Actions can certainly have unintended consequences as a young Philadelphia man finds out when he steals an overcoat. The owners of the coat want it back – principally because it contains an ill-gotten $40,000. They are ruthless and determined, and will stop at nothing to be reunited with their property. The author of this novella and its accompanying short stories is a serving officer in the Philly Fire Department.
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From Endeavour Press we have this crime/occult thriller about a man whose trade is searching for missing young people, especially those who have been lured away by cults. Thomas Schaefer has a unique empathy with the desparate parents who employ him. His own daughter, Amber, has been missing for 10 years. When the circumstances of his current case begin to resemble those of his own personal tragedy, Schaefer is drawn into a world not entirely in the control of normal flesh and blood criminals.
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This police procedural by the Georgia-based writer Blue Cole is also shot through with the paranormal. Homicide cop Michael Bennett is gifted with an ability to communicate with people who have recently died. It brings him closer to murder victims than the killers would like, but as with many rare gifts, this skill can be a curse. Bennett’s uncanny empathy with the dead has made him something of a freakish loner in the police department, but at last someone comes along with whom he can work. Sandy Cooper brings her own more conventional talents to the party, as the pair attempt to stop a brutal killer in his tracks.
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The author is based in Arizona, but this first novel in an expected series is set in modern day Egypt. On the banks of the Nile the past is never far away. Both recent history, in the shape of a child killed in a plane crash, and the dark occult secrets of the pharaohs, combine in this story of a serial killer, known as The Mutilator. It turns out he practices his deadly trade well beyond the confines of his native land.
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Another series opener takes us from one exotic location to another. We are in the teeming city of Shanghai, and it is 1929. Pyotr Danilov comes from Minsk, but after a series of family tragedies, and a spell working in London, he is now a police inspector in China’s largest city. Danilov has to investigate a serial killer. The first body is washed up on the grimly named Beach of Dead Babies, and Danilov has to cope not only with a homicidal maniac out in the city’s teeming streets, but also the scepticism and distrust of his colleagues.
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Detroit. Once the bustling hub of the world’s automobile industry, it is now a wasteland of unemployment, dashed hopes, poverty and a soaring crime rate. Against this grim background the lives of three men collide and the results are more terrifying than the sum of their individual misfortunes. Sugar Sinclair. Trying, with the desperation of a drowning man, to swim clear of his blighted neighbourhood and make something of his life. Gerald Dawes. A weary cop, battling his own disillusionment and the crumbling of his own family. Clarence Sanford. A rich real estate agent, with a dream family and a rosy future. Until he makes one mistake which will bring his paradise tumbling down around his ears.
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Ron Hawkins is a journalist who specialises in publishing uncomfortable facts, but finally the corrupt local sheriff has had enough of the truth, and decides to make life tough for Ron. A series of miscalculations and family upsets force Ron to go on the run astride is much loved Harley. His journey takes him across the badlands of The South, and he makes some very serious enemies, not least being a biker gang called Thor’s Hammer. The gang may be brutal and powerful, but are completely outshone when Ron’s meteorological namesake – a force three hurricane – decides to influence events.
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Imagine you are renovating an old house. That old kitchen floor just has to go – it’s been there since Noah was a lad. But what’s this? A hidden cellar deep in the earth below the house! And not just an empty space. There are all kinds of secrets that you simply were not meant to discover. This is the framework for a quirky set of 16 short stories, all involving murder. Murder which is ingeniously planned and painfully executed, and we know the tales are truly told, because the narrator is often none other than the killer. Expect plot twists, a shower scene worthy of Psycho, an attempt at a Faustian pact with the dark angel, and much, much more.
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Savannah, Georgia. Were there is huge local enthusiasm at the prospect of the port being greatly enlarged and developed. What’s not to like? Jobs, trade, new money pouring into the economy? Pretty much everyone is up for it, except Claire Robertson. She is a marine biologist, and she is very vocal about the threat the development will pose to the ecosystem and biodiversity of the Georgia coast. Then she goes missing. Enter PI Ray Fontaine, who is hired to find the missing woman. Fontaine’s search takes him behind the onion layers of Savannah’s power structure, and he must face down some serious opposition before the job is done.
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Set in Northwest England, Death by Dangerous introduces John Anderson. Anderson is a barrister, whose many courtroom successes have earned him hate figure status among the region’s criminal fraternity. But then his world is turned upside down. He wakes from a catastrophic car accident, to find that he is held responsible for the death of a child. He has no memory of events, but faces the charge of causing death by dangerous driving. Anderson is convinced of his own innocence, but his former colleagues close ranks against him. He then takes the radical step of investigating the case himself, and his enquiries lead him into the heart of a criminal conspiracy, organised by men who have good reason to want him disgraced and, if possible… dead!
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For another set of 10 self-published and indie releases from 2015, click here.