2017 Silver Falchion Readers Choice Winner! It’s easy to find a book; it’s hard to find the book, that new author who sets your life on fire. That’s why we put this collection together. This book gives you an easy way to sample a group of eight up-and-coming mystery writers who you may not have heard of, but who critics and award committees have noticed. We’ve assembled eight very different styles to let you sample a wide array of stories and find new voices you might have trouble finding on your own. We have hard-boiled detectives, and we have crime-solving animals. We have deeply flawed characters, and we have cute youngsters. We have damaged women, kick-ass women, noble women and mean women, sometimes in the same character. We have tough guys in spades, and we have funny in spades. Each writer contributed a story, a sample chapter from a book, and an interview. Because of our variety, there’s sure to be something here you’ll love, and maybe love for life. So come on in for a taste. Here’s our menu: Lisa Alber – Mystery with a smattering of psychological suspense and tons of atmosphere. Beautifully written, complex stories set in the Irish countryside. Reminiscent of Erin Hart, Julia Spencer-Fleming, and Susan Hill. Rosebud Award and Pushcart Prize Nominee. Kathleen Cosgrove –Florida weird with a middle-aged woman returning home. Kick-ass funny. Michael Guillebeau –Broken war hero has to navigate the oddballs and save the girl to get back to the bar he’s been hiding in. Reminiscent of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen. Silver Falchion Finalist, and Library Journal Mystery Debut of the Month. Chris Knopf –Hardboiled in the Hamptons. Ex-boxer Sam Acquillo is a noir descendent of Travis McGee and Spencer, and one of my favorite characters. Nero award winner. Jessie Bishop Powell— Cozy noir mysteries that embrace the genre’s extremes. In The Marriage at the Rue Morgue, police suspect an orangutan of murder. Primatologists Noel Rue and Lance Lakeland have to save the ape and still find time to get married. Sounds light, but Powell’s stuff is as intense as it is funny. Larissa Reinhart—If you like Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum, you need to read Reinhart’s Cherry Tucker. A damaged artist with twice the depth, twice the funny of Plum and set in small-town Georgia. I dare you to put this down. Daphne du Maurier Finalist Jaden Terrell—Hardboiled PI with a Soft Heart. Nashville PI Jared McKean has enough emotional issues to carry a book by himself, and then Terrell throws him into big issues like human trafficking. Shamus Award Finalist. Lisa Wysocky—Multiple awards for Lisa’s books about a horse trainer with a smart horse who helps her solve crimes. One of the most realistic and loving use of animals in mystery. Winner of American Horse Publication Awards, and the National Indie Excellence Awards. We invite you to see what looks good, and take a bite for yourself. If you find something you like, our chefs will be happy to give you a full meal. And we all deliver.

Eight Mystery Writers You Should be Reading Now

Humor & Entertainment

Knopf, Chris

Terrell, Jaden

Reinhart, Larissa

Wysocky, Lisa

Powell, Jessie Bishop

Guillebeau, Michael

Alber, Lisa

Cosgrove, Kathleen

Humor

Madison Press

PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY says, "Guillebeau blends humor and mystery perfectly in this comic thriller." 2017 Humor Book of the Year! (Foreword Reviews Indie Gold Medal Award)Cayocosta72 Reviews said:"This book is truly every librarian’s dream come true. After fighting budget battles over and over again, librarian Serenity has lost her library funding. What’s a librarian gonna do? How about ripping off the city that’s ripping off its citizens? Serenity begins helping herself to the funds that local politicians have been setting aside for their own personal “rainy day “. With the money she amasses she can build a library to thrill readers everywhere. Problem is, those politicians aren’t too thrilled to see their money disappearing and they plan to do anything to get it back. Why in the world are libraries always under threat? A funny, moving story of our most precious institutions under threat."

MAD Librarian

Don of the Q: An American Don Quixote for the Atomic Age

Literature & Fiction

Humor & Satire

THINGS TO DO WHEN YOU'D RATHER BE DEAD is a dark humor mystery. Officer Joe was a Birmingham homicide detective chasing a serial killer called the Angel of Mercy who preyed on children. The killer turned on Joe and killed his wife and daughter. Birmingham PD believes that Joe killed the Angel, but Joe believes that he killed an innocent man. He spirals into obsession and falls apart as a cop and a man. Rather than fire him, Birmingham PD makes him a community affairs officer for a year, dressing in a clown suit and giving canned presentations to school children. He takes the assignment so he can watch for the Angel. Eating and drinking himself to death, he has gained a hundred pounds, is barely functioning, and is in conflict with everyone. All he wants to do is catch the killer, and join his family in death The story opens at this point, with Joe giving a presentation to second-graders that goes badly, comically wrong. But, on this day, he sees something wrong with one of the children.

Things to Do When You'd Rather be Dead

Library Journal Mystery Debut of Month Feb 2013 Library Journal said in a STARRED Review 1/1/13  Josh was an army veteran, but a maneuver-turned-massacre cover-up threw him into a hero's harsh spotlight. After walking away from it all, Josh, who's been pulling scams for a living, takes refuge in the bottle and tries to stay invisible. But his latest con puts him in the sights of a Russian mob family convinced that he is a private detective--and the only one who can find missing reality star Kiev Romanov. As Josh digs at this mystery, he is joined by unemployed newspaper editor Marci, who's hoping to use this scoop to relaunch her writing career, and Kiev's killer brother, Yuri, who believes he is Batman. In pursuit of the heiress, Josh uses his con man skills and tangles with Confederate zealots and a paramilitary group. He knows if he does not save the girl, he can kiss his last drink goodbye--along with his life. 

Josh Whoever

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

Thorndike Press

Library Journal Mystery Debut of Month Feb 2013 Library Journal said in a STARRED Review 1/1/13 Josh was an army veteran, but a maneuver-turned-massacre cover-up threw him into a hero's harsh spotlight. After walking away from it all, Josh, who's been pulling scams for a living, takes refuge in the bottle and tries to stay invisible. But his latest con puts him in the sights of a Russian mob family convinced that he is a private detective--and the only one who can find missing reality star Kiev Romanov. As Josh digs at this mystery, he is joined by unemployed newspaper editor Marci, who's hoping to use this scoop to relaunch her writing career, and Kiev's killer brother, Yuri, who believes he is Batman. In pursuit of the heiress, Josh uses his con man skills and tangles with Confederate zealots and a paramilitary group. He knows if he does not save the girl, he can kiss his last drink goodbye--along with his life.

Literary

Five Star

"Sharp dialog, peculiar but fleshed out characters, an absorbing story, and finally, a depth of understanding of human complexities, desires, and foibles... Five well-deserved stars." --Heather Haven, award-winning author of The Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries --Paul is a simple outdoorsman with a volatile artist wife--until Marta disappears and her body is never found. Paul finds a message in her last painting telling him that she faked her death to draw attention to her paintings. An insurance investigator questions a $5M policy Marta took out shortly before her death and an enforcer shows up demanding that Paul pay him the $5M Marta stole from his casino. A gallery in Arizona claims to have new Marta paintings. Paul goes to investigate, followed by the insurance investigator, the enforcer, and a young new-age girl determined to help Paul forget his dead wife.

A Study in Detail

PlayNiceis a NancyDrew story updated for an Elmore Leonard world. Cassie Luna's fairytale life asa six-two WNBA star, model and health food spokesman has crashed and now she'sbeing forced by the corrupt Jericho Police Department to lie to send aninnocent man to jail. Cassie's always been told to play tough but nice. Butplaying nice in a very dirty world of drug lords and crooked cops can get youkilled.

Play Nice

United States

Five Star Publishing

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