Book picks similar to
Girl, Under Oath by John Ellsworth


mystery
genre-mystery-thriller-or-suspense
prequel-sequel-series
thriller

A Plague of Dissent


Nic Taylor - 2012
    It paints a picture of the UK, where media companies hack into personnel communications at will, in search of their next headline. Of politicians lining their pockets with falsified expense claims and crooked practices operate within the police force. Where government contracts can be bought and sold by those that have the Prime Ministers ear; that too, also on sale for the right price and banks and businesses making millions at the expense of the man in the street.A story of greed and corruption; where riots and civil unrest are turning the country upside down and a small group of men are attempting to use this anarchy that is spreading across the country to further their own aims.Into this is dragged a young man Adam, his girl friend Isobel and his brother Dan, a professional rugby player and England’s open side wing forward. These three are pursued by the faceless men who believe they are party to information that could comprise their mission and have two choices, to run or, to turn and fight for their lives.

Isolation Island: Into the Wild


Johnny Moscato - 2021
    I would go so far as to compare it to the works of Stephen King.” -Amazon/Goodreads Reviewer”The action leaps off the page and smacks you in the face. Once you start reading it's very hard to find a stopping point.” Amazon/Goodreads ReviewerIt was supposed to be the opportunity of a lifetime—the chance to be on a reality show and win a million dollars. Ten contestants are dropped individually on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean with one goal in mind—SURVIVE. But, there are more dangers lurking in the shadows than just the wolves, bears, isolation and harsh environment. Nobody expected a murderer among them. The last survivor standing will win the million dollar prize, but the real prize might be merely coming home alive when all communication with the outside world is lost and sleeping bags start turning into body bags. The Cast:Derrick Bond- A twenty-nine year-old ex-Marine from Texas. He’s come to Isolation Island to escape the demons of his past and prove he still has what it takes to adapt, overcome, and survive. Jillian Hill- 49 years-old. A self-proclaimed badass. She’s a wife and mother of six from Kentucky, full of grit and determination. She signed up for the ultimate test of endurance to prove to her kids anything is possible.Tucker Jordan- A yoga instructor from Vermont looking to become one with nature and test his ability to live off the land. But, Isolation Island’s harsh climate does not welcome visitors with open arms. Can he find peace and harmony among the hungry wild animals?Stephanie Hamilton- An artist and experienced survivalist from Colorado. She can survive anywhere, but what she wants most is to win the million dollars so she can live off the grid on a Caribbean island. Wes Wood- A farmer from Mississippi looking to strike it rich on his first trip outside the country. Will his shady past catch up with him in a competition where mental toughness is as important as physical ability?Kimmie Arden- A burnt-out nurse from New York who’s sick of the daily grind and work-related stress. If she can outlast the others, it can mean a more peaceful life for her whole family.Seaton Rogers- A screenwriter and self-described introvert—perhaps the type of personality most suited for months of isolation. He wants the million dollars so he can distance himself from society and live a self-sustaining life on his own terms. Zoey Price- A dance instructor and the youngest person in the competition entering at twenty-four years-old. She’ll have to learn quickly and adapt if she wants a shot at beating the older, more experienced survivalists. Floyd Benson- A pizza delivery man from Florida with two young children depending on him. Can his energy-conserving strategy help him survive longer than the others?Ezra Greer- A hard-nosed truck driver from Alaska. He’s come to Isolation Island to escape his dark past and make a new start. One million dollars would surely go a long way. Ten contestants. One million dollars up for grabs. The last person remaining wins.Welcome to Isolation Island. Let the game begin.

Impurity


Ray Clark - 2019
    A detective on edge. A community that wants answers. One fateful night when off duty, DI Stewart Gardener intervenes in a street brawl and his wife is shot dead. Trying to come to terms with this, he gradually returns to normal duties policing the streets of Leeds. Finding his wife’s murderer is never far from his mind, but with no leads and a hazy recollection of events, it seems hopeless. Soon he is presented with a shocking case. A man is found dead in a grubby apartment, having been killed in the cruellest of ways. It is not long before another man meets the same fate. The deaths are caused by a rapid and violent disintegration of the victims’ flesh. Pathology cannot ascertain the cause. The only connection between the victims is they both worked seasonally as Santas, dressing up as Father Christmas and entertaining kids in grottos and such like. Who would want to kill such innocuous men as these? The detective is flummoxed. The local community is ruffled. The press is having a field day. The top brass wants answers. Can DI Gardener overcome his grief and solve the case? IMPURITY is the first in a series of six books featuring Leeds based Detective Inspector Stewart Gardener. They are all murder mysteries but as suspenseful as the best thrillers. FREE with Kindle Unlimited. Look out for the next in the series, IMPERFECTION, coming soon on Kindle. If you like crime fiction that has you glued to the page and reading late into the night, this is the book for you!

The Moose Jaw - (Book, #2)


Mike Delany - 2013
    2nd in the Fergus O'Neill Series

Power and Justice


Peter O'Mahoney - 2019
    His enemies want blood.And criminal defense attorney Tex Hunter is the only hope he has left.Robert Sulzberger appeared to have a perfect life—a respected position in the City Council, a lovely family, a house with all the trimmings—but behind the façade, his life was crumbling. Drawn into a world of crime and corruption, Sulzberger couldn’t find a way out. He couldn’t escape. And when he tried to walk away, he found himself behind bars.The trial captures the media’s attention and the dark forces of politics are thrown into the limelight. As the son of a convicted serial killer, Tex Hunter knows just how dangerous those forces can be.In the first instalment of the Tex Hunter novel series, Hunter battles against deception, fraud, and cover-ups; risking everything in the most difficult case of his career.Can justice triumph against corruption?Or will the dark side of politics bury the truth forever?This thrilling story will take you for a ride through the courtroom, and end with a twist that you didn’t see coming.

State Series Crime Combo #1: State of Anger / State of Betrayal


Thomas L. Scott - 2017
    This whodunit double-dose of Mystery-Thriller & Suspense features the first two full-length Detective Virgil Jones novels, State Of Anger and State Of Betrayal. State Of Anger As leader of the Indiana State Police Major Crimes Unit, Detective Virgil Jones tackles only the toughest cases in the state, and the one he faces this time has the city of Indianapolis on edge, near the brink of panic. When a team of serial snipers begin using their own personal brand of domestic terrorism, their first two victims are murdered right in front of the governor’s mansion. With no witnesses and very little evidence, it's up to Virgil to find out who is responsible for the mysterious killings. But when Virgil gets too close, the hunter becomes the hunted… State Of Betrayal Twenty years ago James Pope was shot to death in front of his twin children, Nicholas and Nichole, by a rookie cop named Virgil Jones. Now, as young adults, the Pope twins are looking for revenge against the man they hold responsible for the death of their father. Except twenty years is a long time and Virgil has a few other problems these days, the shooting of James Pope a distant memory. But when Nicholas Pope goes missing and his apartment is found covered in blood, his twin sister Nichole turns to the only person she can think of to help her, the one person who could never turn her away: Virgil Jones.

Trust No One


L.J. Breedlove - 2013
    Mac Davis likes being a reporter.No one shoots at him, he eats real meals regularly -- what's not to like? Then someone kidnaps his friends, and tries to kill him. Mac doesn't know who or why, but he plans to find out. And make them pay.First book of the Mac Davis thrillers.

IN SITU


David Samuel Frazier - 2013
    When paleontologist Alexandra Moss ventures into the high deserts of Utah in search of a rare dinosaur fossil she gets more than she bargained for: she inadvertently discovers a highly intelligent species from the late Cretaceous that has been in hibernation since the great K-T asteroid disaster--and he is alive!

The Letter Promised


Kevin Wignall - 2013
    Returning to the Paris hotel where he spent his honeymoon six years earlier, he decides to take what seems like the only way out - suicide. But a chance encounter with a Russian in a similar predicament leaves Nick with an unlikely obligation to fulfil, one that will take him to Italy, and offer him a chance at something like redemption. www.kevinwignall.com

Conclusive Evidence


Al Macy - 2019
    But a pair of tragic events threw him into a bottomless depression, and he retreated into the practice of family law. Now, he tries to settle cases in ways that make everyone happy. He’s a nicer person, but has he lost his edge?His kinder, gentler life is disrupted when the police arrest his estranged twin sister, Carly. She’s accused of shoving her husband off a cliff into the storm-tossed Pacific Ocean. Worse, the vicious detective on the case has a grudge against her and has vowed to send her to prison even if he has to cheat to do it.Carly, deaf since birth, refuses to be defended by anyone other than her twin brother. But the intense connection that binds the siblings tells Garrett that she may not be revealing everything she knows. If Garrett can’t keep this new stress from pushing him back into depression, the defense will fail, condemning his sister to an isolated life in prison, cut off from the deaf community she needs.

Felony Murder


Joseph T. Klempner - 1995
    Klempner's fast-paced page-turner is more than entertainment . . . He writes with power, color, and compassion. . . . Felony Murder takes you through the tawdry, real-life criminal justice system where you cannot tell the cops from the crooks." - William Kunstler On the surface, the court-appointed case that lands on young Dean Abernathy's desk is a biggie; he is slated to defend a homeless man accused of the felony murder of the popular black New York City Police commissioner during an early-morning mugging attempt. But at second look, the case promises to be a routine conviction. The evidence is overwhelming. The police have come up with an eyewitness, they have physical evidence, and Joey Spadafino has given the arresting officers a signed confession. Dean's course seems obvious: Get Joe Spadafino, an ex-con, to plead guilty, bargain for the most lenient sentence possible, and figure you can't win ‘em all. Before he can talk to his client about a plea bargain, however, he finds that the prosecutor has already offered one - which Joey refuses. Dean, not only a conscientious defense attorney but a former investigator, starts looking harder at the seemingly incontrovertible evidence. What he turns up changes a foregone conclusion into something very different. The district attorney, although outwardly cooperative, seems to be trying to keep Dean from interviewing the eyewitness - and the reason becomes apparent when Dean, challenged, digs deeper into her background. Anomalies and discrepancies in the government's case crop up. Dean realizes that he is drawing closer to a particularly nasty truth, one that not only puts his life and those of others in immediate peril but confronts him with a moral dilemma that is even more difficult to face.

Irreparable Harm


Melissa F. Miller - 2011
    Downloaded by more than one million readers!Attorney Sasha McCandless has one goal: Make partner at the best firm in town. Then a plum assignment plunges her into a world of deceit and danger.When a commercial flight crashes, killing everyone on board, she's tapped to defend the airline. It's her big chance ... high-stakes litigation for an important client. But, as she digs into the evidence, people close to the case start dying.She discovers the crash was intentional, caused by a smartphone app capable of overriding the cockpit controls. But she's not sure who she can trust with the horrifying truth. She teams up with a federal air marshal, and they race to prevent another airline disaster.Soon, Sasha finds herself with a brand-new life goal: Stop a madman before he kills her.

Doubt


C.E. Tobisman - 2016
    Right away, her new boss asks her to find out whether a popular GMO causes healthy people to fall ill. Caroline is only supposed to dig in the trenches and report up the ladder, but her tech background and intuition take her further than planned. When she suspects a link between the death of a prominent scientist and the shadowy biotech giant, she cries foul and soon finds herself in the crosshairs. The clock is ticking and thousands of lives are on the line…including her own.Now this rookie lawyer with a troubled past and a penchant for hacking must prove a billion-dollar company is responsible for thousands of deaths…before they come after her.

A Criminal Defense


William L. Myers Jr. - 2017
    The defendant, David Hanson, was Mick’s close friend in law school, and the victim, a TV news reporter, had reached out to Mick for legal help only hours before her death.Mick’s played both sides of Philadelphia’s courtrooms. As a top-shelf defense attorney and former prosecutor, he knows all the tricks of the trade. And he’ll need every one of them to win.But as the trial progresses, he’s disturbed by developments that confirm his deepest fears. This trial, one that already hits too close to home, may jeopardize his firm, his family—everything. Now Mick’s only way out is to mastermind the most brilliant defense he’s ever spun, one that will cross every legal and moral boundary.

Damaged


Pamela Callow - 2010
    But then the teen is brutally murdered. And it isn't only Kate who wonders if her legal advice led to the girl's death.How far are you willing to go to redeem yourself?Put on notice by Randall Barrett, the firm's charismatic managing partner, Kate must fight for her career, for her reputation - and for redemption.Unwilling to live with the damage she may have caused, Kate pursues the case on her own and unearths some chilling facts.Facts that lead straight to the heart of a legal conspiracy.Facts that lead Kate directly into the surgically skilled hands of the Body Butcher. The first book in the Kate Lange legal thriller series. A Levy "Need to Read" pick with Top Ten Bestseller display. Now under option for television development.