Book picks similar to
Red City Blues by Tom Fowler


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A Piece of Blue Sky


Mark Hayden - 2014
    The publisher's note says:A tragic accident and a suspicious transaction: two small pieces of a deadly jigsaw. DS Tom Morton and his cousin, Captain Kate Lonsdale, are each given one small piece. Tom is trying to bury himself in work after his wife dumps him, and Kate wants to know why her boyfriend was in that crash. As they overcome their loss, they pool their resources to support each other, but they are pitted against a wily adversary who is fighting his own demons. Squadron Leader Conrad Clarke is ordered to protect the operation – the operation that Tom is trying to destroy. Badly wounded in the crash, he finds himself being forced to choose between saving his life and saving his sanity. Behind all three of them, the leaders of the gang are determined that no one will ever see the big picture and put all of the pieces of the jigsaw together. As Kate and Tom get close to the truth, Clarke has to take bigger and bigger risks to keep them at bay, until all of them converge for a showdown in Essex – on Valentine’s Day. Although complete on its own, A Piece of Blue Sky is the first volume of the Operation Jigsaw trilogy.

"Lies" Mystery Series, Books 1-3


Andrew Cunningham - 2019
    Now they want it back! One crime, committed decades before Del Honeycutt was born, changes his uneventful life to one of mystery and adventure--and pairs him up with bestselling mystery author Sabrina Spencer. In Books 1-3, Del and Sabrina try to solve the 85-year-old mystery; lock horns with a serial killer; and find themselves in a desperate race to rescue five kidnapped girls.ALL LIESA seemingly innocent date gone tragically wrong plunges Del Honeycutt into a web of murder, lies, greed, and a hidden fortune dating back to a crime committed 85 years earlier by his great-grandfather.Accompanied by Sabrina, the sister of Del's brutally murdered date, a violent journey of discovery and fear begins. Pursued by vicious killers intent on eliminating anyone with knowledge of the 85-year-old crime, their only hope of survival is to find the reason behind the original crime and why, decades later, someone is still willing to kill to keep it hidden.But Sabrina is concealing a monstrous lie of her own. Is she who she says she is?FATAL LIESShe was murdered ... twice!Daisy Leduc was forgotten and alone. That was just how she wanted it. But when she is discovered stabbed to death in a dusty little Texas town, it plunges Del Honeycutt and bestselling mystery author Sabrina Spencer into a 30-year-old mystery involving murder, hidden identities, dangerous family secrets, political intrigue, and a long-forgotten serial killer.When they discover that Daisy, under a different name, supposedly died 30 years earlier, they find themselves squarely in the crosshairs of killers whose deadly secrets lie in Daisy's mysterious past.VEGAS LIESFive teenage girls from a small town in Oregon disappear without a trace.Were they kidnapped, or have the five friends perpetrated a massive hoax? Nine hundred miles away in Las Vegas, a woman with a dark secret vanishes on her way to meet friends for dinner.Those friends are Del Honeycutt and bestselling mystery author Sabrina Spencer, in Las Vegas for a book convention. As Del and Sabrina investigate their friend's disappearance, they are convinced that she has been abducted, and they begin to uncover the secrets that might have triggered her abduction, secrets that now put Del and Sabrina's lives in jeopardy.When clues indicate that the five missing girls might also be in Las Vegas, the situation takes a new turn, directly into the unthinkable.Once again, Del and Sabrina find themselves in deep trouble and marked for death, and they only have a few hours to solve the case or their friend and the five young girls will be gone forever.

The Dan Roy Series #4-6


Mick Bose - 2018
    THE WILDLY POPULAR DAN ROY SERIES RETURNS IN A BOX SET! MORE THAN 700 PAGES OF BREATHLESS SUSPENSE AND ACTION TO KEEP YOU AWAKE AT NIGHT! MIck Bose is here to stay!

Samson's Deal


Shelley Singer - 1983
    Ex-Chicago-cop Jake Samson is tired of the rat race. He's living in laid back Oakland, California with a couple of cats and just enough savings to eat canned oysters and accept collect calls from his bemused parents, when an old friend--a progressive political science processor--calls with an enticing offer. Seems the professor's wife was found dead in the backyard of their Berkeley home, and he wants to pay Jake ten thousand dollars (plus expenses) to figure out whodunit. The police pick up the usual leads; jealousy, dirty politics, and an estate worth killing for. Naturally, since the professor is the dead woman's spouse, he's the primary suspect. Samson doesn't like the guy much, but the case heats up—quite literally—when the professor's office is set afire by a radical right wing activist group, of which, it turns out, the wife was a member. With his good friend Rosie, and her justice-dispensing two-by-four, Samson follows a twisted trail leads through the Bay Area's bizarre cultural labyrinth; from pop meditation ashrams to neo-Nazi rallies, to the startling, but all too human truth.

Logan McRae #1-3: Cold Granite, Dying Light, Broken Skin


Stuart MacBride - 2009
    DS Logan McRae investigates after a year off the job sick – but knows time is running out fast…Dying Light: A woman is found dead by the docks, in the heart of Aberdeen’s Red Light District. For DS Logan McRae it’s a bad start to another bad day. Rosie Williams is just the first – how many more will die?Broken Skin: A serial rapist leaves a string of victims as DS Logan McRae’s investigations suggest that someone in the local bondage community has developed a taste for full-blown violence. The Granite City’s seedy side is about to be exposed…

Will Harper Florida Thrillers: Vol. 1-4


David Crosby - 2020
    Nice work if you can get it. And if you can avoid making the kind of enemies—mobsters, local officials, politicians, and industry good ole’ boys among them—who would gladly contribute to your untimely demise. MILLION DOLLAR STAIRCASEWill thinks fast when he discovers his girl friend’s the victim of a frame-up. He sees instantly why they can’t go to the cops—the mayor, the city manager, and for all Will knows, every official in town could be in on it. It’s the latest offensive in a case of municipal bullying that’s busted many a bank account and broken many a heart—something that sounds so boring you could doze off just reading the words: Eminent Domain. But it’s anything but boring when it enters your life as the legal justification for waltzing in and power-grabbing your property-- business, buildings, and all.GUILTY MONEYWill Harper thinks his latest story’s about Florida’s prison problems. It seems that budget cuts have led to police departments turning to creative schemes to raise money. Grove County’s version involves arresting citizens for minor charges and then driving up their bail when a search of the citizen’s home too conveniently turns up drugs.But the usual guilty money scheme has been improved upon by a corrupt deputy, Deke Snyder, who’s skimming money from the jail. Once Will finds that out, Deputy Deke sics all his buddies on him–which include every cop in town.FLORIDA BURNINGA toxic algae bloom in Lake Okeechobee that’s as thick as guacamole. A deadly pollutant from a cane field. And an environmentalist dead in a cane field fire. Coincidence? Florida PI Will Harper knows damn well it’s not.THE FLORIDA SHUFFLESeems like Will’s got it made. The semi-retired investigative journalist is living the dream aboard his yacht WanderLust with his new live-in girlfriend Callie, a social worker at a rehab center. And, tired of getting beat up on the job, he’s finally whipping himself into shape. But it’s not all Florida coast sunsets, kayak adventures, sweaty bike races, and steak dinners on the boardwalk. Callie learns her employer has a history of setting clients up in shady sober homes in exchange for financial kickbacks—and one of those homes has lostthree of its patients to “accidental” overdoses in the past four months.Turns out it’s just the tip of the iceberg.This mystery anthology is custom-made for Florida mystery connoisseurs, and the cherry on top is Will’s liveaboard trawler, harking straight back to the grand tradition of marina-living PIs like John D. McDonald’s Travis McGee and Randy Wayne White’s Doc Ford. Fans of classics like those and more recent Florida tales by Wayne Stinnett and Dawn McKenna will be thrilled to discover this tempting tropical series—but so will anyone looking for the kind of private investigator who really cares.

Beach Body Boogie (A Pepper Ryan Thriller Book)


Timothy Fagan - 2018
    A bizarre plot to kill the President. A cop with one chance to save his reputation… and his country. "An entertaining and compulsively readable thriller--on the beach or anywhere." --  Kirkus Reviews Police Officer Pepper Ryan returns home to Cape Cod for his last shot at redemption. Dumb move? He can never measure up to the ghost of his brother who died a good cop. But when a Secret Service agent’s corpse shows up in a clambake pit with a note threatening the President’s life, Ryan sees his chance to erase the past and prevent the assassination… Desperate to clear his name and protect the POTUS, Ryan confronts a tidal wave of trouble. Running afoul of mob hitmen, wacko anti-government groups, and a billionaire’s conniving daughter, he races to unravel the devious plot.Can Ryan find the assassin before it’s too late, or are his future and the President's life doomed? Beach Body Boogie is the first book in the humorous Pepper Ryan mystery-thriller series. If you like everyman heroes, thrilling twists, and laugh-out-loud moments, you’ll love Timothy Fagan’s raucous tale. Buy Beach Body Boogie to join the chase today!

Point Blank: A Short Tale of Macabre Family Faults


Justine Avery - 2015
    ask your mother to stop pointing the gun at your head. Steven is a writer, by all accounts of self-proclamation. But no artist can be expected to work under serious pressure, especially not when the pressure consists of his own mother indenting his tender skull with the muzzle of the pistol held in her hand. Suddenly, it's write or die for Steven. He better tap away on that typewriter or expect to be extracted from the land of the living before he's had the opportunity to finish anything he's ever written. Not to mention that his recently departed Father lying on the floor beside him should supply enough motivation. When Steven manages to frustrate his murderous mother to no end, his wish made under duress actually comes true. Mother's vanished... along with all evidence of the foregoing incident ever having taken place. Is his beloved father really dead? Is his own mother now a criminal on the run? Can he truly never cure his lifetime disease of writer's block? Only one person can uncover the truth and set the world to rights again. That would be Tim, Steven's much more successful, though younger, brother. If only Tim would actually believe Steven's retelling of the frightful situation he's just managed to survive. Someone's got to fix the latest family faux pas. And everyone in the family knows it can't be Steven. In the dead of night, two brothers battle sibling rivalry, serious mother issues, one heinous surprise after another, and a lifetime of family strife to get to the bottom of it all and uncover what's been lying beneath all along. Start Reading Now... What are you waiting for? chuckle-worthy dark comedy, murder mystery, delicious sibling rivalry and family issues, the cure for writer's block, and so much more await you. About the Author Justine Avery Is a Genre-Breaker, a Writer of Delicious Story Above All Else Justine Avery is an avid reader of all genres, weaves her own stories among them all, and sets out to surprise her readers at every opportunity. She's an acutely observant introvert with an insatiable yearning to explorer, a risk-taker who's based in reality, a wanderer with a mission, and a grownup blessed with childlike wonder at the world. Her stories reflect the same, and readers can't get enough of them. Avery writes genre-breaking fiction with universal appeal, emphasizing enticing story above all else. She writes powerful, affecting stories accessible to all readers, regardless of what your own favorite genres happen to be. She writes the tales all readers are drawn to, the stories capable of changing your view of the world around you, the narratives that will become a part of you. Go ahead—take a peek. Use the Look Inside feature above, and start reading Point Blank now.

Voodoo River / Sunset Express / Indigo Slam


Robert Crais - 2007
    private eye Elvis Cole is hired by popular television star Jodie Taylor to delve into her past and identify the biological parents who gave her up for adoption thirty-six years before. But when Cole gets to Louisiana and begins his search, he finds out there's something much darker going on. Other people are also looking for Taylor's parents, and some are ending up dead. Sunset Express Elvis Cole, wisecracking private eye, finds himself embroiled in a controversial L.A. murder case. A wealthy WASP entrepreneur appears to have murdered his wife. A hot-shot defense attorney takes the case and hires Elvis to find proof that the L.A. detective—rumored to be dirty—fooled around with the evidence. But as Elvis investigates, he becomes more suspicious of the media-loving lawyer than the cops. Indigo Slam When a 15-year-old girl shows up to plead with Elvis to find her errant father, his first impulse is to hand the case over to Social Services. But he sees how hard the kid is working to keep her two siblings together and afloat. As Elvis investigates, he finds the dad seems to be a mover in the criminal underworld who is on the verge of a grand scheme. Events are set in motion that will pit Elvis and Joe Pike against a scary group of counterfeiters—and the even scarier U.S. Marshals.

A Dead Cold Box Set


Blake Banner - 2017
    But he’s a dinosaur who belongs to another age. Detective Carmen Dehan has such a bad attitude that nobody at the precinct can stomach her. Captain Jennifer Cuevas wants them both out of the way and thinks they make a perfect pair. So she gives them the Cold Cases file – the cases nobody gives a damn about.She has no idea just how hot a cold case can get.Ten years back Nelson Hernandez and his four cousins were playing poker in a dive at Hunts Point. Somebody came in, blew them away and beheaded and castrated Nelson, leaving his head and his balls on the table. There was no shortage of suspects, the Jersey Mob, the Triads from Manhattan, or the 43rds own bent cop, Mick Harragan. But nobody was ever charged, and the night of the murder Mick Harragan went missing with Nelson’s wife, Maria.Now Stone and Dehan plan to find him – whatever the consequences…Book 2: Two Bare ArmsIt was November in New York. It was raining, it was cold and the trees all looked like skeleton’s hands. And Detective John Stone was having a problem with habeas corpus, because all there was of the body, was two bare arms. Two bare arms that somebody, twelve years ago, had put in a lock up in the East Bronx. What they had done with the rest of the woman, nobody knew. But as Stone and Dehan start to investigate, two things become clear: whoever killed the woman, wanted her arms to be found, as a boast, as a challenge. And that meant they were dealing with a psychopath – a serial killer.But who –the biker with a taste for beating up women? Or his best pal the Satanist and devotee of Crowley? Or perhaps the neurotic IT freak who spent his leisure hours surfing the net for porn? Or maybe somebody else…?One thing Stone understands clearly, whoever it is, is a master of misdirection…Book 3: Garden of The DamnedWhen the body of a tramp was found in a dumpster on Lafayette and Bryant in the Bronx, with no papers and no ID, the case was filed as unsolved – another victim nobody cared about, shot by some punk nobody cared about.That was twelve years ago.Then Detective Stone notices that the ‘tramp’ had a hundred dollar haircut and manicured nails. That makes him curious. He wants to know, who dresses a murder victim up as a tramp, then leaves them in full view in a dumpster? But the answers he gets are not the ones he expects, and before long their investigation leads Stone and Dehan to St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, and the darkest recesses of the human soul. It also leads them to some of the most powerful men in New York. Some, like Conor Hagan, head of the Irish Mob, are known criminals. But others are not… Stone’s problem is deciding which of them are just criminals, and which are truly evil. That is, until ghosts start appearing from Dehan’s past. Then things get complicated…Book 4: Let Us PreyIt seemed to be a cold case like any other. So much so that Stone and Dehan hadn’t even considered reviewing it – until private investigator Karl Baxter requested a copy of the police file. Then Stone got curious. Why did a second rate PI in the Bronx want to look into the case of a low life petty criminal found tied to a chair in his apartment, beaten and shot through the heart? And that question led to other questions, like, whose was second pool of blood on the floor? If there was a second victim, where was the body? Unfortunately, a chat with Baxter only raises more questions that threaten to drive Stone crazy: who is the mysterious Tamara Gunthersen? And what was the gig she did for the even more mysterious Geronimo dos Santos, back in 2015? At every turn the questions get deeper, and the women more tempting - and more dangerous. Until the strain on Stone and Dehan’s partnership threatens to make it snap.

THE COMPLETE TITAN SERIES & DETECTIVE TOM LANGE BOX SET seven gripping crime thrillers


T.J. Brearton - 2020
    

All The Good Men (Garrison Chase #3)


Craig N. Hooper - 2020
    From both sides of the aisle.A bipartisan killer is on the loose, and only one man can stop them.Garrison Chase has done it all: A sniper in the Marines. A covert government operative. An agent for the Bureau. Now he’s opted for a quieter life in a sleepy coastal California town.His skills aren’t going to waste, however, as he occasionally works for a friend who owns a security firm in Washington, DC. And Chase’s latest job—protecting a United States senator from a threatening colleague—thrusts him right back into the action when he barges into a private meeting between the senators only to discover a bloodbath.Though it looks like a murder-suicide, Chase has his suspicions. He’s convinced it’s a setup, that someone else was at the meeting. But nobody believes him. Not the local police or the feds. Everyone wants the case wrapped up neat and tidy.When two more senators are targeted, one murdered and the other abducted, the feds finally get involved. But Chase is one step ahead and has already tracked down the killer. Now the real investigation can begin.As Chase peels back the layers, dark secrets and a deep coverup are revealed. The only way to stop the chaos and expose the truth, is for Chase to enter the dangerous and dirty waters and tread alongside the Washington elite.

Blood Is Thicker Than Water


Paul Gitsham - 2015
    There's been a tragic accident: the old man fell asleep in his chair, woke up in the dark, fell and hit his head on the mantelpiece. But the Crime Scene Manager isn't happy. There are just too many details that aren't quite right and Charles Michaelson's accident becomes a suspicious death.And, as DCI Warren Jones investigates, he and his team discover that all is not as it appears to be in the dead man's caring family when his son-in-law disappears. Then they uncover some dark secrets in Michaelson's past and a motive for murder.Fans of Peter Robinson and Peter James will love Blood is Thicker Than Water, an all-new short story in Paul Gitsham's DCI Warren Jones series.

Box Full of Treasure, Palmyrton Estate Sale Mysteries Books 1-3


S.W. Hubbard - 2019
     Audrey Nealon, owner of Another Man's Treasure Estate Sales, gets paid to do just that. And amidst the antiques, jewelry, and collectibles, she invariably finds clues to unsolved mysteries of the past. And baffling murders in the present. Join Audrey and her delightful crew--tough Ty, ditzy Jill, and loyal Ethel the rescue dog--as they solve three twisty mysteries: Another Man's Treasure On a snowy Christmas Eve, a beautiful young mother goes out to buy a few last minute gifts...and never returns. Thirty years later, her daughter Audrey picks up her trail when she find's her mother's ring in a client's attic. Relentlessly, Audrey pursues clues to her family’s troubled history. Because the truth will set her free…unless it gets her killed. Treasure of Darkness What lies buried in a hoarder's house--precious treasure or ghastly secrets? Audrey digs through a hoarder's obsessions, and unleashes a vengeful response from all sides--the hoarder's angry neighbors, his alienated family, and the police. The house has destroyed lives in the past. Will Audrey and those she loves--her friends, her father, and even her dog--be its next victims? This Bitter Treasure Deception and heartbreak stalk Audrey when she accepts a lucrative job clearing a dying invalid's home. As Audrey uncovers more about the family's tortured past, she begins to doubt her own perceptions of the elusive people who surround her in the house. And when a murderer strikes, Audrey's sense of justice compels her to defend the defenseless, no matter the risk to herself. Get a glimpse into the word of estate sales and learn fun facts about art, antiques, and collectibles. Plot twists, witty dialogue, and believable characters will keep you reading all night.

Patricia Fisher Cruise Mysteries #1 -4


Steve Higgs - 2019
    But her hilarious and inspired flight from that situation results in this 50 something unfulfilled housewife taking an around the world cruise she really cannot afford. The cost is soon a minor worry though, as one gin-fuelled pity party later, she is accused of murder and embroiled in the 30-year-old theft of a priceless jewel. In our greatest challenges, we find our true strength and Patricia is the best example of how true that is. Let her story make your heart soar as she shrugs off the ashes of her failed marriage and becomes the incredible woman she was always meant to be. This 4 book boxed set will give you hours of mirth-filled, often pulse-pounding, cozy mystery with no cussing or smuttiness and no graphic descriptions of sex of violence. Book 1 – The Missing Sapphire of Zangrabar. A thirty-year-old priceless jewel theft and a man that really has been stabbed in the back. Can a 52-year-old, slightly plump housewife unravel the mystery in time to save herself from jail? With only a Jamaican butler faking an English accent and a pretty gym instructor to help, she must piece together the clues and do it fast. Or when she gets off the ship in St Kitts, she’ll be in cuffs! Book 2 – The Kidnapped Bride. A cruise ship filled with gangsters, a missing woman, and a new head of security that can’t do his job. What’s a middle-aged sleuth to do? Patricia just wants to spend more time in the company of Alistair Huntley, the offensively handsome captain of the Aurelia who seems only too happy to host her. But as the Aurelia sets sail from Miami, it does so with a dangerous new addition: there is a mob boss among the passengers and he’s on the run – from more mobsters! Book 3 – The Director’s Cut. It’s well known that working in movies can be cutthroat, but no one expected that to be taken literally. It’s party time on board the Aurelia! On the LA to Hawaii leg, a Hollywood film crew are shooting scenes for a new action movie and Barbie has been given a bit-part role. It’s all great fun and Patricia isn’t surprised when her cute, blonde friend attracts the attention of the handsome A-lister male lead. Book 4 – The Couple in Cabin 2124. How do I always attract trouble and drama? When a crewmember takes his own life but hands Patricia a cryptic note and a request to save Anna just before he jumps, she feels she has no choice but to honour his dying wish. Who is Anna though? Praise for Patricia Fisher: She's over 50, feisty and oh so clever at solving murders. This first book has so many twists, turns and red herrings the reader has to pay close attention to catch all the clues. Love Steve Higgs’ books and this new series did not disappoint. Patricia started out as a betrayed wife and moved into a strong, smart woman role. I love her and her side kicks already and this is only the first book. Can’t get enough of Steve’s stories and wait anxiously for the next to publish in all of his series. Higgs continues the 'cozy mystery' genre in this unexpected and empowering new series with no loss of empathy for human variety.