Into the Abyss


L.T. Vargus - 2019
    For when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -Friedrich Nietzsche The Violet Darger series continues with this gripping novella, Into the Abyss. Will Violet Darger agree to a face to face meeting with the man who shot her? Still awaiting trial, infamous serial killer Leonard Stump has hinted at the locations of additional bodies — more desert graves waiting to be uncovered. He wants to talk, but he has one condition. Violet Darger must be present at the interview. Now the pressure is on. Should Darger head to Vegas and sit down with Stump? Everyone else seems to think so. It’s a chance to close some cases and give families closure, they say. A chance to learn something crucial about the criminal mind, they say. A chance to do something good. So why does Darger feel like it’s all going to go terribly wrong?

Rivals of the Republic


Annelise Freisenbruch - 2014
    Flying in the face of her husband’s and father’s attempts to protect her, rebelling against the constraints imposed upon her sex, she is drawn ever deeper into the corrupt underworld that lurks in the shadows cast by the city’s all-powerful elite. When fires begin to rage in the slums and more key witnesses are silenced, only one man can save Hortensia from becoming the next victim of a conspiracy to destroy the Republic: Lucrio, the damaged ex-gladiator to whom she already owes her life. Then the secrets of his own tragic past threaten to subsume them both…

Never Come Back


David Bell - 2013
    Leslie Hampton cared for Elizabeth’s troubled brother Ronnie’s special needs, assuming Elizabeth would take him in when the time came. But Leslie’s sudden death propels Elizabeth into a world of danger and double lives that undoes everything she thought she knew....When police discover that Leslie was strangled, they immediately suspect that one of Ronnie’s outbursts took a tragic turn. Elizabeth can’t believe that her brother is capable of murder, but who else could have had a motive to kill their quiet, retired mother? More questions arise when a stranger is named in Leslie’s will: a woman also named Elizabeth. As the family’s secrets unravel, a man from Leslie’s past who claims to have all the answers shows up, but those answers might put Elizabeth and those she loves the most in mortal danger.

Never Let You Go


Chevy Stevens - 2017
    Her ex-husband, Andrew, was sent to jail and Lindsey started over with a new life.Now, Lindsey is older and wiser, with her own business and a teenage daughter who needs her more than ever. When Andrew is finally released from prison, Lindsey believes she has cut all ties and left the past behind her. But she gets the sense that someone is watching her, tracking her every move. Her new boyfriend is threatened. Her home is invaded, and her daughter is shadowed. Lindsey is convinced it's her ex-husband, even though he claims he's a different person. But has he really changed? Is the one who wants her dead closer to home than she thought?

The Last to See Me


M. Dressler - 2017
    Now, no one remembers her hardworking life and her grand dreams--but she remembers. She remembers everything. Emma Rose still walks the coves and cliffs of her village, one hundred years after her death . . . and she doesn't plan on leaving.But when a determined hunter arrives with instructions to "clean" Emma Rose out of her haunt, the stately Lambry mansion, death suddenly isn't the worst fate imaginable. Emma Rose refuses to be hounded from the only place she's ever found peace, even if it means waging a war on the living . . . and the dead.Lyrical and haunting, this spellbinding American ghost story alternates between Emma Rose's life and afterlife as the past and present become entwined in a compelling tale of love, loss, and tenacity over a century in the making.

The Last Time I Saw You


Liv Constantine - 2019
    Parrish follows that success with an addictive novel filled with shocking twists about the aftermath of a brutal high-society murder.Dr. Kate English has it all. Not only is she the heiress to a large fortune; she has a gorgeous husband and daughter, a high-flying career, and a beautiful home anyone would envy.But all that changes the night Kate’s mother, Lily, is found dead, brutally murdered in her own home. Heartbroken and distraught, Kate reaches out to her estranged best friend, Blaire Barrington, who rushes to her side for the funeral, where the years of distance between them are forgotten in a moment.That evening, Kate’s grief turns to horror when she receives an anonymous text: You think you’re sad now, just wait. By the time I’m finished with you, you’ll wish you had been buried today. More than ever, Kate needs her old friend’s help.Once Blaire decides to take the investigation into her own hands, it becomes clear that all is not as it seems in Baltimore high society. As infidelity, lies, and betrayals come to light, and tensions rise to a boiling point, she begins to alienate Kate’s friends and relatives with her relentless, accusatory questions, as she tries to find Lily’s killer. The murderer could be anyone—friend, neighbor, loved one. But whoever it is, it’s clear that Kate is next on their list. . .In The Last Time I Saw You, Liv Constantine takes the lightning pace of The Last Mrs. Parrish and raises the stakes, creating an exquisitely tension-filled and absorbing tale of psychological suspense in which innocent lives—and one woman’s sanity—hang in the balance.

Shadows of Pecan Hollow


Caroline Frost - 2022
    Longing for the family and security she never had, she allowed herself to be coddled and groomed into Manny's partner-in-crime. Before long, Kit and Manny became infamous for their string of gas station robberies throughout Texas, making a name for themselves as the Texaco Twosome.But as Manny's fatherly demeanor shifts to something darker and more violent, Kit is forced to reconsider their relationship and her own safety. In a flash decision, she leaves Manny at a holdup gone wrong.Thirteen years after her escape, she has made a home for herself and her daughter amongst the pecan trees and muddy creeks of the claustrophobic town of Pecan Hollow. When Manny shows up at her doorstep a new man, fresh out of prison, Kit's profound and twisted attachment to him compels her to let him in. Immediately, Kit's world is transformed and her community is sent into a tailspin.With its rich landscape, indelible characters, and evocative language, Shadows of Pecan Hollow is a hauntingly intimate and distinctly original debut about the strength and vulnerability of womanhood and the complexity of love--both romantic and familial. This penetrating, gritty, and unexpectedly tender novel ensnares the reader in its story of resilience and the bonds that define us.

Norco '80: The True Story of the Most Spectacular Bank Robbery in American History


Peter Houlahan - 2019
    Norco ’80 tells the story of how five heavily-armed young men—led by an apocalyptic born-again Christian—attempted a bank robbery that turned into one of the most violent criminal events in U.S. history, forever changing the face of American law enforcement. Part action thriller and part courtroom drama, Norco ’80 transports the reader back to the Southern California of the 1970s, an era of predatory evangelical gurus, doomsday predictions, megachurches, and soaring crime rates, with the threat of nuclear obliteration looming over it all. A group of landscapers transforms into a murderous gang of bank robbers armed to the teeth with military-grade weapons. Their desperate getaway turned the surrounding towns into war zones. When it was over, three were dead and close to twenty wounded; a police helicopter was forced down from the sky, and thirty-two police vehicles were destroyed by thousands of rounds of ammo. The resulting trials shook the community to the core, raising many issues that continue to plague society today: from racism and the epidemic of post-traumatic stress disorder within law enforcement to religious extremism and the militarization of local police forces.

The Half Sister


Sandie Jones - 2020
    A young woman by the name of Jess holds a note with the results of a DNA test, claiming to be their half sister. As the fallout starts, it's clear that they are all hiding secrets, and perhaps this family isn't as perfect as it appears.

The Girl Who Knew Too Much


Nolan Thomas - 2021
    Her ten-year-old daughter, Riley, is whisked away by a corrupt social worker . . . along with any records the little girl ever existed. Fate catapults Riley into a dangerous, clandestine world of corruption and blackmail. What she learns could jeopardize a covert Russian operation, headquartered right in Washington, D.C., targeting the United States.Riley knows too much. She must be eliminated.Time is running out. Riley must try to outrun and outsmart Agent Nika Rolinska—fiction’s most shocking, ruthless new villain.

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.

Urge to Kill


J.J. Franklin - 2012
    It was almost as if they had the copper’s nightmare to deal with - a child’s murder. Except this was no innocent child but a young woman, he would guess around twenty-two and with everything to live for. Though it was obvious she was a woman, the bows in her hair, her pink party dress and white ankle socks said she was a little girl.’ Detective Inspector Matt Turrell returns from honeymoon to face the most bizarre and dangerous case of his career after the body of a woman is found at a luxury spa near Stratford-upon-Avon. However, struggling within the confines of his new marriage, and haunted by a past mistake, Matt finds it difficult to concentrate. Killer, Clive Draper, is a clever, ambiguous character whose motives and personality is not beyond empathy. Empowered by his first kill, Clive uses his charm to draw further victims into his net. Seeing Matt as his mortal enemy, he uses his charisma to lure Matt’s new wife into his snare. With the danger coming ever closer to home, Matt finds himself drawn into a deadly duel, where he must put his own life on the line and where the stakes have never been higher. Urge to Kill is the first in a series of novels featuring DI Matt Turrell of the Warwickshire Police. It is a rich psychological thriller with great character development of both the detective and the serial killer. The reader quickly becomes engaged in the epic battle between the two men. The book is set within the historic district of Stratford-upon-Avon.

Payback Jack


Timothy Gene Sojka - 2021
    Why is Driskill determined to die on death row, and why have so many people pledged to stop him?

Beneath the Water


Sarah Painter - 2018
    But it will also draw her back to a dark past…Devastated by a broken engagement, Stella Jackson leaves her old life behind for a new start in rural Scotland. But when she arrives in the remote coastal village of Arisaig, nothing is what she expected.At the edge of Arisaig sits Munro House; grand, imposing and said to be cursed by a string of tragic deaths. No less intriguing is its eccentric and handsome young owner, Jamie Munro, who hires Stella as his assistant while he pursues a seemingly impossible aim. Working through the great house’s archives, Stella soon finds herself drawn in by a cache of increasingly erratic letters from a young Victorian woman about her husband, Dr James Lockhart, a man whose single-minded ambition has strange parallels with Jamie’s.Just as Stella begins developing feelings for Jamie, she discovers that the connection between the Lockharts and the Munros could have sinister repercussions for them both. She’s finally found the life she wants to live—but is it all an illusion?

The Crown of Thorns


Ian C.P. Irvine - 2011