Audiobooks by Gary Phillips

"Adapting what may be the most popular of graphic novels, by the edgy Hard Case Crime author, adding layers and exploring the nature of morality. Faced with overwhelming poverty and a pregnant wife, a tragic, struggling comedian is forced to turn to crime. In his first heist, he is immersed in toxic chemicals that disfigure him bizarrely, driving him mad and thus giving birth to The Joker. For years, the Clown Prince of Crime has been caught in a dance of violence with his greatest nemesis, the Batman. Escaping Arkham Asylum, he plots his most lethal caper. This will be the ultimate punch line... his KILLING JOKE. In their mission to protect Gotham City, Batman and Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) pursue ruthless criminals such as the grandiose Maxie Zeus and Antonio 'Python' Palmares. Simultaneously, Commissioner James Gordon and Detective Harvey Bullock take on a cartel distributing the latest designer drug--'giggle sniff,' derived from a venom created by The Joker. This rapid-fire sequence of events spirals together to threaten Batman's closest friends and allies, and locks the two eternal foes in their ultimate death match."

Christa Faust, Gary Phillips (Author), Jake Hart (Narrator)

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Bad Night Is Falling

"When private investigator Ivan Monk takes a case set in a public housing project, he finds himself facing the police and volatile gang members—and a murder charge. Heat is building in the Rancho Tajuata Housing Projects, and not just because it’s summer in L.A. An immigrant family is firebombed and killed in their apartment. Rage threatens to explode. The pressure is on to solve the murders quickly, lest more death and destruction follow. At the request of the controversial onsite security force, P.I. Ivan Monk is called in to investigate. In tracking down the killer, Monk delves into a tangled history involving the Rancho, going back to the aftermath of the 1965 Watts riots and decades of bureaucratic corruption and racist policy decisions that affected South Central. As Monk navigates the complexities of Black and Brown conflict in the neighborhood, he finds himself at odds with the law, disillusioned with his friend and mentor, and, after a fierce fight with some thugs, under indictment for murder. He must race to not only clear his name, but prevent another bad night from falling on the Rancho for good. “A first-rate example of contemporary noir fiction.”—The Sunday Telegraph"

Gary Phillips (Author), William Demeritt (Narrator)

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Perdition, U.S.A.

"THE MYSTERY SERIES THAT LAUNCHED GARY PHILLIPS’S CAREER Private eye Ivan Monk’s search for a killer lead to the unraveling of a far-reaching white supremacist conspiracy. Robert “Scatterboy” Williams is a small-time hustler selling bogus Cartier watches in Pacific Shores, a port city south of Los Angeles. One day, he’s gunned down in the street, seemingly at random. Then drug dealer Ronny Aaron is shot and killed leaving a liquor store. Shortly thereafter, college student Jimmy Henderson is rendered comatose after two bullets to his body. The three victims have nothing in common save the neighborhood where they were shot—and the color of their skin. The police categorize Scatterboy’s murder as business as usual. But his girlfriend convinces private eye Ivan Monk to find the killer. What looks like three unrelated shootings of Black men in Southern California will put Monk on a tortuous trail unraveling a larger nefarious plan: the rise of an extremist demagogue. “Monk is an asset in the series—flawed, human, angry but levelheaded, brainy and brawny.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review"

Gary Phillips (Author), William Demeritt (Narrator)

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Only the Wicked

"Private eye Ivan Monk takes on his most personal mystery to date—and chases answers deep into America’s haunted past. Long ago, Marshall Spears was a hero of the ballpark. In a time when baseball—and the nation—was segregated, he played in the vaunted Negro Leagues. Decades later, Old Man Spears is living out his days as a fixture in a barbershop in South Central. One afternoon, PI Ivan Monk—a shop regular—learns that Spears’s former teammate was Kennesaw Riles. From family lore, Monk knows Riles is his cousin who was ostracized for the damning testimony he gave during a controversial murder trial in the ’60s—testimony that put a firebrand civil rights leader behind bars. Before Monk can hear more, Old Man Spears drops dead while listening to a ballgame on the radio. Even stranger, the long missing Riles shows up at the Old Man’s funeral services, and dies soon after. Monk knows the timing is not a coincidence. He follows the mystery to the Mississippi Delta. There, he unravels the truth behind the murder of two civil rights era activists. Eventually Monk zeroes in on a group of shadowy Mississippi businessmen-turned-philanthropists who may not have reformed their ways as they claim. Far from Los Angeles, the tenacious private eye confronts his own family history as well as a brand of hatred thought to have died with Jim Crow. “[A] gripping tale starring a genuinely charismatic hero.”—Booklist"

Gary Phillips (Author), William Demeritt (Narrator)

Audiobook

Witnesses for the Dead: Stories

"Inspired by recent true events, the all-original stories in Witnesses for the Dead are set in motion by the act of witnessing. The characters who populate these pages are not themselves the perpetrators of crimes, but find their lives indelibly changed by what they see as they grapple with coming forward, taking action, or retreating into the shadows. In “Envy” by Christopher Chambers, a sweet, shy wallflower looks on as something horrific happens in his neighborhood—revealing something horrific about himself. Agatha Award–winner Richie Narvaez’s “The Gardener of Roses” sees a Puertorriqueña college student on the run from the FBI for her accidental involvement in a “terrorist” plot. Anthony Award–winner Gary Phillips confronts police corruption in “Spiders and Fly.” And the protagonist of “A Family Matter” by IPPY Award–winner Sarah M. Chen investigates the murder of a stranger, leading her to question the political structure of Taiwan entirely. Other stories feature a brothel, the film industry, immigrant detention centers at the Mexico-US border, World War II–torn France, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The stories are incisive, unflinching, wry, dark, and, in some cases, terrifying. You’ll ask yourself: If I saw what they saw, what would I do?"

Gary Phillips (Author), Arnell Powell, Brian Nishii, Christopher Salazar, Graciela Jones, Marisol Ramirez, Robertson Dean, Suzanne Toren, Tamika Katon-Donegal (Narrator)

Audiobook

One-Shot Harry

"Race and civil rights in 1963 Los Angeles provide a powerful backdrop in Gary Phillips’s riveting historical crime novel about an African American forensic photographer seeking justice for his jazz musician friend. Los Angeles, 1963: African American Korean War veteran Harry Ingram earns a living as a news photographer and occasional process server: chasing police radio calls and dodging baseball bats. With racial tensions running high on the eve of Martin Luther King’s Freedom Rally, Ingram risks ending up one of the victims at every crime scene he photographs. When Ingram hears a call over the police scanner to the scene of a deadly automobile accident, he recognizes the vehicle described as belonging to his good friend and old army buddy, the white jazz trumpeter Ben Kinslow, with whom he’d only just reconnected. The LAPD declares the car crash an accident, but when Ingram develops his photos there are signs of foul play. Ingram feels compelled to play detective, even if it means putting his own life on the line. Armed with his wits, his camera, and occasionally his Colt .45, Harry Ingram plunges headfirst into the seamier underbelly of LA society, tangling with racists, leftists, blackmailers, gangsters, zealots and lovers, all in the hope of finding something resembling justice for a friend."

Gary Phillips (Author), Leon Nixon (Narrator)

Audiobook

Snow Shorts, Vol. 1

"SHORT STORIES! BIG ACTION! Declassified at last! Snow Shorts delve into the adventures of Abraham Snow, his family, and his friends, in short, bite-sized action/thriller tales. Volume 1 contains stories featuring Abraham Snow, Big John Salmon, and we’re introduced to Mama Snow herself in Laura Snow’s first appearance in print. Snow Short #1: Snow Flies featuring Abraham Snow by Bobby Nash.Abraham Snow goes undercover and takes to the air when a pilot friend of his goes missing. The trail leads him to a casino, smugglers, and dangerous skies. Can Snow disrupt the smuggling operation and save his friend and their unexpected passengers before they’re shot down? Snow Flies was a 2020 Pulp Factory Award Nominee for Best Pulp Short Story. Snow Short #2: Thieves’ Alley featuring Big John Salmon by Gary Phillips.Big John Salmon had built a new life for himself after being incarcerated. But now an old friend, an unrepentant thief was dying in a prison hospital in the high desert. Pulled back in by personal honor as the man’s family is under threat, Big John is recruited to carry off one last heist — against a quirky billionaire’s fortified penthouse atop the Phan-Tan Casino under heavy guard. Yet the prize wasn’t money. Squeezed by forces known and unknown, Salmon once again walks down thieves’ alley as he puts his plan in motion. Calling on an edge forged in the fires of adversity might tip the odds in his favor to make it out alive…or wind up on the slab. Snow Short #3: A Stranger Calls featuring Laura Snow by Nicole Givens Kurtz.Laura Snow (mother of Abraham, Douglas, and Samantha) is enjoying her life. A free spirit, Laura follows her bliss. The journey leads her to Taos, New Mexico where she has created a life for herself away from the dangers her family often finds themselves facing. Or so she thought. Laura is concerned when she starts receiving threatening phone calls and texts. A mysterious someone is stalking her and the threats are escalating. When official channels fail, Laura falls back on old skills she learned years ago from her father-in-law, Archer Snow to protect herself against a dangerous foe who wants her dead."

Bobby Nash, Gary Phillips, Nicole Givens Kurtz (Author), Stuart Gauffi (Narrator)

Audiobook

Matthew Henson and the Ice Temple of Harlem

"Matthew Henson and the Ice Temple of Harlem is the first in an exciting new retro, rollicking adventure series. This re-imagined pulp novel follows the Doc Savage–style adventures of the first American to reach the North Pole—Matthew Henson. The tail end of the Roaring Twenties. Harlem. Hired by controversial spiritual leader Daddy Paradise to retrieve his adult daughter who has been kidnapped, adventurer Matthew Henson does just that. Then he must safeguard the two until the firebrand can deliver a momentous speech at a mass rally. Henson must employ all his survival skills to fulfill his task—skills that kept him whole in forbidden jungles, across Asia, and in sub-zero ice storms when he first reached the North Pole. Henson’s charge brings him face-to-face with such illustrious characters as gangster Dutch Schultz, who’s looking to muscle out numbers racket boss Queenie St. Clair; and famed inventor Nikola Tesla, who is using his electrical acumen to surveil plutocrats. Henson’s pal Bessie Coleman, America’s first Black aviatrix, lends a hand as well. With a death ray zeroing in on him, Henson races against the clock to save lives, and to keep a mysterious and powerful meteor fragment he brought back from the Arctic years ago out of the hands of monied evil-doers."

Gary Phillips (Author), Stefan Rudnicki (Narrator)

Audiobook

Occupied Earth: Stories of Aliens, Resistance and Survival at all Costs

"For years, writers and filmmakers have speculated about the possibility of the Earth being invaded by aliens from another planet. But what if the aliens have been watching us, infiltrating us via human collaborators, or even surgically altering themselves to look human? Occupied Earth is a groundbreaking anthology that explores the idea of what the world would look like years after its conquest. Twenty years after a successful invasion by the Makh-Ra, human beings still exist, only they have become subservient to a new race of occupiers who now govern the devastated planet. But, as much at things continue with some sense of normalcy, something has happened in the Mahk-Ra's empire. Earth, once considered a strategic beachhead of major importance to the Empire, has been downgraded in its value. Things are starting to degrade. Our planet is the last place any self-respecting Mahk-Ra officer wants to be assigned. Yet, despite everything, life continues. Occupied Earth brings us face to face with annihilation—and shows how we can pull ourselves back from the brink."

Gary Phillips, Richard Brewer (Author), Elise Arsenault, Michael Hinton (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks by Gary Phillips

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