Sometime after midnight, on a moonless October night turned harsh by a fine, windswept rain, one of the men I liked least in the world was murdered in a field near Bedford, just south of the city … The detectives went looking for suspects—people whose histories with Jefferson were adversarial and hostile. At the top of that list, they found me.

So begins A Welcome Grave, the third novel by award-winning mystery writer Michael Koryta featuring private investigator Lincoln Perry. Once a rising star on the Cleveland police force, Perry ended his career when he left one of the city’s prominent attorneys, Alex Jefferson, bleeding in the parking lot of his country club—retribution for his affair with Perry’s fiancée.

Now Jefferson is dead, the victim of a brutal murder, and his widow has called upon Perry for a favor he knows he shouldn’t grant but can’t turn down: to find Jefferson’s estranged son, partial beneficiary of the dead man’s fortune. The case is simple enough, a routine “locate,” and he’ll be paid plenty of money for the work. The encounter should be simple, too: a brief exchange of information and maybe an empty condolence before Perry gets back into his truck and returns home. Instead, he’s loaded into a police car and taken to a rural jail while Jefferson’s son is zipped into a body bag.

Perry soon learns that Jefferson’s millions are the target of a thirst for revenge that hasn’t been satisfied by blood. As a pair of deadly assailants push deep into the investigator’s life, they bring with them police from two states who are determined to see Perry in jail.

Building on the skill that prompted the Toronto Sun to call him “one of America’s best young mystery writers,” Michael Koryta makes A Welcome Grave an intense exploration of the lengths to which a desperate man is forced to go to clear his name and solve a crime. This is a thrilling new book that justifies the critical acclaim and solidifies his role as an emerging talent among today’s top writers.

In the seven years since he learned that his US marshal father lead a double life as a contract killer–and committed suicide to avoid prosecution–Frank Temple III has mostly drifted through life. But when he learns that Devin Matteson, the man who lured his father into the killing game only to later give him up to the FBI, is returning to the isolated Wisconsin lake that was once sacred ground for their families, it’s a homecoming Frank can’t allow.

Frank finds Matteson’s old cabin occupied by a strange, beautiful woman and a nervous man with a gun. But when a pair of assassins arrives on their heels, he knows Matteson can’t be far behind. The wise move would be to get out of town–but that doesn’t feel right. After all, contract killer or not, Frank’s father was at heart a teacher. And his son was an excellent student.

The New York Times bestselling “master” (Stephen King) of American thriller writing returns with an electrifying new novel about a mother seeking to reconnect with her children after a terrible trial tears their family apart.

In the beginning, it was just about the money. Then, things got personal. This is the story that Ed Gradduk tells his best friend, private investigator Lincoln Perry. Ed is on the run, hiding from the police who are looking to arrest him for arson and murder. When Gradduk is killed in a brutal confrontation with the Cleveland police, Perry is shaken. How could this have happened to his friend? With his trademark grit and determination, Perry sets out to understand the forces that brought down Ed Gradduk.

Sorrow’s Anthem is marked by a sure-handed exploration of both character and its relationship to crime. It more than delivers on the promise of Tonight I Said Goodbye: it establishes Michael Koryta as the top young mystery writer in America today.

For deputy sheriff Kevin Kimble, the lighthouse-keeper’s death is disturbing and personal. Years ago, Kimble was shot while on duty. Somehow the death suggests a connection between the lighthouse and the most terrifying moment of his life.

Audrey Clark is in the midst of moving her large-cat sanctuary onto land adjacent to the lighthouse. Sixty-seven tigers, lions, leopards, and one legendary black panther are about to have a new home there. Her husband, the sanctuary’s founder, died scouting the new property, and Audrey is determined to see his vision through.

As strange occurrences multiply at the Ridge, the animals grow ever more restless, and Kimble and Audrey try to understand what evil forces are moving through this ancient landscape, just past the divide between dark and light.

The Ridge is a brilliant thriller from international bestseller Michael Koryta, further evidence of why Dean Koontz has said “Michael Koryta’s work resonates into deeper strata than does most of what I read” and why Michael Connelly has named him “one of the best of the best.”

Whisper Ridge, a multimillion-dollar architectural project that was to host a unique program for paroled murderers, was the passion of Alexandra Sanabria, the daughter of a deceased Mafia don. But the program never got off the ground. The abandoned home now remains as a strange monument to dangerous secrets, kept off the market with taxes paid by a legal trust that Sanabria established just before she and her husband left town. While the couple’s abrupt exit was unique, it was also not regarded as criminal—until the bones of Alexandra’s husband were found more than a decade later.

Private Investigator Lincoln Perry isn’t thrilled about the situation—or his client. Parker Harrison served fifteen years for murder, but he claims Alexandra’s intervention saved his life, and now he wants to find her. It is a task that will challenge both Perry’s abilities as a detective and his commitment to that calling.

Once again Michael Koryta has crafted an intricate, fast-paced thriller, ratcheting up the tension as he explores just how dangerous the offer of a second chance can be.

The newest thriller from Michael Koryta, New York Times bestselling author

When fourteen-year-old Jace Wilson witnesses a brutal murder, he’s plunged into a new life, issued a false identity and hidden in a wilderness skills program for troubled teens. The plan is to get Jace off the grid while police find the two killers.

The result is the start of a nightmare. The killers, known as the Blackwell Brothers, are slaughtering anyone who gets in their way in a methodical quest to reach him. Now all that remains between them and the boy are Ethan and Allison Serbin, who run the wilderness survival program; Hannah Faber, who occupies a lonely fire lookout tower; and endless miles of desolate Montana mountains. The clock is ticking, the mountains are burning, and those who wish Jace Wilson dead are no longer far behind.

This is the remarkable debut mystery from the award-winning author of the 2003 St. Martin’s Press/Private Eye Writers of America Prize for Best First Private Eye Novel.

Investigator Wayne Weston is found dead of an apparent suicide in his home in an upscale Cleveland suburb, and his wife and six-year-old daughter are missing. Weston’s father insists that private investigators Lincoln Perry and Joe Pritchard take the case to exonerate his son and find his granddaughter and daughter-in-law. As they begin to work, they discover there is much more to the situation than has been described in the prevalent media reports. There are rumors of gambling debts and extortion, and a group of Russians with ties to organized crime who don’t appreciate being investigated—a point they make clear with baseball bats.

With some assistance from newspaper reporter Amy Ambrose, Perry and Pritchard believe they are making swift progress. But then they are warned off the investigation by a millionaire real estate tycoon and the FBI. Just when they feel they are closing in on a possible source of answers, another murder forces them to change direction in the case.

“Exceptional… This is the best kind of anthology, consistently excellent and inventive.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review

The latest Mystery Writers of America story collection, featuring terrifying tales of encounters with strangers from some of the top bestsellers and award winners in crime fiction

It’s been said that all great literature boils down to one of two stories–a man takes a journey, or a stranger comes to town. While mystery writers have been successfully using both approaches for generations, there’s something undeniably alluring in the nature of a stranger: the uninvited guest, the unacquainted neighbor, the fish out of water.

No matter how or where they appear, strangers are walking mysteries, complete unknowns in once-familiar territories who disrupt our lives with unease and wonder. In the newest collection of stories by the Mystery Writers of America, each author weaves a fresh tale surrounding the eerie feeling that comes when a stranger enters our midst, featuring stories by prolific mystery writers such as Michael Connelly, Dean Koontz and Joe Hill.