Book picks similar to
The Death Collector: A Victorian Murder Mystery by Toni Mount
british-history
crime
ripxvi
serial-killers
The Innocents
C.A. Asbrey - 2018
Nat and Jake are the ringleaders of The Innocents, a western gang that specializes in holding up trains carrying payrolls—and Nat is pretty savvy when it comes to using the new sciences of 1868 in committing his crimes. Charismatic Nat and handsome Jake are on the run, and they’ve always gotten away before—before Abi. But when Abi is caught by another band of outlaws during the chase, there’s no other choice for Nat and Jake but to save her life. Abi owes them, and she agrees to help them bring in the murderer of a family friend. The web of criminal activity grows more entangled with each passing day, but Nat, Jake, and Abi are united in their efforts to find the murderer. Once that happens, all bets are off, and Abi will be turning Nat and Jake over to the law. But can she do it? She finds herself falling for Nat, but is that growing attraction real? Or is he just using her to learn more about the Pinkertons’ methods? Abi always gets her man—but she may have met her match in her “best enemies”—THE INNOCENTS.
Nefertiti's Heart
A.W. Exley - 2013
Permanently.1861. Cara has a simple mission in London - finalise her father's estate and sell off his damned collection of priceless artifacts. Her plan goes awry when a killer stalks the nobility, searching for an ancient Egyptian relic rumoured to hold the key to immortality.Nathaniel Trent, known as the villainous viscount, is relentless in his desire to lay his hands on both Cara and the priceless artifacts. His icy exterior and fiery touch stirs Cara's demons, or could he lay them to rest?Self-preservation fuels Cara's search for the gem known as Nefertiti's Heart. In a society where everyone wears a mask to hide their true intent, she needs to figure out who to trust, before she sacrifices her own heart and life.
The Killing Lessons
Saul Black - 2015
Two violent predators walk through the door. Nothing will ever be the same.When the two strangers turn up at Rowena Cooper's isolated Colorado farmhouse, she knows instantly that it's the end of everything. For the two haunted and driven men, on the other hand, it's just another stop on a long and bloody journey. And they still have many miles to go, and victims to sacrifice, before their work is done.For San Francisco homicide detective Valerie Hart, their trail of victims-women abducted, tortured and left with a seemingly random series of objects inside them-has brought her from obsession to the edge of physical and psychological destruction. And she's losing hope of making a breakthrough before that happens.But the murders at the Cooper farmhouse didn't quite go according to plan. There was a survivor, Rowena's ten-year-old daughter Nell, who now holds the key to the killings. Injured, half-frozen, terrified, Nell has only one place to go. And that place could be even more dangerous than what she's running from.In this extraordinary, pulse-pounding debut, Saul Black takes us deep into the mind of a psychopath, and into the troubled heart of the woman determined to stop him.
Sandman
Morgan Hannah MacDonald - 2012
. .FOREVER.A serial killer on the loose, a woman being stalked, and a homicide detective who must find the connection between the two before she becomes his next victim.He collects women. He imprisons them, plays with them, tortures them. Until they bore him. Then he removes a souvenir. They call him the Sandman.Meagan McInnis is being plagued with late night calls, yet when she answers, no one is there. Then one night she makes a grisly discovery in her own backyard.The caller is silent no more.Homicide Detective, J.J. Thomas, realizes Meagan is the key to finding the Sandman. Now not only must he protect her, but he must find the connection between Meagan and the killer before she becomes his next victim.DON'T FORGET TO PICK UP MORE SPINE TINGLING THRILLERS FROM MORGAN HANNAH MACDONALD. SPIRITS IN THE TREES- THE SPIRITS TRILOGY #1AND SPIRITS AMONG US- THE SPIRITS TRILOGY #2AVAILABLE NOW!
Zodiac
Robert Graysmith - 1986
A sexual sadist who taunted police with anonymous notes. A madman who was never apprehended. This is the first, complete account of Zodiac's reign of terror. Is he still out there?
The Hugh Corbett Omnibus
Paul Doherty - 2012
Includes Satan in St Mary's, Crown in Darkness and Spy in Chancery. Perfect for fans of Ellis Peters, Susanna Gregory, Michael Jecks and Robin Hobb.Satan in St Mary's: 1284: Edward I is battling a traitorous movement founded by the late Simon de Montfort, the rebel who lost his life at the Battle of Evesham in 1258. The Pentangle, the movement's underground society whose members are known to practice the black arts, is thought to be behind the apparent suicide of Lawrence Duket, one of the King's loyal subjects. The King, deeply suspicious of the affair, orders his wily Chancellor, Burnell, to look into the matter. Burnell chooses a sharp and clever clerk from the Court of King's Bench, Hugh Corbett, to conduct the investigation. Corbett - together with his manservant, Ranulf - is swiftly drawn into the tangled politics and dark and dangerous underworld of medieval London.Crown in Darkness: 1286: on a storm-ridden night, King Alexander III of Scotland is riding across the Firth of Forth to meet his beautiful French bride Yolande. He never reaches his final destination as his horse mysteriously slips, sending them both crashing to their death on the rocks. The Scottish throne is left vacant of any real heir and immediately the great European princes and the powerful nobles of Alexander's kingdom start fighting for the glittering prize. The Chancellor of England, Burnell, ever mindful of the interest his king, Edward I, has in Scotland, sends his faithful clerk, Hugh Corbett, to report on the chaotic situation at the Scottish court. Concerned that a connection exists between the king's death and those now desirous of taking the Scottish throne, Corbett is drawn into a maelstrom of intrigue, conspiracy and danger.Spy in Chancery: Edward I of England and Philip IV of France are at war. Philip, by devious means, has managed to seize control of the English duchy of Aquitaine in France, and is now determined to crush Edward. King Edward suspects that his enemy is being aided by a spy in the English court and commissions his chancery clerk, Hugh Corbett, to trace and, if possible, destroy the traitor. Corbett's mission brings him into danger on both land and at sea, and takes him to Paris, and its dangerous underworld, and then to hostile Wales. Unwillingly he is drawn into the murky undercurrents of international politics in the last decade of the thirteenth century.
A Perfect Cup of Tea
P. Bodi - 2016
Customers are always stopping by to ask her for help finding herbal remedies and natural products to help them live a healthier life. One morning while opening her store, the local Police showed up to ask a few questions about one of her customers that died from a suspicious death. Could it be murder?
The Detective Markham Mysteries
Catherine Moloney - 2020
Two skeletons are discovered in the grounds of St Mary's Choir School. Detective Inspector Gilbert Markham is a rising talent of the Bromgrove police force. He is on the trail of the murderer when another life is brutally claimed. Who is the savage killer lurking in this innocent place?BOOK 2: CRIME IN THE SCHOOLWhen handsome teacher Ashley Dean is brutally murdered, gossip blames a deranged intruder. DI Markham’s instincts say otherwise. Could this be the work of a student? A member of staff? It seems unthinkable. But somebody in authority is holding out on them. How much more blood will be spilt before their secret is laid bare?BOOK 3: CRIME IN THE CONVENTSister Felicity is found strangled in the confessional box at St Cecilia’s convent. She is only the first victim. Someone has a lethal vendetta against this holy place. And only DI Gilbert Markham can stop them. To uncover the truth, he must delve deep into the sins of the past. Can he unravel the mystery before it’s too late?BOOK 4: CRIME IN THE HOSPITALDr Warr’s decayed corpse is found in the woods. There have always been whispers about the psychiatric hospital where he worked: staff brutality, deliberate misdiagnosis . . . DI Gilbert Markham and DS Noakes begin asking questions. They are met with a chilling silence. How many more victims will be claimed before the killer is found?BOOK 5: CRIME IN THE BALLETChoreographer George Baranov is found in the theatre’s basement with a knife in his back. He was known for his daring routines and his tangled love life. The pressure is on for Detective Markham to wrap up the case. Can he unmask the vicious killer waiting in the wings?BOOK 6: CRIME IN THE GALLERYCurator Helen Melville is found murdered in Bromgrove Art Gallery. She had discovered something troubling in the archives, but the secret died with her. Or did it? Detective Markham races to unravel the connection with a tragic cold case. Who will be next to have a brush with death?BOOK 7: CRIME IN THE HEATA body is found in the refrigerator at a doctor’s office in Bromgrove community centre. The victim is teacher Bex Shawcross and she wasn’t short of enemies, as Detective Markham soon discovers. Her crooked MP father and loose morals are the talk of the town. And no one seems afraid to speak ill of the dead. Then the killer strikes again. And again. Each victim works at the centre. Who will be next on the kill list?BOOK 8: CRIME AT HOMENothing ever happens in New College Close. Until one day a piercing scream shatters the calm. A retired teacher is found asphyxiated beneath a luxury mattress. The only clue: a badge from the school where the dead woman once taught. Detective Markham races to unravel the truth. But no one in the Close is what they seem.
The Case of the Six Watsons
Robert Ryan - 2015
A collection of six stories, inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle's originals and adapted to feature much-loved Dr John Watson, Sherlock Holmes's long-suffering sidekick.
The Demon Next Door
Bryan Burrough - 2019
One of his high school classmates, Danny Corwin, was a vicious serial killer who had raped and mutilated six women, murdering three of them. Yet the town had denied all early signs of the radical evil that was growing within Corwin. What had led the local media to ignore his early rapes? Why had the local Presbyterian Church tried to shield him from prison? Why had local law enforcement been unable to solve and prosecute his murders as they continued? Burrough is widely admired as a master storyteller, and this chilling tale raises important questions of whether serial killers can be recognized before they kill or rehabilitated after they do. It is also a story of Texas politics and power that led the good citizens of the town of Temple to enable a demon who was their worst nightmare. This title contains mature themes, including physical and sexual violence, that some listeners may find unsettling.
Night and Day
Caron Allan - 2016
Dottie Manderson stumbles upon the body of a dying man in a deserted night-time street. As she waits for help to arrive, she holds the man’s hand and tries to get him to tell her what happened. But with his last breaths he sings to her some lines from a popular stage show. But why, Dottie wonders? Why would he sing to her instead of sending a final message to his loved ones? Why didn’t he name his attacker? Dottie needs to know the answers to these questions and so, even though a particular, very annoying, young policeman is investigating the case officially, she feels compelled to carry out her own investigation into the mysterious death. Introducing a new 1930s female sleuth in a traditional, cozy mystery series set in London between the two world wars, from Caron Allan, the writer of Criss Cross, Cross Check and Check Mate, a diary-based murder not-so-mysterious trilogy set in contemporary Britain. Extract from Night and Day: a Dottie Manderson mystery: If she hurried, she shouldn’t get too wet. She had been hopelessly optimistic when she told the cabby the rain had stopped. It hadn’t. Dottie drew her fur coat more tightly around her and held onto her hat, now not much more than a bit of limp lace and ribbon. But almost her first step took her an inch deep into a puddle and she couldn’t help but give a little yelp at how cold the water was, and the shock of it. ‘Blast it,’ she grumbled, and leaning against a nearby gate-post, she shook the worst of the water from her silver sandals. Almost new, too, she thought ruefully, and almost certainly ruined. At least her dress hadn’t seemed to suffer too badly. She hitched the skirt of it up a little higher and continued her short but eventful journey. A sound came to her ears. A soft shushing sort of sound but almost melodic. She paused a moment. Listened. Her eyes, growing accustomed to the darkness, made out a shape on the pavement not ten yards ahead. Her heart gave an odd lurch, as if a cold hand gripped it. ‘Idiot,’ she muttered, and forced herself to keep going. She really shouldn’t read gothic novels late at night, it made her jumpy. No doubt all she would find were the pages of a newspaper all spread about by the wind, and made to look odd by the streetlamp behind her creating shadows. The sound came again. A little louder, a little more insistent. It sounded almost like… There was someone—a man—lying on the pavement. She felt a little shimmer of fear. Could it be a drunk? Perhaps she ought to step into the road, walk round him very carefully, keeping her distance… The head moved very slightly. His face was a pale oval in the dim lamplight. And she saw that the lips moved too. It was him making that odd noise. So it was a drunk, after all. He was singing to himself in a soft sibilant whisper. Her ear caught the rough melody of it, and even then, just as she saw the blood on his shirt-front, one part of her mind was saying, I know that song. She forgot her fears and ran to his side. ‘What happened? Are you all right?’ she asked, then berated herself for asking such a stupid question. Because it was all too obvious he was not all right. She knelt beside him and put out a hand to take his groping one. He was quite young, though older than her own nineteen years of age. But no more than perhaps his early thirties. Fairish hair, slightly receding, and dark from the rain. One of those moustaches that were all the rage at the moment. Blue eyes, very blue like a child’s, wide and astonished-looking. From his smart evening dress, he was clearly well-to-do, although she didn’t recognise him. But the blood—oh the blood.
Mysterious Things in the Woods
Stephen Young - 2014
What really is out there in the woods? ....Sometimes the scariest thing is evidence we can plainly see, but can’t completely understand... Mysterious deaths in a forest said to be controlled by Satanists; Mountain climbers found inexplicably mutilated; large numbers of college aged men found dead in creeks; a hiker walks over the top of a hill in front of the rest of the hiking party and has vanished by the time they crest the hill, moments later; the little boy who says he was taken by a ‘shimmering woman’ in the forest; the village of native Inuits that ‘disappeared’; a child playing near their parents in a forest, disappears in the blink of an eye without making a sound; hunters found dead in strange circumstances; experienced climbers disappearing, their bodies never found; missing bodies found, placed as though deliberately intended to be found. No screams for help, no signs of the missing person; vanished into thin air. No trails or tracks left, no clothing found, no smoke, no shelters, no clues...These and many other mysterious incidents in rural locations in America, Canada, Australia, England and indeed worldwide, have sparked debate by many into what could possibly be the cause. There are many theories....and with these theories comes the visceral, primal fear that comes from the thought that we humans may be victim to a predator, that in the blink of an eye, outsmarts us very easily. Stalked as prey and snatched without warning... Never to be seen again. Or found, in the most horrible of circumstances.... Searching for explanations, this book studies the mysterious cases.... Stephen Young is an avid researcher and writer of things mysterious, paranormal, and scientific....having written for magazines and now books.. Also by Stephen Young, 'True Stories of Real Time Travellers,'