Böcker av Annie Reed

Nothing can break the bond between a familiar and a wizard.Except death.Nothing can break the spirit of a bonded familiar.Except the murder of her wizard.Someone-or some thing-murdered an elderly wizard who practiced black-market magic, leaving a young familiar caught between her human and animal forms. Twig, a street-wise elf, becomes embroiled in an elaborate game of murder and revenge when she joins forces with the familiar to track down the wizard's killer. "I personally think that Annie Reed is one of the best writers of her generation."KRISTINE KATHRYN RUSCH, award-winning writer and editor

ONE SIMPLE FAVOR FOR HER EX PLUNGES ABBY MAXON into a deadly game of cat and mouse. The last thing private investigator Abby Maxon wants to do is tail her ex-husband's fiancé to discover the identity of the man who's been sending her roses, taking clandestine pictures of her, and calling her at all hours of the day. But no woman, not even the pretty personal fitness trainer who broke up Abby's marriage, should have to put up with the potentially dangerous attention of a mysterious stalker. Abby soon discovers that party girl Melody Hartwell doesn't have just one suspicious man in her life. She has two, including a disgraced former undercover cop. The case takes a deadly turn when someone torches Melody's car while she's inside. The police refuse to look beyond Abby's ex as the chief suspect in his fiancé's murder. Abby doesn't believe for a minute that the man she was married to for all those years is capable of killing the woman he loved, and she's not about to let him be railroaded for a crime he didn't commit. Even if her investigation puts her square in the killer's crosshairs.

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, NICK JAMES DID THE RIGHT THING. HE reported a crime. But doing the right thing came at a terrible cost: the loss of everything and everyone he held dear. Nick James used to be a cop with a promising career. Now he works as a bartender at a sleezy Las Vegas strip club. Friendless and alone, he lives as far under the radar as he can get. Until one night when a simple act of kindness blows his anonymous life to bits, sending him on a collision course with the one person he's been hiding from all these years: his former partner, a violent, crooked ex-cop with mob connections who blames Nick for sending him to prison. In order to survive, Nick must do something he never thought he'd do. Turn the tables on his pursuer. Come out of the shadows to become the hunter instead of the hunted. All he needs is a little luck on his side. But luck can be a fickle lady, especially in a town like Las Vegas.

Before there was Anna Delvey or Elizabeth Holmes, there was Cassie Chadwick. The first woman-using criminal cunning, some confidence, and a bit of charm--to bring down a federal agent, a bank, and a city's worth of men. Paroled felon. Rich doctor's wife. Famous clairvoyant. The best con artists know how to reinvent themselves, time and time again. Cassie Chadwick, one of history's most successful con artists, was a master of the trade. Over the course of fifteen years, she swept from town to town, assuming new identities and running new swindles at each railroad stop. In the dusk of the Gilded Age, years after the robber barons had amassed their fortunes, she was amassing her own. Then came the Carnegie con. Using her wits and a series of forged documents, Cassie convinced prominent men from Cleveland to New York City that she was Andrew Carnegie's illegitimate daughter. Blinded by the name of the most powerful man in the world, businessmen lined up to loan her hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time. The con made her impossibly rich. The crash shattered banks and bankers alike. Her sensational trial drew the eyes of a nation that couldn't get enough of the woman, who newspapers called the Queen of Swindlers, the Duchess of Diamonds, the High Priestess of Fraudulent Finance. Indeed, when Charles Ponzi's infamous scheme collapsed in 1920, reporters scoffed that "Ponzi is a piker compared to Cassie."Interspersing Cassie's crimes with stories of an unsuspecting Andrew Carnegie, author Annie Reed spins an enthralling, page turning tale of true crime. Could the rumors be true? Can Cassie's money last? Will she escape the electric chair? Told with a gossip columnists' charm and wit, The Impostor Heiress, is a rollicky trickster's tale that will appeal to history buffs and true crime aficionados alike to bring one of the greatest swindlers of all time back into the public eye.

Two lonely people discover that love is the best Christmas present of all.Jeannie Carlson thought she'd be spending all her Christmases alone. Her husband, the one true love of her life, passed away unexpectedly in January, leaving Jeannie a widow at forty-two. When an invitation to her Christmas-themed high school reunion takes her back to her old hometown, the last thing Jeannie expects to find is romance with a handsome stranger.Raymond Ellis has a successful real estate firm, a precious six-year-old daughter, and a conniving ex-wife. Still reeling from his bitter divorce, he's given up on ever finding someone to share his life with again.Against his better judgment, he agrees to be the plus-one for his gay cousin's Christmas-themed high school reunion. If it wasn't for his daughter, Raymond wouldn't even be celebrating Christmas. Then he meets a beautiful, enchanting widow. A woman he can imagine spending the rest of his life with.Set against the backdrop of a special night filled with old music, old friends, and old memories, A CHRISTMAS REUNION is the heartwarming story of two people who learn that it's never too late to find true love again-especially at Christmas.

Predator or prey? On the Internet, how can you tell? When private investigator Abby Maxon answers a call for help from an old college friend, she never expects to find herself searching for a missing teenage girl. Abby investigates accidents and tracks down reluctant witnesses for a living. The last thing she wants is to get involved in a missing person case, especially when that case leads to murder. Pretty fifteen-year-old Rachel Ellison got in over her head when she played a flirtatious Internet game of "let's pretend" with a married man. Now Rachel's dead, Abby's friend is the prime suspect, and the only clue to the identity of Rachel's killer is a ceramic horse missing from the dead girl's bedroom. The Internet can be a dangerous place for the unwary, including Abby's own teenage daughter, another pretty fifteen year old who wants to meet a boy she's only talked to online.

The first murder investigation of Sheriff Jill Jordan's career might be her last. Engaged in a hard-fought election against her own chief deputy, Jill finds herself faced with the first murder in rural Cumberland, Nevada, in over a decade. The bludgeoned body of Nora Corbitt dredges up a past that more than one person in town would do anything to keep secret. Like Hal Taylor. Hal's car dealerships put Cumberland on the map. Hal's son had a history with Nora, a history that Hal paid good money to keep under wraps. Like Aaron Sanford. Aaron buddied around with Hal Taylor's son in high school. That friendship - and what happened with Nora Corbitt - ruined his life. The good old boys in Cumberland, Jill's chief deputy among them, would like nothing better than to see Jill fail. But the justice system failed Nora Corbitt once before. Jill's not about to let it happen again. Even if it's the last thing she does as sheriff.

Before there was Anna Delvey or Elizabeth Holmes, there was Cassie Chadwick. The first woman-using criminal cunning, some confidence, and a bit of charm--to bring down a federal agent, a bank, and a city's worth of men. Paroled felon. Rich doctor's wife. Famous clairvoyant. The best con artists know how to reinvent themselves, time and time again. Cassie Chadwick, one of history's most successful con artists, was a master of the trade. Over the course of fifteen years, she swept from town to town, assuming new identities and running new swindles at each railroad stop. In the dusk of the Gilded Age, years after the robber barons had amassed their fortunes, she was amassing her own. Then came the Carnegie con. Using her wits and a series of forged documents, Cassie convinced prominent men from Cleveland to New York City that she was Andrew Carnegie's illegitimate daughter. Blinded by the name of the most powerful man in the world, businessmen lined up to loan her hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time. The con made her impossibly rich. The crash shattered banks and bankers alike. Her sensational trial drew the eyes of a nation that couldn't get enough of the woman, who newspapers called the Queen of Swindlers, the Duchess of Diamonds, the High Priestess of Fraudulent Finance. Indeed, when Charles Ponzi's infamous scheme collapsed in 1920, reporters scoffed that "Ponzi is a piker compared to Cassie."Interspersing Cassie's crimes with stories of an unsuspecting Andrew Carnegie, author Annie Reed spins an enthralling, page turning tale of true crime. Could the rumors be true? Can Cassie's money last? Will she escape the electric chair? Told with a gossip columnists' charm and wit, THE IMPOSTER HEIRESS, is a rollicky trickster's tale that will appeal to history buffs and true crime aficionados alike to bring one of the greatest swindlers of all time back into the public eye.