Book picks similar to
The Sin by Robert Vaughan


murder-mystery
mystery
short-stories
crime-thriller

Force of Nature


Robin Mahle - 2015
    The ten year old girl from a small town in Indiana doesn’t understand why she can feel what others feel, or see what others have seen. She only knows the hurt upon looking into the eyes of her mother—the beneficiary of her father’s recent run of bad luck. A streak that has hardened his heart and often finds him drowning in the bottom of a bottle. She tries hard to be just like the other fifth graders, but life at home is hard and the pain is difficult to endure. It isn’t until the day Riley meets Carl Boyd, a Vietnam veteran, that everything changes. Visions of a terrible past, not just from war, but from a life that has stolen much from him, begins to surface in Riley’s mind. But this is far more intense and frightening than anything she has experienced before. Riley discovers her gift is quickly evolving and finds herself swimming in the memories of Carl Boyd, and experiencing a past he can’t put behind him. Even more troubling; perceiving a future of which he doesn’t yet know—a future filled with danger. All are reluctant to come to terms with Riley’s ability, especially her father. But then, he has seen this before.

Amelia's Story


C.P. Murphy - 2013
    Blackmailed for his mistakes, he isforcing his eldest daughter to marry a man she could never love. Ameliastruggles to get out of her engagement and in time learns the truth about herfather; a little too late. You'll be captivated by the characters as they cometogether to give this story human emotions. Amelia's Story is more than just ahistorical fiction; it's full of romance, betrayal, treason, murder, revenge,and healing. This is exceptional family saga and gripping brilliance; a mustread.  Fantastic read!Suspense at it's best!

Murder! Too Close To Home


J.T. Lewis - 2011
     She was there! Raising her gun toward the Sheriff, she took careful aim as a maniacal sneer formed on her lips. “You disgust me,” she snarled with unbounded rage. Throwing her head back suddenly, she let loose a loud, evil laugh, straight from the bowels of hell. “At least this way, I get to personally witness your last breath,” she grinned as she cocked her gun. “Quite the consolation prize, I assure you.” I glanced over at Frank, who nodded as he tensed himself to break through the door. Cocking my own weapon, I knew that this was the moment…capture or kill, this all ended now. “I damn you to Hell Sheriff,” she shouted then, “You should feel right at home there.” Frank burst through the door with me close behind…it was the moment that my life changed…forever! J.T. Lewis is the author of the Adventures of Gabriel Celtic series, which includes Murder! Too Close To Home, Gabriel’s Revenge, In Case of Death, and The Book of Gabriel. Watch for the release of Murmansk, coming the summer of 2015! And check out J.T. Lewis’ newest series…The Nick Behr mysteries! Being Crazy is all fun and games…until somebody dies! Includes previews of: In Case of Death and The Artifact Hunter!

The Little Pink Pill


K.L. Smith - 2014
    ....The world can be a scary place to navigate when you’re brain damaged. Even scarier when you aren't entirely sure what you might have done during a blackout while your alternate personality is running around in your body. My wife calls him ‘The other one’. If you can’t trust your own eyes or the people around you, sometimes it pays to take a leap of faith. I have, I stopped taking my little pink pill. I wonder what will happen?... Flynn was on a bus in London that was attacked by a suicide bomber. He lost his fingers in the explosion and gained left frontal lobe damage to his brain, leading to violent mood swings, blackouts, suicidal thoughts, and psychopathic tendencies. Flynn’s doctor determines that the left frontal lobe syndrome has left him with symptoms similar to schizophrenia, which develop a secondary personality during times of stress. Flynn and his wife refer to this secondary personality as ‘the other one’. However, after he is given a little pink pill by his doctor, an anti-psychotic pill normally reserved for schizophrenics, his moods level out to the point that he can function almost normally again, apart from the fact that the pink pill leaves him feeling emotionally numb. He is relatively content with his new life, after all, thanks to the pink pill, he can’t feel enough to care anyway. Until he decides to stop taking the pink pill in an effort to feel things again. He wonders if he can fool everyone around him into thinking that he is still taking the little pink pill, whilst in reality starting to live a double life. After a chance meeting with another patient during his hospital appointment, he befriends Sid, who also suffers with schizophrenia. The two embark on a sometimes humorous journey of twists and turns in an effort just to stay in what they believe to be a state of equilibrium. The only problem is, neither of them knows if what they perceive is real or not. Especially when experiments with LSD get thrown into the mix. Flynn also has a worrying eye on the news, as more and more people seem to be going missing, and he can’t be certain if he, Sid or any of their ‘other’ selves may have played a hand in it. Please note this novel contains strong language.

Forced Entry


Komrade Komura - 2014
    30 months. 8 million dollars. Under the radar, always a denominator, never a numerator. Obsessive planning, powered by a deadly combination of paranoia and greed. That's the life of a southern grower. Only light sleepers survive. The rest get free room and board at Parchment prison. A refugee from a high rise corporate plantation was in his 19th month and sailing safely toward the finish line. The kid was looking for a dry place to stay, away from the cops, away from the shit on the streets. Jackson, Mississippi is a toxic place. Been that way for a long time.

Extreme Malice


R.E. Swirsky - 2011
    Eighteen year old Josh Anderson, the college boy from next door, is charged with her murder. It was his guitar string around her neck. His footprints are found inside her house. Her earring found under his bed. Donna Gardner's husband Jack was hundreds of miles away on business. Was it the perfect Murder?

Secret Lives Super Boxset: A Collection Of Riveting Mysteries


Roger Hayden - 2017
     The Secret Letter A mysterious chain letter is only the beginning to an inescapable nightmare. Victoria Owens's life takes a sudden turn after she receives an unexpected chain letter about her upcoming high school reunion. She's quick to dismiss the letter and focus instead on her busy day, amidst a preoccupied husband and eleven year-old-daughter. But the letter is only the beginning of a series of anonymous gifts, each more bizarre than the next, which shed light on a past long forgotten. Suspicious of her newfound admirer, Victoria soon finds herself trapped in a dangerous game of vengeance and betrayal, where her survival hangs in the very balance with every move that she makes The Professor Following the mysterious disappearance of her history professor, Nicole Costello discovers that her prestigious university is home to an elite secret society with questionable moral standards. Can Nicole crack the case of her missing professor and finish her thesis paper, or will Nicole herself crack under the pressure? Death Notes The body count in Baltimore is rising, and the weight of those lives rest on Homicide Detective Adila Cooper’s shoulders. It’s only a matter of time before the killer strikes again, and the sands of the hour glass have already started sifting away.

Mercy


Richard Turner - 2016
    His unexpected arrival in Williamstown is met with a mix of anger and suspicion. With gangs of demobilized Confederate soldiers roaming the woods, Cooper is quick to realize that his job may be harder than first expected. Yet, the terror that plagues the farms and plantations around Williamstown cannot be easily explained away. Something is in the woods waiting for night to fall and the truth may be more terrifying than can be imagined.

The Witnesses


James Patterson - 2016
    Or so they think. No one will answer their questions. And the terrifying truth may come too late....BookShotsLIGHTNING-FAST STORIES BY JAMES PATTERSONNovels you can devour in a few hours. Impossible to stop reading. All original content from James Patterson.

Courage Begins: A Ray Courage Mystery Novella


R. Scott Mackey - 2015
    Until Tiffanie is killed in a suspicious accident. Neither the police nor the insurance investigators can prove she was murdered and the case turns cold. Two years later the insurance company asks an intern—former college professor turned private eye Ray Courage—to reopen the investigation. He uncovers little new evidence to support suspicions that Garrett killed his wife for the insurance money. Garrett has the perfect alibi—hundreds of witnesses that place him more than two hours from the scene of Tiffanie’s death. Ray knows he’s missing something. But what? As his search for the truth unfolds, Ray’s life is put in jeopardy and he realizes his adversary is someone who’ll kill before he’ll be caught. In this prequel to Courage Matters, Ray Courage begins his private investigation career, displaying the skills, abilities and sense of humor that have made him a fan favorite around the world.

Choice of Weapon


C. Marten-Zerf - 2013
    To others he was a soldier, forged in the flames of war. But to Manon, who needed his help, he was her ultimate Choice of Weapon.Garrett had spent most of his adult life fighting other people’s wars. Now he lives in the highlands of Scotland. Alone but not lonely. Reclusive. Hiding from the person that he had become. Eschewing the violence that was once his way of life. But then he receives a phone call from a friend who needs his help. An orphanage in South Africa is missing some of its children, suspected kidnapped, and the local corrupt police will not help. It is up to Garrett. And he is once more drawn into a world of dark and deep brutality as he tries to do what is right. Together with the guard from the children’s home and an old combat compatriot, he discovers a world of darkness and depravity that threatens to overwhelm him, forcing him to react in the only way that he knows how. The way that he swore never to follow again… because someone has to protect the children.

The Dead Never Forget


Jack Lynch - 1982
    But after a gruesome killing of someone close to Barker, the threats become a bloody promise. Barker’s violent past in Sand Valley, a bleak, California desert town, has come back to haunt him with a vengeance. So that’s where Bragg goes, walking right into the vicious, bloody war that’s raging between the town’s factions…and becoming everyone’s target.

The Card Counter


James Kipling - 2013
    A homicide detective for the city, he is also a divorced Father of three kids. And his family life and work life do not mesh together very well. Yet when popular football players of the state college team start showing up murdered, Detective Walker has to put everything else aside and figure out what is going on before someone else becomes a victim of a killer the press is referring to as ‘The Card Counter’. With each victim, the case becomes more traumatic as the killer has a point to make and doesn’t hesitate to make more people pay with their lives ... until Walker and the rest of the city understand the motive of the killer.

Mornings in Two Pan (Two Pan #1)


B.K. Froman - 2014
    For Jiggs Woolsey, the most disturbing mystery is the identity of the buried skull he digs up on his Oregon ranch. Warned not to turn it in, he seeks answers about the five generations of his family who’ve previously worked the acres. His father and the cantankerous old-timers of the fizzled-out community of Two Pan will teach him the hard way that they’re not ready to give up their secrets yet.

The Hammer Of Israel (A Jacob Mitzak Novella)


Jordan Vezina - 2018
    Years later in nineteen-fifties New York City Jacob will become the only man standing in the way of the rise of a Fourth Reich on American soil. The Hammer of Israel is about to hit the Big Apple. Get to know Jacob Mitzak and then follow him through the Will Hessler series as Will's future Mossad training officer! This book is a novella at 25k words. Please note that this is light alternative history. While a great deal of research was put into the relevant details, some creative license has been taken with certain historical events.