Showing results by author "Brad Magnarella" in All Categories

What does divorcing Hollywood’s most powerful jerk get you? In my case, blacklisted and a ticket to rock bottom. A one-time studio executive, I’m now scrabbling as a newly licensed P.I. in the city that popularized noir. And I’ve just landed a job at a shabby downtown agency. Watch out, LA! But that was before I discovered the agency’s specialty—hunting monsters. The actual kind. Suddenly, I’m learning about a side of the city that makes horror seem like a documentary: vampires, werewolves, hostile spirits, and all manner of magic.

Hermes insists he can stop Persephone from opening a deadly chasm to the underworld. The catch? He needs me to steal her scepter from the shadow present, a realm where I’ve nearly met my maker twice now.

Still New York’s hardest-working mage (and the long-suffering owner of a talking cat), he’s a little older and wiser now. A good thing because infernal bags are detonating throughout his city, unleashing demonic beings that rip the souls of innocents from their bodies… and that’s only the beginning. Buckle up with the Prof as he’s tested as never before, in matters both hell-spawned and of the heart.

When New York City unveils a program to roast supernaturals, I wonder if I should be sweating. The bloodthirsty Arnaud thinks so, and he's insisting that our survival depends on a wizard-vampire alliance. Never mind his history of wanting me dead. Or undead. Meanwhile, the mayor wants me on his team - an offer that's only slightly less unnerving given our recent clash. So who's really behind the purge? City Hall? The werewolves? Or is it the brainchild of the fae, whose newest advisor to the mayor slipped from my bed and life four months ago?

Enter the wizard duo of Croft and Wesson. That’s Professor Everson Croft, the bookish spellcaster from New York City, and James Wesson, the smooth-talking, skirt-chasing, wannabe cowboy. Confronted with everything from resurrected outlaws to ancient evils, two mages are better than one, right? Sure, if they can stop butting heads long enough to solve a case. And maybe—just maybe—not blow Grimstone off the map.

Join scholar and spell-caster Everson Croft in this five-book urban fantasy set, from the discovery of his magic in the prequel novella, Book of Souls, to his battle against a mind-warping evil in the shocking finale, Death Mage.

When I catch a fire druid lurking around the latest victim, the deaths don’t seem so innocent. Add a kidnapping case involving Manhattan’s most hallowed cathedral, and I’m seeing dangerous parallels to my first major outing as a wizard. The one that landed me face-to-face with a demon lord.

Playing fast and loose with the Order's rules has finally caught up with me. Sentenced to hunt down a cagey insurgent known as the Death Mage, I'm not feeling overly optimistic. Wizards with far more experience have tried and, well...died. But overmatched or not, I want this assignment. The Death Mage killed my mother - he might also be my father.

Cursed by a blind witch in a remote corner of Waristan, Special Ops Captain Jason Wolfe finds himself transforming into a creature of local legend, a lupine referred to in fearful whispers as Blue Wolf. Faster, stronger, and more lethal, he’s the perfect soldier - but not for the US military. To break the curse, Jason must join a war between ancient tribal foes: blue werewolves and the formidable White Dragon. In a battle spanning from the peaks of Central Asia to the valleys of Manhattan, Jason will push himself to the breaking point.

With New York City in the dumps, the red light is back on in Times Square. Vampires, dark fae, and exotic entertainers have set up shop, promising pleasures beyond the wildest imagination. But now, male clients are turning up stiff - all over. I'm thinking supernatural predator, even as the clues keep drawing me back to Tabitha: a mysterious call girl who is 100 percent mortal. I need to solve this case before the killer feeds again, but damn if I'm not sinking deeper into Tabitha's dangerous and tantalizing world. Which is exactly what she seems to want...

Let's go back to the night I turned 13, the night Grandpa filleted my finger with his cane sword. I can't say what terrified me more, the cold anger in his eyes or the crazy things in his locked study. A talking trunk. Squirming coats. A bookshelf whose titles shifted before my eyes. And one chilling title in particular: Book of Souls. Ten years later I'm on my way to a Romanian monastery, in search of that lost book. But I'm not the only one. Three others have beaten me to the local village: two researchers and...

Everson Croft here, professor of mythology and nervous as sin. Tonight's the night I tell Caroline the truth: about my feelings, my magic, everything. So why am I surprised when Detective Vega calls me to a new case? An elusive creature is chewing up residents in a housing project run by rival gangs. One more mangled body and the place will explode into warfare. Problem is, someone's protecting the killer.

Show me an amateur conjurer, and I'll stop him before he gets himself killed. That's the idea, anyway. But New York City isn't what it used to be, and I don't mean the recent crash. Amateur casters are calling up creatures they shouldn't be able to. And there's been a murder at the city's most hallowed cathedral, a message in blood on the victim's back the NYPD wants me to interpret, like yesterday.

I’ve taken on my first-ever apprentice. A mage of my bloodline, Alec is as headstrong as he is powerful, his magic bolstered by a shifty trickster god. If that weren’t enough, I’ve been recruited into an NYPD task force on missing persons. Cases in the city are exploding, a little girl among the most recently disappeared. But just as I uncover a bizarre lead, I’m yanked back to the shadow realm - a darker, more dangerous New York - where a nefarious entity has targeted Alec in order to get to me.

In the year since the Whisperer’s attack, I’ve been busting my hump to become my best wizard, like my father. Now I’m ready for a test. When a dark mage starts planting infernal bags around New York City, I get my wish. Like time bombs, the bags detonate without warning, spawning demonic beings that rip the souls of innocents from their bodies. And the attacks are accelerating.

Where to turn when all roads lead to ruin? Last night I barely escaped 1776 New York City - now I have to go back. My teammates are trapped in a time catch. Worse, the demon master Malphas is building a gateway there, one that could trigger a full-blown apocalypse. But returning will require new allies: A crabby goblin, a fae princess and former lover, and the demon-vampire Arnaud. Yeah, that guy. And we’re no longer facing one time catch, but several. But as hellfire lashes up and day dims to eternal night, I’m facing an even greater test...

Beware the shadow of many faces, but fear the master of many places.... It’s Monday morning, and I’ve recovered a strange glyph-covered chest from a landfill. By Monday afternoon, someone’s stolen it from my warded loft. Before I can suss out who, why, and most importantly how, I’m neck-deep with the NYPD on a murder case. A bigshot CEO is dead in his penthouse, his kidneys harvested in a way that screams black magic. Only there’s no magic in evidence. Before I can suss out who, why, and most importantly, how, I’m neck-deep with the NYPD on a murder case.

When my magical order assigns me to Grimstone, Colorado, on a case, I’m in no hurry to pack my staff and spell books. The outlaw county is a far cry from my academic calling in New York City. And I’m being paired with junior wizard James Wesson. A brash hustler and wannabe cowboy, he’s exactly why I prefer working alone.

Only I have no idea who Sefu is, much less how to find him or her. And my magic’s not talking. But with demons on the hunt, and fiendish whispers of Sefu being some sort of ultimate weapon, failure could spell apocalypse. One of those demons happens to be an enemy I cast into the Pits, a former vampire lord whose twisted mind drips vengeance. Worse, he knows about my relationship with Detective Vega and her son. Meaning I have much more than Sefu to protect.

To protect Vega and her son from the demon-vampire Arnaud, I’ve secured spots for them in a powerful safe house. The price? Pledging my services to the Upholders - a group searching for stolen loved ones. My new teammates are a young minister, a snarky half-fae, a hulking mermaid, and a druid with major control issues. Bonded by said druid’s magic, I couldn’t wriggle out of this deal if I were coated in wizard’s oil. Now, we’re hunting demons in a past version of New York City that’s on the bad side of strange.