Book picks similar to
Entanglement of Fate by Chris Brookes


historical-fiction
mystery
mystery-thriller
mystery-suspense

Skin and Blond


V.J. Chambers - 2014
    Provocative. Bloody. Blond.Ever since blond detective Ivy Stern got herself kicked off the police force, she’s been slumming it as a private detective, mostly chasing cheating husbands. In some ways, it’s better this way. She’s free to do as she pleases, and there’s no one throwing around phrases like “sex addiction” or “conduct unbecoming an officer.” Ivy never figured her sex life was anyone’s business anyway.When a distraught brother shows up in her office, claiming his sister has been murdered, Ivy’s all over the case. The only thing Ivy’s better at than sex is solving murder cases. And this one is intriguing.There’s no evidence that the victim has been killed, but she’s gone, leaving everything behind from her cell phone to her credit cards. Everything except her bed sheets.And that’s not even mentioning the victim’s cheating ex-boyfriend, her drug habit, and her ties to the Irish mob.

Deadly Deceit


Karen Randau - 2016
    Ensnarled in a cover-up that puts her in an assassin’s crosshairs, Rita must unravel a web of lies and connections that date back to Jared’s service in the Iraq war – before a mysterious kidnapper returns Rita’s daughter Zoe one body part at a time. This fast-paced thriller is one you won’t want to put down from beginning to end.

Twins of Prey


W.C. Hoffman - 2014
    Trained in the arts of the woodsman, they became the ultimate hunting, fishing, surviving and killing forces that Uncle had designed them to be.However, Uncle knew he was leaving this world and that the twins would be okay with the world. What Uncle could have never known was if the world would be okay with the twins.When changing lives is not an option, the twins must begin to take lives. Enjoy this fast paced, thrilling outdoors adventure novel as the Twins battle against the society that wants to end their woodland way of life.Twins of Prey is W.C. Hoffman's first novel in the Twins of Prey series.

The Templar's Cross


J.R. Tomlin - 2015
    In desperation, he reluctantly accepts a commission to find a nobleman's runaway wife. He enlists the help of a fellow Scot with whom he escaped after their defeat at the Battle of Verneuil. But his friend is murdered, and Law discovers he has been lied to. As the murders continue to mount, powerful interests come into play. When the Sheriff of Perth considers him a convenient scapegoat, it gives Law no choice but to untangle the lies and find the killer or hang for the murders.

Undertaking Irene


Pamela Burford - 2014
    To dead people.Life gets complicated for Jane and her Death Diva business when she’s hired to liberate a gaudy mermaid brooch from the corpse during a wake—on behalf of the rightful owner, supposedly. Well, a girl’s got to make a living, and this assignment pays better than scattering ashes, placing flowers on graves, or bawling her eyes out as a hired mourner. Unfortunately for Jane, someone else is just as eager to get his hands on that brooch, and he’s even sneakier than she is, not to mention dangerously sexy.Just when she thinks her biggest problem is grand theft mermaid, things take a murderous turn. But hey, when you’ve teamed up with a neurotic seven-pound poodle named Sexy Beast, how can you go wrong?

Frail Blood


Jo Robertson - 2012
    A woman straps a pistol to her ankle, walks to her lover’s home, and shoots him. Her motive? After an affair of four months, he jilted her for another woman.How would an attorney defend the woman in light of her outright confession? Would an all-male jury view her actions with repulsion or pity?The climate of California in the early twentieth century when women couldn’t vote and men held the real power, where immense wealth rested alongside poverty, held a paradox of contradictions.The bare bones of this true California court case sparked the idea for the fictional story of Alma Bentley, attorney Malachi Rivers, and Emma Knight, the woman who helps him investigate the case.When jaded lawyer Malachi Rivers engages newspaper editor Emma Knight to aid him in the case of Alma Bentley, he has no idea they'll eventually unmask a vile web of family deceit, wickedness, and treachery. Constantly putting herself in harm's way, the feckless Emma uncovers dark secrets that lie behind the wealthy facade of the Joseph Machado clan.With her strong opinions, Emma tests Malachi's patience even while he's strongly attracted to her. She disagrees with every aspect of his trial strategy, but he defends his client the only way he can – by insisting that a woman, a naturally frail creature, is incapable of committing such a heinous crime.Emma wants to experience true passion and detests the false notion that women are inferior to men in any way. Even while she confronts Malachi at every turn, she falls ridiculously in love with him.Readers of historical fiction and mystery/suspense, as well as historical romance, will enjoy the elements at play in this slice of life, fictionalized story of California.

Deadly Illusions


Robert Brown - 2017
    But when his dinner date with the stunning Kelly is interrupted, by the discovery of part of a murdered woman’s torso, he doesn’t at first realize that his skills will be tested to their limits. Called to remote corner of Epping Forest by his friend and Metropolitan Police veteran Tyler Easton, Cael is shocked at what he finds. But worse follows, when it becomes apparent that the murder is just the beginning of something much bigger and that a pitiless serial killer is at large. As the two men begin to unravel the horrific crimes they close in on the predator and his ruthless agenda. But all is not as it seems, and the case soon becomes more personal for Tyler, when his wife becomes the next target of the madman. Lured to a theater on the pretext of attending a show, Samantha Easton comes face to face with the killer and it’s up to Cael and Tyler to stop him. But will they solve the clues fast enough to save her from a horrific end?

Killing at the Carnival


L.A. Nisula - 2014
    But then the cowboy shot the volunteer, and he didn’t get up. Now Cassie has a ten-year-old boy insisting the cowboy isn’t a killer and a landlady insisting she help solve the killing at the carnival. A cozy mystery with a steampunk setting. In a Victorian England that almost existed, a steampunk London where tinkerers and clockwork devices exist alongside handsome cabs and corsets, murder is still solved by traditional observation and intuition. This is the London where American typist Cassandra Pengear finds herself stumbling over corpses and helping Scotland Yard detectives solve murders (although they inexplicably prefer to call it interfering). Follow her adventures in the Cassie Pengear Mystery series, beginning with The Killing at the Carnival.

Flora Mackintosh and The Hungarian Affair


Anna Reader - 2016
    Sneaking out of St. Penrith's for Girls and with the promise of adventure in the air, Flora packs her hip-flask, Gauloises, and pistol and sets off for Europe. Accompanied by a new friend and with nothing but the telegram to go on, she finds herself suddenly plunged into a world of espionage, danger and thrilling excitement.

Murder So Wrong (Muckraker Mysteries #1)


Ted Clifton - 2017
    It is a very disturbing beginning for Tommy Jacks on his first day as a 1960s newspaper reporter, hired to cover politics. He soon encounters an eclectic group of characters who bring to life a different world at a different time: Taylor Albright, legendary gossip-monger and discredited columnist; Ray Jacks, Tommy’s father, an infamous political leader now in state prison; Joe Louongo, slimy lawyer of questionable ethics; Steve Marsh, sportswriter and former famous football star; J.H. Gilmore and his son, Robbie, wealthy and conniving owners of a competing newspaper; Tracy Clark, beautiful TV reporter; and Judy Jackson, gorgeous past playmate of Tommy’s. A story of the ’60s, full of intrigue, love, and tragedy—Tommy Jacks: Muckraker.

The Viking


Marti Talbott - 2010
    Yet, the battle was not at all what he expected and he soon found himself alone and stranded in Scotland. Thirteen-year-old Kannak’s problem was just as grave. Her father deserted them and the only way to survive, she decided, was to take a husband over her mother‘s objections. Suddenly she was helping a hated Viking escape. Could Kannak successfully hide a Viking in the middle of a Scottish Clan? And why was someone plotting to kill the clan's beloved laird?

Blackstone and the Rendezvous with Death


Sally Spencer - 2003
     Yet to Inspector Sam Blackstone, the case is as puzzling as any he has ever come across. Why should a corpse dressed the in rags of a commoner have the face of a gentleman? And if this man does belong to noble stock, why has no one come forward to claim the body? As his investigation proceeds, Blackstone finds himself entering the world of the aristocracy—in which the presence of an ordinary policeman is far from welcome—and tramping the dangerous streets of London's Little Russia—where English law and order are not welcome. Death seems to stalk him, and as each new clue leads to nothing more than a new murder, Blackstone comes to realize that he is caught up in what may turn out to be the most horrendous crime of the century… Blackstone and the Rendezvous with Death is an expertly plotted Victorian mystery that will keep readers guessing to the last page. Praise for Sally Spencer: “Spencer's finest hour: a tightly plotted puzzler with surprises at every turn” Kirkus Reviews “Spencer is an accomplished craftsman who serves up a good puzzle and deftly solves it with intelligence and insight” Publishers Weekly “Characters are diverse, intriguing, and believable . . . plots never fail to surprise; and the procedural details are grittily realistic” Kirkus Reviews Sally Spencer worked as a teacher both in England and Iran - where she witnessed the fall of the Shah. She now writes full time. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.

Other People's Bodies


Amy Cross - 2013
    Soon, however, she discovers that the hotel is haunted by a tragic past. Five years ago, a woman vanished, and now the Bannister family is being torn apart by guilt, fear and intrigue.Elizabeth Bannister was supposed to signal a bright future for the family. Instead, she was torn apart by two brothers who were unable to satisfy their lust for power. Did Elizabeth simply run away from the hotel, or are her remains buried somewhere nearby? And what is the horrific truth that binds Laura and Elizabeth together forever?Other People's Bodies is a romantic thriller about love, betrayal and control, and about two women whose lives are torn apart by a lie that echoes through the years.

Lady Falls


Renee Bernard - 2014
    Plucked from an orphanage by a scheming earl, she has been raised like a thoroughbred, groomed for one purpose: Revenge. Unfortunately, the Earl of Trent never let her in on the plan, so when she meets the man of her dreams, Sir Phillip Warrick, she has no idea that every lesson, every tutor and every impulsive inch of her was crafted for his seduction and destruction. What she does know is that love is the prize she wants most and that nothing should stand in a woman’s way to getting what she wants. Phillip Warrick is simply trying to recover his friendship with the earl, unaware that the man has spent years laying the foundation for destroying Phillip’s peace of mind. What he does know is that the earl’s ward, Raven Wells, is mesmerizing, fascinating and apparently without reserve. Witty, beautiful, impulsive and impossible—she is like a siren beckoning him to forget the rules and seize only the pleasures of the moment. Together, their love will set in motion a series of events that no one can foresee. Revenge creates more than one victim, but also more than one winner. Raven Wells will be transformed into a force of nature the likes of which Victorian London has never experienced before. LADY FALLS is the birth of the Black Rose and the end of innocence. ** From acclaimed USA Today bestselling author, Renee Bernard, comes a new trilogy of gothic power and twisted sensuality. Here’s a slice of historical romance not generally found in the mainstream—so pull up a chair, settle in for a good read and hang on!

The House Of York


Terry Tyler - 2015
    A recipe for happiness? But Lisa is marrying into a complicated family. Her new sister-in-law doesn't want to know her. Middle brother Gabriel's marriage suffers under a cloud of infidelity and gambling debts, while the youngest, Richard, keeps his dark secrets well hidden—and his wife suffers in silence.Lisa and her mother are bonded by their powerful intuition, but dare not voice their fears about York Towers—or certain members of the family...Love and loss, abduction, incestuous desires and murderous intent form the basis of this compelling saga in which horrors float just beneath the surface, to bring forth a shocking outcome.History lovers may be interested to know that The House of York is loosely based on events during the era of the Wars of the Roses.