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The Profiler's Daughter
P.M. Steffen - 2012
A six-year-old eyewitness. A gun from the grave.The Profiler's Daughter is a psychologically haunting thriller that combines murder mystery, love triangle, and family intrigue in one satisfying page burner.Sky Stone was born into the wealth and privilege of Boston's oldest Brahmin family but chooses instead to follow in the footsteps of her deceased father, legendary FBI profiler Monk Stone. In the chilly morning hours before the Boston Marathon, when a beautiful university student is found strangled and mutilated, her body left at the base of Heartbreak Hill, Sky returns from self-imposed exile to investigate. Thirty-six hours into the investigation, Sky's world turns upside down when she is fired from the Homicide team. They pin the murder on an innocent man, forcing Sky into a life-threatening game of cat and mouse with the real killer. From the stately mansions of Beacon Hill to the flat scrubland of central Texas, Sky keeps the reader on a razor's edge, culminating in a no-holds-barred shoot-out.The Profiler's Daughter, the first in the Sky Stone Thriller series, introduces a moody, enigmatic, and brilliant female heroine with the fierce bite of Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander. As adeptly written as Martin Cruz Smith's complex Arkady Renko novels, this thriller offers an intriguing plot, richly detailed characters, and an astonishing conclusion guaranteed to leave the reader begging for more.
Murder on Vancouver Island
Kathy Garthwaite - 2019
Detective Inspector William Gibson of the Vancouver Island police investigates… The victim is found by a maintenance worker on the university campus. Despite being brutally murdered, there is a little other evidence; just a blood-spattered baseball bat and a condom placed under the body. When the police discover that the victim, Robbie Spencer, was a closet homosexual, DI Gibson becomes convinced it was a hate crime. However, co-workers are apparently nonplussed by the events, regarding the investigating officers with suspicion and disdain. Is the perpetrator one of them? Gibson concentrates on a party held at the university the night before, one that he in fact attended. A fight had broken out between the guests. Can the two events be linked? MURDER ON VANCOUVER ISLAND is free with Kindle Unlimited and coming soon in paperback. The sequel, MURDER AT LAKE ONTARIO, also featuring DI William Gibson, will be available soon on Kindle. If you enjoy crime fiction by Melinda Leigh, Rachel Caine, and Kendra Elliot, you’ll love this atmospheric murder mystery set against the stunning backdrop of Canada’s west coast.
Sydney Rye Mysteries Books 4-6 Box Set
Emily Kimelman - 2015
There is no road surface strong enough to resist the return to dirt in this climate.Blue touched my thigh with his nose, a gentle tap to remind me he was there. Thick jungle lined our path. This hill had the fewest homes on our route. No neighbors to wave a hello to or children to smile at as they raced by on bikes either too large or too small for them. There was just me, Blue, the burst of vegetation, and this road of rocks. I reached the top of the hill, my thighs and calves burned. Panting, I struggled to keep my pace.A low growl narrowed my attention onto a black and white street dog in the brush. Ears flat to her head, she curled her lips and showed teeth. Noting the swollen teats hanging low and exposed, I kept moving. "I'm not going to bother you, mama," I said in a steady voice. "We are just passing by."Blue slowed, and when I patted my thigh for him to catch up he stopped. I turned to look back at him, my senses on high alert. Blue was a mutt the height of a Great Dane with the coat of a wolf and the long snout of a Collie, with one blue eye and one brown. Blue has saved my life more than once so when he stopped, so did I.I recognized a twitch on his lip and saw the hackles raise off his shoulders and back making him appear even larger. A deep and rumbling growl left his chest. It was answered behind me. There were suddenly three dogs in our path. None as big or strong as Blue but together they looked dangerous.I'd been warned about this pack. Growing larger by the day, it was led by an aggressive alpha male the color of dirty water. This must be him, I thought, as the largest of the three, his head wide, fur the silt brown of an engorged river, growled at Blue. The compactness of his body spoke of strength and survival. When he barked, the saliva that shot from his mouth caught a ray of sunlight streaming through the thick foliage around us.The alpha stepped forward, revving his growl like a teenager on a motorbike. The bitch in the brush flanked our left side and when I turned right, two young dogs, their ears still soft from puppyhood, glowered at me.The owner of the guest house where I lived warned me to take a stick if I planned on running. "Just in case," she'd said with a dip of her head and a flip of her hand. Because of her advice I carried a light but solid piece of bamboo about twice the thickness of my thumb. I tapped it on the ground in front of me as I backed toward Blue, keeping my eyes forward, focused on the alpha but paying close attention to my peripheral vision, watching the dogs to my sides.When I reached Blue he moved backwards with me, slowly and deliberately. But the dogs followed. We stopped, and raising the stick over my head, I brought it down hard onto a rock. The loud sound and sudden movement spooked the pups to my right, but the alpha male just growled louder.The two dogs flanking him went crazy barking, the force of their calls lifting their front paws off the ground. The mother and the young ones joined in raising a ruckus that certainly beat mine. Blue, his front paws planted on the road, exposed his teeth and growled, his pitch wavering up and down. He wanted me to tell him it was okay to attack. I could feel his energy bundling up inside him, roiling around.Soon I'd have no control.P.S. The dog does not die.**Beware: If you can’t handle a few f-bombs, you can’t handle this series.**
Jessica Huntington Desert Cities
Anna Celeste Burke - 2018
>>>A Dead Husband Jessica Huntington is an amateur sleuth who would rather be shopping, but she soon finds out that money can’t buy happiness or save your neck. While hiding out in sunny California, her best friend’s husband is murdered. Roger Stone had something that got him killed. What was it and what will they do to get it back? >>>A Dead Sister A cold case heats up when the handsome detective, Frank Fontana, asks for Jessica Huntington's help. Who killed his cousin Kelly? Does Jessica want to know the truth about her high school friend's tragic death? Can she handle what digging into the past might reveal? >>>A Dead Daughter Jessica Isn’t sure what to expect when Libby Van Der Woert, the disturbed daughter of Jessica’s wealthy clients, asks to meet at the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. Trouble begins the moment Jessica greets Libby in the Mt. San Jacinto Wilderness. Wild, manic, and sure she’s being followed, Libby’s got a gun. All hell breaks loose when Libby’s Beverly Hills shrink shows up with a gun of his own. What’s up with the missing and misguided daughters of wealth and privilege in Dr. Carr’s care? Getting to the bottom of things Jessica-Huntington-style, sets off a whirlwind tour of fashionable enclaves, upscale rehab clinics, shops, restaurants and other haute hangouts. Behind all the glitz and glam: secrets, lies, corporate wheeling and dealing. >>>A Dead Mother Jessica’s ex-husband, James Harper, and her mother, Alexis, are in big trouble in A Dead Mother. Family dysfunction, infidelity, murder, and mayhem—what else can you expect from members of the rich and famous who move in Jessica Huntington’s circles? An arraignment in court goes off the rails after Jim Harper’s Bel Air mansion is trashed and a man is left fighting for his life. Jessica’s love life almost veers off track, too, as she struggles to balance job, family, sleuthing, and her attraction to Attorney Paul Worthington and Detective Frank Fontana. When the body of a prominent member of the Palm Desert community is found dead on the side of the road, Jessica gives up hope that this year will be better than the last. >>>A Dead Cousin A frantic call for help has Jessica on the run. Taken from his home while his daughter hides upstairs, Detective Frank Fontana is gone. Jessica's out to save him, but what if he doesn't want to be found? Has he been abducted or is he on the run? When a body turns up, the identity of the victim only fuels the controversy. Good cops. Bad cops. Missing money. Undercover operations that may or may not have ended. Jessica and her friends soon become entangled in a web of secrets and lies that make it hard to know who's on which side of the law.
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Joe Pickett Series Bundle (Book 7-12)
C.J. Box - 2019
Attorney Clay McCann admitted to slaughtering four campers in a back-country corner of Yellowstone National Park - a 'free-fire' zone with no residents or jurisdiction. In this remote fifty-square-mile stretch a man can literally get away with murder. Now McCann's a free man, and Pickett's about to discover his motive - one buried in Yellowstone's rugged terrain, and as dangerous as the man who wants to keep it hidden.Blood TrailGame wardens have found a man dead at a mountain camp-strung up, gutted, and flayed as if he were the elk he'd been hunting. Is the murder the work of a deranged anti-hunting activist or of a lone psychopath with a personal vendetta? Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett is the man to track the murderer and stop him, before someone declares open season on humans...Below ZeroSix years ago, Joe Pickett's foster daughter, April, was murdered. Now, someone is leaving phone messages claiming to be the dead girl. As his family struggles with the disturbing event, he discovers that the calls have been placed from locations where serious environmental crimes have occurred. And as the phone calls grow closer, so does the danger...Nowhere to RunIt's Joe Pickett's last week as a temporary game warden in the mountain town of Baggs, Wyoming, but his conscience won't let him leave without checking out the strange reports coming from the wilderness: camps looted, tents slashed, elk butchered. What awaits him is like something out of an old campfire tale, except this story is all too real-and all too deadly.Cold WindA body hangs from a wind turbine, a bullet hole in his chest: Earl Alden, millionaire property developer. His wife, Missy, is the prime suspect. It wouldn't be a problem for Joe Pickett, if Missy weren't his mother-in-law. Missy claims she's innocent, and for his wife's sake, Joe would like to believe her... but all the early signs point to her being as guilty as sin. With his wife on one side and the law on the other, Joe needs to get to the truth before his family is ripped apart.Force of NatureYears ago Joe Pickett's best friend, Nate Romanowski, was in a Special Forces unit abroad when his commander, John Nemecek, did something terrible. Now the high-ranking government official and cold-blooded sociopath is determined to eliminate anyone who knows about it - like Nate, who's hidden himself away in Wyoming's Bighorn Mountains. And he knows exactly how Nemecek will do it-by targeting Nate's friends to draw him out. That includes his friend, game warden Joe Pickett, and Pickett's entire family. The only way to fight back is outside the law. Nate knows he can do it, but he isn't sure about his straight-arrow friend. And all their lives could depend on it.
Wanton Regard
Geoffrey Neil - 2014
Soon, a "chance" meeting with him later that the man knows the most intimate, guarded details about her life. He is the stalker from hell. Hailey tries to escape his terrifying advances, but he won't let anything come between them –not her protective best friend, her guard-gated home or her jealous, gun-toting husband. When she finally discovers his horrific plans for her, she's forced to do the unimaginable.Wanton Regard takes you on a white-knuckle ride with jaw-dropping twists and turns. The story will leave you wondering which of a thousand ways someone is watching you.
The High Life of Simone St. Lo
F.E. Arliss - 2019
At twenty-five, Simone Martin secretly inherits the title ‘Countess of St. Lo’! Along with this entry into the peerage, kept secret from her deeply troubled family, comes an ancient estate in France, complete with a constantly crumbling castle, a slice of fly-fishing paradise, a few acres of lousy orchards and an array of colorful staff that keep her on her toes. With wild-spirits, high hopes and the aid of her ferocious French paternal-grandmother and down to earth farm-family roots, this young woman takes on kooky French society, murderous neighbors and an odd batch of neurotically inclined villagers. Taking help from what could be dubious sources, Simone’s plan to turn her Euro-sucking legacy into a thoroughly modern, money-making machine will need a marketing-miracle and an assortment of divine interventions.
The Senator
Ken Fite - 2016
Ex-Navy SEAL and federal agent Blake Jordan sets out to rescue his friend and mentor along with his partner, Agent Jami Davis. Against all odds, Jordan must untangle the web of confusion to find the senator before it's too late.In this action-packed debut novel, Ken Fite has written a roller-coaster of a thriller sure to keep you turning the pages late into the night.
Dangerous Habits
Susan Hunter - 2014
When she links the two deaths to a shocking scandal, the story she uncovers could be her last byline.
Dangerous Habits is the first standalone book in the Leah Nash series of complex, fast-paced murder mysteries featuring quick-witted dialogue, daring female characters, and plots with lots of twists and turns.
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What readers are saying about Susan Hunter and DANGEROUS HABITS:
★★★★★ "Highly recommended! I can't wait for the next Leah Nash novel!”★★★★★ “This was a great read! The intricate plot is woven together with intrigue, well-crafted settings and complex characters, all of which draw the reader into the story and keep one engaged until the very end. I look forward to the next Leah Nash mystery thriller.”★★★★★ “I started to read this to help me go to sleep, but the sun just came up. I couldn’t put it down even for a short break. Surprise after surprise. I guarantee you will not see the end coming. Enjoy!”★★★★★ “Ms. Hunter’s whole Leah Nash series is as good as, maybe better than, most of the bestselling books I’ve read. Do you ever find a book that’s so good you just have to have all the books by that author? This is it .... Get these books, you’ll love them.”
Dear Crossing
Marjorie Swift Doering - 2012
Ray Schiller, a man with private demons of his own, follows the trail of evidence to Minneapolis where he teams up to investigate the murder with Homicide Detective Dick Waverly. The scrutiny of the widower's carefully guarded personal life threatens to ruin the executive's bid for his father-in-law's company. Ambition, greed, love and hate result in startling consequences, which threaten to stall the investigation while an unthinkable incident makes Ray the focus of a harrowing Internal Affairs investigation. His shaky marriage and law-enforcement career rest in the balanace. Meanwhile, Ray discovers the significance of several seemingly unrelated events, which turn the murder case on its head.
The Potential
David A. Davies - 2014
Reacting from his usual instinct tempered with exceptional judgment, he saves the life of the US ambassador to Germany during a terrorist attack and gives the CIA further reason to prepare Chris for a greater role in the security of the United States. Should Chris, a British citizen, dream so big? Will he live long enough to make dreams a reality? Life-threatening danger seems to follow him everywhere, even in his travels outside Europe. Does he have a wild imagination, as some in the FBI think, or is someone truly out to kill him? In The Potential, David Davies ties together a plot twisting with terror, intrigue, and suspense spanning continents. From Germany to the Middle East to the United States, including the hallowed halls of Congress, justice struggles to leave its mark.
Shock
Marc Timms - 2020
The mysterious death is reminiscent of the work of a serial killer who terrorized Katie’s hometown five years ago. The police arrested Katie’s brother for the murders, but the trial and her brother’s behavior left her with plenty of questions.After a second killing nearby, Katie is afraid that the Shock Killer, the man who had forced her into hiding, was back to involve her in a second round of murders. Even more frightening is the fact that Katie might have to come face-to-face with her brother and learn the truth of the murders.
When an Angel Whispers
Tess Thompson - 2015
Macy Adams, a beautiful law student, is abducted and assaulted by a vicious serial killer known as the Bayou Butcher. She escapes with the help of a guardian angel and Houston Police Detective Chance O’Brien. After fleeing her captor, she begins to build a new life, but is plunged back into his murderous grasp by circumstances beyond her control. More women are murdered, and only Macy can help the FBI catch the Butcher before he kills again. What they don’t know is that this time he is out for revenge and is pulling Macy into his carefully planned trap.
The King Tides
James Swain - 2018
And that of strangers, too. Wherever she goes, she’s being watched. Each stalker is different from the last, except for one thing—their alarming obsession with Nicki.Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Nicki’s father is turning to someone who can protect her: retired private detective and ex–Navy SEAL Jon Lancaster. Teaming up with FBI agent and former abduction victim Beth Daniels, Lancaster can help—his way. He’s spent most of his career dispatching creeps who get off on terrorizing the vulnerable. Unlicensed, and unrestricted, he plays dirty…But this case is unusual. Why so many men? Why this one girl? Does Nicki have something to hide? Or do her parents?Trawling the darkest depths of southern Florida, Lancaster faces a growing tide of secrets and deception. And the deeper he digs, the more he realizes that finding the truth won’t be easy. Because there’s more to this case than meets the eye.