Showing results by author "J.G. O'Sax" in All Categories

Football stadium. The marching band moved like clockwork Americana. Above the seventy thousand fans, a body drifted like a marshmallow under a canopy of silk Hot dogs stopped selling. Cheerleaders froze mid-pyramid. And the brass honked, moaned, and groaned into silence. The halftime show had an unscheduled guest of honor. Constantine Tchoupitoulas Jr., heir to a Delta Imports empire, drifted in. Drifted in dead. Hole in his head. On the fifty-yard line. Fancy ring and all. Detective Max Lomax is summoned He’s seen the pattern before. He carries it on his own skin, a jagged lightning-bolt...

THE BOTTLE IS FULL. THE MEMORY IS EMPTY. THE DEBT IS PAID. Tray Douglas lives in the space between the echoes. To the public, he’s the "Alleyway Ghoul," a man whose life is a series of short-circuits and stained collars. When a murder shatters the city’s peace, all eyes turn to him. He was there. It was his wife. He has the motive. He just doesn't have the memory. But the trial twists and turns, and doubters doubt. In a move that stuns the city, irony wins out. He’s fighting the craving for the next drink; he’s fighting the realization that his "biological events" might be a mask. ...

Mona is a cardiac nurse who wants to do cutting edge research. But when she gets the chance, she's assaulted by a colleague. Now a shadowy network of illegal organ merchants is trying to kill her.

Arthur Z. Miller sees the world in amber data-streams. And the data says there is no such thing as ghosts. Armed with a wearable sensor suite known as the Manifold and a reputation for dismantling supernatural frauds, Miller arrives at the remote Vestige Hotel to expose a lucrative con run by a charismatic operator named Orville. To Miller, the hauntings are nothing but engineering: hidden solenoids, chemical chills, ultrasonic dread, and carefully staged terror designed to empty bank accounts. He expects tricks. He expects criminals. He does not expect violations of physics. When his room ...

In the genteel depths of Southern society—where gossip is currency, calamity wears lace gloves, and bourbon flows before brunch—Colonel Cedric Beauregard Fitzhugh the Third stumbles through a trilogy of misadventures. From scandalous garden brunches and matchmaking misfires to a murder-mystery club’s deadly encounter (and one goat with political aspirations), chaos simmers beneath the genteel surface. Standing as the last bastion of order is Arora Palindrome, his razor-sharp majordomo armed with cold ceviche, a clipboard, and a plan for every catastrophe. With biting wit, bourbon-...

The Mime Who Said Too Much: A Buffalo Noir The opulent Buffalo Theater glitters with a facade of wealth and culture. But beneath the surface, a killer lurks, their weapon: silence. Their victims: mimes. Enter Detective Max Noir, a seasoned cop navigating the smoke-filled depths of Buffalo's underworld. When a string of murders rocks the city's elite, Max finds himself drawn into a chilling game where shadows hold secrets, and every whispered rumor could spell disaster. The city's most renowned mime, Alistair Craven, has become the first target. As Max delves deeper, he uncovers a tangled ...

Caterwaul County Swamp: Where secrets fester thicker than the Spanish moss. JJ Darlin, a local roughneck with a shady past, turns up dead in the swamp – mauled, not by just gators, but by something far more sinister. Sheriff Cletus Noir, a man as gruff as the cypress knees, and his sharp-witted deputy, Robin Perez, find a single, enigmatic clue: a mysterious boot print. It leads them down a murky path of land disputes, whispers of dark rituals, and a chilling truth – the swamp holds secrets deadlier than any creature. Meanwhile, Claudia LeBlanc returns to Apaloosacola, Florida, where ...

In a world of the “Candied Tarantula” where chaos is both a weapon and a refuge, Retired Sergeant Buzzcut and the enigmatic Fireplug orchestrate a symphony of deception and intrigue. The stakes are higher than ever as they navigate the underbelly of a corrupt city, where alliances are fragile, and every move could ignite a blaze of betrayal. Amidst shadowy bars and opulent dens of vice, a cast of characters—each more dangerous and unpredictable than the last—plays a deadly game. From the seductive Silky to the calculating Dr. Mei B’ee, and the calculating judge, they all dance on ...

In the moss-draped bayous of Caterwaul County, where secrets fester thicker than Spanish moss, a literary legend long presumed dead is resurrected with terrifying consequences. When a cache of Nullis Nemo Nusquama's lost manuscripts unleashes a feverish obsession in his devoted fans, fiction begins to bleed into reality. Jael Jewel, a woman wielding the South's charm like a weapon, knows the swamp's underbelly better than most. She enlists the help of N. N. Nusquama, pen name for her cousin, the volatile writer Cale, to weaponize the myth and cleanse their community of its violent ...

Every summer in Caterwaul County, the Swamp Jubilee & Kazoo Concert promises crawfish, bourbon, and mild justice. But this year, it delivers scandal: the Antique Gator Egg—sacred relic, porcelain marvel, and symbol of swampy prosperity—vanishes from its velvet cushion in the middle of Judge Persimmon’s parlor. Enter Cedric Fitzhugh III, aristocratic narrator, bourbon enthusiast, and catastrophically untrained detective. With the sheriff lost in interpretive clogging, the kazoo quartet moon-dancing through alibis, and Aunt Petunia polishing her possum’s monocle, Cedric finds himself ...

"Baby-Doll Needs a Manicure: Old Scabs and Shadows" Frank’s not just lost—he’s drowning in a fever dream, and the mansion’s got him by the throat. A place where the wallpaper’s peeling like old scabs and the shadows play tricks that would make a sane man weep. But Frank? He’s not sure if he’s still on the right side of sanity. The corridors twist, the walls whisper, and every step deeper into this rotten, opulent maze feels like a dive off the edge of reason. The ghosts of his past are back, and they’ve brought friends—ugly, grotesque things that don’t play by the rules....

Two military retirees, a gruff sergeant, and a battle-hardened nurse find solace (and questionable cocktails) through their unorthodox post-apocalyptic worldview, fueled by a salvaged contraption they call the "Fountain of Flamboyance."

With federal marshals on his tail, Shaun O'Dwyer is out of time. He must confront the board of directors for an international charity on an Alaskan cruise. They've embezzled from orphanages and framed him for the crime. Will he get satisfaction before time runs out?

In the heart of the mystical Deep South, a team of determined adventurers confronts supernatural forces, grotesque transformations, and a relentless foe as they race to uncover the secrets of a ghostly village and prevent a malevolent Bishop from acquiring a thousand spirits, all while an ancient witch and the enigmatic Old Yellow Eyes hold the keys to their fate.

Beck Vale steals lives, a con artist who lives his life as a chameleon, becoming whatever is needed to pull the next big score. When he takes on the identity of Lucien Fontenot—a reclusive scion of an old Florida family—he believes he's found the perfect final mark. But a man can’t just disappear without someone noticing, and the Fontenot legacy runs deeper and darker than he ever imagined. In the sleepy, superstitious county of Scratchafliah, Sheriff Mack Carroway rules with an iron fist, protecting the county from threats both real and imagined. Mack knows the bayou hides more than ...

A killer is copying the show. This time the cameras are on you. A murderer known as The Echo is staging real crimes taken from a hit true-crime series hosted by Rory Sharp. Each scene is shot with perfect accuracy. Each victim is chosen with care. And each new killing pulls the country deeper into panic. Patty Ford, the newest producer on the show, spots the pattern. The Echo is following a three-part plan he calls Recurrence, Mythology, and Final Judgment. His attacks are not random. They are scheduled. They are thematic. And the final episode targets someone inside Sharp Productions. When...

THE SIGNAL IS IN THE AIR. THE SCRIPT IS IN YOUR BLOOD. In the sweltering rot of the Florida Panhandle, language is no longer a tool for communication; it’s a virus. Cal Mercer is a man who audits ghosts. A former military linguist, he sees the world through "Field Script," a shorthand for the intercepted nightmares of his past. He thought he’d left the Agency and its mind-bending Project MIRRORFALL in the desert. He was wrong. When a local girl is found dead in a canal, her skin carved with disciplined, linear codes, the "Artificial North" begins to tug at the scar tissue in Cal’s ...

In New Orleans, the heat doesn’t just make you sweat. It makes you sour. Cherry Grayson knows that better than anyone. As a boutique attorney for the city’s most prestigious families, she’s seen the jasmine-scented rot behind the wrought iron. But Cherry isn’t interested in justice. She’s interested in the Audit. Thirty years ago, her mother went to the electric chair, her crime etched forever in a crimson stain on the marble foyer. Cherry learned the lesson well: violence isn’t the problem — evidence is. From her climate-controlled sanctuary on Royal Street, Cherry treats ...

Faded Magnolia: Shadows and Schemes In the crumbling grandeur of Sunset Manor, faded Hollywood star Magnolia Monroe dreams of a comeback fueled by a long-forgotten script. But as her fractured family gathers under a veil of ambition and secrets, a whirlwind of betrayal and redemption unfolds. As long-buried rivalries resurface. Amidst the stifling Southern Gothic atmosphere, each character grapples with a labyrinth of deceit and shattered dreams. Will Magnolia's faded star reignite, or will the ghosts of the past consume them all?

DEATH BY MIRAGE: DINNER AND A SERVER The numbers don't lie. But they can be made to scream. Gemma Prescott has forty-eight hours to save her legacy. Ousted by a boardroom of predators known as The Beasts, she retreats into the shadows of the Vanguard empire. But she isn't alone. Her brother, Elias, is a master of the Mirage: a terrifying new technology that uses a swarm of micro-drones to project a human presence so real it has a heartbeat. While Gemma manipulates the digital ledgers, Elias becomes the perfect assassin. He is a ghost who dines at the Grand Avery in full view of a hundred ...