American Detective Fiction

What was supposed to be a week of summer fun in San Antonio, Texas, for high school seniors Ben Prescott, Porter Rockwell, and Latch McRae soon turns into another deep dive into forgotten American lore—and clues to a lost treasure! By now, it’s instinct: Ben plans. Porter charges. Latch fixes what breaks. At an auction house in San Antonio, they come across an antique powder horn from the Texas Revolution covered in strange scrimshaw symbols. These point to frontiersman and Alamo defender Jim Bowie. Better yet, they may be a clue to a hoard of treasure hidden by the pirate Jean Lafitte.

High school seniors Ben Prescott, Porter Rockwell, and Latch McRae search for treasure that American history leaves behind. Ben masterminds the plan. Porter brings the guts and humor. Latch McRae supplies the gumption and tools. Now a many times great-grandson of American patriot Samuel Adams asks them to look into a new claim that the Boston Tea Party wasn’t about British tyranny and no taxation without representation, but was Sam Adams’ scheme to steal the tea and make himself rich. If Adams was a thief, America’s origin story cracks wide open.

Ben Prescott, Porter Rockwell, and Latch McRae couldn’t be more different. Ben is a home-schooled brainiac. Porter is the starting quarterback for the Ridgeport Raiders, and Latch is a grease-smudged prodigy who never saw an engine he couldn’t take apart and set to purring. Yet the three have been friends forever, drawn together by a shared passion: treasure hunting for the forgotten loot of American history.

Kate Ardleigh is everything the Victorian English gentlewoman is not - outspoken, free-thinking, American...and a writer of the frowned upon penny dreadfuls. Soon after her arrival in Essex, England, a body is unearthed in a nearby archeological dig - and Kate has the chance to not only research her latest story but to begin her first case with amateur detective Sir Charles Sheridan.

A young woman is dead, and another is missing. Two cases worlds apart. When an old friend throws Cutter a case involving the disappearance of a young woman from Detroit’s most prominent family, he sees an opportunity to make some quick cash to keep the bookies off his back. But he soon realizes his client’s problems are a lot more sinister than he thought and finds himself in too deep.

Cops can make mistakes, even when they're not rookies. Deeply traumatized by a shooting incident, Cass Raines resigned from the Chicago PD, leaving one less female African-American on the force. Now she's the head of a one-woman private investigation agency. She also plays chess with the only father figure she's ever known, Father Ray Heaton. When Father Ray asks Cass to look into a recent spate of vandalism at his church, she readily agrees to handle the case. But only hours later she's horrified to discover his murdered body in the church confessional, a dead gangbanger sprawled out nearby.

The sole survivor of his family’s gruesome murder years earlier, poor little Ned Lawton has struggled to put the dark events behind him. So, when a brash New York detective darkens his doorway demanding an interview, the wealthy young gentleman immediately shuts him out. But a rash of murders in America are mirroring of the London killings, and Patrick Kelly knows Ned might be the key to stopping the bloodshed.

""I was knocked over by the momentum of an intense psychological thriller that doesn’t let go until the final page. This is a terrific read."" – Alafair Burke, New York Times bestselling author Rear Window meets Get Out in this gripping thriller from a critically acclaimed and New York Times...

This drive through the dark streets of the Motor City “is one of the best in Akashic Books’ noir series. You cannot go wrong with this anthology.”—Reviewing the Evidence From cri….

When the last fare of the night turns up dead in her backseat, a Sri Lankan American taxi driver works off the clock to clear her name in this mystery novel by debut author Yosha Gunasekera. Siriwathi Perera doesn’t quite know where she’s going in life. She never expected to be a taxicab...

Death at a beauty pageant turns Tita Rosie's Kitchen upside down in the latest entry of this witty and humorous cozy mystery series by Mia P. Manansala. Things are heating up for Lila Macapagal. Not in her love life, which she insists on keeping nonexistent despite the attention of two very...

Brand new book in the series, The Killing Code, is available to order now! ‘A brilliant pulse-racing thriller that I could not put down…’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ From the author of The Good Husband, discover this nail-biting crime thriller series, perfect for fans of David Baldacci...

From award-winning male/male author Josh Lanyon: a librarian finds himself in a plot right out of one of his favorite mystery novels Librarian Carter Matheson is determined to enjoy himself on a Scottish bus tour for fans of mystery author Dame Vanessa Rayburn. Sure, his ex, Trevor, will also be...

“A stunner, exquisitely plotted and characterized, with Todd’s trademark meticulous backdrop of World War I-era England.”—Strand Magazine The Great War is still raging when Francesca Hatton’s adored grandfather dies on his estate in England’s isolated Exe Valley. She is his sole heir...

The short story Mediator fans everywhere have been waiting years to read… a fun, fast-paced, never-before-read scene in which Suze Simon agrees to marry her no-longer-dead ghost boyfriend, Jesse de Silva! The last place Suze Simon expects to find herself during Valentine’s Day is a cemetery...

A thriller unlike any you have ever read. A love strong enough to bring a tremor to your bones. A sacrifice powerful enough to make heaven weep. At the close of World War II, a shell-shocked solider, Jan Jovic, was forced to inflict a game of life and death on a peaceful Bosnian community. In a...

After killing Rahaab, the most powerful dragon on Earth, Steven Drokharis knew he’d have to fight to keep what he’d won, but the cabal that killed his father was just the tip of the iceberg. He’ll have to fend off a cult of shapeshifters, magical constructs, and two devious, busty, machine-gun-toting twins, all while keeping his escort of human and dragon women satisfied. Meanwhile, the eyes of ancient demons are ever searching for signs of dragons, and the deadliest threat may be close to home.

England, 1819. Two enigmatic Americans arrive in London and soon after, a bank collapses. A man is found dead on a building site; another goes missing in the teeming stews of Seven Dials. A deathbed vigil ends in an act of theft and a beautiful heiress flirts with her inferiors. A strange destiny links each of these events to the American boy Edgar Allen Poe, brought to England by his foster father and sent to the leafy village of Stoke Newington to be educated.

Los Angeles, 1986. A group of right-wing Christians has put an initiative on the November ballot to allow health officials to force people with HIV into quarantine camps - and it looks like it’s going to pass. Rios, now living in LA, agrees to be counsel for a group of young activists who call themselves QUEER. QUEER claims to be committed to peaceful civil disobedience. But when one of its members is implicated in the bombing of an evangelical church that kills its pastor, Rios finds himself with a client suddenly facing the death penalty.

Since the disbanding of the Special Homicide Investigation Team, J. P. Beaumont’s biggest concern is pondering whether he and his wife Mel should finally get a dog. But one voicemail from his old friend Ralph Ames is about to change that. Through Ralph, Beau has become involved in an...