Book picks similar to
Her Guilty Secret by Emily Maine Cavanagh


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fiction
mystery
thriller-and-mystery

I Could Be You


Sheila Bugler - 2020
    But whose life is it? On a stifling hot day, former journalist Dee Doran finds the crumpled body of her friend at the roadside. Katie and her little boy, Jake, have been a light in Dee’s otherwise desolate life – now a woman is dead and a child is missing. Katie has been keeping secrets for a long time. Years earlier, she fell for the wrong person. But he was in love with someone else; who he couldn’t have but couldn’t keep away from. When jealousy and desire spilled over into murder Katie hid the truth, and has been pretending ever since.As Dee assists the police with their enquiries she’s compelled to investigate too. She realises Katie wasn’t who she claimed to be. Lies are catching up. Stories are unravelling. Revenge is demanded and someone must pay the price. The question is: who? Don’t miss this explosive crime thriller perfect for fans for Alex Marwood and Fiona Barton.

For the Best


Vanessa Lillie - 2020
    After struggling for years to build the perfect family and career, she’s dangerously close to losing everything.Sure of her innocence, Jules is desperate to clear her name. But there’s one big problem: she was blackout drunk when the murder took place and can’t remember what happened.Unsatisfied with the police’s handling of the case, Jules embarks on her own gin-fueled murder investigation. As she uncovers fresh clues, she starts a true-crime vlog that becomes a viral sensation, pushing her into the public eye. It’s not long before the ordeal forces Jules to confront her demons, including her turbulent childhood and excessive drinking.The deeper Jules digs, the more dirt she uncovers about the murder and herself. Unexpected truths pile up until she’s buried so deep even finding the killer might not be enough to set her free.

Dead Air


Michael Bradley - 2020
    Until now. Crowned the top-rated radio DJ in Philadelphia, she is finally ready to settle down with her fiancé and new friends who know nothing about her past. When a sudden flood of anonymous letters threatens her seemingly charmed life, she realizes that someone out there knows. But who? As the threatening letters escalate, Kaitlyn’s life spirals toward a reunion in the one place she’d hoped to never visit again: The Shallows. Isn’t her secret buried with the dead?From the Philadelphia skyline to the rural suburbs of New Jersey, Dead Air weaves a suspenseful tale of past misdeeds and present malice as Kaitlyn plays a deadly game of cat and mouse with a mysterious killer who will stop at nothing to get revenge.

Phantom Instinct


Meg Gardiner - 2014
    When shots ring out in a crowded L.A. club, bartender Harper Flynn watches helplessly as her boyfriend, Drew, is gunned down in the cross fire. Then somebody throws a Molotov cocktail, and the club is quickly engulfed in flames. L.A. Sheriff Deputy Aiden Garrison sees a gunman in a hoodie and gas mask taking aim at Harper, but before he can help her a wall collapses, bringing the building down and badly injuring him. A year later, Harper is trying to rebuild her life. She has quit her job and gone back to college. Meanwhile, the investigation into the shoot-out has been closed. The two gunmen were killed when the building collapsed. Certain that a third gunman escaped and is targeting the survivors, Harper enlists the help of Aiden Garrison, the only person willing to listen. But the traumatic brain injury he suffered has cut his career short and left him with Fregoli syndrome, a rare type of face blindness that causes the delusion that random people are actually a single person changing disguises. As Harper and Aiden delve into the case, Harper realizes that her presence during the attack was no coincidence—and that her only ally is unstable, mistrustful of her, and seeing the same enemy everywhere he looks.

The Hidden Wife


Amanda Reynolds - 2019
    They were celebrating their anniversary at their stunning country estate. So why did Julia Blake walk out of her perfect life, apparently leaving no trace?Seren, a junior reporter for the local paper, can't believe her luck when she lands an exclusive with Julia's husband, Max. But as Seren spends more time at the couple's remote mansion, probing ever deeper into the case, dark questions await.What was Julia really like, behind closed doors? Was her marriage to this brooding, secretive man as perfect as it seemed? And did she really mean to disappear that night - or was she murdered?

The Perfect Sister


Zoë Miller - 2020
    But, though they barely speak these days, Alice knows her sister is hiding something.When she hears that discovery at a soon-to-be-demolished apartment building has led police to re-open an 'accidental death' case, Alice thinks nothing of it. Until someone knocks at her door, with questions about Holly...Alice doesn't believe her sister is capable of involvement in anything so sinister. But when she tries to contact Holly, she can't be reached...Forced to dig through the past in order to uncover the truth, Alice also starts to uncover years of Holly's secrets - and to doubt her innocence. And as the evidence mounts up, she has a choice to make: does she want to help her sister clear her name, even if Alice will end up paying the price?

Forget My Name


J.S. Monroe - 2018
    There are strangers in your house.Then you realise. You can't remember your name.She arrived at the train station after a difficult week at work. Her bag had been stolen, and with it, her identity. Her whole life was in there – passport, wallet, house key. When she tried to report the theft, she couldn’t remember her own name. All she knew was her own address.Now she's outside Tony and Laura's front door. She says she lives in their home. They say they have never met her before. One of them is lying.

What I Never Told You


Dawn Goodwin - 2021
    Diana is smart, beautiful, feisty and clearly out to cause trouble.Then an old photograph resurfaces that threatens to uncover a long-buried secret, one that Helen has taken great care to keep hidden in the past. Only one person could have that photograph – and she is dead.Helen immediately suspects that Diana is connected somehow, but before she can confront her, Diana is found dead and the entire family has motive.An addictive, page-turning thriller perfect for Lisa Jewell, BA Paris and Louise Candlish.

Trust No One


Debra Webb - 2020
    She’s locked in a bitter struggle with her ex-husband and teenage daughter, and her reckless new partner is anything but trustworthy.Still, she has a job to do: there’s a killer at large, and a pregnant woman has gone missing. Once Devlin and her partner get to work, they quickly unearth secrets involving Birmingham’s most esteemed citizens. Each new layer of the investigation brings Devlin closer to the killer and the missing woman, who starts looking more like a suspect than a victim.But just as answers come into view, the case twists, expands, and slithers into Devlin’s personal life. There’s a much more sinister game at work, one she doesn’t even know she’s playing—and she must unravel the truth once and for all to stop the killer before she loses everything.

Dead Girls Can't Lie


Carys Jones - 2017
    Kelly had everything to live for – a loving boyfriend, a happy life, and most importantly of all, Kelly would never leave North all by herself.The girls have been friends since childhood, devoted to each other, soul sisters, or at least that's what North has always believed. But did Kelly feel the same way, or was she keeping secrets from her 'best friend' – deadly secrets...When the police refuse to take North's suspicions seriously, she sets out to investigate for herself. But her search soon takes her to a glamorous world with a seedy underbelly, and before long North is out of her depth and getting ever closer to danger. Determined to find the truth, she soon wishes that dead girls could lie, because the truth is too painful to believe...

Survival Instincts


Jen Waite - 2020
    FOURTEEN YEARS BEFORE THE CABIN: Twenty-something Anne meets the man of her dreams right out of college, but after they get married, Anne notices that her husband begins acting differently. Why is Ethan suddenly so moody? And will their marriage endure? A WEEK BEFORE THE CABIN: Ten years later, Anne and her twelve-year-old daughter, Thea, are safely living in Vermont. Anne is a successful therapist, Thea has friends at her new school, and they receive an endless stream of love, support, and baked goods from Anne's sweet mom, Rose. When Thea takes to brooding and showing classic signs of teen angst, a trip for the three women to the White Mountains of New Hampshire seems like the perfect chance to bond. THE CABIN: A man follows the three women on a hike at a nature reserve and drags them at gunpoint to an abandoned cabin in the woods. And just like that their peaceful weekend away turns into a fight for survival. It isn't clear what this man wants from these women or how he is connected to them if at all, but it is increasingly clear that they won't all get out of the cabin alive. SURVIVAL INSTINCTS is a captivating and terrifying novel that brings to life one of the scariest truths of all--that people's inner monsters come in various forms, some more recognizable than others, and that we are all one random encounter away from tragedy.

June


Miranda Beverly-Whittemore - 2016
    Jude, Ohio, mourning the loss of the woman who raised her—her grandmother, June. But a knock on the door forces her out of isolation. Cassie has been named the sole heir to legendary matinee idol Jack Montgomery's vast fortune. How did Jack Montgomery know her name? Could he have crossed paths with her grandmother all those years ago? What other shocking secrets could June’s once-stately mansion hold?Soon Jack’s famous daughters come knocking, determined to wrestle Cassie away from the inheritance they feel is their due. Together, they all come to discover the true reasons for June’s silence about that long-ago summer, when Hollywood came to town, and June and Jack’s lives were forever altered by murder, blackmail, and betrayal. As this page-turner shifts deftly between the past and present, Cassie and her guests will be forced to reexamine their legacies, their definition of family, and what it truly means to love someone, steadfastly, across the ages.

One Night at the Lake


Bethany Chase - 2019
    But the truth isn't as simple as it appears in this intricate novel of love, friendship, betrayal, and forgiveness in the tradition of Miranda Beverly-Whittemore's Bittersweet.Leah Tessaro has been waiting for this moment for a long time: Her boyfriend, Ollie, is taking her to his family's home on Seneca Lake for a week of lazy summer bliss, boating, and barbeque. The couple has been together for four years, and Leah is convinced that Ollie is finally going to pop the question. And Leah can't wait to share the joyous news with her best friend, June Kang, who is joining them on their getaway, and whose presence will make everything feel more real.Seven years later, the moment June has been dreading has finally arrived: Her fianc�, Ollie, is taking her to his family's lake house. But this is not an ordinary visit to an ordinary place; it is a house haunted by June's long-buried memories of her lost friend, Leah--and the connection that appears to remain between Leah and the man for whom June's love is as deep as her sense of foreboding.Alternating between the two women's vibrant voices, One Night at the Lake is a gripping novel that explores a complex tangle of friendship, loyalty, and betrayal, all driving toward one question: What exactly happened to Leah on that hot summer night?

The Dead Summer


Helen Moorhouse - 2011
    Living in a tranquil cottage in the heat of a perfect summer, it seems that all her wishes have come true.Until the noises start.Plagued by mysterious footsteps, scratchings, and crying in the night, Martha is at first unnerved and then terrified. What is happening to her idyllic existence? Is it all her imagination or is someone persecuting her?Little does Martha know but the cottage has witnessed terrible hatred, fear and pain in the past, when two young Irish sisters lived in it. The fate of these girls and the baby born there now casts a dark shadow over Martha and her daughter.Martha begins to unravel the story of the cottage's past, and uncover the terrifying secret that still haunts it. But can she discover the truth in time to keep herself and her little girl safe from the evil that threatens them?

When You're Smiling


G.S. Rhodes - 2021
    No one has heard from him. He’s disconnected from his friends, from his family, and from the job he dedicated his life to—the job that cost him everything.Then a new, all too familiar murder occurs on his patch and Kidd has no choice but to throw himself back into the fold. A young woman has been found with a smile cut into her throat, eyes carved into her cheeks, the brutal signature of The Grinning Murders—one of the most ruthless serial killers the country has ever seen. A killer who lies behind bars.However things are not as they seem and not everything adds up. Only one thing is clear: Kidd may be the only one who can figure this out before this copycat killer strikes again.