Bloodlines: An Empire City Special Crimes Novel (The Guardian of Empire City)

Bloodlines: An Empire City Special Crimes Novel (The Guardian of Empire City)

Those dark and terrible things from your nightmares are VERY real. They walk among us, masquerading as your neighbor, your lover, even your friend. You see, Empire City is full of them…if you only know where to look. How do I know this? Well, for starters the name is Detective Tom Holliday. I work homicide for Special Crimes. My friends, what few I have, call me Doc. And the other reason? I’ve got magic of my own. Welcome to Empire City, where magic and technology co-exist, and humanity endures behind walls of stone and spell-forged steel. A place where danger lurks around every street corner, and anything is possible. When former hotshot homicide detective Tom “Doc” Holliday is recruited to join Special Crimes, he trades in his boring desk job for a second chance to do what he does best: hunt down killers. And his first case doesn’t disappoint—a murdered woman with a bogus past, her body drained of blood, and two eyewitnesses wasted on the designer drug goldjoy claiming a vampire did it. Armed with a fickle clairvoyance and saddled with a team whose past is as checkered as his own, Holliday embarks upon an investigation through a dystopian landscape filled with bio-engineered vampires, interdimensional shadow parasites, and the magical masterminds behind it all. But to solve this murder and safeguard his city, Holliday will have to uncover the truth behind an ancient shadowy conspiracy and confront a destiny he never wanted. Fans of Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London and Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files will fall in love with Empire City. Grab your copy of BLOODLINES today! "[Hartog] deftly fuses genres in this entertaining series opener...A riveting multi-genre tale with sharply drawn characters in a striking futuristic world." - Kirkus Reviews "I had a ton of fun reading this, and I feel like things are only going to get even better and crazier in the upcoming entries. An impressive debut for sure." - Out of this World SFF Reviews "Hartog manages to navigate a complex murder mystery plot, while adding in loads of worldbuilding and character development." - Justin, FanFiAddict "A great read that crossed all my expectations and delivered me an unexpected whirlwind of suspense and thrill. Just wow." - @chapter.mjthomas "As a final thought, when you create a shiny toy filled with electronic parts, add magic dust and grim creatures of the night, and compile it all with a murder mystery, the result is Peter Hartog's BLOODLINES. Highly recommended." - Manny, FanFiAddict "Hartog's writing was evocative and made it easy to imagine the scenes unfold before me as if it were a TV series." - dinipandareads "In my search for urban fantasy, I finally found a brilliant series. BLOODLINES combines urban fantasy, crime thriller and magic woven into an exciting, page turning mystery...There were so many things I never saw coming, and it was a fantastic read." - The Book & Nature Professor "This novel feels like an open-world sci-fi video game." - Al-Alhambra Book Reviews "This book is the caliber of a traditionally published gem, mixed with the freedom offered to authors through self-publishing." - Her Scribbled Thoughts A native son of Massachusetts, Peter has been living in the Deep South for over 25 years. By day, he's an insurance professional, saving the world one policy at a time. But at night, well, no one really wants to see him fighting crime in his Spider-Man onesie. Instead, Peter develops new worlds of adventure, influenced by his love of science fiction, mysteries, music and fantasy. Whether it's running role-playing games for his long-time friends, watching his beloved New England sporting teams, or just chilling with a movie, his wife, two boys, two puppies and three cats, Peter's imagination is always on the move. It's the reason why his stories are an eclectic blend of intrigue, excitement, humor and magic, all drawn from four decade's worth of television, film, novels, and comic books. You can learn more about Peter and his writing projects at peterhartog.com, or send him a tweet @althazyr.