Crime

by Marco Velos

*Notes on the Trouble Line* is a literary crime novel about a streetwise young horseracing handicapper who becomes entangled with rival race-fixing mobsters. In the summer of 1982, twenty-one-year-old Michael Kipness claims he won big just in time to flee New York City. The truth: he stole money from his grandfather's mob associates. With enough cash for a stake and a cross-country train ticket, Michael heads west seeking refuge with his friend and mentor, Alfred, who is dying of AIDS. Alfred sees Michael clearly - a troubled young man whose gifts as a handicapper (attention to detail, memory, imagination, disciple) make him a brilliant storyteller. He challenges Michael to pursue his passion for the races and to tell his story honestly. At Seattle's Longacres racetrack Michael discovers his gift for reading horses makes him valuable to dangerous men. A notorious race-fixer wants Michael’s help fixing races. A local gangster with a taste for violence claims Michael’s expertise for himself. Back in New York the men Michael stole from want their money and revenge. The FBI wants him to inform against them all. The danger Michael faces is both physical and moral. He must use his nerve and his ability to read a trouble line to outmaneuver the men who are determined to control his destiny. Along the way, he meets Lisa, an intuitive counterpart who sees Michael is ways he is yet to see himself. Caught between loyalty, survival and the longing to make one clean bet, he must discover what honesty means in a world built on secrets and bad odds. My first novel, *Gloria*, was published by Simon and Schuster and several foreign houses, including Rizzoli, Belfond, MacMillan and Goldman. It received praise from the *New York Times*, *Washington Post*, and the *Los Angeles Times*, among many others. I’ve won several literary awards, including the Rinehart Prize for Fiction from George Mason University. *Notes on the Trouble Line* is set in the authentic world of 1980s horse racing. It will appeal to readers of Stewart O'Nan's *City of Secrets*, Frederick Exley's *A Fan's Notes*, and Don DeLillo’s *Underworld.*

by Sir Arthur Conon Doyle

Seeking a roommate to share expenses, Dr. Watson is introduced to the brilliant but enigmatic Sherlock Holmes at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. The pair is soon summoned to a derelict house where a man is found dead with no visible wounds, save for the word **"RACHE"** scrawled in blood on the wall. As Holmes utilizes his unique powers of deduction to track the killer, the narrative reveals a tragic backstory of love, loss, and Mormon pioneers in the American West that fueled the murderer's quest for justice.

by Lisa Troy

Anastasia Livanitis came back to Lifnos for one reason: her father needed post-surgery downtime and someone had to run the family taverna. Two months. In and out. Simple as tzatziki. Then Frieda Baron turns up dead a day after their very public argument — and Anastasia discovers she can still see her. Frieda in death is exactly how she was in life: a billionaire's daughter, a Reality TV winner, and utterly convinced the world revolves around her. She has opinions about the murder, the taverna's wall paint, and Anastasia's love life. Oh, and she's not going anywhere until the killer is found. Anastasia has no choice but to listen — because the locals already think her family's into the dark arts, the hot detective thinks she's the prime suspect, and the taverna won't survive another scandal. The problem with investigating a billionaire's daughter's murder? Ridiculously rich people aren't big on truth. They're interested in results. Anastasia doesn't believe in ghosts. Or curses. She definitely doesn't believe she can solve a murder with a dead woman's help. Yeah, that's going to go over well... A paranormal cozy mystery set on a sun-soaked Greek island. Perfect for readers who love: reluctant sleuths, ghost sidekicks with attitude, homecoming mysteries, family legacy, and Mediterranean atmosphere.

by Judah Ray

In 1955, a secret experiment at the Large Hadron Collider tore open a doorway to another realm.\ \ Extradimensional beings came through, possessed the top scientists and military officials in the room, and kept the portal open.\ \ One of the first crossed over and took a human infant as its host. That infant was Christina.\ \ The only issue is that Christina forgot what she was,  and the others could not enter or control her, but she could see them. So they declared her unstable and institutionalized her.\ \ Years later, world leaders, billionaires, media figures, and political dynasties are all possessed. The New World Order is not a conspiracy theory. It is literal possession.\ \ A decade later, Christina escapes and resurfaces in Berlin. The forces that have tracked her since childhood want her reclaimed or eliminated.\ \ With the help of Jory, who has been able to see the entities inside people since surviving a near-death experience as a child, Christina uncovers a power structure that has ruled humanity from within for generations.\ \ When she learns she is one of them, she must choose between her own kind or the man she loves and the humanity she chose to protect.\ \ They have ruled the world from inside us.\ Now one of their own stands against them.