Book picks similar to
Defenseless by Matt Lenz


crime
mystery
1-mystery-crime
calibre-books

Coral Sea Affair


Drew Lindsay - 2011
    He joins a VIP protection company and is sent to exotic Port Douglas in Far North Queensland to watch over a breath taking, upcoming starlet, Brenda Grant and her American film crew as they make a movie on the Great Barrier Reef. He never expected to get within a million miles of this amazing woman in his wildest dreams….let alone kiss her; touch her. Initially their hilarious encounter is just great fun. It’s Ben Hood’s mid life crisis dream come true. Then it goes bad. EXTREMELY bad.1163 KB

Smoke and Mirrors: Trunk #1 - a noir crime thriller


Steve M - 2019
     Trunk won’t kill, unless he has to. Between one and two percent of the population are psychopaths. Trunk is highly functional. He has a steady job, an ex-wife, and a plan to kill her boyfriend. He offers discreet services that work well with his condition. From investigations to body disposal, Trunk has your back. But he’s been good at solving puzzles since he was a kid. When drug houses in Florida start burning down Trunk is hired to find out who is behind it. A vigilante out for revenge? Maybe a competitor trying to gain new territory? Is it an inside job? There are many suspects and all of them willing to kill. Trunk #1 - a noir crime thriller... ...and your new guilty pleasure.

The EmmaLee Affairs


Michael Lindley - 2005
     One Grand Ship. Two love affairs, decades apart. An idyllic summer resort town torn apart by class struggles, tragic loss, betrayal and murder. (Formerly published as "The Seasons of the EmmaLee".) Jonathan McKendry, the son of a local boatyard owner in a 1940’s northern Michigan resort town, is falling in love with Emily Compton, the daughter of a wealthy family who summer in Charlevoix and own the grand ship, the EmmaLee. As class differences and family pressures threaten any hope of the relationship succeeding, a shocking crime shatters their dreams of being together and throws them into a desperate search for a brutal killer. In a parallel story in present-day, Sally Thomason, a descendant of the Compton’s, is thrilled to join the Charlevoix community in welcoming back the family’s old yacht, the EmmaLee after decades away. When she meets Alex Clark, the new owner of the ship, her life takes a drastic turn that threatens her current relationship and dredges up past memories of a tragic event that continues to haunt her. As Sally and Alex grow closer, they search for common ground to move beyond the past and build new lives together. The EmmaLee Affairs plays out against a beautiful scenic backdrop and compelling historical context while exploring the deep emotions of tragic love and loss, and the chilling effects of evil that often lie just beneath the surface of our fragile lives.

More Short Fuses (Four Free Short Stories)


Stephen Leather - 2014
     The short stories are: Rules of Engagement (where Spider Shepherd has to help a friend who is in serious trouble with the police), The Constituency Meeting (where a group of old folks decide to commit a murder), Ghost Kids (where a holidaymaker takes more home from Thailand than he expected) and Massage Therapy (where the massage skills of a Thai masseuse change a man's life forever). There are also tasters of five of his bestselling novels, including Hard Landing, The Stretch and The Tunnel Rats. Stephen Leather is one of the UK’s most successful thriller writers, an eBook and Sunday Times bestseller and author of the critically acclaimed Dan “Spider’ Shepherd series and the Jack Nightingale supernatural detective novels. Before becoming a novelist he was a journalist for more than ten years on newspapers such as The Times, the Daily Mirror, the Glasgow Herald, the Daily Mail and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. He is one of the country’s most successful eBook authors and his eBooks have topped the Amazon Kindle charts in the UK and the US. In 2011 alone he sold more than 500,000 eBooks and was voted by The Bookseller magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the UK publishing world. Born in Manchester, he began writing full time in 1992. His bestsellers have been translated into fifteen languages. He has also written for television shows such as London’s Burning, The Knock and the BBC’s Murder in Mind series and two of his books, The Stretch and The Bombmaker, were filmed for TV. You can find out more from his website www.stephenleather.com and you can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/stephenleather

What If It's True?


Dixie Burns - 2015
    Our dreams are haunted with them. For unclear reasons, some of them won’t go away, leaving our collective heads to hang in shame. Or worse, create celebrity out of all proportion.We live in narrow spaces. Believing me-and-mine are special but not vulnerable. Evil exists, just not on our street. We carry the rumors with us. Like sand in our shoes, the stories seldom stop us in our tracks. We will deal with them later.But the grit in our soles whispers, “What if it’s true?”What If It’s True? Takes place in a small Southern town. A good solid town. Neat and efficient in all its circumstances. A woman of a different truth moves there coincidentally with rumored sins of the faithful. The truth of this book is secrecy can become malignant in a community until an outsider raises questions.

The Hunters Series: Volumes 1-5


Glenn Trust - 2014
    Each bestselling novel takes the reader on a suspenseful and thrilling ride into the world of crime and conspiracy and into the lives of those tasked to bring them to justice - The Hunters. George Mackey, Sharon Price, Andrew Barnes and others make up the team of Hunters, working through their own issues and fighting their personal demons as they take down those who prey on the innocent. This special set of the first three novels in the series is made available on a limited basis.

Continuance


Marta Tandori - 2013
    Within hours of a special news bulletin airing nationwide, the FBI’s hotline is inundated with anonymous tips relating to sightings of a little boy matching Ethan’s description outside a historic Savannah building, now a newly-renovated eatery. The FBI quickly assembles a task force and searches the premises but instead of finding little Ethan, they stumble upon the century-old remains of what appears to be a murdered man hidden in a pirate’s tunnel under the historic building. With her restaurant on temporary lockdown pending the FBI’s forensic investigation, owner Annie Eastwood researches the history of the building she inherited, hoping it will shed some light on the identity of the murdered man, but what she uncovers are bits and pieces of a horrible scandal that nearly destroyed the du Maurier family over a century ago. With hopes for Ethan’s safe return dwindling by the hour, Annie finds an unlikely lead in an old classified ad from a Boston newspaper which connects the events of the past to the present-day abduction of Ethan du Maurier—and to the identity of his abductor. Determined to rescue little Ethan before time runs out, Annie quickly realizes that the boy’s abductor will stop at nothing—even murder—in order to exact his revenge.

The Hand of Strange Children: A nerve-shredding mystery thriller


Robert Richardson - 1993
     Details trickle in: the house belongs to wealthy merchant banker Charles Stansfield; present are well-known news editor Richard Barlow and members of his family. But the victims identities are withheld. Who are they? Why has a family gathering exploded into violence and death? Through their individual voices the lives of Richard, Tim and Naomi Barlow and their mother, Florence, unfold and a shocking crime comes to light - one that has gone undetected and unpunished, culminating in a double-killing a quarter of a century later. The Hand of Strange ChildrenPraise for Robert Richardson ''With this, his first novel, Robert Richardson makes a most impressive debut as a writer of the classical English detective story… He knows how to create suspense and an atmosphere of incipient evil; he provides us with a genuine puzzle, his characters are believable people, and the motive of his murderer is psycho-logically credible.” P D James “Skilful rerouting and the taste of real tears” The Sunday Times “Eccentrics, suspects and witty writing abound” The Times “Here is a book to be missed only at your own peril” Armchair Detective “Elegantly written, beautifully characterised, suspenseful and oddly moving” Mystery Reader’s Journal “Grand entertainment, deft handling and suave wit” Publishers Weekly Robert Richardson is a journalist and editor who lives in England.

Crown of Serpents


Michael J. Karpovage - 2009
    Army calls in their top field historian to assess its contents. Jake Tununda, combat vet, Freemason, and half-Seneca Indian is stunned when he gleans from the journal's cryptic Masonic passages clues to the location of an ancient shaman's crown once protected by the White Deer Society, a secret cult of his forefathers.Jake soon realizes why his ancestors' history was best kept buried. And why peaceful, rural central New York's Finger Lakes region can be deadlier than any battlefield he had ever faced.CROWN OF SERPENTS, a mystery thriller set in the former heartland of the Iroquois Empire, takes Jake on a fast-paced hunt to find the elusive crown ­ and protect it. He teams up with Rae Hart, an alluring state police investigator, as they snake their way across a politically turbulent landscape marked with murder, arson, lies, and deceit. Deciphering codes, digging up war loot, and fending off the henchmen of billionaire Alex Nero, a ruthless Indian casino magnate, Jake and Rae's survival skills are put to the test. The clues to the crown ultimately lead them deep within sacred Indian caves hidden under the abandoned Seneca Army Depot where the magnitude of the crown's power is revealed.

Bourbon & Blood


Garrard Hayes - 2013
    Drugs, white slavery, prostitution, murder... Former soldier and decorated war hero Bill Conlin finds himself immersed in it all when he can't find "respectable" work after his tour in Afghanistan. When his cousin, Jimmy, first tries to talk him into joining Irish mafia boss Frank Sullivan's gang, Bill brushes him off. All Bill really wants is a normal life with a nice girl, and he's pretty sure the waitress he just met, Dana, is the one. But with his savings running low, and desperate to get out of his Hell's Kitchen near-tenement apartment building, Bill, against his better judgment, agrees to a meeting with Mr. Sullivan, an Irish Mob boss--and immediately hits the point of no return... Now with a brand new Lincoln and fancy new uptown digs (complete with a live-in girl whose only purpose is to serve him, and a wardrobe packed with weapons), Bill's tasked to take down a Harlem-based Mexican prostitution ring. One thing leads to another, however, and the deeper he gets, the more he learns, and the more tangled up he becomes in a lifestyle he never wanted. But how long until he takes matters into his own hands... And what will the ultimate cost be... Mystery & suspense lurk around every corner of this hard-boiled crime drama where mobsters shoot it out with urban gangs on the streets of New York City.

Aztec Odyssey: Historical Action Adventure


Jay C. LaBarge - 2020
    Wracked by plague and war, the majestic Aztec empire begins to crumble. As their beloved capital city falls to the ruthless Spaniards and hordes of vengeful tribes, the Aztecs make a last-ditch attempt to secretly save their heritage before it’s lost to the sands of time forever.Meanwhile in the modern day, a string of high-profile robberies lays waste to archaeological sites and museums across Mesoamerica, overshadowed by a brewing nationalistic fervor which threatens to topple already fragile countries. Rumors say the artifacts hold the secret to a legendary myth—The Seven Cities of Cibola—which has concealed countless treasures for centuries.Faced with unraveling the mysteries of both the present and the past, aspiring archaeologist Nick LaBounty embarks on a dangerous mission to solve a long-held family mystery and discover the truth behind the stolen artifacts.He soon finds his fate irreversibly entangled with a civilization from over five hundred years ago. But time is running out, and the future of both a fabulous treasure—and all Central America—teeters precariously in the balance.

Precious Things: Some things are worth killing for.


Marie Reyes - 2021
    

The Assassin's Gift: Book One


Ian C.P. Irvine - 2018
     For Salvador, killing is an art-form and a way of life, until during an accidental meeting with a mysterious monk on the banks of Loch Ness in Scotland, Salvador is given a rare, unwanted gift: the ability to heal people. Cursed and burdened with a 'gift' he cannot give back, Salvador must evaluate his life afresh, being able to kill with one hand, and cure with the other. Denying his Gift, he takes on his toughest assignments yet: to achieve the impossible by killing a top Scottish crime lord, Tommy McNunn, whilst locked up - and protected - inside Scotland's impenetrable and most secure prison, nestled amidst the Scottish Highlands. And then to kill DCI Campbell McKenzie, the man responsible for McNunn's imprisonment. Now also hunted by Russia's top agent who is ordered to kill Salvador at all costs, Salvador discovers that everything in life happens for a reason, and that life and death are two sides of the same coin. A coin which he now owns. But who is Salvador? What is the secret that protects his life? Why has he been given The Gift? And 'how' does he manage to pull off the crime of the century? If you're looking for a new author to fall in love with and the Thriller of the Year!, look no further. Treat yourself to The Assassin's Gift. Download and read it NOW! The Assassin's Gift is a fully independent novel, but may be read in a series following 'Say You're Sorry' and ' I Spy, I Saw Her Die'. NOTE: Book One of Two Parts: Please note that Book One continues seamlessly into and is concluded in Book Two. This is an excellent way to introduce yourself to this new and exciting author!- If you enjoy Book One, to continue the story you may then choose to download Book Two. Alternatively, readers are always recommended to purchase the full omnibus edition containing both Book One and Book Two.

THE ROAD TO HELL


Paul Levine - 2011
    Levine's heroes travel dark and dangerous paths as they confront devilish and powerful villains. The journeys are by land, by sea, and in one case, perhaps only in the mind. In "El Valiente en el Infierno," (The Brave One in Hell), a 13-year-old Mexican boy tells his own story as he makes a treacherous midnight crossing into California in search of his father. The boy's courage is tested when he runs into two gun-toting American vigilantes, and the confrontation will change all of them forever. "Development Hell" imagines a pitch session in which a bedraggled Edgar Allan Poe squares off with a slick Hollywood producer who wants to make a cheesy slasher flick out of "The Pit and the Pendulum."Bookgasm praised the story as "going straight to the funny bone." In "A Hell of a Crime," a prosecutor prepares for a homicide trial while being pestered by his domineering mother, a famous lawyer herself. Just what role did she play in the murder? And how is the prosecutor's enigmatic wife involved in the case? Two of the author's best-loved characters, mismatched law partners Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord, appear in "Solomon & Lord: To Hell and Back."  Steve says he's going fishing with Manuel Cruz, a sleazy con man. Victoria knows that Cruz is an unlikely fishing buddy. So just what is Steve up to now? Something between mischief and murder.The book also contains an excerpt from "Solomon vs. Lord," the first novel of the bestselling series of legal thrillers. A quick synopsis: Victoria Lord follows all the rules. Steve Solomon makes up his own. When they defend an accused murderer, they'll either end up in ruin, in jail...or in bed. Here's what number one bestselling author Harlan Coben had to say: "Hiaasen meets Grisham in the court of last retort. A sexy, wacky, wonderful thriller with humor and heart."Finally, an excerpt of "Mortal Sin," one of the award-winning Jake Lassiter novels, is also included in the collection. This time, the linebacker-turned-lawyer has a dangerous conflict of interest. He's sleeping with Nicky Florio's wife...and defending the mob-connected millionaire in court.  One false move, and Jake will be gator bait. "Recalling the work of Carl Hiaasen, this thriller races to a smashing climax." - Library Journal. PRAISE FOR THE FICTION OF PAUL LEVINE "Mystery writing at its very, very best." - Larry King, USA TODAY"Irreverent...genuinely clever...great fun." - The New York Times Book  Review"Just the remedy for those who can't get enough Spenser and miss Travis  McGee terribly." - St. Petersburg Times"Genuinely chilling." - Washington Post Book World "Take one part John Grisham, two parts Carl Hiaasen, throw in a dash of John D. MacDonald, and voila!" - Tulsa World"Wildly entertaining blend of raucous humor and high adventure."- St. Louis Post-Dispatch"Cracking good action-mystery...funny, sardonic, and fast-paced." - Detroit Free Press ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The King Tides


James Swain - 2018
    And that of strangers, too. Wherever she goes, she’s being watched. Each stalker is different from the last, except for one thing—their alarming obsession with Nicki.Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Nicki’s father is turning to someone who can protect her: retired private detective and ex–Navy SEAL Jon Lancaster. Teaming up with FBI agent and former abduction victim Beth Daniels, Lancaster can help—his way. He’s spent most of his career dispatching creeps who get off on terrorizing the vulnerable. Unlicensed, and unrestricted, he plays dirty…But this case is unusual. Why so many men? Why this one girl? Does Nicki have something to hide? Or do her parents?Trawling the darkest depths of southern Florida, Lancaster faces a growing tide of secrets and deception. And the deeper he digs, the more he realizes that finding the truth won’t be easy. Because there’s more to this case than meets the eye.