The Concrete Vineyard


Cam Lang - 2020
    Thinking he might be out of his depth he is happy to enlist the aid of his friend, Kris Gage. But when Dee reads the deceased's last entry in his diary, 'time to take care of K. Gage', he becomes torn between investigation and friendship.As an urban planner, Gage understands real estate and the bureaucracy of planning. Following the money, he soon finds himself in the middle of corrupt developers who seek to take all the charm out of the area. Over two hundred years after the War of 1812, is Niagara-on-the-Lake, once again, on-the-Take?The Concrete Vineyard is an intriguing and unique whodunit. Packing an intellectual punch, this smart murder/mystery will have you guessing and gripped! If you like great characters, clever plots and intelligent storytelling, then you'll love this creative and thought-provoking novel.

Dare 2 Dream


Ashley S. Clancy - 2017
    Her night time visions are so sexually chaotic that when her eyes do open, she can't separate those dreams from her reality and often believes that they have actually taken place. Usually, if someone else goes through the same thing, this feeling often fades after a few minutes but for Aymee, her situation gets worse the longer the day goes on.This is Aymee Grimes story, as her tormenting dreams threaten to destroy her loving relationship with boyfriend Cory. This is her suffering, unable to work out if she's slept with her ex boyfriend behind his back or not. Then the ultimate nightmare, as the love bite she dreams about unwillingly receiving, appears on her neck the very next morning.A fast paced psychological thriller, where a female dreads going to sleep, only to fear waking up more.

The Promise


Teresa Driscoll - 2019
    Three schoolgirls made a promise – to take the horrible truth of what they did to the grave.Thirty years later, Beth and Sally have tried to put the trauma behind them. Though Carol has distanced herself from her former friends, the three are adamant that the truth must never come to light, even if the memory still haunts them.But when some shocking news threatens to unearth their dark secret, Beth enlists the help of private investigator Matthew Hill to help her and Sally reconnect with estranged Carol ­– before the terrible act they committed as teenagers is revealed.Beth wishes she could take back the vow they made.But somebody is watching and will stop at nothing to ensure the secret stays buried. Now, with her beloved family in peril, can Beth still keep the promise?

The Owner


Shane Simpson - 2013
    Ten years later, the Great Recession economically displaced his livelihood when he was fired from Metal Presses Incorporated. When nothing is left and you've reached your limit for abuse, it's time to release the inner vigilante.THE OWNER is a NON-STOP, HEART-POUNDING, MYSTERY-SUSPENSE THRILL RIDE. Karl Remons has been unstoppable - until now. The murdering, swindling womanizer meets his match when Albert Pabek sails into town. Albert's anger has been stewing for a long time, and he's out for revenge - pure, but not so simple. The plan took five years. Now, he has three days to kill what destroyed his family.Growing up in a Detroit blue-collar family, Albert had a normal childhood. He had expected the same career as his dad. That was, until life dealt its blows. It wasn't a stormy day when Albert sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge. But, before he was finished, Albert was expecting to deliver a gale...______________________________________________SERIES OVERVIEW#1 - THE OWNERTHE OWNER is a standalone mystery-suspense-thriller. It's a story about Albert Pabek and his vigilante mission to avenge the deaths of his parents. The storyline is deceptively twisty and you'll be guessing until the end. The book opens with an interesting mystery. The middle of the story gets really crazy. And, it closes out with a huge surprise.For one and done readers, the story is a perfect ten to twelve hour read (it's 450 pages long). There are no loose ends and it has an awesome ending.For those of us who enjoy continual character development that can only be delivered in a series, pick up THE OBSESSOR and keep going. The Detroit vigilante really touches something in each of us. Albert is a simple guy who is tired of power and money hungry people ruining his life, as well as the lives of his family and friends.#2 - THE OBSESSORTHE OBSESSOR, set three months following the shocking end to THE OWNER, has Albert returning to San Francisco. Focused on bailing out his friends, he realizes quickly that the ripples created on the first days of summer are now waves of destruction.THE OBSESSOR kicks off Albert's new life after those first days of summer. It establishes the broader group of characters, as well as reveals the flaws and selfish motivations of each. Albert and his allies weren't - and still aren't - as perfect as it seemed in THE OWNER. Finally, there are additional antagonists, new friends, and ever-growing-larger problems. Book 2 wraps up a few storylines, but Albert is in a real jam during the last few pages...#3 - THE OFFENDERContinuing from the tailending of THE OBSESSOR, Book 3 follows Albert as he seemingly conquers his dilemma in Book 2, but still struggles to focus his energy productively. He's off balance and irrational. And, he's now bordering on outright criminal status.The other allies are also in trouble. The real villain is revealed, and he's a helluva lot more powerful than Karl Remons in THE OWNER. Pete Quinn and Rebecca Underwood, the primary antagonists from THE OBSESSOR, are no match for the offender in Book 3. And, he really is the biggest problem in Albert's "new" life.THE OFFENDER concludes with a soft ending. It has as much closure as real life situations can, and it's open to the reader's imagination if Albert finally reached his "peace". (Of course, Book 4 confirms he didn't get there.)#4 - THE OBJECTORReleasing in Spring 2017, THE OBJECTOR, brings some hard closing ends to the stories threading through THE OBSESSOR and THE OFFENDER. This time around, Albert really does make it back to the first day of his new life.Quinn and Rebecca, now strongly disagreeing about who is the most powerful, realign their respective bases. Metal Presses Incorporated is back in the picture. Bill Shefford has pulled a phoenix move - he is more powerful than ever. And, then there's the lady from Key West...

Sick to Death


Greg Levin - 2016
    When Gage Adder finds out he has inoperable pancreatic cancer, things really start to look up for him. He leaves his soul-crushing job, joins a nice terminal illness support group, and takes up an exciting new hobby: Beating the hell out of bad guys. Gage’s support group friends Jenna and Ellison don’t approve of his vigilante activities. Jenna says fighting never solves anything. Poison, on the other hand… When the three decide to team up and hit the streets, suddenly no rapist, pedophile or other odious criminal in the city is safe.They are the sickest of superheroes. Their superpower is nothing left to lose. But what happens when one of them takes this power too far and puts at risk the lives of hundreds of innocent people? Where does one draw the line when dying to kill?

Such a Pretty Smile


Kristi DeMeester - 2022
    Known only as The Cur, he leaves no traces, save for the torn bodies of girls, on the verge of becoming women, who are known as trouble-makers; those who refuse to conform, to know their place. Girls who don’t know when to shut up.2019: Thirteen-year-old Lila Sawyer has secrets she can’t share with anyone. Not the school psychologist she’s seeing. Not her father, who has a new wife, and a new baby. And not her mother—the infamous Caroline Sawyer, a unique artist whose eerie sculptures, made from bent twigs and crimped leaves, have made her a local celebrity. But soon Lila feels haunted from within, terrorized by a delicious evil that shows her how to find her voice—until she is punished for using it.2004: Caroline Sawyer hears dogs everywhere. Snarling, barking, teeth snapping that no one else seems to notice. At first, she blames the phantom sounds on her insomnia and her acute stress in caring for her ailing father. But then the delusions begin to take shape—both in her waking hours, and in the violent, visceral sculptures she creates while in a trance-like state. Her fiancé is convinced she needs help. Her new psychiatrist waves her “problem” away with pills. But Caroline’s past is a dark cellar, filled with repressed memories and a lurking horror that the men around her can’t understand.As past demons become a present threat, both Caroline and Lila must chase the source of this unrelenting, oppressive power to its malignant core. Brilliantly paced, unsettling to the bone, and unapologetically fierce, Such a Pretty Smile is a powerful allegory for what it can mean to be a woman, and an untamed rallying cry for anyone ever told to sit down, shut up, and smile pretty.

Instinct: A Novel


Jason M. Hough - 2021
    Welcome to Silvertown. Population: 602 (for now). Officer Mary Whittaker has yet to be fully welcomed by the residents of this tiny, quirky mountain town which seems to be home to more conspiracy theories than any other place in America. But with the chief of police on leave, she is left alone to confront a series of abnormal incidents—strange even by Silvertown standards. A teenager dies tragically after eating obviously poisonous mushrooms from his lawn. A hiker found dead on a trail, smiling serenely after being mauled by a bear. A normally doting mother leaving her toddler twins behind without noticing. Other residents seem to have lost all sense of self-preservation as they walk out in front of Mary’s moving cruiser or sit placidly in the middle of a sharp bend in a mountain road. It’s almost as if the townsfolk are losing their survival instincts, one by one. As she digs deeper into her investigation and uncovers a larger conspiracy lurking below the surface of Silvertown, Officer Whittaker finds herself on the brink of falling prey to whatever has possessed the town and she must distinguish the truth from paranoia-fueled lies before she ends up losing her own instincts…and her life.

Ever Told


Benjamin Bremasi - 2018
    The victims were brutally killed in their locked bedroom with seemingly no way for the killer to enter or leave undetected. The list of suspects is endless. And the possible motives are even more disturbing. As the case evolves, the investigation becomes even more complex as secrets are revealed and betrayals come to light. Aided by her partner Caiden and her bedridden father Tony, Jill continues to unearth clue after clue as she desperately tries to solve the mystery and identify the killer. But the more she digs, the more she comes to realize that someone is out to get her as well. Is her unknown assailant connected to the investigation, or does the answer lie much closer to home? Once she discovers that the case may even have personal connections to a horrific event in her own sordid past, Jill will stop at nothing to complete the puzzle and finally put to rest the multiple acts of deception that have all converged into one unforgettable nightmare. For fans of suspenseful thrillers and mysteries filled with stunning twists and gut – wrenching reveals, Ever Told will show you just how easily lies can spiral out of control and how secrets can ultimately lead to our own demise. From the thrilling first page to the jaw – dropping surprise ending, you’ll never trust another word you hear again – even your own.

Wish Me from the Water


R.E. Swirsky - 2013
    The town's people believe the suicide was another tragic result of bullying, but the two boys have learned the true reason their friend took his own life, and decide to take matters into their own hands. Detective Dean Daly is called in to investigate the brutal murders and believes there is much more to the murders than first appears. Not far away, a young housewife, Sarah, is in a very bad place. Her husband Gerald finally crosses the line from verbal abuse to physical abuse and breaks her arm. She takes flight in the middle of the night, and Gerald vows he will track her down to the ends of the ends of time, and insists she can never leave him. Detective Daly soon becomes involved in both events, not knowing that he will soon be caught in the middle as the two stories collide. This is a story about courage, strength, and standing up for what you believe

The Visitors


Catherine Burns - 2017
    A timid spinster in her fifties who still sleeps with teddy bears, Marion does her best to shut out the shocking secret that John keeps in the cellar.Until, suddenly, John has a heart attack and Marion is forced to go down to the cellar herself and face the gruesome truth that her brother has kept hidden.As questions are asked and secrets unravel, maybe John isn't the only one with a dark side.

Queen Anne's Lace


Dawn Gardner - 2019
    Lacy starts on a journey to find to find the man that could change her life. As Lacy gets closer to finding the man, circumstances force her to do something that she will regret for the rest of her life. This explosive coming-of-age story set in the late 1970s is full of twists and turns, forgiveness and courage.

In the Shadow of Lakecrest


Elizabeth Blackwell - 2017
    Kate Moore is looking for a way out of the poverty and violence of her childhood. When a chance encounter on a transatlantic ocean liner brings her face-to-face with the handsome heir to a Chicago fortune, she thinks she may have found her escape—as long as she can keep her past concealed.After exchanging wedding vows, Kate quickly discovers that something isn’t quite right with her husband—or her new family. As Mrs. Matthew Lemont, she must contend with her husband’s disturbing past, his domineering mother, and his overly close sister. Isolated at Lakecrest, the sprawling, secluded Lemont estate, she searches desperately for clues to Matthew’s terrors, which she suspects stem from the mysterious disappearance of his aunt years before. As Kate stumbles deeper into a maze of family secrets, she begins to question everyone’s sanity—especially her own. But just how far will she go to break free of this family’s twisted past?

Dishonoured


Jem Tugwell - 2021
    WE’RE ALL ONE MISTAKE FROM RUIN…Dan has worked hard for the perfect life.He has a loving wife, beautiful kids, a fabulous home and is a successful businessman.But one afternoon he steps onto a train with a stranger.It was a simple mistake…Four stops later, Dan is a criminal who has lost everything.Someone hates him enough to destroy him.Through a web of lies and deceit Dan battles to win his life back.Dishonoured is a compelling psychological thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat and turning the pages.A new take on the familiar psychological thriller with a male protagonist and a cast of characters that will keep the reader guessing right to the very end.Perfect for readers of Lisa Jewell, Teresa Driscoll and Erin Kelly.

Killing The Girl


Elizabeth Hill - 2019
    Medallion Honouree by IndieBRAG.A perfect life, a perfect love – and a perfect murder.Loving Frankie was easy. But Carol wasn’t the only woman Frankie charmed. When Carol’s obsession finally died, she killed and buried him. No other woman was to suffer from Frankie’s love.Now his grave will be found and the mistakes she made will come back to haunt her.As Carol revisits the past to justify his murder, she discovers that other friends lied. Will the truth free her, or will her revenge on those who betrayed her finally kill the innocent girl she was?If you love dark, domestic noir, full of secrets and lies, then this psychological thriller is for you.Read Killing The Girl and ask yourself what would you do if you had a Frankie in your life?

The Woods


Vanessa Savage - 2020
    The family who moved next door and brought chaos to their quiet lives. The two girls who were murdered, their killer never found. But the only thing she can't remember is the one thing she wishes she could.Ten years ago, Tess's older sister died. Ruled a tragic accident, the only witness was Tess herself, but she has never been able to remember what happened that night in the woods.Now living in London, Tess has resolved to put the trauma behind her. But an emergency call from her father forces her back to the family home, back to where her sister's body was found, and to the memories she thought were lost forever…