Should Be Dead


Jeramy Gates - 2015
    None of the killer’s other victims have survived. Yet somehow, after spending two long nights trapped at the bottom of a dry well with a broken back, Valkyrie miraculously came through. She lost everything that night: her husband, her son, her dreams. Lying at the bottom of that well, staring up at a tiny circle of sky and waiting for the killer to find her and finish the job at any moment, Val lost one more thing: She lost her fear.The doctors told her she might never walk again, but Val refused to give up. After years of rehabilitation and relentless determination, Valkyrie regained her mobility. She didn't stop there. Valkyrie went on to take training in self defense and firearms, and developed a strategy to track down the killer. She dedicated her life to bringing him to justice. She walked away from her past forever, and began moving from to town to town in search of the man who had slaughtered her family.Now, after a series of missed opportunities, Valkyrie finally has her chance. An anonymous phone call informs her that the man she has been hunting has surfaced again in Sequoia County, a rural California landscape of redwood forests, vineyards, and isolated coastlines. Valkyrie knows it could be a trap. She doesn’t care. Armed with her skills, her intellect, and her determination, Valkyrie heads straight into the heart of danger. She thinks she’s prepared for anything. She’s wrong.

Tips for Living


Renee Shafransky - 2018
    With the help of her best friend, she fled New York City for a small resort town, snagged a job as the advice columnist for the local paper, and is cautiously letting a new man into her life. But when Hugh and his perfect new family move into a summer house nearby, Nora backslides. Coping with jealousy, humiliation, and resentment again is as hard as she feared. It’s harder still when Hugh and his wife are shot to death in their home.If only Nora could account for the night of the murders. Unfortunately, her memories have gone as dark as her fantasies of revenge. But Nora’s not the only one with a reason to kill—and as prime suspect in the crime, she’d better be able to prove it.

Chasing Justice


Danielle Stewart - 2013
    But her plans of settling into a normal life are derailed when she witnesses a prominent judge in her community committing a violent assault. Running from her own past and fueled by a passion to make the judge answer for his crimes, Piper is forced to decide if she’ll play by the rules or achieve justice in her own way.Complicating things further, Piper finds herself fighting a powerful attraction to rookie cop, Bobby Wright. Although she’s increasingly enamored with Bobby, his staunch belief in the justice system is in stark contrast to her own. She may not share his opinions about the effectiveness of the law, but she certainly can’t deny how safe she feels when she’s in his arms or how every kiss leaves her desperate for more.For Piper, the idea of finally living an ordinary life with a man to love is tempting. However, fate keeps placing the judge, quite literally, in her path. Will she decide the only way to win is to be as wicked as the judge, but with righteous intentions? And more importantly, will Bobby choose to let her go, or follow her as she crosses the line and takes justice into her own hands?

3 a.m.


Nick Pirog - 2013
    Henry Bins is awake for one. He wakes up each day at 3 a.m. then falls asleep at 4 a.m. Life is simple. Until he hears the woman scream. And sees the man leave the house across the street. But not just any man. The President of the United States.

Until the Day I Die


Emily Carpenter - 2019
    After her husband’s sudden death, the runaway success of the tech company they built with their best friends has become overwhelming. Her nerves are frayed, she’s disengaged, and her frustrated daughter, Shorie, is pulling away from her. Maybe Erin’s friends and family are right. Maybe a few weeks at a spa resort in the Caribbean islands is just what she needs to hit the reset button…Shorie is not only worried about her mother’s mental state but also for the future of her parents’ company. Especially when she begins to suspect that not all of Erin’s colleagues can be trusted. It seems someone is spinning an intricate web of deception—the foundation for a conspiracy that is putting everything, and everyone she loves, at risk. And she may be the only one who can stop it.Now, thousands of miles away in a remote, and oftentimes menacing, tropical jungle, Erin is beginning to have similar fears. Things at the resort aren’t exactly how the brochure described, and unless she’s losing her mind, Erin’s pretty sure she wasn’t sent there to recover—she was sent to disappear.

Necessary Evils


Bill Carson - 2012
    The pain and anguish over his wife’s murder has been harnessed, molded and channeled into a hatred of the most abnormal ferocity, and an un-closable door had now been wrenched open in his mind, and he had crossed over into the darker realms of humanity where the merciless, cruel, vicious and uncompromising sides of human nature reside. His brain had been rewired and the switch had been flicked.Has all this been preordained? Are there sinister dark forces at work at here? Necessary Evils will have you on the edge of your seat with your heart in your mouth.

Repo Chick Blues


Tracy Sharp - 2006
    But she is keeping her head down when her Jeep is repossessed. Unfortunately, most of her money is going toward past due attorney fees for her younger brother Jesse; a mischievous hacker serving his last few weeks in prison. Without a way to get to her construction job, she is fired. Leah needs a job fast. She’s a natural at stealing cars, and decides to ask Callahan Parker, the man who repossessed her Jeep, to hire her. This decision marks the beginning of a nightmare for Leah Ryan.During her first night of work, Leah makes an enemy of a twisted drug lord, Brent Woodard, who targets her for revenge. Things go from bad to worse when Leah discovers that Woodard is smuggling Asian women into the United States and forcing them into prostitution. She is determined to stop him, by any means necessary. But Woodard has friends. Among these is a crooked, sadistic cop who makes her plan more dangerous than she could have ever imagined. Soon it’s not only her life at stake, but that of her brother Jesse, who disappears within a day of his release from prison. Leah enlists the help of Callahan and a few friends from her shady past; a past she promised herself she’d never return to, to enter into a dark underworld of sex, drugs and death.

Girl, Abandoned


Peter R. Stone - 2018
    A gripping novel full of twists and turns about a city caught in the grip of an unprecedented crime wave, the girl who strives to reconcile with the mother who abandoned her, the mother who still wants nothing to do with her, the loathsome estranged twin sister; the unwanted relentless love interest and the ruthless vigilante with an unknown agenda.

Bad Wolf


Tim McGregor - 2011
    There’s only one catch; she has to partner up with a cop no one wants to work with. John Gallagher is a veteran homicide detective who wants nothing more than to work alone. When the Lieutenant partners him with Lara Mendes, his first reaction is to ditch her but a call comes in about a body on the river bank and the rotation says they’re up. What they find are human remains, mutilated and partially devoured. Their investigation reveals a killer stalking the city with a pack of vicious, feral dogs. And the suspect believes he is a werewolf. But this is Portland, where crazy bastards outnumber normal ones ten to one. Except there’s another catch. The crazy werewolf guy? He isn’t crazy...Author's note: Bad Wolf is my first novel and remains a favourite. This free full-length novel is the first in the Bad Wolf series about two homicide detectives trying to stop a monster. A murder mystery and police procedural, it's premise is simple; cops versus werewolves. I had an absolute blast writing this series. Now that's it's done, I miss these characters. The books, in order, are: 1 Bad Wolf2 Pale Wolf3 Last Wolf This free book is the gateway to a world of monsters, gritty detectives and the werewolves that haunt the moonlit night.

Her Last Day


T.R. Ragan - 2017
    Ragan, unlikely partners PI Jessie Cole and crime reporter Ben Morrison search for clues to a mystery buried in their own pasts—only to discover that sometimes the truth is better off buried.Ten years ago, PI Jessie Cole and reporter Ben Morrison each suffered a tragedy that changed their lives—and now these two strangers are about to share a nightmare.For Jessie, who makes her living finding missing persons, no case has consumed her more than the disappearance of her younger sister, Sophie. But left alone to raise Sophie’s daughter, she realizes that solving the case has become an unhealthy obsession.For Ben, a horrific car accident resulted in scars both physical and emotional—and amnesia that has made his life a mystery. But curiously, out of his shattered memories, there’s one person he recognizes without a doubt: Jessie’s sister. He just doesn’t know why. Yet.But Sophie isn’t the only phantom drawing Jessie and Ben together. An elusive serial murderer known as the Heartless Killer has reemerged from the shadows. His next move will cut even deeper into Jessie’s worst fears. And for Ben, what happens this time is going to be unforgettable.

True Cover


Ruth Kyser - 2012
    Now a madman is hunting her down to kill her, and the only ones stopping him are the FBI Agents who have pledged to keep her safe. But in the process of protecting her, these FBI Agents touch Sarah's life in a way she never expected as they cause her to question her relationship with God and His plan for her future.Sam Morgan is the FBI Agent tasked with the job of keeping Sarah safe. He and his team fight to keep Sarah alive - and in the process, all of their lives are changed in ways they never expected.

The River Is Dark


Joe Hart - 2013
    His career, the only thing he ever knew how to do well, is over. The single solace each day brings is the ever-growing contemplation of suicide. But when his estranged brother and sister-in-law are brutally murdered in their bucolic town set on the banks of the Mississippi River, he is drawn into an investigation surrounding a string of killings unlike anything he has ever seen before. The murderer is ruthless, cunning, and without conscience. Soon Liam learns that the river is dark. And so are its secrets.Contains explicit language and violence.

The Protector


Gennita Low - 2004
    Navy SEAL Jazz Zeringue soon discovers that his lovely savior is a covert agent and mistress of disguise who needs Jazz and his men to help her complete her most important and dangerous mission.

Dream of Danger


Maggie Shayne - 2013
    Their shared secrets drove them apart. But now they're together again in this riveting novella that begins where New York Times bestselling author Maggie Shayne's Sleep with the Lights On ended.She may have been blind for twenty years, but Rachel's always had an uncanny gift for seeing through people—and she distrusts her assistant's new boyfriend at first sight. Amy isn't interested in Rachel's misgivings, though. She's too eager to celebrate Thanksgiving by introducing her family to the new man in her life.Then Amy doesn't show up for the holiday….Desperate to find her missing friend, Rachel has no choice but to turn to Mason. Their investigation into Amy's disappearance takes them ever deeper into danger—and reignites the attraction that they've both sworn to resist. Now it's a race against time as these reluctant partners fight to stave off passion and save a life.

Summer People


Aaron Stander - 2000
    The summer residents are settling in for the season and the tourists are beginning to flood the highways and beaches. But the idyllic vision of a summer at the shore is suddenly shattered by a gangland-style shooting. This murder is quickly followed by the deaths of three more summer residents, each taking place under suspicious circumstances. At times hindered by local politics and the proverbial tension between the summer people and the natives, Sheriff Ray Elkins searches for the possible links between the four victims. As he probes into their tangled lives and dark histories, he finds both the motive and the possible murderer.