Book picks similar to
Black Sunshine by Ninie Hammon


suspense
mystery
ninie-hammon
fiction

Midnight Exposure


Melinda Leigh - 2012
    But the truth is far more sinister. Unaware of the danger, tabloid photographer Jayne Sullivan follows an anonymous tip to find the most reclusive sculptor in the art world. Instead, she finds sexy handyman Reed Kimball—and a small town full of fatal secrets.Five years ago, Reed buried his homicide detective career along with his wife. But when a hiker is found dead, the local police chief asks Reed for help. Why was a Celtic coin found under the body? And where is the second hiker? Avoiding the media, Reed doesn’t need a murder, a missing person, or a nosey photographer. Then Jayne is attacked, and her courage is his undoing. Reed must risk everything to protect her - and find a cunning killer.

The Thirteenth Tale


Diane Setterfield - 2006
    The enigmatic Winter has spent six decades creating various outlandish life histories for herself -- all of them inventions that have brought her fame and fortune but have kept her violent and tragic past a secret. Now old and ailing, she at last wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. She summons biographer Margaret Lea, a young woman for whom the secret of her own birth, hidden by those who loved her most, remains an ever-present pain. Struck by a curious parallel between Miss Winter's story and her own, Margaret takes on the commission. As Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good, Margaret is mesmerized. It is a tale of gothic strangeness featuring the Angelfield family, including the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire. Margaret succumbs to the power of Vida's storytelling but remains suspicious of the author's sincerity. She demands the truth from Vida, and together they confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves. The Thirteenth Tale is a love letter to reading, a book for the feral reader in all of us, a return to that rich vein of storytelling that our parents loved and that we loved as children. Diane Setterfield will keep you guessing, make you wonder, move you to tears and laughter and, in the end, deposit you breathless yet satisfied back upon the shore of your everyday life.

Freaks


Tess Gerritsen - 2007
    Homicide cop Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles have seen their fair share of mortal crimes, but the death of Kimberly Rayner may qualify as inhuman in more ways than one. When corpse of the emaciated seventeen-year-old girl is discovered next to an empty coffin in an abandoned church, mysterious bruises around the throat suggest foul play. Caught fleeing the scene is the victim’s closest friend, Lucas Henry, an equally skeletal, pale teenager who claims he’s guilty only of having a taste for blood—a craving he shared with Kimberly. But the victim’s distraught father doesn’t believe in vampires, only vengeance. And now, another life may be at risk unless Rizzoli and Isles can uncover the astonishing truth. Includes a special preview of Tess Gerritsen’s new Rizzoli & Isles novel, The Silent Girl, on sale July 5 And don’t miss the season premiere of TNT’s hit series Rizzoli & Isles on July 11

Torch


Cambria Hebert - 2013
    All she’s ever wanted is a place to call her own—a life that is wholly hers that no one can take away. She thought she finally had it, but with the strike of a single match, everything she worked so hard for is reduced to a pile of smoking ash. And she almost is too.Now she’s being stalked by someone who’s decided it’s her time to die. The only thing standing in the path of her blazing death is sexy firefighter Holt Arkain.Katie’s body might be safe with Holt… but her heart is another story.As the danger heats up, sparks fly and the only thing Katie knows for sure is that her whole life is about to go up in flames.

The Jack Stratton Collection


Christopher Greyson - 2014
    This set contains Girl Jacked, Jack Knifed, Jacks are Wild and Jack and the Giant Killer. The Jack Stratton mystery collection that has 500+ Five-Star reviews with over 200,000 eBooks and paperbacks in distribution. If you love mysteries with action, humor and a dash of romance, try the Jack Stratton Collection today. Girl Jacked Police Officer Jack Stratton is hiding. Hiding from the world. From pain. From the memories of losing his best friend, Chandler, in Iraq. Suffering from PTSD, and isolated from those he cares about, the last thing Jack expects to hear is his foster sister Michelle is gone – Chandler’s sister. The words cut straight to his core. Although the police think she just took off, he knows Michelle would never leave those she loved behind – like he did. Now he must take action, find Michelle and bring her home... or die trying. The first novel in the Jack Stratton Mystery Collection introduces us to handsome rogue, Jack Stratton, and his dark past. With a debt of honor to his dead foster brother, Chandler, Jack’s guilt drives him into a world of deception and lies. As Jack’s walls begin to crumble, he must navigate the quirky characters that seep into the mystery of his foster sister’s disappearance. And in the sleepy community of Darrington, like so many things in this world, nothing is as it appears to be. The hidden mysteries that often go unnoticed begin to emerge as Jack and his new unpredictable sidekick begin to turn over the rocks. Following a trail that has grown cold, Jack must tread carefully to protect his job, his family, and his own life… Jack Knifed Handsome Police Officer Jack Stratton is the “hometown hero cop with a heart of gold.” Constant nightmares have forced him to seek answers about his rough childhood, and the dark secrets that lay hidden there. With Replacement by his side, Jack travels to Hope Falls to solve a murder that occurred before he was born. Everyone in the small town remembers the unsolved murder of Steven Ritter, but after 27 years, no one thought that someone would look into it – They don’t know Jack. Jacks are Wild Handsome, white-knight, Police Officer Jack Stratton is back in this action-packed, thrilling adventure. When his sexy, old flame disappears, no one thinks it’s suspicious except Jack and one unbalanced witness. Jack feels in his gut that something is wrong. He knows that Marisa has a past and if it ever caught up with her – it would be deadly. Determined to buck the critics, and listen to his instincts, he and his young, feisty sidekick plunge ahead and start to track down leads hoping to find Marisa in time. The trail leads them into all sorts of trouble – landing them smack in the middle of an all-out Mob war between the Italian Mafia and the Japanese Yakuza. When evidence surfaces that Marisa was kidnapped, Jack must navigate between the warring parties, assassins, and cold-blooded hit men to outwit the cunning kidnappers before it is too late. As the body count rises, the stakes in this game are life and death – with no rules except one – Jacks are Wild. Jack and the Giant Killer Jack Stratton is back in another action-packed, thrilling adventure. While recovering from a gunshot wound and the loss of his job on the police force, Jack’s romance with feisty Replacement continues to develop. When Replacement gets a seemingly harmless private investigation job—locate the owner of a lost dog—Jack begrudgingly assists. Little do they know that it will place them both into the cross hairs of a merciless serial killer.

Music of the Night


Nancy Herkness - 2007
    When world-famous conductor Nicholas Vranos finds his best friend murdered backstage at Carnegie Hall, he's plunged into a maelstrom of intrigue swirling around Beethoven's mythical Tenth Symphony. Discovered in Vienna, the musical manuscript has left a trail of betrayal and death on its journey to New York City. Although Nicholas is her main suspect, N.Y.P.D. Detective Anna Salazar finds herself turning to the dark, charismatic maestro for help as she navigates the Byzantine world of classical music. With a hysterical violinist as the only witness and a scrap of musical doodles as the only clue, Anna finds herself drawn into Nicholas's web of seduction and power. As passion explodes between them, she must decide how much she can trust him, both with the case and with her heart. Originally published by Redburn Press.

Every Ugly Word


Aimee L. Salter - 2013
    She can’t go a day without fighting with her mother. And no matter how hard she tries, she can’t make her best friend, Matt, fall in love with her. But Ashley also has something no one else does: a literal glimpse into the future. When Ashley looks into the mirror, she can see her twenty-three-year-old self.Her older self has been through it all already—she endured the bullying, survived the heartbreak, and heard every ugly word her classmates threw at her. But her older self is also keeping a dark secret: Something terrible is about to happen to Ashley. Something that will change her life forever. Something even her older self is powerless to stop.

In an Instant


Suzanne Redfearn - 2020
    Suspended between worlds, she watches helplessly as those she loves struggle to survive.Impossible choices are made, decisions that leave the survivors tormented with grief and regret. Unable to let go, Finn keeps vigil as they struggle to reclaim their shattered lives. Jack, her father, who seeks vengeance against the one person he can blame other than himself; her best friend, Mo, who bravely searches for the truth as the story of their survival is rewritten; her sister Chloe, who knows Finn lingers and yearns to join her; and her mother, Ann, who saved them all but is haunted by her decisions. Finn needs to move on, but how can she with her family still in pieces?Heartrending yet ultimately redemptive, In an Instant is a story about the power of love, the meaning of family, and carrying on…even when it seems impossible.

Ghost on Black Mountain


Ann Hite - 2011
    THEY’RE LOST FOREVER. Nellie Clay married Hobbs Pritchard without even noticing he was a spell conjured into a man, a walking, talking ghost story. But her mama knew. She saw it in her tea leaves: death. Folks told Nellie to get off the mountain while she could, to go back home before it was too late. Hobbs wasn’t nothing but trouble. He’d even killed a man. No telling what else. That mountain was haunted, and soon enough, Nellie would feel it too. One way or another, Hobbs would get what was coming to him. The ghosts would see to that. . . . Told in the stunning voices of five women whose lives are inextricably bound when a murder takes place in rural Depression-era North Carolina, Ann Hite’s unforgettable debut spans generations and conjures the best of Southern folk-lore—mystery, spirits, hoodoo, and the incomparable beauty of the Appalachian landscape.

Gone Girl


Gillian Flynn - 2012
    Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?With her razor-sharp writing and trademark psychological insight, Gillian Flynn delivers a fast-paced, devilishly dark, and ingeniously plotted thriller that confirms her status as one of the hottest writers around.One of the most critically acclaimed suspense writers of our time, New York Times bestseller Gillian Flynn takes that statement to its darkest place in this unputdownable masterpiece about a marriage gone terribly, terribly wrong. The Chicago Tribune proclaimed that her work “draws you in and keeps you reading with the force of a pure but nasty addiction.” Gone Girl’s toxic mix of sharp-edged wit and deliciously chilling prose creates a nerve-fraying thriller that confounds you at every turn.Source: gillian-flynn.com

Crooked House


Agatha Christie - 1949
    An accident? Not likely. In fact, suspicion has already fallen on his luscious widow, a cunning beauty fifty years his junior, set to inherit a sizeable fortune, and rumored to be carrying on with a strapping young tutor comfortably ensconced in the family estate. But criminologist Charles Hayward is casting his own doubts on the innocence of the entire Leonides brood. He knows them intimately. And he's certain that in a crooked house such as Three Gables, no one's on the level...

Drift


L.T. Ryan - 2019
    Rachel Hatch will make them pay. New from USA Today & Amazon two-million copy bestselling author L.T. Ryan with Brian Shea. Ex-Army criminal investigator Rachel Hatch is a drifter. No home. No commitments. Until her sister's drowning drags her back to the town she left fifteen years ago. Convinced her sister’s death was no accident, Hatch partners with the local sheriff, Dalton Savage. Every answer unlocks another question, and as the investigation begins to unravel, Hatch and Savage find their lives on the line. Hatch is forced to use her special set of skills--forged on the field of combat--if she ever plans to learn the truth about her sister and brings those responsible to justice.

Don't You Cry


Mary Kubica - 2016
    A haunting letter addressed to My Dearest is found among her possessions, leaving her roommate Quinn Collins to question how well she really knew her friend. Meanwhile, in a small town an hour outside Chicago, a mysterious woman appears in the quiet coffee shop where eighteen-year-old Alex Gallo works as a dishwasher. He is immediately drawn to her, but what starts as an innocent crush quickly spirals into something far more sinister.As Quinn searches for answers about Esther, and Alex is drawn further under the stranger's spell, master of suspense Mary Kubica takes readers on a taut and twisted thrill ride that builds to a stunning conclusion and shows that no matter how fast and far we run, the past always catches up with us.

Titanic 2012


Bill Walker - 1998
    It's the year 2012, and bestselling mystery novelist Trevor Hughes has just about completed his next big book when old friend Harlan Astor announces that he's spent hundreds of millions of dollars to stage one of the biggest publicity shows in history: he's built a new Titanic, an exact replica of the 1912 version. This tweaks Trevor's writerly instincts, and in short order, he breaks up with his girlfriend and heads out for Poland to board the maiden voyage of this colossal remake. Even Kate Winslet is on hand to christen the ship, and the media are eating it up. But why did Astor do this, and why did he handpick the people who are boarding this remarkable ship? First-time novelist Bill Walker rings all the bells and blows all the whistles as he sets sail with his maiden voyage déjà vu, TITANIC 2012. Trevor and Julia, a therapist, are on the verge of splitting because Trev can't quite commit to her. When he tells her about his buddy Astor's plan to launch a new Titanic, this breaks them apart completely. She thinks Astor has a tremendous, foolish ego to spend millions on such a goofy idea, but Trev is excited by the idea of writing the story of the new luxury liner full of specially chosen passengers. Trev boards the much-hyped remake of the liner, and begins to interview the various members of its crewandpassenger list. There is something truly mysterious about the folk on board, but when he meets Madeleine Regehr in a Winslet-like pose at the front of the ship, he forgets any doubts he has: Trevor is smitten. He and Maddy try to keep from falling in love, but the romance of the Titanic is impossible to resist. Still, the mystery as to why Harlan Astor, the descendant of the Astor who went down with the original Titanic, has brought in these particular people to fill his ship begins to take its toll on Trev, and he must know why Maddy and the others are there. Walker has written a delightful story full of romantic possibilities with a key mystery surrounding the new Titanic. This is not a whodunit sort of mystery, but a mystery of romantic adventure and the transcendance of love over death and the Titanic lore is fun to revisit along with the gentle homage to James Cameron's movie with Leonardo diCaprio and Kate Winslet.

The Bloodletter's Daughter: A Novel of Old Bohemia


Linda Lafferty - 2012
    But the emperor hides an ugly secret: his bastard son, Don Julius, is afflicted with a madness that pushes the young prince to unspeakable depravity. Desperate to stem his son’s growing number of scandals, the emperor exiles Don Julius to a remote corner of Bohemia where the young man is placed in the care of a bloodletter named Pichler. The bloodletter’s task: cure Don Julius of his madness by purging the vicious humors coursing through his veins.When Pichler brings his daughter Marketa to assist him, she becomes the object of Don Julius’s frenzied --and dangerous-- obsession. To him, she is the embodiment of the women pictured in the Coded Book of Wonder, a priceless manuscript from the imperial library that was the mad prince’s only link to sanity. As the prince descends further into the darkness of his mind, his acts become ever more desperate, as Marketa, both frightened and fascinated, can’t stay away.Inspired by a real-life murder that threatened to topple the powerful Hapsburg dynasty, The Bloodletter’s Daughter is a dark and richly detailed saga of passion and revenge.