Book picks similar to
The Carnage Account by Ben Lieberman
mystery
reviewed
net-galley
a-good-read
How To Be a Good Wife
Emma Chapman - 2013
Through the good and bad; through raising a son and sending him off to life after university. So long, in fact, that Marta finds it difficult to remember her life before Hector. He has always taken care of her, and she has always done everything she can to be a good wife—as advised by a dog-eared manual given to her by Hector’s aloof mother on their wedding day.But now, something is changing. Small things seem off. A flash of movement in the corner of her eye, elapsed moments that she can’t recall. Visions of a blonde girl in the darkness that only Marta can see. Perhaps she is starting to remember—or perhaps her mind is playing tricks on her. As Marta’s visions persist and her reality grows more disjointed, it’s unclear if the danger lies in the world around her, or in Marta herself. The girl is growing more real every day, and she wants something.
The Single Staircase
Matt Ingwalson - 2013
Did her parents kill their only child and hide the body? What other solution could there be?This is a modern police procedural. It's also a classical locked-room mystery that will keep you guessing right up until the end.All profits from the sale of this novella will be donated to charities that help find missing children.
Underwater
Julia McDermott - 2013
The CEO of her own women's shapewear company, she's about to launch a new swimsuit line and make a fortune. When she is guilted into loaning her brother a huge sum of money for real estate, she believes she's simply fulfilling a family promise. In reality, she's enabling a devious sociopath, and now, she's roped into the renovation from hell.For years, Monty Carawan has envied his sister's wealth. Spiteful and self-centered, he's convinced that her success came at the expense of his own future. But when the housing market plunges and Candace attempts to disentangle herself from Monty's mess, her brother's malicious streak brings the family tension to a dangerous boiling point.
Just My Luck
Adele Parks - 2020
Over dinner parties, fish & chip suppers and summer barbecues, they’ve discussed the important stuff – the kids, marriages, jobs and houses – and they’ve laughed off their disappointment when they failed to win anything more than a tenner.But then, one Saturday night, the unthinkable happens. There’s a rift in the group. Someone doesn’t tell the truth. And soon after, six numbers come up which change everything forever.Lexi and Jake have a ticket worth £18 million. And their friends are determined to claim a share of it. Adele Parks returns with a riveting look at the dark side of wealth in this gripping take on friendship, money and betrayal, and good luck gone bad…
The Atlantis Deception
Nick Thacker - 2014
When a strange computer malfunction leaves them locked inside the arcology, a large dome at the center of the ship, they must figure out a way to get out. But the arcology isn't empty. There are alien species, brought back for scientific study, inside as well. And not all of these species are friendly...
When I Was Jane
Theresa Mieczkowski - 2015
I remember being pulled from a car. I remember flying in a helicopter. I remember voices. Female, car accident, multiple injuries.“What is your name?” he asks again. I remember what they called me. “Jane?”She awakens to a life she doesn’t remember. A husband and daughter she doesn’t know. They say her name is Audrey Gilbert—wife of heart surgeon Jason Gilbert, mother of five-year-old Daisy, and daughter-in-law to an iconic American political family. But something isn’t right. Convinced she is not who they say, she adopts the name Jane. While her doctor begins to wonder if her condition is caused by a psychological dissociation, Jane suspects Jason Gilbert may have something to gain from his wife’s memory loss. As she searches for answers, Jane unravels a tapestry of secrets and lies, ultimately revealing the shocking truth and discovering just how far someone would go to make her forget. Written with humor and insight, When I Was Jane is a compelling tale of triumph over adversity that will keep you guessing until the very end.
The Bookmaker
Chris Fraser - 2011
It wasn’t Sirhan Sirhan in the Ambassador kitchen. It wasn’t a massive conspiracy or government cover-up. It was one man with one agenda. For small-time Huntington Beach bookmaker and wanna-be writer Trent Oster, it all started with a chance to collect a debt. Instead he’s offered an opportunity of a lifetime. Days later he finds himself on a sprawling southern estate in Oxford Mississippi, balancing the roles of houseguest and biographer for town legend Preston Walker—the man responsible for the most controversial murders in American history; and he’s finally ready to talk.
The Dead Key
D.M. Pulley - 2015
In the confusion that followed, the keys to the vault’s safe-deposit boxes were lost.In the years since, Cleveland’s wealthy businessmen kept the truth buried in the abandoned high-rise. The ransacked offices and forgotten safe-deposit boxes remain locked in time, until young engineer Iris Latch stumbles upon them during a renovation survey. What begins as a welcome break from her cubicle becomes an obsession as Iris unravels the bank’s sordid past. With each haunting revelation, Iris follows the looming shadow of the past deeper into the vault—and soon realizes that the key to the mystery comes at an astonishing price.
The William Kent Krueger Collection #4: Vermilion Drift, Northwest Angle, and Trickster's Point
William Kent Krueger - 2015
Five are connected to a series of old unsolved disappearances. But the sixth is fresh. What’s worse, two of the victims—including the most recent—were killed with Cork’s gun. As Cork searches for answers, he must dig into his own past and that of his father, a well-respected man who harbored a ghastly truth. Northwest Angle: Amid the wreckage of a violent storm, Cork O’Connor and his daughter Jenny discover a body. Nearby, a baby boy lies hungry and dehydrated but still very much alive. Powerful forces in pursuit of the child follow them to the isolated Northwest Angle, where it’s impossible to tell who is friend or foe. Trickster’s Point: Cork O’Connor sits deep in the wilderness with his good friend Jubal Little—favored to become Minnesota’s first Native American elected governor—who is slowly dying with an arrow through his heart. But this is no hunting accident. The arrow is one of Cork’s. As he works to clear his name and track the killer who set him up, only Cork knows that his complex, passionate, ambitious friend was also capable of murder.
Angels Burning
Tawni O'Dell - 2016
Traditional and proud of her blue-collar sensibilities, Dove is loved by her community. But beneath her badge lies a dark and self-destructive streak, fed by a secret she has kept since she was sixteen. When a girl is beaten to death, her body tossed down a fiery sinkhole in an abandoned coal town, Dove is faced with solving the worst crime of her law enforcement career. She identifies the girl as a daughter of the Truly family, a notoriously irascible dynasty of rednecks and petty criminals. During her investigation, the man convicted of killing Dove’s mother years earlier is released from prison. Still proclaiming his innocence, he approaches Dove with a startling accusation and a chilling threat that forces her to face the parallels between her own family’s trauma and that of the Trulys. With countless accolades to her credit, author Tawni O’Dell writes with the “fearless insights” (The New York Times Book Review) she brought to the page in Back Roads and One of Us. In this new, masterfully told psychological thriller, the past and present collide to reveal the extent some will go to escape their fate, and in turn, the crimes committed to push them back to where they began.
Mirrorland
Carole Johnstone - 2021
As girls, they invented Mirrorland, a dark, imaginary place under the pantry stairs full of pirates, witches, and clowns. These days Cat rarely thinks about their childhood home, or the fact that El now lives there with her husband Ross.But when El mysteriously disappears after going out on her sailboat, Cat is forced to return to 36 Westeryk Road, which has scarcely changed in twenty years. The grand old house is still full of shadowy corners, and at every turn Cat finds herself stumbling on long-held secrets and terrifying ghosts from the past. Because someone—El?—has left Cat clues in almost every room: a treasure hunt that leads right back to Mirrorland, where she knows the truth lies crouched and waiting...A twisty, dark, and brilliantly crafted thriller about love and betrayal, redemption and revenge, Mirrorland is a propulsive, page-turning debut about the power of imagination and the price of freedom.
Midlife Happy Hour: Our Reward for Surviving Careers, Kids, and Chaos (Midlife Cabernet Book 2)
Elaine Ambrose - 2016
Elaine Ambrose boldly writes her latest kiss-my-attitude book as a sassy sequel to Midlife Cabernet. Ambrose shares her festive life experiences and career-crushing anecdotes as she explains how to remain relevant after age 50, why grown children make great travel companions, and how to balance midlife without falling over. Ambrose notes that her feminine mystique sprung a leak after years of competing as a funny female in a serious male job market. Now the hard work is done, and she invites midlife women to join her for Happy Hour.
Missing Pieces
Heather Gudenkauf - 2016
The case rocked the small farm town of Penny Gate, Iowa, where Jack was raised, and for years Jack avoided returning home. But when his beloved aunt Julia is in an accident, hospitalized in a coma, Jack and Sarah are forced to confront the past that they have long evaded. Upon arriving in Penny Gate, Sarah and Jack are welcomed by the family Jack left behind all those years ago—barely a trace of the wounds that had once devastated them all. But as facts about Julia's accident begin to surface, Sarah realizes that nothing about the Quinlans is what it seems. Caught in a flurry of unanswered questions, Sarah dives deep into the puzzling rabbit hole of Jack's past. But the farther in she climbs, the harder it is for her to get out. And soon she is faced with a deadly truth she may not be prepared for.
Gone Woman
A.J. Rivers - 2019
But when the truth is discovered, Mary’s life could be at stake… It’s the holidays and Mary Whitman has the perfect life. A beautiful home built just for her, and a blissful marriage to her adoring husband. But a terrible accident left her with no memories of her past and a lifelong illness. An illness that keeps her confined in her home. She's plagued by nightmares and haunted by a face of a woman and an empty nursery. As memories start to resurface of people she shouldn’t know and moments she shouldn’t have. Mary is left to wonder how lost she really is. When life with her perfect husband begins to unravel and she sees what seethes below the pristine surface. She begins to uncover the dark truth and learns that there might be more than just her memories that she must save. Will Mary be able to uncover the mysteries of her past? One thing is for certain… Some truths are far too sinister and may be best left buried.
The Midwife's Revolt
Jodi Daynard - 2012
From a hill south of Boston, she watches as fires burn in Charlestown, in a battle that she soon discovers has claimed her husband’s life.Alone in a new town, Lizzie grieves privately but takes comfort in her deepening friendship with Abigail Adams. Soon, word spreads of Lizzie’s extraordinary midwifery and healing skills, and she begins to channel her grief into caring for those who need her. But when two traveling patriots are poisoned, Lizzie finds herself with far more complicated matters on her hands—she suspects a political plot intended to harm Abigail and her family. Determined to uncover the truth, Lizzie becomes entangled in a conspiracy that could not only destroy her livelihood—and her chance at finding love again—but also lead to the downfall of a new nation.