Romantic Suspense books

First from The Vault

Mob enforcer Ceaton Mercer has killed a lot of people in a lot of different ways—he stashed the last two bodies in a toolshed belonging to a sweetheart marine researcher in an idyllic island community—but he’s really not such a bad guy. Over time he’s found a home of sorts, and he even learns he’s found a place in the hearts of the people he works with… at least enough so that they won’t put a bullet in his head because he’s outlived his usefulness to the boss.

But he never thought he’d find one day could change his life, and he’s about to discover how wrong he is. 

Because in a single day, he meets the man who looks to be the one, the love of his life. It’s an improbable idea—a man who deals in death finding love—but it’s like it’s meant to be. That single day gets weirder and troubles pile up, forcing Ceaton to take a hard look at his dreary life and accept that one day can change everything, especially himself. His future might be brighter than he expects—if he can stay alive long enough to find out.

Read more...

Welcome to Dim Sum Asylum: a San Francisco where it’s a ho-hum kind of case when a cop has to chase down an enchanted two-foot-tall shrine god statue with an impressive Fu Manchu mustache that's running around Chinatown, trolling sex magic and chaos in its wake.

Senior Inspector Roku MacCormick of the Chinatown Arcane Crimes Division faces a pile of challenges far beyond his human-faerie heritage, snarling dragons guarding C-Town’s multiple gates, and exploding noodle factories. After a case goes sideways, Roku is saddled with Trent Leonard, a new partner he can’t trust, to add to the crime syndicate family he doesn’t want and a spell-casting serial killer he desperately needs to find.

While Roku would rather stay home with Bob the Cat and whiskey himself to sleep, he puts on his badge and gun every day, determined to serve and protect the city he loves. When Chinatown’s dark mystical underworld makes his life hell and the case turns deadly, Trent guards Roku’s back and, if Trent can be believed, his heart... even if from what Roku can see, Trent is as dangerous as the monsters and criminals they’re sworn to bring down.

Read more...

Les flics de Carlisle, tome 1

L’agent de police  Red Markham sait bien à quel point la vie peut être moche depuis qu’un accident de voiture l’a privé de ses parents et l’a laissé défiguré. Son métier, qui l’amène à sillonner les rues de Carlisle, en Pennsylvanie, ne fait qu’ajouter à l’horreur, d’autant plus que le nombre des overdoses a dernièrement considérablement augmenté. Puis, un après-midi, il est appelé au centre de loisirs pour une noyade impliquant un enfant. Arrivé sur les lieux, il découvre que le petit garçon a été sauvé par un jeune maître-nageur du nom de Terry Baumgartner. Red n’est guère surpris lorsque cet homme magnifique fait tout son possible pour ne pas avoir à regarder son visage couturé de cicatrices. 

Quand Terry surprend un jour un commentaire de Red le décrivant comme un homme superficiel, il en vient à se dire qu’il n’est pas vraiment aussi généreux qu’il veut bien le croire. Son amie Julie lui suggère alors d’aider les plus démunis en livrant des repas aux personnes âgées. Cette action de bénévolat lui permet de faire la connaissance de Margie, une vieille dame au franc-parler, qui s’avère être par ailleurs la tante de l’agent de police. 

Les mondes de Terry et de Red entrent en collision alors que Red s’efforce de découvrir la source du trafic de drogue et de protéger Terry d’un ex qui refuse leur séparation. S’ils parviennent à voir au-delà des apparences, il se pourrait que les bénéfices qu’ils retirent de l’aventure dépassent leurs plus grandes espérances.

Read more...

Serie Bissonet & Cruz, Investigatori Privati, Libro 1

Quando due pregiati quadri risalenti alla Guerra Civile vengono rubati da una famosa galleria di New Orleans, l’investigatore capo della NOPD Montgomery “Beau” Bissonet e il suo collega sono chiamati a risolvere il caso. Nel frattempo, la compagnia assicurativa della galleria ha inviato in città Tollison Cruz affinché conduca un’indagine indipendente, ma non appena l’uomo incontra il detective, le loro personalità entrano in conflitto e lo scontro è inevitabile. 

Il furto diventa subito un caso da prima pagina che coinvolge persone importanti. Quando gli viene ordinato di farsi affiancare da Cruz per arrivare più velocemente a un arresto, Bissonet si infuria. Il rapporto tra i due però si incendia quando scoprono di avere più cose in comune di quanto avessero inizialmente pensato. 

Con i dissidi temporaneamente superati, Bissonet e Cruz iniziano a collaborare, ma non si limitano a un rapporto professionale. Tutto sembra arrestarsi bruscamente quando Beau scopre che Tollison ha omesso informazioni sul caso e nascosto un passato decisamente discutibile. Ciò che segue è così scottante da competere col caldo sole estivo della Louisiana.

Read more...

Just another day at the office. 

For some people that means spreadsheets, and for others it’s stitching endless hems. For Jacob Archer a day at the office is stealing proprietary information from a bioengineering firm for a paranoid software billionaire. He’s a liar and a thief, parlaying a glib tongue and a facile conscience into a lucrative career. He just has one rule—never get involved with a mark. 

Well, had one rule. To be fair, though, Simon Ramsey is dark, dangerous, and has shoulders like a Greek statue. Besides, it’s not as though Jacob’s even really stealing from Simon… just his boss and his brother-in-law. Simon didn’t buy that excuse either after he caught Jacob breaking into the company’s computer network. 

That would have been that—one messy breakup, one ticket to Bali booked—but it turns out that the stolen information is worth more than Jacob thought. With his life—and his ribs—threatened, Jacob needs Simon to help him out. Or maybe he just needs Simon.

Read more...

Seguito di Un buono scheletro
Serie Scheletri, Libro 2

Non esiste un manuale per i lupi mannari, e nemmeno una guida per due uomini che si imbarcano in una storia d’amore. 

Sono passate alcune settimane da quando l’architetto Dylan Warner ha confessato al tuttofare Chris Nock di essere un mutaforma e lo ha salvato da Andy, il folle lupo mannaro responsabile della sua licantropia. Dylan e Chris si stanno ora dedicando sia a ristrutturare la casa di Dylan, sia a rafforzare le fondamenta del loro rapporto. Provengono da percorsi di vita molto diversi e nessuno dei due ha mai avuto una relazione importante. Riuscire a far funzionare la loro unione è già abbastanza difficile, anche volendo sorvolare su quel che succede a Dylan a ogni luna piena. 

A complicare la situazione, un fantasma infesta la casa di Dylan e nelle vite della nuova coppia riaffiorano scheletri che credevano sepolti. Dylan deve fronteggiare le conseguenze dell’uccisione di Andy e Chris continua a soffrire degli strascichi di un’infanzia difficile. 

Nel tentativo di sbarazzarsi del fantasma, Dylan riallaccia vecchie amicizie e si espone a nuovi pericoli. Intanto, il padre di Chris ricompare inaspettatamente nella sua vita, facendo riaffiorare emozioni sopite. Se Dylan e Chris vorranno costruire una relazione duratura, dovranno trovare la determinazione per affrontare ogni sfida.

Read more...

Buch 1 in der Serie - Verliebte Partner

Deputy US Marshal Miro Jones hat den Ruf, auch unter Beschuss ruhig zu bleiben und einen kühlen Kopf zu bewahren. Diese Eigenschaften kommen ihm in der Zusammenarbeit mit seinem Partner Ian Doyle, einem Elitesoldaten, sehr zu Gute, denn Ian ist der Typ Mann, der in einem leeren Raum einen Streit vom Zaun brechen kann. In den vergangenen drei Jahren in ihrem Job auf Leben und Tod sind aus Fremden erst Kollegen, dann loyale Teamkameraden und schließlich beste Freunde geworden. Miro hat zu dem Mann, der ihm den Rücken freihält, blindes Vertrauen entwickelt … und einiges mehr.

Als Marshal und Soldat wird von Ian erwartet, dass er die Führung übernimmt. Aber die Stärke und Disziplin, die ihn im Einsatz zum Erfolg und zur Erfüllung seiner Mission tragen, versagen überall sonst. Ian hat sich immer gegen jede Art der Bindung gewehrt, aber kein Zuhause zu haben – und mehr noch: niemanden, zu dem er nach Hause kommen kann – frisst ihn innerlich langsam auf. Im Lauf der Zeit hat er, wenn auch widerstrebend, eingesehen, dass es ohne seinen Partner an seiner Seite einfach nicht geht. Jetzt muss Miro ihn nur noch überzeugen, dass Gefühlsbande keine Fesseln sind …

Read more...

Suite de Whiskey and Wry
Série Sinners, tome 3

Le lieutenant Connor Morgan, du SWAT de la police de San Francisco, ne cherchait pas l’amour. Surtout pas avec un homme. Ses projets d’avenir n’incluaient pas Forest Ackerman, un batteur blond aux yeux bruns, aussi sexy que noyé sous les problèmes. Sa famille compte sur lui pour être comme son père : un solide pilier central qui, un jour, guidera le clan Morgan.

Non, Connor a déjà tout prévu : une carrière dans les forces de l’ordre, une belle maison et une famille. Cependant, lors d’une descente pour une affaire de drogue, il trouve un homme assassiné et perd son cœur en réconfortant son fils adoptif. Ce n’est pas comme s’il n’avait jamais ressenti d’attirance pour les hommes… c’est juste qu’en aimer un ne rentre pas dans ses plans.

Forest Ackerman n’a vraiment pas besoin de convoiter un flic hétéro, même si celui-ci est partout où il pose les yeux, surtout après la mort de Frank. Il vient juste de se dissuader de continuer à désirer le flic baraqué quand son salon de café devient un champ de tir et que Connor intervient pour le sauver.

Celui qui a tué son père semble vouloir envoyer Forest le rejoindre dans l’au-delà. Alors que le tueur se rapproche de son objectif, Forest apprend à connaître Connor et se demande ce qu’il va perdre en premier : sa vie ou son cœur.

Read more...

Order of the Black Knights

Gabriel Ingram is running from his past. It’s common knowledge at the college where he teaches that he’s a former CIA technical analyst, but no one knows the things he really did—or about the rage and bloodlust that are his constant companions. He’s holding on to his normal life with both hands, but he knows someday he’ll lose his grip.

Lucas Craig is a social worker studying to become a family therapist. For reasons Lucas can’t understand, the normally reclusive Professor Ingram takes an interest in him, and Lucas secretly hopes their friendship might become more.

Then Eric, Lucas’s roommate, disappears. Lucas is frantic. The police are no help. With nowhere else to turn, Lucas begs Gabriel for his expertise.

What starts as a simple errand to help a friend becomes a journey into a violent world of gangs and human trafficking—one that will bring Gabriel face-to-face with the forces intent on stealing his soul. But Lucas might be the one who can save him—if Gabriel can get them out alive.

Read more...

Als Tyler Powells Leben von einem furchtbaren Verbrechen erschüttert wird, sehnt er sich nach Rache. Während er sich bemüht, die Trümmer seiner Existenz zusammenzusetzen, kann er kaum an etwas anderes denken. Rache.

Wird er diesem Verlangen nachgeben und zu dem werden, was er am meisten hasst? Zu einem Mörder?

Erst mithilfe von Detective Christian Martin, der in Tylers Fall ermittelt, sieht er die Möglichkeit eines neuen Lebens – durch die verblüffende Enthüllung einer Liebe, mit der Tyler niemals wieder gerechnet hatte.

Wird es ihm gelingen, diese Liebe in sein Leben zu lassen, oder ist es bereits zu spät? Ist Rache ihm wichtiger als sein Glück – und das Glück des Mannes, der ihn liebt? Auch wenn Tyler entschlossen ist, seinen Rachedurst zu stillen, ohne dabei jede Hoffnung auf eine Zukunft mit Christian zu opfern, weiß er, dass es sich um ein schweres oder gar unmögliches Unterfangen handelt. Möglicherweise wird er am Ende gezwungen sein, eine unerträgliche Entscheidung zu treffen.

Read more...

Seguito di Baci sporchi - Dirty Kiss
Un'indagine di Cole McGinnis

Per Cole McGinnis, ex poliziotto diventato investigatore privato, amare Kim Jae-Min non è sempre facile, perché Jae è riluttante a mostrare apertamente il suo orientamento sessuale. Al contrario, Cole non sa vivere in un altro modo, anche se capisce come si sente Jae. Gli uomini coreani che seguono la tradizione, infatti, non sono gay, perlomeno non quando possono essere scoperti.

Ma Cole non può dedicare troppo tempo a sbrogliare i problemi del suo ragazzo. Ha un incarico da portare a termine. Quando una cantante di nome Scarlet chiede il suo aiuto per trovare Park Dae-Hoon, un coreano gay che è sparito quasi vent’anni prima, Cole si ritrova immerso nel mondo intricato delle ricche famiglie coreane, dove il dovere e la politica significano sacrificare la felicità per conservare imperi aziendali. Ben presto i cadaveri iniziano ad accumularsi senza un’apparente logica. A ogni passo che Cole fa verso il ritrovamento di Park Dae-Hoon, un’altra persona va incontro alla morte, e proprio qualcuno che Cole ama potrebbe essere la prossima vittima dell’assassino.

Read more...

Love can bloom in the most unusual places….

In Wings of Love, Dr. Bradford Mitchell flees to Alaska to escape the devastating memories of his deceased partner, but can he let go of the past soon enough to embrace a future with pilot and friend Mac Cleary? In Treasure of Love, dive master and charter boat captain Jackson Cameron finds himself questioning his sexuality when openly gay treasure hunter Dax Powers hires him, but if they want to keep their new-found treasure, they’ll have to fight to keep the crew safe.

In Bounty of Love, Zander Walsh wakes up from coma only to find his fiancé and parents dead in an apparent robbery gone wrong. FBI Agent Jake Elliot is doing his best to find the murderer, but as the months pass—and unexpected feelings grow between them—it becomes clear that someone is doing their best to keep them from finding the truth.

Finally, in Foundation of Love, co-written with Z.B. Marshall, Wes Stanhope has spent years running from his father’s controlling ways, but when his mother dies, leaving behind one last wish, he finds himself back under his thumb. His attraction to architect Ty Williams—and Ty’s refusal to hide in the closet—just might be enough to make him fight back.

See excerpt for individual blurbs.

Read more...

Lana is a faded movie star who lives alone in a big house on a hill that overlooks the sea. She has lived this way since the death of her daughter and the disappearance of her husband. 

Jeff and Chloe are a couple who live in a cabin below the big house. It was Chloe’s idea to strengthen their marriage, but she sees now that it isn’t working. Jeff has become obsessed with the cabin and an old well. Chloe only sees strangeness around her. 

One night while talking on the computer with Ethan, Jeff’s brother, a feeling of dread comes to the fore. When Ethan sees a figure behind Chloe, he leaves his boyfriend and baby and sets out to save Jeff. 

Chloe, Ethan and Lana come together to fight an evil that would destroy Jeff. Will they succeed or will all of them fall to the taste of a young cannibalistic ghost?

2nd Edition
First Edition published by Wilde City Press, October 2015.

Read more...

Benjamin Lector imagines himself a smuggler, a gunrunner, and an all-around scoundrel. A preacher’s son turned criminal, first and foremost he is a survivor.

When Benjamin is shipwrecked on Dread Island, fortune sends an unlikely savior—a blond savage who is everything Benjamin didn’t know he needed. Falling in love with Sun is easy. But pirates have come looking for the remains of Benjamin’s cargo, and they find their former slave Sun instead.

Held captive by the pirates, Benjamin learns the depths of Sun’s past and the horrors he endured and was forced to perpetrate. Together, they must not only escape, but prevent a shipment of weapons from making its way to rebellious colonists. Benjamin is determined to save the man he loves and ensure that a peaceful future together is never threatened again. To succeed might require the unthinkable—an altruistic sacrifice.

Read more...

Sequel to Darkness Threatening
Yellowstone Wolves: Book Three

The last thing Tobias, alpha of the small Greenview Pack, expects is to find a lost human asleep in his storage building. As soon as he sets eyes on Pete, Tobias knows they are destined mates. But he cannot act on his attraction, no matter how much he feels compelled. Exposure to the human world could mean the end of their way of life, so he decides to help Pete get a room until he can reunite with the tour group he separated from.

But Tobias’s disgraced half brother, Zev, has other ideas. He takes a liking to Pete and decides he wants what Tobias has—both his position as pack leader and his mate. Tobias can’t let that happen, but protecting Pete means keeping him close, which only increases the mounting tensions between them.

Duty, protection, desire, and secrecy clash as the darkness within Zev rises to the surface, and only Tobias can save his mate—even if he never plans to tell Pete that’s what they are.

Read more...

A Brandt and Donnelly Caper: Case File Six

State troopers Ethan Brandt and Gabriel Donnelly are finally going to get their storybook wedding—sailing on an ocean liner to a castle in the English countryside! But when an Icelandic volcano scrambles flights all over the world, they must find alternate routes to the altar—separately.

Donnelly meets Sandler Birkin, a globetrotting courier who specializes in carrying rare artifacts and diplomatic pouches. He pulls a few strings to get Donnelly to the ship on time and then accompanies him across the Atlantic. Donnelly returns the favor by helping to find Sandler’s long-lost first love, Trevor Hendricks. Trevor's controlling, homophobic parents have brought him to Europe for a radical treatment to cure him of his homosexuality—and his love for Sandler.

Brandt, meanwhile, finagles his way around the globe with the help of Kerry Mercer, a sales executive whose spirit of adventure leads her to accompany him on his improvised journey. However, sharing hotel rooms with her presents a problem for Brandt who, despite being about to marry a man, still finds her attractive.

Once Brandt and Donnelly are reunited, they band together with Kerry and Sandler to plot Trevor’s rescue. But doing so might mean missing their own wedding.

Read more...

Als  Jesse Morales, frischgebackener College-Absolvent und angehender Krimiautor, sich auf eine Woche als Helfer im Observatorium des Mount Washington einlässt, rechnet er mit harter Arbeit. Womit er nicht rechnet, ist die Leiche, die er zwischen den Felsen im Nebel findet. Der Mann entpuppt sich als der junge Tourist Stuart Warren, für den ein Ausflug auf den Berg mit seinen Freunden tödlich endete.

Der verwitwete Polizist Kyle Dubois wird mit seinem Partner Wesley Roberts mitten in der Nacht zum Schauplatz des Verbrechens gerufen. Obwohl sich Jesse und er augenblicklich voneinander angezogen fühlen, fällt es Kyle schwer, einen so jungen Mann mit einer Vorliebe für Kriminalfälle ernst zu nehmen. Jedoch gelingt es Jesse bald, sich nützlich zu machen, indem er sich ein Zimmer im Hotel der Angehörigen und Freunde sucht, um sich unter sie zu mischen. Was er dort erfährt, könnte bei der Lösung des Falles helfen – oder ihn das Leben kosten.

Read more...

When a serious bout of writer’s block threatens to delay mystery author Drew Daniels’s newest book, his aunt offers her New Orleans apartment in the heart of the French Quarter as a writing retreat. She neglects to mention that it’s occupied by the enigmatic and sexy Finn Murphy, a cemetery tour guide with a penchant for Victorian attire and a Cajun accent.

A body discovered in an open crypt forces reclusive Drew to deal with Finn’s eccentric group of friends and his underlying attraction to the hot Cajun—despite warnings about Finn’s violent past. Drew might write this stuff, but he’s never had to solve a real-life murder. With a deadline looming and a killer on the loose, this retreat is proving to be anything but helpful for Drew’s novel. Drew can only hope he won’t end up a tragic tale for the Ghostly Legends & Lore, Inc. haunted tour.

States of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the United States.

Read more...