San Francisco 1938What does a shooting in Chinatown, the threat of a gang war, a protection racket, and the drowning deaths of two women of questionable character have in common?To the undiscerning eye… nothing.Enter Sergeant Jacob Butterfield, a slightly jaded, well-intentioned, but occasionally morally grey, San Francisco detective with a vested interest in the cases.Just when his investigation suggests a link, Jacob is accused of extortion, bribe...

At the end of civilisation what remains?Amidst death and destruction, Noemi Ricci struggles to protect her two daughters and escape the encroaching nightmare. It is an uphill battle, but Noemi refuses to let Fate determine her future, and sets out to forge her own destiny.In a fractured world of shadows and light, it takes every ounce of Noemi's courage and wit to the survive the silent killer stalking humanity, and keep her family together.Is there any hope of rest...

Can we tempt you to dive into a collection of stories where death prowls in the shadows waiting to pounce?From a saloon owner, intent on revenge, to a rookie witch, hell-bent on summoning up her dead ancestor. From alien tax dodgers, and hapless bandits, to the horror of WW1.Hang on to your hats, as we careen from the dusty streets of the lawless wild west to small town… slightly more law abiding but, seemingly, no less dangerous… West Virginia. Take a breath as you are cat...

San Francisco - 1940It is two years since Jacob Butterfield hung his Private Investigator's shingle. Almost before the paint inscribing his, sadly unfinished, name on the office door was dry, he and his lover-come-business partner, Stella, were inundated with cases.Cheating spouses, missing people, minor thefts, the list went on, along with any and all offences the various police departments deemed unworthy of their time.Their reputation as an honest agency...

San Francisco – 1942While men fought for freedom half a world away, in San Francisco, Jacob Butterfield PI… aka Butters… continued his fight for those unfortunates whom the authorities deemed unworthy of attention.Quite the knight in shining armour.Or perhaps not yet completely jaded with a healthy antipathy for injustice, a nose for deception, and more than a passing acquaintance with the seedy underbelly of the city. As gumshoes went, Jacob had gained a r...

4th July 1947 – San FranciscoA blast from the past threatens an idyllic marriage.A frantic Stella Russo, née Fitzhugh, calls her erstwhile lover, Jacob Butterfield: private investigator and devoted consort to the ridiculously wealthy Pamela Wentworth whose life and inheritance he had saved five years previously.Accused of murdering her unscrupulous husband who had stolen her away from right under Jacob's nose, Stella is desperate and begs Jacob to help. A r...

Twenty years after a global plague, the remnants of civilisation struggle to eke out an existence in a world where humanity is secondary to survival.On the outskirts of a once vibrant Rome, Gabriel tends his vineyard. From dawn to dusk, he strives to carve out a living, while caring for Bianca, his heavily pregnant wife.Life might be tough, but at least he had an income, meagre though it was. Trouble seemed a distant memory, until the day he notices their neighbours are not...

What happens in Helheim never stays in Helheim.Sela Helsdatter wishes it would. Punished for allowing her quest for power to rule her actions, she has endured eons of torment. The flip of a coin seems to offer some hope of redemption but, tasked with ridding the world of her erstwhile captor and lover, escape does not mean freedom.No problem for a warrior queen… right? Wrong! Sela is no longer in ninth century Norðvegr, but twenty-first century New York with all its challen...

If you ask the average American who they intend to vote for in the next election, inevitably, and almost predictably, their reply will be... THE LESSER OF THE TWO EVILS. Usually, things even out and saner heads prevail... but what happens when the sitting president tries to tip the scales too far in his narcissistic favor simply to get re-elected?As the world teeters on the brink of a grim fate, it is up to a lone reporter to prevent that from happening... and to stay alive.

From the learned halls of the London Hospital to the squalid, bustling streets of Whitechapel surrounding it, life and death walk hand in glove with one another.This, somewhat fatalistic, status quo was shattered in the autumn of 1888, when Jack the Ripper prowled the darkness, perfecting his 'skills' on unsuspecting women of the night.Follow us down these same dark and deadly alleyways to hidden corners and stairwells, stained with blood by the legendary Leather Apron's bl...

A pledge of eternal peace and prosperity sounds too good to refuse… unless, of course, the pledge comes from an immortal dragon.A contract established in exchange for a king's life and the protection of his lineage should have expired when a desperate queen, facing hordes baying for her destruction, loses faith in the oath... but evil has a long memory.Trapped for a millennium in a sarcophagus at the bottom of the Danube, death lay beyond the queen's grasp until the day nat...

Smoke and MirrorsIn the aftermath of their fiery clash, an uneasy truce forged between Sophia's Hunters and the Dwellers of Rome allowed life to resume its relatively untroubled rhythm... almost…… but history warns, it is never a good idea to become complacent.To the north, a new nightmare materialises. Supported by a band of vindictive acolytes, Carlyle Worthington, the self-proclaimed Pope of Bologna, is determined bring the disparate territories of Italy under hi...