For fans of HBO’s The Gilded Age, explore the dark side of the alluring world of America’s 19th century elite in this gripping series of riveting mysteries… As the nineteenth century comes to a close, the illustrious Vanderbilt family dominates Newport, Rhode Island, high society. But when murder darkens a glittering affair at their summer home, reporter Emma Cross learns that sometimes the cream of the crop can curdle one’s blood . . . Newport, Rhode Island, August 1895: She may be a less well-heeled relation, but as second cousin to millionaire patriarch Cornelius Vanderbilt, twenty-one-year-old Emma Cross is on the guest list for a grand ball at the Breakers, the Vanderbilts’ summer home. She also has a job to do—report on the event for the society page of the Newport Observer. But Emma observes much more than glitz and gaiety when she witnesses a murder. The victim is Cornelius Vanderbilt’s financial secretary, who plunges off a balcony faster than falling stock prices. Emma’s black sheep brother Brady is found in Cornelius’s bedroom passed out next to a bottle of bourbon and stolen plans for a new railroad line. Brady has barely come to before the police have arrested him for the murder. But Emma is sure someone is trying to railroad her brother and resolves to find the real killer at any cost . . . “Sorry to see the conclusion of Downton Abbey? Well, here is a morsel to get you through a long afternoon. Brew some Earl Grey and settle down with a scone with this one.” —Washington Independent Review of Books

In New York, Walt Lawson is about to lose his girlfriend Vanessa. In Los Angeles, Raymond and Mia James are about to lose their house. Within days, none of it will matter. When Vanessa dies of the flu, Walt is devastated. But she isn't the last. The virus quickly kills billions, reducing New York to an open grave and LA to a chaotic wilderness of violence and fires. As Raymond and Mia hole up in an abandoned mansion, where they learn to function without electricity, running water, or neighbors, Walt begins an existential walk to LA, where Vanessa had planned to move when she left him. He expects to die along the way. Months later, a massive vessel appears above Santa Monica Bay. Walt is attacked by a crablike monstrosity in a mountain stream. The virus that ended humanity wasn't created by humans. It was inflicted from outside. The colonists who sent it are ready to finish the job--and Earth's survivors may be too few and too weak to resist. ~ Breakers is the first book in the finished BREAKERS series. For fans of The Stand, Hugh Howey, and Justin Cronin. Keywords: free, freebie, sci fi, post apocalyptic, post apocalyptic fiction, action, adventure, dystopian, aliens, science fiction series

When Tom Galley, a successful career thief, befriends the lovely computer savvy Kate Kincaid, he feels he has found the perfect accomplice for a heist he has planned. Kates technical expertise as a securities analyst does not exempt her from his charm and a smile that could sell things. She agrees to a summer sail with Tom and his best friend Nathan Gage. They are joined by the witty, upbeat Gretchen Tillane who is only too willing to escape a vindictive ex-husband. Beyond The Mast is one part romance adventure, one part sophisticated heist and one part murder. On a cruise to the stark, exotic beauty of the Sea of Cortez the two couples develop a closeness and familiarity that can only be found in sailing. Along the way they encounter a host of unexpected characters from adventurers and knock abouts to bandits and expatriates. The action turns sinister when the group is forced to execute two young Indian pirates, an act which follows them back to California. Only upon the return voyage do they learn graphically, the value of a single life. The book concludes with a murder investigation in San Diego and an intriguing cat and mouse game in the financial centers of Atlanta. Ultimately, the characters must determine at which point loyalty compromises ones sense of integrity and when does trust override personal ambition.

A provocative challenge at a dinner party, a serendipitous encounter on a Northumberland cliff top, the accidental death of a friend and the rupture of his marriage converge to disrupt Peter Bowman’s well-ordered middle-class existence as he approaches middle age. Peter negotiates a sabbatical from his job as a solicitor to pursue his long held ambition to write fiction. He embarks on an odyssey which leads him to new challenges and loves shaped by happiness and tragedy. When Peter goes to France to stay with Sally, an enigmatic freelance journalist with a troubled past, he takes the first tentative steps towards writing a novel. But can he, as a member of the pre-baby boomer generation, ever fully escape from the constraints imposed by his background and upbringing and embrace the liberal and permissive attitudes of the 1960s and achieve his lifelong ambition? Inspired by modern writers including Sebastian Faulks, Kate Atkinson and Julian Barnes, Beyond the Arch is the debut novel from David Evered which explores the changing society and culture of the late 1960s. The book will appeal to readers that enjoy contemporary fiction, as well as those interested in relationships.

When Petra Baron goes into the fortuneteller's tent at a Renaissance fair, she expects to leave with a date to prom. Instead, she walks out into Elizabethan England, where she meets gypsies, a demon dog and a kindred spirit in Emory Ravenswood. Emory must thwart the plans of religious zealots. His mission is dangerous, his enemies are fanatical, and Petra Baron is a complication that Heaven only knows he does not need. Or does he? Although Emory is on Heaven's errand, he learned long ago that Heaven does not always play fair. As Petra slowly falls for Emory, she wonders if he really is who he seems, or if he is just as lost as she is. How can they have a future while trapped in the past? Or is anything possible Beyond the Fortuneteller's Tent?