Urban Fiction

Treasure E. Blue
Harlem Girl Lost
One World, 2006.
Even with a drug-addicted prostitute for a mother, an abusive grandmother, and no father in the picture, Silver Jones has dreams of escaping the brutality of street life and becoming a doctor. But she puts her aspirations on hold as she tries to convince her childhood friend to give up his lifestyle.

A Streetgirl named Desire
OneWorld, 2007.
Born on the streets of Harlem to a crack-addicted teenage prostitute, Desire has spent her youth in foster homes. Then she is taken in by Hattie Mae, whose love and Christian guidance set her on the right path. Desire’s voice attracts the attention of a hip-hop exec but she learns that the road to success is fraught with temptation and peril.   

Traci Brown
White Lines
Griffin, 2007.
To get away from her mother's abusive boyfriend, Jada hooks up with Born, the neighborhood kingpin. But he hardly provides her with a safe haven and Jada falls victim to crack addiction and prostitution. She must hit bottom before she finds the strength to live for herself.

Criminal Minded
Griffin, 2005.
Lamin and Zion build a huge narcotics empire, but their enterprise begins to come apart when Lamin falls in love and decides to go legit in the entertainment business and Zion, who tries to go it alone, becomes the target of a corruption scandal involving murder, extortion and money laundering.

50 cent
Harlem Heat (with Mark Anthony)
G Unit, 2007
Having grown up on the streets herself, Roxy Reynolds, who runs a gun-trafficking ring, must do what she can to protect her daughter, an exotic dancer, from both the law and a drug king-pin. 

Death Before Dishonor (w/Nikki Turner). G Unit, 2007.
Trill Johnson is out of jail and out to get the people who sold him out and he’s got two women willing to risk it all for him.

Blow (with K’wan) G Unit, 2007.
Prince, Killa-E, Daddy-O and Danny, shared life in the projects as small-time hoods moving crack cocaine while working for the neighborhood drug lord Diego. But when Prince is introduced to a heroin connect, they go from soldiers to bosses and they soon learn that their new-found status comes at a high price.

Roy Glenn
Drug Related
Urban, 2005.
When her chemist brother mysteriously disappears, Gabriel Childers believes that that her drug dealer husband is responsible. She hires private investigator Nick Simmons to find the truth, and he soon discovers the two men were working on some kind of synthetic form of crack.

Is It A Crime?: A Street Saga
Urban Books, 2006, 2003.
Mike Black, aka Vicious Black, falls under the spell of beautiful drug dealer Cassandra Sims, and when an attempt is made on her life, Mike rescues her and becomes her protector.

Matthew Arnold Goodman
Hold Love Strong. S&S, 2009.
Born to a 13-year-old in the bathroom of his family's small apartment in an impoverished, drug-and-crime laden community, Abraham Sing grows up with a strong sense of family thanks to his grandmother, a woman of deep faith who gives him the inspiration to thrive in a place that has destroyed the dreams of those around him.

Alistair J. Hatter
The Baddest Chick
Urban Books, 2007.
Out on bail, Deondra "Dee Dee" Davis sets out to find her brothers killer. To achieve her goal she must deal with a ruthless drug lord, Don Ruiz, a hired assassin, and the two detectives determined to put her behind bars.

Renay Jackson
Peanut’s Revenge
Frog, 2006.
Criminal kingpin Big Ed Tatum is released from jail after the only witness to his crime is murdered. Soon afterwards, his rival Silky, turns up dead. Silky's woman, Melody Bordeaux (aka Peanut), vows revenge, but she isn’t counting on her little sister falling in love with Big Ed.

Ashley JaQuavis
Diary of a Street Diva
Urban, 2006.
After his wife dies by gunshot, Cease, a young hustler from Flint, Michigan, goes on trial for her murder. On the morning of his trial, he delves into Remy’s diary to bare the deep, dark secrets of her past.

Stephanie Johnson
Rockin’Robin
Urban, 2005.
Robin Sessoms, a meek reservation clerk at the Gray Pearl, a hotel in Asbury Park, New Jersey, has a lot on her hands: there’s her drug-addicted boss, a new relationship with Nelson Bray, a powerful retired lawyer, and then there’s Rockin’ Robin, her dual personality bent upon revenge against her (their?) abusive father..

Solomon Jones
Ride or Die
Minotaur, 2004.
The love affair between 17-year-old Keisha, the sheltered daughter of an activist pastor, and  Jamal, son of a North Philly drug kingpin, is threatened by the animosity between their fathers, Making matters worse, Jamal becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a high-ranking police official.

Karyn E. Langhorne
Street Level: An Urban Fairytale
HarperTorch, 2005.
Thea Morris gave up the gang life when her testimony put ex-lover and brutal kingpin Jango in jail. Now she runs her own business (Gangsta Psychic—Thea has paranormal abilities, you see) and has dedicated herself to making a positive difference in her community. But when she comes to the aid of a handsome mugging victim, everything she has built and become is suddenly in danger.

Erica Lewis
Arlington Park
Urban Books, 2008.
At 35, Arlington Cavanaugh is past her prime as a model, but she has continued to build upon her success with  a profitable fashion magazine. It seems she has put her past as a poor little girl from a small town in Louisiana behind her. But some secrets won’t stay buried and her world is about to be rocked.

Shawan Lewis
Final Game
Urban Books, 2008.
When he is drafted into the NBA, the future looks bright for Darin, until his old life catches up with him, while college hoopster Harper Joe sees his own dream of pro glory jeopardized by a youthful indiscretion.

Thomas Long
Cash Rules.
Urban, 2005.
Determined to escape the rough streets of Baltimore, three best friends—Takeisha, Latrell & Danita make it big as The KC (Killin' em Softly) Crew, a female gangsta rap group. But their newfound success is plagued by jealousy and betrayal.

Evie Rhodes
Street Vengeance.
Dafina, 2008.
18-year-old Brandi Hutchinson's outrage over the beating of her best friend Q by the L.A.P.D., leaving him paralyzed, transforms her from a nice young girl with an MBA future into the militant leader of one a violent female gang.

Daniel Serrano
Gunmetal Black
Grand Central, 2008.
After serving a ten-year prison term, Eddie Santiago returns to the mean streets of his Puerto Rican neighborhood in Chicago, only to be robbed of his life savings by police officers. Convinced he was set-up, Eddie vows to recover his property but soon finds himself in the middle of a drug war and a bogus murder rap.

Sister Soljah
Midnight: A Gangster Love Story
Atria, 2008.
Raised in a wealthy, influential, Islamic African family, Midnight is sent to the United States with his mother after his father’s empire is attacked. In the streets of Brooklyn, Midnight uses his Islamic mind-set and African intelligence to protect the ones he loves, build a business, reclaim his wealth and status, and remain true to his beliefs.

Nikki Turner
Black Widow
One World, 2008.
Even though she is a successful jewelry designer, it seems that Isis Tatum’s love-life has always been a mess. So many of her men have ended up in jail or dead that she comes to believe that she is cursed. Can she find a way to end this cycle of disappointment and tragedy?

Omar Tyree
College Boy
S&S, 2005.
Troy Potter, a young man from Philadelphia’s inner city, strives for a top-rate education at a predominantly white college. By the same author: Flyy Girl (1993); For the Love of Money (2000); Just Say No (2001); Diary of a Groupie (2003); Boss Lady (2005); The Last Street Novel (2007).

Alison van Diepen
Street Pharm
Simon Pulse, 2006.
With his father in jail, it falls to 17-year-old Ty Johnson to run the family’s drug dealing business. Although he is a “success,” Ty begins to question the direction his life is going when he begins a relationship with Alyse, a single mother and his classmate at the local continuation high school.

Paul Volponi
Rooftop
Viking, 2006.
At one time close, then separated by a family feud, cousins Clay and Addison are admitted to the same drug treatment program, With their friendship renewed, things seems to be heading in a positive direction…until Clay witnesses the shooting of Addison, who is unarmed, by the police on the roof of a New York City housing project.

Jesse Washington
Black Will Shoot.
Simon Spotlight, 2008.
Ambitious writer Marq Wise becomes a hotshot reporter for Fever, an edgy hip-hop magazine. But Marq gets more than he bargains for as he covers the dangerous, drug-fueled hip hop scene, an underworld that is threatening to destroy his music producer brother, Dontay.

Carl Weber
The Preacher’s Son
Dafina, 2005
Bishop T.K. Wilson, the popular pastor of the largest African American church in Queens, NY, decides to run for borough president. It is a decision that has unexpected consequences for his grown children, who are not quite the models of respectability the public thinks they are.
The First Lady
Dafina, 2007
44-year old Charlene Wilson, First Lady of First Jamaica Ministries, is about to meet her maker, so she lines up four possible candidates to take her place after she passes.

KaShamba Williams
Driven
Urban Books, 2005.
Nasir, a young man haunted by his past and caught between the temptations of street life and fatherhood, must choose whether or not to do the right thing and turn his life around.

Teri Woods
True to the Game.
Warner, 2007, 1994.
In the late 1980s, Gena, a young girl from the projects, meets and falls for millionaire drug dealer. Quadir. While he combats his rivals and enemies, Gena fights to hold onto everything she holds dear. Followed by: True to the Game II (2007) and True to the Game III (2008)

Novellas

Around the Way Girls 2
KaShamba Williams, Thomas Long, La Jill Hunt.
Urban Books, 2005

Around the Way Girls 4
La Jill Hunt, Dwayne S. Joseph & Roy Glenn.
Urban Books, 2007

Nikki Turner Presents Christmas in the Hood: Street Chronicles.
One World, 2007.

Created and maintained by: Lynne M. Kennedy.

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