Book picks similar to
Alexander Ranch by Marla Josephs


paranormal
fiction
reader-recommendation
4-star

Ties That Bind


Carolyn Arnold - 2011
    The rest of the world thought she was going crazy—until it was too late.When Laura Saunders is found strangled in her home with a man’s necktie, Detective Madison Knight is assigned the case. Her sergeant at the Stiles Police Department wants her to conclude it was an isolated incident and move on with the investigation, but Madison’s not the type to cave under pressure. She’s haunted by certain unexplainable clues at the crime scene, including the presence of a mysterious photograph. Madison believes the picture may somehow tie into the murder, but before she can dig into it, another woman’s body is discovered in a local park. Heather Nguyen was also murdered with the same brand of necktie that had been used on Laura.On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be anything beyond the way they were killed that connects the women. But as Madison delves into the lives of the victims, she unravels a web of deceit and betrayal and lays bare decades of deadly family secrets. Edging closer to the truth, Madison’s quite sure at least one more woman is slated to die. But can Madison piece together all the clues in time to save her?A gripping crime thriller full of heart-pounding twists. Perfect for fans of Robert Dugoni, J.D. Robb, and Lisa Regan.Readers love Ties That Bind:“Arnold has written one of the best female cops that I’ve ever read… Madison is just one of those characters that will stay with you.” –Harlie’s Books, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“A good detective story with lots of twists and turns and an unexpected ending.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“This is one heck of a mystery!” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“Brace yourself for the ending! I didn't see that one coming.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“I loved Madison Knight and her sassy dialogue.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“I found myself unable to stop reading this book.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“A must-read for the mystery fan.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“So many twists and turns I never saw the ending coming!” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“A solid police procedure mystery.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“If you like true suspense, this is a book to read.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“Like watching an award-winning police drama in my mind.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“Intriguing, suspenseful, and full of surprises!” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“Well-written and researched on police procedures.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“It was very difficult to set this book aside to do something else.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“From the moment I began reading this book, I was hooked.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Case of the Flashing Fashion Queen


N.L. Wilson - 2011
    firm where she's worked for years, Dix Dodd has hung out her own shingle at the ripe age of 40. There are plenty of cheating husbands to go around, and Dix has a knack for busting them. Problem is, it doesn't always pay so well. Conscious that the guys back at the old firm are laying bets about how soon she'll come crawling back, she figures she's got six months to make a go of it.The going gets even tougher when she hires Dylan Foreman. But when he told her about getting fired from his law firm and disbarred for putting common decency before the firm's interests, she hired him on the spot. In addition to being smart, he's gorgeous enough to remind her she's a woman. And at 28, young enough to make her feel like a total cougar.Things start looking up when Dix gets hired by millionaire businessman Ned Weatherby's wife Jennifer Weatherby, to tail Ned 24/7 for a week, for a cool ten grand. Easy-peasy, right? Wrong! The job lands Dix in the middle of a murder investigation - with her as the prime suspect and her arch-enemy Detective Richard Head (a.k.a., Dickhead, one of the cheating husbands she'd nailed) gunning for her.Dix will need all her ingenuity, as well as the help of Dylan and her oddball cast of supporters to extricate herself from this one.

The Hiding Place


Karen Harper - 2008
    Her best friend, Alexis, has been murdered, leaving Tara as guardian to her daughter, Claire. And Tara's husband has divorced her for another woman.Forced to start over, Tara focuses on reopening her P.I. firm and caring for Claire. But soon her world is shattered again when Nick MacMahon, Claire's uncle, returns from military service in Afghanistan to take guardianship of his niece. The bad dream turns unbearable when Tara learns that something precious was taken from her while she was in a coma.Working with Nick, a man haunted by his own past, Tara begins to investigate the missing months of her life. Together, they will find that secrets don't stay buried forever…even when they are kept in the darkest of hiding places.

Indiana Wild


S.E. Smith - 2013
    The youngest of four children, she was a delightful surprise for her older parents. She spends her time training horses and cow dogs and loving the freedom of the wide open spaces. When her grandfather dies, she finds her much older brothers have different plans for the ranch she calls home and for Indiana.Indiana’s oldest brother is determined to tame Indiana and bring her to live with him in Los Angeles where he can keep an eye on her and the money she is inheriting. He believes with a little taming, he can control the wild spirit of his little sister and find her a good husband who can manage her.Furious with the court order giving her older brother guardianship over her, Indiana turns to the only place she feels at home… the wide-open spaces of Montana. She is determined to avoid her controlling brothers and their greed, even if it means hiding from them until they give up. An unexpected trip through Spirit Pass takes Indiana further than she ever expected… by almost a hundred and fifty years.Jonathan Tucker is as tough as they come. He and his twin brother have cut a successful horse and cattle ranch in the harsh Montana territory. When cattle rustlers try to steal his cattle and shoot one of his men, he is grateful to the young boy named Indy who comes to the rescue, even if the boy does have an attitude. The last thing he expects is to find the ‘boy’ is in fact an independent, freethinking, stubborn female who is not afraid to voice her opinions. She is as wild as the untamed land around them and he is determined she is the wife for him.When Indiana is taken from him, Jonathan finds he will do whatever it takes to bring his Indiana Wild home for good, even if it means following her to the future.

The House of Closed Doors


Jane Steen - 2012
    Yet Nell is determined to elude the duties and restrictions of matrimony. So when she finds herself pregnant at the age of 17, she refuses to divulge the name of the father and even her childhood friend Martin is kept in the dark.Nell's stepfather Hiram sends Nell to live at the Poor Farm of which he is a governor, to await the day when her baby can be discreetly adopted. Nell is ready to go along with Hiram's plans until an unused padded cell is opened and two small bodies fall out.Nell is the only resident of the Poor Farm who is convinced that the unwed mother and her baby were murdered, and the incident prompts her to rethink her decision to abandon her own child to her fate. But the revelations to which her questions lead make her realize that even if she manages to escape the Poor Farm with her baby, she may have no safe place to run to.

Collide


H.M. Ward - 2012
    He's pining over some girl that doesn't know he's alive. The confident swagger and endless stream of girls is a facade. It conceals his loneliness and hides how messed up he's really become trying to flee from a life that's battered him to his core.Trystan tries to figure out how to make it clear how much he loves Mari, but every insincere kiss and every broken promise haunts him, because she knows them all. Now, Trystan has to prove to the one girl he's actually fallen in love with that she's not just another conquest. Mari has no idea who Trystan loves, but she can tell that whoever it is has captured his heart entirely. Soon Mari sees the man behind the mask, the guy that Trystan tries so hard to hide. Everything about him is appealing, and too hard to resist. In a moment of desperation, Trystan uploads a love song he wrote for Mari, but before he can show it to her, the video goes viral. Everyone wants to know who he is, and the only thing shielding him is an anonymous account name and some thick shadows hiding his face. Tyrstan realizes that the consequences of revealing his identity will be disastrous. Everything he's tried so hard to hide will be exposed. It's a secret that is impossible to keep and the only girl who he wanted to hear it will never believe him.The Secret Life of Trystan Scott is an addicting romance with lots of tension and steamy kisses. The story is told in 20,000 word segments. Each book is another episode, building on the previous. The books in the TRYSTAN SCOTT series will get hotter as it progresses and cross from YA into New Adult by the end of the series.

Sons of Mayhem


Nikki Pink - 2013
    The individual parts have been re-edited and proofed before being combined into one novel. SONS OF MAYHEM: The First Novel Good girl college junior Nicole is bored. Bored of her boyfriend, bored of frat parties, bored of college life and bored of studying. When a chance to party with biker gang, the Sons of Mayhem, comes up she jumps at it. Nicole is thrilled to meet the charming but dangerous Vice President of the club, Jase. But when she realizes that the biker lifestyle is rougher than a good college girl like her could ever have imagined she begins to question what she’s getting herself into. Feel the thrill of the ride with Nicole and the Sons of Mayhem. PLEASE NOTE: If you read the serial parts 1-4 you have read this already! A new novel in the Sons of Mayhem series (not a serial) will be coming in early 2014!

Material Witness


Lisa Mondello - 2012
    Researching the cool, blue-eyed and dashingly handsome man at the end of the bar stirred her senses more than she wanted to admit. But was this man of leather armor all he appeared to be?Playing White Knight to an innocent wasn't how Detective Jake Santos planned to spend his time under cover. But there was no way "CJ" was what she claimed to be and that nagging tightness in Jake's chest told him he'd better take her home to safety and leave it at that. Then the barroom exploded with gunfire, leaving a trail of dead that includes a notorious Providence crime boss and an undercover FBI agent. When Cassie's name is leaked to the media as the only witness to the grisly murders, Cassie insists she only trusts Jake to protect her.The FBI wants their star witness happy and will do anything to make sure Cassie testifies. But it is clear to Jake that the shooter isn't the only person who wants Cassie dead. Not knowing who to trust, he vows to protect Cassie at all cost despite the fact that guarding the beautiful novelist is a serious distraction. MATERIAL WITNESS is the follow-up Romantic Suspense Novel by Lisa Mondello's Yuletide Protector and is book 1 of her new Heroes of Providence series.

Guardians of Stone


Anita Clenney - 2012
    Spending her childhood hunting relics with her ambitious archeologist father, she knew the two of them shared a sixth sense for the history and location of objects—sometimes even people. What she didn’t know was that their paranormal gift could ultimately be their undoing.After the tragic plane crash that killed her father as well as her childhood best friend, Kendall dedicated her life to finding and protecting relics. When mysterious, sexy billionaire Nathan Larraby hires her for his latest expedition—the search for four powerful relics —she’s thrown into a world of high-octane danger. He sends brooding mercenary Jake Stone to watch Kendall’s back, but he may have created danger of a different kind.As the team chases down clues, a man called the Reaper makes a play for the artifacts and will stop at nothing to put them to his own sinister use. What’s worse is that Nathan hasn’t told the whole story, and the dark secrets he’s keeping could cost them the mission…and their lives.

Damaged (The Vigilantes, #1)


Stoni Alexander - 2021
    I’m a heartless savage hunting down the thug who murdered my mother. Watching her die in my arms has turned me into a killing machine. Revenge runs bone-deep for me. It’s burned into my soul, baby.​When I become the one with a damn target on my back, my life turns into a raging dumpster fire. But not because my company gets breached or because some SOBs are trying to off me.​There’s this woman…the one woman I can’t freakin’ stand. An impulsive cop who arrested me for a crime I didn’t commit. She gets too close to me, she’s gonna learn about all the ones I did pull off.​The problem is, I’m crazy attracted to her. Insane, over the top, can’t-get-her-outta-my-head kind of attraction. She pushes all my buttons and makes me madder than hell. If anyone can bring me to my knees, it’s her.​Turns out, I took a vow of celibacy. And I don’t break so easily.Except the hot cop is now a detective…and I gotta help her with a serial-killer case ‘cause I got wicked-good hacking skills. But that’s all I’m gonna help her with…__________DAMAGED is a steamy, enemies-to-lovers, romantic suspense with a vigilante anti-hero and a by-the-book detective heroine. Fans of The Touch Series will love seeing Sin & Dakota in this full-length novel. Stoni hates cheating, and she loves her HEAs!

Rosemary's Gravy


Melissa F. Miller - 2015
    But then, plans have a way of going out the window when a girl learns her parents have skipped town, leaving behind a half-million-dollar debt. Rosemary makes the best of her situation, putting up with her boss's diva antics and halfheartedly fending off the advances of the impossibly sexy stepson who comes with the high-paying gig. Then someone decides to kill the miserable movie star. It's bad news for any chef when a client dies from an allergic reaction after eating your cooking. It's even worse news for Rosemary because the police are determined to charge her with murder. To restore her reputation (and stay out of prison), Rosemary has to find the real murderer--and fast. Her short list of suspects includes a womanizing race car driver, a powerful music producer, Hollywood's hottest leading man, and, oh yeah, Felix, the dead woman's stepson--which gets a little awkward when Rosemary starts dating him. Unfortunately, everything Rosemary thought she knew is wrong--dead wrong. After a romantic dinner with Felix ends in food poisoning, she finds herself unattached, unemployed, and once again on the wrong side of the LAPD. She knows how to salvage an oversalted sauce, but can she salvage the disaster that is her life? And will the hunky homicide detective help her--or book her? ROSEMARY'S GRAVY is the first book in the We Sisters Three series, the new romantic comedic mystery series from Melissa F. Miller, the USA TODAY Bestselling Author of the Sasha McCandless legal thriller series and the Aroostine Higgins legal thriller series.

The Gingerbread Man


Maggie Shayne - 2001
    When the FBI takes over the case, Vince agrees to take time off. Traveling to a small upstate New York town, he meets Holly Newman--a fragile woman whose sister was abducted and killed years ago. Convinced that Holly's sister's death is linked to the recent murders, he attempts to unearth clues hidden deep in Holly's mind.

Bait


K.C. Blake - 2012
    One comes with a threat and the other with a warning. They know she's on her way to being the newest student at Van Helsing's school, where she will learn to be a great hunter like her father. Before she can reach her goal she will face wraiths, an angry boy with a dark prophecy hanging over his head, and her worst nightmare: werewolves. She's determined nothing will stop her, not even a pair of jungle green eyes. Her roommate is killed. Her mentor doesn't want to mentor her. A border monster tries to kill her. Nothing is the way she imagined it would be. Students whisper behind her back, saying she's cursed. They want her to go home, but Bay-Lee isn't going anywhere, not when she's this close to getting everything she's ever wanted. At Orientation, she learns she's been given the rank of Bait. Why? Because that is all new students are good for, to be used as bait to draw out monsters so the 'real' hunters can kill them. She realizes no one is going to take her seriously until she moves up to Hunter. With that in mind and a few friends at her side, Bay-Lee is going to tackle a dangerous mystery. Why are hunters dying on their birthdays? If she solves it, she will move up in rank. If she doesn't... her birthday is just around the corner.

Cosega Search


Brandt Legg - 2014
    What he finds is beyond imagining. It unleashes a mystery older than recorded time, rewrites human history, and promises to change the planet’s future. It must be suppressed.The most powerful forces in the world align against him, and a deadly competition for the artifact ensues. Capturing Gaines is not enough--everyone who has seen the artifact must be killed. His only hope is to stay alive long enough to decode the Cosega Sequence. Dig far enough into the past . . . you may just discover the future.

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.