Book picks similar to
The Mad Hatter's Son by Helen Starbuck


mystery
detective-and-thriller
contemporary
book-club

Love for Sail


C.L.R. Dougherty - 2014
    Experience her anxiety; feel her fear. Watch her survive by her wits. Connie has recruited her friend, Paul Russo, to serve as cook and first mate. Paul can't join her on her maiden voyage, so Connie is forced to rely on pick-up crew for her first two weeks at sea. Trouble erupts aboard Diamantista as soon as she leaves shore. Anticipating that Paul will join her in the Virgin Islands before their first guests arrive, Connie stays in touch with him during her voyage. As they converse, neither one will acknowledge that their growing attraction is deeper than friendship. Love for Sail is the first book in the Connie Barrera Thrillers, a romantic thriller series from the author of the best-selling Bluewater Thrillers. The next Connie Barrera Thriller will be published in the fourth quarter of 2014. If you enjoyed the Bluewater Thrillers, you'll see a different side of some of your favorite characters when they appear in the Connie Barrera Thrillers. Connie Barrera first appeared in C.L.R. Dougherty's Deception in Savannah. She discovered her Love for Sail in Bluewater Ice and Bluewater Betrayal. Now she has her own stories to tell. Welcome aboard!

Deadly Homecoming at Rosemont


Connie Chappell - 2018
    That expectation dies when she and Clay find Trey Rosemont murdered on the foyer floor. Across town, police officers race to Eastwood University. Priceless Egyptian artifacts were stolen from the history department safe. Wrenn's longtime love, Eastwood professor Gideon Douglas, heads the department. Only recovery of the artifacts will save his career. Life in Havens, Ohio, doesn't stop for this crime spree. Wrenn works for Mayor K.C. Tallmadge. He wishes Wrenn would stop searching down clues ahead of the police and pacify temperamental playwright Barton Reed. Barton's play is just days away from opening in the town's historic Baxter Theater. Amid murder, theft, or curtain calls, Wrenn's instincts prove sharp. But it's her stubborn one-woman approach that places her directly in the killer's path.

Saabrina


Seth A. Cohen - 2015
    WHAT IF YOU'RE A SENTIENT SPACECRAFT who wants to be more than an intelligent weapon to implement government policy? Do you partner with another by-the-book sentinel like the one you just lost to your enemies or gamble on someone different, even if they are a middle-aged dad from a primitive world called Earth? And can you learn to work with him before your enemies kill billions? In Saabrina, book one of the Saabrina series, Saabrina, a small sentient spacecraft called a Saab (not the car from Sweden, but she can become one to blend in on Earth and anywhere else you’re expected to keep four wheels on the ground), gets a new partner, Bob Foxen, and maybe a start to something more.

The Guard


N.L. Westaway - 2020
    Thumbing back through the pages again, slower this time, I found it. It was about an inch thickness in… Mom’s handwriting… pages of it.When a woman linked to the supernatural, discovers her adoptive mother’s journal holds a cryptic mystery, she and her closest friends race to uncover a secret matriarchal society safeguarded by mystical unseen forces. What if Cancer wasn’t just an illness or evil sickness that took our loved ones? What if it’s something bigger—a sacrifice or choice to keep humanity safe—to keep the balance?Ottawa, the capital of Canada, is considered the 3rd cleanest city in the world and rated the 2nd highest quality of living of any big city in the Americas, but unless you’re Canadian you probably wouldn’t know any of that stuff. And it’s all very nice and well, but boring as hell.... That’s what four unsuspecting girlfriends thought, until their good friend Lynn Westlake came home to visit, and they found themselves in the biggest mystery and adventure of their normal boring lives.The Guard is the first book in the N. L. Westaway urban fantasy/paranormal mystery trilogy. If you appreciate brilliant urban fantasy or paranormal mysteries involving everyday people, you’ll love this entertaining three-part trilogy. Note; it is recommended that you read the books in order as the mystery is in three parts, and not individual stories per book.

Monte Rio


Mark Joseph - 2018
    The Pirates rely on high-tech electronics, vintage technology, and old-fashioned nerve — just for fun, because they can.And when they are co-opted by the FBI to help improve security at the Grove, they stumble across a cell of genuine terrorists in the most unlikely of places. As the suspense builds, the Pirates' true mettle is put to the test.

Night of the Coyote (The Coyote Saga, #1)


Ron Schwab - 2015
    It’s now 1875, however, and there has been peace in this part of Wyoming for several years, and Ethan has settled down in the small town of Lockwood. No longer working in stealth, he is the town’s lone lawyer. When two young Sioux are lynched by a makeshift posse for a crime they may or may not have committed, Ethan knows he must act quickly to prevent a bloody retaliation from their Sioux tribe. Can he gain the trust of both his former enemy and the townspeople of Lockwood so that there is enough time to unravel the mystery of the crime and ensure justice is fairly served? In Night of the Coyote, the worlds of the old and new collide, and the clock is ticking for Ethan to prevent a further descent into violence.

Beach Traffic: The Ocean Can Be Deadly


Judith Lucci - 2019
    Kat’s childhood friend, Heidi is looking for great sex and a fantastic weekend hookup. But, things turned bad quickly when they learn a friend of theirs had been brutally attacked. Federal and local law enforcement officials are concerned about a vicious murder on the beach and the disappearance of five women. Scroll Up and Grab Your Copy Today!

The Victim of the System


Steve Hadden - 2018
    He surrendered his football scholarship and returned home to find their killer and raise his nine-year-old sister. Now, the crime of a local ten-year-old genius, Jack Cole, threatens to unearth old wounds rather than provide the closure Ike desperately wants.When Ike meets Jack inside the Pittsburgh courthouse, he doesn’t see a murderer but instead a boy who has been victimized by a system that has left them both without justice. Despite knowing the case will resurrect the painful demons of his parents’ unsolved murders, Ike agrees to clear Jack’s name. The court of public opinion and the district attorney have an airtight case. Worse, taking Jack’s side thrusts Ike into the crosshairs of the most powerful family in Pittsburgh, the Falzones.Now, with only days before the trial, Ike confronts the Falzones’ crumbling empire to find the shocking evidence that could save Jack. At the same time, he races to decipher a series of cryptic clues from Jack’s dead father that could hold the key to his son’s freedom. But each step closer to the truth draws them further into danger, and as three fractured families collide, Ike is forced to choose between saving Jack—and saving himself.The Victim of the System is a powerful and entertaining thriller about the justice system, closure and the abyss between them.

Twist of Faith


Ellen J. GreenEllen J. Green - 2018
    The photo shows a shuttered, ramshackle house on top of a steep hill. On the back, a puzzling inscription: Destiny calls us.Ava is certain that it’s a clue to her elusive past. Twenty-three years ago, she’d been found wrapped in a yellow blanket in the narthex of the Holy Saviour Catholic Church—and rescued—or so she’d been told. Her mother claimed there was no more to the story, so the questions of her abandonment were left unanswered. For Ava, now is the time to find the roots of her mother’s lies. It begins with the house itself—once the scene of a brutal double murder.When Ava enlists the help of the two people closest to her, a police detective and her best friend, she fears that investigating her past could be a fatal mistake. Someone is following them there. And what’s been buried in Ava’s nightmares isn’t just a crime. It’s a holy conspiracy.

Unstolen: You can steal, but you can't hide


Tony Batton - 2018
    Almost.
 He returns stolen items to their rightful owners.
 For a price.

 A man has to make a living, and Jake more than most. Because he's still paying for mistakes made a long time ago. And they weren't even his.

Consequential Damages


Joseph Hayes - 2013
    Rick is a brilliant, ultracompetitive trial lawyer who believes winning is everything. He openly mocks the legal system, claiming that a lawyer who is a great storyteller can fool a jury every time. He is determined to exploit that weakness in our system, regardless of the havoc that wreaks on innocent lives. When an upstanding pillar of the community is victimized by Rick’s unscrupulous tactics, Jake is determined to bring his former classmate to justice—if he can do so without sacrificing his own integrity. Their approaches, skills and convictions are put to the test when they clash as opposing counsel in a high-stakes class action lawsuit. Dirty tricks, intimidation, intrigue—even homicide—become part of the backdrop as the litigation unfolds. Consequential Damages is a compelling legal drama full of twists, turns and suspense. And, it will make you think!

The Speed of Sound


Eric Bernt - 2018
    Resident Eddie Parks’s contribution is nothing less than extraordinary: an “echo box” that can re-create never-recorded sounds using acoustic archeology.All Eddie wants is to hear his late mother’s voice. But what he’s created is inadvertently posing a threat to national security.To Harmony House’s shadowy government backers and radical extremists, the echo box is the ultimate intelligence asset—an end to the very concept of secrecy. Now for Eddie and the compassionate Dr. Skylar Drummond, the true nature of the institution is becoming chillingly clear.As ruthless competing enemies close in on Eddie and his miraculous machine, Skylar risks all to take him on the run. Because once that prize is won, Eddie Parks will no longer be considered a “special person” but a dangerous redundancy. An inconvenient echo that must be silenced.

Off the Record: An Avery Rich Mystery (Avery Rich Mysteries Book 1)


Sara B. Gauldin - 2016
    But she is soon forced to keep her investigation "off the record" and gets paired with an unusual consultant. The world of crime and conspiracy takes on a dangerous edge as she finds herself dealing with kidnapped bankers, high stakes cover ups, and criminals who are determined to keep her quiet. To save herself from the unthinkable, she must sort out the conspiracy from the crime and find out who she can trust to finish the case before they can derail her investigation, permanently!

K-Town Confidential


Brad Chisholm - 2021
    The crime takes place in a gritty Koreatown ‘room salon' with Naomi holding the murder weapon. The case is tried in the L.A. media and everyone takes sides. The deeper Holly digs, the darker the secrets become. Holly risks everything to find the truth, only to learn that if she reveals it, Naomi goes to prison for life. If Holly keeps the secret, then Naomi may walk, but Holly will have betrayed her lover. No one will guess the plot twists in K-Town Confidential.

The Korean Word For Butterfly


Jamie Zerndt - 2013
    tank, The Korean Word For Butterfly is told from three alternating points-of-view:Billie, the young wanna-be poet looking for adventure with her boyfriend who soon finds herself questioning her decision to travel so far from the comforts of American life;Moon, the ex K-pop band manager who now works at the English school struggling to maintain his sobriety in hopes of getting his family back;And Yun-ji , a secretary at the school whose new feelings of resentment toward Americans may lead her to do something she never would have imagined possible. The Korean Word For Butterfly is a story about the choices we make and why we make them. It is a story, ultimately, about the power of love and redemption.*The author would like to note that this book deals, in part, with abortion. It tries, as best it can, to explore the issue with compassion rather than judgement.*"5 stars...full of fresh and original writing." -Kindle Book Review