The second book in the Skip Langdon mystery series by Edgar Award-winning author Julie Smith.

“Gritty and Witty … Langdon is a splendid female heroine … The Axeman’s Jazz is a mesmerizing story.” -People

It’s a steamy August in New Orleans and a murderer has borrowed the name of the Axeman, a serial killer who roamed the city in 1919. The modern-day Axeman has strangled a young woman and stabbed an elderly man, beside whose body a teddy bear is found. The letter “A” is scrawled near both corpses in lipstick and in blood. Both victims, it develops, were members of 12-point recovery programs modeled on Alcoholics Anonymous; the killer may be using the groups’ anonymity as a shield.

A most appealing heroine, social-misfit Skip Langdon, is now a homicide detective assigned to the Axeman team. Risking her life, Skip must get close to suspects, among them beautiful but ditzy Di, a New Era devotee; the very angry Alex, “a walking testosterone bomb” who writes self-help books; Sonny Gerard, a stressed-out second-year medical student; and Missy, Sonny’s overmothering girlfriend. As Skip threads her fascinated way from one self-help group to another, she finds she has more in common with the twelve-steppers than just the murder. And she knows what they do not: that among their anonymous numbers is a deadly murderous, and dangerously attractive — psychopath….

“With an acute ear for New Orleans speech and a sharp eye for the city’s social stratification, Smith keeps the reader’s heart palpitating to the end of this mystery of unusual depth.” -Publishers Weekly

“The Axeman’s Jazz is the kind of book that leaves you torn between running out and devouring all the other mysteries in the series, or spacing them out as periodic special treats. Julie Smith garnered great attention, including an Edgar for Best First Mystery, with her initial entry in this series, the 1990 publication of New Orleans Mourning featuring police detective Skip Langdon … in New Orleans, of course. The Axeman’s Jazz is the second of the series and even better than the first.” -BookLoons Reviews

If you like Laura Lippman, Sue Grafton, Linda Barnes, Nevada Barr, and Marcia Muller, Julie Smith’s your new best friend.

It’s true what Shakespeare wrote about killing lawyers being a good start. At least that’s what Sgt. Edward Pulaski secretly believes when attorneys start popping up dead all over Washington, D.C. in the thriller, First, Kill All The Lawyers. If reporters could be next on the hit list all his dreams would be fulfilled. An obscure poison, no suspects, and no forensic evidence hinder the investigation until a federal judge is the target and Pulaski’s friend, FBI agent Shawn Cleary, joins the task force.

Shawn, fresh from a shootout that may leave her partner a quadriplegic, throws herself into the investigation to assuage her guilt and stop the horrible flashbacks of the event. As the body count rises and crosses state lines, lawyers from across the country begin to panic and demand action. Patterns emerge as pieces of the puzzle begin to come together.

The breakneck pace accelerates until Sgt. Pulaski reluctantly realizes all the clues lead to Shawn Cleary as the main suspect. She does nothing to dampen his suspicions when she flees instead of turning herself in. Worlds collide when powerful people in Washington seem more interested in a shoot to kill order than capturing Shawn alive. Pulaski is torn when Shawn calls him professing her innocence.

Working both inside and outside the system, Pulaski and Shawn continue to connect all the dots until the killer’s next move becomes obvious. Aware her life hangs in the balance, Shawn tells Pulaski she is determined to save someone she loves and capture the killer before he gets away. Pulaski must choose between trusting a friend and doing what his bosses want. As Shawn races to the historic theater where the climax awaits, she prays she can make it in time while Pulaski wonders if he made the right choice.

Manzo, is seventeen year old, experiencing a rough patch in his life. His life was all planned out. He was going to become super smart, super rich and marry the girl next door. Then his parents split up and things go from bad to worse. One bad experience leads to another, and another and his whole life comes crash down around him as he self-destructs. Previously good relationships turn bad. Lost and alone he meets an unusual stranger on the bus.
The Sage, is a celestial guide, who shares with Manzo, Universal Principles that help him understand himself better and discover his true potential. While he introduces him to a whole range of interesting characters with more life experience.
This book contains ‘young people’ life experience and so there is reference to mild sex scenes, swearing, cannabis, and alcohol. This is a thought provoking book.The characters and entertaining story line in this book are fiction but the wisdom shared comes from the channelled wisdom of gentle energy beings from higher realms. This is not a religious book. It has been written specifically for young adults aged 14 and above. It holds the key to Enlightenment if you can read it with an Open Heart and Mind. The Creator believes that young people on Earth have the potential to see beyond what they have been previously told and can create a world that lives in harmony with each other, all life-forms and nurtures the planet that is your home if you have a better understanding of all that truly is.
This book has been created for you, the young people of Earth. So the wisdom is available to you in a format that you will appreciate. More information can be found at http://1universalguidance.blogspot.com and www.1universalguidance.com

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Lauren’s Dilemma

by Margaret Tanner

Important Note: This post is dated Saturday, May 26, 2012, and the titles mentioned here may remain free only until midnight PST tonight.

lex Kosmitoras’s life has never been easy. The only other student who will talk to him is the school bully, his parents are dead broke and insanely overprotective, and to complicate matters even more, he’s blind. Just when he thinks he’ll never have a shot at a normal life, an enticing new girl comes to their small Midwest town all the way from India. Simmi is smart, nice, and actually wants to be friends with Alex. Plus she smells like an Almond Joy bar. Sophomore year might not be so bad after all.

Unfortunately, Alex is in store for another new arrival–an unexpected and often embarrassing ability to “see” the future. Try as he may, Alex is unable to ignore his visions, especially when they suggest Simmi is in mortal danger. With the help of the mysterious psychic next door and friends who come bearing gifts of their own, Alex embarks on his journey to change the future.

Southeast Michigan, present day. The auto companies are sinking faster than an SUV off Luna Pier, and the job scene is the worst in America. But ever since his father hired on at flourishing Wolverine Motors, Milo Shoemaker feels like a winner. Doesn’t Wolverine make the best fire engines in the world? Their workers must be doing something right.
Then his dad drives over a cliff in the fog. Someone robs their house during the funeral. Did his father die by accident–or did his past catch up with him? To find out, Milo passes up college to take a job at Wolverine, where he uncovers dangerous truths about business, heroes, and the boss’s daughter. Maybe some secrets should remain… unaccounted for.

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Sunset (Pact Arcanum)

by Arshad Ahsanuddin

Important Note: This post is dated Friday, May 25, 2012, and the titles mentioned here may remain free only until midnight PST tonight.

2011 Edgar and Macavity nominee Timothy Hallinan’s six novels featuring erudite Los Angeles private eye Simeon Grist have become cult favorites and are now available for the first time since the 1990s. In the fourth book, INCINERATOR, Grist comes up against his most terrifying adversary, a madman who’s setting fire to the homeless. As Simeon is drawn into the case – very much against his will – he realizes that the Incinerator has a huge advantage. Somewhere, years ago, the two of them met, and the Incinerator has been nursing hatred and resentment for years. Now, as helpless people burst into flame on Skid Row, Simeon has to scour the wastelands of Los Angeles, and his own past, looking for the face of a killer.

When a good witch grants Morgana her deepest desire, the young woman gets more than she bargained for. And a handsome prince gets the surprise of his life.

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When Prince Keir attends the fair in a faraway city, he never expected to meet his future bride there. But seeing a beautiful woman with blue eyes and blonde hair, he knows this lady was meant for him. Clad in satin and fur and riding a sleek white horse, she surely must be a princess. Prince Keir will accept nothing less than a princess as his bride. But he is in for a surprise, for Morgana is not what she appears to be.

Tired of drudgery and housework, Morgana wishes she could attend the fair and meet other young people. When a good witch grants her these wishes, she gets more than she bargained for. But when Prince Keir comes to her house, he is the last person she wants to see.

Although raised by single metahuman parents, Stephanie, Rael, and Lance weren’t prepared for the sudden and shocking event that thrust them into a night of upheaval as they cope with their metamorphosis into superhumans. The meteor shower that altered the heroes also mutated many others in Metrocity, causing a scene of chaos at Iron Cross General Hospital as Lance and Stephanie are captured by law enforcement, and Rael must free them.

The friends join the Homeland Extraordinary Response Organization (H.E.R.O.), and seek to stop a mutant named Shrinker as she gathers new supers to build an army of bloodthirsty mutants in her plan to cause anarchy. Her evil squad kidnaps normal humans to feed those mutants, and it becomes a race against time to find the anarchists before they murder the people.

While searching for the villain’s base of operations, the group must learn their powers and overcome the problems associated with telepathy, a strong blood thirst, and strength capable of crushing steel under one’s fingers. They also begin to take part as heroes in the city, and discover that having powers is not as easy as it appears – in heroic actions or in normal life.

H.E.R.O. – Metamorphosis is the first novel in a growing series of action-based superhero novels based on the Metrocity division of H.E.R.O. It acts as the introductory novel to the supers and how three of the main characters fight crime and deal with disasters in the city. The novel leads the way into the H.E.R.O. series as a growing roster of H.E.R.O. agents take part in various events and disasters.

Please visit the author’s website for more information on characters, and pictures and small biographies of many of the characters in the H.E.R.O. series. (http://www.kevinrau.com) H.E.R.O. – Metamorphosis is a full-length novel of approximately 122,000 words. An preview is included of the first five chapters of H.E.R.O. – New Markets as a bonus.

In a world where not much is left to chance, a brilliant young student finds himself entangled in the web of cyber-security and cyber-investing.

Razor Sharp, a program he designed to predict stock prices, soon takes a life of its own with far reaching unintended world wide effects. Now, some very ruthless people will stop at nothing to take out its creator, unless he could stay one step ahead….

Corrupt government agents, bus chases, shootings, and threats to national security round out this story set in Nigeria.

Thirty-something Candace Davis knows she needs to get her life in order. Mr. Right remains illusive, her family’s inheritance is gone, and an ill-advised work relationship sends her office to the end of the hall, next to the broom closet. All she wants to do is lead her idea of the perfect adult life.

Unbeknownst to Candace, her former-socialite mother stops making mortgage payments on her home and loses it to foreclosure. And just when Candace thought things couldn’t get any worst…

Her mother moves in with her.

Now Candace finds herself helping her mother with career re-training, job-hunting, and accepting the reality the family’s money is gone all while suffering through daily criticism over her still-single status. As Candace’s mother starts to get her life back together, Candace’s life falls farther apart.

Enter Erik Hansen, the company’s handsome new asset manager, straight from a Wall Street firm. He’s new in town and available. Candace thinks she’s found the answer to her relationship troubles in the handsome New York trader. As Candace starts to view Erik as the answer to her future, she uncovers that in life and in relationships not every perfectly wrapped package comes with a present.

lex Kosmitoras’s life has never been easy. The only other student who will talk to him is the school bully, his parents are dead broke and insanely overprotective, and to complicate matters even more, he’s blind. Just when he thinks he’ll never have a shot at a normal life, an enticing new girl comes to their small Midwest town all the way from India. Simmi is smart, nice, and actually wants to be friends with Alex. Plus she smells like an Almond Joy bar. Sophomore year might not be so bad after all.

Unfortunately, Alex is in store for another new arrival–an unexpected and often embarrassing ability to “see” the future. Try as he may, Alex is unable to ignore his visions, especially when they suggest Simmi is in mortal danger. With the help of the mysterious psychic next door and friends who come bearing gifts of their own, Alex embarks on his journey to change the future.

Saying Goodbye is a collection of true stories about saying goodbye to the people, places, and things in our lives. The stories are universal. They are incredibly powerful and moving. And they are surprisingly uplifting and cathartic. “The stories are about love, really, not sadness,” says one critic. “Despite all the sadness and grief that come with saying goodbye, there is love and joy and comedy on the Other Side.” Says another: “If you have ever had to deal with loss, read this book. It will make you feel better.”

These stories show that there is sadness in goodbyes, but there is also irony and humor. We cry about the sad stories, we laugh at the funny ones, and along the way, we learn valuable lessons about how we say goodbye — sometimes under the most difficult of circumstances. We learn because the contributors are unflinchingly open and honest when it comes to sharing very personal stories about how they and their loved ones say goodbye. Taken together, these stories serve as amazing examples of how to say goodbye with grace, dignity, and good humor.

Saying Goodbye is the first anthology in a new series from Dream of Things intended to fill the gap between popular anthologies of stories that are “short and sweet” and the Best American Essays series, which are much longer. Dream of Things anthologies are collections of quality stories between 500 and 2,500 words. Instead of short and sweet, these stories are short and deep.