Now On Sale: Cross Fire

New World, Same Emma Jameson: Inside the Mystery at the Heart of Cross Fire

The bestselling mystery author talks telekinetics, dogmen, Victorian tragedy, and the characters she has been carrying around for nearly twenty-five years.

By Kendall Robinson | Plot Twist

August 3, 2026

Emma Jameson has spent years leading readers through British villages where old grudges, family secrets, and suspiciously timed deaths lurk behind respectable front doors.

Her latest book takes a sharp turn toward private islands, psychic warfare, reincarnated rebels, and monsters from another reality. In other words, the body count may still be rising, but the suspects now have telepathy.

Cross Fire, the first book in Jameson’s five-volume Eisarium Files series, introduces Hayden Cross, a successful New York fashion designer whose mind cannot be read and whose telekinesis could make her either a formidable weapon or a very valuable prisoner.

The series has been described as “The X-Files meets the X-Men,” which naturally caught our attention at Plot Twist. We may specialize in mysteries, but our definition of mystery has always been broad enough to include psychic conspiracies, paranormal television, superhero movies, cryptids, and anything else that leaves us arguing about the explanation after the credits roll.

We spoke with Jameson about changing genres without abandoning the elements her readers love, creating a heroine who prefers an island population of one, and finally introducing characters who have occupied her imagination for nearly a quarter of a century.

Kendall Robinson: Your readers know you for British mysteries, memorable characters, and settings where even the charming cottages seem capable of withholding evidence. What inspired you to take them into the hidden psychic world of the Eisarium with Cross Fire?

Emma Jameson: The new series has British settings and memorable characters in abundance. It is packed with people I’ve been obsessed with since I created them almost twenty-five years ago. And while this book features Americans as well as Brits, and much of it takes place in America, book two will be set entirely in England.

The series’ overarching reincarnation story is also in my wheelhouse. Cross Fire introduces characters who lived and died tragically in Victorian London. This book includes a couple of brief flashbacks, really just a taste of their past lives, because Cross Fire is all about getting to know Hayden, Kirk, and the rest of the gang as they are today. In the second book, the reader will occasionally plunge into Victorian England to see how different the Eisarium used to be, and to witness the events that produced our modern heroes.

Robinson: Hayden Cross is a powerful telekinetic whose mind cannot be read. She has also arranged her life so that the population of her private island is, very efficiently, Hayden Cross. What makes her such a compelling heroine, and what does she risk when other people begin breaking through those defenses?

Jameson: Hayden is very much her own person, and I don’t know where she came from. She’s street smart with a tough exterior and a softer center she does her best to hide. When the reader meets her on page one, she’s living on a private island in the middle of Lake Erie. Her life revolves around control—of her power, her career, and her emotions. Then cryptids called dogmen show up at her door (click here to see them; they’re terrifying), and Hayden finds herself fighting for her life. Luckily for her, Eisarium hunters arrive, led by Kirk Lawson. He’s kind, aboveboard, honorable, and brave—everything she’s never believed in. When circumstances force them to go on the run, those qualities slowly inspire a fierce loyalty she’s never felt before. Not in this life, anyway.

Hayden is a bit different from my previous heroines because of her love-’em-and-leave-’em attitude. She dates women but never gets too close, disappearing the moment things threaten to turn serious. If you ask her, she’ll say she’s married to her fashion career and has never loved anything else. But the shadow of 1870 looms over her, and as the series progresses, she’ll discover emotions far stronger and more dangerous than even her telekinesis.

Robinson: Readers have described The Eisarium Files as “The X-Files meets the X-Men,” which is an extremely effective way to lure both mystery fans and those of us who have spent too much time debating paranormal television. What can readers expect from Cross Fire in terms of psychic abilities, creatures, secret history, and emotional stakes?

Jameson: As far as the first three things go, it will run the gamut. Telepathy, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, retrocognition, and healing. Dogmen are the cryptids featured in this book, but there’s also a discarnate entity behind the scenes. The secret history in my head is tremendously detailed, but I worked really hard not to get bogged down in over-explaining things. I gave the reader exactly enough Eisarium backstory for this book, and will parcel out more lore as the story progresses.

As for emotional stakes: that’s where the book really shines. Hayden starts on page one as a closed-off, damaged person who doesn’t need anyone and believes she’s absolutely fine. As she gets to know Kirk and the other protagonists, she begins to genuinely care for them. And in trying to keep them safe, she experiences both the joy of victory and the gut-wrenching pain of failure. I’m proud of her emotional journey, and I look forward to hearing from my readers about it.

Cross Fire is the first book in Emma Jameson’s five-volume Eisarium Files series. It blends mystery, urban fantasy, psychic powers, cryptids, secret societies, reincarnation, and found family—along with the useful reminder that when dogmen appear at your front door, the evening has probably taken a turn.