Book picks similar to
Smoke: A Novella by Nigel Bird


fiction
thriller
barak-obama-suggestions
crime-noir

Shortcut Man


P.G. Sturges - 2011
    In the City of Angels, not everyone plays by the rules. When people need a problem fixed fast, and discreetly, they call Dick Henry. Henry is known as a “shortcut man,” someone who believes that the shortest answer to many problems may not always be legal. As he cuts through the red tape for his clients, who range from an elderly woman ripped off by shady contractors to a landlord with a tenant many months behind on the rent, Henry always gets the job done, no matter what the cost. In Shortcut Man, Henry spends his days hunting down slimy con men and his nights seducing Lynette, an intoxicating, long-legged vixen. But when Henry gets an assignment from porn producer Artie Benjamin, his life suddenly becomes much more complicated. Now Henry must complete the job, avoid being killed, and somehow figure out what to do with Lynette. Filled with dark comedy, whip-smart writing, and a memorable cast of characters, Shortcut Man evokes Chandler and Hammett—hard-boiled crime at its best—and is an exciting beginning to a crackling new series.

Kill Me Twice


Joseph Flynn - 2015
    She tells Zeke that Jonas Dawson, a lawyer with mob connections, is going to kill her. She knows this because Dawson strangled her aunt, Pamela Keller. That’s ominous enough, but things get complicated when Paulette tells Zeke she was her aunt in a previous life. Zeke finds that hard to believe, but he sees that Paulette truly feels vulnerable. So he takes a look into things. When he does, a couple of bruisers try to make him back off. Big mistake. Zeke’s previous job was playing middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears. His best friends, George A. Black and Regina Green, are also no strangers to laying a hurt on people. Throw in shady big-city politics, any number of cops, some honest, some not, and a pair of hit men nicknamed Paganini and Chopin and Zeke’s first case is summed up by a time-honored expression. “Welcome to the game, rookie.”

Grey Areas


Brad Carl - 2015
    After finding a job and a place to live, he quickly establishes himself as the friendly and reliable "new guy." Despite being elusive about his past, local hometown girl Claire Mathison discovers an irresistible attraction to Henry. But major trouble begins to brew one night and it soon becomes unclear whether Henry Fields is part of the problem or the solution. Filled with psychological drama, suspense, and thrills, Grey Areas is the debut release from Brad Carl.

The Set Up


Felix Riley - 2011
    Mike Byrne wants to know who framed him for murder. The NYPD want Byrne locked up. The US Secret Service want Byrne dead. Detective Jenni Martinez just wants her gun and her badge back. Mike Byrne has three days to stop a deadly game that will bring America to its knees - and he's just been set up. Full description

Green Ice


Gerald A. Browne - 1978
    Cynical, ne'er-do-well New Yorker John Wiley, seeking to get away from it all, meets up with a self-destructive young heiress and earns the disfavor of the South American syndicate which controls the black market in Colombian emeralds.

Code Name: Griffin


Morgan Hannah MacDonald - 2018
    She’s the deadliest operative the CIA has ever known. Alexandria Kingston is The Griffin. SHE’S BEAUTIFULAfter graduating from The Farm in Langley, Virginia, she’s banished from the only family she’d ever known. Heartbroken and alone, Alex settled in Paris and threw herself into her work by taking every operation the CIA offered, as well as volunteering for those no one else would. SHE’S CUNNINGThrough the years, she’s built quite the reputation. The chatter throughout the underworld is ‘Kill the Griffin,’ but as a master of disguise, no one truly knows what she looks like. Not even her lovers. UNBELIEVABLY SEXYOut of nowhere she gets a call to return home. Alex jumps on the next flight to the States where she learns that her adoptive family is in trouble. The Murphy clan heads the Irish Mob out of Boston and when their matriarch is rushed to the hospital word spreads that her life is hanging in the balance. Someone has decided that he will be the next crime boss and is willing to kill every last member of the Murphy clan to make that happen. UNDENIABLY DANGEROUSDeception has always been a major part of her life, but returning home means facing the biggest deception of all, the one truth she’s hidden even from herself: her love for Shane Donovan - the only man oblivious to her existence. SHE’S THE GRIFFINNow Alex has joined her family in taking down the enemy. The only question is, who will die in the process?

Tussinland


Mike Monson - 2014
    His inertia is broken when he becomes the chief suspect in the murders of his soon-to-be ex-wife and her new lover. Set in the town of Modesto, deep in California’s Central Valley, Tussinland is about sex, drugs, addiction, smart phones, Facebook and the internet, digital cable, anti-government militias, reality TV, fundamentalist homophobic Christians, families, 12-step groups, pornography, marriage, death, disease, and love.

Sick to Death


Greg Levin - 2016
    When Gage Adder finds out he has inoperable pancreatic cancer, things really start to look up for him. He leaves his soul-crushing job, joins a nice terminal illness support group, and takes up an exciting new hobby: Beating the hell out of bad guys. Gage’s support group friends Jenna and Ellison don’t approve of his vigilante activities. Jenna says fighting never solves anything. Poison, on the other hand… When the three decide to team up and hit the streets, suddenly no rapist, pedophile or other odious criminal in the city is safe.They are the sickest of superheroes. Their superpower is nothing left to lose. But what happens when one of them takes this power too far and puts at risk the lives of hundreds of innocent people? Where does one draw the line when dying to kill?

Sandman


Sean Costello - 2000
    People put their lives in doctors' hands every day--but in no other situation is this so literally true as the moment the anesthesiologist looks casually down at you and says, "You'll be going off to sleep now..."What if the eyes that gaze down at you in that moment of trust and surrender belong to a madman? What if, as you feel yourself slipping away, you see something in those eyes so rank, so terrifying you want to leap off the table and scream?But by then, of course, it's too late.A novel of terror and medical suspense from the author of THE CARTOONIST and HERE AFTERPray you never meet the Sandman...

Requiem for the Dead


Victor M. Alvarez - 2020
    However, hours later the body of Helen Chapman's boyfriend was discovered by German police on the side of the road; they found a ransom letter lying on the front seat of the young man's car.US Army CID criminal investigator, Special Agent Jacqueline Sinclair, and DIA Agent Tom Price are assigned to take the lead in the case by her chief on request of the Provost Marshal, Agent Sinclair's father. She knows a SIR (Serious Incident Report) already filed through channels, will attract the close attention of higher command; they would watch Sinclair every step of the way. Later, Sinclair learns that they also kidnapped three other dependent children.Their pursuit of the kidnappers will take them straight into the heart of the military establishment where conspiracy and intrigue are commonplace . . . and where truths are seldom spoken. Worse still they uncover a more sinister and diabolical plot--a plot to set off two nuclear Smart Bombs in Pyongyang--placing the North Korean Regime and the President of the Unites States, in its crosshairs.They find themselves deep in enemy territory and the target of highly trained killers, tasked to threaten or even to shoot to kill--whatever it takes to conceal sensitive information. Bringing justice and staying alive becomes job number one as the duo finds their skills, and their courage tested under fire.

Hollywood Pharaohs


Andrew Mayne - 2012
    With an irresistible client who won’t take “no” for an answer, if the job doesn’t get him killed, she just might.HOLLYWOOD PHARAOHS has been described as a fast-paced love child of The Big Lebowski and Indiana Jones.

The Professor: Book 2


Alexandria Clarke - 2017
    Her team of unexpected allies harbors its own destructive secrets, leading Nicole on a dangerous mission to the heart of the society. As time and options dwindle, can Nicole make one last stand to save herself and her friends?

The Wyatt Butterfly: Two Barrels of Classic Wyatt


Garry Disher - 2010
    Cool and efficient as always, Wyatt bypasses the alarm system, snatches the cash and eludes the cops. But can he make it safely back to his bolthole in Hobart?Port Vila Blues is Wyatt's fifth heist, this time leading him to a reckoning far from home. The Fallout finds Wyatt on a boat with policewoman Liz Redding and a fortune in stolen gems. He escapes, triggering a manhunt, but who exactly is hunting him? In this sixth Wyatt novel, Wyatt joins forces with his nephew to pull off one of his trickiest robberies-and his most dangerous task yet.'Disher's writing is as lean and relentless as his hero. No one does dryly poetic evocations of paranoia and human folly more seductively.' Australian

Bloodline


Brian O'Connor - 2011
    Liam, a champion steeplechase jockey, is initially both witness and suspect. However, shrewd police detective Diarmuid Yeats takes a gamble on his innocence and enlists his help in the hunt for the killer. This nightmare experience exacerbates the tensions in Liam’s life. He has been falling out of love with his job, his joy in racing relentlessly worn away by the struggle to keep the weight down on his six-foot frame. Is it time to quit? But McFarlane’s stables houses the brilliant Patrician, a potential Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, and Liam wants to be the jockey to get him first past the finish post in the race that matters most. With emotions at pressure point, Liam falls in love with the exotic blonde Ukrainian stable girl, Lara, leaving him in an even more vulnerable position than before. Then the killer strikes again and the race to the finish post is replaced by a race for survival . . . and there is no second place. “A gripping murder story” - THE IRISH TIMES

A Year of Broken Promises (An Irish Family Saga, #2)


Jean Reinhardt - 2014
    Even with the famine years behind them, tragedy and hardship does not stop. Promises made in good faith are broken, along with the hearts of those making them. A solicitor, a constable and a secretive organization, all play a part in determining the fate of a young couple whose only desire is to provide for their family and live a simple life.