
by Maureen Johnson & Jay Cooper
Ten Speed Press, September 2025
(via KT Literary)

Dear Detective,

Surely you have seen the papers and read about the murder of the American novelist Roy Peterson—stabbed while in a room with six other people, and yet no one went near him or saw the murder occur. The crime is so devious, so logistically impossible, that it seems to have been committed not by a person but by a disembodied hand.

I must confess that we are at a loss. Who wrote the poison pen letters that lured these seven people to this deadly gathering? What do a poet, an Earl, an actress, a cook, a telephone operator, and a lothario have in common? And how can a man be stabbed in a room full of suspects when none of them could have done it?

We have had our best people on the case, Detective, and we still can’t make heads or tails of it. We are giving this case file to you. Can you decipher the clues, decode the witness statements, and identify the murderer? You are our last hope. Can you help us crack the Case of the Creeping Hand?

Yours truly,

Detective Chief Inspector of the Metropolitan Police

Maureen Johnson is the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village (illustrated by Jay Cooper) and many young adult novels, including the very murderous Shades of London series, the Stevie Bell mysteries (starting with Truly Devious), and Death at Morning House. She has also done collaborative works, such as Let It Snow with John Green and Lauren Myracle (now a movie on Netflix), and several books in the Shadowhunter universe with Cassandra Clare. For safety’s sake, she lives in New York City; the vicar cannot reach her there.

Jay Cooper’s books don’t normally include grisly murders, nefarious deeds, or corpses of any kind. He has illustrated over twenty-five books for young people, including the New York Times and USA Today bestselling graphic novel series The Last Comics On Earth. He is also a Clio award-winning creative director of theatrical advertising, and has worked on over 150 Broadway musicals and plays (which have heaps of deaths).

THE UNPAID DEBT de Thomas Dann

In this southern noir, two detectives forge an unlikely alliance as they strive to bridge the racial divide and catch a killer hell bent on revenge. Set against a historical backdrop of racial inequality and political turmoil, this thriller is perfect for fans of William Kent Kruger and Greg Iles.

THE UNPAID DEBT
by Thomas Dann
Crooked Lane, November 2025

1955, Memphis. Homicide detective Burdett Vance is trying to outrun his past, but working in the homicide division always ends up bringing in new waves of horror. The time, a killer is reaping retribution for decades of lynching by targeting the daughters of rich white families in Memphis. When Vance is assigned to the case, he’s also put in charge of a new trainee, Officer Eustace Johnson.

In the latest publicity stunt of the police department, Eustace Johnson has been recently hired as the only Black man on the force. Forced to work together, Vance and Johnson must catch the rampaging killer in a city that is already roiling with racial injustice and a fight to control the crumbling local politics.

Then Emmeline Bryce, Vance’s old flame, becomes the killer’s next target. With Emmeline’s life on the line, Vance and Johnson must confront their deepest fears and darkest desires before the city ignites into chaos and the blissful vision of a better future disappears forever.

Readers of James Lee Burke will delight in this bitingly smart thriller full of intrigue and age-old animosities

Thomas Dann was born and bred in Memphis, Tennessee, five generations deep in a family fighting the entrenched political machine there. He has spent time variously on the East and Left Coasts, studying creative writing at Stanford, working for years as a felony defense investigator for the Washington, DC Public Defender, then lawyer, company builder, and writer, all the while wondering what he wants to do when he grows up. He now lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland with his wife Melissa and their goofy golden retriever Benji. And he loves the Blues.

STEELBORN de Taylor J. LaRue

Sizzling chemistry, incredible world building, a fiercely complex protagonist and cast of characters that will remain with you long after you’ve turned the last page. While the story zips along with truly jaw-dropping set pieces, there’s also real emotional heft as Taylor J. LaRue tells the story of a young woman who has long repressed her identity but is now realizing her power and her fully realized purpose. It is the story of someone coming to understand the rage at their core: where it came from, and where it might bring them. First in a planned trilogy.

STEELBORN
by Taylor J. LaRue
on submision
(via Park, Fine & Brower Literary)

Never run. Never bow. Never die.

These were the words that Reya Connery’s father, an Etellinian blacksmith, raised her on. But since her parents’ brutal murder, Reya has had to live by a different set of truths. One: There is no honor among thieves. Two: A good blade is key to any successful negotiation. Three: Only the dead keep secrets.

Half-human, half-immortal, Reya survives in an empire that criminalizes magic as its most notorious thief, paying off her debt to the ruthless crime lord who saved her from a life on the streets. When, for her final job, she’s tasked with delivering one of her own kind to an unthinkable fate, Reya helps them escape instead. Her employer gives her an ultimatum: two months to repay the cost of what she lost him, or she will be forever bound in his service—and if she runs or betrays him again, one of her brothers will be forced to take her place.

Desperate to protect what little family she has left, Reya takes on her most impossible heist yet when Caelan Halcyon, an immortal warrior cursed to die, hires her to steal him a fabled cure. But even she can’t steal something no one has ever actually seen—and Reya and her warrior are not the only ones hunting it. When an attack forces Reya to reveal her own immortality, and Caelan realizes she possesses a rare gift that could spare his people from annihilation at the empire’s hands, he’s determined to teach the beautiful, infuriating thief how to control her power.

Their journey takes them to the edge of the known world, and into the depths of their broken hearts. To save them both, Reya must confront the secrets lurking in the shadows of her past, the burning rage that she fears, and the ability she has spent her entire life suppressing. Because this time, her daggers aren’t going to cut it, and the fate of all immortals hangs in the balance.

Perfect for fans of LJ Andrew’s The Ever King and Callie Hart’s Quicksilver, Taylor J. LaRue is one of the most exciting new voices in romantasy in a long time: her writing has true swagger, and she weaves together a story with exciting twists and sizzling romance, set against a world that feels truly lived in. Yet it is her fierce but hurting protagonist, Reya, who will stay with you long after you turn the last page: a young woman who has been forced to bury herself in order to survive, finally stepping into her power and her purpose.

Taylor J. LaRue spent her early career as a journalist in the Windy City. Now she is living out her moody aesthetic dreams coordinating Barnes & Noble author events in the Pacific Northwest, where she lives with her high school sweetheart-turned-husband, their tiny human tyrant, and one very soggy puppy.

A GIFT BEFORE DYING de Malcolm Kempt

In the remote, unforgiving expanse of Nunavut, Corporal Eldrick Cole finds himself exiled and isolated after a disastrous high-profile murder investigation.

A GIFT BEFORE DYING
by Malcolm Kempt
Crown, January 2026

After a botched high-profile murder investigation as a cop in Alberta, Corporal Eldrick Cole is exiled to the remote, rugged landscape of Nunavut, Canada, a vast territory in the Arctic Circle known for its untamed beauty, frigid temperatures, and perpetual darkness. Amid these harsh elements, the indomitable spirit of the Inuit people prevails.

Cole’s bleak existence takes a darker turn when he discovers the hanging body of Pitseolala, a wry, troubled sixteen-year-old Inuit girl who had spent countless nights passed out in the detachment cells under his watch. Her battle with addiction dredges up demons he thought he’d buried—along with the scars of a fractured marriage and the aching divide between him and his estranged daughter, whom he abandoned long before he was ousted from Northern Alberta.

As Cole’s life unravels, so does the fragile thread of his lone, faltering inquiry—until he turns to Pitseolala’s younger brother, Maliktu, a fellow outsider, shunned by his community for his burn-scarred face and schizophrenia. It’s then that Cole uncovers what else binds them: the eerie, relentless visitation of Pitseolala’s ghost, haunting them both with a singular mission—to lead them to her killer and, therefore, expose the looming threat to other young women in their sacred hamlet.

Driven by an obsessive need to redeem at least one fragment of his shattered life, Cole defies every rule in his unyielding pursuit of justice for Pitseolala.

Malcolm Kempt worked as a criminal lawyer in the remote Arctic for seventeen years before leaving to write full-time. He won the Percy Janes Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript. He lives on the island of Newfoundland. A GIFT BEFORE DYING is his debut novel.