Book picks similar to
Her Final Words by Skylar Finn


mystery
one-singular-sensation
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contemporary

Random Acts of Unkindness


Jacqueline Ward - 2016
    Her fifteen year old son, Aiden, is missing. Jan draws together the threads of missing person cases spanning fifty years and finds tragic connections and unsolved questions.Bessy Swain, an elderly woman that Jan finds dead on her search for Aiden, and whose own son, Thomas, was also missing, may have the answers.Jan uses Bessy's information and her own skills and instinct to track down the missing boys. But is it too late for Aiden?Set in the North West of England, with the notorious Saddleworth Moor as a backdrop, Random Acts of Unkindness is a story about motherhood, love and loss and how families of missing people suffer the consequences of major crimes involving their loved ones.Random Acts of Unkindness is the first in the DS Jan Pearce series of novels.

The Ghost of Tobacco Road


Dale J. Young - 2015
    Like most small towns in America, Starlight has seen better days. Once known for its tobacco fields and rural Southern charm, the stores on Main Street are now boarded up, and many of the residents have left town for good.Logan Shaw, a down and out used-car salesman living in Wilmington is convinced that the letter he has received from a small law firm in Starlight has to be a mistake. The letter states that Logan has been named the sole beneficiary in the last will and testament of one of Starlight’s residents, a reclusive old woman recently found dead in her home on the outskirts of town.After arriving in town, Logan meets an attractive young woman named Colby who has lived in Starlight all of her life. No one knows better than Colby about the stories passed down through the years of a vengeful ghost that can return from the dead when the harvest moon rises over the tobacco fields outside of town – a ghost that kills in such a fit of rage that the bodies of the victims are left unrecognizable. For nearly a hundred years, no one in Starlight has ever seen the ghost and lived to tell about it.With Colby by his side, Logan struggles to comprehend the unspeakable evil that has entered his life, and to understand how he is strangely connected to it. Under the light of the harvest moon he will learn of the dark secret that Starlight holds, and of the legend the locals refer to as “the ghost of tobacco road”.

Inside the Hollow Tree


Laurel Veil - 2018
    Her one glimmer of light in her gloomy existence is a wise beyond his years, fiver-year-old foster named Jackson, who also lives with them. Falon longs for the day her mom wakes from her coma, so she can leave, take Jackson with her and begin a new life. Whenever Ty, the smart and brave new foster shows up, Falon realizes that the three of them just might get their chance. Little do they know, a better life awaits them, just inside the hollow tree...

Deuce Mora Mystery Series


Jean Heller - 2020
    The scrappy lead columnist for the Chicago Journal normally writes about politics, and, rather than shying away from fights, she tends to pick them, but every once in a while, Deuce’s search for a good story brings her face to face with more trouble than she was really looking for. In Award-winning journalist Jean Heller’s first action-packed mystery featuring the intrepid sleuth, Deuce learns in short order that if you mess with organized crime, you have to be tough—and you’d better be as much detective as reporter. The second volume finds Deuce on the wrong side of the NSA, the FBI and the CIA. At a minimum. Exhausted by these two white-knuckle investigations in one year, Deuce is content to focus on her column until she gains information that could help catch the relentless arsonist whose Burning Rage is consuming Chicago. The Ill Wind sweeping Chicago threatens to blow in a bloody mob war. Fans of hard-boiled female protagonists should hang onto their fedoras—this one’s an action-packed extravaganza!THE SOMEDAY FILEDeuce uncovers a series of crimes committed over nearly six decades, and, as her human interest story morphs into a hard-boiled, action-packed mystery, she finds herself dead center in a storm of threats and reprisals from the mob. Fortunately, she has many allies, but at least one of them, she suspects, is hiding a secret–- corruption? Murder? The veteran reporter knows: if you’re talking Chicago crime scene—it’s probably both.THE HUNTING GROUNDThe grisly discovery of a human bone while Deuce is out for a hike with handsome arson investigator Mark Hearst leads to the unearthing of a vast burial field, a human trafficking ring, and international intrigue. The pull-no-punches columnist—and meticulous detective—keeps turning up information, but the Journal’s lawyer appears daily, bringing warnings about “national security.” What, Deuce seethes, could be a greater matter of national security than the safety of the city’s children, who are being kidnapped and murdered?BURNING RAGEWhole blocks of Chicago real estate are falling to an arsonist, but no one knows why and everyone suspects the worst—terrorism. But no terrorist group has claimed the mayhem. From the moment she hears the earliest details of the first fire, her detective-instincts say the pieces don’t fit, and every other instinct tells the hard-hitting reporter she can’t walk away from the story—even though she knows she’ll regret it.ILL WINDIn the cold blustery dawn, reporter Deuce Mora stands looking up at a body swinging from the window of a downtown Chicago federal building. The dead man was her friend, and she knows to a certainty that this is not, as the police claim, a suicide. But the death scene was triple-locked–—from the inside.Deuce suspects his death is tied to his investigation of organized crime, a viewpoint that is strengthened by the arrival in Chiago of a Washington reporter who's been following the story. They work the story together as it erupts into a bloody mob war in the streets.WHO WILL LIKE IT: Fans of Chicago private investigators VI Warshawski and Libby Fischer Hellman’s Georgia Davis, get-the-story-or-die reporters like Hank Philippi Ryan’s Jane Ryland and Kelly Lange’s Maxi Poole, hard-boiled female protagonists like Marcia Muller’s Sharon McCone and Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan; and anyone who admires tough-minded women sleuths who’re good in a fight.

Tell Me a Story


Jennifer Rebecca - 2018
    Most recently, a young boy is missing from his home and the tenacious Detective Claire Goodnite is eager to find him. But the case is stirring up old memories best left forgotten. When a blast from her own past, FBI Special Agent Wesley O’Connell, turns up, Claire finds it hard to keep old ghosts at rest. And even harder to keep the sexy SAIC out of her case and her bed. Claire Goodnite is the best damn detective in the state of New Jersey and you better believe she's coming for you.

Truth Lies Waiting


Emma Salisbury - 2014
    And you're now being framed for it. Only the person framing you is a cop... Davy Johnson is a young man from the wrong side of the tracks with a target on his back. After a spell in prison he is trying to make a life for himself but one cop won’t leave him alone, following him around and carting him off to the station just for the fun of it. The harassment turns sinister when Davy witnesses his nemesis overstep the mark with a local junkie – and makes the mistake of telling him he’s been seen. What happens next sees Davy framed for a string of murders with no one to help him but the gang leader he turned his back on when he got out of jail – but what will he want in return? With the help of an ex con and a local cabbie Davy goes on the run to prove his innocence but as the body count rises he discovers a connection between what’s happening now and a tragedy involving his father many years before. Will he be able to work out the truth from the lie in time to save the killer’s next victim? Scottish crime fiction with a sting in the tail...

Run Aground


Christy Barritt - 2021
    . .Med student Kenzie Anderson, tired of letting others chart her future, accepts a job as second steward aboard Almost Paradise. But when she finds the captain dead before the charter even begins, her plans seem to capsize.Jimmy James Gamble senses something vulnerable and slightly naive about Kenzie when he finds her on the docks. Realizing danger may still be lingering close, he uses his hidden skills to earn a place on the charter. But being there causes him to risk everything—especially as more suspicious incidents occur.As they set out to sea, Kenzie and Jimmy James both wonder if they’re in over their heads. They must figure out how to stop a killer before anyone onboard is hurt . . . otherwise, both their futures might just run aground.Lantern Beach Mayday is a three book series. Other books in this series are:Dead ReckoningTipping Point

Best Eaten Cold


Tony Salter - 2017
    Someone you once knew, but have almost forgotten. Now, imagine that they are clever, patient and will not stop. They'll get inside your head and make you doubt yourself. They'll make you question who you are, and ensure that everyone you care for starts to doubt you too. Each perfectly-orchestrated doubt will slowly, steadily, build to a crescendo and destroy you. This is real and it could be happening to you. Best Eaten Cold is a chilling reminder of how quickly – and how blindly – we have learnt to trust in the online world, despite the somewhat ironic fact that none of us really understand it at all.Fabiola lives an idyllic life in Oxford – beautiful house, adoring husband, happy healthy baby. She thinks she’s left her past behind her. But in a world of smartphones and social media, it’s not so easy to wipe the slate clean. Best Eaten Cold is a terrifying psychological thriller of gaslighting, technological trickery and the depths of human vindictiveness. It is a nail-biting story that could happen to any one of us in this digital age.

The Prison


Joe Edd Morris - 2019
    Cal must rely on his grandfather to uncover the suspicious circumstances of the blaze, as clues unfold to establish his innocence. Compelling revelations link the fire and Cal’s innocence with domestic terrorism. From plots to blow up Mississippi River bridges to threats on their lives, grandfather and grandson take a series of risks, including Cal’s daring prison escape, to save the remnants of their family and southern community so disturbingly infiltrated. A surprise addition to their efforts is Cal’s six-year-old daughter (thought to have died in the fire), who was kidnapped by the terrorists and escaped from their camp. The trio, in a race against time, help the FBI and Coast Guard thwart the nefarious plot.

Ganymede


Jason Taylor - 2019
    Manipulation of the human genome has been perfected, spurring a global arms race to produce the first human clone. When Jill finds the key to unlock this secret, the Ganymede Project shatters everything she thought was real.After confronting the unintended consequences of her discovery, Jill is cast into a bewildering maze of intrigue and deceit. The unexpected results of her research plunges the world into chaos, forcing her to face a future where humans may lose all that remains of their humanity. Haunted by her creations, she will do whatever it takes to contain the turmoil that she has unleashed. As the fate of the world hangs in the balance, Jill uncovers a shocking truth that threatens to destroy everything she has ever loved.

Saints & Spies


Jordan McCollum - 2015
    But Father Tim is more than he seems: he's an undercover FBI agent there to root out the mob. Falling in love might put both their names on the mobsters' hit list. When she finds her priest murdered, Molly Malone, secretary of their Catholic parish, vows to never let it happen again. She’ll use the full force of her Irish will, and her previous stint on the Irish police force, to protect the new priest from the congregation’s rumors of criminal activity. Falling in love wasn’t part of her plan. However, young, handsome and—dare she even think it?—flirtatious, Father Tim O’Rourke is nothing she expected. But Father Tim is also nothing like he seems to Molly: he’s Special Agent Zach Saint, an LDS FBI agent undercover to root out the mob that’s hiding in the parish. And Molly isn’t helping: every time Zach gets close to the mob, Molly manages to get in the way. Falling for her is the last thing he needs. Now Zach must find the murderer and catch the mobsters before his feelings for Molly blow his cover and add another murder or two to the mobsters’ docket. A new clean romantic suspense series from award-winning author Jordan McCollum!

The Predator Hunter


Phil M. Williams - 2018
    His goal: confrontation and humiliation IRL. Kyle Summers mows lawns by day and hunts child predators by night. Troy, his friend and cameraman, is a mall security guard by day and watches Kyle’s back by night. Together the wannabe heroes hope to be someone more than they are. But being a hero comes with a price. Do they have what it takes? This novel portrays adult language, sexual content, and child abuse.

Fatal Destiny


David DeLee - 2011
    Track down Barry Keegan, a white collar defendant in a corporate embezzlement scandal who'd jumped bail. How hard could that be?But the case turns deadly when Keegan's co-defendant ends up murdered, and Grace's best friend, sheriff's deputy Suzie Jensen, is nearly killed.Drawn into a web of deception involving stolen mob money, old scores, and ruthless hit men, Grace must track down the elusive Keegan--a man who is far more dangerous than anyone could have guessed--while she tries to protect his wife and son from a past they thought was long dead and buried.

Matador


Stewart Matthews - 2018
     Experience the gripping first entry in the action-packed Barrett Mason Thriller series! Barrett Mason’s mission was simple: help an Iranian biochemist defect. Extract him to the States then learn the darkest secrets of the Ayatollah’s weapons programs. Iran's deadliest spies would try to kill them along the way, but Barrett never shied away from a fight. Everything was going fine until Barrett was caught in a spy’s worst nightmare: his own side tried to kill him. Trapped between two sides full of expertly trained, cold-blooded killers means standing his ground is suicide. And running will only get him so far. But Barrett Mason never lays down. Not when failure means unleashing the deadliest weapons known to man. He'll fight to get his revenge, or he’ll die trying. Fans of Clancy's Jack Ryan, Child's Jack Reacher, Ludlum's Jason Bourne, and LT Ryan's Jack Noble will be hooked by the heart-pounding, life-or-death adventures of Barrett Mason. Other books in the Barrett Mason Thriller series Book 0: The Lost Son Book 1: Matador Book 2: Tyrant

The Final Proposition


Trevor Douglas - 2015
    Which would you choose? After being exonerated for a crime he didn’t commit, Adam Wells leaves prison as the only living person who knows the location of a hidden cash fortune. Desperate to help a young friend who will soon die without an expensive and risky operation, Adam must weigh up the risk as he learns the money belongs to a drug syndicate who will stop at nothing to get their money back.