Decadence and murder found on the dark side of the big city pales in comparison to the freak show found by undercover US narcotics agent Bob Clark in The Carnival of Death. Clark's investigation begins with cocaine and leads to cold-blooded murder--the discovery of one, and then another, headless corpse. Who is behind the slaughter? Are the killings tied to the drug traffic? Or is a deeper, darker, and even more sinister conspiracy unfolding in the carnival? There are plenty of distractions--bright lights and beautiful girls--but Clark better find the murderers of the midway fast. Because the next head that rolls could very well be his own. Also includes the mystery "The Death Flyer," in which a man and woman find themselves trapped on a ghost train and bound for a deadly crash ... unless they can find a way to derail fate and cheat death--on the fly. Experience the spinning wheels, the pleasure-seeking crowds and the screams of horror as the The Carnival of Death takes you on a roller-coaster ride of suspense. "Highly recommended." --Midwest Book Review "Roars to life." --Library Journal

The detective is deep undercover at Shreve's Mammoth Carnival, when he discovers first one and then another headless body. While others believe the gruesome murders are solved after four tribal headhunters working for the show suddenly disappear, Bob Clark suspects someone else is the real killer. When he finds himself seized by the very same headhunters, Clark sincerely hopes his hunch is right, since the point of a very sharp knife is aimed at his neck! The Death Flyer: Can history be reversed to save a beautiful girl on the ghost train? Long before the Source Code movie with Jake Gyllenhaal, Jim Bellamy boards a ghost train, screaming through the night as he tries to save the life of a young lady who died in its wreckage ten years ago. A love story of an impossible nature, Jim tries to reverse time, on a train of phantoms long forgotten, yet stuck in time. “...consistently engaging, over-the-top performances that complement the colorful characters and equally vibrant carnival setting. Particularly entertaining are occasional screams of horror (from the women actors), a nice contrast to Meskimen’s interpretation of the solid federal agent. For pulp-fiction fans.” —Booklist

Carnival for the Dead is a suspenseful spin-off from the Nic Costa series, David Hewson's detective novels of love and death in Italy. In Venice the past was more reticent. Beyond the tourist sights, San Marco and the Rialto, it lurked in the shadows, seeping out of the cracked stones like blood from ancient wounds, as if death itself was one more sly performance captured beneath the bright all-seeing light of the lagoon. It’s February, and Carnival time in Venice. Forensic pathologist Teresa Lupo visits the city to investigate the mysterious disappearance of her beloved bohemian Aunt Sofia. But from the moment she is greeted off the vaporetto by a masked man dressed in the costume of The Plague Doctor, Teresa starts to suspect that all is not well. The puzzle deepens when a letter reveals a piece of fiction in which both Sofia and Teresa appear. Even more strange, are the links to the past which gradually begin to surface. Are the messages being sent by Sofia herself? Her abductor? Or a third party seeking to help her unravel the mystery? The revelation is as surprising and shocking as Sofia’s fate. And Teresa herself comes to depend upon the unravelling of a mystery wrapped deep inside the art and culture of Venice itself.

Cadenza is the City of Words, a city run by poets, its skyline dominated by the steepled towers of its libraries, its heart beating to the stamp and thrum of the printing presses in the Printing Quarter. Carlo Mazzoni, a young wordsmith arrives at the city gates intent on making his name as the bells ring out with the news of the death of the city’s poet-leader. Instead, he finds himself embroiled with the intrigues of a city in turmoil, the looming prospect of war with their rival Venice ever-present. A war that threatens not only to destroy Cadenza but remove it from history altogether…

On the day they gave the money away . . . the shopping center was a scene of confusion. A carnival had been set up nearby, and now a clown was throwing coins and bills to the eager crowd. Suddenly the gay scene changed to nightmare. A man clutched his stomach and dropped to the ground. A clown was shot; a young mother was killed by a stray bullet. The merrymakers were no longer the audience, but unwilling pawns in a dangerous game - with life or death as the stakes.