The first time she spoke to him was at midnight. Seven-year-old Autumn Backman needed a hero. When she saw Special Agent Dillon Savich on TV after he'd brought down bank robbers in a Georgetown bank, she knew she'd found him. She called Savich, but she didn't use the phone. They were burying dead people in my daddy's grave . . . they're coming after us. Please help me. Who's they? Blessed, he's coming. Ethan Merriweather, sheriff of Titusville, Virginia, a small mountain town near the Titus Hitch Wilderness, goes looking for a missing little girl. Soon after he finds her, Ethan realizes that Autumn has brought him a huge problem - a relentless madman who has the ability to control others simply by looking at them. And the madman is after her and her mom. It's Uncle Blessed, and he wants Autumn. When Savich answers Autumn's call, she tells him Blessed is from Bricker's Bowl, Georgia. Savich and Sherlock go to Blessed's home, learn about his brother, Grace, and meet their mother, Shepherd. Savich soon realizes the only way to stop Blessed is to "cut off the snake's head." Back in Titusville, Ethan, Autumn, and her mother, Joanna, are forced to hide from Blessed and Grace in the wilderness. Ethan knows the brothers will never give up their insane pursuit for Autumn. It's a race to stop the madness, or the madness will destroy them all.
Claudia Mair Burney's mysteries starring forensic psychologist Amanda Bell Brown have garnered high praise for their wit, style, and their sassy heroine. Ezekiel Thunder, a disgraced preacher, moves his family into town in an attempt to resurrect his career. But after his infant son drowns, Amanda suspects it wasn't an accident. Now Amanda is on the case and she's determined to find the truth.
Caitlin Cavanaugh likes being in charge. Maybe that’s why she’s an FBI special agent. Her latest assignment: Stop a violent madman in Somersett, South Carolina. But even more challenging is working with former Navy SEAL Quinn McKade, who—though Cait would never admit it—makes her feel deliciously out of control.
It takes a sniper to catch a sniper, and McKade begins spending steamy summer nights with Cait, investigating the murders. But when the killer starts leaving chillingly familiar clues, the pair knows that the murders aren’t random…and Cait and Quinn could be next.
“JoAnn Ross excels.”—Romance Reviews Today
DEADLY QUEST
When a top lieutenant in a notorious ring of human traffickers agrees to turn state's evidence, Immigration and Customs Enforcement senior agent Sonia Knight believes she'll finally take down the illegal operation's devilish mastermind, Xavier Jones. But when an FBI sting on Jones's criminal enterprise collides with an ICE stakeout, Sonia is enraged: Her informant's life and her evidence are in grave jeopardy.
FBI agent Dean Hooper has been chasing Jones for years on money-laundering and tax-evasion charges and doesn't need or want a hot-headed ICE agent second-guessing his every move. When the Bureau is ordered to join forces with ICE, Sonia is just as livid: Her job is to save lives, not money. But their team effort pays off as fierce mutual resentment fades and passion flares'along with risk.
For Jones is just one piece of a depraved puzzle, answering to an even more dangerous predator. Denied his expected prey, this pitiless fiend intends to make Sonia and Dean pay with their own blood.
From the Paperback edition.
After Ann Nolan, a California beat cop, adopts the daughter of a notorious drug dealer, the ruthless father vows to take back his only child. In response, Ann flees across the country, changes her name, and starts a new life as an investigator for the Mercy Street Foundation, the billionaire-endowed organization dedicated to finding missing persons. As Emme Caldwell, she takes the lead on the Foundation's first case: Nineteen-year-old Belinda Hudson disappeared from her sorority house leaving behind only one cryptic clue. Retracing the vanished student's steps leads Emme to Heaven's Gate, a fertility clinic, and the mysterious Donor 1735. Belinda's legal guardian, Nick Perone, is determined to shadow Emme's every move as she searches for his niece. But the closer Emme gets to Donor 1735 and the chilling truth, the more apparent it becomes that she's escaped one dangerous man only to run head-on into another - one who's far more determined and every bit as deadly. Your calls for mercy have been answered...
When rookie lawyer Jessica Ford gets the call from her boss, John Davenport, the senior partner at the illustrious law firm for which she works, she can tell he is well on his way to being drunk. He needs Jess to meet First Lady Annette Cooper, for whom Davenport is a personal lawyer, at a Washington, D.C., hotel. Jess is thrilled: this high-profile assignment must mean that she's earned her boss's trust and she's on her way to bigger things. But unfortunately, bigger isn't always better. Jess doesn't remember much - only that in the course of the late-night meeting with Annette Cooper, she ended up in the backseat of a car, speeding off into the darkness. All Jess knows is that the car crashed en route, and the other three passengers were killed, including the First Lady. Badly injured, Jess is the only survivor of what is trumpeted around the world as a tragic accident. Although she has no memory about the events leading up to the accident, Jess is still bothered by one question: Was it really an accident? The Secret Service agent on the case, Mark Ryan, gets the feeling that Jess is hiding something. As his suspicions grow, Jess's world starts falling apart. In fact, everyone who might possibly know the details about the First Lady's last few hours starts turning up dead. And then Jess understands: If she remembers that night, she'll be dead too. Terrified and certain that the First Lady's death was no accident, Jess has only Mark Ryan to turn to...
Heroic Justice
When a homeless veteran is found dead in a squalid Sacramento alley, FBI special agent Megan Elliott vows to find the murdered hero's killer. Her investigation gets complicated fast, for the victim, a former Delta Force soldier, is just one link in a nationwide spree of torture and murder.
Straight off a job rescuing medical missionaries, soldier-for-hire Jack Kincaid returns to his home base in the Texas border town of Hidalgo only to receive the news that one of his closest colleagues'also ex-military'has been brutally murdered. Faced with an inept local police force, Jack takes matters into his own hands.
Now, as part of a national task force to stop the sadistic killings, by-the-book Megan and burn-the-book Jack form a tense alliance, sparked with conflict and temptation. But they struggle against more than passion, for a vicious pair of killers has only just begun a rampage of evil . . . and the primary target is much closer than Megan suspects.
From the Paperback edition.
Amaryllis Coltraine may have recently transferred to the New York City police force from Atlanta, but she's been a cop long enough to know how to defend herself against an assailant. When she's taken down just steps away from her apartment, killed with her own weapon, for Eve the victim isn't just "one of us." Dallas's friend Chief Medical Examiner Morris had started a serious relationship with Coltraine, and from all accounts the two were headed for a happy future together. But someone has put an end to all that. After breaking the news to Morris, Eve starts questioning everyone, including Coltraine's squad, informants, and neighbors, while Eve's husband, Roarke, digs into computer data on the dead woman's life back in Atlanta. To their shock, they discover a connection between this case and their own painful, shadowy pasts. The truth will need to be uncovered one layer at a time, starting with the box that arrives at Cop Central addressed to Eve, containing Coltraine's guns, badge, and a note from her killer: "You can have them back. Maybe someday soon, I'll be sending yours to somebody else." But Eve Dallas doesn't take too kindly to personal threats, and she is going to break this case, whatever it takes. And that's a promise.
Abby has just arrived in Summerville, Ohio, with her placid Newfoundland, Bowser. She's reluctantly inherited her grandmother's coffee shop, but it's not long before she's brewing up trouble in the form of magical baked goods and steaming up her life with an exasperating college professor. "Stuart is a consummate mistress of her craft." - Romantic Times BOOKreviews And then there's Daisy, a Web code writer, and her hyperactive Jack Russell, Bailey. Her tightly wound world spins out of control when she discovers the chaos within and meets a mysterious dog trainer whose teaching style is definitely hands-on. "Rich has a knack for creating memorable characters." - Romance Reader at Heart Finally there's Shar, professor of ancient history at Summerville College, who wakes up one morning to find her neurotic dachshund, Wolfie, snarling at an implacable god sitting at her kitchen table, the first thing in her life she hasn't been able to footnote. "Crusie is a master of fast-paced witty dialogue." - Seattle Times What on earth is going on in this unearthly little town? It's up to Abby, Daisy, and Shar to find out before an ancient goddess takes over southern Ohio, and they all end up in the apocalyptic doghouse...
Katie Quaid could never refuse a dare. It was the quality that had once made her a world-class equestrian. And it was the reason she’d been elected to introduce herself to Briarwood’s intimidatingly gorgeous new resident. It took one week to make Nick Leone the focus of the Virginia town’s rumor mill. So far he was a CIA agent, a male model, a fugitive—maybe all three. Whatever Nick was, Katie learned one thing right away: she liked him. And that made him the greatest danger she’d faced since the accident that had ended her riding career. In the five years since, she’d buried herself in her business of restoring historic homes, afraid to share her scars with any man—scars that had destroyed more than one dream. Nick had disappointments of his own, but after meeting Katie, he sensed that fate had a better plan all along. And soon he would pose her with the greatest dare of all—to love again.
A parent's worst nightmare.
A lawyer's biggest challenge.
A young boy's life on the line.
The unimaginable has happened. A thirteen-year-old boy has fired a rifle into a baseball game, killing several of the kids on the field. Parents are devastated. The townspeople are horrified.
When public opinion swells to an enraged cry for justice, an ambitious deputy district attorney sees his opportunity---a sensational trial that will catapult him into the D.A.'s office in the upcoming election. There's just one obstacle: the boy's defense attorney, Lindy Field.
To all appearances, the case is a slam-dunk. Convict the killer, make him pay. But it's not that simple. Lindy's young client is unwilling---or unable---to help Lindy defend him. And as the case progresses, it becomes clear that someone doesn't want the truth revealed.
As Lindy delves into the haunted world of her client's torment, she finds a spiritual darkness that dredges up her own troubled past. And when dangerous forces close in around her, Lindy must fight for answers not only in the justice system, but in the very depths of her soul.
It's a mission that could bring the world to the brink of nuclear war.
Now time is running out.
It starts with a high-stakes theft: weapons-grade plutonium is stolen from Russia. The Russian army is about to attack Chechnya to get it back. But U.S. intelligence discovers that the stolen shipment is actually on a rogue Russian freighter in the Black Sea.
It turns into a global nightmare: a secret mission gone awry; an American submarine commander arrested and hauled before a military tribunal in Moscow; and a game of brinksmanship so dangerous that war might be its only possible conclusion.
As the U.S. Navy searches for weapons-grade plutonium that has been smuggled out of Russia by terrorists, a submarine mishap escalates the international crisis. With the world watching, JAG Officer Zack Brewer is called to Moscow to defend submarine skipper Pete Miranda and his entire crew. It is a heart-stopping race against the clock. With Russian missiles activated and programmed for American cities, Brewer stalls for time as the U.S. Navy frantically searches the high seas for a floating hydrogen bomb that could threaten New York Harbor.
