Book picks similar to
Dangerous Legacy by Joanne Holden


paperbacks
the-library
gothic-romance
gothics

Tregaron's Daughter


Madeleine Brent - 1971
    It had been a sunny afternoon when she glanced from the cliff where she sat reading and saw below her in the sea a sight that would change her life.Set in England and Italy in 1910, this is the story of a young English girl who by accident starts to unravel the unknown elements of her grandmother's past and is brought by the mystery to the faraway city of Venice. There among the gondolas and canals, she slowly comes to comprehend the meaning of two strange and puzzling dreams--dreams that seem to hold an eerie and menancing prophecy of the future.Here is all the grandeur and excitement of the ageless glory of Venice and the handsome beauty of the English countryside combined in the romantic and suspenseful story of a young girl's confrontation with the past.

Killing Castro


Lee Duncan - 1961
    Five Americans a bounty hunter, a murderer on the run, a vengeful college kid, a professional thug, and a bank clerk dying of cancerwill split $100,000 if they can sneak into Cuba and assassinate Fidel Castro.

World Without End


Molly Cochran - 1996
    In the 1990s, he finds himself the target of an international network of conspirators bent on destroying anyone who has found a clue to the location of the lost continent and the secrets of the Atlanteans.

Survivor: Life in the SAS


Mark Wales - 2021
    Over four deployments of intense warfighting, Mark watched the line between right and wrong become blurred. When he left the SAS he was adrift, crippled by guilt.On a mission to rebuild himself, Mark turned his life around. He fought his way into the gates of a US Ivy League business school and into the boardrooms of top-tier international corporations. He spent years navigating failure in a quest to find new meaning in life. With every setback, Mark counterattacked, discovering the tactics and tools needed to become more resilient, and to find happiness, belonging and purpose.Told with gripping suspense, humour and touching warmth, Survivor is Mark's extraordinary life in and out of the SAS, a story of resilience and a testament to the power of transformation.

The Hex Witch of Seldom


Nancy Springer - 1988
    . . they are members of the Circle of Twelve, primal human archetypes whose powers are manifest in us all. Most people never meet the Twelve, except in books and movies-but they exist. Those who have the Sight, like young Bobbi Yandro, can speak with them at will. Bobbi does not will-but her own budding powers are beyond her control. And when she becomes the mistress of Shane, a black mustang with eyes like blue fire, a horse who is more than a horse, events sweep her into the very hands of the Twelve. . .

Final Argument


Clifford Irving - 1993
    A masterly tale of murder, guilt, and infidelity, set in Florida and featuring the rarest of heroes - a criminal lawyer with a conscience. Can Ted Jaffe represent a murderer he once prosecuted? The legal establishment insists he can't. Final Argument is about Jaffe's war - at the risk of his career, his marriage, and his personal safety - to free a man he believes he has grievously wronged.

Monkey on a Stick: Murder, Madness and the Hare Krishnas


John Hubner - 1988
    Two investigative journalists, John Hubner and Lindsey Gruson, masterfully document the staggering number of crimes tied to the Hare Krishnas and the work of the dedicated cop determined to see justice in this fascinating and terrifying true crime story.Description from Google Books

Ultra Fuckers


Carlton Mellick III - 2008
    He hates these Southwestern-style planned suburban neighborhoods. All of the streets look the same. All of the houses look the same. All of the people look the same. Because everything in Eagle Hills looks exactly the same, Tony has trouble finding the dinner party. He quickly becomes lost in the sea of red tile roofs. The streets seem to go on forever. The addresses don't seem to make any sense. After hours of navigating the suburban labyrinth, Tony discovers that there is something terribly wrong with the Eagle Hills gated community. There is something unnatural about the houses around him. There is something inhuman about the people staring at him through the windows. And no matter how far he drives, he can't seem to find his way out. Ultra Fuckers is a work of absurd suburban horror in the tradition of Mellick's previous short novel, The Menstruating Mall.

The Year of the Lucy


Anne McCaffrey - 1986
    Mirelle loves her husband, Steve, but his intense, volatile personality exhausts her, as do his jealous, sometimes violent, tirades. Mirelle stoically endures these outbursts, although the caustic criticism she customarily receives from Steve's overbearing mother wears her down. The elder Mrs. Martin scorns Mirelle largely because she is the illegitimate daughter of a famous singer and the Hungarian painter Lajos Neagu. To placate her mother-in-law, Mirelle conceals her provocative heritage by refusing to seek widespread public attention for her sculptures. Such subservience always outraged her friend Lucy, who, before she died, exhorted Mirelle to be more assertive. Fortunately, the void Lucy left is suddenly filled by concert pianist James Howell, a lonely man who coaxes Mirelle to self-awareness, then falls in love with her. McCaffrey, best known for her science fiction fantasy , depicts Mirelle's predicament with sensitivity and credibility, and she perceptively delineates this troubled artist's creative temperament.

Night Fire / Night Shadow / Night Storm


Catherine Coulter - 2002
    

Hot Spot


Susan Johnson - 2005
    Ever. So when a drop-dead gorgeous guy strolls into her comic book store, snapping up rare editions and insisting on taking her to dinner, she knows she's in trouble.Danny Rees isn't used to being turned down. Not even by a woman as beautiful and sexy as Stella Scott. In Danny's eyes, she's more sensational than any comic book adventure - and he'll do just about anything to get her into his bedroom.It doesn't take long for this superhero-in-the-flesh to work his seductive powers, and soon Stella finds herself revising her little rule. But while she's having a blast between the sheets, there's no way she's going to let herself do something stupid...like fall head over heels in love. Hopefully it isn't too late...

Lair of the Lion


Christine Feehan - 2002
    . .Rumor said the powerful Nicolai DeMarco could command the heavens, that the beasts below did his bidding . . . and that he was doomed to destroy the woman he took as wife. It was whispered he was not wholly human—as untamed as his tawny mane and slashing amber eyes.The Beauty . . .Impoverished aristocrat Isabella Vernaducci would defy death itself to rescue her imprisoned brother. She’d even brave the haunted, accursed lair of the lion—the menacing palace of legendary, lethal Don Nicolai DeMarco.The Bargain . . .Then Isabella met a man whose growl was velvet, purring heat, whose eyes held dark, all-consuming desire. And when the don commanded her to become his bride, she went willingly into his muscled arms, praying she’d save his tortured soul . . . not sacrifice her life.

Over-the-Rhine: When Beer Was King


Michael D. Morgan - 2010
    In the 1870s, OTR was comparable to the cultural hearts of Paris and Vienna. By the turn of the last century, the neighborhood was home to roughly three hundred saloons and had over a dozen breweries within or adjacent to its borders. It was beloved by countless citizens and travelers for the exact reasons that others successfully sought to destroy it. This is the story of how the heart of the "Paris of America" became a time capsule.

The Deep


Mickey Spillane - 1961
    A searing left hook of a novel with a real shocker of a punch ending.

Dead Hand


Harold Coyle - 2001
    When Russia responds to world queries with cold silence, a NATO special operations unit is dropped into Siberia. Trapped in a region ravaged by freezing snow and the hellish aftermath of the asteroid impact, the NATO forces are racing against time to track down Likatchev and dismantle Dead Hand before a global holocaust is unleashed.