When burglars break into Hope Mausoleum and violate Crypt 1083-A, where the remains of the former Girod Street Cemetery are housed, New Orleans property crimes detective Thibodeaux “Bo” Duplessis is confronted with three confounding questions: Who are the burglars? Why did they break into the crypt? What, if anything, did they take?

In need of expertise he does not possess, Bo turns to his childhood friend Bruneau Abellard, a cranky, overweight antiques dealer with exacting epicurean standards and a font of historical knowledge. Affecting annoyance, though privately intrigued, Bruneau agrees to assist with Bo’s case. Together, the friends uncover a secret love affair between a famous antebellum actress, whose remains are contained in the crypt, and the notorious pirate Jean Lafitte. As their investigation deepens, they find themselves confronting two separate yet entwined mysteries, two hundred years apart. To solve the present-day crime, they come to realize they must first unravel a conundrum from the distant, murky past.

Set against the singular backdrop of contemporary New Orleans, with glimpses of the city during its “Belle Epoque” of the 1820s, The Lafitte Affair is populated with characters as eccentric as the city itself: a grand dame of the Garden District; a competitive female puzzler; a slippery con man; a giant hermit with a shrouded past; a pugnacious French bulldog; and a phantom thief who seems always two steps ahead of his pursuers. Looming over them all is the ghostly presence of the pirate Lafitte, a larger-than-life figure of seemingly endless contradictions.

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Award-winning author Matt Cost brings us back to Brooklyn in the Roaring ’20s and Hungarian private eye, 8 Ballo, who is hired by Theda Lazar Vogel to prove that her husband was murdered. His colorful cast of friends returns, as well as legendary figures such as Dorothy Parker, Coleman Hawkins, Bugsy Siegel, and Lucky Luciano.

8 discovers that a priceless Aquila—an ancient eagle Roman standard carried into battle 2,000 years ago—was stolen from Karl Vogel when he was killed. This provides ties to a secret German organization known as the Batavi. But Vogel was also involved in the eugenics movement centered in Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island, as well as being involved with the Ku Klux Klan.

As 8 peels back layers of the underbelly of 1920s Brooklyn, the more complicated and dangerous it becomes for him and those who are important to him. What is happening at Cold Spring Harbor with Herman Wall and the eugenics movement? Who are the mysterious Germans threatening 8? And what is the identity of the charismatic Grand Cyclops? 8 must race against time to uncover the truth and put a stop to the most chilling triumvirate ever conceived.

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Uncover the guilty longings, secrets, lies, and evil deeds of others as you escape to the Roman Empire, its splendor as well as its seedy underbelly. Can Miriam’s brother, the renowned gladiator, return home in secret after allegedly having been killed in the amphitheater in Pompeii? Can Miriam help her returning friend, who fled the arms of Roman law, discover the fate of his love child? And can Miriam, after sailing to Ephesus to return the city’s black pearl, trace the mystical jewel after its disappearance? If you cannot help her, then at least get away to that first-century CE world of rip-roaring adventure for which we all long.

Returning, whether it means going back or giving back, is never easy, at least not in this volume of three Miriam bat Isaac novelettes: In the first story, “The Bodyguard,” Miriam’s twin brother returns from the dead to serve as a bodyguard to the son of a legionnaire. In the second story, “The Beggar”, an old man disguised as a matronly beggar, returns to Alexandria to find the lovechild he left behind. In the third story, “The Black Pearl,” Miriam sails to Ephesus to return the city’s black pearl, only to have it disappear. If, like Miriam, you thrive on uncovering the guilty longings, secrets, lies, and evil deeds of others, then let her take you through the shrill parade of macabre creatures she confronts in these stories.

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Two Jewish brothers plan futures full of achievement and maybe fame. But Warsaw in the summer of 1939 is no place for dreamers.

Ian is thrown west to Paris. There, he unexpectedly falls in love with Alicia, a mysterious Frenchwoman, but then must leave her to race across France to safety in Casablanca. Daniel ends up in the Siberian Gulag, where he faces blizzards, starvation, and the often-lethal cruelties of guards and fellow prisoners. He too finds someone, an exiled poet named Nadhya, until he must choose: stay with her or cross all of Russia to return to the future he'd envisioned.

Walk the Earth as Brothers is the story of two pawns in a titanic world war, of bravery, random chance, kindness, betrayal and love, and of what happens to the hopes and dreams of Ian and Daniel.

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It’s 1920 New Orleans and Jesse Pike is slowly ascending the New Orleans upper-class social scene. He’s the owner of the most popular brothel in the entire city, and rubs shoulders with businessmen, corrupt politicians, and stage stars alike. He’s also the leader of a violent street gang that pulls off the biggest heist of liquor since the beginning of prohibition. Jesse sets up a scheme to sell the booze, and use the profits to help him start a legitimate business. However, several obstacles get in his way: Clyde, the mentally disturbed oldest Pike sibling, is released from prison and takes issue with how Jesse runs things; Jesse's aging mentor refuses to let him leave behind crime; and an overzealous young DA decides to reopen an investigation into the liquor heist to increase his chances of being elected mayor. Jesse is forced to make a decision: does he walk away from a life of crime and his family forever? Or will he continue down the road of violence that has begun to erode his psyche, much as it has Clyde's?

The Pike Boys, according to a reviewer, is a "compelling story of the Pike family's struggles against poverty, violence, substance abuse, mental illness, and their quest to rise above it all while living in the crime-ridden New Orleans of the gangster era." It has all the thrills, plot twists, and quick pace of conventional gangster fiction, with the heart, depth, and nuance of a literary novel. In between the shootouts, violence, and debauchery, there is the overarching question of "can people actually change?" The reader will see that the answer is not so simple—especially when you live in a place like New Orleans.

(Good for fans of Mario Puzo and Dennis Lehane; and lovers of Sopranos, Godfather, and Peaky Blinders!)

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On a warm spring day in April 1734, a fire raged through Montreal’s merchant quarters. When the flames finally died, 46 buildings – including the Hôtel-Dieu convent and hospital – had been destroyed. Within hours, rumors ran rampant that Marie-Joseph Angélique, an enslaved Black woman fighting for her freedom, had started the fire with her white lover, Claude Thibault. Less than 24 hours later, Angelique was sitting in a prison cell. Her lover was nowhere to be found. More than 20 witnesses appeared before the judge, all claiming Angélique was the arsonist. But no one saw her set the fire.

It didn’t matter. In an era when lawyers were banned from practising in New France, Angélique was on her own. She denied starting the fire. Philippe Archambeau, a court clerk assigned specifically to document her case, believed Angelique might just be telling the truth. That belief only got stronger after Angélique was tortured – and finally confessed. Her captors used the brodequins to crush Angélique’s leg. Her spirit remained indomitable.

As Angélique was paraded through the streets of Montreal, Incendiare embroidered across the front of her white chemise, Archambeau finally realized what really happened the night Montreal burned to the ground.

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The Last Magdalene does for the New Testament what The Red Tent did for the Old Testament.

The temple of Asherah has existed in Jerusalem for hundreds of years, disguised as a benevolent society for widows and orphans. Within the sheltering walls, priestesses are taught to honor the goddess through rites of passion passed from mother to daughter and from priestess to priestess. Into this world, Miriam of Bethany, is born.

Miriam longs to become The Magdalene, High Priestess of Asherah, as her mother and grandmother before her, but learns she is to marry an obscure rabbi from Galilee, Yeshua bar Yosef. Determined to control her own life, she runs away and is brutally attacked in the streets of Jerusalem. Broken in body and spirit, she resigns herself to her fate.

Yeshua, hailed as the Messiah, teaches love and acceptance, and places Miriam in the forefront of his followers. Together they find the courage to face the hostility of the priests and the brutality of Roman occupation. But Rome is a power unlike any the world has known, and Rome deals harshly with those who oppose its rule.

The Last Magdalene is an exquisite story of passion and love, and the lasting power of one woman’s voice which refuses to be silenced.

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