M.J. Riley presents

THE
BUTCHERS
MARKET

A dark romance series

Power. Obsession. The love that costs everything.

Enter the Series

The Butchers Market Series

Crown of Thorns cover

Book One

Crown of Thorns

One night, she ran — away from the man who'd spent three years teaching her what she was worth.

Matthew Donahue was supposed to be her mother's employer. Someone else's problem.

He is a Senate candidate. A billionaire. The head of a criminal syndicate that leaves bodies where it finds them. For years, he has watched her, tracked her, kept his distance while she built a life that kept falling apart.

She knows what he is. She chooses him anyway.

God help them both.

  • Explicit sexual content
  • Domestic abuse
  • Graphic violence & gore
  • Murder
  • Organised crime violence
  • Surveillance / stalking
  • Morally complex relationships
Scorn of Flesh cover

Book Two

Scorn of Flesh

He lost someone to the flesh trade. So did she.

That's where the similarity ends — and where everything begins.

Scott Bever is not a good man. He is brutal, cunning, and dangerous in ways Christina Park is only beginning to understand. But he is the only person who shares in her thirst for vengeance. The only person hunting the same monster.

What they build between them — trust, friendship, and the chemistry — is the most dangerous thing either of them has ever risked.

Because the truth about Catherine Park will surface. And when it does, it will not just destroy the man responsible. It will destroy them.

  • Explicit sexual content
  • Rape / sexual assault
  • Domestic abuse
  • Graphic violence & gore
  • Murder
  • Organised crime violence
  • Surveillance / stalking
  • Human trafficking / flesh trade
  • Infidelity
  • Death of a loved one / grief
Wrath of Love cover

Book Three

Wrath of Love

He owns the nightclub. She walked into it. Neither of them planned what happened next.

Ethan Hayse has one rule: no love. He watched it destroy people he cared about and decided the math doesn't work. Nina Castillo has the same rule for different reasons — her mother is proof enough.

They are both wrong.

What they build on his territory — slowly, stubbornly, against every decision they've ever made — is the most inconvenient thing either of them has ever survived.

Love hurts. They knew that going in. What they didn't know is that walking away would hurt more.

  • Explicit sexual content
  • For readers 18+ only

M.J. Riley

Author of The Butchers Market series

M.J. Riley lives in a quiet town in rural Texas — computer wiz by night, author by day. She creates music, builds worlds, and writes the kind of stories where the villains feel right at home.

The Butchers Market is her debut series. Crown of Thorns releases July 1, 2026. Scorn of Flesh follows January 1, 2027. Wrath of Love arrives May 1, 2027.