ANYONE, and the forthcoming I DIDN’T DO IT, Jaime Lynn Hendricks fourth domestic thriller, EVERYONE IS LYING, about a woman who marries and builds a perfect life with her best friend’s boyfriend until the friend’s adult daughter arrives questioning her paternity, and implicates the woman in a decades old murder, to Luisa Cruz Smith at Scarlet, in a nice deal, by Anne Tibbets.
New York City, 1950. Viviana Valentine is Girl Friday to the city’s top private investigator, Tommy Fortuna. The clients can be frustrating, and none more maddening than fabulously wealthy Tallmadge Blackstone, who demands Tommy tail his daughter, Tallulah, and find out why she won’t marry his business partner, a man forty years her senior. Sounds like an open-and-shut case for a P.I. known for busting up organized crime—but the next day, Viviana opens the office to find Tommy missing and a lifeless body on the floor.
The cops swoop in and Detective Jake Lawson issues a warrant for Tommy’s arrest. Desperate to clear Tommy’s name, Viviana takes on the Blackstone case herself. When she goes out for a night on the town with the heiress, she begins to learn the secrets behind Tallulah’s headline-grabbing life. Meanwhile, Lawson is itching to solve his murder case, and continues harassing Viviana for answers—until she’s the victim of a series of violent attacks.
But Tommy’s still missing, and Viviana is scared. As she digs into the dirty history of the Blackstone empire, she suddenly realizes the true danger at hand. Now, it’s up to her to find her missing boss and make sure he doesn’t turn up D.O.A.
Kirkus: A snappy valentine to a bygone era . . . [with] a raft of twists and complications.
Library Journal: A solid debut . . . For fans of hardboiled PIs with hearts of gold.
Publishers Weekly: Sparks fly in Tsai’s refreshing and enchanting paranormal debut. A sordid family past has driven gifted immortal Elle Mei, a descendant of Shénnóng, the Chinese god of medicine, into leading a quiet, unassuming life. Though Elle’s exceptional talent at magical calligraphy could easily earn her a lucrative career, she chooses to cover up the extent of her gift, hiding in plain sight as an “ordinary” glyphmaker in Raleigh, N.C. It’s the only way she knows how to protect her family, as using too much power would surely draw attention. But the temptation to use her full abilities becomes too much to resist when it comes to her favorite customer (and crush), the dashing half-elf security expert Luc Villois. When Luc realizes what Elle’s truly capable of, he commissions her to create custom glyphs for an upcoming assignment, and, against her better judgment, she agrees. Meanwhile, Luc has a secret of his own, and he knows that Elle would never choose to spend more time with him if she knew who he truly was. Despite their mutual reservations, their friendship deepens into love—but will their trust in each other be enough to save them when their twisted pasts come back to haunt them? With brilliantly developed, multifaceted characters; a clever magic system; and witty prose, the pages of this fantasy fly. This marks Tsai as a writer to watch.
Author of ITW nominated LAST ONE ALIVE Karin Nordin’s LOCAL LEGENDS and DEUCES WILD, two suspense novels, to Cat Camacho at HQ Digital by Anne Tibbets (world).
A tinderbox, three huge hounds within, and an underground kingdom of old magic. Fans of Sarah J. Maas and Holly Black, myth and magic, fairy tales and fantasy will love the dark adventures of the Riven Isles.
Isbet returns home to find the witch who raised her murdered and her prized possession, the Tinderbox stolen. She discovers a common man has used it to seize the throne. The same who conquered Prince Bram’s kingdom. Isbet’s goals are vengeance and reclaim the Box. For Bram, it is to free his homeland. When they are summoned to an underground kingdom, they must set aside their personal desires as they learn dark fey are bringing an ancient source of magic back to life. If they cannot halt the rise of the old magic, it will tear apart the Riven Isles.
Audio rights to New York Times bestseller Jim Butcher’s new novella THE LAW, with the author to narrate, to Kate Runde at Podium Publishing, in a six-figure deal, at auction, by Michael Curry and Jennifer Jackson. Limited edition rights to Bill Schafer at Subterranean Press.
Audio rights to USA Today bestselling author LJ Andrews’s THE BROKEN KINGDOM SERIES, to Kate Runde at Podium Audio, at auction, in a four-book deal, by Katie Shea Boutillier
Audio rights to Mia Tsai’s BITTER MEDICINE, to Brian Sweany at Recorded Books, at auction, by Katie Shea Boutillier, on behalf of Anne Tibbets.
Author of forthcoming TINDERBOX W.A. Simpson’s sequel, TAROTMANCER, when a Black diviner predicts a dark future and assists a wily shape-shifter in a heist gone wrong, it’s up to her to make a deal with a two-faced King to save her friend and the realm from the malevolent Rot, to Don D’Auria at Flame Tree Press, in a nice deal, in an exclusive submission, by Anne Tibbets (world English).
Publishers Weekly: McHugh’s gripping debut focuses on Jennifer Scarborough, who has been grooming her daughter, Abby, for media stardom for nearly 10 years. Since Abby was four, she has been photographed, videoed, and packaged under the name Chloe Cates in Jennifer’s popular blog, CC and Me. Jennifer, who cherishes her identity as a blogger and entrepreneur, won’t let anyone stand in the way of her dreams for her daughter—not even the girl herself. Meanwhile, 13-year-old Abby writes in her journal: “Everybody knows CC Spectacular, but Abby Scarborough doesn’t exist, not on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat—nowhere that counts… Who cares about me when Chloe is the star?” Chloe’s subsequent disappearance is national news, and the internet is fueled with viral hashtags like #CatchChloeCates trending on every major platform. Emilina Stone, the detective with the Children and Family Services Unit in Albany, N.Y., who’s assigned the case, declines to reveal to her superiors that she and Jennifer were childhood friends. Chapters told from multiple perspectives skillfully tease out the characters’ respective secrets to reveal the rage lurking beneath their smiling faces. McHugh is off to a strong start.