K'Wan

The legendary urban lit author returns with a new character, a new city, a new series, as AUWA Books makes its first foray into fiction. Toussaint Batiste is returning home to the City of Brotherly Love hoping he can, for once in his life, outrun his nickname: Trouble. Toussaint has been in prison, but before that he was a Philadelphia police officer. He's returning home with few friends on either side of the law, but with a little apartment in Chinatown and a vested interest in taking care of the family restaurant downstairs, he expects to have enough to keep himself busy. But as ever, Trouble has other ideas. K'wan made his name publishing urban crime fiction series like Animal and Hood Rat and rose to the top ranks of the genre, creating his own literary Harlem as rich as anything out of Mario Puzo or Elmore Leonard. Now, he is teaming up with Questlove to take on a whole new territory--a whole new jawn--with Troubleman, the beginning of a brand new series that brings Philadelphia to literary life in a way that's never been done before. Trouble.

WHEN THE HOWELL FAMILY MOVES INTO A HOUSE on Heckler Lane, it causes quite a stir around the small town of Sunny Cove, Pennsylvania. Elise Howell, a well-known cardio surgeon, has returned home after fifteen years to fill her recently deceased mother's position at Sunny Cove General Hospital. In a town this size, it's big news. But it's Elise's new husband, Artie, who has the whole town talking. Artie Howell is a man who always seems to be wearing a smile. He's an accomplished crime fiction writer, a soccer dad to their young son Nicky, and he volunteers his weekends teaching creative writing to youths in the local detention center. When they first arrived at Heckler Lane, the Howells had seemed like a wholesome American family. Then came the murders. A nun turning up missing from the Convent of St. Mary becomes the first in a string of unexplained tragedies that have befallen the town. Tragedies that all seem to be tied to scenes from Artie's novels. The writer now finds himself as the prime suspect in an investigation that threatens to not only tear apart his family, but the entire town of Sunny Cove.

What happens to the children that the world throws away? They become animals. Tayshawn Torres is a child born in the slums and cursed by the sins of his parents. His mother is a notorious drug addict and whore who's more concerned with getting her next high than she is with Tayshawn's well-being. His stepfather hates him so much that he literally treats him like an animal, forcing him to sleep in a cage and scavenge for scraps of food wherever he can find them. Because of his squalid appearance, he is also an object of ridicule by all of the neighborhood kids, who have given him a nickname--Animal. The only person to ever show him even the slightest bit of kindness is his older brother Justice. And when Justice is taken from his life, Tayshawn finds himself alone in the streets. His guardian angel gone, he is now at the mercy of the world his brother tried to protect him from. Tayshawn quickly learns that if he is to survive the jungle, he will have to adapt. Love and companionship constantly elude Tayshawn, but death and heartache cling to him like a second skin. Gradually, the layers of the frightened child he had once been are stripped away until there is nothing left--nothing but Animal.

After making a promise to leave the street life behind, a shocking revelation forces Animal back into the game to face his greatest opponent yet. After years of war on the streets the man known only as Animal is finally able to hang up his guns. He's paid his debt to society for the crimes he's committed, and thanks to the sacrifice made by the father he barely knew, old scores have been settled. For the first time in his life, he's able to find the peace that had eluded him for so long and settle down with his wife Gucci and their son T. J. Animal's future is looking bright--that is, until someone from his past resurfaces with a shocking revelation. When Animal's former lover, Red Sonja, shows up on his doorstep with a little girl, claiming Animal is the father, he and Gucci immediately fear it's a ploy for money. But Red Sonja has come to collect a debt of a different kind, one that can only be paid in blood. A powerful man is hunting Red Sonja and her daughter, and she calls on Animal to stop him--permanently. Animal is forced to break the promise he made to his wife upon his release from prison and once again picks up his guns. To keep his daughter and her mother safe, Animal sets out on a mission of murder, but this isn't just any man Red Sonja has sent him after, it's one of the most powerful drug dealers in the country--her father.