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Combustible by David K. Wilson
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The Eye Thief
M.K. Farrar - 2020
Blind. With holes in their head where their eyes used to be.DI Erica Swift is caught between the stresses of trying to take care of a young family, a father with dementia, and a demanding job. Working for the Violent Crimes Task Force, she does her best not to let her work life encroach on her family, but it’s not always easy.The case the papers have dubbed ‘The Eye Thief’ is a welcome distraction, though London’s residents are fearful of who will be next.When one of the victims dies, turning it into a murder case, Erica and her team find themselves on the trail of a killer.But a chance encounter drags a horrific event in Erica’s past to collide with her present.The killer has one thing on their mind…Revenge.
The Long Drunk
Eric Coyote - 2011
Murphy's life in the gutter was bad enough, but now bad gets worse. Murphy has one week to solve a cold-case murder that has police detectives stumped, or else his best friend dies. Inspired by Chandler, Steinbeck, and Quentin Tarantino, THE LONG DRUNK is a darkly comic crime/detective saga filled with sex, violence, booze, and plenty of foul street talk. Hard-boiled, heartbreaking, and gritty as hell, it thoroughly immerses the reader in the squalid yet resourceful underworld of the down-and-out. By juxtaposing the cruel realities of life on the street with the obscene wealth of the Hollywood elite, Eric Coyote creates an ultra noir masterpiece for the ages. THE LONG DRUNK, named to Kirkus Reviews' Best of 2012, will leave you cringing, laughing, and begging for more.
Surgical Risk: A Kurtz and Barent Mystery
Robert I. Katz - 2002
Kurtz is a surgeon, a good surgeon, if he does say so himself (which he does, despite the old joke about how if you ask a surgeon to name the three best surgeons in the world, he'll have trouble thinking of the other two). He has a luxury apartment on the East side, a good-looking girlfriend and a busy practice. >>>A surgeon pulled into a world of murder, betrayal and vengeance Kurtz demands the best, from himself, from his colleagues and from his residents, and he never runs from a fight. So when former girlfriend Sharon Lee is found strangled in a hospital call room, Kurtz cannot resist getting involved...and along with police detective Lew Barent, he soon finds himself embroiled in a twisted tale of murder, betrayal and brutal revenge.
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Snatched
Michael Arches - 2021
She survived, but barely. Now, she lives quietly in Durango, Colorado—until a frantic pregnant woman at a gas station shoves a card into Athena’s hand.The card reads: Over forty women and girls—mostly pregnant—held prisoner! Five dead already. About an hour east of Durango. Call the FBI. Sheriff’s office corrupt. PLEASE HELP US!A looming thug with a poorly hidden pistol hustles the pregnant woman and her female friend away. Athena fights a scream and follows. Unfortunately, she can’t do much. Even with the help of a cane, she can barely walk.With panic rising in her throat, Athena takes down the license number of the thug’s Suburban. But what if the plate is fake? Athena follows in her pickup and begs for help from the US Marshal’s Office and the FBI.Both agencies turn her down. Athena keeps following the Suburban, racking her brain for a plan that could save the women's lives without getting herself killed. Unfortunately, the greedy bastards who run the secret prison already have blood on their hands. They won’t hesitate to kill Athena, too.
The Art of Danger
Stuart Doughty - 2020
Three men are murdered to get a dull, forgotten painting. A crazy, pointless heist? Or something far more sinister?In this action-packed crime-thriller, the tough ex-cop and firearms specialist Kite is up against a foreign spy who’s planning havoc and mayhem, not an art show. To complicate matters, Kite’s being followed by a kooky – and sexy – young woman. Where does she fit in? Even worse, Kite’s got a shameful secret in his past that he thinks is well hidden – until he realises someone’s on to it and the odds stack up to produce an action-packed thriller.What Kite is chasing down isn’t just a painting: it’s the most explosive art in the world. Can he stop the impending cataclysm?
Night Hunter (The Harry Circus Mysteries #1)
E.D. Ward - 2017
D. Ward's first novel in the Harry Circus mystery series is a story of unforgettable suspense from the dramatic opening to the bloody finish.A body is found disembowled and partially skinned on the remote blueberry barrens, north of the small town of Berryville. Tension mounts as Harry follows the scent of the murderer to the brutal end, where he discovers the long-kept secret of a mother and daughter. Available for Kindle Unlimited.
Deadly Trespass
Sandra Neily - 2017
National finalist: Women’s Fiction Writers Association “Rising Star” contest. Cassandra Patton Conover is about to become an outlaw. Searching for her wayward dog in Maine’s dense woods, she finds her best friend Shannon crushed under a tree. Then she finds tracks larger than any animal she knows and a mystery only wild animals can help her solve.Before she can absorb the loss of her friend, Patton is hired to guide a surly reporter who suspects extinct wolves have returned to Maine, but the forest has too many agendas. A billionaire hopes wolves will become a save-the-forest strategy. A timber company plans to exterminate the pack. A game warden loyal to his Penobscot tribe, his attraction to Patton, and his law enforcement life, has too many tough choices, and a black ops mercenary rips open Patton’s wounded life so he can aim her at the wolves.When gold wolf eyes issue a challenge at her tent door, Patton is drawn deeper into Shannon’s mysterious murder and the wolves’ fate. To find her friend’s killer, she must find and trust the pack. To save her dog, the wolves, and her own life, she must step outside the law, sacrifice her career, and embrace a wild world.
Tubby Dubonnet Mysteries
Tony Dunbar - 2016
Passing a good time, of course, includes dodging drug dealers, running from the mob, solving medical lab murder mysteries, thwarting hurricane season bank heists, and keeping a crime boss out of local politics. Now you can read his first five Anthony and Edgar-nominated thrilling adventures for only ....Settle down — preferably with a hearty snack — and enjoy this hard-boiled mystery series that's as chock full of laughs as it is chills!CROOKED MANMeet lawyer Tubby Dubonnet. His clients are all renegades from the asylum (aka Orleans Parish), including a transvestite entertainer, a buxom deadbeat blonde, a doctor who refers his own patients to a malpractice lawyer, and a Mardi Gras reveler who drives a float shaped like a giant crawfish pot. His new client is Darryl Alvarez, the manager of a local nightclub who's been caught unloading marijuana from a shrimp boat. At their first meeting, Darryl entrusts Tubby with an ordinary-looking blue gym bag. But after Darryl's unfortunate demise, Tubby realizes he must tighten his grasp on the gym bag — and its million-dollar contents.Tubby can’t just give up the cash. But if he gets caught, he’ll be in jail. And if the wrong people catch him, he’ll wish he was.
CITY OF BEADS
Tubby Dubonnet is bored. He wants to bill enough hours to pay his alimony and keep his daughter in college, with enough left over for an occasional drink and a good meal, but he longs for something different and exciting.Sure, researching licensing law for the new casino will keep trout meunière on the table, but what could be more tedious? (Unless, of course, the client turns out to be connected.) Meanwhile, there’s the estate of an old friend who controls some dock leases on the wharf. And he agrees to help his daughter’s environmental group stop illegal dumping in the river. Ho-hum, thinks our hero. But suddenly all three cases begin to converge in an entirely ominous way... NOW Tubby's doing something exciting — he's running for his life!
TRICK QUESTION
Medical lab janitor Cletus Busters is caught red-handed in a restricted area with the frozen head of Dr. Whitney Valentine, one of the lab's most prestigious researchers. Busters won't say much, except that he's innocent. But given his conspicuous record and past as a voodoo guru, all signs point to life in prison.Calling Tubby Dubonnet!
SHELTER FROM THE STORM
To out-of-town kingpin Willie LaRue, Mardi Gras seems the perfect time for a New Orleans heist – nobody, but nobody will be thinking about a single other thing. Parties, parades, chaos, alcohol – who could be concerned about a little thing like a bank job? Indeed, all might have gone well except for an out-of-season frog-flogger that threatens to flood the French Quarter – something even Hurricane Katrina couldn't do.Next thing you know the survivors – thieves and revelers alike – find themselves marooned together.
Making Her Bones (Stephanie Chalice Thrillers Book 8)
Lawrence Kelter - 2021
Jet Sweep (Burnside Series # 12)
David Chill - 2021
Burnside is lured into a scheme involving a star football player he had once recruited out of high school, he tries to turn the tables on the perpetrator. But when shots are fired on a darkened L.A. street, he is plunged into a mystifying case where nothing is as it seems – where even murder could be an illusion. The story leads Burnside into the world of startup companies, and the money-hungry people who run them. By pushing his way through a riveting set of clues, he finds a twisted trail of age-old grievances and shocking betrayals. And it wouldn’t be a Burnside mystery if he didn’t manage to also upstage the police, as his investigation is always a step ahead of theirs, creating yet another thorny path for him to navigate.As Burnside races to tie the details together before any more carnage is done, he also gains further insight into his own sketchy history and begins to grasp how his checkered past has led him to where he is now – for better and for worse. His remarkable journey parallels the story and creates depth and texture to one of modern crime fiction’s most irreverent heroes.Jet Sweep is the latest installment of this classic Southern California noir mystery series. With razor-sharp dialogue and sardonic humor, this well-honed thriller is set against a backdrop of an increasingly hot Los Angeles summer. It is a story that comes loaded with high drama, as well as some unexpected surprises!
The Hogarth Way - Two Gripping Crime Mysteries - DI Hogarth Double Bill Set 2: DI Hogarth's The Poison Path and The Deadly Kiss (The DI Hogarth Mysteries Collection)
Solomon Carter - 2021
DETECTIVES HOGARTH AND PALMER ARE CALLED TO THE SCENE.The body belongs to deadbeat actor, Gareth Manning. Initial clues suggest accidental death… but Manning had plenty of reasons to live… and Hogarth soon discovers that the body under the pier isn’t the only mystery in town.No one knows why Gareth Manning died but everyone in the film crew has a theory. Manning was a drinker, a wastrel with a history of falling apart. But Manning had ambition too. DI Hogarth, DS Palmer and DC Simmons must work through the clues and layers of lies… but the deeper they delve, the murkier the mystery gets.A sinister plot is in the offing… Will DI Hogarth be lured into the trap?BOOK 2: THE DEADLY KISSDI Hogarth is on the hunt. But the DI is not the only one looking for prey…DETECTIVE JOE HOGARTH IS ON THE HUNT FOR A KILLER WHO STOLE THE LIFE OF A YOUNG CHRISTIAN GIRL. IT’S TWO WEEKS SINCE THE YOUNG WOMAN'S BODY WAS LEFT ABANDONED IN A BEACH HUT. EVIDENCE IS SLIM, LEADS ARE EXHAUSTED AND DI HOGARTH IS FEELING THE STRAIN... BUT THE MURDER OF YOUNG HELEN BRIMELOW ISN’T THE ONLY CRIME TROUBLING HOGARTH. A WELL-CONNECTED MAN CALLED SIMON DRAWTON HAS GOTTEN AWAY WITH FAR MORE THAN HE SHOULD.COULD IT BE THAT DRAWTON HAS STRUCK AGAIN?HOGARTH SUSPECTS SO. AND HOGARTH IS DETERMINED THAT HE WON'T GET WAY WITH IT.
Grave Situation
Alex MacLean - 2011
When he finally decides to leave the force and start over, he's assigned a string of murders that all bear the signs of a serial killer collecting trophies.As Stanton unravels each grisly crime scene, the mounting evidence points uncomfortably close to him and a case more disturbing than anything he's ever seen.
The Dessert Corpse
Tracey Quinn - 2018
The Breezy Spoon is a big success, and when hunky and flirtatious fireman Mark Adams offers to rent Dani his downstairs apartment, things are really looking up.... until a dead body with a chocolate pie smashed in his face shows up in the dumpster behind the diner! Trying to get to the bottom of the mystery isn't easy when dealing with the quirky and eccentric residents of East Spoon Creek City, and it gets even harder when the body keeps disappearing and popping up around town! There's not a moment to lose when dark secrets threaten to come to light, and Dani discovers that one of her customers just might be a serial killer!
Killer Bait
Martina Dalton - 2019
Much to the chagrin of her brother, Zen, a homicide detective, Clarity throws caution to the wind and jumps into the investigation with both feet. Zen’s ultra-handsome detective partner, Hunter, encourages Clarity to learn self-defense—especially since she’s getting closer to discovering who the killer is. Using her social media sleuthing skills, she sets out to bait the murderer. Is she clever enough to entrap the killer? Or will she end up as the catch of the day?
Body on the Shore
Diane M. Dickson - 2020
Yet they will struggle to establish the identity of the victim, let alone the killer.Leading the inquiry on his first murder case, DI Jordan Carr must marshal a somewhat motley team to build a picture of what happened one grim day on the Mersey. Like footprints in the sand, in time the clues will disappear.With a victim who has clearly concealed her own identity, it will require a journey into Liverpool’s underworld to shake loose the facts.But once they have their man, the police still need to know why the woman was killed. And answering that question will be DI Carr’s biggest challenge.BODY ON THE SHORE is the first book in a new mystery series by Diane Dickson. She is the author of many crime fiction titles, including the bestselling DI Tanya Miller series set in the Midlands and Oxfordshire.