Books published by Forge

Shoreline is the second suspense novel featuring FBI agent Nora Khalil by Carolyn Baugh, acclaimed author of The View from Garden City."e;Compelling, important, and completely engrossing-it will change the way you look at the world."e;-Hank Phillippi Ryan, Mary Higgins Clark Award Winning authorOfficer Nora Khalil is a strong independent woman used to navigating different terrains. As an American-born Muslim, she loves her country and tries to honor the traditions of her people, but feels that she must constantly confront those who think she is alien.Assigned to the FBI office in Erie, Pennsylvania, she tries to fit into small-town America after a childhood growing up in the bustle of Philly's dark streets. A series of horrific acts of violence are committed by a well-connected group of domestic terrorists eager to spark a national revolution. The town erupts in chaos and the eyes of the nation are on these events. In turn, this heats up the debate about the fabric of our nation...and how those who feel disenfranchised by our new multiculturalism are determined to take back their birthright and, in their own words, make our nation great again.Will Nora and her team be able to defuse the situation before the carnage goes national?At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

USA Today bestselling author Ward Larsen''s celebrated protagonist, assassin David Slaton, returns for another breathless adventure in Assassin''s SilenceEvery so often, a great assassin novel comes along: Brad Meltzer''s The Fifth Assassin, David Baldacci''s The Hit, Daniel Silva''s The Kill Artist. Now Ward Larsen brings us Assassin''s Silence, featuring David Slaton, hero of Larsen''s Assassin''s Game and the award-winning The Perfect Assassin.When it comes to disappearing, David Slaton has few equals. Police in three countries have written off trying to find him. His old employer, Mossad, keeps no forwarding address. Even his wife and son are convinced he is dead. So when an assault team strikes, Slaton is taken by surprise. He kills one man and manages to escape.Half a world away, in the baleful heat of the Amazon, an obscure air cargo company purchases a derelict airliner. Teams of mechanics work feverishly to make the craft airworthy. On the first flight, the jet plunges toward the ocean.The CIA assesses the two spectacles: a practiced killer leaving a trail of bodies across Europe, and a large airplane disappearing without a trace. The two affairs are increasingly seen to be intertwined. Langley realizes the killer is a man long thought to be dead, and the lost airliner has been highly modified into a tool of unimaginable terror.When their worst fears are realized, Langley must trust the one man who can save them: David Slaton, the perfect assassin.

Jon Land''s bestselling series featuring Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong continues in Strong Rain Falling. Mexico, 1919: The birth of the Mexican drug trade begins with opium being smuggled across the U.S. border, igniting an all-out battle with American law enforcement in general and the Texas Rangers in particular.The Present: Fifth Generation Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong and her lover Cort Wesley Masters both survive terrifying gun battles. But this time, it turns out, the actual targets were not them, but Masters'' teenage sons.That sets Caitlin and Cort Wesley off on a trail winding through the past and present with nothing less than the future of the United States hanging in the balance. Along the way they will confront terrible truths dating all the way back to the Mexican Revolution and the dogged battle Caitlin''s own grandfather and great-grandfather fought against the first generation of Mexican drug dealers. At the heart of the storm soon to sweep away America as we know it, lies a mastermind whose abundant power is equaled only by her thirst for vengeance. Ana Callas Guajardo, the last surviving member of the family that founded the Mexican drug trade, has dedicated all of her vast resources to a plot aimed at the U.S.''s technological heart.This time out, sabotage proves to be as deadly a weapon as bombs in a battle Caitlin must win in cyberspace as well. Her only chance to prevail is to short-circuit a complex plan based as much on microchips as bullets. Because there''s a strong rain coming and only Caitlin and Cort Wesley can stop the fall before it''s too late.

The unforgettable stories of two legendary American frontiersmen by Randy Lee Eickhoff and Leonard C. Lewis in one low-priced edition!And Not to YieldNurtured by devout, staunchly Abolitionist parents, young James Butler Hickok leaves their hardscrabble farm to homestead in Kansas. He effortlessly succeeds as a rancher, gambler, Union soldier, lawman, merchant, marksmanΓÇöand lusty lover. But Hickok''s many talents did not bring him peace. Guided and plagued by phantoms from his past, Hickok must fulfill his destiny through his travels. From bleak upstate New York to the rugged Badlands, from New York City''s Broadway to the Rockies, from the Mississippi riverboats to the Great Salt Flats, here is the compelling odyssey of the gun-slinging American icon Wild Bill Hickok.BowieJim Bowie, the descendant of Highland Scots, grew up riding alligators and working the field on the Texas frontier. Taught three languages and a sense of honor, he went on to live a life filled with brawls and battles, loves and losses, a life cut short at the Battle of the Alamo in 1836. This is his story, as told by those who, whether they loved or hated him, were united by their awe of this amazing frontiersman.

L.E. Modesitt, Jr.'s The Chaos Balance continues his bestselling fantasy series the Saga of Recluce, which is one of the most popular in contemporary epic fantasy.Nylan, the only man among the matriarchal band of "angels" marooned on the high plateau of Candar. Forced to seek a life elsewhere, Nylan decends into a world of warring kingdoms and strange magics in search of a peaceful life with his wife and infant son. His talents, however, make him a valuable weapon-and so the war between chaos and order begins anew."An intriguing fantasy in a fascinating world."-Robert Jordan, New York Times bestselling author of The Wheel of Time® seriesSaga of Recluce#1 The Magic of Recluce / #2 The Towers of Sunset / #3 The Magic Engineer / #4 The Order War / #5 The Death of Chaos / #6 Fall of Angels / #7 The Chaos Balance / #8 The White Order / #9 Colors of Chaos / #10 Magi'i of Cyador / #11 Scion of Cyador / #12 Wellspring of Chaos / #13 Ordermaster / #14 Natural Order Mage / #15 Mage-Guard of Hamor / #16 Arms-Commander / #17 Cyador's Heirs / #18 Heritage of Cyador /#19 The Mongrel Mage / #20 Outcasts of Order / #21 The Mage-Fire War (forthcoming)Story Collection: Recluce TalesOther Series by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.The Imager PortfolioThe Corean ChroniclesThe Spellsong CycleThe Ghost BooksThe Ecolitan Matter

Just as Fox on the Rhine and Fox at the Front showed readers an alternate Europe in which Hitler had been killed, thereby radically changing the course of World War II, Douglas Niles and Michael Dobson bring us the Battle of Midway with a very different outcome. The Allies are wildly out maneuvered and sent home in disgrace. Back in the States things are looking rather grim as the ultra-secret Manhattan Project runs into snafus that greatly delay the final production of the atomic bomb.President Roosevelt''s approval ratings drop dramatically. Congress is desperate and the country cries out for a hero. That hero might just be Douglas MacArthur, who vowed that he would return to his beloved Philippines. He plans to do so with the backing of the entire US Armed Forces.MacArthur''s plan of action is simple: take the war back to the Japanese, island by bloody island, until standing on the shores of Japan, he can proclaim victory.And possibly gain the leadership of the United States as well.

Art investigator Madison Dupre knows a fake when she sees it. When the mysterious Dr. Kaseem offers to pay her a handsome sum to "ransom" a scarab stolen from the tomb of King Tut, her gut tells her to walk away. Since she still needs to pay the rent, Madison throws caution to wind and prepares to search for the Heart of Egypt. Before she can pack a suitcase, she finds herself framed for murder and on the run. Her leads take her to Stonehenge, England, where a Druid sex cult worships a "goddess of love," a woman with enough personal wealth to buy a host of admirers. Madison finds an admirer of her own in Rafi al-Din, an Egyptian antiquities investigator she knows she can''t trust, but who arouses her passions.Drawn to Egypt in search of the scarab, Madison is trapped in the land of the Pharaohs when her passport is seized at the airport. She knows she is being played by Kaseem, who believes the Heart has the power to galvanize the masses to support his secret cause.From the famed Khan marketplace, to the Valley of the Kings and the incredible colossi at Abu Simbel, Madison treads a careful path among tomb robbers, assassins, and political fanatics. She must dodge curses both ancient and modern to stay alive.The wild and epic stories of Harold Robbins live on in this sweeping series by Junius Podrug.

A serial killer stalks young Navajo men and women . . . and Ella Clah''s family might be next in his sights, in Aimee and David Thurlo''s Turquoise Girl! Navajo Police Special Investigator Ella Clah has seen a lot of death in the decade since she returned to the Reservation, but nothing quite as bad as a series of violent murders of young Navajo. Something about the crime scene reminds Ella of her days in the FBI, and she calls on Agent Blalock for help. And that''s not the only link to Ella''s past-clues indicates that Ella''s father may have tried to stop this killer before his own murder. Working long hours, desperate to identify and stop the serial killer before he strikes again, Ella manages to squeeze in a few dates with Reverend Bilford Tome. Ella''s father was a man of the cloth as well-is Ella following her mother''s path, falling for a man whose faith she does not share?

Peyton Lewis and Fletcher Rucker are two humble Rebel boys whose innocence was destroyed in the bloody wreckage of the Civil War. Young and desperate, they fall in with a scheme to rob a bank but are totally unprepared for the violence that ensues. Sickened by the carnage and wanton cruelty that they have witnessed, Lewis and Rucker take their cut and join the migration of those who see the possibility of a new beginning in the wilderness of the Texas frontier. Along the way they meet rogues, killers...and two exceptional women: the tortured Molly Klinner, a woman who has also suffered dearly by the ravages of the war, and Gabriel Johnson, an Eastern beauty who decided to join the Texas migration on a lark--but will soon learn the true meaning of humanity. Together, the four travelers will weather the travails that the new frontier offers them--but will they manage to carve out a new life?

What seems to be a carjacking gone wrong leads to the death of Jimmy Blacksheep, a Navajo member of the New Mexico National Guard recently returned from Iraq. When Navajo Police Special Investigator Ella Clah receives a mysterious package in the mail, she begins to suspect that Jimmy''s death is part of something larger. Complicating the case is the fact that Jimmy''s brother, Samuel Blacksheep, is also a cop, on the Farmington PD. Samuel is also ostensibly investigating Jimmy''s death, but Ella wonders why Jimmy sent his secret message to her rather than his own brother. If Jimmy didn''t trust Samuel, perhaps Ella shouldn''t either. When even the FBI''s experts are unable to figure out the dead man''s message, Ella realizes that she must use Navajo lore, not cryptography, to decode it. Tantalizing clues link Jimmy''s death to his military service-but what could the medic have seen in Iraq that would make him a target for murder back home?Ella''s personal life seems just as complicated as her case. Her mother, Rose Destea, marries her long-time beau, Herman Cloud, and moves in with him. While Ella is delighted to see her mother happy, she cannot help but worry about making sure her daughter, Dawn, is safe and cared for at all times. Dawn''s father asks for a change in custody arrangements that will reduce Ella to a weekend mother-a much easier fit with her workload but something that will take a terrible toll on her heart.

In the American West of 1880, Leadville, Colorado, is the wealthiest mining district on earth and by far its richest mine is the Eye Dazzler. When Lucinda Ridenour, the notorious widow-heiress to the Dazzler, chooses young Kit Randall to be her lover, Kit thinks he has the world at his feet. But when their affair sinks into depravity, he must rediscover himself and find out if he has the character to survive in a society that has more money than morals.After waking up from an absinthe-created hallucination in which unspeakable acts seem to have taken place, Kit angrily leaves the house of Lucinda and her twenty-year-old son, Christopher, feeling betrayed and exploited. Then, Lucinda is found stabbed to death.In the midst of this turmoil and of Leadville''s anxiety over its labor unrest and the impending arrival of the railroad, Kit''s uncle, Brad Randall, and his fiancé, Eden Murdoch, arrive in the boomtown planning to celebrate their wedding, but are instead shocked to learn Kit is the primary suspect in the sensational murder. Eden resolves to learn the truth and clear Kit Randall''s name. To do so, she forms an uneasy alliance with Bella Valentine, Kit''s former girlfriend and a dabbler in the occult. With this unlikely ally Eden uncovers shocking secrets of the Ridenour family just as Leadville''s first labor strike brings the town to an armed and dangerous standstill.The Second Glass of Absinthe is a dazzling glimpse of the Victorian West and a riveting murder mystery set in the dizzying world of a boomtown where lusts-for gold, for power, for flesh-intoxicate all who come in contact with it.

Portland, 1868. It is a rough hewn place, an exploding trading post that has dreams of becoming a metropolis. Horace Stratton, one of Portland''s wealthiest heirs, has decided to come home for good after amassing yet another fortune in Shanghai. With him comes his wife Emily, a shy daughter of missionaries, and their teenaged son. On the brink of that happy return, Horace suddenly falls ill and dies in San Francisco. Emily and her son bring her husband home to Portland and they try to settle into this new culture. While they look as if they should belong, Portland is a strange and unsettling place for them. Emily is guilt-ridden, but sorrow is one of the few emotions she didn''t feel when told of her husband''s passing. For Emily had learned more about her husband''s past than anyone would believe. And she discovers that all of his schemes did not die with him. His partners very much want Emily and her son to go away... by whatever means necessary. Emily will have to delve into her husband''s seedy and painful past and set things right so that she can make a life for herself and her son in this strange land.

The Damage Done by Hilary Davidson is the winner of the Anthony Award for Best First NovelLily Moore fled to Spain to get away from her troubled, drug-addicted younger sister, Claudia. When Claudia is found dead in a bathtub on the anniversary of their mother's suicide, Lily must return to New York to deal with the aftermath.The situation shifts from tragic to baffling when the body at the morgue turns out to be that of a stranger who had been using Claudia's identity. The real Claudia had vanished months earlier, reappearing briefly on the day the impostor died. As Claudia transforms from victim to suspect in the eyes of the police, Lily becomes determined to find her before they do.Is Claudia actually missing or is she playing an elaborate con game? And who's responsible for the body in the tub? Determined to learn the truth at any cost, Lily is unprepared for the terrible toll it will take on her and those she loves"Grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go till the end."-Linda Fairstein, New York Times bestselling author, on The Damage Done

The Divine Sacrifice continues the story of King Arthur''s conselor, Malgwyn ap Cuneglas, a solider who lost his arm in battle. Arthur and Malgwyn are called to the abbey of Glastonbury to settle a matter of great political importanceΓÇötin is being mined for export to the Empire. While there, Malgwyn and Arthur meet St. Patrick, a legend in the Church who is there on a mission of his own, to root out the heresy of Pelagius.When an aged monk is found cruelly murdered in his cell, Malgwyn is set with a problem that will test his skills as an investigator. His search for the truth may uncover a conspiracy that could endanger the kingdom.Gritty and powerful with a true ring of historical perspective, and a character who sees more than those around him, The Divine Sacrifice is a historical mystery that will hook mystery readers and historical fans alike.

Alone, the second wacky comedic murder romp for Hollywood film detective Valentino, from award-winning author Loren D. EstlemanValentino wants to keep The Oracle, his beloved run-down movie palace, from being condemned before it even reopens, but murder keeps intruding into his otherwise quiet life. At a gala party held in memory of screen legend Greta Garbo, he''s having fun until the host, a hotshot developer named Matthew Rankin, tells Valentino about a certain letter from Garbo to his late wife. She and Garbo had been…close.Such a letter is of great interest to a film archivist like Valentino, but the the plot thickens when Rankin tells Val that his assistant, Akers, is using this letter to blackmail him. Val is appalled by the thought of blackmail…but that letter sounds juicier all the time. Returning to Rankin''s mansion after the party, Val finds Rankin sitting at his desk with a pistol in his hand, looking at Akers''s dead body on the floor.Valentino''s in a quandary. He''d love to see that letter, but he can''t. He''s gotten his girlfriend—who works for the police—in trouble, so his love life is, pardon the expression, shot to hell. Worse yet, the building inspector has kicked him out of his unfinished living space in the Oracle, so he takes his life in his hands and moves in with his eccentric mentor, the elderly, insomniac Professor Broadhead. No love, no sleep, no letter—life isn''t fair!

Nameless had told Mitchell Krochek that he''d do whatever he could to find his missing wife, Janice. She''d run away before—propelled by a gambling fever that grew ever higher—and Mitch had always taken her back. This time, when Nameless, his partner Tamara, and the agency''s chief operative Jake Runyon finally found her in a sleazy San Francisco hotel, she demanded a divorce.A few days later, a beaten and bloody Janice stumbled into the agency begging to go home. No one is surprised when, soon after her homecoming, she disappears again. But gambling addiction has a way of twisting things, and the blood on Mitchell and Janice Krochek''s kitchen floor was a card off the bottom of the deck. Janice is missing again, Mitchell is the prime suspect, and as Nameless searches for the truth behind her disappearance, he uncovers a vicious racket that preys on gambling fever victims…

Learner's The Witch of Cologne is an erotically-charged novel of people swept inexorably along by events they could not control. In Soul, Learner relates the story of Lavinia and Julia Huntington, passionate women trapped in emotional whirlpools that threaten to drown them and everyone they love. In 19th century Britain, Lavinia is married to an older man who seems to appreciate her lively curiosity. Lavinia proves to be an apt pupil in both the study and the bedroom, glorying in the pleasures of the physical. In 21st century Los Angeles, geneticist Julia is trying to identify people who can kill without remorse. Stunned to discover that she seems to possess the trait she is looking for, Julia is reassured of her emotions by her intense passion for her husband and her delight in her pregnancy. In the past, Lavinia's desire for her husband grows, but his cools as he becomes fascinated with another. In the present, Julia's love overwhelms her husband, who leaves her. Lavinia and Julia feel the tortures of passion unspent. Cold logic tells them that the deaths of their tormentors will bring them peace. Separated by a hundred years, two Huntington women face the same decision. Their choices will echo far into the future.

In a twenty year career marked by obsessive secrecy, brutality, and meticulous planning, Martin Cahill, aka, The General, quickly rose through the ranks of the Irish underworld, until he himself became an international celebrity.His criminal record included assassination, kidnapping, the bombing of a car belonging to a forensics expert who could finger him, and pulling off one of the world''s largest gold heists and even more incredible, the world''s largest art heist.He was untouchable, and loyal to his gang. Loved by the common man, his personal battle with the police, from dropping his pants when the police told him they''d expose him to digging up the police officers private golf course, would make him a living legend. But Martin not only refused to respect the police, he refused to pay tribute to the IRA. And unlike the police who had to follow the law in their battle to bring down Ireland''s most wanted, the IRA played by their own rules.

In 1944, long before he wrote such classic novels as I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come, author Richard Matheson served as an eighteen-year-old replacement in the 87th Division during the latter part of the war in Europe. His tour of duty there inspired this acclaimed novel, The Beardless Warriors, about a group of equally young and inexperienced soldiers thrown into the fury of combat.The Beardless Warriors are a squad of teenage U.S. infantrymen fighting their way across Germany during the final weeks of the war. Under fire and in over their heads, the fresh-faced young men must grow up fast if they ever hope to see home again.Everett Hackermeyer is the latest soldier to join the squad, "Hack," a troubled youth from a hellish family background, faces a new kind of inferno on the front lines, only to discover hidden reserves he never knew he possessed. Ironically, he doesn't come to value his own life until he runs the very real chance of losing it.

In Falling, Christopher Pike explores the depth and breadth of human emotion through two brilliantly etched characters: Kelly Feinman, who pays a terrible price to understand the nature of true evil; and Matt Connor, a classic anti-hero who captures the reader's sympathy.Kelly Feinman: Once a brilliant FBI profiler and field agent, Kelly went rogue on her last case, hunting the serial killer known as the Acid Man. Now, still recovering from the madman's brutal assault, regarded by her fellow agents as a weak link, Kelly struggles to find her footing on a new case: the kidnapping of an infant, Jimmy Techer. Making matters worse, Kelly's husband has taken their daughter and left. Kelly fears she cannot even trust her own instincts.Matt Connor: Deeply in love with his girlfriend, Matt is devastated when Amy leaves him for another man. He plots a diabolical revenge that begins with his apparent death. By the time Matt is through, Amy-Jimmy's mother-will know the intensity of Matt's pain, because it will have become her own. And Matt...Matt will pass through the fires of hell and, in the eyes of baby Jimmy, will recover his soul.Matt Connor is a kidnapper. Kelly Feinman is the agent on his trail. They should be enemies. Instead, they become friends, and together, they help each other become whole.

Irene Adler is the beautiful opera singer who bested the best detective in the world, the only woman to ever outwit Sherlock Holmes. She has spent years in self-imposed exile in Europe, in an attempt to reinvent herself and create a new life, because she cannot remember the old one. But now circumstances have forced this diva-turned-detective to investigate a past she doesn''t remember--on her home ground. Daredevil reporter Nelly Bly has lured Irene, her faithful chronicler and British parson''s daughter Nell Huxleigh, and Holmes himself to America, offering information regarding Irene''s parentage. New York City in 1889 proved to be both fascinating and perilous for Irene, and Nelly Bly''s information was more harmful than helpful. Because now Irene and her allies--and enemies--must race to follow a deadly trail of hidden personal and political history back in time to the days of the California gold rush, thirty years earlier. They are pursuing the complex and contradictory life story of one of the most notorious women of the nineteenth century, and before the intrigue-ridden quest is over, Irene and Nell will uncover murderous international political conspiracies, lost treasure, and finally... the full, shocking secret of Irene''s birth.

A high-octane thriller from Ward Larsen, the author of The Perfect Assassin.David Slaton has a good life. He has a new wife and a house in the Virginia suburbs. But he also has a dark past. Slaton is a former kidon, the most lethal Israeli assassin ever created. After decades of work, a brilliant scientist has taken Iran to the threshold of its dreamΓÇöa nuclear-tipped ballistic missile. Mossad must eliminate the man, but with a spy lurking high in its ranks there is only one option: bring back Slaton. The kidon has vowed to never kill again, but when his wife is attacked and forced to flee across Europe, events force his hand.Slaton plots to assassinate one of the most closely guarded men on earth. Success is improbable. Survival unlikely. Only when he learns the labyrinthine truth does Slaton see one high-stakes chance. A chance for an assassin''s game . . . .

An explosive novel that uncovers new facts about the deadly conspiracy to assassinate John F. Kennedy. Rigorously researched, Max Allan Collins''s Target Lancer is far more truth than fiction. Long before November 22, 1963, Nathan Heller, "P.I. to the Stars," knows that a conspiracy is in the works. Several years earlier, Heller had been involved with the Kennedys, the Mob, and the CIA in the early stages of a plan to assassinate Fidel Castro. Shortly after, Heller''s Mafia contact is murdered. After being interrogated by gangsters and contacted by U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy, Heller realizes that he may be the one person who can prevent a devastating political assassination. Only he knows all the players; only he knows why a web of conspirators has targeted the man known to the Secret Service as "Lancer," John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

In Cat in a Midnight Choir, the fourteenth Midnight Louie Mystery, both feline and human evil-doers and crime-solvers work overtime to make Las Vegas the Capital of Noir Suspense. This time our feisty black cat detective is hunting a mysterious and possibly murderous organization of renegade magicians called the Synth, which has been making Las Vegas too hot to hold for some of Louie's human friends, particularly ex-magician Max Kinsella. Louie's on the case . . . but the trick may be on him this time. And just to make things interesting, while Louie and his furred cohorts battle black magic, both human and not-so-human, Louie's cherished roommate, plucky PR freelancer Temple Barr, is investigating the murderous side of the Synth despite the intense discouragement of female homicide lieutenant C. R. Molina. Molina herself is secretly moonlighting as an undercover operative to nail the killer of a sad, young stripper, and the search has boiled down to two suspects: Temple's current significant other, Max Kinsella, and Molina's long-gone ex-lover, Raf Nadir. Unfortunately, proving either man guilty will seriously impact the lives of Molina and her daughter, Mariah. As Louie and his human friends sink deeper into a lose-lose situation of crime and punishment, there doesn't seem to be any way out of this escalating crisis, except another murder.Can Louie solve some nagging past mysteries, find out just what some mad magicians have in store and stop the stripper killer before he claims another victim? And what will Louie do if he finds that the killer is someone Louie knows . . . and likes?