Book picks similar to
OLD SCHOOL: A DI Frank Miller Crime short by John Carson


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The Key West Caper


L. Lee Watkins - 2014
    I grew up in Small Town, Tennessee, joined the Army after graduation, now live in North Miami, tend bar for a living, and the right girl has not come along yet. Sounds dull, so most people lose interest. That is just fine with me, because the rest of the truth isn’t the least bit dull. My name is Dallas Kincade, and I have this guy living with me, well, more like coexisting with me. He is really an alter ego that camps out back in the recesses of my mind and lives for one purpose, that purpose being to come out and give me a hand when I get in a spot of trouble. That doesn’t sound too bad, except that the other Dallas has a single-minded tire-iron kind of mentality, thinks that every problem can be solved by committing mayhem on everyone in reach. Needless to say I try to keep my Demon in check. The best way to do that is to live a peaceful and uncomplicated life, one that keeps me as far away from trouble as I can get. Unfortunately, fate considers peaceful and uncomplicated to be its mortal enemy, so it lobs trouble my way every chance it gets. And somehow there always seems to be a good looking woman involved. In this case, the woman’s name is DeeDee Malone. We met at a party a few months ago, talked a while, became party-induced friends, and then we parted with the assumption that our paths would never cross again. But fate has other plans for Dallas Kincade and DeeDee Malone. It all started when I received a note from an old friend, Stanley Morrissey, who seemed to be in a spot of legal trouble down in Key West. Although I would rather pet a rabid skunk than get messed up in one of Stanley's capers, I felt obligated to go see what was going on. Turned out Stanley was charged with murdering a shipmate and two passengers on a charter boat out of Key West, but a high placed cop in the Key West PD was convinced that Stanley had been set up. To prove his theory, the cop needed someone to snoop around the water world of Key West to see what could be stirred up, and that someone was me. My cover was a 32 foot sailboat that had been confiscated from a drug suspect, and it would be all mine if my little team could find the real killers. So I ended up in an unlikely alliance with Bunning, the cop, DeeDee Malone the gal from the party, a hillbilly iceman named Bobby Ray Lewis, and a cathouse madam names Marilou Zirkle. To say this was an unusual group of characters would be an understatement, but we got the job done.

The Missing Bride: Her Love Started Where His Ended....


Seema Parashar - 2015
    All your problems will be solved while we have fun’, his voice sounded throatier as he spoke. ‘Fun? For me, it’s sin’, she met his eyes with a conspicuous scorn. His mouth contorted into a sarcastic smile. ‘Prudish! This outmoded thinking won’t do you any good. Your body won’t lose any of its charm if you share it with me for a few days.’ ‘You think my ethics are outdated and I think that your modern ideas are outrageous. I don’t share even my feelings with someone I don’t trust. For me, any kind of physical intimacy, not preceded by love and commitment, is a sin, committed to self.' ‘Then you have two options, either you fall in love with me or decide to commit this sin as this is the only key to your freedom.' ‘I don’t want to go back’, she said flopping her head back on the pillow behind her, ‘I like it here.' Brought up amid limited sources but unlimited love of her mother, Niyati is happy with her far-from-perfect life until she finds a rich and dissolute man, Avi, flinging himself on her. When she goes missing just before her wedding, the city is rife with speculations about The Missing Bride. Has she escaped or eloped or been abducted? Chained and kept behind a locked door, she goes through an unexpected ordeal and a living nightmare. Rescued a few months later, she encounters the truth. Is she really free or fettered forever by her past? Can the seeds of lust grow into an eternal shoot of love? A never-heard-before saga of lust and love; revenge and sacrifice....

Second Lives


Anish Sarkar - 2016
    Discovering that Rachel, a sports journalist, had been doing a story on the brutal killing of a foreign tourist, they are puzzled by her interest in such a grisly crime. It emerges that Rachel’s investigation went far beyond a single murder, and their lives are soon under threat too.With a traumatic event from their teenage years coming back to haunt them, the trio realises that the mystery has its roots in their own past. In the midst of battling their personal demons, they make a desperate plan to flush out a sadistic killer in the sylvan setting of their old boarding school in the Himalayan foothills. With the body count rising and long-buried secrets tumbling out, will they succeed?

The Extinction Protocol: The Peacemaker Book 3


Blair Howard - 2021
    

Sedona Law 3: A Legal Thriller


Dave Daren - 2019
     Just another crazy legal case in Sedona, Arizona.

The Berlin Spy Trap: A classic espionage thriller


Geoffrey Davison - 2013
     How do you find the answers when they are locked in your own lost memories? Cold War Europe John Stack wakes up in a strange hotel room in Spain with his memory of recent events wiped. It is clear he has been attacked. But what did they want? Stack is a journalist by trade but under that façade he is also an undercover British agent. Stack needs to remember what his mission was in Spain – and what happened to his two partners. Aware his life is in imminent danger, he does not know who he can trust. The doctor who treats his injuries offers to help him, but in return Stack must help smuggle someone across the Berlin Wall from East Germany to the West. Stack finds himself in a race against time to recover his memory and complete his mission before his pursuers close in and silence him forever… THE BERLIN SPY TRAP is a heart-pounding espionage thriller, following one man navigating his way through the tensions of Cold War Europe – desperate to recover the secrets locked away in his mind.

Seven Day Hero: On Her Majesty's Service - An Alternative Mark Cole Thriller


J.T. Brannan - 2015
    When the treaty is signed anyway, the new Euro Russian Alliance teeters on the brink of nuclear war with China - and it is not long before other nations are drawn into a situation that is spinning frighteningly out of control. Mark Cole is a deniable operative for the British government, loyal to the last. But when his own organization turns against him, he finds himself in a desperate race against time to not only save his family, but to find out who was really behind the attack in Sweden, and stop the world from descending into nuclear Armageddon. Please note that SEVEN DAY HERO is an 'alternate universe' Mark Cole thriller that shares material with STOP AT NOTHING, and sits outside the normal series.

Quick on the Draw


Gordon Landsborough - 2016
     Imprisoned for a crime he never committed, deserted by the woman he loved and betrayed by his own family. His bad luck seems to be running out when he is released early from prison and finds a job on the railroads. But it doesn’t last long. First he gets into a fight with a man who turns up dead. Then, while still on the run, his train is held up by his own brother’s gang. Then he somehow manages to offend the railroad boss’ daughter, the beautiful Elizabeth. With the fates out to get him, Glen has to use all his wits and strength to take control of his own destiny. Will that be enough to see him through, or will his past catch up with him before he gets a chance? Quick on the Draw is a hard fighting story of the Old West, where lives were cheap and danger was great. Praise for Gordon Landsborough 'A punchy tale coupled with plenty of action - an engaging read!' - Philip McCormac, bestselling western author Gordon Landsborough (1913-1984) was a publisher, author and bookseller. Writing tales about the exploits of gun-toting cowboys fighting out on the arid sands of the Wild West, Landsborough was himself a pioneering in the English paperback publishing world of the 1950s. He was widely known amongst his peers as the ‘maverick publishing genius’. Pioneering Press is an imprint of Endeavour Press, the UK’s leading independent digital publisher. We publish new and classic westerns by authors from the US and the UK. Follow us on Twitter: @PioneeringPress Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/PioneeringPress

Low Places


William Shaw - 2020
    William Shaw is one of the great rising talents of UK crime fiction' PETER JAMES 'If you're not a fan yet, why not?' VAL MCDERMID 'A superb storyteller' PETER MAY 'A modern crime master' THE SUN DS Alexandra Cupidi faces establishment corruption, class divide and environmental activism in this gripping new novel by a rising star of British crime fiction.

The Sheriff


Charles Hirsch - 2017
    He can't figure out why the thought is there, why he's thinking that way, after all he's only sixty years old and in good shape. A series of weird crimes confront him, challenging him at a time he feels most vulnerable. Eventually, assisted by a reliable deputy and a young, heavily-tattooed, former drug-running woman, the mysteries deepen. The clues are few and far between, the violence vicious and seemingly unwarranted. Eventually things slip out of control, until a small, seemingly unimportant detail surfaces that brings into focus what might be happening. Filled with exciting action, great dialogue and a very real sense of place, this book offers much for the mystery and action lover. And, at only 213 pages, it's a fast, exciting read, a "two-nighter," or perfect for a vacation read.

Chasing Demons


John Hansen - 2016
    Cheap whiskey has been his only escape from the demons that haunt his nights. But that escape has come with a heavy price. He’s lost his sergeant’s stripes and his good name, due mostly to a hard-nosed Lieutenant named Welch. How much should a man be expected to take? It’s tempting to desert and leave it all behind, but would life be any better? He’s about to find out.

Line of Sin: Deputy Corus Mystery #3


Mark Hazard - 2019
    But the shadowy figures that had been operating through Walla Walla want to know more about who he is and, more importantly, who he really works for. The FBI shows up with old scores to settle and a curious interest in the case. Turns out, Deputy Albert Chu cuts a striking resemblance to an enigmatic and presumed-deceased figure, el Remora: The man who formed the lucrative Taipei route, in which Tanner Farm played a key role. The FBI sends Chu into enemy territory, posing as el Remora’s son who wants a piece of his father’s business, with Corus by his side, cutting the path straight to the smuggling organization’s leadership. Together they plunge courageously into the heart of the enemy, finding volatile internal relationships that boil over at the worst possible time, leaving Corus and Chu in a fight for their lives and later imprisoned aboard a cargo vessel heading for Asia. In the quiet moments, Corus comes to believe his noblest virtues, bravery and sacrifice, have been co-opted by a darker force inside of him, leading him across a line of sin. He must root out the cause, before it hurts everyone and everything he loves. But before that journey can begin in earnest, he and Chu must avoid watery graves, using odd-couple teamwork, wit and tenacity, and Corus must supply final severance to the menacing strands keeping him moored to his past. Book #3 in the Deputy Corus Mystery Series

Savages and Side bitches: 1-4


Karizma Keys - 2018
    Although they seem to be on different paths, the one thing they have in common is the knack for searching for love in all the wrong places. Melonia has been with the same guy for the past two years, and although they’ve been through trials, she always felt that he truly loved her. But when a crazy stalker comes out of nowhere, it leads to confusion and a ton of unanswered questions. As her life gets turned upside down she is awakened to the fact that the man she’s really been wanting had been right there for the taking all along. Tookie has been the “it” girl since fifteen years old when she linked up with a well-known hustler named Face from the other side of town. Knowing what comes with the life, she accepted a lot of Face’s ways, but when she is hit with the ultimate disrespect back to back, it becomes too much to bear. Join these girls on a wild ride through the streets of Detroit as they make a few stops at Drama Street, Murder Ave, and Infidelity Road. Will Melonia have the guts to go after what she wants no matter what she has to give up in order to get it? Will Tookie find the strength to leave or will she stay and suffocate at the mercy of side chicks?

The Tangled Web (The Psychic Eye Mysteries Book 3)


Danielle Rose-West - 2019
    After making a promise to his mother that he would no longer pursue the case, he'd let it go and moved to Hindleford. Now he has the chance to finally find out who took his sister's life with the help of the one person he knows can find the impossible. It will require him facing his demons and his past one more time... Paige has made a promise to help Steele find the answers he is desperately seeking, but she isn't sure she will be able to. Unexpected problems at home throw up a whole new and strange twist to her gifts. In a bid to get some distance from her troubles and to help Steele, Paige travels to London where the case of Stacey’s murder becomes more twisted and complex than she could ever have imagined. With a dark web tangled over everything she can see, Paige must dig deeper than ever if she hopes to free them all from the evil that threatens to consume everyone she cares about and to finally discover the truth before it’s too late.

Hard Case 14: Cold Harbor (John Harding)


Bernard Lee DeLeo - 2019
    Series Still trying to survive what Nick promised his wife would be a combat free Alaska cruise, instead involves the Unholies and John Harding’s Monsters in a mission filled madness of drug runners and human traffickers. Finally ending the vacation from hell, the crews accept an ongoing battle to turn the tide on human trafficking they discovered on the cruise, stemming from Washington State’s liberal Mecca: Seattle. A gang, luring children from twelve to seventeen years old into sex trafficking, meet the Monsters and Unholies. Meanwhile, New World Order advocates, trying to oust California’s Governor, Florence Brown, learn the consequences of going toe to toe with America’s toughest Governor, and her defenders. A new opponent for John Harding, Indonesian Kadek Maimpo, lures him into a title match at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium for an Australian combat interlude needing Kade’s finned friend, Captain Hook, again for training purposes. ------- "Bernard Lee DeLeo is one of the purest writing talents I have ever had the pleasure of reading - a brilliant writing talent that I can only envy." James Byron Huggins - New York Times Bestselling Author "DeLeo's COLD BLOODED series owns the cutting edge of modern crime fiction. Action, suspense, humor, it's all there! Block out some time, because once you start one of these masterfully written adventures, you won't want to stop. I had to tear myself away to get some sleep!" Andrew Peterson, bestselling author of the Nathan McBride Series