Book picks similar to
I Hear They Burn for Murder by J.L. Aarne
m-m
dark
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mystery
Art of Death
Ana Bosch - 2012
It’s important to him that he pay his own way, so when the artist Coliaro requests a private modeling session with him, he jumps at the chance to earn some real cash.Then he hears the rumors—that Coliaro is undead. That his worshippers perform rituals to fill him with life energy. That every time he paints a male nude, the painting transforms to depict a gruesome murder. And that shortly after, a young man turns up dead.The source of these rumors is a man named Westwood, who claims to be an instructor at the school and warns Riley not to get involved. Riley ignores the advice—but when the rumors pan out and another murder looms, he turns to Westwood for help. Westwood is clearly keeping secrets. He’s dangerous, and Riley doesn’t know if he can be trusted—which makes him all the more attractive. Riley is in way over his head… and his involvement with the undead may make him the ultimate target.
Better the Devil You Know
Bey Deckard - 2015
Tags: graphic torture, murder, paranormal, forced incest, rape Byron is tall, handsome, well spoken, wealthy, and has outstanding taste in wine and food. You’ll be impressed by his impeccable attire and eloquence in conversation, ranging from Baroque art to the newest advances in pharmacology. With his charming smile and elegant manners, Byron truly is the perfect date… and who doesn’t love a man who appreciates opera? What’s the catch, you ask? Just this: if Byron finds you suitable, he will subject you to utterly depraved forms of torture. No, I’m not talking about S&M. Byron will mutilate, rape, and then kill you. Don’t think that you will survive the encounter, because you won’t. He has a perfect record. Intrigued? Would you like me to arrange a rendezvous? It has to be in the next few days because he’s leaving on a trip south to much warmer climes, and his calendar will be completely full. Yes? Very good. I will make a reservation for two under the name of Smith. Who am I? I’m Gloria, his personal assistant.
The First Three Rules
Adrienne Wilder - 2014
The distraction saved Jon’s life but cost the lives of innocent people including his best friend and partner. It was a price for survival Jon couldn’t live with and was sure he’d never understand. Driven by grief and guilt he tried to escape his past by fleeing to a small town in the middle of nowhere. Only instead of peace, the memories festered. Then the offer of a stick of gum from a stranger changes Jon’s life and puts him on a road out of the nightmare he’s trapped in. Ellis Harper has lived the past twenty years isolated from the outside world and sole caretaker for his mentally disabled brother, Rudy. While Ellis loves his brother, he longs for a life he’ll never be able to have. Shut away, his days consist of chores, endless cartoons, and games of Go Fish. A world that seemed to have no end until an innocent misunderstanding turns Ellis and his brother into a target for a town bully. It’s a fight Ellis can never win on his own but thanks to a chance meeting with a stranger, he doesn’t have to. What begins as a new journey in love for both men quickly unfolds into something neither of them could have ever imagined.
Chance Assassin: A Story of Love, Luck, and Murder
Nicole Castle - 2013
When a chance encounter generates a job prospect he’s too desperate to decline, Vincent is well on his way to a career in crime. But after the job goes wrong and he’s gravely injured in the process, things couldn’t get much worse. Except that he may have just killed a man. With the entrance of a mysterious stranger, life is finally starting to look up. Unless his luck is about to run out for good.
The Definitive Albert J. Sterne
Julie Bozza - 2010
Sterne: Future Bright, Past Imperfect.
Albert Sterne, forensics expert with the FBI, is so obnoxious on the surface that no-one bothers digging deeper. When he's sent to Colorado to investigate what turns out to be the work of a serial killer he encounters Special Agent Fletcher Ash and they end up reluctantly joining forces to unravel the case. It's only a matter of duty, though; it can't be more, because Albert doesn't do friendship - and he certainly doesn't do love!
Tainted Blood
Sam C. Leonhard - 2010
That's how he meets Dr. Aleksei Tennant-who he sees suspiciously jumping from a window of a woman's apartment. Tennant introduces Gabriel to the hidden worlds, magical worlds connected to this one by portals. Gabriel is eager to learn the runes for opening them, Tennant is eager to teach, and a fragile friendship develops amidst a series of murders. These aren't just any murders. The killer has a grudge against the mixture of other races: he doesn't kill humans, only those of the hidden worlds who are producing children of tainted blood. When the killer attacks them directly, Gabriel and Tennant have to team up to find the murderer, even though they're putting themselves, their love, and any chance at a future together, in danger.
The Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings
Lily Morton - 2019
After suffering a loss and breaking up a long-term relationship, he’s looking for a change. When he receives the news he’s inherited a house in York, he seizes the opportunity to begin a new chapter in his life. However, when he gets there, he finds a house that has never kept its occupants for very long. Either through death or disinclination, no one stays there, and after a few days of living in the place, Levi can understand why. Strange noises can be heard at all hours of the day and night, and disturbing and scary things begin to happen to him. He never believed in ghosts before, but when events take a sinister turn, he knows he must look for help. He finds it in the unlikely form of the blue-haired leader of a ghost tour. Blue Billings is edgy, beautiful, and lost. Utterly lost. He conceals so many secrets that some days it’s a miracle he remembers his own name. He knows that he should ignore Levi because he threatens the tenuous grip Blue has on survival. But there’s something about the kind-eyed man that draws Blue to him. Something that demands he stay and fight for him when he would normally run in the opposite direction. As the two men investigate the shocking truth behind Levi’s house, they also discover a deep connection that defies the short length of time they’ve known each other. But when events escalate and his life is on the line, Levi has to wonder if it was wise to trust the Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings.
Shadowing the Light
Miranda Turner - 2018
Everybody.” Hunted for the unique blood that runs through his veins, half-angel, half-demon Gabriel Sinclair lives without expectations. On the run from forces on both sides of an ancient conflict, he searches for strength and peace in a world which only seeks to use him. When Gabriel is forced to stop running, assigned a team—and a mate—he doesn’t want, and reluctantly tasked with a mission, he must overcome obstacles both real and imagined. Otherwise, the world as he knows it, and the mate he’s reluctantly come to care for, may cease to exist. “I will do as the Creator bids me. Always.” Evander Ryan is special, and he knows it. The final handcrafted immortal warrior for the light, he is the Creator’s greatest masterpiece. For fifty-eight years, he’s lived his life in black and white, coddled by his Maker, while leading his team to countless victories against their enemies. Those fights were easy. Working with a new, uncooperative mate who sees the world in shades of gray? Less so. As Evander’s eyes are opened to the existence of light warriors who are not good, dark warriors who are, and the wider world of supernatural beings, he learns nothing is as he thought it was, and his mate isn’t who he thought he was either. Maybe there’s something to be said for not always following the rules. . .
This book is LGBT Urban Fantasy with a romantic subplot. Not recommended for readers under 18. Use the Look Inside feature or download a sample to see additional content advisories on the Copyright page.
Kick at the Darkness
Keira Andrews - 2015
He humiliated himself trying to pick up a cute guy, he hasn’t made any friends at school, and his stupidly hot jerk of a TA gave him a crappy grade on his paper. He’s going to drop Adam Hawkins’ film class and start fresh tomorrow after he’s had a good sulk.But Parker’s about to find out what a bad day really looks like—if he can survive the night.A virus is unleashed, transforming infected people into zombie-like killers. After these quick and deadly creepers swarm campus, Parker only escapes thanks to Adam swooping him onto the back of his trusty motorcycle. Now they're on the run—and stuck with each other.When they’re not bickering, they’re fighting off the infected in a bloody battle for survival. Their only hope is to head east to Parker's family, but orphaned Adam has a secret he’s not sure Parker will accept: he’s a werewolf. Can they trust each other enough to find some light in these dark days?
Chasing Ghosts
Dean Cole - 2020
Terrifying apparitions. Dark secrets.Quentin Strange is … well, strange. But it isn’t just his anachronistic sayings and dress sense, the fact that he’s a socially awkward, book-loving loner who’s possibly still a virgin at nearly thirty. He’s seeing and hearing things. Odd things. Ghostly things.Getting the gig as photographer for The Cricklewood Gazette, he travels with his new partner, journalist Katrina (make sure you call her Kat) Brannigan, to Hilderley Manor, an enormous manor house nestled in the remote countryside of Northern England that is believed to be one of Britain’s most haunted buildings. The pair join a ghost hunting team and a group of fellow guests for a long weekend of ghostly activities.But something dark haunts the draughty corridors of the house. And it links to a decades-old mystery that is about to be uncovered.A mystery like no other. A story of the supernatural. Of death, and what it does to the living. The first book in a new series, Chasing Ghosts is a quirky British mystery that explores the supernatural elements of our world with touches of LGBT romance, humour and horror.
Alasdair
Ella Frank - 2015
His name carries weight across all of the seven continents. But he is a mystery to his kind, an anomaly among the self-indulgent. While he enjoys the pleasures of the flesh, he is exceptionally particular in his choice of partners and prides himself on his ironclad self-control.Yet with one look his control will become a thing of the past, and Alasdair will discover that eternal life doesn’t always last forever…A DEADLY ATTRACTIONThrust into a world he could never have imagined, Leo Chapel awakens in his worst nightmare. Taken hostage by the dangerously mesmerizing vampire, Alasdair, Leo must rely on his intelligence to escape before he reveals a secret he isn’t even aware he’s hiding.A FORBIDDEN DESIREUnaware that they’ve been brought together by an outside force and are little more than pawns to a higher power, Alasdair and Leo spend time trying to uncover the other’s secrets, the attraction between them growing stronger all the while. But enemies are watching and preparing to act against them. When decisions that will alter lives and destinies have to be made—can a dead, grey heart learn to beat again?
Not a Werewolf
Madeline Kirby - 2015
His best friend Don is no help, though – he doesn’t even believe in werewolves! When the dreams lead Jake and Don to the body of a despised developer dumped along a Houston bayou, the only ones listening to Jake's theories are the dishy Detective Ruben Petreski and Jake's feline visitor, Boo.In a historic neighborhood under threat from developers, everyone is a suspect, but so far all Jake's new-found psychic abilities seem to be good for is finding kittens and talking to squirrels. He's really going to have to up his game if he wants to escape the killer's attention - and catch Detective Petreski's.Note: Contains excessive caffeine intake, cats, irritable detectives, lots of carbs, and no werewolves.
Of Secrets and Wolves
Alice Winters - 2021
So when I’m hired to track two escaped convicts, I’m suddenly thrust into the world I hate—or thought I did. Yet I’m inexplicably drawn to the alpha of the pack whose land the convicts may be hiding on. He’s different than any shifter I've ever met—laid back and quick to laugh, caring and protective, and makes me feel complete for the first time in my life. As secrets are revealed, I start to wonder if everything I’ve been raised to believe was a lie, though it may not matter because it seems like someone wants us dead.QuinnI’m no stranger to prejudice from humans, but it’s different when Rowan comes into my life. Though I shouldn’t let myself be distracted, I’m captivated by him. At first, he’s stiff, fighting to keep his misconstrued beliefs intact, but as I break down the wall he’s created, I’m able to show him a place among the fun chaos of my pack. After one of my pack goes missing, it leaves Rowan and me racing to bring them home, but the only way we’re going to survive this is if Rowan learns to accept the bond that’s growing between us—a bond that could give us the strength to put aside our reservations and give in to what both of us want.Of Secrets and Wolves is an action-filled romance with a dash of comedy. It’s the first book in a series with a continuing storyline and an HFN.
Love and Payne
Charlie Cochet - 2018
But nothing terrifies him more than falling in love. After years of undercover work, Austen is a master at defending himself and protecting his heart… until he meets Osmond Zachary.THIRDS Defense Agent Osmond Zachary has a huge, doting family, yet something is missing in his life. After meeting grumpy, foul-mouthed, jittery cheetah Therian Austen Payne, Zach knows exactly what that something—or someone—is. Unfortunately Austen seems determined to avoid Zach at all costs.When Zach foils an assassination attempt, he ends up in the killer’s crosshairs, and Austen is Zach’s best chance at staying alive. Zach hopes the crisis will bring them closer, but Austen has every intention of walking away as soon as the danger is over.Happily ever after isn’t for guys like Austen, but Zach is determined to show him it can be….
Urban Shaman
Lyn Gala - 2010
He's got a spotty record from the Army, a one-night stand who won't go away, and a flock of reporters trying to crucify him for shooting a civilian waving a toy pistol. Now kids are turning up missing in the Bronx, and he's partnered with by-the-book Detective Rob Jackson, a man with problems of his own. Their first suspect is a local shaman, Nikolai Adelman, who is either the strangest holy man ever or a con working his own angle. Miguel's trying to navigate a baffling case that has more questions than answers, caught between a surprising physical desire for Nikolai and his new partner's suspicions about a shaman who claims supernatural forces are at work. Miguel has always tried to avoid relationships out of guilt and fear, but Nikolai sees the darkness in Miguel's heart—and the fortitude Miguel has hidden deep inside, a strength that will help him solve the case and reclaim his life.