Playtime


Bart Hopkins Jr. - 2014
    It could be said that his eyes have been opened. It's summer in Galveston, and just like every other year, for thousands of people it's playtime. The beaches are packed, and the island is rocking. But for a few, the summer isn't about having fun. It's about surviving. And the way things are going for Blaine and his girlfriend Renee, a second chance might not be enough.

No One Can Know


Adrienne LaCava - 2013
    All he needs to do is go to Dallas and seal the deal. But when President John F. Kennedy is assassinated just yards from where Haines stands, the former agent finds himself in tighter crosshairs than ever before. Keeping a low profile on the ranch couldn't come at a better time. Motherless preteen Ivy Jean Pritchard is a worrier, but she's trying hard not to be suspicious when her father sends her to spend the weekend on a ranch with family she's never met. And with her troublemaker teenaged cousin, high-society aunt, and her uncle's mistress on the scene, it promises to be more than the western adventure Ivy had anticipated. Now, marksmen have tracked Haines to the ranch, getting the entire family involved in something very adult and very worrisome. When the weekend turns deadly, Haines and Ivy Jean are the first to learn that secrets, especially those devised and perpetuated "for the good of us all," can breakdown a family-or a nation-in the blink of an eye.

The Nano Experiment


Richard Brawer - 2010
    When her father is murdered, an innocent victim in a drive by shooting, her sheltered life spirals downward into gloom. Her once stay-at-home mother is forced to go to work cleaning offices at night. Instead of enjoying her carefree teenage years hanging with her friends, Eileen is relegated to babysitting her two younger sisters. One night she sneaks out on them. Trying to cook something, they die in a fire.Tormented and wanting to kill herself, Eileen runs away from home. Befriended by a drug dealer, she moves in with him. At twenty-one she is a single mother of two, falsely convicted of killing a state senator’s son. At thirty-two she is executed. Or is she?

Max Under the Stars


Theresa Weir - 2010
    Follow Max on his lifelong quest to produce the perfect novel. Touching, irreverent, hilarious and sad. Every writer should read this story. Every writer will relate to Max. please note: This is a SHORT STORY consisting of 2,500 words.

What Burns Within


Sandra Ruttan - 2008
    Since then they've lost touch with one another and are working on different cases. It soon appears that their different cases could be connected after all.

Bloodline


Brian O'Connor - 2011
    Liam, a champion steeplechase jockey, is initially both witness and suspect. However, shrewd police detective Diarmuid Yeats takes a gamble on his innocence and enlists his help in the hunt for the killer. This nightmare experience exacerbates the tensions in Liam’s life. He has been falling out of love with his job, his joy in racing relentlessly worn away by the struggle to keep the weight down on his six-foot frame. Is it time to quit? But McFarlane’s stables houses the brilliant Patrician, a potential Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, and Liam wants to be the jockey to get him first past the finish post in the race that matters most. With emotions at pressure point, Liam falls in love with the exotic blonde Ukrainian stable girl, Lara, leaving him in an even more vulnerable position than before. Then the killer strikes again and the race to the finish post is replaced by a race for survival . . . and there is no second place. “A gripping murder story” - THE IRISH TIMES

Aoife's Chariot: Mirrored Murder


Katherine Pathak - 2013
    Her brothers have given her the task of deciding what to do with their parents’ farm, which is slowly falling into disrepair. Imogen will not be rushed into passing judgement on the place. When she starts to carry out some research into the history of Kilduggan Farm, she inadvertently sets off a chain of events that ends in tragedy. Suddenly, Imogen and her psychologist husband, Hugh, find themselves faced with a seemingly insoluble puzzle. How can it be possible that an unexplained death in the present day can match, in every detail, an unsolved case from 40 years ago?As the past begins to catch up with Imogen, she realises that she must strive to discover the truth about her family, even if it means that nothing will ever be the same again…This is an intricately plotted novel, cleverly interwoven with subtle clues and the occasional red-herring. It will keep you guessing and the pages turning, right up until its final, shocking conclusion.Aoife's Chariot is the first novel in the Imogen and Hugh Croft Mysteries Series. It is an absorbing family saga, full of mystery and suspense. Husband and wife sleuths Imogen and Hugh Croft are first introduced to readers in this tense genealogical mystery with deathly consequences.

Love of a Lifetime


Sally Bayless - 2019
    If she can just avoid questions from that cute guy at the newspaper, no one ever needs to find out about her past.Will Hamlin, editor of the local paper, has some serious questions about the mayor’s new secretary. She’s clearly hiding something—something that could be the big story the newspaper desperately needs to stay afloat. But after Will’s initial queries find nothing, he grows less interested in Cara’s past and more interested in winning her heart with slices of pie and stolen kisses.When a crime is uncovered at city hall just as Will unearths Cara’s secret, the repercussions shatter their romance. Can Cara ever escape her past? Can Will finally find a way to save the paper? And can they learn to place their trust in God and open their hearts to the love of a lifetime?

A Danger to Himself and Others


J.E. Fishman - 2014
    Days later, a second man blows himself up in Brooklyn. Are these the first attacks in a wave of terrorism that could bring New York City to its knees? Or is there a psychotic murderer on the loose, executing a twisted plan for his own hidden motives?Detective Manny Diaz—also a veteran, and the newest member of the NYPD Bomb Squad—doesn’t yet know the answer. But he desperately wants to exonerate an honorable man who now lies dead.In defiance of his fellow cops, Diaz sets out to develop an independent theory about what’s really going on—even though pursuing this investigation will require pushing himself to the very limits of his own sanity. Already burdened by his reputation for resisting authority, Diaz now must solve the crime with no support from his bosses, while convincing those same men that he hasn’t gone crazy.And Diaz has only hours to locate a maniacal bomb maker before many more New Yorkers die.

The Whale Song Translation


Howard Steven Pines - 2013
    . . When the Navy's controversial sonar experiments begin to destroy Maui's whales, an unlikely hero emerges. Inspired by his mentor's paradigm-busting challenge to open a communications channel with other big-brained species, acoustics professor David Dmitri begins analyzing the songs of humpback whales. The quest to decode their mysterious language leads him to an astonishing revelation. With more proof, Dmitri realizes he could rally public opinion and stanch the bloodshed. But as his team prepares to launch a voyage of discovery in the Straits of Lahaina, others are determined to stop him-whatever the consequences. In the spirit of Carl Sagan's Contact and Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters, The Whale Song Translation is a voyage of discovery into a new frontier: the excitement of first contact and the recognition of the intelligence, dignity, and wisdom of another earthly species. Built on fascinating, believable science, Part I of The Torch of Prometheus trilogy delivers thought-provoking "breakthroughs" about language and intelligence in earth's other big-brained beings, and explores the intertwined existential crises of humans and whales.

ALEX


Sidney Knight - 2012
    He left behind not just his bloody fingerprints stained over the city, but also debate, confusion, question upon question as to why he did it. How could a man in possession of such genius – a man so in love – unleash such horror on the living? How could a man so seemingly invisible in the community become the face of a nation’s nightmares? And who was the mystery somebody who knew of his murderous blueprints way beforehand, yet decided to do nothing until it was too late? This is the story of Alex Merton – the truth behind the mystery, the man, the monster...

God's Memory


Michael Landsberg - 2012
    Four strong, unconventional people. Their paths are destined to cross, leading them into a bloody war whose outcome could change the world.

Port Starbird


Garrett Dennis - 2014
    After settling in Avon, North Carolina and purchasing the house of his realistic, fiscally responsible retirement beach dreams, Ketch is ready to live out the rest of his days quietly. However, his life takes a stressful turn when his home and habits are threatened by Bob Ingram, the dirtiest real estate mogul in Avon. In an effort to avoid Ingram's threats of eminent domain and save his home, Ketch becomes the secret detective that his parents had always hoped he would be. With his faithful canine sidekick by his side and the good-looking Kari in his bed, Ketch begins a journey that will bring secrets to the surface and make him into a different man with a different view of the world. - Red City Review In this quirky low-key murder mystery/adventure, Storm Ketchum, a damaged emigre to the coastal town of Avon on North Carolina's Outer Banks, likes to mind his own business and isn't any kind of detective - until he's forced to become one by extraordinary circumstances. On the verge of losing his modest waterfront home to an unscrupulous developer, Ketch stumbles onto the scene of a crime that might expose the perpetrator of an unsolved murder and enable him to save not only his own home, but also the similarly threatened bohemian boatyard community he's inexorably drawn into. And in case Plan A fails, he's hard at work on a Plan B that's both laudable and pitiable - if he can't stop them from seizing his property and ruining what's left of his historic town, he's hell-bent on turning the event into a unique political statement that won't soon be forgotten. Together with his loyal dog, a salty charter boat captain, the sketchy denizens of the boatyard, and an alluring scuba diving instructor who may or may not have a hidden agenda, Ketch struggles to make sense of his new reality, while trying to save some of the things that really matter along the way.From RED CITY REVIEW:Dennis' novel could not be more of an enjoyable read unless you were receiving a massage while reading it. The storyline is engaging and Dennis' characters are so well written that you almost want to invite them to your next barbeque. Port Starbird should find a home on every shelf and become a yearly reading ritual. FROM PUBLISHERS WEEKLY:"When a wealthy developer suspected of murder comes offering money for the land, Ketch is the last to hold out. Ketch's knowledge of the island is professorial, something that will appeal to readers who adore a strong sense of place. The accented dialogue creates the right southern atmosphere... A good effort."

The Mountaineer's Painting: A Ghost Story


David Francis Curran - 2021
    For some reason the glass in the frame is painted over. Upon uncovering the painting beneath he finds a haunting mountainscape. That night he begins to dream about the painter's fatal climb. And when he wakes he finds the painting has changed. This is a ghost story, a love story, and a murder mystery. If you loved the Demi Moore, Patrick Swayze movie 'Ghost,' you'll love this suspenseful book.

The Two Towns


J.J. Salkeld - 2014
     It is DC Jane Dixon's first week on Kendal's CID team. Her new boss, DI Andy Hall, gives her an open file to review, and it's a far from straightforward case. A woman has died in suspicious circumstances in a Windermere caravan park, and although her husband is suspected there's not a shred of solid evidence against him. Can Jane move the case forward, or will a cold-blooded killer really get away with murder? The rest of the team is busy too, because a vulnerable teenager from a troubled family has gone missing from home. There's nothing to suggest that the boy has been abducted, so what could have caused him to run away from home? DS Ian Mann, a tough ex-military man, and DC Ray Dixon are both heavily involved in the investigation. This story introduces key members of the investigative team, as well as many of the themes that are developed in the full-length Lakeland Murders novels: including a strong sense of place, and an understanding that while justice usually prevails it is rarely complete, or completely fair. Reader reviews for the full-length novels in the Lakeland Murders series include: 'Well developed, realistic, relatable characters, great plot, believable detailed scenes, good action sequences. Recommend to those that appreciate British detective novels. Always devour Lakeland murder mysteries.' 'Love J J Salkeld's books, his understanding of police procedure, his ability to draw his characters out into real people is, I believe, up there with the best of them and it is good to find crime stories set in Cumbria for a change.' 'Salkeld is good. Not just as a writer of gripping detective stories; but even more for his feisty exposure of the lunacies of institutions, hierarchies, and power. A refreshing and enlightening anarchist - much needed in these jaded, compliant and consumptive times.'