by Philip Eliot | May 27, 2026 | Crime Fiction |
A newspaper editor and a police detective investigate two seemingly unrelated Santa Fe murders in this mystery debut—Winner of the Tony Hillerman Prize.”The Replacement Child has many charms: It’s a riveting procedural, a compassionate and perceptive study of human nature, and a wonderfully labyrinthine whodunit.” —William Kent Krueger, author of Thunder BayLate one night, Capital Tribune editor Lucy Newroe receives a tip from Scanner Lady, an anonymous reader who frequently calls with police scanner tidbits. When Lucy checks out the tip, she discovers Scanner Lady has been killed. That same night, the body of a seventh-grade teacher, Melissa Baca, is found at the bottom of a local bridge. As Lucy and police detective Gil Montoya hunt down the culprits in each murder, they discover their cases are intertwined in the most intimate ways.Christine Barber, the first winner of the Tony Hillerman Prize, received overwhelming praise for her remarkable debut, which was named a New York Times Notable Book. Rich with details of New Mexico and the people who live there, The Replacement Child is the perfect novel for anyone who has fallen in love with the Southwest, and marks the emergence of a promising new writer.”Christine Barber is new to the Southwest in the sense that The Replacement Child is her first novel. But she has a great feel for the territory and for the family connections that enforce its strong community bonds.” —The New York Times Book Review”Provides detours into the rich Hispanic traditions, the geography, the architecture, and vagaries of life in present-day Santa Fe. . . . I think this pleasurable novel will endure as a far more insightful tour guide than any document printed for that purpose.” —Albuquerque Journal”Smart, taut, psychologically convincing. Christine Barber has a sure hand with character and a strong sense of place.” —Susan Wittig Albert, author of Nightshade
by Philip Eliot | May 27, 2026 | Mystery |
A writer turns amateur sleuth when his former roommate is suspected of murder in this epistolary mystery from one of the acclaimed Queens of Crime.When a fungi expert is found dead after feasting on poisonous mushrooms, everyone assumes he died by suicide. Everyone, that is, except the man’s son, Paul Harrison, who is certain his father would never make such a deadly mistake. Harrison’s suspicions of foul play are heightened when he learns his young stepmother was having an affair. Despite her lover’s airtight alibi, Harrison is determined to uncover the truth with the help of the man who used to share a flat with the suspected killer.Writer John Munting has his own suspicions about his one-time flatmate. Drawn into helping Harrison, the documents in the case are pulled together—a trail of letters that leads to one murderous conclusion. . . .”One of the greatest mystery writers of [the twentieth] century.” —Los Angeles Times
by Philip Eliot | May 27, 2026 | Science Fiction |
A sci-fi reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth.All who linger in the void suffer, poisoned by an excess of darkness and a deficit of gravity. Nowhere is this more apparent than Psyche Station, an aging mining outpost in the asteroid belt. When ore shipments from the station stop, Imperial Assessor Marcus O. is sent from Mars to uncover the cause. What he finds is a crew devoted to something other than their work. Something within 16 Psyche itself. Something that does not intend to stay buried.
by Philip Eliot | May 27, 2026 | Crime Fiction |
Winner of the Literary Titan Silver Book AwardA highly regarded surgeon has gone missing. Will the search for her whereabouts tear a community apart?Dr. Janie O’Connor’s disappearance from her Savannah estate, Rose Dhu, has shocked the town to its core. Her former fiancé, Phillip Carruthers—once the most eligible bachelor in coastal Georgia and the playboy son of Savannah’s most powerful billionaire family—is the prime suspect.Phillip maintains his innocence and seems to have an airtight alibi, and the case has local police stumped. But Detective Frank Winger, who has his own personal connection to Janie’s family, is determined to discover what happened . . . as long as false witnesses, evidence tampering, and ghosts from his past don’t get in the way.When back-door dealings and long-forgotten enemies reveal themselves, will Frank be able to distinguish fact from fiction to figure out what happened to Janie? Or will her whereabouts stay shrouded in the shadows of Savannah’s live oaks?
by Philip Eliot | May 27, 2026 | Science Fiction |
A comet from another solar system.A conspiracy at the highest levels.A family caught between the truth,And the end of the world.The Black Swan Event is a natural disaster thriller series from international bestselling author, Bobby Akart, one of America’s favorite storytellers, who has delivered up-all-night thrillers to over two million readers in 245 countries and territories worldwide.When NASA’s SWAN space telescope detects a faint ultraviolet anomaly beyond the orbit of Jupiter, astronomers assume it’s a comet—an interstellar visitor drifting harmlessly through space. But as more data pours in from observatories around the world, the excitement turns to confusion then to fear.4I/SWAN isn’t just unusual. It’s breaking all the rules.Trajectory models are beyond explanation.Composition suggests the comet is manufactured.Outgassing profiles don’t match known celestial bodies.Radio telescopes detect harmonic pulses no one can explain.Inside NASA, scientists whisper the unthinkable: What if this isn’t natural?“Great characters and a horribly terrifying storyline make this a great read! I just pray that this story doesn’t become prophetic.”Professor Johan Xavier, widely known as Professor X, a brilliant but controversial planetary scientist, has built a career following the mantra, I champion hard science over comfortable assumptions. As 4I/SWAN’s anomalies grow harder to dismiss, Professor X becomes an outspoken, prominent public voice in the debate over what’s really soaring through our solar system.Emily Pickett, a brilliant Caltech researcher for Professor X, is among the first to notice that 4I/SWAN isn’t behaving like a natural object. Torn between professional skepticism and alarming new evidence, she becomes a key voice in the global debate over the comet’s true nature.Daniel Pickett, Emily’s younger brother, is a rising NASA astrobiologist working inside a CIA-created classified program. He discovers anomalies in 4I/SWAN that raise more questions than answers. His position grants him access to secrets he’s not sure he should keep—or reveal.Sheriff Bud Pickett, a steady Texas lawman and widowed father of Emily and Daniel, struggles to keep Liberty County grounded even as fear spreads across the world. When the comet’s secrets begin touching his own family, Bud fears for his children as he becomes the county’s reluctant protector and its last line of calm in a rising storm.“Akart is one of those very rare authors who makes things so visceral, so real, that you experience what he writes.”If the comet is a messenger, the fate of humanity may be the message.If it’s something else, humanity may be the target.Black Swan reveals a conspiracy that threatens the world but will leave you asking,“Are we alone?”The perfect book for fans of Disclosure Day, Contact, Arrival, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the documentary, Age of Disclosure. Also, for those who want the truth about first contact, alien invasion, and conspiracy thrillers surrounding these topics.This modern-day, fact-based novel will have you whispering just one more chapter until the end.
