Book picks similar to
The Black Stiletto: The Complete Saga by Raymond Benson
thriller
bought
fiction
paid-money-for-this
If Angels Fall
Rick Mofina - 2000
Pointing them out now no longer applies to the current edition.Tom Reed is a crime reporter with The San Francisco Star, whose superb journalistic skills earned him a Pulitzer nomination. But years later Reed’s life is coming apart. His editor wants him fired. His wife has left him to wrestle with his demons. Alone, Reed is tormented by the fear he may have caused the suicide of an innocent man suspected of murdering a two-year-old girl.Reed’s friend on the case is legendary San Francisco Homicide Inspector, Walt Sydowski, who has one of California’s highest clearance rates. He is also a lonely widower haunted by the fact he cannot solve the girl's heartbreaking death.Both men grapple with the past while they race the clock to learn the truth behind a several new abductions that have anguished the Bay Area, in this acclaimed thriller set in the late 1990s.
Open House
Katie Sise - 2020
A town still held in the grip of an unsolved mystery. A breathtaking novel of psychological suspense by the bestselling author of We Were Mothers.A decade ago in upstate New York, art student Emma McCullough walked into the woods and was never seen again. It’s a mystery that still haunts her bucolic university town and her broken family, especially her sister Haley, whose need for closure has become an obsession. But now, finally, the first piece of evidence in the vanishing has been found: Emma’s bracelet, lodged in a frozen piece of earth at the bottom of a gorge. For Emma’s three best college friends, for a beloved former teacher, and for Haley, the chilling trinket is more than a clue in a resurrected cold case. It’s a trigger.Then a woman is attacked during an open house, and the connections between the two crimes, ten winters apart, begin to surface. So do the secrets that run as deep and dark as the currents in this quiet river town.
The One You Love
Paul Pilkington - 2011
Her fiancé vanishes, leaving the battered and bloodied body of his brother in their London apartment. Someone is stalking her, watching her every move. And her family are hiding a horrifying secret; a secret that threatens all those she loves. In a desperate race against time, Emma must uncover the truth if she ever wants to see her fiancé alive again. The One You Love is a fast-paced suspense mystery, full of twists and turns, following in the tradition of writers such as Nicci French and Sophie Hannah.
Misplaced Loyalty
M.K. Turner - 2012
Death was caused by a lethal injection. Could it be an assisted suicide or euthanasia? Meredith calls it murder.As more victims are discovered the investigation gathers pace, tension mounts within the team, and someone takes an unhealthy interest in Patsy, threatening her life. Now she doesn’t know who to trust.Misplaced Loyalty is the first book in the Meredith & Hodge series.
The Golden Keel / The Vivero Letter
Desmond Bagley - 2009
It was never seen again. Now, an expedition plans to unearth the treasure and smuggle it out of Italy. But their reckless mission is being followed - by enemies who are as powerful and ruthless as they are deadly…THE VIVERO LETTERJeremy Wheale's well-ordered life is blasted apart when his brother is murdered. The killer was after a family heirloom - an antique gold tray - which sets Wheale on a trail from Devon to the tropical rainforest of Yucatan. There he joins the hunt for a lost Mayan city. But in the dense cover of the jungle a band of vicious convict mercenaries are waiting to strike…Includes a unique bonus - Desmond Bagley's rare introduction to these books.
Serenity
Craig A. Hart - 2016
A woman dies in his arms...a drug dealer offers him $10,000...a gunman is determined to kill him. And then everything goes to hell.
Shelby Alexander is an aging ex-boxer and retired fixer, whose activities often flirted with the wrong side of the law. Looking for a little peace and a slower pace of life, he moved to Serenity, the small Michigan town where he grew up. But trouble follows men like Shelby, and he finds himself embroiled in an underworld of drugs and violence that may prove to be his undoing. The first book in the new Shelby Alexander Thriller Series, Serenity is an action-packed read with a lovingly rendered cast, witty dialogue, and a main character who doesn't know when to quit.
Next to Disappear
Malcolm Richards - 2015
Until disgraced ex-teacher Emily Swanson moves into the couple’s former home.Emily’s life is in ruins and she’s meant to be making a fresh start. But when she learns about the missing nurse, she sees a chance for redemption. Because finding Alina could help right the wrongs of Emily’s past. It could even mark the start of a new career in private investigation.But what Emily doesn’t know is that Alina had a horrifying secret. One about the care foundation where she worked. And the closer Emily gets to uncovering the truth, the closer she gets to terrible danger.Inspired by a shocking true crime, Next To Disappear introduces a thrilling, twist-filled series and a refreshingly different take on the private investigator genre.Revised edition: Previously published as Lost Lives.
Kill Game: A Cold Poker Gang Mystery
Dean Wesley Smith - 2014
Retired Detective Bayard Lott hosts the weekly poker games at his home. The group calls themselves the Cold Poker Gang. And they succeed at closing old cases. Lott’s very first homicide case as a brand-new detective had gone cold more than twenty years earlier. But retired Reno detective Julia Rogers, new to the Cold Poker Gang, suggests they look at that case again for personal reasons. From that simple suggestion spins one of the strangest and most complicated murder mystery puzzles the gang has ever seen. “Dean Wesley Smith does for poker what James Patterson does for serial killers.” —Sheldon McArthur, former owner of Mysterious Books in Los Angeles “[An] exhilarating political poker thriller.” —Harriet Klausner, Genre Go Round Reviews on Dead Money
Unbound: The Kate Reid Series: Books 1-3
Robin Mahle - 2015
That's what Kate has come to discover and so her desperate search for the truth begins and it will change her forever.ALL THE SHINY THINGS (book 1)A past revealed. A vengeance unleashed. Compelled to delve into a past no one wants to relive, Kate turns to Detective Marshall Avery. He is the only one who can give her the resources she needs. But the price Kate must pay for answers might just be too great. When her desire for vengeance grows, will Detective Avery be able to prevent her from going too far?LAW OF FIVE (Book 2)Through chaos, a calm must emerge. The media's continued interest in her case last year has made Kate's life difficult as she attempts to begin again in the wake of tragedy. When she is pulled into a new investigation, Kate realizes just how much that attention has harmed her. This time, a killer dubbed "The Highway Hunter" works his way toward the doorstep of the SDPD and Agent Nick Scarborough is once again called upon to aid in the investigation. As the case evolves, Kate learns that there could be more than one killer. Four lives have already been taken, who will be number five?GONE UNNOTICED (Book 3)What doesn't kill us... A new case involving the disappearance of migrant women fuels Kate's renewed trajectory as she is reminded their desire to start a new life is similar to her own. The pain and sorrow Kate believed was behind her begins to resurface as the case unfolds and the losses catch up with her. But when her training suffers as a result of her pursuit for justice, will Kate lose all hope of renewing a life that has already robbed her of so much?
Total Victim Theory
Ian Ballard - 2013
Puzzling over the document's sinister entries, Jake pieces together a story of mass murder near the Texas-Mexico border two decades before. If Jake's theory is correct, the names listed on the ledger's final page are the victims of a previously unknown serial killer. Leads are scarce until a gruesome new crime scene, deep in the Mexican desert, shows a chilling connection to the border deaths of long ago.
The Sam Reilly Collection
Christopher Cartwright - 2016
The Last Airship In 1939 a secret airship departed Nazi Germany in the dark of night filled with some of the most influential people of its time. Its cargo: a complement of rich Jewish families carrying their most valuable possessions. One such item amongst them was as dangerous as it was priceless. The airship never reached its destination. In 2015 Sam Reilly, a marine biologist and wealthy son of shipping mogul James Reilly discovers a missing clue about the lost airship and what follows is a violent treasure hunt, kept secret by the most powerful men in the world today, driven by their greed and need for that which all are motivated: the opportunity for unlimited power. 2. The Mahogany Ship An ancient shipwreck. A two hundred year old mystery. A plague that’s destroying all marine life. A pyramid half a mile below the sea. And a puzzle that must be solved before it destroys the human race. On the 18th of February, 1812, the Emily Rose became shipwrecked on the southern coast of Australia. The survivors are forced to walk nearly a thousand miles through the unexplored land to reach the only settlement, Sydney Cove. Nearly two hundred miles inland, they come across the remains of a monstrous ship, far bigger than anything the British Navy had ever constructed. Through basic communication achieved with the natives, they learned that the ship had been there for a very long time… Maybe a thousand years? Despite the details of the mysterious ship in the journals from the survivors of the Emily Rose, no evidence that the Mahogany Ship ever existed was found – until now. Present day: A mining exploration in Australia takes a core sample 500 feet below the surface of a deserted mountain. The sample returns no evidence of gold deposits, but something much more valuable – a single Spanish Gold coin, dated 1518. Could the origins of this coin finally reveal the existence of the fabled Mahogany Ship? At the same time, Sam Reilly and his team of ocean investigators are exploring the cause of a widespread death of sea life within the Gulf of Mexico. In a race against time to stop the irrevocable destruction of the world’s marine life, the two mysteries may just be entangled, and failure to solve them both will result in the greatest threat to ever face the human race. 3. Atlantis Stolen A civilization stolen from the history books. A billionaire’s obsession to unlock its secrets. A brotherhood determined to hide the truth. And time is running out. Only a handful of people know what destroyed the ancient Atlanteans, whose very existence is a secret that they will kill to protect. Unfortunately, the very same catastrophe that destroyed that once proud civilization is drawing near once more. The question is, can marine biologist Sam Reilly discover the truth in time to prevent it?
Squall
Sean Costello - 2014
On a clear winter morning he sets out in his Cessna 180 to do some repairs on a remote hunt camp, leaving his five year old son and very pregnant wife snug in their beds.On the return trip, a squall forces him into an emergency landing and he winds up—quite literally—in the lap of petty criminal Dale Knight. Dale, now a fugitive from the law—and worse, from a merciless drug lord who just happens to be his brother—draws Tom into a web of mayhem and treachery that puts not only his life at risk, but the lives of his wife, son…and unborn child.SQUALL is a fast-paced, darkly-comic tale of murder and gang-style retribution that grabs the reader on page one and simply does not let go.
Clint Wolf Boxed Set: Books 4 - 6
B.J. Bourg - 2018
Ditching his paddle for a pistol, he rejoins the Mechant Loup Police Department, but this time as their chief investigator, and he works beside Police Chief Susan Wilson as they seek to solve the mystery in the canal. While it isn’t odd to find drowned bodies floating in the vast waterways of Louisiana from time to time, it is unusual to find a body with six bullet holes in its back. This first case back for Clint won’t be a walk in the park, but a blue truck and a single piece of paper might be the key to everything. The only problem? The truck has seemingly vanished into thin air and no one can find the piece of paper. BUT NOT FOR NAUGHT The only thing worse than being stabbed in the back is being shot in the back; and that’s exactly what happens to local bar owner Mitch Taylor. As Clint Wolf and Susan Wilson investigate, the list of suspects begins to grow and it includes the victim’s estranged wife. Just when it appears Clint is closing in on the killer, things takes a surprising turn and the entire complexion of the case is changed. As though the twist in the case weren’t enough, Clint finds an old photograph that turns his personal life on its head and sets him on a dual quest for answers. Not only is he interrogating suspects, but he also interrogates his mother, and he begins to wonder what will be more difficult—discovering the secret to his past or solving Mitch Taylor’s murder. One thing is certain…no one will be the same after this is over. BUT NOT FORBIDDEN The only thing Clint Wolf and Susan Wilson want to do is get married, but when a man is murdered in a most embarrassing way--shot to death while sitting on a porta potty--their wedding plans are placed in serious jeopardy. With only eight days to go until they say their vows, Clint and Susan go to work trying to find out who might want to kill the victim. There are a number of likely suspects and they all seem to have good reasons for wanting the man dead, but Clint and Susan must figure out who hated him the most. As they work their way through the evidence in search of the truth, they are unknowingly headed for a deadly confrontation. Before it's all over, bullets will start flying and people are going to die...and if they're not careful, one of them might not make it to the altar.
The Innocent
Harlan Coben - 2005
Now, nine years later, he’s an ex-con who takes nothing for granted. His wife, Olivia, is pregnant, and the two of them are closing on their dream house. But all it will take is one shocking, inexplicable call from Olivia’s phone to shatter Matt’s life a second time….An electrifying thrill ride of a novel that peeks behind the white picket fences of suburbia, The Innocent is at once a twisting, turning, emotionally charged story and a compelling tale of the choices we make and the repercussions that never leave.