Book picks similar to
The West Country Crime Mysteries: books 1-3 by Bernie Steadman
families
tbr
1-mystery
betrayals
The Silent Ones #2
James Hunt - 2018
He had decided he wanted a fresh start, and that was exactly what he got. Life has never been better for Seattle’s most storied detective. But Grant knows better than anyone that all good things come to an end, and peace of mind has an expiration date.
The Evil Beneath
A.J. Waines - 2013
Teaming up with local detective, DCI Brad Madison, Juliet strives to find out why she has been targeted and how it’s connected to the accident that killed her brother, nineteen years ago.Can Juliet use her knowledge of the human psyche to get inside the mind of the killer, before another body is found under a bridge? And how long before Juliet herself becomes the next target?
Killer Triggers: Murder Comes Down to Sex, Drugs, or Money
Joe Kenda - 2021
This isn't an exact science, of course. Any given murder can have multiple triggers. Sex and revenge seem to be common partners in crime. Rage, money, and revenge make for a dangerous trifecta of triggers, as well.This book offers my memories of homicide cases that I investigated or oversaw. In each case, I examine the trigger that led to death. I chose this theme for the book because even though the why of a murder case may not be critical in an investigation, it can sometimes lead us to the killer.And even if we solve a case without knowing the trigger, the why still intrigues us, disrupting our dreams and lingering in our minds, perhaps because each of us fears the demons that lie within our own psyche-the triggers waiting to be pulled.
The Heart Keeper
Alex Dahl - 2019
Two daughters. One heart. When Alison's beloved daughter Amalie drowns, her world turns impenetrably dark. Alison tries to hold it together throughout the bleak Fall, but in the darkest days of the Norwegian Winter she completely falls apart.In another family, Amalie's passing is a new beginning. After years of severe health problems, young Kaia receives a new heart on the morning after Amalie drowns. Her mother Iselin has struggled to raise Kaia on her own and now things are finally looking up. She's even made an affluent new friend who's taken a special interest in her and her daughter.Alison knows she shouldn't interfere, but really, she's just trying to help Iselin and Kaia. She can give them the life they never had, and by staying close to them, she can still be with her daughter. Kaia is just like her, and surely, something of Amalie must live on in her. As her grief transforms into a terrifying obsession, Alison won't let anything stop her from getting back what she has lost.
In My Wake
Ruth Harrow - 2020
Now Hannah receives the shock of her life when she is told her sister, April, has committed suicide. Distraught, she returns to her childhood home for the funeral.But someone who refuses to forget the past has sickening shocks in store for the grieving family and soon latch onto Hannah instead, leaving her looking over her shoulder at every turn.Now the nightmares aren't only inside Hannah's head ...The close-knit community is rattled as devastating secrets and unspeakable truths are shaken up and it seems everyone has a secret to hide ...Hannah feels her grip on reality slipping as she starts to suspect even those closest to her - including her husband Will. April had uttered words of warning against him, but was it merely jealousy? Or does Hannah truly have something to fear from the father of her child?Could the danger be closer to home than she realises?And why is Hannah’s own father insisting that the past should remain in the past?
A Darker Sky
Mari Jungstedt - 2014
To solve the case, Chief Inspector Diego Quintana gets unexpected help from Swedish journalist Sara Moberg, who runs the Scandinavian newspaper on the island, as well as from handsome former investigator Kristian Wede. But not even that can stop the killer from striking again.As the death toll rises, the mood darkens, and Sara and Kristian race to find the killer before another tourist falls prey. But who is the culprit—an island local with a grudge against the tourists, a visitor on the run from trouble in her home country, the womanizing local yoga instructor, or the person they least suspect?
Sweet Tea and Second Chances
Kelsey Browning - 2015
That’s what Sheriff Teague Castro promised the good people of Bartell County, Georgia. But when he reunites with his first love, his supporters suddenly wonder if he’s too distracted to uphold his sworn commitment.When Jenny buys an expensive house Teague could never afford on a sheriff’s salary, small-town gossip runs wild. If he can’t take care of his own family, is he fit to protect a whole county? Until his job is secure, Teague presses pause on his love life.But when a crisis calls him to the front line, it triggers memories from a tragic case still haunting him. Only this time, Jenny’s life is on the line, and the confrontation could quickly turn Teague’s forever into never. ***A PICK YOUR PASSION Novella from Kelsey and Nancy – pick your passion level – sweet or heat as you enjoy the continuing romance of Sheriff Teague Castro and Jenny Cady. Let us know how you like the PYP feature by emailing PyP@TheGrannySeries.com.
The Dangers of an Ordinary Night
Lynne Reeves - 2021
On a chilly fall evening at the prestigious Performing Arts High School of Boston, best friends Tali Carrington and June Danforth go missing after auditioning for a play. They're last seen in grainy, out-of-focus surveillance footage that shows them walking side-by-side. Two days later in a town south of Boston, Tali is found disoriented and traumatized by the ocean's edge, while June is pronounced dead at the scene.Tali's mother, Nell, is so bent on protecting her daughter from further emotional harm that she enlists the help of Cynthia Rawlins, a renowned therapist for families. Meanwhile, Detective Fitz Jameson is assigned to the investigation and dives into the lives of high-performing students who may be harboring dark secrets.As Nell, Cynthia, and Fitz confront their own contributions to the tragedies and scandals that beleaguer them, their lives turn out to be more deeply intertwined than they'd ever imagined. And they must decide what lengths they're willing to go to protect the people they love while also saving themselves.
The Devil's Song
Lauren Stahl - 2017
Kate views the assignment as her chance to not only convict a serial killer, but to make a name for herself--one other than "the judge's daughter." She is determined to show her boss, her family, and the public that she is more than her father's shadow.As Kate delves into the case, she becomes convinced that she shares a personal link with the killer, who seems to know intimate details about a tragic childhood event Kate suffered--an event she thought she'd left in the past. It's the way the victims are being posed--naked and dumped in open graves. Paranoia sets in, the night terrors return, and Kate has an imminent sense that she's the killer's next victim. Kate no longer feels assigned to the case...she is the case, and solving it is her only chance for survival.
Her Sister's Lie
Debbie Howells - 2018
Was it an accident or did she know her killer?Abe's life changes overnight when he goes to live with his aunt, Hannah, who hasn't seen him for ten years and who doesn't want him any more than he wants to be there.His silence disturbs her - Hannah's convinced he knows more than he's letting on. But while the police investigate her sister's death, Hannah's nightmare begins. Unexplained things start happening around her, but as Hannah's behaviour becomes more erratic, no-one believes her. Then she finds some letters that threaten to expose a secret she believed had been buried forever. If Abe has read them, he knows...
Til Death Do Us Part
Leo Petracci - 2016
For Frederick and the inhabitants of his world, reincarnation is real, but people are always reborn in the country in which they died. Now Frederick seeks to pull off his greatest heist yet—enter a maximum security prison, where souls are trapped through reincarnation, and assemble the greatest criminal team that has ever lived. But for Frederick, the heist is just the beginning of a plan centuries in the making: a plan of revenge for unforgivable crimes committed a millennium before. And in this world, even death cannot keep Frederick from success.
The Railway Girls
Maisie Thomas - 2020
Perfect for fans of Nancy Revell and Ellie Dean.
In February, 1922, at the western-most entrance to Victoria Station in Manchester, a massive plaque was unveiled. Beneath a vast tiled map showing the lines of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway network, a series of seven bronze panels recorded the names of the men of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway who gave their lives for King and Country in the Great War – a total of 1,460 names.In March, 1940, a group of women of varying ages and backgrounds, stand in front of the memorial, ready to do their bit in this new World War..._________________________________________Mabel is determined to make a fresh start as a railway girl where no one will know the terrible thing she did and she can put her guilt behind her... Or is she just running away?Meanwhile Joan will never be as good as her sister, or so her Gran keeps telling her. A new job as a station clerk could be just the thing she needs to forget her troubles at home.And Dot is further into her forties than she cares to admit. Her beloved sons are away fighting and her husband – well, the less said about him the better. Ratty old sod. She is anxious to become a railway girl just like her dear mam – anything to feel she is supporting the sons she prays for every night.
The three women start off as strangers, but soon form an unbreakable bond that will get them through the toughest of times...
Sunset in the Mists - The Dark Draws the Curtain (The Evynsford Chronicles #1)
Julianne T. Grey - 2018
First the dead ship rolled into the dock, then fog swallowed the community and then the disappearances occurred. One child vanished from her bed before sunrise. Then twin brothers did not return from their chores. As the cries for the local watchmen to do something – anything – grew, so did the number of abducted children. By the time the local watchmen called to Preston for professional constables, there were more children missing than accounted for in the panicked township. When Inspector Arthur Eldermann arrives in the mist-choked community, not a single child under the age of thirteen but older than three remains, and there are no witnesses, no bodies and no clues as to why. The Inspector, a lapsed clergyman of cold demeanor and sneering wit, has his work cut out for him among the surly and insular townsfolk. His one ray of hope lies in Miss Regina Hollferd, governess of the rural schoolhouse, whose dedication and knowledge may hold the key to the disappearance of so many of her students. Her zeal and diligence begin to touch something in Inspector Eldermann long left to the dark, and he finds himself enthralled and repelled in equal measure by the soft-spoken yet potent woman. He will need all the help he can get, as things are moving in the mists around Evynsford, and the great wheels of a dark, terrible engine have already been set in motion. Can daring, wit and rekindled faith find the stolen children and perhaps even forestall the shadow looming ever closer?
Loss Lake
Amber Cowie - 2020
In remote McNamara, nestled in the northern mountains, she can escape her grief, guilt, and pain. But the day Mallory arrives, death follows her, lapping just outside her door. A woman’s body is found floating in Loss Lake—and it’s not the first death on these shores. Locals talk about a monster in the depths with an almost disturbing reverence.Sergeant Joel Benson understands Mallory’s unease. Years ago, his own brother was killed in the home Mallory now owns. But that was just a tragic accident. Wasn’t it? The more Mallory investigates, the more fearful she becomes. Maybe there are monsters in McNamara. Maybe some have followed her there.As a winter storm bears down, the refuge Mallory sought has become a trap. It’s time to face her past, the secrets behind the town’s friendly faces, and a reckoning that will shatter the eerie, icy calm of Loss Lake.
The Anniversary
Amy Gutman - 2001
It?s been five years since the execution of Steven Gage, a devious, charming psychopath who took the lives of more than a hundred women. In those five years, three women connected with his case have moved on. His attorney has rid herself of the stigma of defending Gage. A true crime writer has gone on to new projects after her bestseller about his rampage. And Steven?s ex-girlfriend has made a new life for herself one where she won?t be reminded that she once shared her home with a monster. But someone hasn?t moved on. On the fifth anniversary of Gage?s execution, each of the women gets a private note... a chilling message that lets all three women know they haven?t been forgotten, and that in someone?s dark imagination, Gage?s legacy of terror lives on. At the time of his sentencing, Gage issued a terrifying edict that all three women hoped was meaningless. As threats against them turn deadly, the past explodes into the present. And one woman is in the fight of her life to uncover who is really responsible a killer who is determined to start up the string of murders right where they stopped.THE ANNIVERSARY is another smart, razor-sharp thriller from a writer whose work has been hailed as "addictive" (People), "marvelous" (Jeffery Deaver) and "keep[ing] us guessing until the very end"(Redbook).