Showing results by publisher "Podium Audio" in Crime Fiction

When a bullet takes my memories and the life of my friend, I return to the one place that offers me safety. The monster that hunts me outside these gates has nothing on the demons inside them. Their darkness holds me captive, drawing me in and stealing pieces of me I can’t afford to lose. With no memory of my past and an uncertain future, the girl they crave is just an illusion. Love can be lethal but then so can I. When the real me wakes up, it’s with fire in my blood and the taste of deceit on my tongue.

At first glance, Heather Gordon's death looks like suicide. But a single clue points to something far darker—and it leads straight to her ex-boyfriend, Dwayne Fogle. With a history of controlling behavior and jealous outbursts, even Dwayne's own mother doubts his innocence. Still, she turns to criminal defense attorney Brad Madison to give her son a fighting chance.

A fatal arson fire has both the cops and a cartel out for revenge. Buried in the ashes, though, lies a truth—about loyalty, fatherhood, and the price of justice. When a fire tears through a popular Los Angeles gym, two bodies are found in the wreckage—one a sheriff's deputy, the other a notorious fraudster. A hidden stash of heroin points to something darker. The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department doesn't wait long to name a suspect: Eduardo "Lalo" Silva, the gym's charismatic owner.

I can't go back to my family. I'm not worthy of them, could never be one of them again. The sister they know, love, and remember doesn't exist. Not anymore. Until him... The one who took me in, healed me from my demons, my fears, my scars, piecing me back, bit by bit.

A local businessman is found tortured to death at the foot of Ohio's infamous Red Sky Hill. No one heard his screams. No one came to help. Detective Jake Cashen catches the case that terrifies his small town. In his fifteen years as an investigator, Jake's never seen a more gruesome crime scene. The victim, Craig Albright, has no known enemies, but the site of his murder has been shrouded in secrets and myths for generations.

Defense attorney Brad Madison is barely Facebook literate. He doesn't understand Instagram. He couldn't name a YouTube channel to save his life. To him, social media is a remote, irrelevant universe. But that's about to change. It's set to crash through his life like a runaway freight train. When a young YouTube star is shot dead and seventeen-year-old Demarco Torrell is accused, Madison feels obliged to take the case. Demarco is the son of a Marine buddy who was killed in action, and Madison will do whatever it takes to keep "Tank" Torrell's boy alive.

Suzy and her daughter are on a bus, heading for London and safety. She knows her partner will be hunting them down. It's what he does for a living. He hunts people. Suzy's plans go awry when armed robbers storm the bus on an isolated road and rob the passengers. She loses her entire savings—money she desperately needs to build a new life for herself and her daughter, far away from her psychotic partner. With the sound of approaching sirens in the distance, Suzy makes a split-second decision.

When I finally get a life-saving kidney transplant, I think the worst is behind me. Boy, am I wrong. I start feeling eyes on me wherever I go. I'm being watched. Stalked. Hunted. It's downright scary. Then, the hunter steps out of the shadows, and my life implodes. I'm taken by Renzo Torrisi, a dangerous and unforgiving man.

Moving north to wintry Maine, King and Slater get three days of rest before they’re barreling straight back to Boston with their hearts in their throats. Something they left behind has blown up in their faces, and suddenly they’re vulnerable, exposed. It’s all different now; the game has changed. In the shocking aftermath, it’s on them to pick up the pieces, and before long it dawns on them that they’ll need to make a choice. They’re caught between a rock and a hard place. To keep their families safe, they’ll need to do what they swore they’d never do.

All it took was a devastatingly gorgeous man twice my age to break all my rules. To teach me how to let go. How to surrender. How to submit. But then I learn Jacob isn't who I think he is. And it turns out our meeting wasn't an accident. The sweeter the forbidden fruit, the more venomous the snake. Jacob wants revenge, and he's going to use me to get it.

Had she crashed into any other man's car, she could have walked away—but she hit mine. Upon seeing the bruises on her wrist, I struggled to contain my rage. Despite her objections, I refused to allow her to leave. Whoever hurt this innocent beauty would pay dearly. As a Russian Mafia crime boss who owns Chicago's most elite gambling club, I have very creative and painful methods of exacting revenge.

Violet Chase has always been off-limits. The girl I wanted... but could never have. In my teens, her father warned me to keep my hands to myself. Boys like me don't get girls like her. His family saved me, and I owed them. Her brothers, my best friends, made it clear where I stood: below them. We had one stolen moment of passion, then I ran. That was fourteen years ago, and I've regretted it ever since. Now, she's back in London, but life for both of us is very different. Her past decade has been filled with lies that she thought were true.

After an impressive performance in front of a full house, local college basketball stand-out Davonte Blair celebrates the victory with a few friends. But when a fierce argument over drugs ensues, the evening takes a violent turn — and one member of the group goes missing. When police discover the body of the basketball team manager, the town turns into a tinderbox of emotions. The media is calling it a hate crime. The college president is desperate to avoid a scandal. And the police department is under intense pressure to solve the horrific case.

Forty years ago, on a sweltering summer evening in southern Ohio, seven-year-old Michael Adkins vanished into thin air. Two years later, in the dead of winter, his case long gone cold, Michael's remains were found in a well-searched area, just one hundred yards from where he disappeared. The discovery provided no answers, only more questions. Last week, Michael's now elderly mother walked into Detective Jake Cashen's office with a tantalizing clue that just arrived on her doorstep. A handwritten letter filled with chilling details only someone close to the decades-old crime could know.

After two months of relentless forward progress, Dante Jacoby has not only rebuilt his wildly popular Bay Area bar from scratch but expanded his operations with two brand-new venues in San Jose and Santa Cruz. Then, almost as soon as he has more money than he knows what to do with, he receives a message from a mysterious and powerful source: "Go. Be a vigilante. Consider yourself sanctioned for action."

In the wake of her father’s death, lonely Juliet Harrison struggles with the guilt over her loss. She deals with it the way she deals with everything: by burying her feelings beneath impulsive decisions and desecrating the local graveyard. But Juliet isn’t as invisible as she believes. Hiding out from the ghosts of his past, Kieran Ivers is known in King’s Trace as a homicidal hermit. But the rumors don’t stop him from visiting the cemetery to taunt his late brother’s remains.

As she draws her last breath, Detective Mary Rathburn leaves a cryptic message to Jake written in her own blood. It's a clue to her killer's identity she knew only he would understand. It sets him on a dangerous path that could change him forever. Jake faces mounting pressure to solve this case from his fellow cops, Mary's grieving family, and his sense of duty to his fallen sister in blue. His investigation reveals disturbing secrets about Mary's personal life that send shockwaves through Blackhand Hills. But did her secrets lead to murder?

When Matthew Riker returns to Iowa to attend the funeral of his high school wrestling coach, he finds a lot has changed since he last set foot in his hometown. His best friend may be involved in moving drugs, and his cousin is struggling to help at-risk teens. Worst of all, there may be more to his coach's death than the random carjacking the newspapers are reporting.

Police sirens ring louder while blood drips from my hands. I must hide, but it's Christmas Eve, and all houses shine with colorful lights. All but one. Too late do I realize the house is not empty. A woman lives here alone, hidden in the dark and playing a game. I don't kill innocents. It's my only rule. The woman doesn't scream or try to call the police. Her big, green eyes take me in with curiosity, and not even the blood on my gloves makes her flinch. She sees me at my worst—and she doesn't run.

A serial killer in New York’s South Bronx district is targeting clients of local sex workers. The victims, all male, are either burned alive or beaten to death. With the body count mounting and no real leads, the FBI decides to put someone in undercover. Enter rookie agent Shannon Ames. Suited for deep cover work because she is single and without family ties, Shannon is young enough to pass herself off as a working girl. But spending her nights on the streets as she hunts for the killer takes its toll.