Book picks similar to
Coffin Cove by Jackie Elliott


mystery
canada
first-in-a-series
joffe-books

The Wicked We Have Done


Sarah Harian - 2014
    After committing a terrible crime, Evalyn Ibarra receives a ticket out of her prison sentence by participating in a top-secret experiment. Even with the risk of death, all she cares about is reclaiming the life she had before—her career, her art, and her love.Her cell bed is the last thing she remembers before waking to wilderness.There are others in these woods, criminals like her who volunteered for the experiment. Clues left behind at abandoned camps spell out their task: survive for thirty days.Evalyn’s best bet is to band with the others, but she’s not about to trust any of them, not when illusions of their gruesome crimes start manifesting in the forest like waking dreams.But when the illusions turn violent and begin to kill, she may not have a choice.

The Theatre Street Killing


Simon McCleave - 2019
    Set in 1995, it follows PC Ruth Hunter, a young female officer in South London, who has ambitions to become a detective. When she is assigned to a brutal, local murder, can Ruth solve the crime and finally get her promotion to CID?

The Sins of the Mother (Miller & Stevens Book 1)


Scott Pratt - 2018
    Miller and Stevens are considered the best in their respective departments, and although they've never met, their superiors order them to work together in a coordinated effort to put an end to the violence as quickly as possible. Their reputations, and perhaps their careers, are on the line. As the body count grows, Lukas and Brooke find themselves growing more and more desperate to catch a cunning psychopath who delights in painting their terrified towns red with blood. Will Lukas and Brooke finally end the nightmare? Or will the hunters become the hunted?"Pratt's richly developed characters are vivid and believable..." -- Publisher's Weekly

Someone Else's Daughter


Linsey Lanier - 2011
    Independent. Skeptical.Thirteen years ago her abusive husband stole her baby and gave it up for adoption.She comes to Atlanta to find her daughter.THE PIWade Parker.Ace detective.Wealthy owner of the Parker Investigative Agency.The most eligible forty-four-year-old bachelor in Atlanta.Still mourning the death of his socialite wife, he must solve a disturbing murder case.Before the killer strikes again.THE MURDERERA serial killer strangling young girls in a bizarre ritual.Why?She doesn't need a man.He needs to find a killer.Together, can they save a thirteen year old girl?

In Cold Blood


Jane Bettany - 2020
    The house she used to live in as a child…The forensic team estimate that the body has been in the ground for up to forty years – coinciding with the time Isabel’s family lived in the house.Isabel’s father vanished without a trace when she was fourteen years old. And with her mother remaining tight-lipped about her father’s disappearance, Isabel can’t escape the unnerving sense of dread that it’s his body, buried in the garden.

Rapid Falls


Amber Cowie - 2018
    The tragedy has become a local legend, but Cara has moved past her grief to have a successful career and a happy family. Pity about Anna. Recently released from incarceration, she’s struggling with addiction, guilt, and shame—a shattered life. Cara’s forgiveness seems to be the only thing that helps her pick up the pieces.But as Anna pulls herself together, her memories of that night on the bridge start to come into focus. And few of them match her sister’s.As past secrets unfold and nothing is what it seems anymore, Anna desperately searches for the truth. But what if Cara doesn’t want her to find it?

Another Life


Robert Haller - 2019
    Paul: a twentysomething wannabe rock star, back home from New York City, broke and jobless, living with his mother. April: a math teacher with two kids, running her church’s Vacation Bible School, discontent with another summer planning crafts and regurgitating verses. Ben: a boy stuck at VBS, still adjusting to the presence of his foster brother, DeShawn, a quiet, brooding kid from Brooklyn.Over the course of one summer, these characters’ paths will collide in surprising, often hilarious ways. Encompassing questions of identity, religion, race, and family, Another Life is an absorbing and thought-provoking debut about the line we all walk between desire and responsibility.

The You I Never Knew


Susan Wiggs - 2001
    Her father, a Hollywood legend, had finally summoned her to his Montana ranch. But when he learned of her affair with Sam, a hired hand, he had Sam fired and destroyed his family. Michelle, pregnant, fled to Seattle. There, she is successful and safe--safe from love, safe from hurt. But her son is lost to her, a troubled teen on the verge of self-destruction, a boy who blames her for the absence of his father and grandfather. And then her father calls to tell her he is dying. He has only one chance to live--if she will donate a kidney to save him. So she goes, resolved to save her father, terrified to face Sam, but driven by desperation to save her son. To do that, she must face all the secrets of the past and find a way to heal the scars and love again.

Wired In


Toby Neal - 2016
    identifies an anomaly that leads her into a cat-and-mouse game online with a deadly enemy whose motives are unclear. The chase lures her through dark corridors of cyberspace into a confrontation with the violence from her past that sent her fleeing to the United States. She’ll need every skill she’s learned to defeat her worst nightmare — and the stakes couldn’t be higher.

An Affair to Dismember


Elise Sax - 2013
    That’s why Gladie is more than a little skeptical when her Grandma Zelda — who is more than a little psychic — recruits her into the family’s matchmaking business in the quaint small town of Cannes, California. What’s more, Gladie is also highly unqualified, having a terrible track record with romance. Still, Zelda is convinced that her granddaughter has her clairvoyant “gift.” But when the going gets tough, Gladie wonders if this gift has a return policy. When Zelda’s neighbor drops dead in his kitchen, Gladie is swept into his bizarre family’s drama. Despite warnings from the (distractingly gorgeous) chief of police to steer clear of his investigation, Gladie is out to prove that her neighbor’s death was murder. It’s not too long before she’s in way over her head — with the hunky police chief, a dysfunctional family full of possible killers, and yet another mysterious and handsome man, whose attentions she’s unable to ignore. Gladie is clearly being pursued — either by true love or by a murderer. Who will catch her first?

Forty Words for Sorrow


Giles Blunt - 2000
    She is quickly identified as Katie Pine, a teenager who had disappeared months ago. At the time, Detective John Cardinal insisted that Katie was no ordinary runaway. His relentless pursuit and refusal to give up on the case, and his lack of results, got him demoted from Homicide. But now the police force wants Cardinal back on the case—with a new associate by his side, Lise Delorme. As these two untrusting partners gather evidence of a serial murder spree, a pair of sociopaths is closing in on the next victim.

The Collector


John Maher - 2020
    The Collector doesn’t agree.When world renowned archaeologist Philip Carlton suddenly and unexpectedly commits suicide, the police are called to investigate. Heading up the investigation is Detective Lucy O’Hara, a Forensic Linguist – and she immediately sees something is wrong with the suicide note. In her gut, she knows this was cold-blooded murder.Battling sceptical superiors and the Irish establishment, Lucy digs for the truth and begins to uncover a shadowy trade in ancient artefacts led by a mysterious figure known only as ‘The Collector’.As Lucy works to uncover his identity, she soon realises she is up against a ruthless mastermind who is systematically eliminating anyone who might lead her to him. But Lucy won’t give up and soon The Collector turns his attention to her…The Collector – the first in a gripping new series featuring Detective Lucy O’Hara.

The Snowman Killer


Wendy Meadows - 2017
    It is perfect for those moments when you are waiting at an appointment or want to enjoy a quick read.Sarah Garland, a retired homicide detective who’s gone through a painful divorce, seems to have found her peace at last, as a coffeeshop owner, in the sleepy (and freezing) small town of Snow Falls, Alaska. What she didn’t expect, was for her past life to catch up with her. Or, for her new life as a mystery writer to inspire a deadly killer to target her. Yet, when the killer leaves a frightening clue-a creepy snowman, donning a leather jacket and eating a peppermint candy cane, left in front of her cabin-Sarah begins to suspect Conrad Spencer, the new detective in town, who is pursuing a murderer of his own. Soon, it becomes obvious that the sleuths would have to join forces, in order to catch the killer. Sarah and Conrad must put their tragic pasts behind them and find out who’s after her…before the trail becomes frozen.

Walk Into Silence


Susan McBride - 2016
    Did she simply run off, or is something darker at play?When Patrick Dielman shows up at Detective Jo Larsen’s desk insisting that his wife, Jenny, is missing, Jo wonders if it’s a case of a bored housewife running away.But as she digs deeper into Jenny’s life, Jo learns that Dielman keeps a stranglehold on the family finances, down to the last nickel, and that Jenny’s first marriage dissolved following the death of her young son. By all accounts—including her doctor’s—she never recovered from the loss. Between a controlling husband, a tragic past, and a callous ex-husband, Jo can’t be sure if she should suspect foul play or accept that the woman may have wanted to disappear.For Jo, whose own demons are shadowing her every step, finding Jenny becomes more than the typical protect-and-serve.

More Than Sorrow


Vicki Delany - 2012
    Today, she's a woman suffering from a traumatic brain injury. Unable to concentrate, in pain, and haunted by her memories, Hannah goes to her sister's small vegetable farm in Prince Edward County, Ontario, to recover. There she finds comfort in the soft rolling hills and neat fields as well as friendship in the company of Hila Popalzai, an Afghan woman also traumatized by war. Struggling to read the printed word, Hannah retreats into the attic and finds 200-year-old letters about the original settlers, Loyalist refugees from the American Revolution in 1784. The letters lead Hannah to a root cellar beneath the old house where she experiences visions of a woman emerging from the icy cold mist. Is the woman real? Or the product of a severely damaged brain?Then Hila disappears. When Hannah cannot account for her time, not even to herself, old enemies begin to circle. Soon past and present merge into a terrifying threat to the only thing Hannah still holds dear—her ten-year-old niece Lily.