The Magician Murders

Nothing up his sleeves. Nothing but murder… Jason West, hot-shot special agent with the FBI’s Art Crime Team, is at the Wyoming home of Behavioral Analysis Unit Chief Sam Kennedy, recuperating from a recent hit-and-run accident, when he’s asked to consult on the theft of a priceless collection of vintage magic posters. But before Jason can say “presto change-o,” the owner of the art collection turns up murdered in a National Forest. When the dead man is revealed to be the Kubla Khanjurer, a much-hated part-time magician accused of revealing the highly guarded secrets of professional illusionists, it seems clear this is a simple revenge killing—until Jason realizes an earlier suspicious death at the trendy magic club Top Hat White Rabbit might be part of the same larger and more sinister pattern.

Special Agent Jason West is seconded from the FBI Art Crime Team to temporarily partner with disgraced, legendary “manhunter” Sam Kennedy when it appears Kennedy’s most famous case, the capture and conviction of a serial killer known as the Huntsman, may actually have been a disastrous failure. The Huntsman is still out there…and the killing has begun again.

The last thing Jason West, an ambitious young FBI special agent with the Art Crime Team, wants—or needs—is his uncertain and unacknowledged romantic relationship with irascible legendary Behavioral Analysis Unit Chief Sam Kennedy. And it’s starting to feel like Sam is not thrilled with the idea either. But personal feelings must be put aside when Sam requests Jason’s help to catch a deranged killer targeting wealthy, upscale art collectors. A killer whose calling card is a series of grotesque paintings depicting the murders.

Someone is watching. Someone is waiting. Despite having attracted the attention of a dangerous stalker, Special Agent Jason West is doing his best to keep his mind on his job and off his own troubles. But his latest case implicates one of the original Monuments Men in the theft and perhaps destruction of part of the world's cultural heritage--a lost painting by Vermeer. Naval Reserve Lieutenant Commander Emerson Harley wasn't just a World War 2 hero, he was the grandfather Jason grew up idolizing. In fact, Grandpa Harley was a large part of what inspired Jason to join the FBI's Art Crime Team. Learning that his legendary grandfather might have turned a blind eye to American GIs "liberating" priceless art treasures at the end of the war is more than disturbing. It's devastating. Jason is determined to clear his grandfather's name, even if that means breaking a few rules and regulations himself--putting him on a collision course with romantic partner BAU Chief Sam Kennedy. Meanwhile, someone in the shadows is biding his time...

The first title in a brand-new series. Merlin is no magician, merely a scholar and advisor to King Arthur. But after the supposedly magical Stone of Bran is stolen--along with the legendary sword Excalibur--and one of Arthur's squires is brutally murdered during the theft, Merlin must use the power of reason to catch a murderer. Original.

The second book in the Anthony Award-winning Accidental Alchemist Mystery Series by USA Today bestselling author Gigi Pandian. When alchemist Zoe Faust gives herself a rare night out to attend a classic magic show that reminds her of her youth, she realizes the stage magicians are much more than they seem. A murder at the theater leads back to a string of unsolved robberies and murders in Portland’s past, and a mystery far more personal than Zoe and Dorian the gargoyle ever imagined. Can Zoe solve a mystery from Portland’s past and unlock an ancient alchemy book’s secrets soon enough to save her best friend from being trapped in stone forever? Includes recipes! "People who enjoy character driven stories with mystery, magic, supernatural creatures, and historical intrigue will greatly enjoy this inventive, well-written tale." —Portland Book Review

A middle grade historical murder mystery from a Newbery Medalist, “readers will be glued to this suspenseful, headlong caper from first page to last” (Kirkus Reviews). A plot to overthrow King Claudio is brewing in the Kingdom of Pergamontio. Scholarly Mangus the magician—along with his street-smart and faithful new servant boy, Fabrizio—have been marked as easy scapegoats for the traitor lurking within the king’s court. Together, these two unlikely partners must gather clues to solve the mystery and prove their innocence before the stroke of midnight . . . or face death! Intricate plotting, surprise twists, and lively prose make for another suspenseful page-turner that stands alone or sets the stage for Avi’s–bestselling sequel, Midnight Magic. “The suspense simmer[s] right through to the end.” —Booklist

Perfect for fans of Jenn McKinlay and Kate Carlisle, in Agatha award-winning author Cynthia Kuhn’s series debut, small-town bookseller and literary event planner Emma Starrs is out to close the book on a killer intent on crashing the party. To help save her family’s floundering Colorado bookstore, Starlit Bookshop, newly minted Ph.D. Emma Starrs agrees to plan a mystery-themed dinner party for her wealthy, well-connected high school classmate Tabitha Baxter. It’s a delightful evening of cocktails and conjecture until Tabitha’s husband, Tip—hosting the affair in the guise of Edgar Allan Poe’s detective C. Auguste Dupin—winds up murdered. In a heartbeat, Emma and her aunt Nora, a famous mystery writer, become suspects. Emma is sure the party’s over for Starlit events, until celebrated author Calliope Nightfall, whose gothic sensibilities are intrigued by the circumstances, implores the bookseller to create a Poe-themed launch event for her latest tome. Throwing a bash to die for while searching for additional clues is already enough to drive Emma stark raven mad, but another shocking crime soon reveals that Silvercrest has not yet reached the final chapter of the puzzling case. Someone in this charming artistic community has murder on the mind, and if Emma cannot outwit the killer, she and her beloved aunt will land behind bars, to walk free nevermore.

Thanks to her recent adventures in Dying for Chocolate, Goldy Bear, the premier caterer of Aspen Meadow, Colorado, is no stranger to violence--or sudden death. But when she agrees to cater the first College Advisory Dinner for Seniors and Parents at the exclusive Elk Park Preparatory School, the last thing she expects to find at the end of the evening is the battered body of the school valedictorian. Who could have killed Keith Andrews, and why? Goldy's hungry for some answers--and not just because she found the corpse. Her young son, Arch, a student at Elk Park Prep, has become a target for some not-so-funny pranks, while her eighteen-year-old live-in helper, Julian, has become a prime suspect in the Andrews boy's murder. As her investigation intensifies, Goldy's anxiety level rises faster than homemade doughnuts. . .as she turns up evidence that suggests that Keith knew more than enough to blow the lid off some very unscholarly secrets. And then, as her search rattles one skeleton too many, Goldy learns a crucial fact: a little knowledge about a killer can be a deadly thing.

From the mid-fifteenth century to the early seventeenth, German Jews were persecuted and tried for the alleged ritual murders of Christian children, whose blood purportedly played a crucial part in Jewish magical rites. In this engrossing book R. Po-Chia Hsia traces the rise and decline of ritual murder trials during that period. Using sources ranging from Christian and Kabbalistic treatises to judicial records and popular pamphlets, Hsia examines the religious sources of the idea of child sacrifice and blood symbolism and reconstructs the political context of ritual murder trials against the Jews. "This volume combines clarity of thinking, elegance of style, and exemplary scholarly attention to detail with intellectual sobriety and human compassion."--Jerome Friedman, Sixteenth Century Journal "Hsia has... succeeded in turning established knowledge to illuminatingly new purposes."--G.R. Elton, New York Review of Books "This meticulously researched and unusually perceptive book is social and intellectual history at its best."--Library Journal "A fresh perspective on an old problem by a major new talent."--Steven Ozment, Harvard University R. Po-chia Hsia, professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is also the author of Society and Religion in Münster, 1535-1618