Book picks similar to
The Case of the Missing Botticelli by Marilyn Baron (A Massimo Domingo Mystery by Marilyn Baron
mystery
cozy-mystery
historical-research
false-information
Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Undead Client: Being Book One of the Unpublished Case Files of John H. Watson, MD
M.J. Downing - 2019
Even Arthur Conan Doyle would be a fan of this stellar mystery that would make him wish he'd done it himself. A must-read for all mystery fans in general and Sherlock Holmes fans in particular." —Jon Land, USA Today bestselling author of MURDER, SHE WROTE: A Date with Murder Sherlock Holmes' devoted friend Dr John Watson takes the lead in a case so bizarre that it could only be revealed after Holmes’ death. Sherlock Holmes has only been deceased a month when Dr. John Watson, still grieving, recounts his final case with Holmes. A terrifying mystery, it sends Watson and Holmes into the dark reaches of London’s back alleys – and the human soul. It begins when Anne Prescott, a lovely Scottish nurse, begs Sherlock Holmes and Watson to help her find her fiancé and her sister, who have gone missing in the teeming streets of London. Immediately, Watson feels an attraction to her that shocks him. Newly married to Mary, and deeply in love with her, he struggles to put Anne out of his mind. As Watson and Holmes dig into the slums and sewers of London looking for Anne’s fiancé and sister, they uncover a deadly web of bloody murders, horrific medical experiments, and even voodoo ritual that threatens not only London, but the entire British empire, and beyond. Watson must call on his unique combination of expertise in the medical sciences, as well as his military training to stop this killer before London – and Anne -- are lost to the killer’s bloody plan. But time is short and the mystery ever more complex. How can he manage his feelings for Anne? What about his loyalty to Mary? He can’t have both.
Run the Risk
Lori Foster - 2012
But the elusive beauty is more suspicious—and in far more danger—than he expected. And the last thing Logan needs is to start caring for her….Pepper has spent years dodging the corrupt club owner who will stop at nothing to keep her silenced. She can trust no one, not even the handsome new "construction worker" who's moved in next door. The heat between them is undeniable. But will surrendering to passion bring her the safety she so desires—or will her feelings for Logan draw them both into a killer's crosshairs?
Iced
Avery Daniels - 2020
During a luncheon event she coordinated, a renowned celebrity pastor is killed next to the buffet. All eyes turn to her as the suspect. If she wants to stay out of jail or even keep her job, Julienne needs all the help she can get to solve the crime. She has her work cut out for her with a vengeful high school rival now reporter, the public demanding she be fired, plus family who knows what's best for her, and a boyfriend who doesn't understand her. She turns to friends and a new ally to uncover who wanted to put the pastor on ice. Julienne goes undercover and investigates a local swingers group as she follows the trail of clues before they go cold. Can she gather enough suspects and motives to convince the police to widen their investigation? Can she do it before the killer sets his murderous sights on her? Will her personal life ever be as simple as unveiling a murderer?
Private Lies
Cynthia St. Aubin - 2018
Aubin…
During Jane Avery’s shady childhood, truth was always a moving target. Since then, she’s learned that colorful fictions can clean up a lot of life’s messes—and she learned from the best. Her mother, Alexis Avery, is the most imaginatively duplicitous private eye in Denver. When the mother of invention goes missing, Jane knows that only her acquired skills of deceit can solve the mystery.It’s what aspiring lawyer Jane doesn’t know that’s left her blindsided. For starters, Alexis’s secret two-year affair with fellow PI Paul Gladstone, or her latest client—a sleazy and deadly gazillionaire architect whose exploits keep the tabloids in business. Sure, Alexis has carved out a niche for danger. But this investigation is leading Jane down a rabbit hole of kidnapping, bribery, blackmail, hired assassins, and murder.Maybe Jane doesn’t know her mother at all. Maybe to find her, Jane has to face the truth. She just hopes she can recognize it when she sees it. It could save both their lives.
Through the Smoke
Brenda Novak - 2013
Power. An ancient heritage of pride. The Earl of Druridge wanted only for an heir. So when he learned that his wife was carrying another man’s child, he was filled with a thirst for vengeance.But he wasn’t the one who caused Katherine’s death. Or was he? To his horror, he remembers nothing of that dreadful night, when their last confrontation ended in scorching flame and cold blood.A forbidden love…Rachel McTavish, the beautiful daughter of a coal miner, knows something about the fire that took Lady Katherine’s life. In secret, the strong-willed girl strikes a bargain with the desperate earl: he must send his physician to help her dying mother or he may go to the devil—and the scaffold. He agrees, but she is still unsure that her revelation will be enough to save him when so many wish him dead.Passionately drawn to the nobleman, despite all the doubt and mystery that shrouds him, Rachel wonders if he can really be a murderer. Or if he is the only man who will ever own her heart…
Winter Takes All
M.L. Erdahl - 2019
Wanting to escape a future as dreary as a Pacific Northwest winter, she walks out on her dead-end office job, despite her tenuous savings account.Stumbling across a job opening posted by a wilderness guide outfit, an intrigued Crystal bluffs her way into the position. With handsome fellow guide, the stalwart Conner Oakes, she leads a corporate retreat on a snowshoe hike to a majestic alpine chalet.But when the company's detestable owner turns up dead in the snow, she fears her new life and budding romance slipping away. She finally has something worth fighting for and is determined to solve the murder and grab her chance at happiness before it's too late.
Cat Got Your Diamonds
Julie Chase - 2016
Opening Furry Godmother, pet boutique and organic treat bakery, is Lacy Marie Crocker’s dream come true--until the glitter gun used to make her Shih Tzu tutus becomes a murder weapon. And Lacy becomes public enemy #1.Now Detective Jack Oliver is hounding Lacy, and her Furry Godmother investor wants out before his name is tarnished by association. To make matters worse, a string of jewel heists with suspicious ties to the murder case has New Orleans residents on edge. To save her dream, Lacy must take a stand, put her keen eyes to work, and unravel what really happened at her shop that night. But can Lacy sniff out the killer cat burglar in time to get her tail-raising designs on the catwalk?Witty and whimsical, Cat Got Your Diamonds, the first in a new cozy series by Julie Chase, will be the cat's meow for fans of Rita Mae Brown and Miranda James.
Earthbound Bones
ReGina Welling - 2016
Not quite human, yet not fully an angel, the best thing the PTBs can think to do with her is bounce her around so she can solve supernatural problems. Ghosts that need to find their way home or that purposefully take the wrong path are her bread and butter. To add insult to injury, she is assigned a fledgling pair of guardian angels to train. Julius and Estelle are ready and willing to learn, but they also have a secondary agenda. One that Galmadriel is never supposed find out about. Helping the ghost of young Ben Allen find his way home reconnects Galmadriel with Kat, Amethyst, Gustavia, and Julie in the first of many adventures to come.
Fatal Affair
Marie Force - 2010
The perfect opportunity arises when Senator John O’Connor is found brutally murdered in his bed, and Sam is assigned to the case. Things get complicated when Sam has to team up with Nick Cappuano, O’Connor’s friend and chief of staff…and the man Sam had a memorable one-night stand with years earlier. Their sexual chemistry still sizzles, and Sam has to fight to stay focused on the case. Sleeping with a material witness is another mistake she can’t afford—especially when the bodies keep piling up.
Last Seen Alone
Laura Griffin - 2021
She is not afraid to go after the sleaziest targets to get payback for her clients. Leigh is laser-focused on her career--to the exclusion of everything else--until a seemingly routine case and a determined cop turn her world upside down.Austin homicide detective Brandon Reynolds is no stranger to midnight callouts. But when he gets summoned to an abandoned car on a desolate road, he quickly realizes he's dealing with an unusual crime scene. A pool of blood in the nearby woods suggests a brutal homicide. But where is the victim? The vehicle is registered to twenty-six-year-old Vanessa Adams. Searching the car, all Brandon finds is a smear of blood and a business card for Leigh Larson, attorney-at-law.Vanessa had hired Leigh just before her disappearance, but Leigh has no leads on who could have wanted her dead. Faced with bewildering evidence and shocking twists, Leigh and Brandon must work against the clock to chase down a ruthless criminal who is out for vengeance.
Middle Ageish
Shirley Goldberg - 2020
With divorce papers instead of roses on the horizon, she says "au revoir" Paris and croissants, and "hello" cheap New Haven apartment and ramen noodles.With the encouragement of her friends, Sunny jumps into online dating, twenty-three years and twenty pounds after her last date. To her surprise she discovers dating might require a helmet, and occasionally armor to protect her heart, but after years of being ignored, her adventurous side craves fun and conversation. She’s middle-aged not dead. Then suddenly, on the way to reinventing herself, life takes a left turn when the one man she can't forget calls with an unexpected request.
Ambush in the Everglades
Petie McCarty - 2012
Trapped with nightfall approaching and no way back, Kayli learns some tough lessons from her sexy but volatile airboat guide: Trust means everything in the dangerous River of Grass, and a skilled partner makes all the difference in your survival. Skye Landers takes the airboat safari gig as a favor to his cousin who is called out of town. Skye doesn't expect the governor's photographer to catch his eye, but Kayli Heddon is unlike any woman he has ever met. He knows he should keep his distance, but common sense flies out the window whenever she gets near. Unfortunately, Kayli values honesty above all else, and placing her trust in Skye tests her resolve--especially when he turns out to be a fraud. When secrets from his past chase them into the Everglades, Kayli and Skye are soon on the run from more than just alligators.
The Girl Who Stole the Apple
Peter Tickler - 2016
A little girl dressed in a Snow White costume walks into a store and steals an apple . . . then the store blows up. One of the staff, Maggie Rogers, is conveniently out of the store when all this happens. Maggie turns out to have a past full of secrets and betrayal, and attracts the attention of the police as well as more sinister forces. Maggie and the little girl end up on the run, not knowing who’s on their side or even what their pursuers really want. Then they seem to have reached the end of the line. Nowhere else to run, nowhere else to hide. Maggie and the little girl face a desperate struggle for survival. Find out the answers in this beautifully written novel which will take you on a darkly gripping journey to a surprising end. Great for fans of Gillian Flynn, Ian McEwan or Paula Hawkins who love fast-paced suspense thrillers Also by Peter Tickler: DEAD IN THE WATER.
Game of Life
Belle Brooks
She inflicted pain on another, and now, more than a decade later, she's going to pay. The only problem is she can't remember what it is she's done to find herself caught in this cat and mouse game that's been played twelve times before . . . a game nobody has ever come out of alive. Can Morgan be the first to survive this game of life?Can she outrun nature, the darkness, a fire and a vengeful hunter?Who's afraid of the big, bad wolf?You should be!Lose your mind. Live the fear. Fight with these characters as they battle until the very end. Hold your breath as you start, and finish, the story of a lifetime. Characters so real—you'll feel like you're playing the game with them. Plot twists so unexpected—you won't be able to stop reading. And an ending so powerful ... you'll never forget it. ~ A standalone novel by international bestselling author Belle Brooks.Also available in a FIVE-part novella series.
Death in Paris
Emilia Bernhard - 2018
L. Longworth and Juliet Blackwell.The only thing chillier than a Parisian winter is cold-blooded murder.When French financier Edgar Bowen drowns in a bowl of soup, his former girlfriend, American Rachel Levis, is alarmed by the unnatural death. Who dies eating a nice vichyssoise? But when she overhears a mourner at his funeral describing the circumstances of his death, something sounds even stranger: a bottle of rosé was on the dining table when he died. The only problem: Edgar loathed rosé. If he wasn’t drinking it, who was? After the police rule the death accidental, Rachel knows it’s up to her and her best friend Magda to investigate. As the two Americans immerse themselves in Edgar’s upper-class world, the list of suspects grows: Could it have been his son, who inherited his money and lavish apartment? His icy ex-wife? His greedy new girlfriend? His impoverished personal assistant? But when the suspects start dropping like flies, Rachel and Magda realize the murderer is tying up loose ends. It’ll be up to two amateur sleuths to solve their first case before the murderer decides they’re next...