Book picks similar to
Her Last Breath by Dan Padavona
mystery
thriller
dan-padavona
fiction
Grave Instinct
Bev Pettersen - 2020
For almost ten years, Nikki Drake struggled to deal with her sister's mysterious disappearance. When another teen vanishes from the same riding stable, the details are too eerily similar to ignore, and she vows to uncover the truth.No longer a child but a newly minted private investigator, she now has additional weapons in her arsenal, including a re-homed police dog and an enigmatic detective with ties to the horse stable. However, digging into her sister's case erodes old trusts and brings dark secrets bubbling to the surface.And this time they could be fatal...for her.
Cold Granite
Stuart MacBride - 2005
Winter in Aberdeen: murder, mayhem and terrible weather! It's DS Logan McRae's first day back on the job after a year off on the sick, and it couldn't get much worse. Four-year-old David Reid's body is discovered in a ditch, strangled, mutilated and a long time dead. And he's only the first. There's a serial killer stalking the Granite City and the local media are baying for blood. Soon the dead are piling up in the morgue almost as fast as the snow on the streets, and Logan knows time is running out. More children are going missing. More are going to die. And if Logan isn't careful, he could end up joining them!
Fatal Fortune
Miranda Rijks - 2019
But she has an invaluable skill set – she is a human polygraph, expertly trained to spot lies and deceit. Skills she will need to help her to solve the mystery of who killed Leanne before it destroys her career - and her life.But every cloud has a silver lining and this one arrives in the shape of DS Joe Swain. Initially suspicious of Pippa, he comes to trust her and to value her lie detection skills. Soon it’s clear there’s a definite spark between them....Then, when another body turns up, Pippa realises her reputation isn’t the only thing in danger. Can she identify the killer before she becomes the next victim?Fatal Fortune is the electrifying first book in the Dr Pippa Durrant Mystery Series. If you like edge-of-your-seat action, clever sleuths, and shocking twists, then you’ll love Miranda Rijks’ gripping mystery novel.What readers are saying about Fatal Fortune:‘The twists and turns that the narrative takes will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat…this just has to become a new series!’ – NetGalley Reviewer‘Fatal Fortune had a fast paced and exciting storyline that kept my attention throughout. I didn’t know who to trust and certainly didn’t expect the culmination of events to end the way in which they did!’ – Goodreads Reviewer‘It is five stars from me for this one, I loved the characters, the plot was very strong and I loved how it held my attention right from the start to the fantastic ending! Can’t wait to read the next book in the series!’– donnasbookblog‘I loved this book, so cleverly plotted, with many suspects and secrets to keep you guessing with never a dull moment…it all comes together in a final, nerve shredding finish.’ – Goodreads Reviewer‘Believe me when I say that you are in for a thrilling read! The story is really well written and I could not put it away. Can highly recommend!’ – NetGalley Reviewer‘This is the second Miranda Rijks book that I have read, and I have to say I’m very impressed. I very much look forward to reading more about Dr Pippa Durrant!’ - PinkAndDizzy.com‘This author is quickly becoming one of my go to authors…this book was a fast paced, edge of my seat book with many surprises along the way. I enjoyed the twists and turns and the ending was surprising and well put together.’ – NetGalley Reviewer‘Fatal Fortune hooks you at the very beginning…this book felt to me like a roller coaster…the plot cleverly weaves around itself and killer is finally revealed!&r
Dead Connection
Alafair Burke - 2007
The killer has left behind a clue connecting the two cases to First Date, a popular online dating service, and Flann McIlroy, an eccentric, publicity-seeking homicide detective, is convinced that only Ellie can help him pursue his terrifying theory: someone is using the lure of the Internet and the promise of love to launch a killing spree against the women of New York City.
To catch the killer, Ellie must enter a high-tech world of stolen identities where no one is who they appear to be. And for her, the investigation quickly becomes personal: she fits the profile of the victims, and she knows firsthand what pursuing a sociopath can do to a cop--back home in Wichita, Kansas, her father lost his life trying to catch a notorious serial murderer.
When the First Date killer begins to mimic the monster who destroyed her father, Ellie knows the game has become personal for him, too. Both hunter and prey, she must find the killer before he claims his next victim--who could very well be her.
Expertly plotted and perfectly paced, Dead Connection advances Alafair Burke to the front ranks of American thriller writers.
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.
What She Doesn't Know
Andrew E. Kaufman - 2018
In Riley Harper’s case, it’s what she says she can’t remember. Nearly a decade ago, Riley was the suspect in a murder investigation that destroyed her life and drove her into a psychiatric facility. Locked away for years, she was always guilty in the eyes of an unforgiving public.Now, after being released, all she wants is a fresh start, but the effort stalls when she becomes fixated on her new neighbor’s extravagant life. She can’t stop watching Samantha Light. And it’s curiously satisfying. For now, at least.Because there’s one more thing Riley doesn’t know. And this time it may not just hurt her—it could kill her.In this intense psychological thriller from Andrew E. Kaufman, author of Twisted, a woman besieged by her past spins deeper into turmoil and down a slope that may lead her to madness.
Adamant (Hank Rawlings - On The Hunt Series Book 1)
E.H. Reinhard - 2020
Inmates. Innocents. A pair of sheriff’s deputies. A soccer mom. All murdered by an escaped con named Charles “Chuck” Burr, a man who has cut a bloody path from Louisiana to Texas.For Hank, the assignment is easy: find Burr and bring him to justice. With everything pointing to the Waco area, the bureau is quickly nipping at their target’s hells.But Burr will choose death over being put in another cage. He finally has his freedom, and he’ll kill anyone that tries to take that from him - FBI agents included.
The Bad Place
M.K. Hill - 2019
A remote farm out on the Thames estuary, where six children were held captive for two weeks. Five of them got out alive. That was twenty years ago. Now adults, they meet up annually to hold a candlelit vigil for their friend who died. The only rule is that no-one can talk about what happened the night they escaped. But at this year's event, one of them witnesses a kidnapping. A young girl, Sammi, is bundled into a van in front of their eyes. Is history repeating itself? Is one of them responsible? Or is someone sending them a twisted message? DI Sasha Dawson, of Essex Police, is certain that the key to finding Sammi lies in finding out the truth about The Bad Place. But she also knows that with every second she spends trying to unlock the past, the clock ticks down for the missing girl...
Apple of My Eye
Claire Allan - 2019
Someone who desperately wants a baby to call their own and will go to any lengths to become a mother – and stay a mother…
Trust No One
Paul Cleave - 2015
LEAST OF ALL HIMSELF.Most of the world knows Jerry Grey by his crime-writing pseudonym, Henry Cutter - a name that's been keeping readers at the edge of their seats for more than a decade. But now that he's been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's at the age of forty-nine, Jerry's career is coming to an abrupt end.His twelve books tell stories of brutal murders, of a world out of balance, of victims finding the darkest forms of justice. As his dementia continues to break down the wall between his real life and the lives of his characters, Jerry confesses his most terrible secret: the stories are real. He committed the crimes himself. His friends, family, and caretakers insist that it's all in his head, just a side effect of the devastating disease - but is it?One of the most talented and trailblazing suspense writers at work today, Edgar-nominated author Paul Cleave takes us down a dark and clever path to determine the fine line between simple fact and dangerous fiction.
Harry Starke
Blair Howard - 2015
Harry Starke was there, on the bridge, and he want's to know why Tabitha Willard decided to kill herself. Was it his fault? .
“….she saw me, stopped running, put her hands to her mouth, looked desperately around, then turned, ran to the rail, and started to climb….”
Tormented by guilt and the thought that he might have caused the girl’s death, Harry vows to find out why Tabitha killed herself and plunges headlong into an investigation that pits him against a corrupt congressman, a beautiful United States senator, a local crime boss, and a sadistic killer. It's a case that will push Harry to the extremes of the law as he works his way through a web of deceit, extortion, high finance, corruption, sex, and three murders. In the end… well, as always, there’s a twist in the tale, several, in fact.
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The Burning
Jane Casey - 2010
It's the name the media has given a brutal murderer who has beaten four young women to death before setting their bodies ablaze in secluded areas of London's parks. And now there's a fifth.
Maeve Kerrigan is an ambitious detective constable, keen to make her mark on the murder task force. Her male colleagues believe Maeve's empathy makes her weak, but the more she learns about the latest victim, Rebecca Haworth, from her grieving friends and family, the more determined Maeve becomes to bring her murderer to justice. But how do you catch a killer no one has seen when so much of the evidence has gone up in smoke?
Maeve's frenetic hunt for a killer in Jane Casey's gripping series debut will entrance even the most jaded suspense readers.
Birdman
Mo Hayder - 1999
The Met's crack murder squad, AMIP, is called out by nervous CID detectives to a grim discovery. Five bodies, all young women, all ritualistically murdered and dumped on wasteland near the Dome. As each post-mortem reveals a singular, horrific signature linking the victims, officers realize that they are on the trail of that most dangerous offender: a sexual serial killer. Detective Inspector Jack Caffery - young, driven, unshockable - finds himself facing both hostility within the force and echoes of his past in this, his first case with AMIP. Haunted by the memory of a death long ago, he employs every weapon forensic science can offer for he knows it is only a matter of time before this chaotic, sadistic killer strikes again.
The Hunting Party
Lucy Foley - 2018
. . and murder and mayhem ensue.All of them are friends. One of them is a killer.During the languid days of the Christmas break, a group of thirtysomething friends from Oxford meet to welcome in the New Year together, a tradition they began as students ten years ago. For this vacation, they’ve chosen an idyllic and isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands—the perfect place to get away and unwind by themselves.They arrive on December 30th, just before a historic blizzard seals the lodge off from the outside world.Two days later, on New Year’s Day, one of them is dead.The trip began innocently enough: admiring the stunning if foreboding scenery, champagne in front of a crackling fire, and reminiscences about the past. But after a decade, the weight of secret resentments has grown too heavy for the group’s tenuous nostalgia to bear. Amid the boisterous revelry of New Year’s Eve, the cord holding them together snaps.Now one of them is dead . . . and another of them did it.Keep your friends close, the old adage goes. But just how close is too close?
Under Your Skin
Sabine Durrant - 2013
But everything changes when she finds a body on the common near her home. She’s shaken and haunted by the image of the lifeless young woman, and frightened that the killer, still at large, could strike again. Before long, the police have a lead. The evidence points to a very clear suspect. One Gaby never saw coming . . . Full of twists and turns, this is a dark and suspenseful psychological thriller that will make you secondguess everything. Because you can never be too sure about anything, especially when it comes to murder.