Polterheist

by Laura Resnick

Published 1 November 2012
In the days leading up to Christmas, struggling actress Esther Diamond is working as a singing-and-dancing elf at Fenster & Co, a major Manhattan department store. As if dealing with hordes of holiday shoppers isn't bad enough, Esther's ex-almost-boyfriend, Detective Connor Lopez, is on the scene investigating a series of mob-related truck hijackings of Fenster's merchandise. Semi-retired hitman Lucky Battistuzzi is also nosing around, since the mob resents being implicated in thefts they didn't commit. But when supernatural mishaps occur, Esther realizes this is more than the usual holiday insanity—it's time to call in her friend Max, Manhattan's resident mage.

Esther and Max discover that Fenster's has become the staging ground for the rebirth of an ancient demon that's plotting to escape its mystical prison on the winter solstice. As dimensional barriers crumble, can Esther rescue her fellow elves, save her city from demonic disaster, and collect her paycheck in time to make rent?

Polterheist is the thrilling fifth installment of the Esther Diamond series.

The Misfortune Cookie

by Laura Resnick

Published 5 November 2013
Esther Diamond's year gets off to a rocky start when NYPD's Detective Connor Lopez, who slept with her and then didn't call, shuts down the Little Italy restaurant where Esther works between acting jobs and gets her arrested. Once she's out of handcuffs, Esther takes a small role in a grad student's film project in Chinatown—where her friend, semi-retired hit man Lucky Battistuzzi, is hiding out in a Chinese-Italian mortuary.

Esther and Lucky soon realize that something strange is going on in Chinatown, where mysterious gourmet fortune cookies are inflicting deadly mystical curses on the hapless victims who receive them as gifts—and before long, Esther learns that Detective Lopez is one of the recipients. As preparations heat up for the Chinese New Year, when the icy streets will be filled with costumed lion dancers, firecrackers, and dense crowds, Esther and Lucky summon the help of their friend Max, a semi-immortal mage, to help them save Chinatown and Lopez—though he doesn't deserve it—from the menace of a maniacal murderer.

The Misfortune Cookie is the sixth installment of the acclaimed Esther Diamond series.

Disappearing Nightly

by Laura Resnick

Published 29 November 2005
Esther Diamond, a struggling actress in New York, seems destined to attract supernatural mayhem.

When bizarre magical disappearances disrupt shows around the city, Esther receives a mysterious warning not to go on with her off-Broadway show. Desperate to stay on stage rather than resort to waiting tables, Esther turns to her new BFF, Dr. Maximillian Zadok, a 350-year-old mage whose day job is protecting New York from Evil. Determined to get to the bottom of this mystery without losing her job, Esther and Max team up with a conjuring cowboy, a banker with stage aspirations, and a flock of fearless drag queens. Also on the case is Detective Connor Lopez, a sexy cop who has a thing for Esther, but who fears that she and Max may be a bigger problem than the vanishing performers.

Since the show must go on—and the astronomical rent must be paid—Esther, Max, and their friends pursue Evil to its lair in their fearless determination to find the missing performers and restore harmony to the city that never sleeps. Disappearing Nightly is the thrilling first novel of the Esther Diamond series.