Book picks similar to
The Fugitive's Trail by J.C. Fields
mystery
ebook
thriller
fiction
She's Not There / Trespass / Girl Undone
Marla Madison - 2016
The series opener, SHE’S NOT THERE, introduces TJ Peacock, a Milwaukee-based PI, a former cop struggling to make it in her own business. Her life intersects with that of Lisa Rayburn, a clinical psychologist who has just found evidence that abused women are going missing in the Milwaukee area. When the police inform Lisa that without hard evidence, they cannot open an investigation, she joins TJ on a mission to reveal foul play at work in the disappearances. TJ and Lisa put their lives on the line as they attempt to unearth a devious serial killer. In the next two books of the series, TRESPASS and GIRL UNDONE, TJ and Lisa maintain their friendship and use their skills to uncover a cold case from the past and a deadly plot by a serial killer against a crime blogger.
Twisted Perception
Bob Avey - 2005
When a bizarre murder catapults Elliot into his past, he's brought face-to-face with the fabric of his nightmares. A shiny necklace dangles from the rearview mirror of the vehicle where Lagayle Zimmerman, the victim, is discovered. Nine years earlier, in Porter, a similar necklace swung from the mirror of a Mustang that harbored the mutilated bodies of Elliot's friends, Jonathan Alexander (Johnnie Boy), and Marcia Barnes. Most of the town believed Elliot killed his classmates, but no arrest was ever made. Risking his job and his sanity, Elliot digs into his past to solve the murders and expose the truth.
The Someday File
Jean Heller - 2014
In Jean Heller’s first mystery featuring the scrappy newspaper columnist, Deuce finds out in short order that if you mess with organized crime, you have to be tough—and you’d better be as much detective as reporter. When she walks into a seedy neighborhood bar in a suburb of Chicago–-all six feet of her, topped with auburn curls—she’s searching for a human-interest story. What she finds is Vinnie Colangelo, an aging mobster living on bad beer, cheap bourbon and regret for the life he wasted.Vinnie hints at secrets much bigger than his rap sheet should entitle him to, and Deuce immediately discovers that somebody’s willing to kill to keep those secrets buried. She uncovers a series of crimes committed over nearly six decades, and, as her human interest story morphs into a hard-boiled, action-packed mystery, she finds herself dead center in a storm of threats and reprisals from the mob.It’s not enough that the mob’s after her, and corrupt government is concealing the evidence that would explain why; even her own editors, frightened of lawsuits and losing subscribers, want her off the story.Fortunately, she has many allies: a network of loyal co-workers and contacts, even an ardent new admirer. But which ones can she trust? At least one of them, she suspects, is hiding a secret–- corruption? Murder? The veteran reporter knows: if you’re talking Chicago crime scene—it’s probably both.Though attacked in her home, stalked, and shot at, Deuce doggedly batters the well-oiled machinery of terror that has kept the secret buried so long. Heller meticulously builds her heroine’s investigation, as the evidence--and the danger--converge in a white-knuckling confrontation.
Foreign Involvement: A Chuck Winters Thriller
Robert E. Smith - 2018
He soon gets caught up with a nemesis character that spews death and destruction, hiding throughout the world like a chameleon---causing Winters to leave his serene retirement and take chase.
The History Teacher
Susan Bacon - 2019
Nearby, a CIA officer lies buried under two feet of snow. Their secret meeting—sabotaged. When Emma Quinn gets a call in her Manhattan apartment—your grandmother, found dead—she has no reason to suspect foul play. But she is drawn into an intrigue that harks back to the beginnings of the Cold War—and forced to confront the truth about her family and history as we know it.
Death's Disciple
James Whitworth - 2013
Mabel Downing has been brutally murdered.She has been strangled -- and her mouth filled with cassette tape and a copy of Bram Stoker’s Dracula has been left next to her body.There is one obvious suspect - Charlotte Sanderson who discovered the body.But Miller has been having a relationship with Charlotte - and refuses to believe she could be guilty of such a terrible crime. But if not her, who is the killer?Is Miller allowing his personal life to interfere with the investigation?What is the connection to Dracula - the Victorian gothic masterpiece partly set in the Yorkshire coastal town? And will the murderer strike again?Miller has to find out - before it is too late. 'Death’s Disciple' is a gripping contemporary crime novel set in the North Yorkshire coastal town of Whitby. It is the first in a series featuring Detective Inspector Miller and is perfect for fans of Peter James and Ian Rankin. "An intricate, compelling crime story that kept me turning the pages." - Tom Kasey, best-selling author of 'Trade-Off'. "You can taste the salt in the air...and the fear." - Robert Foster, best-selling author of 'The Lunar Code'. James Whitworth is a writer and cartoonist, Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.
Digital Velocity: A dark romantic suspense
Reily Garrett - 2017
psychopathic killer.One survivor.Armed with snark and grit, white-hat hacker Lexi thrives on leveling the playing field against criminals. Never did she imagine meeting her equal on a keyboard.When a friend is murdered, she discovers the killer's digital betting arena on the dark web. The cunning psychopath plays a deadly game and leaves riddles to the next victim's identity hidden in obscure clues.In seeking justice, Lexi directs anonymous tips to Detective McAllister, a cop hard-wired for justice, and inadvertently sends him into a firefight. Her intent to stop the killing spree backfires and centers the killer's crosshairs on her.The dark net houses a playground for the morally depleted and criminally insane few hackers can easily navigate. However, bits and bytes are Lexi's weapons of choice, anonymity her shield.With a dog for protection and sarcasm for armor, she straddles the law to bring a killer to justice while navigating the murky waters of betrayal, deception, and passion.
The Slay of the Santas
Kacey Gene - 2019
It’s Christmas time in the snowy, quaint town of Middlebridge, Wisconsin, and Jennifer Hunter -- a sweet, organized second-grade teacher who has a mind for sleuthing -- is ready to spend her Christmas break crocheting, baking, and relaxing. But before the school bell can ring for Christmas break, her best friend and Middlebridge’s Lieutenant, Jake Hollow, shows up in her classroom, but he’s not there to bring a cup of Christmas cheer. There’s a murder in town, and he needs Jennifer’s help solving the crime. Jennifer soon discovers that not only is the killer targeting retired Santa Clauses, but he’s also staging his victims like scenes from the Charles Dickens novel A CHRISTMAS CAROL. As Jake and Jennifer follow the clues, more questions than answers start to arise: What is this Society of Santas they keep hearing about? Why is the killer leaving behind empty pudding packages at each crime scene? And what in the world does the book A CHRISTMAS CAROL have to do with the victims? Add to that a tight-lipped orphan boy who’s housing a pack of puppies in one of the victim’s buildings, a quirky book store owner who lies about ever having sold a copy of A CHRISTMAS CAROL and Jennifer’s date with a fellow school teacher that ends in total disaster. In between holiday parties, family obligations, baking, and creating handmade Christmas presents, Jennifer must craft together an investigation that catches the killer and saves the Santa Clauses in town. Otherwise, the night before Christmas might be their last. This clean, cozy mystery will captivate readers with Jennifer’s amateur sleuthing that entangles her in snow-deep shenanigans, cryptic car chases, and more chocolate pudding than she ever imagined. Readers will fall in love with the quick-witted and craft-loving Jennifer Hunter, who is down-to-earth and has a heart as warm as a crackling fire on a cold winter’s night. The charming friendship between Jennifer and Lieutenant Jake Hollow epitomizes the quaint, familial feel that lives in small towns, especially those sleepy hamlets with snow-capped houses and a love for Christmas. THE SLAY OF THE SANTAS is an exhilarating page-turner with cliffhangers around every corner, and it will bring the joy of the holiday season all year round. Readers who love cozy mysteries like Jessica Beck’s PUMPKIN PLEAS, Betty Hechtman’s BY HOOK OR BY CROOK, and Joanna Campbell Slan’s KIKI LOWENSTEIN SERIES and readers who have holiday favorites like Charles Dickens’s A CHRISTMAS CAROL, Louisa May Alcott’s LITTLE WOMEN, and O’Henry’s “THE GIFT OF THE MAGI,” will be enchanted by Kacey Gene’s THE SLAY OF THE SANTAS.
Follow Me Down
Gordon Mackinney - 2017
Six years earlier, Drax Enterprises’ negligence killed his father and left his mother strung out on Valium. Lucas longs to punish the corrupt behemoth of Cincinnati real estate development, but what can one man do? "Plenty," says old Mr. Blumenfeld, Lucas's boss and a former photojournalist with too many secrets. Evidence to bury Drax exists, he claims, but to find it, Lucas must breach the city's welded-shut subway system. Lucas takes the plunge, aided by his best friend and moral compass, Reuben Klein. The deeper the duo infiltrates the dangerous underground, the further back they turn the clock. They learn that Drax's corruption intertwined with fascism's rise in Germany. That campfire tales of a subway crypt were true. That no one can be trusted, not even Lucas's boss.
Alternative Outcome
Peter Rowlands - 2017
What if you published a book on the web, and it had unintended consequences? What if people who read it jumped to conclusions about your knowledge of real events?The leading character, Mike, has written a mystery novel as a diversion from the rat race of his day job, basing it very loosely on a true story. He opts for self-publishing as a way to get the book out there, and a sequence of unsettling events follows.One of the key characters in Mike’s book is loosely based on a girl he remembers from childhood. He never kept in touch with her, but now he is persuaded by well-meaning friends to try and track her down. Yet the harder he looks, the more intrigue he finds himself unravelling.As he starts piecing together the real mystery surrounding the missing girl, he finds himself pitched against increasingly persistent adversaries. Mistaken assumptions lead him down various false trails, but he gradually starts to unearth some surprises he wasn’t expecting.
Concealment
Rose Edmunds - 2015
But beneath the successful façade, Amy has secrets she’d rather her bully-boy boss Ed didn’t discover—like her troubled past and the little voice she hears in her head… When a junior colleague is murdered, Amy’s fragile equilibrium is shattered. She suspects a client’s fraud links Ed to the killing, but is her paranoia working overtime? As Ed tries to discredit her, Amy fears for her job, her sanity and her life. But she’s a tough professional, not a quitter, and somehow she must find a way to fight back...
Kill Shot: A Jack Lisbon Crime Thriller
Blair Denholm - 2021
Missing people. Dark secrets. Only one driven detective can unearth the truth.
Detective Sergeant Jack Lisbon travelled halfway round the world to escape his troubled past. Mutilated bodies were never part of the plan.A body found in the mangroves at first appears to be evidence of a frenzied crocodile attack. But it soon becomes obvious this is a horrific murder.And when a popular MMA fighter disappears, police now face a possible double homicide. The list of suspects grows longer, but no one in the closed fighting community is talking.Can hard-nosed ex-boxer Detective Sergeant Jack Lisbon solve the mystery before the panicked town of Yorkville goes into total meltdown?Join DS Lisbon and his partner Detective Claudia Taylor on a heart-thumping ride through the steamy tropics of Northern Australia as they hunt for a killer out of control.Justice served with a side order of vengeance.
Stealing Power
Bo Brennan - 2013
The charismatic star of New Scotland Yard is public relations gold. Everyone loves him. Well, almost everyone. For three years, a serial rapist has been taunting and tormenting him, sending him DVD copies of every drug facilitated rape he commits. It's been one year since he received the last DVD and the trail is stone cold dead. When a new DVD arrives out of the blue, a familiar landmark takes him away from the job and life he loves and back to his home town. The last place on earth he wants to be.Detective India Kane does not suffer fools gladly, unfortunately she's surrounded by them. Obsessively private, she keeps her head down, gets on with her job, and doesn't bother anybody. She likes life that way. When people bother her, things have a tendency to get messy. She's just landed her first lead case - a drug facilitated rape investigation - and doesn't take kindly to the arrogant newcomer parachuted in to snatch it from her.The hunt is on.But the rapist is just warming up. As he escalates, so does his power. And he won't stop until he's stolen it all . . . even if it means bringing his own brand of terror directly to those who hunt him.When their lives collide - it won't just be the victims' worlds that are torn apart.
Clean Kill
C.E. Nelson - 2016
It was the chance of a lifetime for the band, touring with Prince, and a friend of a friend had a decked out tour bus they could use. Things couldn't be better - except for the body in the bus. A very clean body.Don Trask, Lead Agent for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, finds it odd that someone would go to the trouble to bleach a body. It was strange. And things were about to become even more strange when additional bodies in Minneapolis and along the north shore of Lake Superior begin to appear. All very clean.Don and his twin brother Dave, Sheriff of Lake County Minnesota, must now quickly stop the murderer before word gets out that a serial killer may be roaming the state - and another body is bleached.
Readers of John Sanford, Jeffrey Deaver, Michael Connelly, William Kent Krueger and like authors will enjoy this fast-paced thriller. Scroll up to order now.
What readers are saying:"There's several suspects and then a twist at the end you never figured on. This was a good enjoyable read." - PWA"Good Read! I liked the characters and the fast-paced gameplay." - Lynda Hanson"Good Read. Would recommend this book to anyone who likes this genre." - Martha Allen
The New Orleans Go Cup Chronicles Vol 1-3: Rescued By A Kiss, Dead and Breakfast, Drive Thru Murder
Colleen Mooney - 2018
Brandy Alexander’s the real deal--yes, that’s her real name and she’s not even a stripper, although her best friend Julia is. YOU WILL LOVE THESE: The offbeat way Brandy goes about it all has a definite whiff of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum; fans of Stephanie Bond, Jana DeLeon, Joan Hess, Lisa Lutz, Sarah Strohmeyer, and Elaine Viets may also find a kindred spirit in this New Orleans dawlin’. And animal lovers will flat-out swoon! Book 1 RESCUED BY A KISS Brandy gets an unexpected KISS TO KILL FOR. Brandy still lives with her parents in the Irish Channel and she’s sort of semi kind of engaged to the boy next door, who’s—what else?—one of NOLA’s finest. And Italian! Dante, the BF, is such a thoroughgoing New Orleanian he always manages Mardi Gras parade duty on his own block. So you'd think Brandy might be a little self-conscious a suave Svengali in one of the gentlemen’s walking clubs mesmerizes her into a big fat Mardi Gras smooch right in front of him. But not a bit. Because after all, it's Mardi Gras, and also for another good reason--that kiss was long, slow, hot—unlike any kiss I’d ever had in my life. She makes a date to meet Mr. Great Kisser after the parade (Yes! Right in front of Mr. Right Next Door) but –horrors--arrives just in time to see him get shot. Although fortunately not shot dead. Before he passes out, he pulls her close and whispers, “Save Isabella. And with that we’re off on a screwball chase all over town, from Lee Circle to the Lakefront, with a stop at Charity Hospital, and finally to the French Quarter’s favorite gay dance club, at all times accompanied by Schnauzers, one of them named Geaux Cup. Vol. 2 DEAD AND BREAKFAST--DEAD IN BED…WHO YOU GONNA CALL? Brandy Alexander is a true and trusted friend – not to mention something of a detective-- who else would you call if you found a full-blown murder mystery in your bedroom? So when Brandy’s best friend Julia, the ex-stripper-turned hotelier, finds her first and only guest covered in blood, lying half on and half off a broken bed—with Julia’s panties swinging from the chandelier – she gets Brandy on the horn. And Brandy does the only sensible thing—makes coffee...with a shot of whiskey--then calls the police. And who should respond, but her recent ex-boyfriend, Dante, with a brand new daggers-looking female partner? But wait! This is not nearly complicated enough for Noo Awlins, where, after all, everybody knows everybody! Julia’s lawyer is none other than Jiff, Brandy’s new squeeze (and the reason Dante’s the ex-boyfriend). As the suspense mounts, the romance blossoms, and not just one. Jiff’s looking more and more like Mr. Right: a 100% Class Act, with his own Schnauzer and a soft spot for Brandy’s three. But Dante makes it clear that he doesn’t plan to go quietly; the former Mr. Right Next Door has a few very sexy moves he’s been holding in reserve, which knock Brandy’s socks--and truth be told, her panties --off! DRIVE THRU MURDER, Book 3 When Brandy pulls into the drive-thru, she expects to order a box of CLUCK IT!—CHICKEN BY THE BUCKET, not hear gunshots and see someone in high heels and a black leather miniskirt climbing out of the pick-up window dragging a body. Her boyfriend, New Orleans Detective Dante Deedler, is on this case and hers as bodies keep turning up and she knows about them before he does.