Free Through Sunday!

Atlantic City, 1957

Professional boxers Roberto Varga and Michael Boyle were once pals growing up at St. Vincent’s Asylum for Boys in Chicago. Under the guidance of Father Tim, the fighting priest, they learned values, respect, responsibility, and how to fight fair.

But those lessons didn’t stick with Boyle. Two years after leaving St. Vincent’s, Boyle and Varga face-off in the ring with Boyle pounding out a bloody, lopsided decision, Varga swore wasn’t on the up and up.

In the seven years since, their careers have taken different paths. Guided by unscrupulous manager Tommy Domino, Boyle is positioned for a title shot against Sugar Ray Robinson. Varga, however, has struggled in a career still haunted by the bloody loss to Boyle.

When the boxer scheduled to fight Boyle in Atlantic City breaks his hand two weeks before the fight, Domino scrambles for a replacement. He finds Varga toiling in a Philadelphia gym and offers him the rematch Varga has been waiting years to get. For Varga, it’s a chance to finally even the score, a chance to get the title shot he’s always dreamed about. But Boyle is not the only formidable foe aligned against Varga.

Redemption comes at a bloody price – a price perhaps too high for Varga to pay …

I Love This Art!

Max Allan Collins is a favorite author of mine, and I love Glen Orbik's painted covers.  This one offers the best of both worlds, and comics legend Terry Beatty's illustrated pages inside as well.

Of course, the book concerns itself with the 1950s witch hunt that went on through comics during that time and ultimately resulted in the Comics Code Authority, which publishers freely adopted, to protect young readers.  The CCA has gone by the wayside these days because most of today's comics crowd tends to be much older.

Colins has always been adept at combining real history in his mystery capers, and this one looks like it's going to be informative and entertaining in its treatment of the subject material.

Read a section here.

Free Book!

For today only.  This is a book by one of my longtime writer buddies!

A killer has something to say—and he’s using her obituary column to get his point across...

When columnist Monroe Donovan receives an obituary notice with a date of death two days in the future, she dismisses it as a typo. Then, a second incorrect obituary comes in, and a woman whose name matches the name of the deceased is murdered—on the date listed in the obituary. Now, Monroe realizes that something much more sinister is happening. A serial killer is trying to communicate with her.

She turns to Detective Lane Brody for help, but her attraction to him is complicating her already complicated life. And when the killer turns out to have a disturbing connection to Monroe, complications turn deadly.

Blade Runner Noir

It's a mockup, not actually available, but I love this kind of art.  Grew up on a lot of books that looked just like this.

Wicked Business by Janet Evanovich

I didn't even know this one came out yesterday.  No fanfare?  My wife and daughter are big fans of Janet Evanovich, so I'm surprising them both with ebook copies today.  They didn't know it was out either, I'm guessing.  Otherwise I wouldn't have seen either of them yesterday.  :)

Whether it’s monkey business, funny business, or getting down to business, Janet Evanovich’s Lizzy and Diesel series proves that there’s no business like Wicked Business.

Lizzy Tucker’s once normal life as a pastry chef in Salem, Massachusetts, turns upside down as she battles both sinister forces and an inconvenient attraction to her unnaturally talented but off-limits partner, Diesel.

When Harvard University English professor and dyed-in-the-wool romantic Gilbert Reedy is mysteriously murdered and thrown off his fourth-floor balcony, Lizzy and Diesel take up his twenty-year quest for the Luxuria Stone, an ancient relic believed by some to be infused with the power of lust. Following clues contained in a cryptic nineteenth-century book of sonnets, Lizzy and Diesel tear through Boston catacombs, government buildings, and multimillion-dollar residences. On their way they’ll leave behind a trail of robbed graves, public disturbances, and general mayhem.

Diesel’s black sheep cousin, Gerwulf Grimoire, also wants the Stone. His motives are far from pure, and what he plans on doing with the treasure, no one knows . . . but Lizzy Tucker fears she’s in his crosshairs. Never far and always watching, Grimoire has a growing, vested interest in the cupcake-baker-turned-finder-of-lost-things. As does another dangerous and dark opponent in the hunt—a devotee of lawlessness and chaos, known only as Anarchy.

Treasures will be sought, and the power of lust will be unmistakable as Lizzy and Diesel attempt to stay ahead of Anarchy, Grimoire, and his medieval minion, Hatchet, in this ancient game of twisted riddles and high-stakes hide-and-seek.

Recommended: Alafair Burke

Sixteen-year-old Julia Whitmire appeared to have everything: a famous father, a luxurious Manhattan town house, a coveted spot at the elite Casden prep school. When she is found dead in her bathtub, a handwritten suicide note left on her bed, her parents insist that their daughter would never take her own life.

But Julia's enviable world was more complicated than it seemed. The pressure to excel at Casden was enormous. Abuse of prescription antidepressants and ADHD medication ran rampant among students; an unlabeled bottle of pills in Julia's purse suggests she had succumbed to the trend. And a search of Julia's computer reveals that in the days leading up to her death she was engaged in a dangerous game of cyberbullying against an unlikely victim.

NYPD detective Ellie Hatcher is convinced the case is a suicide, but she knows from personal experience that a loving family can be the last to accept the truth. When the Whitmires use their power to force a criminal investigation, Ellie's resistance causes trouble for her both at work and in her personal life. As she is pressured to pursue a case she doesn't believe in, she is pulled into Julia's inner circle—an eclectic mix of overly precocious teenagers from Manhattan's most privileged families as well as street kids from Greenwich Village. But when the target of Julia's harassment continues to receive death threats, Ellie is forced to acknowledge that Julia may have learned the hard way that some secrets should never be told.

PI Ed Noon For Free!

For free today, the first Ed Noon private eye book written by legendary author Michael Avallone.  Haven't read this one myself, though I have read other Ed Noon books, and am looking forward to this one.  It's already loaded up on my Kindle.

"It's like this. You've been alive about thirty years, been all over the world, know your way around the toughest, biggest cities. You're no pushover. You've had lead dug out of your shoulders, fractured a leg here, and broken an arm there. You're tough, see? No lily-of-the-valley. A real hard guy. And yet with
all that, you can be dumb. Real dumb. Like when you shoot off your mouth just because you have a gun in your pocket." --Ed Noon, Private Eye

Enter Ed Noon on the world scene. The tallest burlesque queen in the universe hires Noon to find her even taller lover, who has vanished under strange circumstances. He turns up stabbed and dead on the steps of the Museum of Natural History, and sets Noon on a twisted murderous missing diamond-encrusted trail that ultimately leads to the Statue of Liberty. Noon meets Lt. Mike Monks of NY’s Homicide Dept who will become not only a Captain, but also Noon’s greatest ally and friend over the next four decades.

Ed Noon Series:

The Adventures of Ed Noon, Private Eye, spanning over 30 novels written between 1953 and 1990. Noon starts out dirt poor with a tiny office in Midtown Manhattan (his “Mouse Auditorium”) but success moves him to better digs, with a lovely secretary (Melissa Mercer) and, eventually, the most important client of all: the President of the United States. The series concludes with a daring turn towards science fiction in the last two novels. Through it all, the wisecracking Noon is consistent: a movie and baseball-obsessed romantic who always fights the good fight. And, more often than not, wins.

New Fathomless Abyss Novella Out Today!

My buddy Phil Athans has written the FIRST "Fathomless Abyss" novella (27,000 words of edge-of-your-seat SF goodness) that is the first in a new wave of exciting adventure.  Less than the price of a movie ticket ($2.99) and entertains you even longer.

I urge you to pick this one up if you like SF and adventure.  You'll have a blast in the Abyss.

Devils of the Endless Deep is the first follow-up to the anthology Tales From The Fathomless Abyss.

When the Fathomless Abyss opens onto an unsuspecting world, the Smog that chokes its upper regions is released. And with the Smog come the Tabagie—raiders and scavengers from thousands of different worlds and thousands of different epochs. The Tabagie get what they can, while they can, then the Abyss closes again, and no one knows how long it will be before it opens again.

When the Abyss opened on Earth in 1986, Keegan O’Malley fell in, and Guillermo Cordova floated out. Keegan is left trying to adapt to a strange new world populated by a mix of aliens from the far-flung reaches of the universe and humans from both his past and his future. And Guillermo, a 16th Century Spanish Conquistador, will have to make his way in a future world that’s no less alien.

But Guillermo knows something Keegan doesn’t.

He knows when and where the Fathomless Abyss will open next.

Philip Athans, the New York Times best-selling author of Annihilation, leads a team of fantasy and science fiction veterans into a bizarre new world, and a fascinating new project: a shared world series as exotic and expansive as the infinite Abyss.

Free Book Today

In each installment of 7 Hours, a character is visited by the enigmatic Thomas Constant, who makes a heart-stopping statement: “You are about to die. But you may choose from one of three options: Live seven more hours, travel back in time and relive seven hours, or accept the inevitable and die now.”

New York City cabdriver Adrian Colfax awakens one night muttering a mysterious string of numbers and with the fragments of a bizarre dream in his head. He can’t shake the feeling there’s something he’s supposed to do. Something very important. He just can’t remember what it is.

Through a series of haunting visions, Adrian comes to believe he's been transported back in time to prevent the violent murder of the girl he loved. But he also learns that saving Kate could result in something even more catastrophic.

The clock is ticking. What will you do with the time you have left?

Longmire

Don't know if anyone else caught the first episode of Longmire on Sunday night, but I did and I liked it quite a lot.  There are some rough parts, but I believe they'll get that ironed out soon enough.  My favorite part is the wide open landscape.  Pretty country.

Rizzoli and Isles Season 3

Rizzoli and Isles are back for Season 3 and their lives are more complicated and fun than ever.  You have got to love Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) and her family's tendency to overinvolve.  Crisp crime writing and characters you can root for.

Franklin and Bash! Season 2!

Hands down one of my favorite shows.  I love the characters and the cases.  If you didn't catch the series last summer, you gotta have a look this year.  Absolutely wonderful writing, pacing, and one-liners.

Tuesday nights at 9 on TNT.

New Nicolas Colt Mystery Out Today

Things are going pretty well for Nicholas Colt. He has a loving relationship with his wife, his blues band has a house gig at a club in Jacksonville, and his adopted daughter is finishing her senior year in high school. He has no intention of reactivating his PI licensee, and he certainly has no plans to travel to Tennessee to investigate a double homicide and an old girlfriend’s missing brother.
Until she tells him something that makes his heart pause and his jaw drop.

Are the Harvest Angels, the white supremacist militia that Colt shut down three years ago, back in business?

Colt makes the trip to the mountains and soon thinks he has it solved: typical copycat case. Unfortunately, another unimaginable atrocity is waiting for him back home in Florida. Colt walks into a bloodbath, and he soon realizes nothing is typical and nothing is solved.

While relentlessly hunting down those responsible, Colt is abducted, drugged, and brainwashed before he can alert the authorities. Now he is a pawn in a heinous scheme that is bigger, badder, and literally more earth-shattering than he could have possibly anticipated.

In this gripping follow-up to his critically acclaimed debut Pocket-47, Jude Hardin once again keeps the pace frantic and the suspense nonstop. With the stakes raised exponentially this time, Crosscut is sure to keep thriller lovers turning pages.

New KOP Novel

I read the first two books and had a blast with them.

Juno Mozambe once had a life. That was when he was a dirty cop, married to a woman who suffered such profound abuse that she murdered her vile, drug kingpin father. Juno loved his wife and did his best to help her survive her guilt, her drug habit, and her desire to end her life on the dead-end planet of Lagarto.

When she died, however, Juno’s life went downhill. And then his first partner, the corrupt chief of the Koba Office of Police, was murdered. The man responsible, Emil Mota, is using the KOP for his personal gain. Juno has been laying low, but now he’s ready to do whatever it takes to take down the bastard.

Rather than working from inside the system, he’s decided that the only way to take down the KOP is to create an independent base of power. So he gets involved with a team of dirty cops and starts working as a rent-a-thug for a whorehouse that needs protection.

Juno’s last partner knows that his risky plan has a purpose, but she’s that rarest of creatures on the hothouse planet of Lagarto: an honest cop. She can’t help him.

When Juno discovers a series of profoundly twisted murders, he faces a bleak possibility: in his desperate quest for vengeance against the man who targeted him for death, Juno may have placed himself beyond any hope of redemption....

Still Only 99 cents! Summer Special!

A nice beach read for the guy in your life.  And maybe for women who like hard-hitting heroes.

Havana, Cuba. 1954.

Mickey Flynn is an ex-Korean War vet turned merchant marine. He was born in the ghettos of Chicago and raised in an orphanage with his younger brother, Patrick. He was one of several young men who received an education from the nuns at St. Vincent's.

But he was also taught the "sweet science" by Father Tim, a Golden Gloves boxer and retired police officer who only knew one way to bring a troubled boy to manhood. Father Tim worked with his young charges, taught them how to jab and punch and throw a hook that seemed to come out of nowhere. When the young men left St. Vincent's (Our Lady of the Glass Jaw), they were changed, fit and ready to take on the troubles the encountered around the world, no matter where they found them.

Now Mick's in Havana, working on WIDE BERTHA, his ship. After surviving a fierce storm at sea, the last thing Mick and the crew need to do is get crossways with the Italian organized crime flooding Havana, but it doesn't take much to put him in the cross hairs of a vengeful mob boss working for Lucky Luciano.

Unable to get free of bad luck and unfortunate circumstance, Mick ends up in the ring in an illegal boxing match fighting a human killing machine.

Soul Seducer Out Now

My good friend and fellow writer Alicia Dean has a new book out today!

She has spent her entire life fighting death. Now she’s falling in love with him. . . .

Audra Grayson became a nurse in order to help save lives. But one night after a brutal beating, she almost loses her own. The near-death experience opens a door between the world of the living and the world beyond. Two Grim Reapers invade her life. One is charming, with the angelic blonde looks of a saint and the black soul of a psychopath. The other is dark, dangerously attractive and, in spite of her distaste for his reaper duties, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to him.

When Audra's patients begin to die unexpectedly and her loved ones are threatened, she will risk her life—even her soul—to save them. But can she risk her heart to an inhuman being whose very purpose is to take those she is trying to save?

Rogue Angel Magic Lantern

Have you read the latest Rogue Angel novel?  If not, I have three to give away.  Just email me here.  I'll put the names in a hat and have my son draw out the winners a week from today.

 

Caught My Eye

17-year-old Banyan is a tree builder. Using salvaged scrap metal, he creates forests for rich patrons who seek a reprieve from the desolate landscape. Although Banyan's never seen a real tree--they were destroyed more than a century ago-his missing father used to tell him stories about the Old World.

Everything changes when Banyan meets a mysterious woman with a strange tattoo-a map to the last living trees on earth, and he sets off across a wasteland from which few return. Those who make it past the pirates and poachers can't escape the locusts . . . the locusts that now feed on human flesh.

But Banyan isn't the only one looking for the trees, and he's running out of time. Unsure of whom to trust, he's forced to make an alliance with Alpha, a beautiful, dangerous pirate with an agenda of her own. As they race towards a promised land that might be a myth, Banyan makes shocking discoveries about his family, his past, and how far people will go to bring back the trees.

Arrow Coming Fall 2012

I'm afraid to hope for much from this one because Green Arrow has always been one of my favorite characters.  But I do.  And from the sounds of the description, they're playing true to a lot of Oliver Queen's mythos.

The promo picture above came from the previous do-over of the comic series.  Before the New 52.

But it seems to have a lot of the same edginess of the newest relaunch.

Either way, color me green with excitement for now. 

Elementary

This one got mixed responses when it was announced, but I just caught the five minute trailer and I'm intrigued enough to give it a go.  The BBC's Sherlock is amazing.

Caught My Eye

Griffins are supposed to be extinct. So when Yukiko and her father are commanded to capture one for the murderous Shogun of the Shima Isles, they fear their lives are over. After disaster befalls the mission, Yukiko finds herself stranded in the wilderness with only the crippled griffin Buruu for company. Working together, the pair make a stand against the authorities, facing intrigue, betrayal and murder in the hope of seeing their homeland saved and Buruu flying again. The first installment of an exciting new fantasy series, Stormdancer is sure to electrify the growing numbers of steampunk fans as well as lovers of classic epic fantasy.

With Stormdancer, Jay Kristoff presents the Shogunate of Shima, a stunningly original dystopian steampunk world.



Return to Summer Childhood

This summer I've made a promise to myself to return to my childhood off and on, and share it with my 14 year old.  We're both out of school for the summer and both of us have need of serious input and experiences.  School/work has been too confining.  So we're busting loose a bit.

I'm keeping him stocked in video games, and in return he's going to read every day for 30 minutes.  During school, he usually reads a book every day or two between classes, so I may be challenged.  The kid may read faster than I do.  We'll see.

So I'm going to keep a shared book list going.  He's always wondering what my life was like when I was his age.

We didn't have video games, we had sticks.  On wet days we had mud.  On sunny days, we had shadow.  He thinks that was pretty dull, but he's never went crawdad fishing with string and a piece of bologna, never broke a horse to ride, never collected a jar of scorpions, and never rode a pig.  Personally, I think his upbringing lacks.

I'm going to share with him some of the books I read way back when, talk to him about where I was in my life while I was reading them, and re-read them myself.

We're going to read some new stuff, too.  I've already put those aside.

Here's the first one.  Andre Norton was one of the two writers that shaped my early adolescence with stories of outer space, rayguns, and aliens.  Dread Companion, interestingly enough, was kind of a blend of SF and fantasy.  Norton wrote in both fields, and her Witch World novels started out as SF and ended up more fantasy at the end.

Dread Companion doesn't have a green girl in it that I recall, but I recall this Kelly Freas cover just fine.  Freas also indelibly marked my childhood with SF covers that I remember effortlessly.  The whole Laser Books run was his, I think.  The book came out in 1970.  Maybe the green girl on Star Trek influenced the art.  That was Yvonne Craig, who was also Batgirl.

The new Star Trek has kept the Orion slave girl.

And there was a new Batgirl.

But I prefer the originals.  Yvonne Craig was really great in those roles.

Maybe you read Dread Companion too, in one of its various incarnations.  There have been several covers.



New Dead Man Out Now

Matt Cahill has an unusual gift: he can see the corruption in people’s souls, making the afflicted appear as walking corpses to his eyes. This macabre ability has set him on a one-man crusade to eradicate these servants of an ancient and powerful evil, embodied by the aptly named “Mr. Dark.”

On his way through the small town of Breckenridge, Minnesota, Matt sees the unmistakable signs of corruption in the chief of police and numerous cops. The evil that has consumed them now terrorizes innocents and allows drug and sex trafficking to run rampant. Just as Matt confronts the enslaved cops, a gun-toting teen appears, looking to make Matt pay for murdering her brother. Of course, Matt did kill her brother—he was another corrupted soul who’d been planning a bombing. But how can Matt convince Elena of the truth without any proof?

Trapped between Mr. Dark’s forces and a girl hell-bent on revenge, Matt faces an impossible choice: remove Elena—permanently—or let her kill him and doom the town.

Coming June 5

Jett is a girl passing as a boy, living as a cowboy in the old West as she searches for her long-lost brother. When the book opens, she's just rolled into a new town, where she stops by the saloon. Things are relatively calm, although she suspects there will be Trouble from at least one of the locals. Sure enough, Trouble starts to mosey over, when--

The saloon is invaded by zombies.

Barely escaping with her life, Jett hightails it out of town and soon falls into the company of Honoria Gibbons, a smart, self-sufficient young woman who also happens to be a fabulous inventor. Together with White Fox, a young man they meet, they set out to discover what's caused the zombie uprising. Turns out these zombies aren't rising from the dead of their own accord... but who would want an undead army? And why?

Caught My Eye

Twelve-year-old Sophie has never quite fit into her life. She’s skipped multiple grades and doesn’t really connect with the older kids at school, but she’s not comfortable with her family, either. And Sophie has a secret—she’s a Telepath, someone who can read minds. But the day Sophie meets Fitz, a mysterious (and adorable) boy, she learns she’s not alone. He’s a Telepath too, and it turns out the reason she has never felt at home is that, well…she isn’t. Fitz opens Sophie’s eyes to a shocking truth, and almost instantly she is forced to leave behind her family for a new life in a place that is vastly different from what she has ever known.

But Sophie still has secrets, and they’re buried deep in her memory for good reason: The answers are dangerous and in high-demand. What is her true identity, and why was she hidden among humans? The truth could mean life or death—and time is running out.

Caught My Eye

"Fast-paced, heart-wrenching, magical and fascinating."--Tamora Pierce, author of The Song of the Lioness quartet

"Utterly ingenious! Tiffany Trent has more fine invention at her fingertips than a roomful of magical Leonardos!"—Ellen Kushner, World Fantasy Award-winning author.

“By St. Darwin and his Great Apes, The Unnaturalists is unnaturally good! Few authors can mix science and fantasy the way Tiffany can; her science-worshiping New London is perfectly original and perfectly realized, and Vespa Nyx is a heroine to cheer for. So much steampunk is just more of the same; The Unnaturalists is captivatingly different.”—Ysabeau Wilce, Andre Norton Award-winning author of Flora’s Dare.

"Thrilling, intricate and magical, The Unnaturalists is a formidable entry into the steampunk genre. Vespa Nyx is a spunky heroine we can all root for, and Tiffany Trent's worldbuilding skills are unmatched. This book will delight anyone who loves magic, gadgets and brilliantly drawn settings. I highly recommend it."—Caitlin Kittredge, author of The Iron Thorn.

New Dead Man: Slaves to Evil

Coming May 29th!

Matt Cahill has an unusual gift: he can see the corruption in people’s souls, making the afflicted appear as walking corpses to his eyes. This macabre ability has set him on a one-man crusade to eradicate these servants of an ancient and powerful evil, embodied by the aptly named “Mr. Dark.”

On his way through the small town of Breckenridge, Minnesota, Matt sees the unmistakable signs of corruption in the chief of police and numerous cops. The evil that has consumed them now terrorizes innocents and allows drug and sex trafficking to run rampant. Just as Matt confronts the enslaved cops, a gun-toting teen appears, looking to make Matt pay for murdering her brother. Of course, Matt did kill her brother—he was another corrupted soul who’d been planning a bombing. But how can Matt convince Elena of the truth without any proof?

Trapped between Mr. Dark’s forces and a girl hell-bent on revenge, Matt faces an impossible choice: remove Elena—permanently—or let her kill him and doom the town.

Elsie Chapman

The city of Kersh is a safe haven, but the price of safety is high. Everyone has a genetic Alternate—a twin raised by another family—and citizens must prove their worth by eliminating their Alts before their twentieth birthday. Survival means advanced schooling, a good job, marriage—life.

Fifteen-year-old West Grayer has trained as a fighter, preparing for the day when her assignment arrives and she will have one month to hunt down and kill her Alt. But then a tragic misstep shakes West’s confidence. Stricken with grief and guilt, she’s no longer certain that she’s the best version of herself, the version worthy of a future. If she is to have any chance of winning, she must stop running not only from her Alt, but also from love . . . though both have the power to destroy her.

Ah, Pirate Girls!

Makes me wanna pick up my sword and my dice and wade into the thick of sea beasties!

I love these covers.

THE CUTMAN Now Only 99 cents!

Summer reading?  We got an action-filled romp right here for you and it'll cost you less than a buck!

New Keith Birdsong Cover

Awesome cover for a new Aaron Pogue story.

For cover work by Keith, email.

Rogue Angel: Magic Lantern

Start your summer off with a touch of action-filled magic!

In late 1700s Paris, a young but promising illusionist dabbles in the arcane art of phantasmagoria. But at his moment of greatest triumph—unveiling a magical lantern said to open a door to the Chinese spirit world—he is violently struck down by a vengeful phantom….

On assignment in London, archaeologist Annja Creed is hunting down a man who claims to have discovered the Jekyll and Hyde potion. On the trail of one curiosity, Annja finds herself pulled toward another mystery…the origin of a strange, old-fashioned projector once used by eighteenth-century illusionists. As Annja delves into its rich history, a dark past begins to emerge. And someone wants to harness the power of this cursed artifact…risking everything for the treasures it promises.

But Annja has a little magic trick of her own. One that she wields with deadly accuracy….


"Couldn't you have worn something a little more…revealing?"

Annja Creed frowned as she considered the question over the Bluetooth earpiece that linked her with her satellite phone. She stood in the middle of a dank alleyway stinking with rotting garbage and Chinese takeout. Dark rain clouds hung in the sky visible between the buildings. Sporadic smog patches drifted past.

"Doug, I'm way underdressed for a potential mugging as it is." Annja wore a silver calf-length duster over black pants and a pearl-gray silk tie-waist blouse. Slouchy microsuede boots pushed her five-ten up to something over six feet. The boots were comfortable, stylish, and she could run for her life in them if she had to. She wore her auburn hair clipped back.

"This guy's not a mugger." Doug Morrell sounded put out. The producer of Chasing History's Monsters—the syndicated television show Annja costarred in with Kristie Chatham—was twenty-two, young and driven by all things Twitter.

Despite the fact that he wasn't really interested in history or archaeology, Annja genuinely liked Doug. He was like the younger brother she'd never had.

"I know he's not a mugger." Annja walked through the alley with her hands in her pockets. "He's killed three women that the Metro police know about."

"I saw those reports, too, which is why I want you to be careful."

"Careful, but less dressed."

Doug hesitated only a moment. "Yeah."

"Not happening."

"You could at least get rid of the jacket."

"And give it to Igor to carry?"

"Don't make fun of your bodyguard."

Annja resisted the impulse to look back at Ray Venard, the guy Doug had hired for the shoot tonight. Venard was a large, hulking brute who had played professional rugby before he'd gotten caught shaving points, then was injured by outraged fans. He'd gotten through the court system unscathed, but the fans had left him with a knee that would never be the same.

"I thought he was a cameraman."

"He is. He's both. Kind of like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Bodyguard and photographer."

"Did I mention to you that when I met him in his office he was taking pictures of women for a skin magazine?"

Doug sighed. "You did."

"So not only am I not going to take my coat off to be more revealing in this cold, rat-infested alley, I'm also not going to take it off in front of Igor."

"I only mention the coat because it could help ratings."

"The ratings are fine. We just got a two-year renewal."

"So we could work on the next two-year deal."

Annja kept walking. Working for the television show was sometimes a pain, but mostly it was fun. And there was Doug and a few of the other people she liked who were connected to the production. Not only did she get to travel, but the salary and bonuses were nice and allowed her to follow up on other explorations and digs.

She watched the shadows carefully. Detective Chief Inspector Westcox hadn't been happy when she'd come to his office to discuss the recent murders that the media was attributing to "Mr. Hyde." Of course, the reporters were only doing that because "Mr. Hyde" had written in, claiming responsibility for the murders.

Westcox had shown Annja the morgue photos of the victims. The DCI was closemouthed and professional, and he'd thought to frighten her off with the brutality of the killings. The victims had been stomped to death, their faces pulped by size eighteen Rufflander work boots.

What DCI Westcox hadn't known was how much violence Annja Creed had seen. The police inspector had assumed she was a young woman inquiring into things much too bloody for her.

"I'm keeping my clothes on for the next two years, too."

Doug whined. He was a good whiner when he wanted to be, but Annja was impervious.

"You have Kristie for the T and A ratings. With me, you've got history and archaeology ratings."

The fact that Kristie Chatham was the fan darling because of her habitual loss of clothing and "wardrobe malfunctions" bothered Annja more than she would ever tell anyone. But she accepted it. She had her fans, too.

"Would Kristie agree to walking in a rat-infested alley at midnight so a serial murderer could leap out of the shadows and murder her?"

"No, of course not. If she got hurt, she wouldn't be able to work."

"And I would?"

"You're not going to get hurt. You have Igor. Besides, you're only there tonight to shoot a little mood footage. Igor also tells me the fog is going to have to be enhanced. Says it's really weak."

Annja looked back over her shoulder at the lumbering shadow that trailed her. Igor carried a portable video camera in one giant paw. "You're talking to him?"

"Texting. I'm talking to you."

"Great. So you're distracting my bodyguard."

"He'd probably be more focused on you if you weren't overdressed."

Turning her attention back to the alley ahead of her, Annja shook her head. Sometimes—most of the time—Doug had a one-track mind. "About the Mr. Hyde thing."

"You said you loved the Mr. Hyde thing," Doug said, instantly wary. "You said the Mr. Hyde thing was awesome. You couldn't wait to do the Mr. Hyde thing."

Annja had said that. But that had been when she'd thought her schedule wasn't going to be so tight. She'd hoped to get out to Hadrian's Wall. That had been the site of her first dig, and the place still held a special spot in her heart.

Then, when she'd seen those poor women in those police photographs, she realized that the "investigation" bordered on sensationalism. That the women were going to be fodder for the conspiracy mill Chasing History's Monsters routinely set into motion didn't sit well with her.

"You do realize Mr. Hyde isn't real."

"When you meet Mr. Hyde, tell him that. Either we've got one of London's oldest and eeriest monsters returned from over a hundred years of being missing, or we've got someone who rediscovered Dr. Jekyll's secret potion. I don't care which it is. It's a great story."

"That's what it is—a story. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was a novella written by Robert Louis Stevenson. An allegory some say was based on Victorian views of sex."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You told me that already. And I agreed that you could put that stuff in there. As long as there's not too much of it. Which is why we're picking up the tab on your date with Professor Beeswax."

"Professor Beswick. And it's not a date. He's an expert on film, literature and myth."

"I suppose it doesn't hurt that Professor Beeswax is good-looking, though. I ran a Google search on him. I see what you saw."

"Really? You thought Professor Beswick was attractive?"

Doug nearly choked. "No! That's not what I said. Are you recording this?" He cursed. "Now I've got Diet Coke up my nose. Don't do that."

Annja chuckled. Doug was easy to set off.

"As for this Mr. Hyde thing, I got a very convincing email stating that the Dr. Jekyll formula had been discovered on the internet and someone had re-created it."

"Who was the email from?"

"An anonymous source."

"Doug, it's me and you. You can tell me."

"I can't. That's how the writer tagged the email."

"And you bought into this based on that." Annja couldn't believe it, then reminded herself she'd been in the same situation with Doug dozens of times before.

"Sure. There are the three murders. Mr. Hyde claims to have done them."

Annja bit her tongue. She was looking forward to her stay in London and dinner tomorrow with Professor Beswick appeared promising.

Ahead, one of the doors suddenly banged open and four figures spilled out into the alley. Three of them were young Asian males dressed in dark clothing backing out of a restaurant. One of them held a young woman trapped with an arm across her neck. Her eyes rolled fearfully and she hung on to the man's arm to keep her balance.

The woman was dressed in black pants and a white shirt, the typical server's uniform for a lot of restaurants. Light shined from the open doorway and revealed tattoos on the necks of two of the men. All of them carried pistols. A handful of pound notes drifted from the cloth bag one of the guys fisted.

"Doug, I'm going to have to talk to you later." She unclipped the Bluetooth earpiece and shoved it into her pocket. Annja was calm as she surveyed the scene. Her heart went out to the frightened young woman.

An older man in a suit raced through the back door and quickly stopped when he saw the gunmen.

"Laurel."

"Get back, old man." One of the youths took a step forward and pointed the gun at the businessman.

"Please. You have the money. Don't take my daughter."

The youth opened fire. Annja didn't know if he was trying to hit the man or not, but one of the bullets chewed into the door and the other went through the doorway.

The man dropped to the ground, covered his head with his arms and screamed for his daughter.

"Papa!" The young woman cried out in fear and tried to free herself. One of the men not holding her backhanded her across the face.

"Hey!" Igor's loud voice thundered in the alley. "You blokes want to put the guns down before you get hurt?"

Glancing back, Annja saw that Igor had a gun in his own hand instead of the camera now. He stood holding the revolver like he knew what to do. Unfortunately, so did the three Asians. Two of them opened fire while the third hung on to their hostage.

Annja pressed herself flat against a building.

The bullets drove Igor back into cover....

Saddle Up For Summer