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Zero Duval by Elizabeth Hilleren


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Creep


Jennifer Hillier - 2011
    . .Dr. Sheila Tao is a professor of psychology. An expert in human behavior. And when she began an affair with sexy, charming graduate student Ethan Wolfe, she knew she was playing with fire. Consumed by lust when they were together, riddled with guilt when they weren’t, she knows the three-month fling with her teaching assistant has to end. After all, she’s finally engaged to a kind and loving investment banker who adores her, and she’s taking control of her life. But when she attempts to end the affair, Ethan Wolfe won’t let her walk away.. . . no one else can.Ethan has plans for Sheila, plans that involve posting a sex video that would surely get her fired and destroy her prestigious career. Plans to make her pay for rejecting him. And as she attempts to counter his every threatening move without her colleagues or her fiancé discovering her most intimate secrets, a shattering crime rocks Puget Sound State University: a female student, a star athlete, is found stabbed to death. Someone is raising the stakes of violence, sex, and blackmail . . . and before she knows it, Sheila is caught in a terrifying cat-and-mouse game with the lover she couldn’t resist—who is now the monster who won’t let her go.

The Free Trappers: The Saga Of Jedediah Beech - (Volume 2)


D.L. Bittick - 2018
    It takes him from the Hasinai Caddo villages of eastern Spanish Tejas to the Rocky Mountains and parts in between. Along the way, he encounters colorful and unsavory frontiersmen, hostile and friendly Indians as well as struggles with wild nature. But he also finds loyal friends and unconditional love.

Virgil's Pact


Maxwell Farmer - 2022
    A malevolent disease. The Doctor is in. Virgil's a veterinarian, a man dedicated to being a healer of animals. Despite the ups and downs of caring for sick and injured creatures, his career was more than a job. It was his calling. Then his dedication was noticed, and the world around him faded as he was yanked through the void. The great world tree, Yggdrasil, needed a group that could work together to stop a threat that could end reality. The world tree summoned a team of five champions into a world straight out of fantasy, and remade them into something more. Unfortunately for Virgil, he was granted almost no skills that cause damage, and his body was shifted into a reviled Dark Elf. Now hated by the locals, and of little use to the others that can already heal themselves as well as deal damage, Virgil was cast aside. Abandoned and alone, Virgil will take on the threat to this world… no matter what ally gets in his way.

Robin Hood and the Castle of Bones


Angus Donald - 2020
    

The Horror of Devil's Root Lake


Amy Cross - 2016
    An actual, real monster, like you hear about in stories. And this monster killed children. Hundreds and hundreds of children.” When her son Charlie is killed in a tragic accident, Emily Carter sets out to discover the truth. Convinced that Charlie's death is linked to other supposed accidents, she's determined to prove that someone or something targeted her son. But as she continues to dig for the truth, Emily starts to realize that the explanation might be darker and more horrific than she could ever have anticipated. The Horror of Devil's Root Lake is the story of a woman who refuses to accept that her son's death was an accident, and of an ancient evil that waits impatiently in the forest for its next victim.

Don't Tell a Soul


M. William Phelps - 2017
    But when she was asked to testify in court against his abusive mother, Cherry never got the chance. She couldn’t lie if her life depended on it—and it did. Cherry’s body was found on the side of a Texas road, after being doused with lighter fluid and set aflame.   Attractive, manipulative, and violent, mother of four Kim Cargill had a wealth of dirty secrets she’d do anything to keep hidden. This in-depth account by bestselling investigative journalist M. William Phelps takes you inside Cargill’s shocking trial—and into the mind of one of the most conniving female psychopaths in recent history—and on death row.“Anything by Phelps is an eye-opening experience.” —Suspense Magazine “Phelps dares to tread where few others will: into the mind of a killer.” —TV Rage“Phelps is the king of true crime.”  --Lynda Hirsch, Creators Syndicate columnist“One of our most engaging crime journalists.” —Dr. Katherine Ramsland INCLUDES 16 PAGES OF DRAMATIC PHOTOS

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer


Michelle McNamara - 2018
    Then he disappeared, eluding capture by multiple police forces and some of the best detectives in the area.Three decades later, Michelle McNamara, a true crime journalist who created the popular website TrueCrimeDiary.com, was determined to find the violent psychopath she called "the Golden State Killer." Michelle pored over police reports, interviewed victims, and embedded herself in the online communities that were as obsessed with the case as she was.At the time of the crimes, the Golden State Killer was between the ages of eighteen and thirty, Caucasian, and athletic—capable of vaulting tall fences. He always wore a mask. After choosing a victim—he favored suburban couples—he often entered their home when no one was there, studying family pictures, mastering the layout. He attacked while they slept, using a flashlight to awaken and blind them. Though they could not recognize him, his victims recalled his voice: a guttural whisper through clenched teeth, abrupt and threatening.I’ll Be Gone in the Dark—the masterpiece McNamara was writing at the time of her sudden death—offers an atmospheric snapshot of a moment in American history and a chilling account of a criminal mastermind and the wreckage he left behind. It is also a portrait of a woman’s obsession and her unflagging pursuit of the truth. Framed by an introduction by Gillian Flynn and an afterword by her husband, Patton Oswalt, the book was completed by Michelle’s lead researcher and a close colleague. Utterly original and compelling, it is destined to become a true crime classic—and may at last unmask the Golden State Killer.

The End of Everything


Megan Abbott - 2011
    Then one afternoon, Evie disappears, and as a rabid, giddy panic spreads through the balmy suburban community, everyone turns to Lizzie for answers. Was Evie unhappy, troubled, or upset? Had she mentioned being followed? Would she have gotten into the car of a stranger?Compelled by curiosity, Lizzie takes up her own furtive pursuit of the truth. Haunted by dreams of her lost friend and titillated by her own new power as the center of the disappearance, Lizzie uncovers secret after secret and begins to wonder if she knew anything at all about her best friend.

Heat Wave


Richard Castle - 2008
    A trophy wife with a past survives a narrow escape from a brazen attack. Mobsters and moguls with no shortage of reasons to kill trot out their alibis. And then, in the suffocating grip of a record heat wave, comes another shocking murder and a sharp turn in a tense journey into the dirty little secrets of the wealthy. Secrets that prove to be fatal. Secrets that lay hidden in the dark until one NYPB detective shines a light.Mystery sensation Richard Castle, blockbuster author of the wildly bestselling Derrick Storm novels, introduces his newest character, NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat. Tough, sexy, professional, Nikki Heat carries a passion for justice as she leads one of New York City’s top homicide squads. She’s hit with an unexpected challenge when the commissioner assigns superstar journalist Jameson Rook to ride along with her to research an article on New York’s finest. Pulitzer- Prize-winning Rook is as much a handful as he is handsome. His wisecracking and meddling aren’t her only problems. as she works to unravel the secrets of the murdered real estate tycoon, she must also confront the spark between them. The one called Heat.

Cold Cold Heart


Tami Hoag - 2014
    #1 New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag delivers a shocking new thrillerDana Nolan was a promising young TV reporter until a notorious serial killer tried to add her to his list of victims.  Nearly a year has passed since surviving her ordeal, but the physical, emotional, and psychological scars run deep.  Struggling with the torment of post-traumatic stress syndrome, plagued by flashbacks and nightmares as dark as the heart of a killer, Dana returns to her hometown in an attempt to begin to put her life back together.  But home doesn’t provide the comfort she expects. Dana’s harrowing story and her return to small town life have rekindled police and media interest in the unsolved case of her childhood best friend, Casey Grant, who disappeared without a trace the summer after their graduation from high school.  Terrified of truths long-buried, Dana reluctantly begins to look back at her past.  Viewed through the dark filter of PTSD, old friends and loved ones become suspects and enemies.  Questioning everything she knows, refusing to be defined by the traumas of her past and struggling against excruciating odds, Dana seeks out a truth that may prove too terrible to be believed…

The Devil & Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness & Obsession


David Grann - 2010
    prison system, tracking down a chameleon con artist in Europe, or riding in a cyclone-tossed skiff with a scientist hunting the elusive giant squid, David Grann revels in telling stories that explore the nature of obsession and that piece together true and unforgettable mysteries.Each of the dozen stories in this collection reveals a hidden and often dangerous world and, like Into Thin Air and The Orchid Thief, pivots around the gravitational pull of obsession and the captivating personalities of those caught in its grip. There is the world's foremost expert on Sherlock Holmes who is found dead in mysterious circumstances; an arson sleuth trying to prove that a man about to be executed is innocent, and sandhogs racing to complete the brutally dangerous job of building New York City's water tunnels before the old system collapses. Throughout, Grann's hypnotic accounts display the power-and often the willful perversity-of the human spirit.Compulsively readable, The Devil and Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant mosaic of ambition, madness, passion, and folly.

The Hale Brothers


Kathryn Andrews - 2016
    Trapped in a small island town off the West Coast of Florida, for years we watched the tide roll in and out, while keeping so many secrets hidden from the world. Each of us hiding behind a different mask and dealing with our own struggles that ultimately lead us to a breaking point. That expression, “And the truth shall set you free . . .” Well, it did. In the end, it became our choice. With the help of three amazing, beautiful girls we soaked up the drops of rain, endured the starless nights, and woke each day to an unforgettable sun. We are the Hale Brothers: Drew, Beau, and Matt . . . and these are our stories.

Dirty Harriet


Miriam Auerbach - 2006
    But when she'd asked her physically abusive husband to make her day -- he'd agreed (in front of 500 people) -- and Harriet became single (a widow).Though it had been a clear-cut case of self-defense, she lost everything...yet wound up finding more. Her crash from the heights of society led her to a home in the desolate, haunting Everglades, a job as a private investigator and a new identity as tough cookie Dirty Harriet.It was a new world for Harriet. Until a murder case involving vulnerable migrant women brought her back to Boca Raton and forced her to face a past she'd thought she'd left in the dust....

The Best Friend's Brother Series Box Set


Alycia Taylor - 2015
     Smart, pretty, college student Alexa just lost her best friend. Confident, cocky, dangerous MMA fighter Ian just lost his sister. Their two worlds collide out of grief and the result is an explosion of emotions that flare up and threaten to consume them both. What happens when the secrets begin to start coming out? Who will end up getting burned? * This sexy steamy bad boy romance is perfect for fans of Joanna Blake, Devon Hartford, Sabrina Paige, Winter Renshaw, Vanessa Waltz and Dani Wyatt *

Kings of America


R.J. Ellory - 2017
    Adrift in the tough and unforgiving world of 1930s New York, they rely on Danny's bareknuckle fighting skills to survive. While Nicolas is tempted ever deeper into the underworld, Lucia can think of little but her obsessive drive to succeed in Hollywood. When Danny McCabe's dreams of boxing stardom become a terrifying nightmare, fate compels them to escape westwards to Los Angeles. On the run, the trio are bound together by blood, by shared secrets, and finally by love, as Danny and Lucia embark upon an affair that is as profound as it is dangerous. Nicolas, driven by greed, soon finds a welcome home in the dark world of corruption and vice that lies behind the glitzy facade of America's city of dreams. Danny McCabe is desperate to bury the dark secret of his past, while Lucia is caught in the crossfire between her brother and the man she loves. From the author of A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS comes an epic new novel that will span the Golden Age of Hollywood, from the 1930s to the 1960s, and will include appearances from Raymond Chandler, William Faulkner, Mickey Cohen and F. Scott Fitzgerald.