Book picks similar to
The Empress Holds the Key by Gabriel Farago
mystery
thriller
mystery-thriller-suspense
historical-fiction
Jane Doe
Victoria Helen Stone - 2018
She blends in well, unremarkably pretty in her floral-print dresses and extra efficient at her low-level job. She’s just the kind of woman middle manager Steven Hepsworth likes—meek, insecure, and willing to defer to a man. No one has any idea who Jane really is. Least of all Steven.But plain Jane is hiding something. And Steven’s bringing out the worst in her.Nothing can distract Jane from going straight for his heart: allowing herself to be seduced into Steven’s bed, to insinuate herself into his career and his family, and to expose all his dirty secrets. It’s time for Jane to dig out everything that matters to Steven. So she can take it all away.Just as he did to her.
Into the Light
Aleatha Romig - 2016
When her best friend disappears, Stella investigates—despite warnings from her police detective boyfriend—following a twisted trail that leads her through the city’s most dangerous and forsaken precincts. There she uncovers something more sinister than she could have imagined: a shadowy organization known as The Light, led by the enigmatic Father Gabriel.As Sara struggles to understand her place in the strange world she’s awakened to—an oppressive cult demanding unquestioning obedience—and her feelings for Jacob, the husband she can’t recall and whose harsh and tender attentions confuse and beguile her, Stella risks all to discover the truth. But enlightenment always comes with a price…
The Art of Danger
Stuart Doughty - 2020
Three men are murdered to get a dull, forgotten painting. A crazy, pointless heist? Or something far more sinister?In this action-packed crime-thriller, the tough ex-cop and firearms specialist Kite is up against a foreign spy who’s planning havoc and mayhem, not an art show. To complicate matters, Kite’s being followed by a kooky – and sexy – young woman. Where does she fit in? Even worse, Kite’s got a shameful secret in his past that he thinks is well hidden – until he realises someone’s on to it and the odds stack up to produce an action-packed thriller.What Kite is chasing down isn’t just a painting: it’s the most explosive art in the world. Can he stop the impending cataclysm?
Devil Dealing
Ian Patrick - 2015
Lead detective Jeremy Ryder is a physically powerful, quiet and meticulous investigator. His partner Navi Pillay is a small and exceptionally strong Tamil martial arts instructor, and she provides the speed and physical power to complement Ryder's incisive sleuthing abilities. Together with their other detective colleagues Ryder and Pillay crack open two interwoven criminal operations. There are two key villains. One is a corrupt murderous senior police officer at the heart of the illegal gambling operation and the other is a sinister and violent gangster dealing in drugs and murder. Each of them presides over lesser criminals and each of them controls separate domains of corruption until their paths cross in a spectacular climax.
The Book of Spies
Gayle Lynds - 2010
Soon an attempt is made on Eva’s life. Determined not only to survive but to uncover the truth, Eva turns to the only person she can trust—Judd Ryder, a former intelligence agent with his own agenda and a troubled past. Together, Judd and Eva embark on an international adventure from London to Rome, Istanbul, and Athens. Somehow they must do what no one else has been able to do – find the library and stay alive.
The Luck Theory
Erik Hamre - 2018
Twenty-four hours later he is dead and the question is: Who killed him? We follow Sean, a retired Special Forces veteran, in his quest to hunt down his brother’s killer before he ends up in jail, or in a coffin himself. But in order to be successful Sean has to confront a past he has long tried to forget. Three years earlier, Sean introduced John to some government agents. That introduction ruined a lot of people’s lives, including Sean’s. Will John’s death provide Sean an opportunity to finally redeem himself, or will it lead to his ultimate downfall?
The Hidden Hand of Death
Lawrence J. Epstein - 2020
The war with Germany has just begun. Jack Ryder, who calls himself a fixer rather than a detective, wanders the darkest nights to his office in a back booth at an all-night diner. Ryder is famous for killing members of the mob who have crossed their bosses by hurting innocent people. Ryder also helps ordinary people in trouble.An enemy—a homicide detective—comes to hire Ryder to find the detective’s missing sister. Ryder also gets involved in going up against some Nazis in New York and saving a woman on the run from gangsters.
Killing Floor
Lee Child - 1997
He's just passing through Margrave, Georgia, and in less than an hour, he's arrested for murder. Not much of a welcome. All Jack knows is that he didn't kill anybody. At least not here. Not lately. But he doesn't stand a chance of convincing anyone. not in Margrave, Georgia. Not a chance in hell.
Dr. Vigilante (Dr. Vigilante, #1)
Alberto Hazan - 2013
He spends his days treating patients at the St. Jude’s Hospital ER and his nights going after the psychopaths who wrong them: the child molesters, wife beaters, and rapists. But when the fiery, beautiful new social worker discovers his secret identity and their love affair takes off, Robert is forced to face some hard questions:Do the ends justify the means?After years of hunting down psychopaths, is Robert turning into one himself?An action thriller with strong, distinct characters, filled with suspense and surprise, Dr. Vigilante is also a love story unfolding amid the turmoil and drama of a busy ER.
City of the Lost
Kelley Armstrong - 2016
She was never caught, but he was the grandson of a mobster and she knows that someday this crime will catch up to her. Casey's best friend, Diana, is on the run from a violent, abusive ex-husband. When Diana's husband finds her, and Casey herself is attacked shortly after, Casey knows it's time for the two of them to disappear again.Diana has heard of a town made for people like her, a town that takes in people on the run who want to shed their old lives. You must apply to live in Rockton and if you're accepted, it means walking away entirely from your old life, and living off the grid in the wilds of Canada: no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, no computers, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council's approval. As a murderer, Casey isn't a good candidate, but she has something they want: She's a homicide detective, and Rockton has just had its first real murder. She and Diana are in. However, soon after arriving, Casey realizes that the identity of a murderer isn't the only secret Rockton is hiding—in fact, she starts to wonder if she and Diana might be in even more danger in Rockton than they were in their old lives.
The Good Widow
Liz Fenton - 2017
Or at least she thought it was…until two police officers showed up at her door with devastating news. Her husband of eight years, the one who should have been on a business trip to Kansas, had suffered a fatal car accident in Hawaii. And he wasn’t alone.For Jacks, laying her husband to rest was hard. But it was even harder to think that his final moments belonged to another woman—one who had left behind her own grieving and bewildered fiancé. Nick, just as blindsided by the affair, wants answers. So he suggests that he and Jacks search for the truth together, retracing the doomed lovers’ last days in paradise.Now, following the twisting path of that fateful road, Jacks is learning that nothing is ever as it seems. Not her marriage. Not her husband. And most certainly not his death…
Collapse
Richard Stephenson - 2012
With the American people deep in The Second Great Depression and two of the most powerful hurricanes on record to contend with, the United States is in no condition to deal with hidden terrorists on its soil, maniacal politicians, and the most formidable military threat the world has seen since the Third Reich. This is the story of three men from three very different walks of life: Howard Beck, the world's richest man, also diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome; Richard Dupree, ex-Navy SEAL turned escaped convict; and Maxwell Harris, a crippled, burned-out chief of police of a small Texas town. At first, they must overcome their own struggles and fight for their survival against impossible odds. In the end, the unlikely trio must band together to save their beloved country from COLLAPSE. Empires topple. Nations crumble. Civilization is fragile. In 2027, America will fall.
All the Good Girls
Willow Rose - 2020
Four teenagers from one of Miami's affluent neighborhoods are murdered on a boat. Another is found in a dumpster. All five of them go to the same school and are on a list of witnesses to another crime. Because he's in bad standing with his boss, Harry is given the task of protecting a possible future victim, but Harry isn't always known to follow his boss's orders. Soon, he'll risk everything while racing to stop a killer who has left everyone else in the homicide squad shaking in terror.
ALL THE GOOD GIRLS is the first book in the Harry Hunter Mystery Series.
Bad To The Bones
James Harper - 2014
The love and support of her husband Robbie was all that kept her sane—until the day he ran away. Makes you thankful you're not Linda Clayton. Wise-cracking, street-smart PI Evan Buckley thought his problems were bad enough. When his latest case ends in disaster, he’s at the end of his tether—until fate throws him headlong into Linda Clayton's desperate world and a long-dead investigation that everybody wants to stay that way. But Evan never does what everybody wants, and he vows to uncover the truth—and in the process kick into touch the demons that come to torment him every night. As the suspense ratchets up, he’s caught in a desperate fight for his life with a stone cold killer who will go to any lengths to protect his secrets ... With action-packed twists and turns and a pace that doesn’t let up until the thrilling conclusion, Bad to The Bones is a brilliant start to a gripping new crime series from James Harper. Bad To The Bones was previously published as Cruel Comfort/In Cold Blood.
Runner
Patrick Lee - 2014
While out on a run in the middle of the night, a young girl runs into him on the seaside boardwalk. Barefoot and terrified, she’s running from a group of heavily armed men with one clear goal—to kill the fleeing child. After Dryden helps her evade her pursuers, he learns that the eleven year old, for as long as she can remember, has been kept in a secret prison by forces within the government. But she doesn’t know much beyond her own name, Rachel. She only remembers the past two months of her life—and that she has a skill that makes her very dangerous to these men and the hidden men in charge.Dryden, who lost his wife and young daughter in an accident five years ago, agrees to help her try to unravel her own past and make sense of it, to protect her from the people who are moving heaven and earth to find them both. Although Dryden is only one man, he’s a man with the extraordinary skills and experience—as a Ranger, a Delta, and five years doing off-the-book black ops with an elite team. But, as he slowly begins to discover, the highly trained paramilitary forces on their heels is the only part of the danger they must face. Will Rachel’s own unremembered past be the most deadly of them all?