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African American Fiction March 2026 |
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Worse Than a Lie: A Beau Lee Cooper Novel
by Ben Crump
In this gripping thriller, truth and justice are called into question when a Black man is gunned down in cold blood--the first novel in a riveting series from renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump. A sensationally good crime and legal thriller . . . This is exactly what a book should be.--Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of the Reacher series It's the night of November 4, 2008. America's first Black president has just been elected. And fifty-three-year-old Hollis Montrose--a Black ex-police officer from the suburbs of Chicago--has become the latest victim of a brutal attack. As the result of a traffic stop gone wrong, Hollis is shot ten times in cold blood, by four white men who could have been his colleagues back in his police days. Beau Lee Cooper was born serious, as if on an urgent mission with little time to waste. Raised in the tumultuous world of 1970s Texas, he always dreamed of becoming a lawyer and fighting for what's right, ever since he was a little boy reading To Kill a Mockingbird. And now, ten years into running his own law firm with his best friend and partner in crime, Nelson Nellie Rivers, and his suave right-hand-man, Brent Cape Capers, he feels he's finally making a difference. When Beau Lee learns about Hollis's situation, he's determined to help. Miraculously, Hollis survives the encounter, but the Chicago police department has already spun the narrative in its favor, and Hollis is given a wrongful prison sentence with an unreasonable bail. What really happened that night the car was pulled over? Was it random or was Hollis targeted? Beau Lee knows he's treading in dangerous waters, and finding evidence of the truth will be his biggest challenge yet, but with troubling powers at play, one innocent man's life hangs in the balance.
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The Starseekers: A Murder and Magic Novel
by Nicole Glover
Indiana Jones meets Hidden Figures in this brand-new stand-alone historical fantasy set in the world of The Conductors, in which the space race of the mid-20th century will be determined by magic...if not murder.In the 1960s, the world was caught up in reaching beyond our planet and into the cosmos. It felt impossible--but there was nothing science, math...and magic couldn't make possible. The race to space was on, and the Moon was what everyone had their eyes on.Including Cynthia Rhodes, a brilliant arcane engineer at NASA's Ainsworth Research Labs. Talented in math and magic, she hosts a magical educational show... a job she took mostly for a chance to regularly see the dashing Theodore Danner, a professor of arcane archeology.She is also an amateur sleuth--something that has run in her family for generations. When a cursed museum curator nearly interrupts a broadcast of their show, Cynthia finds an eager sleuthing partner in Theo. Pairing up, they begin investigating the strange behavior of the curator and a mysterious theft at the arcane history museum--until one of Cynthia's own coworkers perishes right in front of her in a major lab accident that endangers Ainsworth's role in the space race. Certain it was murder instead of an accident, Cynthia sees this as a separate case at first. However the more she and Theo investigate, Cynthia uncovers a surprising link between the two incidents. The museum theft and murder are part of a larger equation--one that includes deadly enchantments, rumored pirate treasure, a peculiar plant, and a dire threat to the space program as well as everything she holds dear.The Starseekers is another rip-roaring adventure for the Rhodes family, who have been using magic to aid their community and solve mysteries since before the Civil War. The times may have changed, but a Rhodes once again finds themselves thrust into a world of murders, theft, sabotage, and curses, and this time the stakes extend to the stars themselves.
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The Shape of Dreams
by April Reynolds
A trio of women bond in friendship as a neighborhood tries to seek justice from a system that has forgotten them. The Shape of Dreams is a powerful prayer, a novel that indicts the injustice for which there is no quick solution. . . . It is] a song of furor and tenderness that will leave its mark. --Walter Mosley, bestselling author of the Easy Rawlins series It's the mid-eighties in East Harlem: a twelve-year-old black boy's murdered body is found by Mathilda Twin Johnson, an unlikely hero who is both the neighborhood's troublemaker and its conscience. When she breaks a cardinal rule--don't call the cops--her decision ensnares a community and brings unmanageable grief to a mother. Anita, a postal worker and army widow, is determined to solve her son's Tyrone's murder, and her quest galvanizes the neighborhood, which is itself a complex character in this teeming novel, with its Mets fans and gossips, immigrant shop owners and latch-key kids. The local dreamers include a charismatic man of the cloth, a teenage girl with a Whitney Houston voice and no prospects, and Anita's opinionated friend Wanda, whose truant son the police harass and arrest on a regular basis. Everyone is struggling. Anita, Wanda and Twin, the triad of this vibrant novel, are drawn into the neighborhood drug trap, while a singer, a preacher, and the church ladies who follow him believe their dreams can shape a city. Will the three be able to break away from crack's dangerous allure? Will the reverend's pressure on the authorities to find Tyrone's killer yield answers? Will justice come to East Harlem? In the end, during the New York Mets' banner summer of 1986, this community will come together to mourn, fight for a better life, and shape their dreams as best they can.
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Hearts on the Fly
by Toni Shiloh
Jabari Hall has spent his life on the ice until an injury leaves him benched. When his teammates set him up on a blind date, he never expected to be sitting across from Val Elliott, his ex's sister. With Val's loyalty on the line and Jabari searching for a new purpose, can they make it to the goal together, or will their hearts wind up in the penalty box?
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Mayhem and the Mortal
by Shanora Williams
I am obsessed with this book ... A top read of the year and a book that's going straight to my favorites shelf. --#1 New York Times bestselling author Devney Perry Don't miss out on the stunning DELUXE LIMITED EDITION while supplies last. This breathtaking collectible is only available on a limited first print run in the U.S. and Canada, a must-have for any book lover. One mission. One curse. No escape. Zaira doesn't want a hero. She needs a weapon. To save her sister from a soul-devouring curse, she has to cross The Shallows--a nightmare landscape of ruined magic, shifting paths, and vicious creatures that eat people alive. Her guide? Thane Valkor: sorcerer, assassin, walking red flag. His name clears rooms. His magic kills quietly. And whatever he's really after, it's not salvation. He promises to help. He might even mean it. But Zaira knows better than to trust a liar with a blade and ice in his veins. She just doesn't have a choice.
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