Two Shots


Joe Albert - 2012
    Content to spend his days in the woods and on the water enforcing fishing and hunting laws, he thought he'd left violent crime behind when he left the city. But a single call from dispatch two days before the deer-hunting season opens changes that. Now, he's pushed into working a case he really shouldn't be involved with, and digging for the truth in the death of a noted political operative that some high-powered people would prefer remain buried in the northern Minnesota woods. As Leach pursues those responsible, he finds people and things aren't exactly what they seem. And as the investigation goes on and the web unravels, it becomes increasingly clear the only way for it to end is with a killer's - or his - demise.

Messages


Christine Dougherty - 2011
     Fired from his job, his girlfriend on the verge of leaving him, barely keeping his life in order, James’ unyielding insistence on following the signs and putting together the clues brings him to the answer…and it changes everything. Hindered by flashbacks to a barely remembered babyhood at the hands of a criminally insane mother, James forges ahead, committing acts he’d never have thought himself capable, from shadowing a local teen, to kidnapping, to a murderous confrontation–all over the object of his desire. When he partners with a mysterious cop named Riddel, James is certain he will not only bring everything out into the open, but also convince his girlfriend Lacey that she is central to his quest. And she is, but in a way they are all unable to foresee.

Too Close to Miss


John Perich - 2011
    But when her lover shows up in the hospital after his wife and son are murdered, the rumors about Mara turn dangerous. Now she's the prime suspect in a double homicide, and the real killers will stop at nothing to silence her. Mara's race against time takes her from the dense heart of Boston to the dark woods of New Hampshire, from gritty streets to the halls of power. Before she's through, she'll learn just which of her friends she can trust - and she'll stare death in the face. What Others are Saying "... passes the key thriller test of 'I stayed up later than intended to finish it.' - Jim Henley, Unqualified Offerings "Strong, flawed, independent female lead [...] ? Check. Political intrigue and conspiracy? Check. Cast of characters that get just enough page time to whet your appetite for future stories? Checkmate. Somebody option this quick." - Jeremy Lott, Splice Today "... a well-paced, true-to-Boston thriller with a great, original character ..." - David Moglov, The Mogolog " ... a briskly-paced, thoroughly entertaining thriller that lives up to the heritage of the noir genre. It’s ten pounds of style in a two-pound bag." - Tom Devlin, DC Accidental Discover Mara Cunningham's Boston Too Close to Miss is a gritty, lightning-paced thriller set in Boston. It introduces Mara Cunningham, a stubborn crime scene photographer whose quick wits and eye for trouble often get her into danger. It contains tense chases, brutal fights and confrontations over dark secrets. Check it out today and see why people are calling it "a hell of a book."

Already Gone


John Rector - 2011
    He lives in a small brick Tudor close to campus with his art buyer wife, Diane. His life is quiet, ordinary even. And he likes it that way. But it wasn't always quiet. Jake's distant past was a life on the streets, inflicting damage and suffering on more people than he can count. And now someone from his past, it seems, has come looking for him.A raw, gripping thriller about the price paid for past sins, John Rector's third novel is a live wire that crackles with the intensity of a man with nothing left to lose. When two men attack Jake in a parking lot and cut off his finger, he tries to dismiss it as an unlucky case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But when events take a more sinister turn and Diane goes missing, Jake knows he can no longer hide from the truth. As he embarks on a mission to find his wife, he realizes his dark past is refusing to stay buried and that his future is about to unfold in ways he could never have imagined.

Hanover House


Brenda Novak - 2015
    Why do psychopaths act as they do? How do they come to be? Why don’t they feel any remorse for the suffering they cause? And are there better ways of spotting and stopping them?After having been kidnapped, tortured and left for dead when she was just a teenager—by her high school boyfriend—she’s determined to understand how someone she trusted so much could turn on her. So she’s established a revolutionary new medical health center in the remote town of Hilltop, Alaska, where she studies the worst of the worst.But not everyone in Hilltop is excited to have Hanover House and its many serial killers in the area. Alaskan State Trooper, Sergeant Amarok, is one of them. And yet he can’t help feeling bad about what Evelyn has been through. He’s even attracted to her. Which is partly why he worries.He knows what could happen if only one little thing goes wrong...

White Lies


Jeremy Bates - 2012
    Fearful for her safety, she lies about her destination in order to get him out of the car. But when she later discovers that he is a teacher at the same school, she finds herself feeding that initial lie with more lies.Then Katrina meets Jack Reeves. Handsome, charismatic and strong, he is exactly what she needs to extricate her from the expanding network of lies. She falls fast and hard for him. But when Jack lands himself in the middle of a grisly murder, she must decide whether to turn him in--or tell yet another lie.

Don't Make a Sound


T.R. Ragan - 2020
    Now, after finally getting promoted at work, she is forced to return home and face her past.River Rock is where she’d been abandoned by her two older sisters to suffer alone, and in silence, the unspeakable abuses of her family. It’s also where Sawyer’s best friend disappeared and two teenage girls were murdered. Three cold cases dead and buried with the rest of the town’s secrets.When another girl is slain in a familiar grisly fashion, Sawyer is determined to put an end to the crimes. Pulled back into the horrors of her family history, Sawyer must reconcile with her estranged sisters, who both have shattering memories of their own. As Sawyer’s investigation leads to River Rock’s darkest corners, what will prove more dangerous—what she knows of the past or what she has yet to discover?

Her Final Words


Brianna Labuskes - 2020
    The teenage girl confesses to murdering a young boy. Disturbingly composed, she reveals chilling details only the killer could know. Beyond that Eliza doesn’t say another word, leaving a vital question met with dead silence: Why did she do it?To find the answer, Lucy goes to the scene of the crime in the small Idaho town of Knox Hollow. But Lucy’s questions are only mounting. Especially when she’s drawn deeper into the life of the victim. Then a combing of the woods yields unsettling evidence that Eliza isn’t the only one in this close-knit rural community with secrets.Getting to the truth is becoming Lucy’s obsession. And it’s a dangerous one. Because for the good folks of Knox Hollow, hiding that truth will take more than silence.

Bone Blind


Abigail Padgett - 2011
    When the efforts of local, state and federal investigators failed to cast more light on the crime than the little candle did, the case gathered dust, unsolved and forgotten. But when horror novelist Finn Ryan gets an invitation to dinner from a beautiful but eccentric and reclusive colleague, Tally Serzak, a web of danger sends its first, tentative filaments from that candlelit room. And nothing will ever be the same. Because Finn has secrets. So does Tally. And so does Newton, MA, Police Detective Warren Yost, who found Knock’s body on that cold morning so long ago. Now, on the eve of retirement, Yost decides to solve the old murder and go out with a last hurrah. As Finn’s involvement with the strange Tally reaches an intensity that has him running into walls, he begins to see similarities between himself and his own characters. He’s in a horror novel, except this one is real. There are no ghosts, no zombies or vampires. There is only Tally and an unfolding story Finn doesn’t want to see, but can’t ignore. As she knew he wouldn’t. Warren Yost sees the story as well, but can’t assemble its puzzle until Finn provides a last piece that will lead to a final, and deadly, resolution.

Daddy's Home


A.K. Alexander - 2010
    Crime scene investigator Holly Jennings is on the trail of a twisted and sadistic serial killer who seeks out single mothers, marries them, then slaughters his new family when they fail to measure up to his "perfect family" fantasy.

The Diary: The Complete Loving a Killer Serial


Julia Derek - 2014
    TERRIBLE SECRETS.Happily married Lexi Woods thought losing a child would be the worst thing that could ever happen to her. She was wrong. It turns out that life has more ugly surprises for her. When she is finally through the heavy depression of losing her newborn, she finds her husband’s diary. As she reads it, she learns that he’s been unfaithful to her. He’s not at all the man she thought he was. Unfortunately, that’s not the worst part. Not only has the love of her life gone behind her back -- but it also looks like he killed his mistress... What else could he be hiding?NOTE: This edition contains all three novellas of the Loving a Killer serial. The first is entitled The Diary, the second The Other Woman, and the third Guilty. It has some sexual content.

Unseen


John Michael Hileman - 2012
    When Jake's estranged sister, Holly, finds herself the target of a national serial killer who has chosen her son as his next victim, Jake begins to wonder if there is a connection. Could these children be the ghosts of the killer's victims?As the kidnapper's plan unfolds, Jake uncovers a startling secret about the unseen children that will change his life forever--and Holly discovers just how far she is willing to go to save her son. Unseen is a riveting story of rescue, restoration, and romance that will leave you thinking long after the last page has been turned.

Gone the Next


Ben Rehder - 2012
    He's working a routine case, complete with hours of tedious surveillance, when he sees something that shakes him to the core. There, with the subject, is a little blond girl wearing a pink top and denim shorts—the same outfit worn by Tracy Turner, a six-year-old abducted the day before. When the police are skeptical of Ballard's report—and with his history, who can blame them?—it's the beginning of the most important case of his life.

Are You Sleeping


Kathleen Barber - 2017
    After her father's murder thirteen years prior, her mother ran away to join a cult and her twin sister Lanie, once Josie’s closest friend and confidant, betrayed her in an unimaginable way. Now, Josie has finally put down roots in New York, settling into domestic life with her partner Caleb, and that’s where she intends to stay. The only problem is that she has lied to Caleb about every detail of her past—starting with her last name.When investigative reporter Poppy Parnell sets off a media firestorm with a mega-hit podcast that reopens the long-closed case of Josie’s father’s murder, Josie’s world begins to unravel. Meanwhile, the unexpected death of Josie’s long-absent mother forces her to return to her Midwestern hometown where she must confront the demons from her past—and the lies on which she has staked her future.

Choose Me


Tess Gerritsen - 2021
    It could be reason enough for suicide-or a motive for murder.To English professor Jack Dorian, Taryn was the ultimate fantasy: intelligent, adoring, and completely off limits. But there was also a dark side to Taryn, a dangerous streak that threatened those she turned her affections to--including Jack. And now that she's dead, his problems are just beginning.After Frankie uncovers a trove of sordid secrets, it becomes clear that Jack may know the truth. He is guilty of deception, but is he capable of cold-blooded murder?