The Night Bird


Brian Freeman - 2017
    When a series of bizarre deaths rock San Francisco—as seemingly random women suffer violent psychotic breaks—Frost looks for a connection that leads him to psychiatrist Francesca Stein. Frankie’s controversial therapy helps people erase their most terrifying memories…and all the victims were her patients.As Frost and Frankie carry out their own investigations, the case becomes increasingly personal—and dangerous. Long-submerged secrets surface as someone called the Night Bird taunts the pair with cryptic messages pertaining to the deaths. Soon Frankie is forced to confront strange gaps in her own memory, and Frost faces a killer who knows the detective’s worst fears.As the body count rises and the Night Bird circles ever closer, a dedicated cop and a brilliant doctor race to solve the puzzle before a cunning killer claims another victim.

The Woman


David Bishop - 2011
    This is a story of just one woman. As the story unfolds Linda gradually learns that some people do deserve to die, but that she is not one of those people. Linda Darby is a seven-year divorcee, living quietly in a small let-the-world-go-by beach town on the coast of Oregon, who day trades for a living. Her only close friend is a widowed elderly woman who manages a small consulting company, which, as is later discovered, never has visitors, sends and receives its business correspondence only by courier, and is not listed in any phone directory. No one in town knows what kind of consulting the company does, but the rumor is that whatever they do is done for the government. Linda doesn’t date local men. When her celibacy grows intolerable, she visits nearby towns to frequent the watering holes of successful men. Her motto: No relationships. No second dates. No use of her real name during one-night stands. Then one evening, Linda goes for a walk and nothing for her is ever the same. She is dragged into an alley by two men, but saved by a third, a stranger who disappears as suddenly as he appeared. The next day she finds out the two men in the alley had been killed, the town’s first murders ever. The following day she learns that hours before she had been dragged into the alley, her close friend was tortured and killed.

Cold Hollow


Emilie J. Howard - 2015
    They find it to be quite charming and the inhabitants endearing, except for a few residents. Odd laws are enforced, confrontations begin, and insanity reigns as a madman sits upon his imaginary throne, trying to keep the threads of his dream from unraveling. Will Sophia and Angus Barner be able to protect their children from the malevolence that lurks within the small township? This is the story of Cold Hollow, a place you’ll never want to visit.

You Were Made for This


Michelle Sacks - 2018
    and friendship. Doting wife, devoted husband, cherished child. Merry, Sam, and Conor are the perfect family in the perfect place. Merry adores the domestic life: baking, gardening, caring for her infant son. Sam, formerly an academic, is pursuing a new career as a filmmaker. Sometimes they can hardly believe how lucky they are. What perfect new lives they've built.When Merry's childhood friend Frank visits their Swedish paradise, she immediately becomes part of the family. She bonds with Conor. And with Sam. She befriends the neighbors, and even finds herself embracing the domesticity she's always seemed to scorn.All their lives, Frank and Merry have been more like sisters than best friends. And that's why Frank soon sees the things others might miss. Treacherous things, which are almost impossible to believe when looking at this perfect family. But Frank, of all people, knows that the truth is rarely what you want the world to see.

KAT


K.L. MacRae - 2018
    You won't have read anything quite like this before!In the 1970's, three boys from the wrong side of Glasgow formed an unbreakable friendship. One little brother tagged along for the ride. Decades later, he and the remaining Musketeer have the opportunity to set things right: to give a girl called Kat Farthing the chance of a better life. A gifted martial artist and long-time carer to her debt-ridden, alcoholic mother, Kat's had to grow up fast. She got her first black belt at ten and her first job at eleven. She didn't have a lot of time for school. When she’s eighteen, she defends herself from a sexual predator and lands the chance of a better life… and a vicious, vindictive enemy who’ll stop at nothing to keep her down. But he hasn’t come across a woman like Kat before. Strong, sexy, loyal and caring, she's one of a kind.**ADULTS ONLY: contains strong language, sex and violence**

The Anomaly


Michael Rutger - 2018
    And, for once, he may have actually found what he seeks. Then the trip takes a nasty turn, and the cave begins turning against them in mysterious ways.Nolan's story becomes one of survival against seemingly impossible odds. The only way out is to answer a series of intriguing questions: What is this strange cave? How has it remained hidden for so long? And what secret does it conceal that made its last visitors attempt to seal it forever?

Girl, Abandoned


Peter R. Stone - 2018
    A gripping novel full of twists and turns about a city caught in the grip of an unprecedented crime wave, the girl who strives to reconcile with the mother who abandoned her, the mother who still wants nothing to do with her, the loathsome estranged twin sister; the unwanted relentless love interest and the ruthless vigilante with an unknown agenda.

The Last Protector


Simon Gervais - 2021
    These missions may not be quite as exciting as his time in the military, but Clayton’s okay with that. It gives him more time to see his girlfriend, Veronica Hammond—an archaeologist who also happens to be the vice president elect’s daughter.But Clayton’s seemingly manageable new routine takes a startling turn when South African mercenaries target Veronica at an awards gala celebrating her work. After this attempt on Veronica’s life, Clayton enters a complicated web of lies, betrayal, and dangerous government secrets.As Clayton gets closer to the truth, he encounters unexpected foes pitted against questionable allies. With enemies at every turn, the only constant Clayton can rely on is Veronica. But when the threat against her turns on him, too, he faces an impossible choice: love or country.

Speak The Dead


Grant McKenzie - 2015
     Jolted awake by the scary noise, Sally ran to her parent’s bedroom for comfort. Instead, she found her mother slumped against the headboard, her ravaged nightdress drenched from a double-barreled wound. Climbing on the bed, Sally cradled her mother’s head against her tiny chest, mindless of the blood and the cloying stench of death. There was no sign of her father, and Sally was too frightened to call out, when a voice from deep within her dead mother’s throat screamed: “Run, Sally! Run!” Twenty-five years later, Sally has finally stopped running. She finds peace among the dead as a mortician’s beautician, and on the night of a strange murder that reawakens a special gift within her, she actually meets an interesting man: Jersey Castle, homicide detective by day, punk rock drummer by night. But what Sally doesn’t know is that someone has been hunting for her all this time, and now that she’s passed his test of blood, he will stop at nothing to bring her home again.

Forget Me Not


John Hemmings - 2015
    But is Susan who she claims to be? And was Gloria mentally competent when she made her will or was she manipulated in some way? Boston Investigator Mark Kane is hired to discover the truth, but as the investigation proceeds he soon finds himself embroiled in a murder mystery, and as the suspects mount up he needs all his wits about him to find out the truth, and prevent Greg’s adult sons from financial ruin or worse. As usual, Kane’s longtime companion Lucy is there to lend him a helping hand, but will she be able to help him solve the mystery? READ THE FIRST FIVE CHAPTERS AT www.johnhemmings.net. GET BOOK FIVE: ‘MISSING’ FREE OF CHARGE at www.johnhemmings.net

Untraceable


Shelli R. Johannes - 2011
    When her dad goes missing on a routine patrol, Grace refuses to believe he’s dead and fights the town authorities, tribal officials, and nature to find him.One day, while out tracking clues, Grace is rescued from danger by Mo, a hot guy with an intoxicating accent and a secret. As her feelings between him and her ex-boyfriend get muddled, Grace travels deep into the wilderness to escape and find her father. Along the way, Grace learns terrible secrets that sever relationships and lives. Soon she’s enmeshed in a web of conspiracy, deception, and murder. And it’s going to take a lot more than a compass and a motorcycle (named Lucifer) for this kick-butting heroine to save everything she loves.

Shaded Light: The Case of the Tactless Trophy Wife


N.J. Lindquist - 1999
    But the weekend is doomed: Ellen's husband invites his two legal partners and their quarrelling wives A black sheep nephew shows up One of the legal partners brings his wife’s wallflower sister Ellen’s son brings his devastatingly handsome best friend A new neighbour throws herself on Ellen’s mercy because of renovations If that isn’t enough, Lorry discovers a body in the Japanese garden, and the law arrives in the form of a tired Paul Manziuk and his brand new, totally unwanted partner, Detective Constable Jacqueline Ryan. Note: Discussion Questions for Book Clubs are in the back of the book along with some Bonus Features not in the print versions.

Like Me


Hayley Phelan - 2022
    For nineteen-year-old Mickey, Instagram offers a tantalizing portal into the world she wishes she inhabited. Though beautiful, cunning and privileged, Mickey finds herself with a stalled modelling career, an escalating drinking problem, few friends and next to nothing in the bank. To numb her growing despair, she spends her days frantically refreshing her Instagram feed, obsessively tracking the movements of Insta-famous model Gemma Anton.Gemma is a perfected version of Mickey, living a seemingly perfect life: a skyrocketing career, a famous photographer boyfriend and adoring followers--the life Mickey wants more than anything for herself. She studies every detail Gemma offers through the window of her phone, trying to absorb, learn, mimic, become the object of her growing fascination.Then, a chance encounter thrusts Mickey into a world of opportunity, and she is met with surprising, and immediate, success. But as her online persona begins to take over her life, Mickey finds it increasingly difficult to separate reality from the fa�ade of Instagram.Engrossing, sharp and astute, Like Me is a shimmering portrait of infatuation, disconnection and identity in the digital age--and a dazzling introduction to a brilliant new voice in contemporary literature.

Two Nights


Kathy Reichs - 2017
    Sunnie has spent years running from her past, burying secrets and building a life in which she needs no one and feels nothing. But a girl has gone missing, lost in the chaos of a bomb explosion, and the family needs Sunnie's help. Is the girl dead? Did someone take her? If she is out there, why doesn't she want to be found? It's time for Sunnie to face her own demons because they just might lead her to the truth about what really happened all those years ago.

The Belial Stone


R.D. Brady - 2013
    Before she can deal with the heartbreaking loss, she is viciously attacked in her home by a man with inhuman fighting abilities.Former Navy SEAL and head of security for a global think tank, Jake Rogan drops everything when he hears his foster brother, Tom Jeffries, has gone missing. There seem to be no clues, no information about his whereabouts. He has just vanished. But Jake won't rest until he finds him.Laney and Jake join forces when they learn that the fates of their loved ones are intertwined. And somehow all the danger that dogs their steps, revolves around an eccentric archaeologist's controversial work on Gobekli Tepe, and the search for an ancient source of power.Their personal quest soon becomes a race to protect humanity's very existence. But how can they defeat a foe who has been planning his moves for millennia?To save mankind, Laney and Jake know they must succeed. But to succeed, they must live long enough to fight.