Book picks similar to
HellCorp by Jonathan Whitelaw


mystery
fantasy
comedy
laugh-out-loud

Nocturne for a Widow


Amanda DeWees - 2014
    But when he dies on their wedding night, she finds herself a penniless widow. Her only legacy is Brooke House, a Gothic revival manor in the wilds of the Hudson River Valley. However, the eerie mansion comes with two tenants. One is a hostile ghost. The second, and far worse, is former violinist Roderick Brooke--the most insolent, dangerous, maddeningly gorgeous man she's ever met.As Sybil and Roderick engage in a battle of wills--and wits--she finds herself increasingly drawn to him despite her growing suspicion that there is a connection between him and the spirit that haunts Brooke House. But soon an even greater threat arises: the mysterious queen of local society, Mrs. Lavinia Dove. For reasons that Sybil can't imagine, Mrs. Dove is determined to have Brooke House and Roderick for herself... if necessary, by deadly means.

Fool's Gold


Jon Hollins - 2016
    The taxes are high and their control is complete. But for one group of bold misfits, it's time to band together and steal back some of that wealth.No one said they were smart.

The Frog Prince


Elle Lothlorien - 2010
    Sort of."It was his pheromones that did it. With one sniff, sex researcher Leigh Fromm recognizes that any offspring she might have with the mysterious stranger would have a better-than-average chance of surviving any number of impending pandemics.But when Leigh finds out that the handsome “someone” at her great aunt’s wake is Prince Roman Habsburg von Lorraine of Austria, she suddenly doubts her instincts—not that she was intending to sleep with the guy. The royal house of Habsburg was once completely inbred, insanity and impotency among the highlights of their genetic pedigree. (The extreme “bulldog underbite” that plagued them wasn’t called the Habsburg Jaw for nothing.)It doesn’t matter that his family hasn’t sat on a throne (other than the ones in their Toilette) since 1918, or that Austria is now a parliamentary democracy. Their lives couldn’t be more different: Roman is routinely mobbed by paparazzi in Europe. Leigh is regularly mocked for having the social skills of a potted plant. Even if she suddenly developed grace, charm and a pedigree that would withstand the scrutiny of the press and his family, what exactly is she supposed to do with this would-have-been king of Austria who is in self-imposed exile in Denver, Colorado?

Follow the Crow


B.B. Griffith - 2014
    Six years ago his little sister Ana vanished without a trace. His best friend saw what happened, but he refuses to speak of what he knows, and so was banished from the Navajo tribe. That was the day the crows started following Ben. Caroline Adams is a nurse with a special talent: she sees things others can’t see. She knows that Ben is more than he seems, and that the crows are trying to tell him something. What the crows know will shed new light on the mystery of Ana’s disappearance, and throw Ben and Caroline into a race against time to find out what happened before they end up vanishing just like she did.

Ridiculous!


D.L. Carter - 2012
    Funny. Sexy. Cross Dressing. Not your mother's Regency Romance.After the death of her miserly cousin, Anthony North, Millicent Boarder is determined her family should never be poor or vulnerable again. To protect them she conceals her cousin's death and assumes his identity. Now she must face the Ton and the world as Mr. North and accept the price she must pay for her family's safety -- she will never be loved.Which means, of course, at this point she will meet the perfect man.

John Dies at the End


David Wong - 2007
    You should not have touched this flyer with your bare hands. NO, don't put it down. It's too late. They're watching you. My name is David Wong. My best friend is John. Those names are fake. You might want to change yours. You may not want to know about the things you'll read on these pages, about the sauce, about Korrok, about the invasion, and the future. But it's too late. You touched the book. You're in the game. You're under the eye. The only defense is knowledge. You need to read this book, to the end. Even the part with the bratwurst. Why? You just have to trust me.The important thing is this: The drug is called Soy Sauce and it gives users a window into another dimension. John and I never had the chance to say no. You still do. I'm sorry to have involved you in this, I really am. But as you read about these terrible events and the very dark epoch the world is about to enter as a result, it is crucial you keep one thing in mind: None of this was my fault.

Sprinkled


Gina LaManna - 2014
    She just never expected the lows to be so… sparkly. After falling on her face during an attempt to follow in her recently-deceased mother’s stripper-boots, Lacey realizes she’s not cut out for life on stage. She sets out on a year-long investigation to find her true family, never expecting she’ll find it with a capital “F.” With a rumbling stomach, a need for money (check engine lights don’t fix themselves!), and a conscience that operates at 78% on a good day, Lacey is sucked into a whirlwind of Family secrets, hard-as-cement cookies, and mysterious, sexy men who unfortunately shoot guns, sometimes aimed at her face. The long-lost-granddaughter of Carlos Luzzi, the Godfather of the Italian Mafia, Lacey accepts her first assignment for the mob: finding fifteen million dollars of ‘the good stuff.’ Even after she enlists the help of her mouthy best-friend and her cousin, a technical genius and social disaster, she finds that going toe-to-toe with the rival Russian mob is more dangerous than expected. No one chooses their Family, but Lacey Luzzi will be lucky if she can survive hers. ** ** Lacey Luzzi: Sprinkled, is a full-length, laugh-out-loud, humorous cozy mystery with a strong female protagonist in the spirit of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum, albeit one working for the wrong side of the law…

Maui Widow Waltz


JoAnn Bassett - 2011
    But then Pali learns the lavish wedding must take place on Valentine’s Day—only nine days away. Oh, and one other little hitch—the groom’s been missing at sea for more than a week. But no worries, the bride assures Pali, with or without the groom the wedding will take place. She’s struck a deal with the groom’s best friend to be his proxy, if necessary. Two days before the nuptials, a male corpse floats ashore on a South Maui beach. Looks like the groom’s shown up just in time. But what’s it gonna be—a wedding…or a funeral?Show More Show Less

Her Final Words


Brianna Labuskes - 2020
    The teenage girl confesses to murdering a young boy. Disturbingly composed, she reveals chilling details only the killer could know. Beyond that Eliza doesn’t say another word, leaving a vital question met with dead silence: Why did she do it?To find the answer, Lucy goes to the scene of the crime in the small Idaho town of Knox Hollow. But Lucy’s questions are only mounting. Especially when she’s drawn deeper into the life of the victim. Then a combing of the woods yields unsettling evidence that Eliza isn’t the only one in this close-knit rural community with secrets.Getting to the truth is becoming Lucy’s obsession. And it’s a dangerous one. Because for the good folks of Knox Hollow, hiding that truth will take more than silence.

Perfect Ruin


Lauren DeStefano - 2013
    Your life is yours to embrace or to squander. There's only one rule: you don't approach THE EDGE. If you do, it's already over.Morgan Stockhour knows getting too close to the edge can lead to madness. Even though her older brother, Lex, was a Jumper, Morgan vows never to end up like him. There’s too much for her at home: her parents, best friend Pen, and her betrothed, Basil. Her life is ordinary and safe, even if she sometimes does wonder about the ground and why it’s forbidden.Then a murder, the first in a generation, rocks the city. With whispers swirling and fear on the wind, Morgan can no longer stop herself from investigating, especially once she meets Judas. Betrothed to the victim, Judas is being blamed for the murder, but Morgan is convinced of his innocence. Secrets lay at the heart, but nothing can prepare Morgan for what she will find—or whom she will lose.

Beyond Dead


Jordaina Sydney Robinson - 2016
    And then she finds a dead ghost stuffed in her locker.Since the police are desperate to arrest her for murder, Bridget’s new best friend convinces her the only way to save herself from an eternity in prison is to solve the murder themselves.With a handsome parole officer watching her every move, an outlaw ghost befriending her and two persistent mediums demanding her attention, solving the murder is not quite as easy as it sounds. And when “murder” turns into “murders” Bridget needs to solve the case … before she becomes the next dead body stuffed in her locker. Beyond Dead is the first book in a paranormal cozy murder mystery series set in a ridiculously bureaucratic afterlife. It is rife with cozy humor (or more accurately cosy humour) that cozy British mysteries are famous for. The series follows the newly dead Bridget Sway as she tries to adjust to her new life as a ghost while solving the odd murder along the way. Bridget exhibits all the best virtues of cozy mystery women sleuths in terms of wit and humor but, as the amateur sleuth of a cozy ghost mysteries series, she is something most others are not – and that’s dead.

Shattered Blue


Lauren Bird Horowitz - 2015
    From the start, sixteen-year-old Noa senses that the mysterious transfer student to her Monterey boarding school is different. Callum unnerves and intrigues her, and even as she struggles through family tragedy, she’s irresistibly drawn to him. Soon they are bound by his deepest secret: Callum is Fae, banished from another world after a loss hauntingly similar to her own.But in Noa’s world, Callum needs a special human energy, Light, to survive; his body steals it through touch—or a kiss. And Callum’s not the only Fae on the hunt. When Callum is taken, Noa must decide: Will she sacrifice everything to save him? Even if it means learning their love may not be what she thought?

Unlovable


Cynthia St. Aubin - 2014
    It isn’t every day a sexy demigod throws a pissed-off Cupid onto psychologist Matilda Schmidt’s couch and informs her the fate of the world depends on her ability to get him off his diapered ass and back to helping people fall in love.Just when Matilda convinces herself she’s not hallucinating, in walks a Vegas hit man with a big gun and a bigger threat: pay back the million dollars she owes a notorious casino mogul, or wind up as fish food in Lake Mead.Rocketing across country with a gun to her head, Matilda has a dysfunctional love-god in her laptop bag, a million dollar debt she has no knowledge of, and must convince the seductive hit man he’s snatched the wrong woman before he convinces her he might be the right man—for a night.Can Matilda stay alive long enough to keep love from becoming history?

Unfinished Business


Carolyn Ridder Aspenson - 2013
    Filled with romance and friendships reminiscent of Chick-Lit novels, Unfinished Business is a humorous and heartwarming adventure. When Angela Panther's mother Fran Richter wakes her up in the middle of the night ranting about stolen Hershey Bars, Angela thinks her mother's got a screw loose. And then it hits her. Her mother is dead. Just a few hours before, Angela watched as the funeral home staff nearly dropped her mother's body off the gurney while sliding her into the hearse. So maybe she's the one that's nuttier than a fruitcake? But Fran keeps popping in and with a volcano full of drama already brewing at home--crazy or not--Angela's grateful for her mother's presence. It's the other ghosts Angela can do without. Seems Fran's return opened a portal between Angela and the other side and ghosts are hitting up the reluctant psychic medium for help. From the naked British guy juggling balls in the coffee shop parking lot to the woman desperately trying to save her sick child, Angela must find a way to balance her own life with the unfinished business of the dead. This book was a finalist in the 2014 RONE Awards from InD'Tale Magazine.

Something Strange and Deadly


Susan Dennard - 2012
    . . .Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about.Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she's just read in the newspaper:The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor . . . from her brother.Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she'll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including the maddeningly stubborn yet handsome Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.