The Wolfe Family Series

A “tough, honed-to-the-bone thriller” of family, revenge, and organized crime along the border of Texas and Mexico—from the award-winning author (The Dallas Morning News).   Eddie Gato Wolfe is a young, impetuous member of the Wolfe family of Texas gun-runners that goes back generations. Increasingly unfulfilled by his minor role in family operations and eager to set out on his own, Eddie crosses the border to work security for a major Mexican drug cartel led by the ruthless La Navaja.   Falling for a mysterious woman named Miranda, Eddie learns too late that an intimate member of La Navaja’s organization considers her his property. When their romance is discovered, Eddie and Miranda are forced to run for their lives, fleeing into the deadly Sonora Desert in hope of crossing the border to safety. But La Navaja’s reach is far and his lust for revenge insatiable. If La Navaja’s men don’t kill Eddie and Miranda, the brutal desert just may. Their only hope: help from the family that Eddie abandoned.   A Men’s Journal Best Book of the Year that was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger, this intimate look inside the Mexican drug trade is “one hell of a ride” (Booklist, starred review).   “Brilliant . . . Blake’s masterful action-driven narrative and his revealing look at the ultraviolent Mexican drug trade rival the best of Don Winslow and Kem Nunn.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review   “Blake’s customary zest for life and death makes his latest modern historical thriller violent, sexy and exciting.” —Kirkus Reviews   “This sand-blasted odyssey is quick, bloody and beautiful with prose as eloquent and unexpected as a cactus flower.” —Madison County Herald

The award-winning author’s “hard-edged, fast-moving thriller” about love, crime, family, and loyalty set around the borderlands of Texas and Mexico (Booklist, starred review).   On a rainy winter night in Mexico City, a ten-member wedding party is kidnapped in front of the groom’s family mansion. The perpetrator is a small-time gangster named El Galán, who wants nothing more than to make his crew part of a major cartel. He hopes that this crime will be his big break. Setting the wedding party’s ransom at five million US dollars, he demands to be paid in cash within twenty-four hours.   The only captive not related to either the bride or the groom is the young Jessica Juliet Wolfe, a close friend of the bride. Jessie also hails from a family of notorious outlaws that has branches on both sides of the border, and when the Wolfes learn of Jessie’s abduction, El Galán suddenly finds himself in over his head.   “This fast-paced, well-plotted thriller” from the Los Angeles Times Book Prize–winning author of In the Rogue Blood “reads like a mix of Cormac McCarthy and Elmore Leonard” (Library Journal).   “[The House of Wolfe] keeps the reader engaged as the action rushes toward a surprising and fully satisfying conclusion” —Publishers Weekly, starred review   “A pungent and exhilarating read. ” —Financial Times

A Mexican-American convict escapes prison to find his daughter in this “gripping ride” by the Los Angeles Times Book Prize–winning author of The House of Wolfe (Arizona Daily Star).   Axel Prince Wolfe was the heir apparent to his Texas family’s law firm and its ‘shade trade’ criminal enterprises. Then he took part in a robbery that went wrong. Abandoned by his partners, he was the only one caught. His family was disgraced, his wife absconded, and his infant daughter Jessie was left an orphan.   Two decades later, Axel has given up his desire for revenge against his partners. All he wants is to see the woman his daughter has become, despite her lifelong refusal to acknowledge him. With eleven years left to serve, Axel escapes with a young Mexican inmate, evading a massive manhunt by heading down the Rio Grande and into a desert inferno. But as his chance to see Jessie comes within reach, a startling discovery sends Axel headlong toward a reckoning many years in the making.   Winner of the Maltese Falcon Award and the Grand Prix du Roman Noir Étranger, James Carlos Blake has been hailed as “one of the most original writers in America today.” The Ways of Wolfe continues his acclaimed saga of the Wolfe family (Chicago Sun-Times).   “James Carlos Blake has long been one of my favorites, but his Wolfe family saga may be his best work to date.” —Ace Atkins, on The House of Wolfe

Emily Talcott has a sister to fire off into the season and a father whose gambling debts are threatening to bring the whole family to bankruptcy, and is secretly the author of the immensely popular books of poetry supposedly written by the French Marquis de la Cour. Damon, Lord Wentworth’s arrival in her life creates another complication—a very dangerous one, for she quickly realizes why the devilishly handsome viscount has gained the name of “Demon Wentworth.” He has a reputation for liking games of cards with high stakes and women with low morals. Now her father owes him for gambling losses. If only her newest book could earn enough to pay them off . . .   Everything gets complicated when an imposter claims to be the French poet. How can Emily denounce him? What if he takes her profits? What if his plan to marry her sister under false pretenses succeeds? Her only ally, though she cannot tell him the truth of her deception, is Damon. Like her, he is interested in halting the false marquis. He will not explain why, halting her questions with heated kisses. Suddenly Emily begins to realize how silly her poetry is, because it cannot compare with truly falling in love. Can she trust Damon to help her save her sister and not break her own heart?

Ellen Dunbar (who first appeared in The Smithfield Bargain) visits Wolfe Abbey, the home of Corey Wolfe, Marquess Wulfric (who first appeared in The Wolfe Wager), to watch a fireworks show. She finds Lord Wulfric fun and enjoys the fireworks until something goes terribly wrong. Fireworks explode, knocking her from her feet and fatally wounding the marquess. She is shattered at his death, but her despair becomes astonishment when, that night, Corey reappears . . . as a ghost! He vows to find her the perfect husband before the chrysanthemums bloom at summer’s end. The problem is, as Corey match-makes for Ellen (who is the only one who can see and hear him), he begins to fall in love with her himself. So what’s a ghost to do when he’s made a vow and he can’t even touch the woman he loves?

Lorenzo Wolfe (previously seen in A Phantom Affair) has recently become Lord Moorsea, with lands in southwestern England. When he goes to claim them, he finds he already has company. Lady Valeria Fanning (previously seen in Rhyme and Reason) has come with her 8-year-old nephew to live with the man who was once her guardian, the previous Lord Moorsea. Now they are Lorenzo’s responsibility, because she lost everything she owed when her late brother’s debts swallowed everything.   For Lorenzo, the simplest thing to do would be to find Valeria a convenient arrangement—a marriage to someone else. But that plan goes awry when one of her brother’s debtors tries to force her into marriage by using her nephew as a pawn. Instead of the quiet life Lorenzo thought he wanted, he finds himself embroiled in saving the boy who has vexed him too many times. However, he has come to love the little boy as well as his aunt. Suddenly living alone in the isolated house has no appeal, but is it too late?

Heiress Lady Vanessa Wolfe is the talk of the season because everyone is curious whom she will wed. Her brother Corey, the true heir to Wolfe Abbey, has been reported missing after a battle against Napoleon on the continent, and he may be dead. But Vanessa doesn’t want to marry; she wants to find Corey.   Her reluctance offers the perfect opportunity for Ross Brickendon, a viscount, to make a bet with his two bored friends, Sir Wilbur Haskett and Bruce Swinton. The first one of them who can persuade the young lady to wed will win the bet . . . which is for a mere £3. Each has his own way of courting the lady, but Ross’s is to try to help her find her brother, something that touches Vanessa’s heart. Still, can she believe he is sincere and wants her love, not her estate?   When the truth is revealed, Ross realizes he must prove his love, even if doing so costs him his life.

Romayne Smithfield knows she is acting out of hand when she agrees to elope with her admirer, Bradley Montcrief. But how could she have guessed their carriage would be attacked as soon as they crossed the Scottish border? Sure Bradley is dead, she is shocked to be rescued from the highwaymen by Major James MacKinnon, who has his own reasons for being out on a moonless night. He is pursuing a traitor who has sold out Britain to the French. He turns his attention to Romayne and takes her to where she can be safe—his home.   When her maid arrives to take Romayne home, she insists that a duke’s granddaughter cannot return from an elopement without a husband. James must marry her. After all, they spent a night together when he rescued her. When he agrees, Romayne is astounded . . . until he tells her that he has arranged for a fake ceremony. He needs to go to England to catch his prey, and taking her home to her grandfather gives him the excuse he needs. Now it is her turn to agree, but nothing goes as they plan. Neither of them guessed someone wants Romayne dead in a plot that began when she was only a baby . . . or that a marriage of convenience can become very inconvenient when true love gets in the way.