Book picks similar to
By Any Means by Kurt Ellis


pick-me-a-z-author-challenge
suspense
contemporary-fiction
crime

Star of the Morning


Pamela Jooste - 2007
    We were colored girls in a white world that didn’t want us."  Born on the wrong side of a racial divide in apartheid-torn Cape Town, young sisters Ruby and Rose exist in a world where they are not welcome. As part of the Cape Colored community, they are considered socially inferior, yet even within their own social group the sisters live in the poor end of town. Their father was killed when they were very small, so when their mother dies after a protracted illness, Ruby and Rose’s fate falls into the hands of Aunt Olive. Ruby knows without being told that their aunt’s home will not be opened up to them – charity does not extend to the poor relations who would cast a smudge on such a respectable house. Aunt Olive condemns her nieces to the local orphanage, relieving her conscience with monthly invitations to Sunday lunch. In the orphanage the girls grow up sheltered from a divided world that they do not yet fully understand, but the day approaches when Ruby and Rose must forge their own paths in life and confront the lessons that apartheid enforces. Like the award-winning Dance with a Poor Man’s Daughter, this beautifully observed novel of sisterly love once again displays Pamela Jooste’s poignant understanding of human nature.

The Best Of Enemies


Taylor Smith - 1997
    The Best Of Enemies by Taylor Smith released on Apr 24, 1997 is available now for purchase.

Dancing the Death Drill


Fred Khumalo - 2017
    A skirmish in a world-famous restaurant leaves two men dead and the restaurant staff baffled. Why did the head waiter, a man who’s been living in France for many years, lunge at his patrons with a knife?As the man awaits trial, a journalist hounds his long-time friend, hoping to expose the true story behind this unprecedented act of violence.Gradually, the extraordinary story of Pitso Motaung, a young South African who volunteered to serve with the Allies in the First World War, emerges. Through a tragic twist of fate, Pitso found himself on board the ss Mendi, a ship that sank off the Isle of Wight in February 1917. More than six hundred of his countrymen, mostly black soldiers, lost their lives in a catastrophe that official history largely forgot. One particularly cruel moment from that day will remain etched in Pitso’s mind, resurfacing decades later to devastating effect.Dancing the Death Drill recounts the life of Pitso Motaung. It is a personal and political tale that spans continents and generations, moving from the battlefields of the Boer War to the front lines in France and beyond. With a captivating blend of pathos and humour, Fred Khumalo brings to life a historical event, honouring both those who perished in the disaster and those who survived.

Kiss Me First


Lottie Moggach - 2007
    When Leila discovers the Web site Red Pill, she feels she has finally found people who understand her. A sheltered young woman raised by her mother, Leila has often struggled to connect with the girls at school; but on Red Pill, a chat forum for ethical debate, Leila comes into her own, impressing the Web site's founder, a brilliant and elusive man named Adrian. Leila is thrilled when Adrian asks to meet her, flattered when he invites her to be part of "Project Tess." Tess is a woman Leila might never have met in real life. She is beautiful, urbane, witty, and damaged. As they e-mail, chat, and Skype, Leila becomes enveloped in the world of Tess, learning every single thing she can about this other woman—because soon, Leila will have to become her. An ingeniously plotted novel of stolen identity, Kiss Me First is brilliantly frightening about the lies we tell—to ourselves, to others, for good, and for ill.

Rapid Falls


Amber Cowie - 2018
    The tragedy has become a local legend, but Cara has moved past her grief to have a successful career and a happy family. Pity about Anna. Recently released from incarceration, she’s struggling with addiction, guilt, and shame—a shattered life. Cara’s forgiveness seems to be the only thing that helps her pick up the pieces.But as Anna pulls herself together, her memories of that night on the bridge start to come into focus. And few of them match her sister’s.As past secrets unfold and nothing is what it seems anymore, Anna desperately searches for the truth. But what if Cara doesn’t want her to find it?

Before I left


Daisy White - 2017
     Nineteen-year-old runaway Ruby Baker and pregnant best friend Mary escape domestic violence in London to find a new home in Brighton. They join a glitzy set of party girls who are hell-bent on enjoying themselves in the new freedom of the 1960s. But their new life soon comes under threat. Ruby keeps spotting a tall stranger in the shadows. Someone is watching her. This man may have followed them from London. And Ruby fears her dark secret will be exposed. Then a murder at a local beauty spot brings more danger for the party-loving set, and the first murder is followed by a second. Rumours of occult sacrifices spread across town. In a breaktaking conclusion, Ruby faces a race against time to save someone very close to her. Can she keep her secrets from being exposed and her new life from being destroyed?

The Girl She Used to Be


David Cristofano - 2009
    In this book, a woman who has lost her identity to the Witness Protection Program flirts with trusting her life to the Mafioso hired to kill her.

Poacher


Leon Mare - 2012
    Poacher is an action-packed romantic thriller which gives the reader a glimpse of what the tourists never see - the real Africa. Sam is a man who puts his trust in the laws of nature rather than in those of man.The lucrative but dangerous trade in rhino horn and ivory has been re-classified to the status of organised crime.Sam lives as a hardened bachelor at the Nwanetzi outpost and has, for the first time in his life, fallen in love. He has a fiancée who loves him to distraction, and he is a contented man.All this changes when Linda enters his life. She is determined to make Sam her own, and she sets out to stalk him with the stealth of a hunting leopard.Sam Jenkins gives new meaning to the saying “Africa is not for sissies”.

The Judge


Farin Powell - 2016
    The story is impressive in the way it shifts readers’ sympathies … a gem of a legal thriller, full of plot twists and juicy secrets.” —Kirkus Reviews “Powell’s third novel, a legal thriller, reveals the complexities and tragedies of our criminal justice system. It shows how a series of unexpected events can force a law abiding individual to choose a criminal path. The story in this fast-paced novel will stay with the reader forever.” —Focus On Women Magazine From the courtroom to the kidnappers’ lair, Powell keeps the excitement in tune with a pitch-perfect delivery of realistically motivated characters and a nonstop series of powerfully tense situations. There is no lag in the book, from the opening pages depicting the kidnapping to the thrilling conclusion. ROSE GARRETT —Clarion Reviews As Judge Walter McNeil heads home from Washington, DC’s Superior Court, he is preoccupied with the triple-murder case assigned to him. But everything changes when a car pulls up next to him and a man asks for directions. Seconds later, McNeil is pushed into the backseat of the car, knocked unconscious, and whisked away into uncertainty. McNeil’s kidnappers are three ex-convicts whose lives have been ruined by the judge’s harsh sentences. Out for revenge, they feed the judge drugs, repeatedly threaten his life, and then imply they have his teenage daughter, Daphne, who disappeared four years earlier. After they tell him at gunpoint that he must rule favorably on a defense attorney’s motions in the triplemurder case, McNeil has no idea his ordeal is just beginning. Before it is over, the judge’s life will be turned upside down. Now it is up to criminal defense attorney Amanda Perkins and detective Aristo Manfredi to partner together in a race against time to unravel the clues and hopefully save the judge from a fate he never could have imagined. In this legal thriller, a judge is kidnapped and thrust into the midst of a twisted web that intertwines him with the lives of three ex-convicts and the mystery surrounding his missing daughter.

The Good Life Crisis


E.M. Smith - 2018
    Even the dead. A murder interrupts Special Agent Victor Loshak's vacation in Santa Fe -- a middle-aged man executed in his garage. The forensic details make it seem like a professional job, but the local police seem hell bent on pinning the killing on the dead man's wife anyway. The story doesn't quite add up. Loshak gets swept up in the hunt for the truth, even if he's still dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and sandals. The agent digs through the seedy underworld of New Mexico, finds it populated with colorful characters who may or may not be playing it straight. The details of the case grow increasingly bizarre. Everyone seems to have a different description of the dead man in the garage -- his personality, his passions, his hopes and dreams all vary wildly depending on who is telling the story. If Loshak can find out who the victim really was, he can solve the case. If not... Grab this short sequel to Beyond Good & Evil! Praise for the Victor Loshak series: "Was hooked from the 1st page and stayed up all night to finish it. Jaw dropping edge of your seat action packed thriller." - Mary Palmer "There is a terrifying serial killer in this book. And the story is riveting...I really enjoyed getting to know Loshak better. I love the way he consciously reads people and uses his knowledge of human behavior to function in everyday life, not just as a detective. I love his self awareness. I love his measured, experienced approach to life and his job and I love his honesty with himself and other people." - Melanie "I felt that adrenaline rush tingling down my spine. You’ll be left wondering did I lock the back door?...I began reading this book, and didn’t stop until I was finished at 3:00am." - C. Awbrey "This was a wonderful, well written (with all their great details), sinister crime story." - C. Munger "Great read. Mystery, thrills, suspense and the grim horror of what true crime sounds, feels, looks, and smells like. A must read whether you have or haven’t indulged before in this series." - Indiquinn

Innocence On Trial


Rick Bowers - 2019
    The young lawyer, a rising star with the Council Against Wrongful Convictions, is the last hope for inmate Eddie Nash, serving life without parole at the infamous Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York. Attica, one of the last of the classic "Big Houses," is still haunted by the 1971 inmate revolt and police siege that left dozens of prisoners and hostages dead. Appealing the cast in federal court and unraveling the facts, Laura uncovers evidence that Eddie was framed by the police for the murder — the brutal hanging of a troubled young woman in the remote upstate town of Eden. Realizing that the real 'Hangman of Eden' may still be at large, Laura also finds herself being stalked. Are the police out to stop her from exposing their frame up? Is the real killer seeking to keep her from re-opening the investigation? Teaming up with noted innocence investigator Charles Steel, she gets a lead on evidence that could clear her client and point to the real killer. With a new trial moving forward, Laura must find the truth, and prevail in court, without becoming the next victim.

Hadley & Grace


Suzanne Redfearn - 2021
    A woman who can’t even kill a spider, Hadley soon finds herself pushed to the limits as she fights to protect her family.Grace, new mother of baby Miles, desperately wants to put her rough past behind her for good, but she finds it impossible when her path crosses with Hadley’s, and her quest for a new start quickly spirals out of control and turns into a terrifying flight for survival.Stronger together than apart, the two find their fates inextricably entwined, and as the danger closes in, each must decide how much she is willing to risk for the other.A powerful story of self-discovery, Hadley and Grace is the heart-racing tale of two women facing insurmountable odds, racing to stay one step ahead of the trouble that is chasing them, and discovering new kinds of love and family along the way.

He Made Me (a Booker & Cash Story Book 2)


Oliver Tidy - 2017
    Someone is demanding a lot of money from her husband and she wants to know why.What do the dying words of one man - he made me - actually mean?As the mystery unfolds people will come undone and reputations will be ruined before the answer becomes clear.At the end of the day Mrs Swaine might end up wishing she’d let sleeping dogs lie… Also available in the Booker & Cash series: Bad Sons

So Hot MC Box Set


Blair Grey - 2019
    They are full length novels with happily ever afters.

Look What You Made Me Do


Kelvin F. Jackson
    Caught in the middle of snakes greed and decietful conspiracy, Destiny and her son are forced to go on the run from one of the most notoriously feared gangsters in Brooklyn.Icon's legacy and a trail of unsolved murders emits a prescnce that has evoked fear in the most ruthless of killers dating back twenty-plus years. When his son is murdered, Icon's team of hitmen AKA "The Death Squad" are sent to track down the young lady responsible for pulling the trigger.Donovan has just returned home from his tour of duty in Iraq. He left being a loving son to his mother and deeeply in love with his childhood sweetheart. Who he returned as was someone very different after living life as a part of the U.S Marines Special Forces Unit. He meets Destiny and her son and his life changes.Prepare to be captivated by the debut of a unique story teller and get ready for the ride of a lifetime as the fast paced page turner tells a tale of love, life and harsh realities.