A troubled priest is brutally murdered, leaving behind a journal of the resident's confessional secrets; secrets certain people would prefer he took to the grave. As word spreads, the pressure rises as the eyes of the town watch her every move. With no forensic team, no support and a savage killer hiding in a turbulent town, is PC Sarah Gladstone up to the task?

    She was born to sing Puccini’s Tosca and is determined to earn the right to perform again on the world’s most prestigious and celebrated stages. But her fight for the future she craves is derailed when her ex-husband embroils her in a cynical blackmail plot. She is forced to take possession of a solid gold icon, part of a secret hoard of art treasures stolen by the Nazis - that dangerous men are prepared to kill for. As well as determining the fate of the Golden Icon, Josephine must come to terms with her past, and fight for her own life. If only her choices were simple...

    Newly promoted Detective Sergeant Joy Marsh is shipped out to Dover on the Kent coast to work under Detective Inspector Romney, a copper with a reputation as a cantankerous man but good at his job.On her first night as his sergeant, a brutal crime in the town starts a chain of events that will test the grit, the resolve and the detective in both of them.

    With no relatives, Eva is compelled to learn how to live on her own. But in the days that follow the accident, strange incidents begin to occur: she receives an odd phone call, a mysterious document is found in the pantry and a check is delivered by mail addressed to a person she does not know. The two men in Eva’s life guide her along a mysterious path of discovery With the help of her high school friend, Roy, she opens the sealed boxes of her life and embarks on a fascinating journey. She meets another young man who holds a secret that will influence her forever. He falls in love with her and leads her into a world she could not have known to exist. But at what price the pursuit of truth? From a quiet and insecure girl, Eva becomes an independent, confident, and assertive woman. Along with the two men in her life, she uncovers the most hidden and unimaginable secrets about her family and herself. But is she willing to pay any price to pursue the truth?

    When a former client bequeaths Drayco a rundown Opera House in a Virginia seaside town, he figures he'll arrange for a quick sale of the place while nursing his battered soul in a peaceful setting near the shore. What he doesn't count on is finding a dead body on the Opera House stage with a mysterious "G" carved into the man's chest. With hopes for a quick sale dashed and himself a suspect in the murder, Drayco digs into very old and very dangerous secrets to solve the crime and clear his name. Along the way, Drayco must dodge a wary sheriff, hostility over coastal development, and the seductive wife of a town councilman - before the tensions explode into more violence and he becomes the next victim. Want to read a Scott Drayco novella for FREE? Sign up for BV’s Mysteries in Crimetime newsletter at bvlawson.com and receive a FREE copy of "The Maltese Moon Rock"! Scott Drayco Thrillers in order: PLAYED TO DEATH (A Shamus Award Finalist and Best Mystery, Next Generation Book Awards) REQUIEM FOR INNOCENCE DIES IRAE ELEGY IN SCARLET

    

    As a straightforward case takes unexpected twists, Cal must quell a growing fear that an anguished mother may never see her child again. With a shadowy crime lord lurking behind every unexpected clue, Cal struggles to tie up loose ends before evil claims its next victim.Loose Ends is book one in a new P. I. mystery series from D. D. VanDyke. Set against the rich backdrop of the San Francisco Bay Area, Cal Corwin novels brim with intrigue and fully fleshed characters from cops and criminals to hit men, oddball family and unexpected allies.

    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!

    D. Ward's first novel in the Harry Circus mystery series is a story of unforgettable suspense from the dramatic opening to the bloody finish.A body is found disembowled and partially skinned on the remote blueberry barrens, north of the small town of Berryville. Tension mounts as Harry follows the scent of the murderer to the brutal end, where he discovers the long-kept secret of a mother and daughter. Available for Kindle Unlimited.

    Her last visit here was twelve years ago when, through whispering mangroves, past flocks of exotic birds, skirting bobcat trails and precious mounds of turtle eggs, four children played in this earthly paradise – as explorers, naturalists, boat-builders... and eventually, as lovers. Over the intervening years, Carrie has tried to forget those summer idylls and the children who were her friends – Phoebe, who believed herself to be a mermaid, her aloof older brother Bradley, and Tristan, son of the Native American wisewoman, Tanta. Now two of them are dead and gone. In the cemetery, however, there is only one grave; in Tanta’s backyard, a mourning cradle hangs, stuffed with black raven feathers; and over at Bud’s Landing lives a small boy who has mysteriously been struck dumb. Legend says that pirates buried treasure on a sister island, but here on Sanibel, where a great storm is gathering, Carries is about to unearth some treasure of her own.

    They programmed her to forget everything. She was supposed to be the perfect patsy, until something went wrong… When Sara wakes up on the roof of a Union Square department store with a sniper rifle in her arms and the body of a political activist in the street below, she can’t even remember how she got there. A mysterious stranger calls and instructs her to turn herself in. He warns that her life has been erased and she’ll never see her family again if she doesn’t cooperate. Sara is terrified, and in a desperate attempt to sort out her past and prove her innocence, she goes on the run. Sara quickly finds herself one of America’s most wanted criminals. The police and the FBI are convinced she’s a known terrorist. The black ops team that framed her is out to kill her before she can expose them. Her only hope lies in rookie FBI agent Brandy Jackson. Unfortunately, Brandy and her partner have every reason to believe Sara is the real killer and they’re being pressured from above to close the case as quickly as possible. As the evidence mounts, Sara even begins to question her own memories. What if she’s not the dedicated mother and hardworking attorney she thinks she is? What if she really is the killer?

    Wrapping everything in a ghost story, Quiet The Dead will keep you guessing…”-- Mark de Castrique, Author of Sam Blackman Mysteries and Bary Clayton Mysteries. CLUES FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE… AND AN ATTRACTIVE NEW MAN! Dr. Promise McNeal, retired psychologist, is supplementing her income with a little investigative work for a lawyer friend to whom she never reveals her unconventional sources: the dead. And they have an agenda all their own. Promise has left her private counseling practice and traded Atlanta’s ghastly traffic for a package deal that included a struggling general store along with a farmhouse and five acres with a creek and mountain views in beautiful western North Carolina. Her “Watson” is her twenty-something, semi-Goth store manager Susan, a Bluegrass musician who performs with her father Daniel. Promise’s abilities of perception do not, however, extend to reading mountain men, because, no matter how vehemently Promise dismisses the notion, Daniel-- an unsettlingly handsome widower-- is, as Susan shrewdly observes, very clearly “sweet on her”. Morgan James’s appealingly human and incisive, fiftyish female sleuth is sure to delight fans of cozies, especially those by Julia Spencer-Fleming and Mary Kay Andrews, as well as the kind with a light sprinkling of psychic suspense; admirers of female amateur sleuths; readers of supernatural suspense and psychic detective fiction, and of other great North Carolina mystery authors like Margaret Maron, Barbara Neely, Elizabeth Daniels Squire, and Vicki Lane. QUIET THE DEAD (Promise McNeal Mysteries Book 1) The image comes in a dream: a beautiful woman hanging over a stream, strangled with a red scarf. And with that, Promise McNeal’s hoped-for quiet new life in the North Carolina mountains flies out the window. But in flies opportunity—along with the mystery surrounding the woman’s murder, a brand new murder, a lucrative consulting job, and an extremely attractive man (in a problematical sort of way). A lot of action for a woman who moved from Atlanta to find peace and quiet! QUIET KILLING (Promise McNeal Mysteries Book 2) Amateur North Carolina sleuth (and psychic) Promise McNeal just can't seem to get a good night’s sleep—someone’s always haunting her dreams. Lately it's been her great grandfather, January McNeal, and who disobeys their great grandfather? So she delves back into family history, but when she finds grave robbery in there, she has second thoughts. Then evil comes knocking. First someone burns her barn, then the contractor she hires to rebuild it is murdered, nearly at her back door. More fires lead her to a mysterious abandoned child who could be the arsonist-- and murderer. QUIET HEARTS (Promise McNeal Mysteries Book 3) Lovebirds Promise McNeal and her mountain man, Daniel Allen, have arrived in the historic Golden Isles, Georgia’s barrier islands, for a romantic wedding and honeymoon on nearby Jekyll Island. As fate would have it, the ruthlessly ambitious Atlanta TV talk show host Aileen Wang has brought her crew for an extravaganza production on a cursed Chinese chair that’s also a World War II relic connected to the secret of a sixty-year-old murder.

    Lots of suspense, mystery, and romance. No cliffhangers! Book One Gwen Grange doesn’t exist, as far as the world is concerned. She disappeared after her father was accused of horrendous crimes, and has been presumed dead. In reality, she’s simply living off the grid, surviving on her own. But when she comes across Jason O’Neil of Campbell’s Agency in the unlikeliest of places, she’ll be forced to come to terms with what happened to her family and become a functioning part of society once again. Book Two Bridget Barden’s greatest joy in her life is her son, Wyatt, despite the fact that his father died suspiciously after getting involved in the wrong investigation. The last thing she ever expects to do is get involved with another private investigator, but when her connection to Gwen Grange puts her in danger and her home is set on fire as a message to the Campbell Agency men, she finds herself relying on the head of the organization, Alex Campbell, to keep her and her son safe. Book Three Caleb Robinson has been charged with looking after his best friend’s sister while she works to recover from a difficult past. The problem is, he’s falling for her fast. But when his health gets in the way, he’ll doubt whether or not he’s right for the woman who has already overcome so much. Only her persistence and a case that helps him realize what’s most important in life can help him get past his doubts and accept love. Book Four Mark Thompson is determined to track down the man who has for so long been plaguing Campbell’s Agency, and having a source on the police force is a great asset. He’s eager to help Rachel when she asks, but the chemistry between them starts to get distracting. What he could never have predicted is that helping her with her own secret investigation might just crack his own wide open. Book Five Sylvia Lyons is a freelance cartoonist who works in Jackson Square in the historical district of New Orleans. Her boyfriend, Ken, works as a security guard, but he doesn’t tell her much more than that until the day he drags her to Campbell’s Agency where he proceeds to confess the fact that he’s gotten in over his head with the worst criminal possible. Their unhealthy relationship explodes, and Sylvia commits to helping Campbell’s Agency clean up the mess Ken created. When Spencer Nichols takes her under his personal protection, Sylvia is grateful, but both of them are wary of the intense connection between them and distracted by the threat on all of their lives.

    Homicide detective, John Doucette is assigned the case. As he questions his suspects, he learns one of them has connections to his past, ties to someone he does not want to face. His main suspect, Isabelle Kingsley, unnerves him. Could she be innocent? If she is, how did the murder weapon end up in her possession? Doucette must set aside his own personal fears and follow the clues, even though they may lead him to the one person to whom he owes so much.

    Broken by the destruction of his family, he agrees to one last job—this time for the other side. When a "straightforward" diamond smuggling operation goes south—literally—Bohnert finds himself trekking through Mexico, pursued by killers, including, a cross-dressing hit man, a psycho meth addict, and a fellow operative who was once a close friend. An unlikely love story complicates his flight when the woman who defects from his pursuers becomes the one person who might offer him salvation. The question becomes, ultimately, will they make it out of Mexico alive, and does the canister really contain diamonds, or is Robert being used to import an unimaginable horror into the U.S.? “…(K)ill a few hours enjoying the suspense and human drama.” — Publishers Weekly