Book picks similar to
The Message by Hylton H. Smith


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Long Shadows


John Oakes - 2016
    Winton Chevalier has lightning wits and surprising tenacity. He’s not a cop, but comes from a family of lawmen, and possesses a mind that’s as limber with evidence analysis as it is with a cutting joke. In many ways he’d be the perfect man for the job — but he has physical limitations and no experience investigating a kidnapping. Nevertheless, his dying father’s last wish propels him headlong into a sinister world where men kill for nothing. If he and his brother are to survive, Winton must harness old wounds and his indomitable will. In a world of shadows, he must cast the longest shadow of them all.

Blinded by the Night (An Excoms Thriller Book 4)


Brett Battles - 2021
    

Caliber Detective Agency - Legendary


Remington Kane - 2017
    He attempts to locate a frightened man before the ex-con who threatened the man's life catches up with him.Jake Caliber the Fifth receives an honor.

Sudden Justice: A Brady Flynn Novel: Brady Flynn Legal Thriller Series Book 5


D.K. McIntosh - 2017
    But, of the many the flamboyant real estate developer has ripped off, three stand out from the rest. First is Gary’s beautiful, almost-ex trophy wife, Janet, who stands to lose millions once the papers are signed. Next is German multi-millionaire, George Schuman, a man who very few people are stupid enough to rip off in the first place. Then there’s Dwight Stanton. As Gary’s silent business partner, he takes his friend’s deception the hardest. He has means, opportunity, and motive, but no evidence that the police can find. After the case drags on, it’s finally relegated to the cold case file… until an explosion of another kind blows the case back open. Now, five years after Rizzo’s death, Stanton is back in the hot seat, facing first-degree murder for a crime he swears he didn’t commit. Despite Brady Flynn’s personal demands, he takes on the case when he’s called. But when the trial takes on a strange and frightening twist, he finds himself in a web of danger that threatens to destroy them all.

Meltdown


Christopher Nicole - 2018
    The newest place on earth. An island, growing up out of the Atlantic. The tip of a volcano, forcing its way up from the ocean bed, the molten lava blasting out into the air, solidifying. A peak 200 feet high, 300 feet . . . Misreal, a magnet for scientists, the latest tourist attraction, circled by chartered ships, overflown by planes, the subject of programme after programme on TV. And then Misreal exploded, blew itself into dust and ash. And spread a pall of destruction across the world. Meltdown: a brilliantly researched story of environmental disaster and of people caught up by events utterly beyond human control. Praise for Christopher Nicole: “An exciting story… action-filled and unpredictable” - Publishers Weekly “Told with smooth authenticity” - Publishers Weekly “His action-packed war story will appeal to squadrons of readers” - Library Journal Christopher Nicole’s novels have been read by millions all over the world. Born and raised in Georgetown, Guyana, he later attended colleges in Guyana and in Barbados. In his long prolific career, Nicole has published over 200 novels and non-fiction works.

The Body in the Graveyard


Jack G. Hills - 2016
    Inspector Rudolph Riley is one of the many people enjoying a day out and the spell of good weather, until the two ice-creams, which he’s just purchased from the pop-up kiosk, are sent flying from his hands by a young man who seems hell bent on getting as far away as possible from the crowds. But if losing his much anticipated ices isn’t bad enough, his day off is soon completely ruined by the unexpected arrival of his sergeant and half the Fleetmouth police force, who have descended upon the abbey in response to a report that there is a body in the graveyard. An event, which normally wouldn’t be thought too unusual… but as the police soon discover, this corpse is lying on top of the gravestone, rather than six feet underneath it. As the subsequent investigation begins to unfold, it transpires that the murder victim could be involved in the illegal importation and distribution of anabolic steroids that seemed to be flooding the town through a network of bars and gymnasiums… whilst the spot in the graveyard where the body was found, is a hotspot for the ghostly sighting of a woman, who locals and experts alike call the Spanish Lady… a woman of noble birth who died of the plague some four hundred years earlier around the time of the Spanish Armada. Intrigued by the possibility of a ghostly apparition stalking the corridors of Fleet Abbey, DC Eleanor Jenkins sets about trying to learn more about the woman in question and whether the discovery of her skeleton could have any connection to the present day murder. What she uncovers during the course of the investigation, are rumours of a fabulous jewelled crucifix and a hoard of gold coins, which were taken from a captured Spanish galleon by Sir Richard Drew and buried somewhere on the estate by his father, who was the sixteenth century ancestor of Cedric Drew… who himself was the last surviving member of the Drew dynasty and the unfortunate victim found in the graveyard. Of course Riley doesn’t see the connection and doesn’t believe in coincidences. For him there’s a much more rational explanation that lies in the present day and one that peddles drugs to unsuspecting fools who are hell bent on improving their bodies at any price… and anyway, he has a new chief superintendent to impress and a chief constable to prove wrong… But if all that isn’t sufficient to turn his hair grey and make him a candidate for early retirement, the local businessman he suspects of being involved with the drug smuggling, has his boat stolen right from under the noses of the police… a theft which confounds the investigation, and sends Sergeant Thomas off on a dangerous voyage of discovery into unchartered waters. Away from work, but still helping to move the investigation along in her own inimitable way is Dolly… Riley’s not so silent partner, and a parrot with more attitude than most detective constables and more to say than is usually prudent.

All Other Sins


J.K. Ellem - 2020
    So when the ordinary housewife from Nebraska, finds a bag of cash on the side of the road and has the chance to run, to flee, to leave her husband, her loveless marriage and her hopeless life behind, she takes it.The problem is Diane's husband, Greg, isn't any of the things she thinks he is.He is all three....The people whose money she has taken want to find Diane too. Alex Romano is the Harvard educated, Consigliere of the Romano crime family from New Jersey. As her father's only daughter and most trusted advisor, she wields significant influence within the family hierarchy. But such influence doesn't extend to her older brother, Vincent Romano, the heir apparent, whose raw ambition and brutal methods Alex has trouble controlling. Thrown together, brother and sister are tasked with tracking down the missing money.For Diane Miller to survive, she needs to become the person she knew she always could be, if given another chance--and if she can live long enough.Two women. Two opposite backgrounds. One collision course.All Other Sins, is the latest, "Up until 4:00 a.m., reading" thriller from Amazon #1 Bestselling Thriller Author, JK Ellem.How fast can you run?

Wilco: Lone Wolf


Geoff Wolak - 2017
    It is a very long and progressive story over many books, more than a million words. Follow Wilco as he moves from basic training in the RAF Regiment to the SAS, to SAS counter-terrorist operations in Northern Ireland, to SAS hostage rescues in West Africa and elsewhere, to illegal mission for Mi6 and the CIA. The book is technically, geographically and historically accurate.

The Sandman


McClelland & Stewart - 2014
    For readers of Stieg Larsson, Henning Mankell, and Jo Nesbo.      During a cold winter night in Stockholm a man is found walking alongside a railway bridge, suffering from hypothermia and legionella. After he's rushed to the hospital, it's discovered that, according to a death certificate, the man has been dead for over seven years. He is believed to be a victim of notorious serial killer Jurek Walter, who was arrested years ago by Detective Inspector Joona Linna and sentenced to a life of total isolation in forensic psychiatric care. As Joona Linna investigates where the "dead man" has been all these years, some unexpected evidence leads to the reopening of a cold case. Danger is imminent, and someone needs to get under the skin of the serial killer--fast--as they are running out of time.

The Search


Vishal Anand - 2021
    ACP Rathore is investigating the homicide. As the events begin to unleash Rathore digs upon secrets too dark and dangerous. As he proceeds, the question becomes more and more haunting - Who Killed Roger? Michael Rodriques, the Deputy Chief Minister of Goa? Shirley Fernandes, Roger's wife? One or more of the other artists? Or, an individual for whom Roger refused to perform? The Search is the most astonishingly impudent, ingenious and altogether a fast-paced murder mystery ever written by an Indian author.Note: This is an expanded version of the short story Who Killed Roger.

Provence Starlight


Kate Fitzroy - 2015
    New work, new friends... new love found under the starlight in a silvery, olive grove. Can anything be more perfect? How does a St. Tropez bikini, two silky Wiemeraner dogs and a tattooed criminal enter the scene and change everything? Why does the starry path of love always meet a crossroad... can it never run sweetly smooth? FITZROY fans will be pleased to meet up with Amber and her wealthy grandfather, from the pages of PROVENCE FLAME, when Alice stays at the newly restored Art Deco Hotel de la Plage in La Ciotat. Join the Sunday lunch guests at the Villa La Vie en Rose and catch up with the dark and gorgeous Jean-Michel de Fleurenne from the parfumerie at his Château near Grasse. He was first to be found romancing Rosie and charming the pages of PERFUME OF PROVENCE. Enter again into Kate Fitzroy's magical world and escape from the commonplace... but be prepared not to put this book down until you have reached the last page. Other books by Kate Fitzroy: PERFUME OF PROVENCE PROVENCE LOVE LEGACY PROVENCE FLAME DREAMS OF TUSCANY

Shoot Don't Shoot


Robert White - 2014
    When her regular partner takes the night off to attend a birthday party, she is paired with rookie cop Brent Ashcroft. Its a quiet Sunday night, so what could possibly go wrong? Short, sharp storytelling from the Amazon best selling author of THE FIX, DIRTY and UNREST.

Cowbird: A Sheriff Evan Coleman novel (Evan Coleman, Sheriff of Saguaro County Book 2)


David Huebner - 2016
    She’s still healthy however, when Evan Coleman, the sheriff of Saguaro County, meets her and her entourage at their camp high in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. For Evan, his wife Cheree; his friend, Buster Alexander and Buster’s wife, Amy, it’s a short, late-summer getaway, but for Jada and the rest of her party, it’s the beginning of the end. The mountain setting appears idylic, but there are savage mountain lions and much worse, lurking in the background just beyond the flickering light of the campfire. And then there’s Jenna, Jada’s mysterious, long lost sister. What does she want and why has she returned home at this particular time? Jada has given her a future at Zane Cosmetics, but she also has a past that includes two abandoned children and a nefarious Russian lover wanted by the FBI and the British Secret Service. It seems he’s in hiding somewhere, and even Jenna is more than a little concerned with his whereabouts. Even though she no longer needs or wants him, he’s not type to just go away. Ride with Evan, Buster, and Cheree as they sort out the living and the dead and even more complicated, the motives and plans of the living.

Drug of Choice: The Inspiring True Story Of The One-Armed Criminal Who Mastered Love And Made Millions


Mark Van Stratum - 2017
    He has created a fulfilling life, which he shares with his beautiful fiancé and a world-wide circle of friends. But his inspiring life of today grew out of a dark and dangerous past.In this gripping tale, van Stratum brings a once-in-a-lifetime read of his experience growing up with one arm in a small town where he developed a savage temper and a criminal mindset. After a violent robbery by rival drug dealers he had a flash of insight that his life must change, or it would quickly end.After moving to a new country without telling a soul, Mark penetrates the secret world of pick-up artists and learns an incredible skill set that enables him to get the most desired women on the planet. In Drug of Choice, Mark offers insightful lessons about the power of choices to change your business, relationships, and life.This story teaches that your choices are both the cause of your problems and the key to your success. It will make you believe again that it’s never too late to change.

The Mother Keeper


Paula Scott - 2017
     Shawn Klein has it all. The beautiful girlfriend. The scholarship to play football at Vanderbilt after he graduates high school. At eighteen, he leads worship at his father’s prosperous megachurch. His life is perfect. So why isn’t he happy? Everything changes when Shawn’s parents bring Ellie into their home to care for her until she gives birth. It’s the life with a real family that Ellie has always dreamed about, and the kind of future Shawn never knew he wanted, until Ellie’s past threatens to destroy everything. Jenny McBride has lost her faith and her reason to live in a terrible accident in Colorado Springs, but meeting the pregnant teenager, Ellie just might turn things around. When Jenny arrives in Tennessee to adopt Ellie's baby, only one thing is certain. A baby will be born, along with a crime of passion, and a desperate struggle to bury the truth.