Deadly Deceit


Karen Randau - 2016
    Ensnarled in a cover-up that puts her in an assassin’s crosshairs, Rita must unravel a web of lies and connections that date back to Jared’s service in the Iraq war – before a mysterious kidnapper returns Rita’s daughter Zoe one body part at a time. This fast-paced thriller is one you won’t want to put down from beginning to end.

Dark Remnants


L.K. Hill - 2013
    Especially handsome detectives with kind voices and beautiful eyes. So when her conscience just won’t shut the hell up, and convinces her to corner one such cop in a dark parking lot to tell him what she’s learned, she can just feel this won’t be the end of it. She doesn’t have time to worry about it, though. She has gangsters to piss off, homicidal gangs to infiltrate, and people to search for. Yes, this is Kyra’s life. The endgame is worth it, though. If she lives long enough to attain it. Join Kyra and Gabe in a pulse-pounding chase through Abstreuse City to find a killer and save a child before it’s too late. Because everyone loves good cop meets mysterious woman meets serial killer. And darkness lives in us all. “Intriguing storyline. Good fun…Highly recommend!” –R.V.P. Author Interview: What got you into writing crime fiction? Like so many others, I’ve always loved mysteries. Even a minor mystery is compelling to me and I’ve finished otherwise mediocre books, just to learn what the answer is. I watch a lot of police procedurals and have always especially been fascinated with criminal psychology and serial killers. It was always just a matter of time before I started writing about it. Yeah, but what’s a nice Christian girl like you doing writing about serial killers? Kind of dark subject matter, isn’t it? *laughs* It’s a question I’ve gotten a lot. It’s definitely dark subject matter. I prefer it that way, though. The darker the story becomes, the greater the capacity for character redemption. Lovers of horror understand this concept well. If the character can’t demonstrate a visceral ability to overcome a ridiculous amount of darkness, they’re almost not worth rooting for. Nothing is darker than a person willing to coldly take the lives of other human beings. I think that’s why our society is so interested in this type of villain. It’s a darkness we can’t understand, but want to, if for no other reason than to keep it at bay in ourselves. As an author, exploring that is both fascinating and kind of fun. Why this story? Why Abstreuse and the Mire? I came up with this story all at once. Many authors come up with stories based on the story they would like to see told, but haven’t found. It was more or less that way for me. There wasn’t any specific crime fiction story I was unsatisfied with, but rather while reading and watching them, I couldn’t help but start to form something in my mind I’d love to read myself. By the time I sat down to write, I had the entire draft of book 1 already formed in my head, and basic shape of the rest. It’s one of those stories that took on an urgency because I became so excited to tell it. So I did! You’ve written stories about both urban and rural crime. Do you have a preference? No, I don’t think I prefer one over the other. Being something of a country girl myself, writing about a killer in a small desert town held an interest all its own. But the urban setting of the inner city can definitely prove grittier. They present us with two different feels to the same kind of darkness. I personally find both tremendously compelling.

Hide and Seek


Rob Costa - 2017
    As the stalker became more obsessive and threatening, her boyfriend Bobby went missing. The town assumed that troublemaking Bobby had been playing a trick and had decided to run away when he got in too deep—or that Mary Anne was behind all of it herself. They were especially suspicious when the stalker disappeared right after Bobby did. Fifteen years later, Mary Anne receives another note from her stalker. She knew exactly who to go to for help. VISIT WWW.CYANIDEPUBLISHING.COM AND DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE CRIME / MYSTERY STARTER LIBRARY

Girls In White Dresses


Alex Gates - 2017
    Missing Persons Detective London McKenna links the killings to a fifteen-year-old kidnapping and uncovers a sinister conspiracy to murder those who would reveal the horrifying truth. Runaway girls are being kidnapped and trafficked as child brides. London races to save the young girls, but her investigation traps her inside a twisted world of perverted religion, bloody revenge, and the nightmares of her own captivity. With time running out and the captors desperate for their next bride, London must risk her own life to save the children and prevent the heinous weddings from becoming a mass funeral... Girls In White Dresses is a gripping, edge-of-your-seat crime thriller perfect for fans of James Patterson, Robert Dugoni, and Liliana Hart. London McKenna is a feisty, take-no-prisoners female detective avenging the evils done to her in the past. With an explosive plot and a twist that will leave you breathless, Girls in White Dresses is an exciting and riveting novel guaranteed to shock you until the very end!

One Step Ahead


Denver Murphy - 2018
     Retired from the force, Detective Superintendent Jeffrey Brandt goes native. He stabs a woman but holds back from killing her. Frustrated that no one takes any notice, he ups his game. Next time, he’ll kill. Brandt fully knows how the police work. He’ll use this knowledge to win a sick game; after all, he’s chosen the rules. The crime scenes are spotless, Brandt’s covered his tracks. There is no forensic evidence. Yet each killing has his unmistakeable print. Faced with the challenge of discovering his identity is DCI Stella Johnson. Quick-witted and uncompromising, she rises to Brandt’s macabre challenge. But if she finds the killer, what will she do given that he is always one step ahead? Who will win this mortal battle of wits between hunter and hunted? ONE STEP AHEAD is the first book in a trilogy featuring DSI Brandt and DCI Johnson. It is set in Nottingham and further afield in England. It is FREE with Kindle Unlimited and coming soon in paperback. HIDE AND SEEK, book 2, is on pre-order and will be released at the end of January. Seriously, you will not be able to wait.

Partners In Crime


Gallagher Gray - 1991
    Sayers’ Murder Must Advertise has there been a more perfect cozy office murder--and not since Agatha Christie’s immortal Miss Marple has a more loveable geriatric sleuth been spawned. Gallagher Gray’s first Hubbert and Lil mystery’s got it all—a stuffy old firm with stuffy old routines disturbed by a few unaccustomed murders, a hilariously apoplectic boss, the indispensable brace of cats, and a clever amateur sleuths of a certain age. Break out the tea and cookies to welcome T.S. Hubbert and his unforgettable Auntie Lil! T.S. tells the story (and very wittily too), but it's Lil who steals the show—she’s eighty-four years young, with a taste for bloody Marys at any time of day, a fine-tuned appreciation of life’s other pleasures, and a remarkable talent for detecting. It begins, as so many things do, with a phone call: T.S. (Theodore to Auntie Lil) has been retired about eight hours when he’s summoned back to Sterling & Sterling, the bank where he served as personnel manager for most of his adult life. One of the bigwigs is lying stabbed to death in the Partner’s Room and his demanding former boss, forgetting he’s no longer boss, is demanding a favor—damage control. Well, that’s certainly more interesting, thinks Theodore, than “interviewing the slack-jawed sons of clients.” And besides, now he can talk back to the brass. He can even dress like it’s casual Friday and no one can say a word. Although they do. A big part of the fun’s watching him shock his former colleagues with his sudden assertiveness. Because who can boss around a person who’s doing a favor? What starts out as damage control quickly evolves into full-scale detecting as more and more partners bite the big one in unexpected ways. Aunt Lil’s all over it from the first, demonstrating not only the necessary smarts, street savvy, and moxie, but also a feminine way of looking at things that leads to a surprisingly contemporary conclusion. Fans of Golden Age mysteries will eat this irrepressible amateur detective team with a spoon, along with readers who just get a kick out of watching senior sleuths kick butt. If you like Miss Marple, Miss Silver, Miss Seeton, Mrs. Pollifax, Jessica Fletcher, Agatha Raisin, Henrie O, Hercule Poirot, and their many distinguished silver-haired colleagues, you’ll want to grab this one now. Aficionados of cozy authors like Dorothy Cannell, Carolyn Hart, M.C. Beaton, Joanne Fluke, Jana DeLeon, and Alexander McCall Smith will be equally captivated!

May Queen Killers (May Queen Killers, #1)


Lorna Dounaeva - 2015
     A beauty queen is missing Sapphire Butterworth disappears in the middle of May Day celebrations in the quiet village of Fleckford. Mystery writer, Jock Skone is one of the last to see Sapphire and determined to use his detective skills to find her. But Jock quickly discovers that Sapphire’s friends do not know her as well as they thought they did. And Sapphire is not the first May Queen to go missing. Is there a deeper reason why Sapphire wanted the title so badly? Does she know more about the May Queen Killers than she’s been letting on? May Queen Killers is a very British thriller set on the English/Welsh border. If you enjoy fast-paced mysteries/psychological thrillers, visit www.LornaDounaeva.com for a free 10k book, The Muse, plus giveaways and updates on new releases.

James 516: A London Carter Novel


B.J. Bourg - 2014
    Sheriff Burke puts his best sniper, London Carter, and his internal affairs officer, Bethany Riggs, on the case. Pressure mounts and panic sets in as the body count rises and the killer becomes more embolden. London and Bethany find themselves sifting through evidence, lies, and feelings for each other in their quest to stop the deadly attacks. A mysterious note at the crime scenes might offer a clue to the killer’s motive, but will they decipher it before the sheriff’s entire staff is wiped out? "...compelling and intense from start to finish...one heck of a read." --Kevin R. Tipple, Reviewer at Kevin's Corner (NOTE: Originally published on December 7, 2014 by Amber Quill Press, LLC)

Gold


Thomas Hollyday - 2010
    He has followed his conscience for too long, working for pennies to support local farmers in the quiet Chesapeake town of River Sunday. With his own bills mounting, he is doing one last job before selling out to the corporate life. He just needs to finalize the will of Father Tom, a beloved priest who passed away while performing a mass.To the town’s surprise, it seems that Father Tom had access to gold - to the tune of millions of dollars. None can figure out where the stash of precious metal was coming from, or how many millions still remained. A modern day gold rush ensues, with prospectors descending on the town from all corners of the world. John struggles to fend off the enthusiastic claims of the church as well as the scrabbling efforts of neighbors while making his own furious explorations of the brush-encrusted fishing property Father Tom maintained.When a Native American burial mound presents evidence of a history tracing back far more than local tribes could account for, John realizes the significance of his discovery could go far beyond monetary wealth. His world enters the realm of science fiction, and he races to stay one step ahead of death in his efforts to share the truth with the world.

The Entrepreneurs


Patrick Kelly - 2014
    . . Amateur boxer turned executive Joe Robbins moves his family to Austin, Texas, to join a startup and get rich. At his first company party, Joe witnesses a young woman commit suicide. She leaves no note . . . no motive . . . and the image haunts his dreams.But the company is busy writing software and making sales and everyone is going to get rich! Employees careen around Austin like bats.When the market crashes, the company falls apart, and the paper riches evaporate. Then a director is found murdered, and the police figure Joe for a prime suspect. Two more executives are murdered, and Joe might be next.Forced into the role of an amateur detective, Joe falls back on what he knows: facts, logic, and analysis. If the going gets rough, he’ll use his fists. Whatever the approach, he’d better work fast because he’s facing a long stay in prison or a short trip to the morgue.

Killer in Sight


Sandra Carrington-Smith - 2012
    Tom Lackey to locate her killer. With the help of his longtime girlfriend and professional photographer, Kathy Spencer, Lackey unravels a mystery laden with psychosis and unexpected revelations. While Tom is busy following the multiple clues pouring in from different directions, Kathy gets to work to prove her own theory: The last image viewed by the dying person can be lifted from the eyes of the victim to identify the murderer. Using her background in photography and her passion for iridology, Kathy enlists the help of Dr. Greer, a snow-haired medical examiner who allows her to take shots of Tracey Newman’s eyes. Her findings are puzzling, but they are supported by Alexis Howard, the dead girl’s ten-year-old half sister who volunteers information she claims was delivered to her by her imaginary friend Lily. With multiple suspects floating up to the surface and skeletons yanked out of unlikely closets, Tom must rely on his methodical expertise and on Kathy’s insight to find the killer before tragedy strikes again.

The Woman


David Bishop - 2011
    This is a story of just one woman. As the story unfolds Linda gradually learns that some people do deserve to die, but that she is not one of those people. Linda Darby is a seven-year divorcee, living quietly in a small let-the-world-go-by beach town on the coast of Oregon, who day trades for a living. Her only close friend is a widowed elderly woman who manages a small consulting company, which, as is later discovered, never has visitors, sends and receives its business correspondence only by courier, and is not listed in any phone directory. No one in town knows what kind of consulting the company does, but the rumor is that whatever they do is done for the government. Linda doesn’t date local men. When her celibacy grows intolerable, she visits nearby towns to frequent the watering holes of successful men. Her motto: No relationships. No second dates. No use of her real name during one-night stands. Then one evening, Linda goes for a walk and nothing for her is ever the same. She is dragged into an alley by two men, but saved by a third, a stranger who disappears as suddenly as he appeared. The next day she finds out the two men in the alley had been killed, the town’s first murders ever. The following day she learns that hours before she had been dragged into the alley, her close friend was tortured and killed.

Be My Girl


Tony Hutchinson - 2018
     But no one works the evidence better than DCI Sam Parker and her team, determined to take down the monster using their streets as a hunting ground. A new voice in the field of contemporary, police procedural fiction, former murder squad head Tony Hutchinson takes us on a tense, thrilling and authentic journey across the dark tides of crime.

Famished


Meghan O'Flynn - 2016
    At least, it feels that way until a serial killer starts dicing up women from the shelter where she volunteers. Despite the ever-present tingling at the nape of her neck, Hannah manages to convince herself that the killings have nothing to do with her brutal past—until her boyfriend is murdered in the same ruthless manner as the others. It doesn’t help that the police think she might have done it. But the cops are right about one thing: Hannah is responsible. Because she knows who the killer is. Now she must face the fact that she brought a monster with her to Ash Park—and his appetite for blood is insatiable. Everyone's hungry for something. Some are more famished than others.

Surface Tension


Christine Kling - 2002
    Working as she does in a man's world, Seychelle has to work twice as hard just to compete. Some have even called her reckless. In her view, she's just doing her job, salvaging boats and people's lives. FROM BOOKLIST –Kling packs her debut with nautical detail, interesting characters, a well-tangled plot, and detailed descriptions of both the natural beauty and rampant tackiness of southern Florida. Recommend to James W. Hall fans and to all who like outdoor adventure along with their murder and mayhem. Carrie Bissey Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved SURFACE TENSION Years ago Seychelle Sullivan had the chance to save a person’s life. But on that summer night in Florida, lost in a world of teenage resentment and loneliness, Seychelle was not able to feel any pain but her own. Today Seychelle captains her father’s forty-six-foot salvage boat out of Fort Lauderdale’s New River. But she’s never escaped that one moment when she could have made a difference and didn’t. On a steamy Florida morning Seychelle is answering a Mayday call launched from the five-million-dollar Broward yacht called Top Ten. Racing her fiercest competitor for salvage rights, Seychelle has a personal stake in this rescue: Her former lover, Neal Garrett, is the yacht’s hired skipper. But being the first to reach Top Ten leads to a bloody payday. A beautiful woman has been stabbed to death onboard. And Garrett is nowhere to be found. While the police treat her as the prime suspect, Seychelle begins to unravel a tangled plot centered on a strip club where “all the girls are tens on top.” Seychelle is connecting human predators with innocent victims, and a mystery on land with a mystery buried deep beneath the sea. Now, to find out what really happened to Neal Garrett, Seychelle must retrace his last steps, through two murders and a horrific crime wave, to a final confrontation with someone who may want to kill her . . . or be her salvation. About the Author Christine Kling is the author of five nautical thrillers and one anthology of short stories. She lives aboard her 33-foot sailboat Talespinner and travels wherever the wind and free wifi may take her.