Book picks similar to
Secrets of the South by B.M. Hardin
suspense
read-again
secret-of-the-south
urban
The Twelve Murders of Christmas
Tim Ellis - 2011
Each day, victims are found stabbed with their clothes removed and their faces ripped off. A verse from the carol is daubed on the wall in blood. Will Quigg find the killer before he is forced to resign? Also, Quigg must choose between two women, or must he? And can he persuade the Chief to let Sergeant Begone be his partner on a permanent basis?
Cap's Place
Robert Tarrant - 2015
Suddenly his world was knocked out of orbit and he found himself living with his Uncle Mickey above Mickey's bar in South Florida. Mickey's untimely death leads to Jack becoming a bar owner. Jack's protective approach to his life includes staying emotionally uninvolved with everyone around him, those who work at the bar, customers, and the objects of his frequent one-night stands. Without warning Jack finds himself struggling to protect his beautiful bartender from unknown forces intent on killing her. Jack is confronted with decisions that require him to ignore rules he had previously deemed unbreakable. The characters who inhabit Cap's Place turn out to be much more complex than Jack ever anticipated. Each book in the Cap’s Place Series is a snapshot into the adventures and evolving lives of Jack Nolan and those who are a part of his South Florida Bar. As is true in real life, no single snapshot answers every question. In Jack’s case, no single glimpse ever clearly reveals to him all of the unfolding puzzles.
The Law of the Sea : A Legal Thriller
Dave Gerard - 2021
The rarest of these are worth colossal fortunes, and can make their finders fabulously wealthy in the blink of an eye.Against this backdrop, young Houston lawyer Jack Carver meets his newest client, Ashley Marcum. She is looking for help after the mysterious death of her brother, who died while working for a giant oil company. Jack and Ashley’s only clue about his death is a set of unidentified gold coins, of indeterminate age and value.As Jack and Ashley scramble to discover how her brother died and uncover the origin of the coins, the oil company sends their powerful lawyers to stop them. Jack and Ashley soon find themselves caught up in a legal battle to uncover the truth—a battle they are ill-equipped to win.As the saga unfolds, Jack and Ashley soon discover that the coins belong to an ancient shipwreck—perhaps one of the greatest of all time. As the oil company tries to subvert legal process and shut them out, Jack and Ashley are forced to fight a case that begins in Texas but soon spreads across the globe.Amidst twists, turns, and roadblocks, Jack and Ashley must race through a history shrouded in secrets, spurred on by a case that ignites a firestorm around the world.
A Brooklyn Love Affair: Vixen & Gino's Story
Tya Marie - 2015
The fiercely devoted one she uses for her best friend, the one of a lover and confidant to her fiancé, and the real one she keeps reserved for looking in the mirror and battling her inner demons. Life is fairly normal for Vixen until her verbally abusive mother reenters her life, dredging up traumatic childhood memories, and bringing a handsome stranger into the mix with her devious antics causing Vixen to reprise her role as caregiver and bread winner.Gino Romano is infamous for many reasons: his notoriety for being one of the youngest king pins in New York City, the cold manner in which he handles business, and the notable political ties he's managed to create along the way through "profit sharing." However, the most prominent thing he's known for is the ice fortress he's built around his heart. Because of his past, Gino keeps women at an arms length, believing it hard to find one who could accept the scarred past he comes with. Until he lays eyes on Vixen.Brought together for all the wrong reasons, Vixen and Gino find a common ground that not only develops into a budding friendship, but sparks a love affair. From the moment they become one they must fight to protect their love from those who plan to destroy it by any means necessary, one of which being the very reason Vixen ran away from home ten years ago in the dead of night.Will the forces determined to see Gino and Vixen destroyed win? Or will their love prevail? Set in a spicy Brooklyn backdrop, A Brooklyn Love Affair brings to life pain, forgiveness, and the never ending possibility of finding love.
Behind Closed Doors
Natalie R. Collins - 2007
Melissa was the only one who knew what had really happened to Jannie beyond the sacred walls of the Mormon Temple the night that changed her life forever…. UNTIL HER BEST FRIEND VANISHED WITHOUT A TRACE.Now Melissa has gone missing, just days after entrusting Jannie with a mysterious box that someone would kill to possess. And someone has--leaving in their murderous wake an innocent victim and a trail of blood that leads to the heart of Jannie's hidden burden. Desperate to protect her secret, and to find out what has happened to Melissa, Jannie trusts no one. Not the stranger whose piercing green eyes have already seen too much, nor the family and friends whose familiar fold may be shielding a cold-blooded killer who is lurking BEHIND CLOSED DOORS.
The Courier
Gordon J. Campbell - 2019
They sized him up as someone with potential for strategic deployment, and more importantly, he's under the radar. Gregg's exploits start with what he thinks is a one-off assignment as a courier, and the straightforward task spirals out of control. He's forced to rise to the occasion and use every resource available to survive. Even his family is jeopardized which forces him to return to Japan to settle scores.The Courier is one man’s struggle to fight for survival in a world that he's not been trained for and where violence and retribution are the names of the game.
The Twelfth Imam Collection
Joel C. Rosenberg - 2014
At extreme personal risk, Shirazi undertakes his assignment. A native Farsi speaker whose family escaped from Iran in 1979, he couldn’t be better prepared for the mission. But none of his training has prepared Shirazi for what will happen next. An obscure religious cleric is suddenly hailed throughout the region as the Islamic messiah known as the Mahdi or the Twelfth Imam. News of his miracles, healings, signs, and wonders, spread like wildfire, as do rumors of a new and horrific war. With the prophecy of the Twelfth Imam seemingly fulfilled, Iran’s leaders prepare to strike Israel and bring about the End of Days. Shirazi must take action, but the clock is ticking.The Tehran Initiative: The world is on the brink of disaster, and the clock is ticking. Iran has just conducted its first atomic weapons test. Millions of Muslims around the world are convinced their messiah—known as the Twelfth Imam—has just arrived on earth. Israeli leaders fear Tehran, under the Twelfth Imam’s spell, will soon launch a nuclear attack that could bring about a second Holocaust and the annihilation of Israel. The White House fears Jerusalem will strike first, launching a preemptive attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities that could cause the entire Middle East to go up in flames, oil prices to skyrocket, and the global economy to collapse. With the stakes high and few viable options left, the president of the United States orders CIA operative David Shirazi and his team to track down and sabotage Iran’s nuclear warheads before Iran or Israel can launch a devastating first strike.Damascus Countdown: 2014 “Christian Retailing’s Best” award finalist!All eyes are on the Middle East. Israel has successfully launched a first strike on Iran, taking out all of their nuclear sites and six of their nuclear warheads—and causing The Twelfth Imam to order a full-scale retaliation. U.S. President William Jackson threatens to support a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the Jewish State for unprovoked and unwarranted acts of aggression. Meanwhile, CIA operative David Shirazi has infiltrated the Iranian regime and intercepted information indicating that two Iranian nuclear warheads survived the attack and have been moved to a secure and undisclosed location. In danger not only from the ongoing missile strikes on Iran but also from the increasingly hostile and suspicious governments of multiple countries, David and his team are in a race against time to find the remaining nuclear warheads before disaster strikes.
Lynchpin: The Best Laid Schemes of Mice and Men
Siddharth Maheshwari - 2021
A sinister plan, of a shrewd calculating mastermind, has set the wheels of doom in motion. He is now pulling the lynchpins across the country and making it fall into disarray. He is using everyone in his path to achieve his goals. Within thirty days he intends to control the nation’s soul. As chaos grips the country, it’s a race against time for DSP Ranbir Roy of the Intelligence Bureau and Inspector Vikram Aditya Singh to stop him before anarchy dooms the country. The pieces are set, the board is laid out but what happens when your own pawns move against you? What will be the end game?
Burn, Baby, Burn
Jake Barton - 2010
He'd always known it. Even at the age of six when he'd decided to kill his father. His privileged background should have produced a doctor, an academic, perhaps a diplomat. Instead, he killed people for fun.Donna O'Prey is the most junior member of a small private security firm. A routine search for a missing teenage girl escalates into something very dangerous indeed.
Depth Charge
Jason Heaton - 2021
The tragedy sets in motion a dangerous quest for truth that pulls Tusker into a sinister plot spanning 75 years, from World War II Ceylon to modern day Sri Lanka. Along the way, he matches wits with a psychopathic mercenary, discovers a long lost ship with an explosive secret, and falls for a beautiful marine biologist who is at least as strong as he is. In the end, Tusker finds that the truth may lie at the bottom of the sea, with only one way back to the surface. Depth Charge is an old school thriller in the tradition of Fleming, Maclean, and Cussler, with an eye for detail, cunning villains, and narrow escapes. The story is full of wartime secrets, the intersection of religion and politics, and the arcane world of deep technical diving. It takes readers from the smoky halls of 1940s London to the volatile, seductive heat of Sri Lanka and sixty fathoms under the Indian Ocean.
The Strange Death of Father Candy
Les Roberts - 2011
His late parents were close to the ruling mob clan in Youngstown, his sister was a bad-tempered and dissatisfied nag, and his middle brother was a corruptible police lieutenant. But in 1985, their oldest brother Richard Candiotti---beloved by every Italian Catholic in Youngstown as "Father Candy"---dies, and Dominick returns home for the funeral.Dominick is greatly disturbed by Richard's death, which has been ruled a suicide. Dissatisfied with this answer, he sets out to find the truth, revealing secrets and coming face-to-face with brutality and violence.Award-winning author Les Roberts pens a riveting and moving tale about walking the fragile tightrope between love and hatred.
The Concrete Vineyard
Cam Lang - 2020
Thinking he might be out of his depth he is happy to enlist the aid of his friend, Kris Gage. But when Dee reads the deceased's last entry in his diary, 'time to take care of K. Gage', he becomes torn between investigation and friendship.As an urban planner, Gage understands real estate and the bureaucracy of planning. Following the money, he soon finds himself in the middle of corrupt developers who seek to take all the charm out of the area. Over two hundred years after the War of 1812, is Niagara-on-the-Lake, once again, on-the-Take?The Concrete Vineyard is an intriguing and unique whodunit. Packing an intellectual punch, this smart murder/mystery will have you guessing and gripped! If you like great characters, clever plots and intelligent storytelling, then you'll love this creative and thought-provoking novel.
Stuck On You (Stoneworths Series, #1)
Michelle Stimpson - 2016
Yet when they returned to school in the fall, Braxton made a decision that drove Tiffany to transfer schools and never look back.Now, nearly a decade later, they meet again as business experts vying for the same contract at a prestigious school. In addition to their professional competition, tensions mount as Braxton and Tiffany discover that they have two different versions of what happened to their romance so long ago. Can they overcome hard feelings and pick up where they left off? Tiffany’s father passed away a few months ago, just as she was founding her new project management firm. She wonders if her leap of faith was a good move, and her doubts only increase when she learns that someone from the firm she left is trying to undermine her independent efforts…not to mention her possibilities with Braxton.Braxton thought he might follow his father’s footsteps into ministry. His wild fraternity days caught up with him, however, causing Braxton to give up the idea of teaching anyone to follow the faith he so obviously neglected. Can he win back his own self-respect and the heart of the woman he never forgot?Stuck On You is the first book in The Stoneworth Series by bestselling Christian Fiction author Michelle Stimpson. The family history is briefly established, and then readers are off to experience the Stoneworth family's rich legacy of faith and integrity within the context of contemporary romance. Come fall in love with the family!
A Brand New Hood Love
Johnazia Gray - 2017
The hood raised her, but she's determined to let her humbled spirit take her out of it. Living a normal life is only a choice that she's made, however. Unlike Gianni, her mother, Tommy, is a bigger queen pin than any king pin in Tallahassee Florida and in the down south area. She takes care of Gianni and her two kids with no problems. Tommy could easily give Gianni the salon and big house that Gianni has always dreamed of, but Gianni wants to accomplish her goals on her own. Due to her mother being in and out of Federal Prison, Gianni reminds herself that she has two kids to think about, and she can not and will never leave her kids behind, like Tommy did her. Instead, Gianni allows her baby's father, Lamont, to take care of her and her kids. She feels he owes her that much, due to all the pain he's caused her. However, dealing with him has caused nothing but heartache, distraction and drama. After finding out about the third child that he could possibly have on her, she finally decides to stray away from him and focus on she and her kids. She meets a handsome and wealthy man by the name of Kreed at her mother's house during Tommy's known 'gambling day'. Kreed is a different breed, and though Gianni only wants friends so that she can do a little living, Kreed is hard to shake. He has that smart, hood, and smooth demeanor that Gianni admires. Being surrounded by drugs and a lot of money didn't mean a thing to Kreed. He loves his legal businesses and he enjoys living his life the right way. He's feeling Gianni just as much as she's feeling him, but he when Lamont finds out that there's a new man in town who's stole Gianni's heart, he makes she and her kids life a living hell. Which causes Kreed to bring out his old vicious ways! Tumultuous drama starts to unfold, and it will be up to Gianni to get everything in line to save what she has with Kreed.