The show must go on even when monsters are afoot, and Poet Parker knows this better than most. Romani by birth and a fortune teller by choice, she’s spent the past ten years as a member of Mystic Caravan Circus using her genuine psychic talents to tell people what their future holds by day and hunting paranormal monsters by night. It’s an unusual double life, but someone has to protect innocent civilians from the supernatural threats most people don’t believe exist. 🎪
You see, Mystic Caravan is more than just a circus providing entertainment to small towns across America—it’s also a force of good in a world that desperately needs help fighting evil that lurks in shadows. Poet is set in her ways after a decade of this lifestyle and happy with her life balancing performances and monster hunting, until Kade Denton shows up and upends the entire operation with his loud personality and proud attitude. He’s everything Poet isn’t: brash where she’s measured, impulsive where she’s careful, and worst of all, he doesn’t like anyone telling him what to do—which is unfortunate since Poet doesn’t like anyone telling her what to do either. ⚔️
As the new head of security, Kade thinks his only job is going to be tackling drunken revelers when they get out of hand and maybe breaking up the occasional fight. He’s in for a rude and bloody awakening when the truth about Mystic Caravan comes out. When monsters strike and Kade discovers the circus’s real purpose, he finds he has to learn on the job with Poet as his somewhat reluctant instructor who resents having to train someone so stubborn. 💀
Sparks are flying—both real and figurative—between Poet and Kade as they’re forced to work together. And when a truly terrible beast targets the circus for complete extermination, threatening everyone Poet cares about, it’s all magical hands on deck for the final showdown. Some things are born evil, but the people in Mystic Caravan were born to fight it. Prepare to be amazed by a circus where the greatest show on earth involves saving it. 🔥
What makes this thrilling: Amanda M. Lee’s paranormal fantasy follows Romani fortune teller Poet Parker who’s spent ten years with Mystic Caravan Circus using psychic talents by day and hunting monsters by night—until new security head Kade Denton upends everything with his loud personality, learning the circus’s true purpose as sparks fly and a terrible beast targets them for extermination in a magical showdown.
Coffee and her BFF are all the magic she needs—or so she keeps telling herself. Things have gone wonky around her most of her life in ways she can’t explain and has learned not to question. She finds an odd amount of dead or dying people, and if something freakish happens, she’s usually in the middle or nearby when it occurs. Her luck dumps her into the weirdest situations with disturbing regularity. Which means finding a body on the way to work isn’t exciting, just frustrating because she can’t afford to lose her job. College, when you aren’t a mage with magical abilities paying your tuition, is expensive. 💔
Nothing is going to stop her from achieving her goals. She will have a good life, she will be a great EMT, and she will keep looking for answers about why her twin died under mysterious circumstances years ago. Life is a series of steps toward those goals; this is step one. But with her luck, anything and everything might happen along the way, including stumbling across more bodies than any normal person should encounter. ⚠️
**Hired Luck:** New city, new job, new threat she didn’t see coming. With her best friend going to college to learn how to use her magic properly, they’re sharing an apartment in Atlanta and she’s never been happier despite not having magical abilities herself. The last thing she needed was to be involved in a murder investigation that makes the police sure she had something to do with it. News alert: she doesn’t. She’s got a job, Jo’s attending school, she’s finally on track to have her own life. 🔍
But she can’t get the dead girl out of her mind—who was she and why did she die in such a brutal way? What good are her skills if all she does is keep finding dead people instead of saving living ones? With a serial killer operating in Atlanta, the police and FBI stepping in with their jurisdictional battles, she might lose more than the life she had carefully planned. She might lose her actual life. Once again her twisted luck holds true and she’s in the middle of something she doesn’t know how to deal with, forced to use abilities she didn’t know she possessed. 💀
What makes this compelling: Mel Todd’s three-book contemporary fantasy follows a woman whose twisted luck means finding dead people regularly—frustrated because she can’t afford to lose her job while paying for college to become an EMT and searching for why her twin died, then moving to Atlanta where a murder investigation and serial killer force her to discover abilities she never knew she possessed.
Henry and Emily Fox are jolted from their peaceful semi-retirement in the idyllic community of Sugarbury Falls, Vermont when Emily discovers a dead body during her morning run along familiar trails. The discovery itself is shocking enough in a town where serious crime is virtually nonexistent, but Emily learns the dead body has a disturbing connection to the adult summer writing camp she is about to start teaching—one of the students who hadn’t yet arrived for the first session. 💔
With no apparent cause of death visible and circumstances that don’t quite add up, Henry’s buddy who serves as the town coroner suspects foul play rather than natural causes or accident. Neither Dr. Henry, with his medical background and analytical mind, nor former reporter Emily with her investigative instincts can resist solving a puzzle this compelling. The journalist in Emily never really retired; it just went dormant waiting for the right story. 🔍
As they work to solve the mystery before the writing camp begins and students arrive expecting a peaceful creative retreat, they discover an intricate web of relationships and motives involving the writers in Emily’s class. Manuscripts hide secrets, critique groups conceal rivalries, and literary ambitions mask darker intentions. The idyllic Vermont setting belies the complicated human dramas unfolding beneath the surface. 📚
Along the way, Henry and Emily are confronted with a profound, life-changing decision that has nothing to do with murder but everything to do with their future together. Following A Deadly Course through the first book in the Sugarbury Falls mystery series, readers will discover whether Emily and Henry make it safely to the end—both in terms of catching a killer before they strike again and navigating the personal crossroads that will define their semi-retirement. Some puzzles involve murder; others involve deciding what matters most when time becomes precious. Can they solve both before it’s too late? ⚠️
What makes this cozy: Diane Weiner’s mystery follows Dr. Henry and former reporter Emily Fox jolted from peaceful Vermont semi-retirement when Emily discovers a dead body during her morning run—connected to her adult summer writing camp with no apparent cause of death, the coroner suspects foul play, forcing them to solve the mystery while discovering an intricate web of relationships and confronting a profound life-changing decision.
The Sentinel: The Complete Jane Harper Trilogy
In the icy darkness of the Arctic Ocean, a violent showdown between ruthless whale hunters and fervent environmentalists ends in explosive catastrophe that sends both ships plunging into the frigid abyss. Survival seemed impossible, but some crew members from both vessels manage to reach a desolate island barely visible through Arctic storms. Marooned in one of Earth’s most unforgiving environments, the survivors—now bitter enemies who were literally trying to kill each other minutes ago—are forced into an uneasy truce to withstand the merciless cold that will kill them all if they don’t cooperate. 🌊
Enter Jane Harper: undercover agent, razor-sharp and unflinching, wielding her wit as deftly as her fists. She was embedded with one of the groups before the catastrophe, gathering intelligence on illegal activities. Now she must rally the fractured group of survivors who hate each other, navigate the politics of forced cooperation, and keep everyone alive long enough for rescue. As she establishes order among the chaos, they stumble upon ancient Viking ruins that shouldn’t exist this far north—structures suggesting a settlement predating known Norse exploration. ⚔️
Deep beneath the frozen ground, something stirs in response to their intrusion. The Draugar awaken. Undying Vikings walk the Earth again after centuries of dormancy, but they’re not the legendary warriors from sagas—they’re controlled by hive-mind parasites connected by three sinister queens. Capable of subjugating and preserving all mammalian life, these parasites see the world through ambitious eyes that recognize opportunity when humans appear on their doorstep. They spread to any creature they can find—bears, whales, and especially people. 💀
With time slipping away and the body count climbing as survivors become hosts for ancient horrors, Jane must unravel the mystery of these parasites whose origins may lie beyond the stars themselves. She fights not just for survival against impossible odds, but to prevent an unimaginable menace from consuming the world. The parasites don’t just kill—they preserve, control, expand. If they reach the mainland, humanity faces extinction not through death but through assimilation into something that transcends death itself. Jane Harper is Earth’s last line of defense against an enemy that’s been waiting centuries for this moment. 🔥
What makes this terrifying: Jeremy Robinson’s complete trilogy follows undercover agent Jane Harper when Arctic Ocean violence between whale hunters and environmentalists ends catastrophically, stranding bitter enemies on a desolate island where they discover ancient Viking ruins and awaken the Draugar—undying Vikings controlled by hive-mind parasites seeking to subjugate all mammalian life including humans, forcing Jane to prevent an extraterrestrial menace from consuming Earth.
The Cotswolds, 1924. At the Old Forge in the quiet village of Maybury-in-the-Marsh, a cry of anguish rings out through the manor house, shattering the peaceful morning. Lady of the house Amy Phelps has been discovered dead in her locked room, and the circumstances surrounding her death make no sense. But with all the windows and doors to her room locked from inside—truly, completely secured with no possible entrance or exit—how was she killed? And by whom? 🕯️
Arbuthnot “Arbie” Swift finds himself in the unlikely position of detective, a role he never imagined when accepting this particular house invitation. The celebrated author of The Gentleman’s Guide to Ghost-Hunting is staying at the Old Forge to investigate a suspected spectre haunting the property, armed with his usual equipment and skepticism. But now the more pressing matter of Amy’s murder falls to him too, transforming a supernatural investigation into a very real criminal one. The ghost can wait; justice for Amy cannot. 🔍
With old friend Val assisting the investigation, Arbie soon uncovers a sorry tale stretching back years—altered wills that changed family fortunes, secret love affairs conducted in shadows, tragic losses that destroyed relationships, and plenty of motives for murder among the household and extended family. Every interview reveals another secret, every discovered letter exposes another betrayal. The Old Forge holds more darkness than any ghost could provide. 💔
When events take another sinister turn and a second death threatens, Arbie knows he must find the killer fast before the body count rises further. And to do so will mean cracking a most perfectly plotted crime—a locked room murder that seems impossible to solve. How do you kill someone in a room secured from the inside? The answer requires understanding not just the mechanics of murder but the psychology of revenge, the desperation of greed, and the lengths people will go to protect devastating secrets. Arbie must separate the supernatural from the criminal, the ghosts of the past from the very real killer walking the Old Forge’s halls in present day. ⚠️
What makes this intriguing: Faith Martin’s 1924 Cotswolds mystery follows celebrated ghost-hunting author Arbuthnot “Arbie” Swift staying at the Old Forge to investigate a suspected spectre when lady of the house Amy Phelps is discovered dead in her locked room—forcing Arbie and friend Val to uncover altered wills, secret affairs, and tragic losses while cracking the perfectly plotted locked-room murder before events take another sinister turn.
Twenty years ago, seven-year-old Charmaine Tillman vanished without a trace from a crowded school fair in broad daylight. One moment she was there, the next she was gone as if she’d never existed. Her disappearance shattered her family in ways that can never be repaired, destroyed her father who couldn’t survive the guilt and grief, and turned her mother into a relentless force in the public eye—a crusader for missing children whose face became synonymous with tragedy and hope. 💔
Her older sister Taylor transformed the tragedy into a media empire built on the desperate hope that one day, against all impossible odds, Charmaine would come home. Books, speaking engagements, a foundation bearing Charmaine’s name—Taylor turned her sister’s absence into a lifelong mission and a lucrative career. The family never stopped looking, never stopped believing, never stopped keeping Charmaine’s name in headlines. Now, against all odds and defying every statistical probability, Charmaine has returned. 🎭
Found miles away from where she disappeared with only fragmented memories of the past two decades, she steps back into the world she left behind—a world that has moved on without her in profound ways. She’s no longer the seven-year-old girl who vanished; she’s a young woman who lost her entire childhood to whatever happened during those missing years. But as she settles into the glittering life her family has built in her absence—the mansion, the foundation, the media attention—something feels fundamentally wrong. The whispers she catches between family members. The forced smiles that don’t reach their eyes. The way her mother watches her with unreadable eyes that seem to calculate rather than celebrate. 👁️
The past is buried, but Charmaine can sense it clawing its way to the surface with increasing urgency. And the deeper she digs into her own history, trying to recover memories and understand what happened to her, the more she realizes that some secrets were meant to stay lost. Some truths are more dangerous than the lies that replaced them. Because the worst part about coming home is discovering you were never meant to—that your return threatens to destroy the empire built on your absence, and that the people who claim to love you most might have the strongest motivation to make you disappear again. This time permanently. ⚠️
What makes this twisted: N’Dia Rae and CN Mabry’s psychological thriller follows seven-year-old Charmaine Tillman who vanished from a school fair twenty years ago, shattering her family and inspiring sister Taylor’s media empire—until Charmaine returns with fragmented memories, settling into the glittering life built in her absence where whispers, forced smiles, and her mother’s unreadable eyes suggest some secrets were meant to stay lost and her return threatens everything.
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