Book picks similar to
Mistaken Trust: a crime suspense thriller by Shirley Spain
thriller
dark
mystery
romance
Dirty Little Secrets
Liliana Hart - 2011
Graves has seen a lot of dead bodies in her line of work...She's not only in the mortuary business, but she's also the coroner for King George County, Virginia. When a grisly murder is discovered in the small town of Bloody Mary, it's up to J.J. and her best friend, Detective Jack Lawson, to bring the victim justice.The murders are piling up...The residents of Bloody Mary are dropping like flies, and when a popular mystery writer shows up on J.J.'s doorstep with plans of writing his new book about the Bloody Mary Serial Killer, J.J. has to decide if he might be going above and beyond the call of duty to create the spine tinglers he's so well known for. It only clouds the issue and puts her reputation on the line when the attraction between them spirals out of control.And passions are rising...J.J and Jack are in a race against time. They discover each victim had a shocking secret, and the very foundation of J.J.'s life is in danger of crumbling when it turns out she’s harboring secrets of her own—secrets that make her the perfect victim in a deadly game.
Meridian File
C.B. Samet - 2018
He wants an uncomplicated assignment. As a celebrity stalker targets Aurora Meridian, the Rider team--Mason and Maxine--are drawn into the sinister underworld of the Russian mafia. Aurora and Mason fight for their lives and each other while Maxine Rider discovers the lines she must cross and the sacrifices to be made to keep her client and her team safe.
Finding Claire Fletcher
Lisa Regan - 2012
By morning she’s gone, and the one clue she left behind sends Connor on a desperate mission to unravel a decade-old mystery—her abduction.Presumed dead for the last ten years, Claire Fletcher has been living her life as “Lynn,” a woman in the terrifying grip of her captor. After her unforgettable night with Connor, Claire clings to the hope that she’ll see him again, that he’ll follow her into the dark. But anyone who gets close to Claire has a way of turning up dead…and she’s unwittingly made Connor next on the list.Before long, it becomes disturbingly clear: finding Claire Fletcher isn’t just going to be dangerous—it could be deadly.Revised edition: This edition of Finding Claire Fletcher includes editorial revisions.>
The Halo Effect
M.J. Rose - 2004
The novel is the first in a new series featuring the Butterfield Institute, a Manhattan sex therapy clinic employing psychiatrist Dr. Morgan Snow. One of Morgan's patients, the clever and selective call girl Cleo Thane, has written a memoir full of thinly disguised portraits of her clients, powerful men with odd fantasies and fetishes. She leaves this potentially explosive manuscript with Dr. Snow and then misses several appointments, causing Morgan to suspect foul play. Yet NYPD Det. Noah Jordain and his team, diligently pursuing leads in what's become a gory, ritualistic series of prostitute murders, have no evidence that Cleo, whose clientele puts her in a class by herself, might be a victim. Noah and Morgan are drawn to each other, but when Morgan can't persuade Noah to devote more effort to the search for Cleo, she determines to go undercover and meet Cleo's principal clients herself. Ill-equipped for this masquerade, Morgan is soon in over her head and in peril. The mystery takes second place to the catalogue of sexual eccentricities, but Cleo is an engaging guide to the world of dysfunction Rose painstakingly constructs.
The Needle House
Robin Roughley - 2013
Young Billy Jones comes from a notorious family of drunks and thieves. So, when he fails to return home it's hardly a surprise. However, when mutilated remains are found it becomes apparent that a savage executioner is stalking the untamed windswept moorland that surround this northern town. The clues lead DS Lasser directly to the poverty-stricken Radfield family who once owned great swathes of local land. When another body is discovered, Lasser's convictions are thrown into turmoil. Someone is playing a vicious game, someone with a burning hatred for the Radfield family. The body count rises and Lasser finds himself enmeshed in a tangled web of deceit as he tries to unravel the dark, twisted secrets that bind two families. Secrets stretching back over four decades, blackmail and murder reaching out to ensnare the innocent as well as the guilty.
Escalante
Andrew Vaillencourt
He may have wanted a quiet place to hide, but instead he will team up with the last good cop in Dockside to try to stop a gang war and protect the hard-working folks just trying to make an honest living.It's good cop vs, bad cop, gang leader vs. mobster, and Roland Tankowicz vs. everybody in a high-stakes contest for control of Dockside. He may be brand new to the job, but the smart money is on everybody's favorite Army surplus cyborg as he doubles down on the deadliest game in Dockside:ESCALANTE.
Waiting
Calle J. Brookes - 2015
Headhunted by the deputy director of the Bureau to head up a new division located in St. Louis, Fin was determined to make amends for the mistakes he’d made six years earlier that had almost cost him his career—and his life. Those mistakes had cost him Agent Ana Sorin, and he would never forget that. Fin had never treated a woman the way he had her, and he never would again. He just wished he could tell her that someday. Ana had spent six years recovering from the nightmare explosion she’d shared with her former partner Fin. When Fin walks into the St. Louis FBI building where she’d rebuilt her career, Ana was at a loss for words. Not to mention she didn’t have a clue what to do next with the tall, good looking man who was about to become her boss! Too many issues had been left unresolved between Ana and Fin and between them and the man responsible for the bomb that had nearly killed them both. Too many things had just been left WAITING for all of them. They had waited long enough…
Low End of Nowhere
Michael Stone - 1996
Streeter is hired by the scheming woman he nailed for insurance fraud to go after her dead boyfriend’s stash of drug money… and has to single-handedly face off against a greedy, violent pack of lowlifes and sociopaths killing their way to the big score.
Family Affairs
Pamela G. Hobbs - 2015
The chance to take her mind off what still feels so raw, so recent in her screwed-up life. Filling her time with lots of things to do but no thinking time – that had to be good. But then there’s the gentle reminder of those dreaded emails, the feeling of being watched.Never far away, pain is always lurking beneath the surface. A random shooting? Unlikely . . . And it’s only a matter of time before she’ll have to face it, grieve for her losses and deal with the constant fear that follows her. But is she ready to go there? Can she really be responsible for his death? Something prickles her memory, her fears very real . . . Then the penny drops. A shared past.Her stomach jumping like a grasshopper on speed and used to faking it, her past fears come back to haunt her, having witnessed something no child ever should. Their relationship fiery and strained, can she learn to trust Dev? Always relied on to be the one who centres her, he throws her off-centre completely. A complication she really doesn’t need, will the cold light of day become her great leveller? Or will she succumb?As for Dev, photographer at large – pals? Who is he kidding! His affection for Frankie goes much further . . . her voice an arrow to the groin. But will she ever think of him as anything but a “brother”? Or is he doomed to remain just a shoulder to cry on?Murder, sex and intrigue, this book will keep you guessing.
Jack of All Trades
D.H. Smith - 2015
The two months work will pay his debts, and give him space to sort out his personal demons. Except, the couple are at war, both having affairs, their marriage beyond salvage. The husband fires Jack, she takes him back on – and suddenly he is too involved with their scheming. Complicated further when he falls for her secretary. And when there’s a murder, using his tools as the weapon, Jack is prime suspect.
Someone Else's Daughter
Linsey Lanier - 2011
Independent. Skeptical.Thirteen years ago her abusive husband stole her baby and gave it up for adoption.She comes to Atlanta to find her daughter.THE PIWade Parker.Ace detective.Wealthy owner of the Parker Investigative Agency.The most eligible forty-four-year-old bachelor in Atlanta.Still mourning the death of his socialite wife, he must solve a disturbing murder case.Before the killer strikes again.THE MURDERERA serial killer strangling young girls in a bizarre ritual.Why?She doesn't need a man.He needs to find a killer.Together, can they save a thirteen year old girl?
Water Under the Bridge
Britney King - 2016
So when she sees a handsome stranger walking toward her, she feels it in her bones, there's no time like the present. *He's the one. *Kate vows to do whatever it takes to have what she wants, even if that something is becoming someone else. Now, ten pounds thinner, armed with a new name, and a plan, she's this close to living the perfect life she's created in her mind.*But Kate has secrets. *And too bad for her, that handsome stranger has a few of his own.With twists and turns you won't see coming, Water Under The Bridge examines the pressure that many women feel to "have it all" and introduces a protagonist whose hard edges and cutthroat ambition will leave you questioning your judgment and straddling the line between what's right and wrong.
Skip Langdon Vol. 6-10
Julie Smith - 2018
For fans of police procedurals, mysteries featuring smart, capable, imperfect women sleuths, and, of course New Orleans! “If it’s gritty realism you’re craving, gently simmered with spicy suspense and marvelously memorable characters, Smith is the perfect New Orleans tour guide… –The Clarion-Ledger "Julie Smith writes like jazz should sound—cool, complex, and penetrating right to the heart.” –Val McDermid, best-selling author of the Tony Hill series “Gritty, witty, & mesmerizing! Langdon is a splendid female heroine.” –People Magazine THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS Politics makes the strangest bedfellows of all, and in New Orleans, a psychopath’s running for mayor. Not just the usual harmless megalomaniac—a murderer and a monster. His supporters and a good proportion of would-be voters think he’s just a kindly preacher-man and handily crucify anyone who says otherwise. But Detective Skip Langdon, who met the Rev. Errol Jacomine on a case, knows he’s the personification of evil, and can point to a pile of corpses to prove it. CRESCENT CITY CONNECTION Sure, New Orleans is known for corruption, but suddenly the good guys get a break—an honest police chief. And then someone guns him down. When a terrifying organization called The Jury takes out the cop-killer, Detective Skip Langdon’s on the case. And she suspects The Jury’s the brainchild of her old nemesis, self-described preacher Errol Jacomine. 82 DESIRE It seems Councilwoman Bebe Fortier has misplaced her equally prominent husband, United Oil VP Russell Fortier. Across town, part-time detective/poet Talba Wallis has a simple wish—to find out what Russell Fortier's disappearance has to do with her. NOPD Detective Skip Langdon soon senses something big starting to unfold, something a lot bigger than a missing husband. Something rooted in corruption, resulting in violence—and motivated by that old demon . . . desire. MEAN WOMAN BLUES The Rev. Errol Jacomine is crazy as a fox that just ate a loon and more dangerous than a cell full of serial killers. He's trying to off Detective Skip Langdon, the New Orleans cop who’s twice smashed his criminal endeavors, yet each time he’s managed to slip away. Now he’s mad. In both senses of the word. And he has the connections to have her killed—or worse, those she loves. MURDER ON MAGAZINE> A serial killer is using Airbnb units to stage his murders, but a teenage runaway has escaped his grasp and now she's in the wind, believing she's killed him. Meanwhile the real killer stalks the city – and her. As mean as the streets of The City That Care Forgot can be, this child attracts angels (often unlikely ones) – and entire packs of dogs – who come to her aid.
Sin
J.M. LeDuc - 2004
The bureau’s only chance is a rogue agent who flies by her own wings and will stop at nothing to make sure justice is achieved.It is said, “Fight fire with fire.” The bureau knows, “Fight sin with SIN.”Her name says it all: Tempting―Dangerous―Deadly.