Book picks similar to
Three Complete Novels: The First Deadly Sin / The Second Deadly Sin / The Third Deadly Sin by Lawrence Sanders
mystery
basement
clever-mysteries
6th
All That Glitters
Thomas Tryon - 1987
The life of each has been touched by the legendary agent (and lover) Frankie Adano. From Babe, the outrageous honky-tonk blonde who becomes an eternal box-office draw ... to April, the classy beauty who never wanted to act, let alone be a star ... Claire, Star of Stars, quintessential Hollywood Movie Queen, who's lasted the longest yet still looks back unforgivingly at her incredible life—they're dominated by exalted success, desperate failure, excess, and illusion ... royal lives ruled by All That Glitters.
Pretty Little Liars: The Second Half 8-Book Collection: Twisted, Ruthless, Stunning, Burned, Crushed, Deadly, Toxic, Vicious
Sara Shepard - 2014
But not all that glitters is gold, and the town harbors secrets darker than anyone could imagine—like the truth about what really happened the night Alison DiLaurentis went missing. . .Includes:Pretty Little Liars #9: TwistedPretty Little Liars #10: RuthlessPretty Little Liars #11: StunningPretty Little Liars #12: BurnedPretty Little Liars #13: CrushedPretty Little Liars #14: DeadlyPretty Little Liars #15: ToxicPretty Little Liars #16: Vicious
Rescued by a Wicked Lord
Emily Honeyfield - 2021
Her impetuous younger sister has run away with a wicked man, leaving all of their futures hanging in the balance. She must be found and brought home, at once. When Jenny’s father suggests working alongside the son of an old family friend, she is violently resistant. For she knows the alluring Harry Wycliff of old and he has always been her enemy. She cannot work with him, even for the sake of her beloved sister. Can she?A race through the dark streets of London to find a fallen lady begins...Lord Harry Wycliff is no happier to be saddled with the spirited and stubborn Jenny Rayment than she is to be saddled with him. He only agreed to help find her sister as a favour to her family. He has always teased and tormented the enthralling Jenny and he certainly doesn’t like her any more than she likes him. Working side by side to find her errant sister is going to be a complete nightmare... is it not?Hidden passion cannot be denied forever though...As Jenny and Harry traverse the seedy streets of London, they discover they perhaps don’t know each other as well as they thought they did. The strange, fiery attraction that has most inexplicably arisen between them is real... but could it ever last when they started out as enemies? Yet just when it seems like Jenny might finally trust Harry, the world is turned upside down, once again...
The Sea Garden
Deborah Lawrenson - 2014
Unsettled by its haunted air and the bitterness of the garden's owner, an elderly woman who seems intent on undermining her, Ellie finds that her only ally on the island is an elusive war historian …THE LAVENDER FIELDNear the end of World War II, Marthe Lincel, a young blind woman newly apprenticed at a perfume factory in Nazi-occupied Provence, finds herself at the center of a Resistance cell. When tragedy strikes, she faces the most difficult choice of her life . . . and discovers a breathtaking courage she never expected.A SHADOW LIFEIris Nightingale, a junior British intelligence officer in wartime London, falls for a French agent. But after a secret landing in Provence results in terrible Nazi reprisals, he vanishes. When France is liberated, Iris is determined to uncover the truth. Was he the man he claimed to be?Ingeniously interconnected, this spellbinding triptych weaves three parallel narratives into one unique tale of love, mystery, and murder. The Sea Garden is a vivid and absorbing chronicle of love and loss in the fog of war-and a penetrating and perceptive examination of the impulses and circumstances that shape our lives.
Mainlander
Will Smith - 2015
When he first arrived, he fell for the Island’s heathered headlands and golden coves, its winding lanes and sweeping tides, its background hum of Frenchness. But now he strikes a dissonant note.Sitting on an outcrop stewing after a row with his wife, schoolteacher Colin spots one of his pupils near the edge of a cliff. Worried that the boy may have intended to jump, he drives him home, hoping that his gloomy imagination was playing tricks. But when the boy fails to turn up to school the next day,Colin feels duty-bound to track him down, pitting him against the Island establishment who would rather there was a little less noise around this particular absence.A web of characters is spun around this mystery, each with his or her own secrets. In Jersey, where everyone knows everyone else’s business, you must become your own island.
Fall for you: a grumpy boss hate to love romance
Elyse Riggs - 2021
No way. Not gonna happen.When arrogant jerk Blake Ryan walks into my favorite coffee bar looking for a fight, I know I’m in trouble. But he picks the wrong girl on the wrong morning.As it turns out, standing up to Mr. Grumpy-Pants is really hard to do while looking into those intense brown eyes. He’s got the angry smolder down I’ll give him that. He also has the bulging biceps, steel cut abs, and full lips.Only standing up to him backfires on me spectacularly when it turns out he’s one of those secret undercover bosses. After we tangle, he bans me from the coffee shop. My favorite coffee shop. Permanently. I decide not to go down without a fight, or a scene as the case may be. Then he does the last thing I expect and gives me a job. Or is it more of a challenge?I know I shouldn’t take it, but my choices are banishment or a six-figure job. I can deal with the long days and impossible workload as long as I don’t try to look into those sexy brown eyes.I can’t give in to my smoking hot new boss. No matter how many late nights I work or how tempting his full lips are or how adorable he is with his niece. He’s not the relationship type. And I’m not into getting my heart broken.Fall For You is an enemies to lovers romantic comedy with humor, steam, and lots of HEA.
Pirate Latitudes
Michael Crichton - 2009
Port Royal, Jamaica′s capital, a cut-throat town of taverns, grog shops, and bawdy houses, is devoid of London′s luxuries; life here can end swiftly with dysentery or a dagger in your back. But for Captain Charles Hunter it is a life that can also lead to riches, if he abides by the island′s code. In the name of His Majesty King Charles II of England, gold in Spanish hands is gold for the taking. And law in the New World is made by those who take it into their hands.Word in port is that the Spanish treasure galleon El Trinidad, fresh from New Spain, is stalled in nearby Matanceros harbor awaiting repairs. Heavily fortified, the impregnable Spanish outpost is guarded by the blood-swiller Cazalla, a favorite commander of King Philip IV himself. With the governor′s backing, Hunter assembles a roughneck crew to infiltrate the enemy island and commandeer the galleon, along with its fortune in Spanish gold. The raid is as perilous as the bloody legends of Matanceros suggest, and Hunter will lose more than one man before he finds himself on the island′s shores, where dense jungle and the firepower of Spanish infantry are all that stand between him and the treasure.With the help of his cunning crew, Hunter hijacks El Trinidad and escapes the deadly clutches of Cazalla, leaving plenty of carnage in his wake. But his troubles have just begun. . . .
The Ghost Tree
Barbara Erskine - 2018
She is faced with the daunting task of clearing his house, believing he had removed all traces of her mother. Yet hidden away in a barely used top-floor room, she finds he had secretly kept a cupboard full of her possessions. Sifting through the ancient papers, Ruth discovers the diary and letters written by her ancestor from the eighteenth century, Thomas Erskine.As the youngest son of a noble family now living in genteel poverty, Thomas always knew he would have to make his own way in the world. Unable to follow his brothers to university, instead he joins first the navy and then the army, rising through the ranks, travelling the world. When he is finally able to study law, his extraordinary experiences and abilities propel him to the very top and he becomes Lord Chancellor. Yet he has made a powerful enemy on his voyages, who will hound him and his family to the death – and beyond.Ruth becomes ever more aware of Thomas as she is gripped by his story, and slowly senses that not only is his presence with her, but so is his enemy’s. Ruth will have to draw upon new friends and old in what becomes a battle for her very survival – and discover an inner power beyond anything she has imagined.
Montague & Strong Detective Novels Box Set
Orlando A. Sanchez - 2018
One is a cranky Mage. What could possibly go wrong? The Montague & Strong Detective Novels Box Set collects the first three supernatural-and-thrill-packed full-length novels of this Amazon bestselling urban fantasy series in one place for one great price. You get: Tombyards & Butterflies (Book 1) Full Moon Howl (Book 2) Blood Is Thicker (Book 3) Over 800 pages of Supernatural Suspense and Action! Tombyards & Butterflies A Missing Ferryman. An Undead Dilemma. An Immortal Detective. An emissary from the Dark Council has just materialized in the office of the Montague & Strong Detective Agency, and makes Simon Strong an offer he can’t refuse. Charon is missing. The legendary ferryman responsible for transporting souls across the river Styx hasn’t been seen in days. And with each passing hour, those unable to cross the river are left to walk among the living, tilting the world further out of balance. Meet Simon Strong, an immortal, who is also the best private detective in New York City. Together with his surly partner-Tristan Montague, a mage of indeterminate age, they must find the Ferryman and get him back to work before another Supernatural War ravages the earth, destroys humanity, and Simon’s local Starbucks. Time is running out. His landlord wants the rent and Karma with a capital K is paying him a visit, and she can be a real… Join the Montague & Strong Detective Agency and help them locate Charon, so he can restore balance to the universe, put the dead to rest, and maybe solve the age old conundrum-coffee or tea? Full Moon Howl Mystery. Malice. Revenge. Broken bodies and bloody messages are appearing in the darkest corners of New York City. Infected werewolves are roaming the streets attacking innocents. The Dark Council demands answers. They summon Simon and Tristan to investigate. The evidence points to the work of a powerful mage, unfortunately, there is only one mage in the city powerful enough to cause this kind of infection-Tristan Montague. Now Simon and Tristan must locate the source of the magical infection before the Dark Council declares Tristan a dark mage, destroys the werewolves, and shatters the fragile peace in the supernatural community. Join the Montague and Strong Detective Agency while they are hunted and chased. All while trying to uncover the identity of their unseen enemy before it’s too late! Blood Is Thicker A Broken Pact. An Ancient Enemy. A Bitter Betrayal. What does a vampire fear more than sunlight? The Cazadoras Sangrientas- Blood Hunters. Michiko Nakatomi has led the Dark Council for over a century, maintaining the uneasy truce between humanity and the supernatural. But when an ancient enemy returns the delicate balance is shattered and vampires start dying. Now, Michiko must fight for her life and the survival of the Council. She has no one to trust. Her inner circle is destroyed, the Council is on the verge of collapse, and her only hope lies with Simon and Tristan. Join the Montague and Strong Detective Agency as they face off against the Blood Hunters to prevent them from destroying the Dark Council and plunging humanity to its doom.
The Warlow Experiment
Alix Nathan - 2019
But he longs to make his mark in the field of science--something consequential enough to present to the Royal Society in London. He hits on a radical experiment in isolation: For seven years a subject will inhabit three rooms in the basement of the manor house, fitted out with rugs, books, paintings, and even a chamber organ. Meals will arrive thrice daily via a dumbwaiter. The solitude will be totally unrelieved by any social contact whatsoever; the subject will keep a diary of his daily thoughts and actions. The pay: fifty pounds per annum, for life. Only one man is desperate to apply for the job: John Warlow, a semi-literate laborer with a wife and six children to provide for. The experiment, a classic Enlightenment exercise gone more than a little mad, will have unforeseen consequences for all included.
Under a Gilded Moon
Joy Jordan-Lake - 2020
The country’s grandest example of privilege, it symbolizes the aspirations of its owner and the dreams of a girl, just as driven, who lives in its shadow.Kerry MacGregor’s future is derailed when, after two years in college in New York City, family obligations call her home to the beautiful Appalachians. She is determined to distance herself from the opulence she sees rising in the Blue Ridge Mountains, however close its reach. Her family’s land is among the last pieces required to complete the Biltmore Estate. But something more powerful than an ambitious Vanderbilt heir could change Kerry’s fate as, one by one, more outsiders descend on the changing landscape—a fugitive from Sicily, a reporter chasing a groundbreaking story, a debutante tainted by scandal, and a conservationist prepared to put anyone at risk to stoke the resentment of the locals.As Kerry finds herself caught in a war between wealth and poverty, innocence and corruption, she must navigate not only her own pride and desperation to survive but also the temptations of fortune and the men who control it.
Flight of the Cuckoo
K.L. Smith - 2014
This is the dark but humourous tale of Sarah Pemberton, who is not a happy woman. A down to earth, inventive soul who despises her stuck up pompous husband Neil, who believes he is much more intelligent and important than she is. When he refuses her a divorce and emotionally blackmails her into staying with him by threatening to take custody of their daughter, she's decides to make life a little more entertaining for herself, by subtly torturing him at every available opportunity. Creative and adaptable by nature, with a wicked sense of humour, she comes up with more and more ways to ridicule him, without him ever knowing she has a hand in it. ...."During 1993-1994 amongst other things, I cooked him a meat pie with pedigree chum; Stole his car more times than I can count; put chilli powder in his underpants, sent a stripagram to his work (a fat one), and subscribed him to a gay porn mag! (Our paperboy avoided him like the plague after that.)"..... Finding accomplices in the form of her Aunt May, who lives in a crumbling old former hotel which was damaged during WWII, and May's two lodgers, a shy young hippy named Darren, along with his brother Matthew a former life model, they try to get rid of her husband by either 'Plan A', which consists of 'frame him for a crime so that he gets incarcerated', or 'Plan B' drive him to a nervous breakdown. Both plans are designed to discredit Neil in case of a custody battle for their daughter. There is only one little prerequisite for every little torturous idea though, and that is, IT HAS TO MAKE THEM LAUGH! Unbeknown to Sarah at first, she isn't the only one with a vendetta against her husband, his entire workforce hate his guts and exploit any opportunity to make him look bad. When plans A & B go disastrously wrong, Sarah and co set their sights on a new target, her in-laws. Interwoven throughout the story is the tale of Aunt May, the lynch pin of her little make shift family, who harbours secrets of her own that go back to the night the bomb fell on the east wing of the hotel. This is not a tale of a submissive woman suffering at the hands of abuse; this is the tale of a strong courageous woman having one last laugh at other people's expense. Contains very occasional strong language, and scenes that should not be repeated at home. Volume One of 'The Cuckoo' series
Water Memory
Daniel Pyne - 2021
But when pirates seize the cargo ship she’s on, she must decide whether to risk her life to save her fellow passengers.Sentro’s training takes over, and she’s able to elude her captors, leaving bodies in her wake. But her problems are just getting started. Her memory lapses are getting more frequent, symptoms of serial-concussion syndrome.As she plays a deadly game of cat and mouse with the pirates, she pushes herself to survive by focusing on thoughts of her children. She’s never told them what she really does for a living, and now she might not get the chance.While her memories make her vulnerable, motherhood makes her dangerous.
The Herb Gatherers
Elizabeth Harris - 1991
The tormented spirit of mysterious Alienor, a once beautiful young woman abandoned by her Crusader lover centuries ago, relentlessly follows him. In ways that he has never understood, Rafe is cursed by her powerful and obsessive love, which has endured across the ages, taunting him and visiting him in his dreams... Who is Alienor? What does she want? And what lengths will she go to seek her revenge? Yet Rafe is not the only one who is still suffering at the hands of Alienor’s wrath and when he agrees to take part in a séance whilst on holiday in Crete, he receives a message that changes his life forever. It leads him on a trail to the quiet Kent countryside and there, as if waiting for him, is Nell Gurney. Her resemblance to Alienor is uncanny and he is instinctively drawn to her. Initially oblivious to any growing danger, Nell and Rafe quickly become close, driven by a strange sensation that they already know each other. But someone else intrudes upon them in a horrifyingly intimate manner and tries to hint that identity is no longer a matter of personal choice... Beneath the cosy exterior of the cottage Nell shares with her father, there is a dark secret that has shaped the lives of the Gurney family for centuries. As the forgotten story of a scorned woman comes to life, Nell and Rafe are mirrors for a force that has the power to destroy them. When tragedy strikes, Rafe’s friend Stephen and a bewitching, chilling exploration into the practise of exorcism is their only hope... Praise for Elizabeth Harris ‘Enormously enjoyable … hard to put down. Elizabeth Harris writes with sensitivity and skill and a spine-chilling eye for the sinister’ - Barbara Erksine, author of Lady of Hay Elizabeth Harris was born in Cambridge and brought up in Kent, where she now lives. After graduation she hid a variety of jobs including driving a van, being a lifeguard and working in the Civil Service. She has travelled extensively in Europe and America, and lived for some years in the Far East. Elizabeth Harris was one of the finalists of the 1989 Ian St James Awards.
From Green to Blue
Jonathan Cox - 2013
Having walked the beat in the early eighties in some of London’s most fractious communities, he worked on a variety of specialist teams dealing with murder, fraud, witness protection and surveillance before becoming a Detective Inspector responsible for investigating the most serious cases of police corruption.