Book picks similar to
Where Seagulls Dare by Mark Farrer


fiction
scotland
children-young-adults
dark-humor

Exposed in Edinburgh: The House Sitters Cozy Mysteries


Scarlett Moss - 2020
    Alen and Joan Arny happily left law enforcement behind in exchange for traveling and new adventures. They never expected their new job as house and pet sitters to lead them back to crime and intrigue.Ian Bennett has a secret. He’s in big trouble if it’s exposed and someone is threatening to do just that. The American couple house sitting next door might be the answer to his prayers.Alen and Joan question if it’s possible to solve a mystery and capture a criminal with no police department, authority, jurisdiction, crime scene analysis, forensics, or modern crime-solving technology.Will Alen be able to trust his intuition through his self-doubt, will Joan consider crime-solving a bucket list-worthy adventure, and can a canine named Sherlock Holmes help at all?Read it today, because we love a cozy mystery where the good guys prevail and dogs help save the day. Exposed in Edinburgh is the first book in the series. A clean cozy mystery. No graphic violence, sex, or strong language. Available in Large Print. The House Sitters Cozy Mysteries will take you on adventures and land you in the middle of crimes in different international cities in each book. Enjoy travel photos and recipes from each destination along with charming dogs in each country. Look for corresponding journals. Each book can be read as a standalone and you can read them in any order.

Operation Ivy Bells: A Mac McDowell Mission (Mac McDowell Mission Series Book 1)


Robert G. Williscroft - 2014
    With a security clearance above Top Secret, Mac and his off-the-books deep-water espionage group must gather Russian intel to avert world war. Join nuclear-submariner Mac as he extreme-dives to a thousand feet, battles giant squids, and proves what brave men can achieve under real pressure, the kind that will steal your air and crush the life out of you. Operation Ivy Bells: A Mac McDowell Mission updates the popular bestseller by Robert G. Williscroft, a lifelong adventurer who blends his own experiences with real events to craft a military thriller that will take your breath away.

Sleep In Heavenly Peace Inn


Malinda Martin - 2014
     What could be a better destination for the holidays than a peaceful inn tucked in the picturesque mountains of Vermont? But when a blizzard hits, three couples will be forced to deal not only with the weather but also with the reality of their relationships. Mary Michaels, competent innkeeper is very good at her job. And at hiding her growing attraction for the inn’s handyman, Joe Puletti. Friend of her late husband, Joe is a great catch, but with a five-year old son and complications from her past, Mary is not. Lila Benson needs to reinvent her life. What the quiet, second grade teacher doesn’t need is to run into a face from her past—Dan Hamilton, football star that she helped tutor in high school. And fell hopelessly in love with. Celia and Richard Davis have brought their children Kevin and Jenna for a family vacation. It will be their last since the divorce will be final soon. However, Kevin and Jenna have hopes that a little time together is all their parents need to heal their family. Can these relationships be saved? Anything’s possible at Christmas. Especially with the help of three children, a man with a white beard, the inn’s mysterious manager, and a reindeer.

Molly Miranda: Thief for Hire


Jillianne Hamilton - 2015
    Mostly. Calm down.)Jewels, art, historical artifacts—nothing is safe when this professional thief is on the job.(That makes it sound so sinister.)Lying to everyone you love is second nature when you work in that particular industry. The truth, however, becomes a little harder to hide when she falls into bed with her roommate/crush.Avoiding dealing with the unpleasantness of feelings, Molly takes an assignment in Scotland and is paired up with an untrustworthy wildcard. It doesn’t help that her new partner-in-crime is super annoying. And devastatingly handsome…(Are you suggesting there’s something between me and him? hahahahaha No. Just no.)When a mission doesn’t go according to plan, she wonders if it’s time to hang up her burglar mask for good and try having a normal life with a normal job. And a lot less trespassing.(Snore. Borrrring.)Join Molly on her hilarious adventures as she dodges bullets, wears disguises, and steals her way into trouble.

Hard News


Mark T. Sullivan - 1995
    In this riveting thriller, journalist Gideon McCarthy is burnt-out and struggling to keep his life together after years of chasing deadlines. The competition is ruthless, the quest for the next byline relentless. But when a series of murders rocks his Southern California beat, Gideon soon learns that there is a dangerous line between truth and journalism… Sinking his teeth into the news story of a lifetime could prove to be Gideon’s career salvation, but when a deranged killer is at large, and digging too deep puts a target on his own back, Gideon must decide just how far he’s willing to go for the sake of the story. “A great, great read.”—#1 New York Times Bestselling Author Michael Connelly “Captivating and memorable. An excellent mystery.”—Publishers Weekly

Casting Call


John Locke - 2014
    Women have written lewd messages on his body with lipstick, and two guys are using him as a human toilet. Against Kaylee’s wishes, Ivy decides to get involved. She soon learns four things: his name is Bobby; he’s not drunk, but been drugged; he drives a great car; and he’s separated from his wife. Ivy cleans him up, drives him home. When he starts feeling better, they flirt. If you guess she winds up in bed with him, you’re right. But that’s the last thing you’ll guess correctly in this million-mile-an-hour twisting tale! PRELIMINARY COMMENTS Casting Call moves at warp speed! Hilarious! Mind-blowing. Impossible to predict. Locke’s latest has more twists and turns than a Rubik’s Cube! I literally flew through this book. Can’t remember ever turning pages this fast!

The Women’s Center


Michele Fitzpatrick - 2015
     Ruth Fortune is a trustworthy CEO who trusts no one, ever. Artist Pat Conelli considers her seven children her masterpieces but wonders where she mislaid herself. June Magee is a master craftswoman who can't craft a single love match. And Diane Jonasen? Her news career is solid. Her sanity? Not so much. They have reunited thirty-five years after they were students at Shorelake College for Women to fulfill a promise to the woman who was their college president. They set out to transform an aging Chicago mansion into a twenty-first-century women's center, unaware the process will transform them. What can you do when loss obliterates your faith, duty blurs hope, self-doubt trumps love or guilt denies you forgiveness? Flawed, funny, occasionally furious, they are about to find out.

Biker


Mike Baron - 2013
    Ginger Munz, a woman dying of cancer hires him to find the son she lost as a baby. The child’s father is a sadistic sociopath named Moon who has vowed to kill her and Josh’s girlfriend Cass, for ratting him out. The trail leads to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and west into no-man’s land where Josh learns the monstrous fate of the stolen child.Josh is the BIKER, caught up in a race for survival against a human monster on the road between heaven and hell at the end of which lies either salvation or damnation. Baron spins a tale of unrelenting suspense and horror that moves across his narrative landscape like the roar of a chopper’s engine.

The Sunday Philosophy Club


Alexander McCall Smith - 2004
    1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels, begins a wonderful new series starring the irrepressibly curious Isabel Dalhousie.Isabel is fond of problems, and sometimes she becomes interested in problems that are, quite frankly, none of her business. This may be the case when Isabel sees a young man plunge to his death from the upper circle of a concert hall in Edinburgh. Despite the advice of her housekeeper, Grace, who has been raised in the values of traditional Edinburgh, and her niece, Cat, who, if you ask Isabel, is dating the wrong man, Isabel is determined to find the truth—if indeed there is one—behind the man's death. The resulting moral labyrinth might have stymied even Kant. And then there is the unsatisfactory turn of events in Cat's love life that must be attended to.Filled with thorny characters and a Scottish atmosphere as thick as a highland mist, The Sunday Philosophy Club is irresistible, and Isabel Dalhousie is the most delightful literary sleuth since Precious Ramotswe.

Rooked


Caitlin Sara - 2018
    . . Despite her desire for control, Ara Hopkins has always felt like a pawn—constantly being maneuvered by those surrounding her. Carrying a riddled past of abandonment by her mother, a jealous step-sister and exploitation by men she was supposed to be able to trust, Ara craves a social media certified life. So, when she meets her husband, a New York congressman’s son, she believes she’s finally won her game. Secure in a life her mother would approve of—and having firmly shut the door on her chaotic and miscalculated past—Ara feels she’s thriving. Until the night her husband is murdered. Thrust into a game of deceit and lies, Ara realizes that nothing is as it seems and that the past can quickly return to the present. The facade crumbles as relationships are tested and family boundaries crossed. Faced with losing it all, she discovers what a person is really capable of. Because in this game of life, it's either rook or be rooked. An intricately braided plot with unforeseeable twists and a sucker-punch ending, Rooked is a captivating thriller that shatters all perceptions.

Serious as a Heart Attack


Louisa Luna - 2004
    After getting fired from her job at a calendar company for botching Daylight Savings, she is informally hired by a wealthy acquaintance to track down his girlfriend, a stripper named Trigger Happy. But Queenie's seemingly good luck turns hard when she finds Trigger dead in her apartment.Now Queenie's daily routine of being a drunk smart-ass is put on hold as she becomes both a suspect for the murder and the target for an unknown predator. Hopping from bar to bar, from Coney Island clam stands to the Waldorf-Astoria, she inadvertently lands on the trail of Trigger's killer and puts herself in the line of fire.Along the way she meets Rey, a private eye with a soft spot for tough-talking ladies; Detective Olds, the stuttering cop who thinks Queenie's the culprit; and a dozen New York denizens, among them a cult recruiter, a hit man, a thief, and even Rip Torn -- some strange, some sad, some sweet, and some deadly, every one dropping in and out of Queenie's life as she searches for each fragile piece of the puzzle that may eventually lead her to the truth.With danger closing in on her, Queenie can't help but realize the precariousness of her own mortality. As she stares out of the window at an old lady on the corner, she thinks, "There is nothing separating you from that old lady right now -- maybe something, maybe time is all, but that's really nothing when you think about it." After all, thinks Queenie, it's just days. But unless she can find the killer before the killer finds her, Queenie's days are seriously numbered.

The 12 Mysteries of Christmas Collection


Susette Williams - 2019
    Enjoy all 12 mysteries in one collection! THE 12 MYSTERIES OF CHRISTMAS series: • Book 1: IN THE NICK OF TIME by Susette Williams • Book 2: GABRIEL’S SECRET by Alexa Verde • Book 3: GUARDING CANDY KANE by V.B. Tenery • Book 4: MURDER: UP ON THE ROOFTOP by Lilly York • Book 5: TIDINGS OF JOY by P. Creeden • Book 6: HOLLY IN HIDING by P. Creeden • Book 7: STARR WITNESS by Susette Williams • Book 8: NOELLE ON THE RUN by Alexa Verde • Book 9: GOLDEN BELLES ARE WRINGING by Gina Conroy • Book 10: DEATH BY FIGGY PUDDING by P. Creeden • Book 11: SWEET REVENGE by Lilly York • Book 12: MERRY WITHOUT MALICE by P. Creeden

Blue Moon Investigations: Boxed Set Part 2


Steve Higgs - 2019
     They say everyone has a skeleton in their closet, but why are so many of them coming to life? Tempest and Amanda work at the only paranormal detective agency in the book and business is booming. This second box set gives you over 1000 pages of pulse-pounding hilarious paranormal mayhem as they get themselves into yet more hot water solving cases no one else would be dumb enough to take. Dead Pirates of Cawsand – A ghost ship has been spotted off the coast of a quiet Cornish village where gold coins were recently found. Now skeletal pirates are wandering the streets, hiding in the mist to strike fear into the local community because they want their gold back. But they didn’t count on England’s best paranormal P.I. turning up. His well-earned break soon goes sideways as murder, kidnap, and ghost hunters ruin his vacation and threaten more than just his life. In the Doodoo with Voodoo – A client cursed by a voodoo priest is the start of a case that will push Amanda to her very limits. With Tempest away in Cornwall, Amanda has no back up, but she wants to do this for herself even though the priest is a scary character. However, when BFF Patience goes missing, it’s a race against time to solve the case before someone dies and she is about to find out just how badly she underestimated her suspect. The Witches of East Malling – There’s a storm brewing. It’s late Autumn in England, but the wet weather is hiding a dark crime – witches using lighting to kill! Hired to investigate, Tempest soon becomes a target himself when he comes face to face with a witch and she knows who and what he is. Is he closing in on the coven, or are they closing in on him? The deadly conclusion with leave you breathless. Crop Circles, Cows, and Crazy Aliens – Aliens? Really? There are lights in the sky, crop circles in the fields and the cows are producing glowing milk. It’s Amanda’s case, and seems a simple one until the first body shows up. Suddenly she has a mystery person leaving her clues, an internet star trying to help her investigation and conspiracy nuts raining from the sky. Is this the first wave of an alien invasion, or something far worse? Whispers in the Rigging – His dad reported stories of a ghost in the old Royal Dockyard, but that’s not why Tempest is going undercover. He’s there because his dad was found unconscious in a dumpster when he tried to poke around. Now Tempest must find out what is going on, but all too soon he realises there’s something beneath the dockyard that is much worse than ghosts. The paranormal? It’s all nonsense, but proving might just get them killed.

Seal of Confession


Michele Pace - 2021
    A young priest on the other side of the screen is shaken by what he learns. A former college athlete with an MBA from a prestigious university, Father Joe Russo is not your typical man of God. Nine years earlier, his own life took a tragic turn and he gave everything up, committing his life to the church. Now his peaceful existence is being tested, and he finds himself questioning the God he serves, the vows he made, and someone he left behind.In this gripping thriller, a priest and an FBI agent work to uncover secrets and expose hidden crimes, but when it seems they have it all figured out, everything they think they know will be questioned.

Everyone Left Behind: 4 minutes to chaos


Time Day - 2014
    He just wanted to retire in peace. Change descended when he accidentally shot a Peeping Tom. Though he buried him on his remote Montana property, he couldn't bury the man's curse. Haunted by it, and about to be found out, he sent up a desperate prayer. That night he had a strange dream. Priscilla's interpretation of the dream was to stockpile enough food to look after seventy people for five years because perilous times were surely coming . . .