A Mother's Song: A Story of the Orphan Train


Cleo A. Lampos - 2013
    Pregnant with their third child, Deirdre works as a washerwoman at the hotel's laundry. If Sean works at all, he drinks his paycheck at the pub. When he is killed in an accident at work, Deirdre is devastated. She gives birth to another son, but cannot work at the laundry. The oldest son lives on the street as a newsie. Rather than let Ava Rose and her baby brother starve to death with her, she signs for them to be put on an orphan train. This orphan train takes these youngsters to Nebraska to Claudine, who has suffered multiple miscarriages. Will the adoption provide the safety and opportunity that Deirdre hopes? This researched story of two mothers and the child who loves both is heart wrenching.It is a poignant tale of hope and courage against unfathomable odds for a better life free from prejudice and poverty.

A Howl In The Night


Jerry Brandon - 2011
    When a woman is murdered on his street, this Black Labrador suddenly faces the loss of everything he's struggled a lifetime to gain. Taser must find the killer or return to the harsh world of the county dog pound. He's aided by his buddy, Meatloaf, and a colorful pack of neighborhood dogs. They struggle with their limited human vocabulary and a fractured knowledge of the world. Other obstacles include new alpha dog rivals, old deadly enemies, and a menacing coyote population from the adjacent Arizona desert. In the end, Taser must decide how much he can risk to save his world.This is a fun mystery narrated by the dogs, written for adults with a humorous tone and a love of animals and their quirks.

Twelve Miles From Rome: A Lucius Marius Nola Mystery


Steven J. Kears - 2015
    Lucius Marius Nola, a retired veteran of the Roman Army, inherits a farm in the Alban Hills on the outskirts of Rome. Nola is looking forward to a new life in the countryside, living off the land, and more importantly, escaping his violent and disturbingly troubled past. However, no sooner has Nola begun to enjoy life once again when, against his will, a strange turn of events draws him into a web of murder and intrigue. 'Twelve Miles From Rome' is the first of a thrilling series of ancient world mysteries featuring Lucius Marius Nola.

The Blood Banker


David Prever - 2012
    And something about the tube death doesn’t add up… When a second banker takes his life, then a third, he’s certain of wrongdoing.In a race to reveal the truth, Lightfoot uncovers a laundered money trail that leads, via Hong Kong and the world’s largest online criminal cartel, to the heart of British government: Number Ten Downing Street – and a man who will stop at nothing to achieve the power he craves.But with a hired killer watching his every move, can Lightfoot banish his demons and face down the evil that threatens his life?

A Cape May Diamond


Larry Enright - 2012
    I’ll never forget that day. The Vietnam War had ended with the fall of Saigon that April, and the world was mired in one of its worst recessions ever. Unemployment in the United States was nearly nine percent, inflation even higher, and leadership lacking. The Watergate scandal had cast a smear across American politics, resulting in Richard Nixon’s resignation in August 1974 to avoid impeachment, and his successor’s immediately pardoning him to close the book on an unhappy chapter in U.S. history.It was not a good time for anyone and a particularly hard time for the old Victorian town of Cape May. The crown jewel of the New Jersey shore had fallen into neglect and disrepair and was dying a slow death. Once the elegant summer home to presidents and kings, it had become the last refuge of the deposed.That’s where I met Tom Ryan. Tom was a king, or so he would have you believe, but unlike Richard Nixon, when Tom was dethroned, he wasn’t sent home with a slap on the wrist. He was sent to prison. He was a convicted draft dodger, but one of the lucky ones released early by President Ford as part of his mass clemency after Nixon’s pardon. The problem was, Tom had nowhere to go when he got out, so he took the money his dad mailed to him and spent it on a bus ticket to get as far away as possible to a place where nobody cared who he was or what he had done, a place where nobody cared about anything. That place was Cape May.As hard a time as it was for everyone, it was harder for me because that was the day I met Tom Ryan. I should have turned and walked away. I knew it when he first looked at me, but I didn’t, not my first mistake, but one that would make Monday, May 19th, 1975 the hardest day of my life. This is the story of how Tom Ryan and I met and how things never quite work out the way you think. You might find a love story in here somewhere. You might not. You might find a message hidden in one of the nickel pop bottles collected by the beachcombers from some of the most beautiful white sand beaches in the world. You might even find a little mystery, but life is a mystery, isn’t it?

The Millstone Prophecy


Jack Harney - 2011
    Lieutenant, Dax McGowan, attempts to track down and kill the pedophile priest who caused his daughter to commit suicide. A city-wide investigation soon turns into an international manhunt taking him to the gates of the Vatican and beyond with startling results. An intransigent hierarchy, a wimpish legal community's response, and his own conscience thwart the detective's efforts as his own life becomes imperiled in the process. Short chapters, fast action make for a hard to put down read.

The Reluctant Detective


Sinclair MacLeod - 2010
    He doesn't believe he can help but reluctantly agrees to investigate. Before long he is plunged into a world of corruption, deceit and greed. His journey takes him from the underbelly of Glaswegian society to the rural idyll of a millionaire's mansion. Along the way, a death close to home ensures that he has a personal reason to face the dangers and bring the murderer to justice.

The Casebook of Inspector Blackstone


Sally Spencer - 2017
    Yet to Inspector Sam Blackstone, the case is as puzzling as any he has ever come across. As his investigation proceeds, Blackstone finds himself entering the world of the aristocracy and tramping the dangerous streets of London's Little Russia, where English law and order are not welcome. So begins the illustrious career of the talented inspector, who earns the equal ire and respect of his superiors for his controversial tactics. Absorbing in their detailed depictions of the period, gripping in their ingenious plots, this trilogy of historical whodunnits is the perfect box set for any mystery-lover. Praise for Sally Spencer 'Spencer's finest hour: a tightly plotted puzzler with surprises at every turn' – Kirkus Reviews 'Spencer is an accomplished craftsman who serves up a good puzzle and deftly solves it with intelligence and insight' – Publishers Weekly Sally Spencer worked as a teacher both in England and Iran - where she witnessed the fall of the Shah. She now writes full time.

The Lawmen


Robert Broomall - 1993
    Down-on-his-luck Clay Chandler takes the marshal’s job out of desperation. Clay has barely settled into the job when Vance Hopkins drunkenly guns down a black man. Clay arrests Vance for murder, but Wes Hopkins and his gang run Topaz, and they demand that Vance be released -- or else. Clay has given his word to uphold the law, though, and he’ll do that even if it means losing his life. No one else in Topaz thinks a dead black man is worth taking on the Hopkins gang -- no one but a former slave named Essex Johnson, who was the murdered man’s friend. Ex-Confederate Clay and Essex can’t stand each other, but Clay reluctantly swears Essex in as his deputy. The two of them are aided by a prostitute named Julie, who had her face carved up by the Hopkins gang. Wes Hopkins gives Clay a deadline to release Vance, or the gang is going to come and take him. The question is, will the Hopkins gang kill Clay and Essex, or will they kill each other first?

Fishermen's Court


Andrew Wolfendon - 2019
    So why would a team of killers want to murder him and frame it as a suicide? Finn survives the encounter to discover the killers have left behind a “suicide note” detailing a dark incident from Finn’s past no one could possibly know about.Finn escapes to Musqasset Island, his former home, to seek refuge with an old friend, but soon realizes he has trapped himself on the small island with the very people who want him dead—and with old debts that need to be paid. His only hope for survival, and redemption, is to figure out who’s trying to kill him and why they’ve waited eighteen years to act—no easy task in a raging nor’easter, where communications are shaky and relationships (and Finn’s mental state) are even shakier.

Precious Things: Some things are worth killing for.


Marie Reyes - 2021
    

Muleshoe (Mike Bishop #1)


Jess Butcher - 2011
    When Mike Bishop arrives in Muleshoe seeking a legendary cache of rare gold coins, he enlists the aid of local Sheriff Laura Moss. The Sheriff cautiously joins Bishop’s search and together they discover a link between the gold and an unexplained series of grisly murders spanning more than a century. But others are racing to recover the treasure as well. The line between good and evil blurs as Bishop and Laura struggle to survive a murderous local legend … a legend that promises to turn the Kansas prairie black with blood.

An Unlamented Death


William Savage - 2015
    Adam Bascom trips over a body in Gressington churchyard, he never imagines it will change the whole direction of his life. As a recently-qualified physician trying to establish a practice in a small market town in north Norfolk, Adam should be devoting all his energy to his business. But it soon becomes clear that the authorities are intent on making sure the death is accepted as an accident and refuse any deeper investigation. Adam’s curiosity and sense of justice cannot accept this. He knows there are many unanswered questions about the death, but he has no standing that would allow him to become involved formally. Instead, he uses friends, old and new, unexpected contacts and even his own mother to help him get to the truth. Set against the turbulence of late-Georgian England, a country on the brink of war with Revolutionary France, the book reveals a land where spies keep constant watch on everyone the government deems ‘undesirable’, religion is polarised between the established church and a mass of dissenting sects, and the perennial ‘Irish question’ has at last spilled over into outright terrorism. Bad weather, poor harvests and enclosure have driven many people in the countryside into abject poverty. Only the smugglers along the coast offer regular and highly-paid ‘work’ helping to unload contraband. Yet here too, the Revenue’s Riding Officers, backed up by troops of dragoons, are waging an increasingly successful campaign to stamp out the major gangs. Adam must thread his way through all of this, encountering many new demands along the way, from a family torn apart by religious bigotry, and a teenage thief turned informer, to a secret section of The Alien Office, a government department dedicated to keeping a close eye on anyone likely to prove a threat to the realm. As he becomes more and more essential to the government’s efforts to combat internal dissension and prepare for war, Adam finds he must draw on all his medical and personal skills to bring the case to a successful conclusion.

The Sword Master


I.J. Parker - 2012
    Even the selfless physician who saves him cannot soften the boy's hardened spirit. Angry with the world and desiring vengeance against those who caused his parents' suicides, Hachiro feels rejection almost everywhere and reacts in kind. This anger he forges into an amazing skill with a sword. He becomes the most famous swordsman in the city. Many deaths are due to Hachiro’s reputation, until he seeks solitude and redemption by leaving the capital.The love of women proves even less kind than the cut of a sword. His obsession with a forbidden passion forces Hachiro to join the war between two powerful clans where he finds another dangerous woman and treachery.When at last he returns home, he finds Kyoto in ruin and his beloved master dead. In the midst of the tragedy of this ravaged city, he discovers his redemption, something he had given up hoping for. But first he must face the danger of losing all when a secret enemy sets his trap.

The Bluebeard Club: A 1920's Historical Murder Mystery (Lord Kit Aston Book 6)


Jack Murray - 2021