Book picks similar to
Slow Fire by Ken Mercer


mystery
mystery-thriller
suspense
mystery---suspense

Books Can Be Deceiving


Jenn McKinlay - 2011
    Lindsey’s friend Beth wants to sell the editor her children’s book, but Beth’s boyfriend, a famous author, gets in the way. When they go to confront him, he’s found murdered—and Beth is the prime suspect. Lindsey has to act fast—before they throw the book at the wrong person.

The Interview


Gill Perdue
    A missing man. A coded fairy tale. Detective Laura Shaw seems to have it all: a supportive husband, a happy two-year-old and a great career. She is her team's top victim interviewer, a genius at getting vulnerable people to open up.That's until she meets Jenny - a 14-year-old assault victim who talks only in fairy tales. Jenny's stepfather is missing and the blood on her clothes isn't her own, so Laura's colleagues need answers fast.But Laura's strange behaviour makes the girl shut down even more, leaving her bewildered partner, Niamh, desperately trying to rescue the situation.It seems that this case has triggered something deep within Laura, and Jenny is not the only one with secrets. As the clock ticks down, Laura teeters on the brink of disaster, grappling with the biggest question of all: Is every life worth saving?

Raven Black


Ann Cleeves - 2006
    But the next morning the body of a murdered teenage girl is discovered nearby, and suspicion falls on Magnus. Inspector Jimmy Perez enters an investigative maze that leads deeper into the past of the Shetland Islands than anyone wants to go.

Lightseekers


Femi Kayode - 2021
    Philip Taiwo is called on by a powerful Nigerian politician to investigate the public torture and murder of three university students in remote Port Harcourt, he has no idea that he’s about to be enveloped by a perilous case that is far from cold. Philip is not a detective. He’s an investigative psychologist, an academic more interested in figuring out the why of a crime than actually solving it. But when he steps off the plane and into the dizzying frenzy of the provincial airport, he soon realizes that the murder of the Okriki Three isn’t as straightforward as he thought. With the help of his loyal and streetwise personal driver, Chika, Philip must work against those actively conspiring against him to parse together the truth of what happened to these students. A thrilling and atmospheric mystery, and an unforgettable portrait of the contemporary Nigerian sociopolitical landscape, Lightseekers is a wrenching novel tackling the porousness between the first and third worlds, the enduring strength of tribalism and homeland identity, and the human need for connection in the face of isolation.

The Dragon Man


Garry Disher - 1999
    Detective Inspector Hal Challis and his team must apprehend him before he strikes again. But first, Challis has to contend with the editor of a local newspaper who undermines his investigation at every turn, and with his wife, who attempts to resurrect their marriage through long-distance phone calls from a sanitarium, where she has been committed for the past eight years for attempted murder—his.

Don't Tell Meg


Paul J. Teague - 2017
    One night. So many deaths. When radio journalist Pete Bailey betrays his wife Meg on his fortieth birthday, he has no idea of the terrible consequences that will follow his infidelity. His passionate relationship with Meg is on the rocks and they're having no luck starting a family. It's only when he meets TV reporter Ellie Turner on a working weekend away from home that Pete succumbs to her charms in a moment of weakness. His treacherous actions set off a chain of events fueled by jealousy, revenge, violence and hatred. Five people will lose their lives as a result of Pete's deception and he will be compelled to confront the ugly truth about his wife and his best friend, Jem. He thought that nobody would ever discover what he'd done with Ellie ... but he didn't know who was listening in the room next door. Don't Tell Meg is the first part of trilogy of thrillers. Book 2, The Murder Place and Book 3, The Forgotten Children are also available. Paul J. Teague has also written the standalone thriller Dead of Night (Released May 2017) Please note that this book contains mild violence, bad language and sexual references.

Murder in the South of France


Susan Kiernan-Lewis - 2011
    Along the way, she finds handsome Laurent Dernier, a sexy if nefarious Frenchman who it's not clear is there to help or hinder Maggie's search for the girl. Meanwhile, her sister's murderer sets his sights on the little girl — and Maggie.The first book of the Maggie Newberry Mystery Series, Murder in the South of France was originally titled Murder on the Côte d’Azur.

French Kiss


James Patterson - 2016
    Now watch your back. Very handsome and charming French detective Luc Moncrief joined the NYPD for a fresh start-but someone wants to make his first big case his last. Welcome to New York.

The Hiding Place: A Thriller


David Bell - 2012
    After his body was found in a shallow grave in the woods two months later, the repercussions were felt for years.Janet Manning has been haunted by the murder since the day she lost sight of her brother in the park. Now, with the twenty-fifth anniversary of Justin’s death looming, a detective and a newspaper reporter have started to ask questions, opening old wounds and raising new suspicions. Could the man convicted of the murder — who spent more than two decades in prison — really be innocent? Janet’s childhood friend and high school crush, who was in the park with her that day, has returned to Dove Point, where he is wrestling with his own conflicted memories of the events. And a strange man appears at Janet’s door in the middle of the night, claiming to know the truth.Soon, years of deceit will be swept away, and the truth about what happened to Janet’s brother will be revealed. And the answers that Janet has sought may be found much closer to home than she ever could have imagined.

Daria's Daughter


Linda Huber - 2021
    Her daughter has vanished without a trace and nobody is telling her what happened. Evie's gone. That's all. Gone. What does Daria have left to live for?A mother and daughter reunitedMargie can't believe it. Bridie is hurt. Bridie needs her. They manage to escape the smoke, the noise and the confusion. They are together, that's all that matters. Everything will be better in the morning, Margie tells Bridie. And it will.The bonds that never breakWill Daria ever be able to put the pieces of her tattered life back together after the loss of her daughter? Is it possible that things aren't quite as they seem? Can the unimaginable turn out to be the truth?

Murder On Perrys Island


J. Kevin Earp - 2017
    The boy was left a paraplegic. Marcus suffered PTSD and could no longer bring himself to carry a gun. Forced to resign the job he loved, Marcus returned to his historic family home on Perrys Island to try to put his life back together. Marcus had grown up there listening to the police chief’s stories of crime solving in the city. The chief’s stories inspired Marcus to leave the island and become the youngest detective in PD’s history. Marcus’s childhood best friend had been Jenny Gibbons, the Chief’s daughter, who was now an Ohio Wildlife Officer assigned to the island’s state park. She is determined to help Marcus face his pain and to reestablish their relationship. As they return home from an evening out, Jenny learns that the wife of an island businessman has been brutally murdered. With Chief Gibbons away for the night, a desperate Jenny turns to Marcus to use his experience to preserve the crime scene. Marcus refuses at first, unwilling to have anything to do with police work that might force him to relive recent events. Finally, he gives in to her pleas and agrees to supervise the crime scene just until the Chief can take over. Despite himself, Marcus is drawn deeper into the investigation. When a witness identifies a youth camp chaperone as the last person to be with the victim before her death, Marcus believes the man’s story of innocence. Marcus is proven correct when the elderly housekeeper who helped raise him is left for dead in his own house and the historic mansion set on fire. The attack provides a personal aspect to the case that drives him to narrow down the suspects. Marcus’s single-minded pursuit of the killer while fighting his personal demons might cost him his own life!

The Birthday Girl


Suzanne | Sue Fortin - 2017
    Who will survive?

Multiple Motives


Kassandra Lamb - 2011
    so far. Now a killer with a mysterious grudge against her and her closest friend, lawyer Rob Franklin, is threatening everyone and everything that she holds dear.When the detective assigned to their case decides they are lovers and the attacks against them and their families are veiled attempts to rid themselves of their spouses, Kate and Rob are forced to investigate on their own. Can they identify their mutual enemy, before he or she kills again?

Stolen


Rebecca Muddiman - 2013
    But what follows is a mother’s worst nightmare: Beth is gone and Abby's world collapses around her.As DI Michael Gardner begins to investigate Abby and her family, he discovers lives built on secrets and betrayals. Under pressure from his bosses to find the missing child and to unearth the truth, Gardner finds himself struggling to stay emotionally removed from the case, and from Abby herself.After the authorities finally shelve their investigation, Abby receives a message telling her where she can find her daughter. But how can she convince those around her that the girl really is Beth when they are the very people she knows least?A gripping and haunting debut, Stolen is a richly imagined psychological thriller from an exciting new talent in crime writing.

Inside Out


John Ramsey Miller - 2005
    MARSHAL DRIVEN BY GRIEF AND RAGE...A MAFIA DON WHO TRAFFICS IN HUMAN LIVES…A KILLER WITH THE MOST CHILLING PEDIGREE OF ALL...The Justice Department is hunting Sam Manelli, the godfather of one of America’s biggest crime families. Now an execution gone bad hands the government the ammunition they need. But they can’t do it without Dylan Devlin, the sociopathic hit man whose testimony will put Manelli away for good. Haunted by the crash that killed his wife and blinded his son, U.S. Marshal Winter Massey knows that safety is only an illusion. Now a man who couldn’t protect his own family has to keep a killer and his wife alive—at any cost.But when the government’s witness protection program explodes in a horrifying hail of bullets and blood, Massey knows he’s up against a killer who can go anywhere, be anyone, and strike at any time. For Massey is about to be blindsided by an adversary more lethal than the mob, more dangerous than any psychopath—and he won’t see his killer coming…until it’s too late.