Scare the Light Away


Vicki Delany - 2005
    Estranged from her father and two older siblings, she's left a brutal childhood and a psychopathic grandfather behind. She expects her visit home to be short. but then she discovers the diaries written by her mother, a British war bride with a young baby who came to Canada to join a husband she scarcely knew. Rebecca (and the reader) find her heart wrung by her mother's story.Meanwhile, a young girl has gone missing, and the suspicions of the townspeople fall on Rebecca's handsome, charming brother Jimmy. Before long, violence threatens and Rebecca must put aside some long-held grievances to protect Jimmy and find the real killer.This debut novel will appeal to readers of Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs and Pip Granger's Not All Tarts Are Apple and its sequels, evoking admiration, respect, and sympathy for members of The Greatest Generation, both English and Canadian.

A Brutal Hand: There's No Escape (SHORTZ)


Ravi Subramanian - 2020
    

Getting Rid of Mister Kitchen


Charlie Higson - 1996
    On the verge of becoming a name in the interior design world, he can't afford a scandal and must discreetly dispose of the body—not an easy job when the whole of London seems to be conspiring against him.

Safe Bet


John Francome - 1998
    Then he is killed in a car crash. When his ex-brother-in-law Jed Harvard discovers that Mike's estate has been left to a stranger, he decides to look into Mike's shady past -- where all is not what it seems...A compelling novel of suspense from a front runner in the racing thriller stakes.

Step on a Crack


James Patterson - 2007
    NYPD detective Michael Bennett is concentrating on getting his family through a particularly difficult Christmas: he and his 10 adopted children are facing the loss to cancer of his brave wife, Maeve. But a major crisis calls him away: the funeral of a former First Lady at St. Patrick's Cathedral goes horribly awry when men storm the church and take hundreds of attendees hostage. Michael is asked to try to reason with a sinister man named Jack. Jack releases all but the most famous people, and makes his demands: he wants several million dollars from each celebrity hostage, including the mayor, a popular comedic actor, a beloved talk show host, and a pop starlet. Once Jack starts killing, Michael realizes he's up against a truly diabolical foe. Patterson has a knack for creating genuinely likable heroes, and Michael fits the bill. As readers rapidly turn the pages to learn how the tense hostage drama plays out, they will also be sympathizing with Michael as he faces the agonizing loss of his wife. Totally gripping and downright impossible to put down, this is a promising start to a potential new series.

Too Far Gone


John Ramsey Miller - 2006
    Casey LePointe West is heiress to one of the greatest fortunes in America. Now, as Hurricane Katrina roars toward New Orleans, these two women are finding common ground in a city of ghosts and grandeur...Alexa as the FBI’s representative in a case guaranteed to destroy careers, and Casey as a woman whose husband has gone missing—and who herself may be the next victim of a brilliant manipulator’s rage. From the violent wards of an insane asylum to the primordial Louisiana swamps, Alexa is entering the darkest corners of a deadly mystery, peeling back layers of family secrets, hidden relationships, and a twenty-five-year-old crime. And as a raging hurricane gathers strength, she is plunged into a frantic race against time, in the eye of a storm of violence...and just where a ruthless killer wants her to be.

Two Faced


Mandasue Heller - 2009
    But one of them is pure poison - and she puts them both in mortal danger.

The Night Crew


John Sandford - 1997
    Small, dark-haired, shy but tough, a Wisconsin farm girl on the streets of Los Angeles, she roams the city with her small band of video free-lancers in their truck from ten to dawn, looking for news: accidents, robberies, murders, demonstrations — anything they can shoot and sell to the local stations or the networks. It's an exhilarating life . . . until the day two deaths shake their world.The first is the jumper. Five stories up, perched on the ledge of a hotel window, dark pants, white shirt, just standing there — and then he's gone, falling through the air towards the cameras. The second is Jason, one of Anna's cameramen. Strangely affected by the jumper, he quits the scene early that night, not to be seen again until his body turns up on the beach several hours later, shot in the head. The police wonder if it's drug-related, but Anna isn't so sure, and the more she looks into it on her own, the more the ghosts of the past — hers, Jason's, and finally the jumper's — begin to emerge, until her whole world turns as dark and dangerous as the night itself.

Silence the Dead


Jack Fredrickson - 2015
    It took two days to find her body. She was found, fully dressed apart from her slacks, beneath a gnarled, stunted tree, shot in the back of the head. No one was ever charged with her murder.Now, following an appeal from one of his constituents, Mayor Mac Bassett has called for the case to be re-opened. But when the body is exhumed, it is revealed that the skull, found loose in the coffin, does not belong to Betty Jo.If Mac could discover why Betty Jo's head was taken, he would be one step closer to finding out who killed her. But no one in the small town of Grand Point is talking. Sheriffs, doctors, medical examiners: everyone seems to be warning Mac off. And then people start dying ...

Never Saw it Coming


Linwood Barclay - 2010
    At least, that's what she passes herself off as. The truth is, Keisha's real powers have more to do with separating troubled families from their money than actually seeing into the netherworld. Keisha watches the news for stories of missing family members. She gives it a few days, then moves in, tells these families she's had a vision, that she may have some clue to where these missing people are. And by the way, she charges for this service, and likes to see the money up front.Keisha's latest mark is a man whose wife disappeared a week ago. She's seen him on TV, pleading for his wife to come home, or, if she's been abducted, pleading with whoever took her to let her go. Keisha knows a payoff when she sees one. So she pays a visit to our troubled husband and tells him her vision.The trouble is, her vision just happens to be close enough to the truth that it leaves this man rattled. And it may very well leave Keisha dead...

The Dudley Smith Trio


James Ellroy - 1999
    Confidential" and "White Jazz".

Collected Stories


Ruth Rendell - 1988
    Contents:The Fallen CurtainMeans of EvilThe Fever Tree

See Jane Run


Joy Fielding - 1991
    But the truth doesn't always set you free . . . When you can't trust yourself, who can you trust?

Innocent Blood


P.D. James - 1980
    The terrifying truth about her parents and a long-ago murder is only the first in a series of shocking betrayals. Philippa quickly learns that those who delve into the secrets of the past must be on guard when long-buried horrors begin to stir.

The Fell Walker


Michael Wood - 2006
    A government minister is found dead at the foot of a Lake District mountain, adding to a sudden increase in the accident statistics. A lonely Scotsman leaves his isolated croft and travels to steamy Manila. These apparently unconnected events are the first sketches on a large canvas, soon to be smeared blood red by a brutal killer. Who is he? What is driving him? And why are his hideous crimes being ignored by the police? A small town journalist, Ben Foxley, starts to investigate. In the process, he is drawn into a world of technology and politics, love and obsession, and finally to a living nightmare - a terrifyingly personal race against time. Before beginning "The Fell Walker", allow yourself some quality reading time, for once you've picked it up, you'll not want to put it down.