Mystery/Thriller
- PRE-ORDER: Plant Lady
PRE-ORDER: Plant Lady
$28.00In the heart of a quiet town, a young woman tends to her plant shop, but beneath the surface of her lush, green sanctuary lies something far darker....
Will you dare to disrespect her plants?
Tucked away in the corner of a neighborhood in Dosan, South Korea, is the Plant Shop. Shop owner Yoohee has started anew, and her meticulously grown foliage thrives under her tender care. To both her customers and herself, Plant Shop is a refuge, where petunias and marigolds bloom and the air itself is like an elixir of peace.
By day, Yoohee dispenses advice on gardening, but she also finds herself offering a special service off the clock. Women who are at their wits’ end come to her about a man they hope might disappear from their lives. Pulling extra hours is taxing, but Yoohee has encountered—and dealt with—these kind of men in her own life, men who treated her (and her beloved plants) with utter disrespect. So as night falls, Yoohee trades her apron for a shovel and a hoe and disappears into her moonlit garden. There, she buries not just the remains of the day, but also the bloody remnants of a few unfortunate encounters.
As men begin to disappear…will anyone ever suspect the Plant Lady?
A highly acclaimed novel from South Korea, Plant Lady brings atmospheric tension and delicate humor to a story of obsession and misogyny that will keep you rooted right to its simmering last page.
- Read Between the Lies: A Novel
Read Between the Lies: A Novel
$16.99“Read Between the Lies is a dark, delicious takedown of cancel culture and the publishing industry―I read it in two sittings because I had to stop midway and go google my own name. Highly recommend.” ―Mindy Kaling
In this claustrophobic psychological suspense from USA Today bestselling author Jesse Q. Sutanto, the line between victim and villain blurs with every chapter. Because in the end, everyone has their own version of the truth―but only one will make it onto the page.
Fern’s dream of becoming a published author is finally coming true. After years of rejection, her debut novel has sold, and she’s ready to join the supportive online community of fellow debuts. But when she discovers her high school bully, Haven, has landed a major book deal and will be debuting alongside her, old wounds reopen.
As the pandemic forces everyone online, tensions escalate in their writing community. While Haven seems to succeed effortlessly, Fern watches her own career crumble. Yet beneath their polished personas lies a darker truth about their shared past―one involving a lost friend, Dani, and secrets neither wants revealed.
Fern isn’t the same person Haven bullied all those years ago. She’s learned that the best revenge stories aren’t written―they’re lived. And she’s been plotting this one for years.
What begins as online rivalry escalates into dangerous obsession. Because neither woman is telling the whole truth about what really happened to Dani…or about who’s the real victim in this story.
- PRE-ORDER: Curdle Creek: A Novel
PRE-ORDER: Curdle Creek: A Novel
$18.99Winner of a Shirley Jackson Award
For fans of “The Lottery” and The Hunger Games, this novel set in a small town with a sinister tradition is chilling in the best possible way.
“Curdle Creek is a thoughtful, sinister tour-de-force.”
―Tananarive Due, L.A. Times Book Prize-winning author of The ReformatoryWelcome to Curdle Creek, a place just dying to make you feel at home.
Osira, a forty-five-year-old widow, is an obedient follower of the strict conventions of the remote all-Black town that’s stuck in the past and governed by ominous rituals including a one in, one out population policy. Though she’s always been considered blessed, her luck changes when her grown children run off to parts unknown, she comes in second to last in the Running of the Widows, and her father flees after his name is called in the annual Moving On ceremony.
Forced to jump into a well in a test of allegiance, Osira finds herself transported first back in time, and then into another realm where she must answer for crimes committed by Curdle Creek. Exile forces her to jump realms again, landing Osira even farther away from home, in rural England. Safe there as long as she sticks to the rules, she quickly learns there are consequences for every kindness. Each jump could lead Osira anywhere, but will she ever find a place to call home?
Curdle Creek is an American Gothic in the tradition of Shirley Jackson that offers a mash-up of the surreal and literary horror that will appeal to fans of Ring Shout, The Salt Grows Heavy, and Lovecraft Country. Yvonne Battle-Felton’s propulsive tale is layered and eerie and quite unlike anything else.
- PRE-ORDER: Sisterhood Above All: A #BamaRush Novel
PRE-ORDER: Sisterhood Above All: A #BamaRush Novel
$29.00Any girl would kill to be a Gamma.
“Barber and Shaienne’s juicy, sexy, vicious collab is like America’s Next Top Model stitched with The Art of War. You’ll be equally riveted by the reality TV-level drama and the raw authenticity of the characters in this sure-to-go-viral sorority rush thriller.” ― Layne Fargo, bestselling author of The Favorites and They Never Learn
Being a Gamma at Southern State University means belonging to the most desirable, exclusive sisterhood there is. For Ava, it means even more―it’s the last connection she has to her beloved late mother, and she’ll do anything to wear the Gamma letters.
But the Gammas didn’t become the best house on campus by letting just anyone in, and every prospective pledge is expected to earn her spot. As president, Madison is the ultimate gatekeeper, and she has a special test for Ava.
Rival sorority Theta is nipping at the Gammas’ heels for the top spot on campus, and president Shay is proud they’ve gotten there by rising above the hyper-competitive gamesmanship that consumes other houses. She knows she’s made some enemies in her quest to change the Greek system from the inside, but she can’t imagine the depth of Madison’s resentment for her … or how far Ava will go to become a Gamma.
The sisterhood, the parties, the elite status―and the connection to her mother―are what Ava has always wanted, but she never guessed the cost of membership would be so high. Three women, two houses, one dead body: rush has never been this messy.
- House of Margins
House of Margins
$28.00Serial the podcast meets The Other Black Girl in a haunted house, as young African author disappears after being invited to an exclusive writing residency, and her sister is left only with a true crime podcast to help her uncover the truth about what really happened…
Anaya Sebeya is missing.
Before her disappearance, Anaya was a brilliant writer: a rising star. Invited to a prestigious writing residency at Günter Huis, an eerie colonial mansion on the slopes of Devil’s Peak, Anaya was supposed to craft the next great African literary masterpiece—and so were four other young, emerging writers, all competing for the grand prize. But Anaya never made it home.
When a sensationalized true crime podcast about Anaya emerges, claiming to reveal everything that happened at Günter Huis, her sister Ranewa is both skeptical and furious. But with each surreal episode, Ranewa begins to piece together a truth worse than she ever could have imagined…
At Günter Huis, Anaya’s nightmares consume her. Time slips away from her. Günter Huis inflicts distorted visions and terrible supernatural visitations, pushing Anaya to tell a story no one dares. But exorcising the house’s endless cycle of evil requires a sacrifice that neither Anaya nor her fellows are ready to make.
In House of Margins, award-winning Motswana author Tlotlo Tsamaase delivers a mesmerizing story of a young generation facing colonialism’s cultural legacy in Africa.
- Southern Bastards, Vol. 2: Gridiron
Southern Bastards, Vol. 2: Gridiron
$9.99* Sheriff “Big Bert” Tubb once cleaned up Craw County, Alabama with an iron jaw and a big ol’ stick. But that was 40 years ago. When his son, Earl Tubb, returns home to settle some family business, he finds his daddy’s grave unkempt, the stick he was buried with grown into a gnarled old tree, and Craw County in worse shape than ever. Then that tree gets struck by lightning. And suddenly Earl has a stick of his own. And some questions he’d like answered.
* The hit new crime series, Southern Bastards, returns for its second volume, as Jason Aaron (Scalped, Thor, Star Wars) and Jason Latour (Wolverine & the X-Men, Loose Ends) pull back the curtain on the dark and seedy history of Craw County and its most famous and feared resident, the high school football coach turned backwoods crime lord, Euless Boss. In a place where only bastards flourish, what does it take to be the biggest, meanest, most powerful bastard of them all? Only Coach Boss knows. But if I was you, I wouldn't ask him.
* Collects Southern Bastards #5-8. - Shadow Nights Arc I: Into the Shadows
Shadow Nights Arc I: Into the Shadows
$13.99"Alright, here's the game plan. I go out, stop some petty criminals, take out a gang or two, find the person or people that are kidnapping people, take out all those gross shadow things, and maybe, just maybe, get the world to like me. Yeah. Yeah that sounds like a good plan!"
Really, I wish I had lesser expectations of myself, but with this city's stupid high crime rate, a string of missing people, and these strange black creatures trying to tear down anything in their path? I feel like I have more than my work cut out for myself. However, I can't just sit down and do nothing with these powers I gained. This place needs a hero and I'm not gonna stop protecting this place till I save everyone. I just hope I can get all of this done before my mother and father ground me into the dirt.
- Tall Cotton
Tall Cotton
$17.49In the summer of 1970, in the small town of Lowell, Mississippi, ten-year-old Bailey Connor lives in constant fear of his abusive father, Otis. His mother, Annie, dreams of an escape and accepts a job working for Jim Cunningham, a wealthy white plantation owner. But when Jim is found brutally stabbed to death, Annie, a Black woman in a town still deeply segregated, is quickly accused of the crime. Since the Connors have no money for a lawyer and the nearly all-white jury is poised to convict, Annie's fate seems sealed-the electric chair waits in the shadows.
While visiting Lowell, Jonathan Streeter, a prominent Black attorney with a troubled past, reluctantly agrees to take on Annie's case. With Bailey's world thrown further into turmoil, he desperately tries to help Jonathan free his mother.
As the trial gains national attention, Jonathan uncovers a tangled web of lies, corruption, and deep-seated racial hatred woven into the very fabric of Lowell, all tied to Jim's murder. While violence escalates and interference from the local KKK grows, Jonathan and Bailey become trapped in a life-and-death struggle against those determined to bury the truth... and the two of them along with it.
- Olive Oakes and the Haunted Carousel
Olive Oakes and the Haunted Carousel
$17.99The first book in a new middle-grade mystery series by Kalynn Bayron.
Olive Oakes loves a good mystery. She keeps a notebook with her at all times, ready to jot down observations about anything that seems out of the ordinary. Along with her cousin Eli, Olive is always looking for her next chance to sleuth!
When Olive and her family visit a town called Whispering Woods, she uncovers a mystery linked to the traveling circus that comes through the area once a year. With rumors of missing kids and ghost sightings, it’s the perfect opportunity for Olive to investigate! But the people of Whispering Woods are very secretive, and Olive must tread carefully if she hopes to solve the mystery of the haunted carousel. - The Devil Is a Southpaw: A Novel
The Devil Is a Southpaw: A Novel
Brandon Hobson
$29.00A haunting, unforgettable novel of obsession, pride, and forgiveness, exploring the friendship and rivalry between two gifted boys in harrowing circumstances, from the acclaimed writer of The Removed
Milton Muleborn has envied Matthew Echota, a talented Cherokee artist, ever since they were locked up together in a dangerous juvenile detention center in the late 1980s. Until Matthew escaped, that is.
A novel within a novel, we read here Milton’s dark, sometimes comic, and possibly unreliable account of the story of their childhood even as, years later, he remains jealous of Matthew’s extraordinary abilities and unlikely success. Milton reveals secrets about their friendship, their families, and their nightmarish, surreal, experience of imprisonment. In revisiting the past, he explores the echoing traumas of incarceration and pride.
Filled with Brandon Hobson’s swirling yet visceral writing, and punctuated with original artwork, The Devil Is a Southpaw is an ambitious, elegant, and propulsive novel in the spirit of Vladimir Nabokov and Gabriel García Márquez.
- A Lethal Lady (A Harlem Renaissance Mystery)
A Lethal Lady (A Harlem Renaissance Mystery)
Nekesa Afia
$18.00Louise Lloyd’s time away in Paris is everything she was hoping it would be until a shocking murder turns her entire world upside down.
Louise Lloyd is finally living the quiet life she’d longed for, working in a parfumerie by day and spending time with her new friends every night at the Aquarius club in Paris. When a desperate mother asks for help locating her artist daughter, Louise initially refuses to keep her hard-won but fragile peace intact. But the woman comes with a letter of introduction from an old friend in Harlem, and Louise realizes she has no choice but to do what she can to find the missing young woman.
The woman’s daughter, Iris Wright, is part of an elite social circle. Louise soon finds herself drawn into a world of privilege and ice-cold ambition—a young group of artists who will do anything to get ahead—but would they murder one of their own? With the help of some friends from home, Louise must untangle a web of lies, jealousy, and betrayal to find out what really happened to Iris while fighting to keep her new life from crashing down around her.
- Do What Godmother Says
Do What Godmother Says
by L.S. Stratton
$18.99A modern-day writer and a Harlem Renaissance artist are connected by a painting with a deadly secret in this gripping dual-timeline gothic thriller.
Shanice Pierce knows better than to heed bad omens. But she has a hard time ignoring the signs when she finds herself newly single and out of a job on the same seemingly cursed day.Then, while cleaning out her grandmother’s house, Shanice comes across a painting she hasn’t seen in years. Drawn to the haunting portrait in a way she can't explain, Shanice accepts her grandmother’s offer to keep the family heirloom.
She soon uncovers the story of the artist, a Harlem Renaissance painter named Estelle Johnson. The young woman was taken under wing by the wealthy art patron Maude Bachmann—or “Godmother” as she insisted her artists call her—and vanished shortly after Bachmann’s brutal murder a century ago.
As Shanice digs deeper, a paranoia that’s haunted her for years returns. She becomes convinced she’s being stalked, and that the deaths happening around her are connected to the staggering offer she turned down for the painting.
But the truth hiding in plain sight is even more shocking—and deadly—than Shanice could possibly have imagined . . .
- The Unvarnished Gary Phillips: A Mondo Pulp Collection
The Unvarnished Gary Phillips: A Mondo Pulp Collection
by Gary Phillips
$17.00*ship in 7-10 business days
Award-winning author, screenwriter, and editor Gary Phillips gathers his most thrilling, outlandish, and madcap pulp fiction in an 17-story collection that straddles the line between bizarro, science fiction, noir, and superhero classics.
Aztec vampires, astral projecting killers, oxygen stealing bombs, undercover space rangers, aliens occupying Los Angeles, right wing specters haunting the ’hood, masked vigilantes, and mad scientists in their underground lairs plotting world domination populate the stories in this rip-snorting collection. In these pages grindhouse melds with blaxploitation along with strong doses of B movie hardcore drive-in fare.
Phillips, editor of the Anthony Award-winning The Obama Inheritance: Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir, and author of One-Shot Harry and Matthew Henson and the Ice Temple of Harlem, said this about pulp. “The most common definition of pulp is it’s fast-paced, a story containing out there characters and a wild plot. There is that. But certainly, as we’ve now arrived at the era of retro-pulp, these stories have elements of characterization: not just action, but a glimpse behind the steely eyes of these doers of incredible deeds.” As an added bonus, Phillips resurrects Phantasmo, a Golden Age comics character created by Black artist-writer E.C. Stoner in an all-new outing of ethereal doings (includes 4 original illustrations by cover artist Adam Shaw).
- The Ballad of Black Tom
The Ballad of Black Tom
by Victor LaValle
$13.99*ships in 7 -10 business days*
A cosmic horror is rising in Red Hook, and Black Tom must either stop it or help it grow.
People move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn't there.
Charles Thomas Tester hustles to put food on the table, keep the roof over his father's head, from Harlem to Flushing Meadows to Red Hook. He knows what magic a suit can cast, the invisibility a guitar case can provide, and the curse written on his skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their cops. But when he delivers an occult tome to a reclusive sorceress in the heart of Queens, Tom opens a door to a deeper realm of magic, and earns the attention of things best left sleeping.
A storm that might swallow the world is building in Brooklyn. Will Black Tom live to see it break? - The Other Mistress: A Riveting Psychological Thriller with a Shocking Twist
The Other Mistress: A Riveting Psychological Thriller with a Shocking Twist
by Shanora Williams
$16.95*ships in 7-10 business days*
In a deliciously twisty tale of seduction, betrayal, and obsession from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Shanora Williams, a scorned wife isn’t the only one looking for answers—at any price . . . Perfect for fans of Tarryn Fisher, Lisa Jewell, and Alyssa Cole!
Adira Smith-Cortez knows how to turn around a troubled past. Now she’s a self-made multi-millionaire who takes exquisite care of herself and her only true love: her husband, Gabriel. Adira has it all—except the answer to one tormenting question: why is attentive, affectionate Gabriel cheating on her—with not just one, but two women. There’s sexy Jocelyn, a club owner. And then there’s Julianna, a celebrity makeup artist he’s even crazier about. In a tricky twist, vengeful Jocelyn offers Adira the perfect plan to get her straying spouse back . . .
It sounds simple: Adira will befriend Julianna through a fake identity, play on her and Gabriel’s vulnerabilities and cause them to split up permanently. Determined to reclaim her happiness, Adira won’t—can’t—stop to think what could possibly go wrong . . .
Until too many of Gabriel’s lies start adding up to a disquieting truth. Until Julianna discovers who Adira really is—and Jocelyn pushes Adira to ever-more-unthinkable extremes. With her world collapsing and shattering memories tearing her apart, how far will Adira’s obsession take her—and how much of herself is she willing to lose in the process . . . - The Overnights: An Ashe Cayne Novel (Book 3)
The Overnights: An Ashe Cayne Novel (Book 3)
by Ian K. Smith
Sold out*Ships in 7-10 Business Days*
Someone wants Morgan Shaw dead—or so the beautiful, brilliant, and hugely popular evening news anchor of top-rated Chicago TV station WLTV believes. Fearing for her safety, she turns to P. I. Ashe Cayne for protection. Though he sympathizes, Ashe turns her down—he’s not a bodyguard. But when Morgan’s car tires are slashed and she’s threatened again, Ashe agrees to help her.
Her mysterious assailant isn’t the only threat worrying Morgan. She’s nervous about the upcoming “sweeps”—the all-important overnight ratings period—which will determine Chicago’s highest-rated television newscast and the city’s number-one anchor. Morgan has long been Chicago’s news queen. Now, though her crown is in jeopardy. She refuses to lose to her crosstown rival, and will risk everything to stay on top—including an audacious investigation into the suspicious shooting of an unarmed African American man by a white cop. The explosive case and her discoveries boost her ratings—and create powerful enemies eager to protect their secrets.
To save his client and find the truth, Ashe must wade through the tangled layers of competitive local news and the deceptive schemes of its power players, and uncover the identities of those behind the murder of a seemingly innocent man.
- Warrior Girl Unearthed
Warrior Girl Unearthed
by Angeline Boulley
Sold out*ships in 7-10 business days*
Sometimes the truth shouldn't stay buried.
#1 New York Times bestselling author Angeline Boulley takes us back to the world of Firekeeper's Daughter in this high-stakes mystery about the power of discovering and reclaiming your stolen history.
Perry Firekeeper-Birch has always known who she is - the laidback twin, the troublemaker, the best fisher on Sugar Island. Her aspirations won't ever take her far from home, and she wouldn't have it any other way. But as the rising number of missing Indigenous women starts circling closer to home, as her family becomes embroiled in a high-profile murder investigation, and as greedy grave robbers seek to profit off of what belongs to her Anishinaabe tribe, Perry begins to question everything.
In order to reclaim this inheritance for her people, Perry has no choice but to take matters into her own hands. She can only count on her friends and allies, including her overachieving twin and a charming new boy in town with unwavering morals. Old rivalries, sister secrets, and botched heists cannot - will not - stop her from uncovering the mystery before the ancestors and missing women are lost forever.
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