Book picks similar to
The Lover by Laura Wilson


mystery
thriller
historical-fiction
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The Face of a Stranger


Anne Perry - 1990
    But the accident that felled him has left him with only half a life; his memory and his entire past have vanished. As he tries to hide the truth, Monk returns to work and is assigned to investigate the brutal murder of a Crimean War hero and man about town. Which makes Monk's efforts doubly difficult, since he's forgotten his professional skills along with everything else...

Arrowood


Mick Finlay - 2017
    Everyone else goes to Arrowood.The Afghan War is over and a deal with the Irish appears to have brought an end to sectarian violence, but Britain's position in the world is uncertain and the gap between rich and poor is widening. London is a place where the wealthy party while the underclass are tempted into lives of crime, drugs and prostitution. A serial killer stalks the streets. Politicians are embroiled in financial and sexual scandals. The year is 1895.The police don't have the resources to deal with everything that goes on in the capital. The rich turn to a celebrated private detective when they need help: Sherlock Holmes. But in densely populated south London, where the crimes are sleazier and Holmes rarely visits, people turn to Arrowood, a private investigator who despises Holmes, his wealthy clientele and his showy forensic approach to crime. Arrowood understands people, not clues.

Complicit


Nicci French - 2009
    She is alone, except for the dead body lying in a pool of blood. What happened? What will she do? And is any or all of it her fault? Bonnie is a music teacher who has spent a long, hot summer in London rehearsing with a band. It was supposed to be fun, but the tricky knots of the band's friendships unravel with each passing day. What was meant to be a summer of happiness, music and love turns deadly as lovers betray, passions turn homicidal and friendship itself becomes a crime. Someone in the band must be a killer. Is it Bonnie? And if not - who is it?

Plea of Insanity


Jilliane Hoffman - 2007
    Young and ambitious and facing a case that could catapult her career. The defendant - David Marquette. A successful Miami attorney and devoted husband and father. The victims - his own family. The plea - not guilty by reason of insanity.

The Man in the Queue


Josephine Tey - 1929
    London’s favorite musical comedy of the past two years was finishing its run at the end of the week. Suddenly, the line began to move, forming a wedge before the open doors as hopeful theatergoers nudged their way forward. But one man, his head sunk down upon his chest, slowly sank to his knees and then, still more slowly, keeled over on his face. Thinking he had fainted, a spectator moved to help, but recoiled in horror from what lay before him: the man in the queue had a small silver dagger neatly plunged into his back. With the wit and guile that have made Inspector Grant a favorite of mystery fans, the inspector sets about discovering just how a murder occurred among so many witnesses, none of whom saw a thing.

The Surrogate


Tania Carver - 2009
    A killer like no other. This murderer targets heavily pregnant women, drugging them and brutally removing their unborn babies.When DI Phil Brennan is called to the latest murder scene, he knows he has entered the world of the most depraved killer he had ever encountered. After a loveless, abusive childhood, Phil knows evil well. But nothing has prepared him for this.And when criminal profiler Marina Esposito is brought in to help solve the case, she delivers a bombshell: she believes there is a woman involved in the killing, a woman desperate for children...A shocking, gripping debut novel, The Surrogate is the perfect read for fans of Tess Gerritsen and Karin Slaughter.

The Unfinished Clue


Georgette Heyer - 1933
    His arrogance and abrasive manner had alienated his wife, her sister, his house guests, his wayward son, even a desperate friend. Of course, his attentions to one attractive young guest in plain view of her husband simply multiplied the possible suspects in his murder.

The Hanging Shed


Gordon Ferris - 2010
    Now, the war is over but victory's wine has soured and Brodie's back in Scotland to try and save childhood friend Hugh Donovan from the gallows. Everyone thought Donovan was dead, shot down in the war. Perhaps it would have been kinder if he had been killed. The man who returned was unrecognizable: mutilated, horribly burned. Donovan keeps his own company, only venturing out for heroin to deaden the pain of his wounds. When a local boy is found raped and murdered, there is only one suspect...Donovan claims he's innocent but a mountain of evidence says otherwise. Despite the hideousness of the crime, ex-policeman Brodie feels compelled to try and help his one-time friend. Working with Donovan's advocate Samantha Campbell, Brodie trawls both the mean streets of the Gorbals and the green hills of western Scotland in their search for the truth. What they find is an unholy alliance of church, police and Glasgow's deadliest razor gang, happy to slaughter to protect their dark secrets. As time runs out for the condemned man, and the tally of murdered innocents rises, Brodie reverts to his wartime role as a trained killer. It's them or him.

The Case of the Gilded Fly


Edmund Crispin - 1944
    Center-stage is the beautiful, malicious Yseut, a mediocre actress with a stellar talent for destroying men. Rounding out the cast are more than a few of her past and present conquests, and the women who love them. And watching from the wings is Professor Gervase Fen-scholar, wit, and fop extraordinaire-who would rather solve crimes than expound on English literature. When Yseut is murdered, Fen finally gets his wish. Gilded Fly, originally published in 1944, was both Fen's first outing and the debut of the pseudonymous Crispin (in reality, composer Bruce Montgomery).

Beloved Poison


E.S. Thomson - 2016
    It smelt of time and decay, sour, like old books and parchments. The light from the chapel's stained glass window blushed red upon it, and upon my hands, as if the thing itself radiated a bloody glow.Ramshackle and crumbling, trapped in the past and resisting the future, St Saviour's Infirmary awaits demolition. Within its stinking wards and cramped corridors the doctors bicker and fight. Ambition, jealousy and hatred seethe beneath the veneer of professional courtesy. Always an outsider, and with a secret of her own to hide, apothecary Jem Flockhart observes everything, but says nothing.And then six tiny coffins are uncovered, inside each a handful of dried flowers and a bundle of mouldering rags. When Jem comes across these strange relics hidden inside the infirmary's old chapel, her quest to understand their meaning prises open a long-forgotten past - with fatal consequences.In a trail that leads from the bloody world of the operating theatre and the dissecting table to the notorious squalor of Newgate and the gallows, Jem's adversary proves to be both powerful and ruthless. As St Saviour's destruction draws near, the dead are unearthed from their graves whilst the living are forced to make impossible choices. And murder is the price to be paid for the secrets to be kept.

Ice Blue


Emma Jameson - 2011
    With the exception of his chosen career, too sordid for his blue-blooded family to condone, his life has been safe and predictable. But then he meets Detective Sergeant Kate Wakefield — beautiful, willful, and nearly half his age. When Hetheridge saves the outspoken, impetuous young detective from getting the sack, siding with her against Scotland Yard's powerful male hierarchy, his cold, elegantly balanced world spins out of control. Summoned to London's fashionable Belgravia to investigate the brutal murder of a financier, Hetheridge must catch the killer while coping with his growing attraction to Kate, the reappearance of an old flame, and the secret that emerges from his own past.

The Unquiet Grave (Captain Harry Tennant Mystery Book 1)


David J. Oldman - 2016
     The war may be over, but the it’s devastating effects are not… Captain Harry Tennant has returned from serving in Italy and North Africa, expecting to be demobbed, only to find his services are still in demand. A policeman before the war, he’s made part of the Intelligence Corps, investigating war crimes. Mostly he looks into smaller cases of army personnel who are the victims, or perpetrators of crimes. That’s how Rose Kearney’s file ends up on his desk. Her brother William, a soldier with the Hampshire Regiment, was reported missing in action after D-Day. Having heard nothing else since, she’s travelling from their home in Wicklow to find answers. As Harry starts to investigate, he learns Kearney was part of a carrier crew fighting near Caen. The bodies from Kearney’s crew are found near a French chateau, with one appearing to have been executed. But there’s was no sign of Kearney. Reports of Nazi atrocities nearby are leaking out and at first, it seems the men were victims of the ruthless Nazi machine. But things aren’t adding up for Tennant. Why was Kearney’s body never found, and why was an SS officer discovered with the missing man’s disks? Although his superior, Jekyll, wants the death blamed on the SS and quickly wrapped up, the more Harry digs, the more curious he becomes. He sets out to find answers, but only seems to dig up more questions. And it’s not long before Tennant find himself in grave danger… Praise for David J Oldman ‘Rich with historical detail and mystery, this post-World War 2 thriller is an absolute knockout!’ – Tom Kasey, bestselling author of Trade Off David J. Oldman is a writer and history enthusiast, with a particular interest in First World War military history.

The Collini Case


Ferdinand von Schirach - 2011
    Fabrizio Collini is recently retired. He’s a quiet, unassuming man with no indications that he’s capable of hurting anyone. And yet he brutally murders a prominent industrialist in one of Berlin’s most exclusive hotels. Collini ends up in the charge of Caspar Leinen, a rookie defense lawyer eager to launch his career with a not-guilty verdict. Complications soon arise when Collini admits to the murder but refuses to give his motive, much less speak to anyone. As Leinen searches for clues he discovers a personal connection to the victim and unearths a terrible truth at the heart of Germany’s legal system that stretches back to World War II. But how much is he willing to sacrifice to expose the truth?

Death at Wentwater Court


Carola Dunn - 1994
    But her planned interviews with the inhabitants of Wentwater Court give way to interrogation after suave Lord Stephen Astwick meets a dire fate on the tranquil skating pond.Armed with evidence that his fate was anything but accidental, Daisy joins forces with Scotland Yard to examine an esteemed collection of suspects and to see that the unlikely culprit doesn't slip through their fingers just as the unfortunate Astwick slipped through the ice. ©1994 Carola Dunn; (P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks

The Various Haunts of Men


Susan Hill - 2004
    Simon Serrailler, her enigmatic superior. Though she fits well within the local police force, she finds herself unable to let go what seems like a routine missing persons report on a middle-aged spinster. When yet more townspeople turn up missing, her hunch is verified and a serious police search begins, bringing her into closer proximity with Serrailler at the same time it exposes her to danger.