The Long Fall: A Novel of Crime


Lynn Kostoff - 2003
    In sunbaked Phoenix, Arizona, this never-predictable tale tosses into its antic mix a dead father, his two sons—one a small-time ex-con with a consistent genius for sabotaging his own best interests, the other a straight, uptight solid citizen with a moneymaking chain of dry-cleaning stores and a restive ex-stewardess of a wife named Evelyn—and a sicko cop with a twisted worldview. Recently released from prison—twenty-four months for possession of a truckload of black-market saguaro cacti—and in deep debt to an unforgiving crank dealer, Jimmy Coates returns home only to discover that his brother has cut him out of his inheritance. A not-unjustifiable desire to settle old scores and new sends Jimmy on a robbery spree that wipes out four of his brother's dry-cleaning establishments. But when he finds himself tumbling for a mutinously sexy Evelyn, the impulse to vengeance reverses itself. Unwittingly, however, Jimmy has already set in motion a series of dangerous consequences—adultery, blackmail, love, betrayal—that culminate in a blueprint for murder. And it could be Jimmy himself who is taking the long fall.

His First His Second


A.D. Davies - 2014
    She’s nice. Too nice to be a police officer, if she’s honest.She is also one of the most respected criminal analysts in the country, and finds herself in a cold northern town assigned to Donald Murphy’s team, investigating the kidnap-murders of two young women—both strikingly similar in appearance. Now a third has been taken, and they have less than a week to chip away the secrets of a high-society family, and uncover the killer’s objective.But Richard—the father of the latest victim—believes the police are not moving quickly enough, so launches a parallel investigation, utilising skills honed in a dark past that is about to catch up with him. As Richard’s secret actions hinder the police, Alicia remains in contact with him, and even starts to fall for his charms, forcing her into choices that will impact the rest of her life.

Bloodline


Jess Lourey - 2021
    Perfect homes. Perfect families. It’s enough to drive some women mad…In a tale inspired by real events, pregnant journalist Joan Harken is cautiously excited to follow her fiancé back to his Minnesota hometown. After spending a childhood on the move and chasing the screams and swirls of news-rich city life, she’s eager to settle down. Lilydale’s motto, “Come Home Forever,” couldn’t be more inviting.And yet, something is off in the picture-perfect village.The friendliness borders on intrusive. Joan can’t shake the feeling that every move she makes is being tracked. An archaic organization still seems to hold the town in thrall. So does the sinister secret of a little boy who vanished decades ago. And unless Joan is imagining things, a frighteningly familiar figure from her past is on watch in the shadows.Her fiancé tells her she’s being paranoid. He might be right. Then again, she might have moved to the deadliest small town on earth.

The Rumour


Lesley Kara - 2018
    That's all it takes.She stabbed little Robbie Harris. To change a life -She's living under a new name.For ever.She's reformed. So they say . . . Joanna is going to regret the day she ever said a word.

Forgotten Crimes


Anna Willett - 2018
     Gloria is heading to meet her friend Rhetty in a bar. Once close, the two friends have drifted apart. Rhetty is different now, a shadow of her former self, and it all goes back to an incident that occurred four years ago. They meet at the same bar as always. It’s a sleazy venue. Gloria is uncomfortable there. She has a recollection of something terrible happening at the place, but can’t recall any details. Rhetty is agitated. She tells Gloria something that can’t be true. That another acquaintance of theirs, a bolshie woman called Joanna, is back on the scene. It can’t be true because Joanna died four years ago. What is Rhetty trying to achieve when she convinces Gloria to return to where Joanna died? And why is Gloria, despite her reservations, ready to go along with her? Why did Joanna die, and how is it possible she could return?

Lamb to the Slaughter


Karen Ann Hopkins - 2014
    To solve the murder, she must investigate the nearby Amish community with the help of a man who was shunned years ago. Lamb to the Slaughter is a story about the intertwining lives of three unlikely people in an Indiana Amish Community and the devastating results when a rebellious teenage girl is found shot to death in a corn field during the harvest. Serenity Adams is the newly elected young sheriff in the country town of Blood Rock and besides dealing with the threatening behavior of her predecessor, she now has a dead Amish girl on her plate. At first glance, the case seems obvious. The poor girl was probably accidentally shot during hunting season, but when the elders of the Amish community and even the girl’s parents react with uncaring subdued behavior, Serenity becomes suspicious. As she delves deeper into the secretive community that she grew up beside, she discovers a gruesome crime from the past that may very well be related to the Amish girl’s shooting. Serenity enlists the help of the handsome bad-boy building contractor, Daniel Bachman, who left the Amish when he was nineteen and has his own dark reasons to help the spunky sheriff solve the crime that the family and friends who shunned him are trying desperately to cover up. Serenity’s persistence leads her to a stunning discovery that not only threatens to destroy her blossoming romance with Daniel, but may even take her life in the end.

What She Saw


Sheila Lowe - 2013
    Claudia Rose and other characters from the Forensic Handwriting Mysteries series play an important role in unraveling the web of mystery and uncover what she saw that erased her memory.

False Impressions


Sandra Nikolai - 2012
    In what a Quebec detective calls a crime of passion, startling evidence surfaces to implicate Michael Elliott, a young investigative reporter who'd rather rub elbows with scumbags than live the posh lifestyle he inherited.Clutched out of her comfort zone, Megan is flung into Michael's dark world of criminal investigation. As they make a last-ditch attempt to prove their innocence, an elusive enemy closes in and threatens their lives. Who wants them out of the way and why?

Lies That Bind Us


Andrew Hart - 2018
    She’s flying to Crete to reunite with friends she met there five years ago and relive an idyllic vacation. Basking in the warmth of the sun, the azure sea, and the aura of antiquity, she can once again pretend—for a little while—that she belongs. Her ex-boyfriend Marcus will be among them, but even he doesn’t know the secrets she keeps hidden behind a veil of lies. None of them really know her, and that’s only part of the problem.Then again, how well does she know them?When Jan awakens in utter darkness, chained to a wall, a manacle around her wrist, her echoing screams only give her a sense of how small her cell is. As she desperately tries to reconstruct what happened and determine who is holding her prisoner, dread covers despair like a hand clamped over her mouth. Because, like the Minotaur in the labyrinth in Greek myth, her captor will be coming back for her, and all the lies will catch up to her…

Head to Head


Linda Ladd - 2006
    Until a grisly celebrity murder at an ultra-exclusive 'wellness' resort shatters a quiet summer morning.

Forgotten Coast: Books 1-4


Dawn Lee McKenna - 2017
    Maggie Redmond is called to a crime scene on St. George Island, where she is met with the body of Gregory Boudreaux. The medical examiner calls it a suicide, but no one knows that Maggie has a horrible connection to the dead man.When Gregory’s uncle, Bennett Boudreaux, the richest and scariest man in town, takes a sudden interest in Maggie, people start to wonder, Maggie included. Maggie knows he may suspect her of killing his nephew, but she finds herself slowly drawn to the man.As Maggie fights to help a young girl escape the clutches of a volatile drug dealer who’d love to see Maggie dead, she also struggles to hide her dark link to a dead man, and her burgeoning relationship with her boss, Sheriff Wyatt Hamilton.Unfortunately, secrets have a way of revealing themselves at low tide.Riptide - Book 2Once again, sinister things are afoot in Apalachicola, FL, and one of them is an actual foot.When a local fisherman finds a severed limb in his net, it sets off a chain of events that no one can anticipate.Lt. Maggie Redmond soon discovers that the foot belongs to the friend of another recently dead guy, Gregory Boudreaux, the man she never told anyone about. Gregory’s death was thought to be a suicide. That seems less likely, now that his best friend Sport’s foot has shown up out of the blue, as it were.When it starts looking like town villain Bennett Boudreaux might be responsible for eliminating Sport, things begin to get a little weird. Especially since Maggie’s started to take a liking to Bennett. She’s also taken a real liking to her boss, Sheriff Wyatt Hamilton, but both her relationship to Bennett and her secret connection to the dead men threaten hers and Wyatt’s relationship.Is Bennett protecting or avenging Maggie for some reason, or does he have something altogether different on his mind?What Washes Up - Book 3Karma’s alive and well in Apalachicola, Florida, and there are several people who are about to meet it face to face. When more than a dozen bodies wash up on the beach on St. George Island, the residents of Apalach are outraged, and none more so than investigator Maggie Redmond and Sheriff Wyatt Hamilton. It’s time for the greedy to answer for the lives of innocents.Meanwhile, a man is found tied to a burning boat in the middle of the bay, and Maggie’s instincts tell her Bennett Boudreaux is behind it. But if he is, Maggie has to decide whether she really wants him punished, or if justice has already been served.Landfall - Book 4Two storms that nobody thought were coming just made landfall. As a hurricane gathers its power just off Apalachicola’s shore, another storm comes to a head in Lt. Maggie Redmond's home.Held prisoner by a man bent on avenging the death of a son, Maggie must find a way to save herself and her two children. No one knows where they are. No one is coming to help.Maggie and her children will have to find a way to survive both the madness inside their home and the madness raging outside.

Possess


J.A. Howell - 2013
    The catch? The last tenant, Brody Walsh, killed himself.Or did he?As disturbing dreams and hauntings start to occur, Harley realizes there may be much more behind the previous tenant’s death than a simple suicide. She finds her life further entangled with his when she learns that her new boss, Nolan, was also his best friend. Could this handsome but evasive pub owner have something to do with Brody’s death?Trying to piece together the events surrounding Brody’s death proves to be a daunting task, but Harley can’t give up. Brody won’t let her. He is still in the apartment with her, trapped in limbo until she finds his killer.But he’s not waiting for revenge.Harley’s next.

Wall of Silence


Tracy Buchanan - 2020
    Can she uncover it before the police do? Melissa Byatt’s life in Forest Grove seems as perfect as can be: a doting husband, three loving children and a beautiful house in a close-knit community. But appearances can be deceiving.One evening, Melissa arrives home to the unimaginable: her husband lies stabbed on the kitchen floor, their children standing calmly around him…With horror, she realises that one of them is to blame. But which one? And why would they attack their own father?Her loyalties torn, in a split second she decides to protect her children at all costs—even if that means lying to the police. But when someone in the neighbourhood claims to know more than they should, Melissa discovers that some secrets are beyond her control…Can she find out the truth of what happened before the rumours spread? And can the family unite to escape the spotlight of scandal—or are none of them as innocent as Melissa insists?

Suffer


E.E. Borton - 2011
    A few moments later, fifty thousand paralyzing volts shot through her body. Her world went dark; and when she awoke, her family was torn apart forever.After months of agonizing physical therapy to heal the vicious wounds to her body, the Kate who emerged was no longer the loving mother, sister, and friend from before. The Kate who survived was something much different. Something much darker.Without hesitation or remorse, she will hunt down the men who destroyed her life, even if it means sacrificing her last shreds of humanity. She will make them suffer.

Supreme Justice


Max Allan Collins - 2014
    But his outspoken criticism of the president he saved—who had stacked the Supreme Court with hard-right justices to overturn Roe v. Wade, amp up the Patriot Act, and shred the First Amendment—put Reeder at odds with the Service’s apolitical nature, making him an outcast.FBI agent Patti Rogers finds herself paired with the unpopular former agent on a task force investigating the killing of Supreme Court Justice Henry Venter. Reeder—nicknamed “Peep” for his unparalleled skills at reading body language—makes a startling discovery while reviewing a security tape: the shooting was premeditated, not a botched robbery. Even more chilling, the controversial Venter may not be the only justice targeted for death...Is a mastermind mounting an unprecedented judicial coup aimed at replacing ultra-conservative justices with a new liberal majority? To crack the conspiracy and save the lives of not just the justices but also Reeder’s own family, rising star Rogers and legendary investigator Reeder must push their skills—and themselves—to the limit.