Book picks similar to
Her Final Mistake: An addictive murder mystery with a shocking twist by Amy Waeschle
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suspense
Splinter the Bone (DI Haskell & Quinn #3)
Bilinda P. Sheehan - 2020
He knows you’re alone… and he wants to be with you.A new elite team is formed in the North Yorkshire police force to tackle the most heinous crimes.When a young girl is found washed up at the base of the cliffs in Whitby, the police suspect human trafficking.Coming off the high of catching a vicious murderer, Drew and Harriet are called on to investigate a series of seemingly unconnected, and random, crimes.One of which Harriet fears bears all the hallmarks of a fledgling serial killer.With Drew fighting the lasting effects of the Star Killer, and Harriet trying to help him reintegrate, this may turn out to be their most challenging case yet.
Sean Freeman
Kerry J. Donovan - 2015
“Diamonds are nothing more than compressed carbon.” Veteran cop, DCI David Jones, is tough and uncompromising. His Serious Crime Unit has the best arrest record the Midlands Police Service has ever seen and Jones wants to keep it that way. Locksmith turned jewel thief, Sean Freeman, is the best in the UK. He's never been caught—the police have never even come close. When Freeman's boss forces him to break into the Stafford Museum, the UK’s most secure premises outside of the Bank of England, he's in trouble—the Stafford is in the heart of Jones' jurisdiction. Someone's record is going to suffer. In the third instalment of the DCI Jones Casebook series, veteran detective, David Jones tackles a series of cases and faces a clever and engaging criminal he respects and would probably like--under different circumstances. But Jones has a job to do and Freeman is going down. . This book can be read as a stand-alone novel.
An Unfamiliar Guest
E.C. Murray - 2020
Murray's suspense brings together two estranged college roommates on a lush island in Washington state. The friends, a mysterious widow and a frustrated mother of teenagers, slowly reconcile only to discover nothing is as it seems. Secrets are revealed, a man is shot, and shocking lies surface in a saga that leads from New England to Washington state to La Serena, Chile. An Unfamiliar Guest is a story of friendship, mystery, and intrigue with twists that will astonish even the most astute reader.
Hidden: Part One
Linda Berry - 2019
His parents are estranged, his rodeo legend father is an invalid, and the family ranch is nearing bankruptcy. The county is in an uproar. Thieves have been striking neighboring ranches, stealing champion horses, and disappearing into the desert like ghosts. While recovering, Sully attempts to make peace with his abusive father. The dark secrets that destroyed his parent’s marriage slowly come to light. Though furious, Sully is forced to live and work with his father for the survival of the ranch. Sully’s only refuge is the mother of a young marine recently killed in action. Despite their age difference, he begins to connect with her in a way he never thought possible. When Sully’s close friend is killed by the horse thieves, he and his Paiute companion decide to track the renegades themselves. What awaits in the high desert will sorely test their courage and survival skills—skills neither of them thought they’d ever use on American soil.
Man Down
Nathan Burrows - 2020
With red crosses on their arms and medical equipment strapped to their backs, they thunder into battle in a Chinook helicopter – straight into areas everyone else is desperate to get away from.In the middle of the fiercest fighting British troops have seen since the Falklands War, the medics are the last defence from death on the ground in some corner of a foreign field. But in Afghanistan, where a hostile is only obvious when they raise a weapon, there's no such thing as a non-combatant. And not all enemies are on the other side.Despite the heroic efforts of the medics on the ground and in the air, someone in the field hospital is determined to finish what the Taliban has started. Wounded soldiers – who should be living – are dying. Their deadliest enemy is much closer to home than they realise.As the death toll and the temperature rise, can the medics finish their tour of duty, or will it finish them?
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.
The Sandman
McClelland & Stewart - 2014
For readers of Stieg Larsson, Henning Mankell, and Jo Nesbo. During a cold winter night in Stockholm a man is found walking alongside a railway bridge, suffering from hypothermia and legionella. After he's rushed to the hospital, it's discovered that, according to a death certificate, the man has been dead for over seven years. He is believed to be a victim of notorious serial killer Jurek Walter, who was arrested years ago by Detective Inspector Joona Linna and sentenced to a life of total isolation in forensic psychiatric care. As Joona Linna investigates where the "dead man" has been all these years, some unexpected evidence leads to the reopening of a cold case. Danger is imminent, and someone needs to get under the skin of the serial killer--fast--as they are running out of time.
Richter Ten
Rob Leininger - 2014
In Eastern Oregon, 90,000 cubic feet of mantle-hot gas is roaring out of the Devil's Pore fumarole every second. To Bell, this is just a "leak," a pinhole, relatively speaking. But what is leaking? Where is all that gas coming from? And why is 700 square miles of land subsiding, inch by inch, year by year? The fumarole, it turns out, is just the visible tip of an iceberg. A disaster of monstrous proportions is brewing. Bell wants the fumarole plugged in order to study the problem, but the hot gas is carrying with it a rare-earth element worth billions, an element with military applications. The U.S. government wants Bell to shut up and go away; Drew Gannon wants Bell dead; 14-year-old Lissa Bell just wants to spend the summer with her dad; and gorgeous ex-model Kate is caught in the middle, forced into a disturbing agenda of her own. Forces of nature, government, greed, and love collide with the potential for an explosion that could make a major earthquake on the San Andreas Fault look like a whisper in the wind.
Already Gone (A Detective McDaniel Thriller Book 4)
Axel Blackwell - 2021
It's a tense arrangement not helped by Jayda’s drug use and her new boyfriend’s frequent visits. One Friday night, an argument turns physical and the tensions boil over into bloodshed.The following morning, a neighbor finds the front door ajar, the house trashed, and a puddle of blood soaking into the bedroom carpet. Detective Darren McDaniel and his partner, Brent Vanderwyk, quickly determine it’s a case of domestic violence turned deadly. But both Levi and Jayda are missing – as is the little girl.As the detectives plunge into the hunt for a suspect, a body and a missing toddler, the case becomes increasingly bizarre. The couple have ties to money laundering, drug trafficking, organized crime, and even darker secrets. As much as Levi and Jayda hated each other, plenty of other people had reason to want either or both of them dead.With their suspect list steadily growing, and the missing toddler’s time slipping away, McDaniel and Vanderwyk race against the clock, piecing the puzzle together, hoping to save little Cami before her time runs out.
Ashes to Ashes
Cory Toth - 2013
Then, after a business misfortune and a stormy relationship, he lost everything but his sanity and his love for his baby daughter. He is now struggling to make it through each day, emotionally and financially, when disaster strikes and the floodgates of Hell are opened. Danger lurks in the background, tearing at the fabric of his fragile existence. Someone has been watching him. Someone is following his every move, waiting in the shadows, terrorizing him with unknown motives. He begins to suspect everyone in his life, including himself. He must fight to learn what is happening before it is too late for him...and his family.
Shallow Waters
Kay Jennings - 2019
A new, handsome police chief with his own shadowy past. The last thing Port Stirling Chief of Police Matt Horning needed on day one of his new job was for the mayor’s daughter to turn up dead - stabbed to death - in a mysterious tunnel on a remote Oregon beach. Horning, escaping professional troubles in Texas, accepts the vacant job in Port Stirling, Oregon, looking for a fresh start in what he thought would be a peaceful coastal town where the far west meets the mighty Pacific Ocean. Nothing much ever happens here…or does it? The crime doesn't make any sense, and there is no apparent motive for the murder of little Emily Bushnell. She wasn't sexually assaulted, her family is respected in the small community where everyone knows everyone, and there doesn't appear to be a reason for her death. Human bite marks on Emily's body discovered by the medical examiner during the autopsy add an even stranger twist to the puzzling homicide. With only a ragtag county crime team to assist him, Horning must match wits with a diabolical killer, the likes of which this quiet village has never seen. An aggressive county district attorney with political ambitions, who doesn’t fancy relinquishing the limelight to the new chief of police, makes Horning's job even more difficult. Will Matt be allowed a new beginning in his life, both personally and professionally. or will the forces in play be too many obstacles to overcome? For one week in the wild and stormy month of January, Horning calls on all of his detective skills to investigate the unlikely murder. As soon as he starts asking questions, Port Stirling begins to unveil its dark underbelly amid stunning revelations. From the 300-foot bluffs ringing the white-sand pristine beach, to the posh golf resort at odds with the blue-collar town, Chief Horning and his new team work at break-neck speed to uncover the facts. Without a murder weapon and very little physical evidence, will Matt and his new colleagues find the killer before he – or she – strikes again? Will a psychopath ruin Matt Horning’s new life before he can even start it? In this shocking story set in a beach town not unlike where she grew up, native Oregonian Kay Jennings introduces a thrilling new mystery series set alongside Oregon’s rugged Pacific coast. Shallow Waters combines an intriguing police procedural with a spooky murder mystery, in a remote part of southwest Oregon you aren't likely to forget.
Murder Motel (The Kellys Book 1)
Nic Saint - 2018
Oh, on the surface they might look like your next-door neighbors: Tom Kelly, professor in economics, his wife Dee, art gallery owner, teenagers Maya and Scott, baby boy Jacob, and of course the family’s lovable Goldendoodle Ralph. All perfectly nice people. But for some reason the Kellys can’t stop bumping into dead bodies and getting mixed up in all kinds of murder and mayhem, and is it their fault they’ve got a knack for solving crime? After all, the family that sleuths together, stays together, right? The Kellys, on their way back from Thanksgiving Break, are caught in the snowstorm to end all snowstorms. This is the big one, and they’re forced to stay the night at a roadside motel in the middle of nowhere. So when Ralph finds the body of a dead man buried under a foot of snow, they’re not that keen to get involved. Especially when the man turns out to be the famous Hot Gangster: the gang member who became a celebrity and a model because of his mugshot. But with the motel on lockdown, and the police unable to get there because of the blizzard, it’s up to the Kellys to find out who murdered Hot Gangster, knowing full well that the killer is locked in there with them, watching their every move! Murder Motel is the first book in the brand-new humorous cozy mystery series The Kellys.
Detective Maddie Ives #1–4
Charlie Gallagher - 2022
The killer is careful to position her under a camera that links to his smartphone. He likes to look back at his work. He is watching her. But she isn’t dead. So he will return to finish the job. Detective Maddie Ives and DI Harry Blaker must work fast. Time is running out for the woman in the container. And the killer has already identified his next target.BOOK 2: HE WILL KILL YOUGrace Hughes is kicked to the bathroom floor by her partner. Fighting to regain her breath, she can no longer ignore a simple truth: she must leave or he will kill her. Grace has a plan to get free. And Detective Sergeant Maddie Ives is going to help her. But Maddie has a lot on her mind. A dead boy in a bath, a car bomber who wants to make a statement, and the return of a scarred DI Harry Blaker. Can he and Maddie stop the bomber, find a killer and save Grace — whether she helps herself or not?BOOK 3: HE WILL FIND YOUA ten-year-old-boy steps out in front of traffic. He is dazed, confused and barefoot. He is covered in blood. It’s not his. Detective Maddie Ives is called out and finds the boy backed up against a shop front. He’s ready to run again. He can’t tell her why. Then a man is found brutally murdered and Maddie and Detective Harry Blaker are determined to find out who is pulling the strings. If they don’t stop him, he will find more victims. And the evil will come close to home.BOOK 4: HE KNOWS YOUR SECRETSHolly Maguire takes a taxi to a clifftop location and the car goes over the edge of the cliff. As Holly falls to her death, she tightens her grip on a rucksack. She will give her life to bring him down. Kelly Dale receives a text from Holly, sent just before the accident, and rushes to the clifftop. She is too late. Detective Maddie Ives must stop a powerful man who exploits and controls women before it’s too late.
The Detective Deans Mystery Collection
James D. Mortain - 2019
Written by an ex-CID detective, these books are so realistic; you'll feel like one of the team. THREE CHILLING MURDER MYSTERIES ARE WAITING FOR YOU TO UNLEASH THIS BOX…
BOOK 1: STORM LOG-0505
This detective's best lead could be a voice from beyond the grave...
Bath, England. Detective Andrew Deans always embraces his work. As he struggles to be present for his wife's challenging fertility treatments, the case of a missing college student hits a dead end. Under pressure from his job and his marriage, Deans' inquiry takes a turn when he receives impossible-to-deny evidence from a psychic...Despite his lack of belief in the paranormal, following the ghostly thread escalates his missing persons case into a murder investigation. Unable to focus on his responsibilities at home, Deans works with the medium to build evidence from a new source: the voice of the victim herself...To put the killer behind bars, just how much will Deans have to sacrifice in the name of justice?
BOOK 2: DEAD BY DESIGN
Can a detective solve a case that’s taken over his mind… and cost him everything?
A young couple in their prime is found dead in the marital bed. As they lie naked, staring at each other with eyes wide open – filled with fear, his colleagues assume a double suicide, but Detective Andrew Deans senses darker forces are at work.Deans is facing an awakening – a spiritual birth, but he is stuck in a living nightmare. Those around him are watching … judging … expecting him to break.As he waits to hear the news he dreads most, Deans receives an unmarked DVD and the true meaning of horror is revealed.Playing by the rules is getting him nowhere. Now, it’s time to do things his way. But death and tragedy haven’t finished with him … yet.
BOOK 3: THE BONE HILL
A killer at large. A gift obscured by tragedy. One last chance for justice…
As Detective Andrew Deans pieces together the fragments of his shattered life, the North Devon tide washes up another decapitated corpse. Consumed by torment and rage, it is clear that Deans still hunts a methodical and cold-blooded killer…Determined to end the horror and avenge his own devastating loss, Deans exposes an ancient cult with a thirst for blood and a lust for human sacrifice. As he peels back the layers to the core of the deadly secret society, there can be only one guarantee – unless he acts quickly, more people will die.Deans is staring down a terrifying evil, the like of which he’s never confronted. Time is against him, but the biggest question remains… who will be next?
FREE BONUS MATERIAL: Click the link to The Real Story behind the Detective Deans Mysteries in the back of this book, and also find a link to the short story prequel – The Night Shift.
Betrayal
Sharon Brownlie - 2014
Now, as an adult, Helen is spiraling out of control. Old wounds are surfacing; can she face her demons without the drugs? Will revenge help release her from her past? Beating her addiction is her only chance at a new life. But, an encounter with a former school teacher opens up old wounds that had been festering deep within her. While quitting drugs, another craving takes its place. A desire for revenge: payback for those who'd betrayed her. Plagued with bitterness, Helen heads to Edinburgh to begin her killing spree.Police are mystified when her first victim is found. A second death convinces them it’s the same killer. Can they connect Helen to the crimes? How many more will die before she is stopped?