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The NightShade Forensic Files book cover 1
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The NightShade Forensic Files
Series · 10 books · 2014-2022

Books in series

Under Dark Skies book cover
#1

Under Dark Skies

2014

In NightShade nothing is as it seems . . . Eleri Eames didn’t think she’d ever be allowed to work for the FBI again, so the special FBI division of NightShade seems like an amazing opportunity. But all too soon, her chance to start over starts to disturb her. When the FBI offers Donovan a chance to leave his job as a medical examiner and try his hand at something new, he takes a chance on the NightShade division. Somehow, he has to try to escape from his shadows, but can he trust Eleri with the truth? Thrown together on their first case, Eleri and Donovan must deal with a charismatic cult leader and his true-believers. The cult is mixed up with several decade-old kidnapping cases and the missing daughter of a prominent FBI Agent. As Eleri and Donovan dig deeper, they discover that NightShade’s mysteries aren’t coincidence. Their secrets will save them . . . or destroy them.
Fracture Five book cover
#2

Fracture Five

2016

Eleri and Donovan are back! NightShade’s newest agents are in L.A. to bring down a burgeoning terrorist cell. To make things worse, it’s not just one terrorist cell, it’s two. Or is it three? There is little to go on, only links between missing Army munitions and a veteran named Cooper Rollins. With his special ops training and severe PTSD, it's impossible to tell what kind of game Rollins is playing. Eleri and Donovan will have to use their unique skills to stop the attack before it happens. But in the crowded city, there are too many people who might reveal what Donovan is if he dares to make the change. And Eleri is starting to show signs of powers she didn’t know she had, and can’t control. On the surface the cells seem unrelated, each with separate perpetrators and different motives. But they are all linked by Rollins and the very disturbing passcode: “Fracture Five.”
The Atlas Defect book cover
#3

The Atlas Defect

2017

Eleri wanted a different kind of case. She should have been careful what she wished for. When an odd human skeleton in Michigan’s Manistee-Huron National Forest triggers a NightShade investigation, Eleri and Donovan arrive to find it missing. But two other skeletons are a little too easily uncovered—each displays different anomalies that raise alarming questions. The bones aren’t from the area or probably even the continent. A decades-old abandoned building doesn’t register on satellite images. Files detailing genetic experiments on children are even more disturbing, and most of the children are unaccounted for. Who were the test subjects and where are the bodies? Eleri and Donovan believe there are others out there who haven’t died yet. But they will, if something isn’t done. Fast. If the case itself wasn’t enough of a problem, someone is watching. Someone with a particular interest in Donovan’s own skeletal anomalies . . .
Echo and Ember book cover
#4

Echo and Ember

2017

FBI agents Donovan and Eleri left their last case with a sense of unease. Unable to close the investigation, they’ve been thrown into their next assignment far too fast. A string of strange arson-based murders are just part of the trouble. Not only is former agent Wade de Gottardi on their team for this one, so are two other NightShade agents: Dana Brantley and Christina Pines. The problem is, Eleri is no longer the senior agent, Dana is. Maybe their boss no longer trusts them, or maybe it’s simply because four people have already died. Either way, Donovan and Eleri are no longer in control of the case as they hunt a serial killer who’s getting bolder with each success. While Eleri and Donovan are just getting their special skills in hand, Dana and Christina are more at ease with theirs. While Dana’s talents prove useful, Christina’s are frightening . . . and suspicious. As old cases rear their ugly heads, Eleri and Donovan get drawn into the mysteries of their fellow NightShade agents. Will their new team implode from distrust before they crack the case? Their unique talents may not be enough to save them from a seemingly unstoppable killer.
Salvage book cover
#5

Salvage

2018

When Agent Derek Westerfield first offered her a chance to be an agent with NightShade, Walter Reed didn’t really understand what that meant. She went to Quantico, trained, and even got her first case, before she realized why NightShade was off the books. Her only ally—and her new partner—is GJ Janson, the know it all who wound up hand-cuffed in a hotel room for stealing from the FBI. When GJ learns her own grandfather has been hiding illegal artifacts and more for years, she starts investigating. When his lab offers up the dead body of a fellow NightShade agent, SAC Westerfield assigns Walter and GJ to the case. Only the killer is coming to them and it’s someone GJ knows. Brand new agents Walter and GJ are in way over their heads. The case, the other agents, the hunters, and even their own jobs aren’t what they were supposed to be…
Garden of Bone book cover
#6

Garden of Bone

2018

Your favorite NightShade agents are back, only Eleri and Donovan are now on their own. This time they aren’t working with the FBI, and the case is as personal as it can get… FBI Agent Eleri Eames was there the day her sister disappeared at eight years old. However, Eleri is the only one who knows that her sister is already dead and has been for quite some time. When a skeleton is unearthed in New Orleans, Eleri is convinced it belongs to Emmaline. The age and ancestry of the remains are a match, and there’s something telling Eleri that New Orleans is the place where her sister lived and died. As Eleri hunts for answers, demons—old and new—begin following her. The Lobomau have been entering the city in ever-increasing numbers, and that might just have something to do with the Dauphine sisters and their long family history of witchcraft and voodoo. Eleri desperately needs her partner Donovan on this case with her, but can he risk his own job to help her? Eleri’s ancestry may have imbued her with some powers, but compared to her own great-grandmother and the Dauphines, she’s untrained and untested at best. When the bones turn out not to belong to her sister, Eleri has to ask how a case so similar to Emmaline’s even exists…and is it an arrow pointed to her own twisted family history? This is the sixth installment in the award-winning NightShade Forensic Files. Can be read as a standalone.
The Camelot Gambit book cover
#7

The Camelot Gambit

2019

Can Eleri and Donovan outsmart a killer who leaves no evidence behind or even a discernable cause of death? How will they track down someone who is more intelligent than both of them together? Curie, Nebraska was designed as a research haven for the ultra-intelligent. In fact, applicants must pass a rigorous IQ test before they can call the strange town home. Nearly every resident—including several child geniuses—is suspect and no one is safe. Going undercover as the new neighbors leaves the agents struggling to find even the most basic clues. Eleri and Donovan can barely maintain their false identities against their overly-curious and stunningly intelligent new friends, let alone solve a murder. Can they figure it out before the next body turns up? Or has the killer already found them… This is the seventh book in the NightShade Forensic Files series. It can be read as a standalone.
Dead Tide book cover
#8

Dead Tide

2019

When a former mermaid turns up dead, Eleri and Donovan are stuck with a case they never wanted, but can’t shake… Eleri—a former mermaid herself—should have been recused from the case. That’s her friend on the autopsy table and putting her in charge of the investigation violates more rules than she can count. But her Special Agent in Charge won’t let her off the case, making her wonder if there’s more to Westerfield’s demands than meets the eye. He won’t let Donovan out of the case either. The mysterious package from a brother Donovan didn’t know he had contains as much threat as it does information. The lobomau are more organized and further-reaching than anyone thought, and Donovan now has a personal connection. The team is stuck on a research vessel with a killer hot on their trail… but Eleri’s skills are glitchy at best, and Donovan can’t swim. Can they keep the remaining crew members—and themselves—alive or will the killer turn out to be the one they least suspected? This next installment in the NightShade Forensic Files brings more X-Files-like mystery to the series! Be prepared for an up-all-night thrill ride and grab Dead Tide now.
Sabotage book cover
#9

Sabotage

2020

The next installment in the NightShade Forensic Files is here… Christina Pines could make anyone see or think anything she chose. It was a talent she’d had her whole life, though she’d never refer to it as a “gift.” It hadn’t been enough to save her partner, Dana. And it was proving almost futile now in finding the escaped Dr. Marks. What she had learned from the bartender was that the badass woman with the prosthetic leg was looking for her. Walter Reed was on her tail—which meant that her Special Agent in Charge Westerfield knew she was missing and had sent a cleanup crew. The bartender smiled and wiped down the bar in front of her, but with a subtle push she made his gaze slide away. He wouldn’t remember her. She took another sip from her whiskey. He wouldn’t remember that he’d ever seen her, or even that someone was here and hadn’t finished her drink. But someone had followed Dr. Marks here just two weeks earlier. Christina headed out the door, chasing a trail that threatened to go cold despite her stunning talents. She was armed with her unique ability and a fierce determination to win. But probably her best asset was that she was willing to die to bring Dr. Marks to justice… NightShade Agent Christina Pines has one goal: Find and destroy Dr. Marks. The problem is that she’s not the only one after him.
Beneath Memory book cover
#11

Beneath Memory

2022

A young woman holds the key to solving the greatest heist of the last century. But she wasn’t even alive when the money was stolen… Eleri has been called to track the woman with the information and find out how she got it. With GJ and Walter at her side, they’ll find where the dead are buried and try to escape the clutches of the Miranda corporation. Solving the case will reveal deep secrets inside their own organization but it might just kill their missing agent.

Author

A.J. Scudiere
A.J. Scudiere
Author · 22 books

I've been chasing the high of finishing another book since I could read. At age 8, that passion turned to finishing writing my own books. The good news is, I have gotten a lot better at it since then. With almost 20 books out and over 20 Best Suspense and Best Fiction of the Year awards and several Audie nominations, I am now working on a new series while continuing the last one! A scientist at heart, I'm a firm believer in getting the story right. Most days you can find me at my keyboard if I'm not traveling or blowing things up (for "research purposes.") Join my Renegades newsletter here: https://www.readajs.com/ Follow me on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/ReadAJS/ Or Follow me on BookBub here: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/a-j-s...

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