Gritty Crime

Author Ron Chepesiuk chronicles the little known history of organized crime in Harlem.

African American organized crime has had as significant an impact on its constituent community as Italian, Jewish, and Irish organized crime has had on theirs. Gangsters are every bit as colorful, intriguing, and powerful as Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, and have a fascinating history in gambling, prostitution, and drug dealing. In the late 1800s, Harlem became a highly fashionable neighborhood.

The first three books in the Rebecca Watson crime thriller series. Stone Cold Detective Rebecca Watson is tracking a vicious serial killer in Eugene Falls, Florida. As a distraction, she’s dragged back into court for the retrial of a man convicted of murdering his girlfriend five years earlier. His defense attorney will use any means to get his client freed, including uncovering old wounds from Watson’s past. As the case takes a few hard turns, nothing can prepare her for the world she’s about to encounter, the past that haunts her, and the truth behind the serial killer’s motive. ...

Nikki Ashford had it all. Not only was she drop-dead gorgeous with a figure to match, but she was smart – a top student at one of the most elite high schools in town. Moreover, Nikki was used to getting her way. As an only child, she was spoiled rotten by parents who had worked their way out of the hood in order to give her everything she ever wanted. The only problem was that Nikki wanted everything: clothes, money, jewelry... But at the top of the list was Quilon – who, shockingly, didn’t want Nikki. Unfamiliar with being denied what she wanted (and certainly not accustomed to being...

Vincent never had a chance. He lost his mother in the South Tower. He lost his father to a bottle. The rest, he gave away slowly—to heroin, silence, and survival. ★★★★★ "by the time the last scene fades out, you’ll want to sit in the dark for a minute, just letting it settle."- Goodreads ★★★★★ "It did what The Sopranos ending tried to do but actually pulled it off. The final pages of In Powder Blue by Nikolas Pleiadi left me completely silent." - Goodreads ★★★★★ "A modern crime masterpiece....You could dissect this forever. On par with The Godfather."- ...

Christmas was supposed to bury the past. Shiffon was meant to be a memory, her name reduced to a whisper, her story sealed as another casualty of Maverick McClay’s violent legacy. But December in Atlanta peels back secrets like wrapping paper. When Shiffon resurfaces with her newborn son, it’s proof Maverick’s bloodline is still alive, and someone intends to claim it. As holiday lights glow and snow dusts the city, Riot Mercer, Maverick’s volatile protégé stalks through Atlanta’s shadows. His eyes burn with newfound purpose, Maverick’s blood lives on in Shiffon’s infant son....

Teacher by day, member of the MC at night. My TA is asking for her cherry to be popped. She's curvy, innocent, and obsessed with touching me. She asks for a ride after class one day. I take her on my steel horse, then I take her unprotected. Her body is mine, and everyone’s going to know. She’ll wear my mark like a brand now that she’s knocked up. I’ve spent my whole life protecting my brothers. But it’s time to protect my new family. Nobody touches a Queen except her King. A fast-paced age gap romance where the hero intentionally swipes the heroine’s v-card and knocks her up. ...

He attacks women in their homes. Then he has dinner with them. Detective Lily Hart is brilliant, sarcastic and running on fumes. Insomnia and sleeping pills blur her nights into hallucinations, but when a predator known as The BFF Killer strikes again, dragging her into a case that echoes the darkest chapter of her own past. One survivor tells the story: The blindfolded dinner. The only clue is a lizard tattoo. When Lily’s partner is murdered while protecting her, everything changes. The deeper she digs, the more the lines between justice and obsession disappear. Because he isn’t just ...

“Only clean what’s dirty.” Torin Adeyemi is a quiet janitor at a Baltimore high school. But when the sun goes down, he becomes Jackboi, a ruthless vigilante with a knife and a mission. Haunted by a violent past in Haiti and burdened by the broken city around him, Torin has only one rule: punish the wicked and protect the innocent. Each night, he walks the streets, cleaning up what the system ignores. Pimps, abusers, dealers, corrupt cops. They all bleed the same. And when justice fails, Jackboi delivers his own. Jack$ Boi is a gritty urban thriller that blends psychological depth with...

DETECTIVE JORDAN CROSS DOESN'T SOLVE COLD CASES. SHE EXPOSES THE CONSPIRACIES THAT CREATED THEM. In the ruins of Detroit, where abandoned buildings outnumber people and institutional corruption runs fifty years deep, one detective refuses to let the forgotten stay buried. Jordan Cross works the cases nobody wants—decades-old murders in a basement cold case unit where files gather dust and victims' families have stopped hoping for justice. She's cynical, damaged, relentless. A divorced cop who chain-smokes through sixteen-hour days because the work is all she has. Then she finds the ...

Growing up in the hood, Micha knew there were certain unwritten rules that were sacrosanct - practically biblical commandments: Do what you have to to get over. Never snitch; do your time like a man. And - above all else - never drop any hint that you might be gay. (Hell, if anybody even joked about it, you were honor-bound to break their jaw!) Initially, Micha has no problem with any of these, but an unexpected encounter suddenly awakens something in him that he never knew existed. Feelings. Longings. Desires. Physical needs that women prove incapable of satisfying. As Micha grapples with ...

A SERIES OF GRIPPING, ACTION-PACKED, Set in the USA and Liverpool. Soft Target Soft Target 2 'Tank' Jerusalem 18th Brigade Blister TTF Series Synopsis In the gripping and high-stakes series by international bestselling author Conrad Jones, the Terrorist Task Force (TTF) stands as the last line of defense against a looming threat. As Islamic extremists unleash a series of coordinated attacks across iconic American locations—starting with a shocking assault on Downtown Disney in Las Vegas, followed by chaos in San Francisco and an attack at the Grand Canyon—the nation grapples with fear ...

To hunt a killer in paradise, Sofia Costa must use every skill Interpol ever taught her—and stop a murderer who’s been watching from the start. Sofia Costa is no ordinary investigator. A former Interpol forensic polyglot turned luxury travel security consultant, she’s brilliant, solitary, and trained to blend in anywhere. When a discreet message summons her to the legendary Hotel Miramare high above the Amalfi Coast, she expects a petty theft. What she finds is far more sinister. Priceless heirlooms are being returned as if the thieves had a change of heart. A young woman is found ...

Fleeing a homicide in Brooklyn, Ace and Stacy find themselves in Miami, a city pulsing with opportunity and danger. As they reconnect, the weight of their past hangs heavy, leading to a crucial conversation about their futures. Ace proposes a daring shift from their life as robbers to the enticing but perilous world of drug trafficking—a move that promises wealth but also invites peril. Stacy, inspired by Ace's ambition and seeking a fresh start, willingly follows him into this new path. Their initial success in the Miami drug market quickly escalates, drawing the attention of Soul, the ...

When Lieutenant Mark Wheeler of the South Carolina Police Department arrives at a possible murder-suicide, he realizes almost immediately things are amiss. The crime scene is brutal, but upon further investigation, he unveils a sadistic killer at play who will stop at nothing to get away. As the case unfolds, nothing can prepare Wheeler for the gauntlet of turmoil and trouble. Relentlessly pursuing a psychopath who has flown under the radar for years, Mark fights to keep control—driven to bring this monster to justice. Will the sadistic killer finally be caught or will his instincts which...

She says I’m a beast. She's right. But I’m the man she needs if she wants to survive. I’m no family man. Big, bearded, tatted – I’m no teddy bear either. As a member of the Twisted Devils MC, I fix bikes and break heads. At night, it’s all about easy riding and fast women. No commitments, except to my club. Until Trixie. That night, everything changes. The curvy bar singer takes the stage and my world shifts. She’s gorgeous. And her sinful voice stirs an animal inside me. All I want is one night. Nothing more. She tells me I'm full of it. She wants nothing from a man like me. ...

My first husband died under mysterious circumstances. Some might call it bad luck. I call it survival. Now, I’m arranged to marry Antonio Bianchi, heir to a mafia empire and a man who could destroy me if he learns the truth. Antonio is everything I fear: ruthless, unrelenting, and dangerously irresistible. When I crash his bachelor party to uncover what kind of man he truly is, I think I’m a step ahead. But he catches me. And instead of punishing me, he stakes his claim in ways that leave me breathless. He says I belong to him. That he’ll strip me bare until I have no secrets left. ...

The Godfather meets The Magicians in the sweeping adult debut from #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu. Perfect for fans of V.E. Schwab, Red City is a dark and deadly contemporary fantasy of magical warfare, star-crossed ambition, and the pursuit of perfection at any cost, set in a...

In the concrete kingdom of Hard Max Penitentiary, fear is currency and respect is power. And for years, Reggie has been the king. From his throne of concrete and steel, Reggie rules the yard with an iron fist, a grip earned through blood and the ghost of the tyrant he himself deposed. His empire is built on established rules and brutal order. The gangs are in line, the guards are managed, and the contraband flows. But the foundations of his kingdom are beginning to crack. A new inmate, Dre, is the tremor. He’s not a mountain of muscle or a vicious killer. He’s quiet, observant, and ...

The night I get assigned three bodyguards, I’m just trying to keep my dad’s players in one piece. I’m the coach’s omega daughter and the assistant trainer—tape on my fingers, stopwatch around my neck, always on the bench or in the tunnel. On paper, I’m staff. In a city where the mob owns our team, I’m leverage. My dad spent his career trying to keep the locker room clean of their influence. No thrown games, no favors, no quiet little deals. The threats start when he refuses to play along—first a “mugging” in a parking garage, then a message in red paint where only I’m ...

Three bodies. Thirty-five years buried. One cop's signature on all three cases. Detroit detective Jordan Cross thought she'd seen the worst the city could offer. Then construction workers found three skeletons in a condemned basement—teenage girls, locked in and left to die in 1989. The department called them runaways. Closed the cases in days. Moved on. But Jordan finds the pattern. Same neighborhood. Same six-month window. Same investigating officer on all three reports: Patrol Officer Edward Brennan. Now he's Deputy Chief Brennan. Thirty-five years of climbing ranks. Seven ...