Book picks similar to
Diamond Cut Diamond (Lord Ambrose Historical Mystery #4) by Jane Jakeman


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20-books-of-summer

Criss Cross (Posh Hits)


Caron Allan - 2013
    But when she arrives at the scene, she finds the old woman already dead. Obviously her Hitchcock-Movie-loving best pal, Monica, has carried out the deed for her! Taking the murder-switch idea from the movie Strangers on a Train, Cressida decides the only proper way to show her gratitude is by killing off Monica’s philandering husband and his bimbo girlfriend. After all, Monica of all people should appreciate the idea of swapping murders? That’s what she wants, right? Wrong. Cressida quickly discovers that unfortunately this was not what her friend had in mind, and now Monica is devastated and planning to exact a terrible revenge. Which means their friendship is definitely over. Isn’t it?

Murder At The Fourth: A Forest Pines Mystery


Duncan Whitehead - 2016
    That is until local businessman, Donald Sands, is found murdered on the local golf course. Young and inexperienced Sheriff, Steve Calder, needs help and turns to Jenny to assist him in his investigation. Suddenly Jenny is plunged into a mystery unlike any other she has encountered and faces a multitude of suspects who all have a reason to rejoice the victim's death. It isn’t going to be as easy as Jenny thought, as she tries to find out who killed the most unpopular man in town. A string of mistresses, a jealous husband, a shady realtor as well as a down on his luck store owner, who couldn't repay a debt, are just some of the suspects as the plot thickens, and twists abound. Meanwhile, skeletons from Jenny's past are rattling their unwelcome bones. The truth contorts to a climax that will leave readers breathless.

The Hangman's Daughter - chapters 1-3


Oliver Pötzsch - 2010
    Exclusive to Kindle: a free sample of The Hangman's Daughter

BIG SLICK (Jon "Big Slick" Elder Book 2)


Elijah Drive - 2016
    “Razor sharp writing, crackling dialogue, characters that jump off the page and slap you in the face. In BIG SLICK, Elijah Drive delivers a compulsively readable thriller that held me captive until the last page. Can’t wait to read the next one.”—Dwayne Alexander Smith – FORTY ACRES.“An emotional roller coaster of a novel that manages to be profound, moving and completely surprising. A rarity for a thriller, BIG SLICK shocks you by exploring the mystery of the characters in addition to the situation they’re trapped in.”—Ato Essandoh – HBO’s VINYL, DJANGO UNCHAINED, BLOOD DIAMOND, CBS’s ELEMENTARY, BBC America’s COPPER.

Mail Order Brides Anthology: Leah and Tess Books 1-2


Rose Jenster - 2016
    Enjoy each of their journeys in overcoming their challenging situations in New York. Note that each is a sweet stand-alone book, but they also are the first two books in the Montana Mail Order Brides Series. Mail Order Bride Leah Leah is a school teacher in Albany, New York during the 1880s who was devoted to her mother until she passed away. Her father lost his business and Leah did not want to spend the rest of her life living with her protective brother. She begins to correspond with a man from Montana who ran an ad for a mail order bride. Could she have found someone who also loves literature and shares so many of her interests? How does Leah handle her brother's negative reactions to the correspondence that now was the focus and light of her life? Can she leave the desperate situation in New York and find that joy that her heart dreams? Or is she destined to live a life without fulfillment? Will Leah find happiness in Montana? What secrets does her love keep to himself that makes him so hard to reach and read? Can Leah help Henry open up his heart or will she give up? Can his scars heal from the past? Book 2: Mail Order Bride Tess Tess is a seamstress in upstate New York during the 1880s. She fears she will be working in the sweltering shop her whole life and never find true happiness by finding a man who loves her. A married friend shows her a newspaper that has ads for mail order husbands and Tess shyly studies it with guarded hope. Tess is quite bashful with a lot of fear, but also worries what her life would be like without a big change. Will she find happiness out west or be stuck in the sweltering shop in New York? Why does Luke withdraw from her emotionally and can he let go of his past loss? Will Tess return home in defeat and be broken inside? Can their love blossom? Note: Each of the books is a stand-alone clean romance without a cliffhanger. They are sweet westerns appropriate for all ages. Book six, Mail Order Bride Jessica, is now available and is also in Kindle Unlimited.

Death's Confessor: A Civil War Murder Mystery


Phillip Bryant - 2016
    Pueblos, Apache, former Mexican citizens and the US Army collide in a tale of greed and murder. A new civil war mystery series by best selling author Phillip and Jennifer Bryant. Peter Thomas Smith's days on the post of Fort Craig, New Mexico territory, are spent fighting boredom, keeping cool, and giving the spiritual state of the 5th California Mounted Infantry volunteers a ready ear. As chaplain, he isn't asked to do much in the way of fighting Apaches and there have been no wounded in battle to tend to from fighting Confederates. He is content to let this state of affairs continue, that is until the Piro scout, Tafoya, brings in a soldier half dead with no name, no unit, and no reason for being there. Like his preferred namesake before him, Thomas the doubter, there are too many questions to ignore. Like historical murder mysteries? Find more civil war mysteries and historical fiction by searching Phillip Bryant or P.J. Bryant. If you like civil war fiction, be sure to hunt up The Shiloh Series by Phillip Bryant, a four novel set.

Fired and Inflamed (The Otto Viti Mysteries Book 2)


Jen Carter - 2017
    An employee from a local business is found strangled to death, and now everyone in the small community is worried about local law enforcement finding the killer. Jill can’t stop thinking about what happened, but she knows it’s best to leave the investigation to the police. This time, she’s not getting involved. Well, not on purpose at least.

Witch Myth (Yew Hollow Mystery #0)


Alexandira Clarke - 2017
    When the coven falls mysteriously ill, Gwenlyn embarks on a quest for a cure with the dubious help of her dead sister, but can the duo accomplish their task before the witches run out of time?

Death by Dancing: a 1930s Cozy Murder Mystery (A Higgins & Hawke Mystery Book 4)


Lee Strauss - 2021
    Haley Higgins is surprised to discover the deceased is the widow of a man whose body still lay in the cold cabinets of her morgue. She has reasons to believe the man’s death wasn’t natural, and now, with his wife having succumbed to the same symptoms, her convictions of foul play are stronger than ever.With the help of investigative reporter Samantha Hawke, Haley works to determine which contestants in the dancing contest had means, motive, and opportunity. And most of all, how to keep the killer from striking again.

Betrayal in Venice


David Canford - 2017
    When many years later the truth of the past is finally revealed, Glen Butler feels deceived. His reaction to events betrays the one he loves most, his daughter. Returning to the city to try and find her, Glen discovers she has a secret of her own, presenting him with a terrible dilemma. Set in Italy and England from the 1940s to the 1970s, a novel about the cost of keeping secrets.

Credible Dagger


Gregory M. Acuña - 2013
    Four Belgrade University students are enjoying the time of their lives. Fresh with a wad full of foreign currency and few worries, their innocence is suddenly shaken when Field Marshal Göring’s Luftwaffe bombers strike the city at daybreak in “Operation Punishment.” The four students, Josef Kostinic, Celeste Bowman, Dick Vojovoda, and Penelope Mitchell take refuge and flee the city, only to have their rescue hopes dashed as Axis aircraft strafe the Adriatic coastline, sealing off their exit and forcing them in different directions. Two years later, with the United States formally entered into the war, the four students are unknowingly reunited once again. This time, British and U.S. intelligence services combine forces and infiltrate a team into Yugoslavia to determine the true credibility of Chetnick resistance leader Draza Mihailovich, code named Credible Dagger. The young companions must not only survive the harsh conditions in the field, but also Partisan guerrilla attacks, Communist double agents, and the ruthless tactics of SS counter-intelligence chief Hans Flosberg, who is constantly on their trail. Despite all these challenges, the operatives uncover information so crucial that the Allies keep it a secret for almost sixty years. About the Author: Gregory M. Acuña was a former U.S. Air Force pilot. He grew up in San Diego and now lives in Northern California. This is his second novel and he is currently writing the sequel to The Balkan Network.

Heart of Gold (Hearts of the West #1)


Kate Marie Clark - 2018
    The only problem— a man is after her and will do whatever it takes to rob her of the fortune. Desperate to preserve her life and inheritance, Charlotte travels to Crooked Creek, Colorado in search of her uncle, the only man she believes can help her. Instead, Charlotte finds a young deputy in her uncle’s place, a man with uncommonly upright morals and lovely blue eyes… When Deputy Everett Myers first encounters Old Jez’s niece, he determines she’s nothing but trouble. But for the right price, Everett agrees to act as Charlotte’s protector. His only problem—Charlotte keeps getting in the way and complicating an already dangerous situation. Worst of all, Everett finds himself falling for her dark eyes and unmatched determination...

A Mighty Fortress (Milo Porter Mystery Series Book 1)


S.D. Thames - 2016
    The Iraq war veteran runs routine private investigations by day and coaches powerlifting at night. When Chad Scalzo, the grandson of a rumored mob boss, goes missing, Milo takes the seemingly easy case. After Chad turns up dead, Milo goes from investigator to suspect. As he seeks to clear his own name, Milo finds himself at the crossroads of two crooked investigations -- one by the mob and the other by the police. With the body count climbing, Milo discovers the key to the case in the last known person to see Chad alive. But can Milo get to her before someone else does?A Mighty Fortress is the first book in the Milo Porter mystery series, a set of gritty crime thrillers that will remind you of the characters from Robert B. Parker and Robert Crais. If you like gripping suspense, hardboiled crime-solvers, and heart-stopping action, then you’ll love the powerful series starter from S.D. Thames. Buy A Mighty Fortress to get caught up in the mystery today!

A Body in the Bargain


Charlotte Moore - 2016
    She writes, paints watercolor landscapes and reads Jane Austen over and over. Kylie’s been married since she was 19, has twin boys and loves hunting for bargains and selling her crafts on-line. Kate and Kylie have been best friends since third grade at River Valley Elementary School. When Kate inherits her grandmother’s old house and decides to move back to peaceful River Valley, she finds there’s anything but peace in the Valley. First, she arrives to find that all her late grandmother’s old furniture has been stolen. Kylie comes to the rescue, and just a few days later the two of them are right in the middle of a murder investigation. Through it all, with Kylie’s help, Kate’s turning the old house into her own home with yard sale and thrift shop bargains and getting to know two very different men. From the author of the Hunter Jones mystery series, A Body in the Bargain is about people you might know and one or two you might just want to avoid.

The Nero Prediction


Humphry Knipe - 2005
    Agrippina, the emperor Claudius' niece, reads in the stars that someone born in Alexandria on July 19, 32 AD, is destined to help raise her son, the future emperor Nero, to the throne of the Caesars. This fated young man is Epaphroditus, a library slave and the book's narrator, who at the age of 16 is taken by force to Rome to serve young Nero. Epaphroditus becomes Nero's confidant as the art-obsessed Caesar dreams of an age when music rules the world. After Nero performs his musical spectacles in public, apocalyptic Christians-believing him to be the antichrist-set Rome afire. Revolutionary unrest strikes Rome, a fiery comet makes a foreboding appearance, and the young emperor makes a concert tour of Greece as enemies sprout like Hydra's heads. Epaphroditus, fortified by the return of his faith in astrology, discovers that he, Nero's protector, is fated to kill his Caesar. Author Humphry Knipe's brilliant historical novel shakes the rafters of conventional belief about Nero and his Rome and the ancient science of astrology.