Book Preview CAST OF CHARACTERS THE QUEENS Queen Mirabella, the great elemental Queen Arsinoe, the Bear Queen Queen Katharine the Undead, the Queen Crowned THE CROWN THE BLACK COUNCIL Genevieve Arron, a poisoner Pietyr Renard, a poisoner Antonin Arron, a poisoner Lucian Arron, a poisoner Paola Vend, a poisoner Renata Hargrove, giftless Bree Westwood, an … Read more
Book Preview CAST OF CHARACTERS INDRID DOWN Capital City, Home of Queen Katharine THE ARRONS Natalia Arron Matriarch of the Arron family. Head of the Black Council. Genevieve Arron Younger sister to Natalia Antonin Arron Younger brother to Natalia Pietyr Renard Natalia’s nephew by her brother Christophe ROLANTH Home of Queen Mirabella THE WESTWOODS Sara … Read more
Book Preview Guide Cover Contents Chapter 1 ii iii iv ix ix v vi vii viii viii x 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 … Read more
Book Preview Guide Cover Contents Chapter 1 iii iv vi vii xi 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 … Read more
Book Preview PROLOGUE: THE BLACK COTTAGE The day of the birth of the queens who would come to be known as Mirabella, Arsinoe, and Katharine was still, unremarkable, and without omens. There was no great wind to howl the arrival of an elemental queen. No bloody fish kill against the rocks to signal the coming … Read more
Book Preview PROLOGUE:THE BLACK COTTAGE The day of the birth of the queens who would come to be known as Mirabella, Arsinoe, and Katharine was still, unremarkable, and without omens. There was no great wind to howl the arrival of an elemental queen. No bloody fish kill against the rocks to signal the coming of … Read more
Book Preview PROLOGUE On a warm summer day, Queen Mirabella sat on the front steps of the Black Cottage at Midwife Willa’s feet, having her hair braided. Her little sisters—Queen Arsinoe, younger by mere minutes, and Queen Katharine, younger by a full half hour—played together in the yard. “It is a good thing that black … Read more
Book Preview Prologue: Vi and Hailey Part One: Welcome to New Sunnydale High Chapter One: In Every Generation Chapter Two: The Life, the Legend, the Slayer Chapter Three: So It Wasn’t an Astronaut Chapter Four: New Sunnydale, Like the Old Sunnydale Chapter Five: Slayer Powers, Activate! Chapter Six: The Guardian of the Hellmouth… Residue Chapter … Read more
Book Preview IN THE SUMMER of 1958, the murders that would come to be known as the “Bloodless Murders” or the “Dracula Murders” swept through the Midwest, beginning in Nebraska and sawing through Iowa and Wisconsin before turning back to my hometown of Black Deer Falls, Minnesota. Before it was over, the murders would claim … Read more
Book Preview The Lands of Kinvara SERAVESH Solenskaya (capital of Seravesh) Nadym Kavondy Peshkalor Mountains FREE STATE OF IDUN Eshkaroth ROVEN EMPIRE Tolograd (capital city of Roven) Polzi Nivlaand Khezhar Graznia Switzkia Raskis EMPIRE OF VISHIR Bet Naqar (capital city of Vishir) Talria Province Vishna Province Qarshkand Province Serrala Province Owassa Province Tovult Province Yalbrika … Read more
Book Preview I pulled the cloak closer about my shoulders, ignoring the bead of sweat dripping down my spine. From my hilltop perch, the walled city of Eshkaroth wasn’t much to look at. The smallest holding in the Free State of Idun, it had only a few hundred inhabitants crowded about a crumbling seaside castle. … Read more
Book Preview 1 It was shaping up as a beautiful morning. The last thing I wanted to hear about was murder. A cool Pacific current had swept its way across the coastline for two days running, propelling the pollution to Pasadena. My house is nestled in the foothills just north of Bel Air, situated atop … Read more
Book Preview 1 The shark on the dock was no monster. Four feet long, probably a low-lying reef scavenger. But its dead white eyes had retained their menace, and its jaws were jammed with needles that made it a prize for the two men with the bloody hands. They were bare-chested Anglos baked brown, muscular … Read more
Book Preview This one was different. The first hint was Milo’s tight-voiced eight a.m. message, stripped of details. Something I need you to see, Alex. Here’s the address. An hour later, I was showing I.D. to the uniform guarding the tape. He winced. “Up there, Doctor.” Pointing to the second story of a sky-blue duplex … Read more
Book Preview CHAPTER 1 May brought azure skies and California optimism to Hollywood. Petra Connor worked nights and slept through the blue. She had her own reason to be cheerful: solving two whodunit murders. The first was a dead body at a wedding. The Ito-Park wedding, main ballroom of the Roosevelt Hotel, Japanese-American bride, Korean-American … Read more
Book Preview Books by Jonathan Kellerman FICTION ALEX DELAWARE NOVELS Bones (2008) Compulsion (2008) Obsession (2007) Gone (2006) Rage (2005) Therapy (2004) A Cold Heart (2003) The Murder Book (2002) Flesh and Blood (2001) Dr Death (2000) Monster (1999) Survival of the Fittest (1997) The Clinic (1997) The Web (1996) Self-Defense (1995) Bad Love (1994) … Read more
Book Preview Special thanks to Barbara Biggs and to all those writers who were there with counsel and/or kind words. To wit: Paul Bishop, Lawrence Block, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Michael Dorris, James Ellroy, Brian Garfield, Sue Grafton, Joe Gores, Andrew Greeley, Tony Hillerman, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Elmore Leonard, the late Richard Levinson, William Link, … Read more
Book Preview CHAPTER 1 A few years ago a psychopath burned down my house. The night it happened, I was out to dinner with the woman who’d designed the house and lived in it with me. We were driving up Beverly Glen when the sirens cut through the darkness, ululating, like coyote death wails. The … Read more