Book picks similar to
Knife Fight by Joel Goldman
fiction
mystery-thriller
mystery-suspense
mystery
Dead Simple
Peter James - 2005
While out celebrating with a group of friends a few nights before the wedding, Michael suddenly and unexpectedly finds himself enclosed in a coffin equipped only with a flashlight, a dirty magazine, a walkie-talkie, and a tiny breathing tube. It's all in good fun — payback for the grief his mates suffered due to his own penchant for tomfoolery — that is until the four are killed in a drunk driving accident just moments after leaving Michael completely alone and buried alive.Detective Superintendent Grace—himself dealing with the pain of losing his wife—is brought on to the case when Ashley reports Michael missing. Suspicions are raised when Michael's only friend not at the bachelor party refuses to cooperate, and Ashley's faithfulness—not to mention her increasingly mysterious past—are suddenly thrown in to question. As Superintendent Grace soon discovers, one man's disaster is another man's fortune.
Her Last Breath
Hilary Davidson - 2021
However, her sorrow turns to bone-chilling confusion when she receives a message Caroline sent days earlier warning that her death would be no accident. Long used to being a pariah to her family, Deirdre covers her tattoos and heads to Manhattan for her sister’s funeral.The message claimed Caroline’s husband, Theo, killed his first wife and got away with it. Reeling from the news, Deirdre confronts Theo on the way to the cemetery, and he reveals both his temper and his suspicion that Deirdre’s “perfect” sister was having an affair.Paranoid and armed with just enough information to make her dangerous, Deirdre digs into the disturbing secrets buried with Caroline. But as she gets closer to the truth, she realizes that her own life may be at risk…and that there may be more than one killer in the family.
The Summoning
J.P. Smith - 2021
It's a simple thing to look up a name and phone number, to reach out to surviving family members who might still be yearning for connection with their lost loved one... to offer assistance. After her husband went down in the north tower, Kit scraped by as an actress, barely supporting herself and her daughter. But now Zoey is in the hospital, bills are due, and the acting work has dried up. Becoming a medium is almost too easy for someone used to pretending for a living—and desperate clients aren't hard to come by.Now, though, something has changed. The seances Kit holds in her apartment are starting to feel unsettlingly real, and the intriguing man she met at a local bar could be more complicated than he seems. As the voices of the dead grow louder in her head and the walls of her apartment close in, Kit realizes that despite her daughter's absence, she hasn't been quite as alone as she thought...
Hard Rain
Irma Venter - 2012
It starts when he meets Ranna, a beautiful photographer with something to hide. Alex stopped believing in love a long time ago, yet here in the middle of East Africa, it’s found him again.Alex knows a thing or two about chaos—wherever he goes, it follows. When an IT billionaire washes up onshore after seasonal flooding, he finds himself at the center of an investigation with Ranna as the main suspect. It turns out she may have a good reason for hiding her past.Wherever she goes, murder follows.Alex should be used to these cat-and-mouse games, but this time it’s different. Should he listen to his heart and help Ranna hide the bloody trail leading to her? Or should he use his head and run for his life?
Not One of Us
Debbie Herbert - 2021
Now, after moving back home to Alabama to care for her ailing grandmother and autistic brother, she comes face-to-face with the deadly mystery behind his disappearance.Jori has a rare form of synesthesia, meaning she can “hear” colors; to her, tones of voice are as unique as fingerprints. With the help of this ability and a sympathetic cop, Jori comes dangerously close to uncovering the truth. But those responsible will go to any length—including murder—to keep their dark secrets buried.Soon, it seems that no one in the sleepy bayou town is safe, and after Jori’s brother is kidnapped, she knows she must drop the investigation or risk losing her family. But when protecting them means letting an evil deed go unpunished, putting family first may be the last thing she’ll ever do.
Little Girl Lost
Brian McGilloway - 2011
A child is found wandering in an ancient woodland, her hands covered in blood. But it is not her own.Unwilling, or unable, to speak, the only person she seems to trust is the young officer who rescued her, Detective Sergeant Lucy Black. Soon afterwards, DS Black is baffled to find herself suddenly moved from a high-profile case involving the kidnapping of another girl, a prominent businessman's teenage daughter. Black's problems are not only professional: she's caring for her increasingly unstable father, and trying to avoid conflict with her frosty mother - who also happens to be the Assistant Chief Constable. As she struggles to identify the unclaimed child, Black begins to realise that her case and the kidnapping may be linked by events that occurred during the grimmest days of the country's recent history - events that also defined her own troubled childhood.Little Girl Lost is a devastating crime thriller about corruption, greed and vengeance, and a father's love for his daughter.
Locust Hill
Barbara Bayes - 2019
Confined to a wheelchair after a mass subway shooting, she has been unwilling or unable to speak since the terrifying day she was wounded in the train. One person who might be able to shed some light on the murder is compassionate caregiver Margaret, temporarily hired as Fiona’s personal assistant. From the very first day of her arrival, Margaret senses that something is not quite right about the household...something disquieting and hard to pinpoint. As the mysteries pile up and the friendship between Margaret and her patient grows, the caregiver finds herself sifting through a complicated tangle of lies while trying to help her charge heal both physically and emotionally. The slow burn suspense gradually escalates as a series of shocking revelations brings us to a devastating conclusion.
Your Son Is Alive
James Scott Bell - 2018
Now somebody says they can have him back. Dylan and Erin Reeve have lived with a gaping emotional wound ever since their five-year-old son, Kyle, was kidnapped in broad daylight. And never found. Though the shadow of their loss hangs heavy, Dylan and Erin have managed to get on with their lives, even finding bits of happiness along the way. Until one night when a crayon-scrawled note is slipped under Dylan Reeve's door. All it says is, Your son is alive. Could it be true? Or is it a sick game played by somebody out for money? Or something else? But what? And why now? As clues begin to emerge—both agonizing and expectant in their implications—Dylan and Erin Reeve know they have to play this out to the end. Because it's their last chance—and their only hope—to find the son they lost all those years ago. You'll be blown away by this domestic thriller with twists and turns and the beating heart of parental love.
Girl Number One
Jane Holland - 2015
The killer was never found. Now an adult, Eleanor discovers a woman's body in the same spot in the Cornish woods where her mother was strangled eighteen years before. But when the police get there, the body has disappeared. Is Eleanor’s disturbed mind playing tricks on her again, or has her mother’s killer resurfaced? And what does the number on the dead woman’s forehead signify?
Safely Buried
John Pesta - 2011
I had just come off I-65, and my high beams lit her up from behind. She was walking along the road between dark, endless cornfields, and her right leg was in a cast. She wore denim shorts and a yellow tank top that didn’t quite reach the shorts. Without crutches, she moved as fast as she could on the gravelly shoulder. She would take a long step with her good leg, stiffly swing the cast forward the same distance, and immediately start the next step. Tilting jerkily, she looked as if she would fall with every stride. I crossed the centerline to give her more room to fall. Just as I was about to pass her, she glanced over her shoulder and stuck out a thumb.When Phil Larrison picks up a hitchhiker, he gets more than he bargained for.
A Familiar Sight
Brianna Labuskes - 2021
Gretchen White is a specialist in antisocial personality disorders and violent crimes. She’s helped solve enough prominent cases for detective Patrick Shaughnessy that her own history is often overlooked: Gretchen is an admitted sociopath once suspected of killing her aunt. Shaughnessy still thinks Gretchen got away with murder. It’s not going to happen again.When a high-profile new case lands on Shaughnessy’s desk, it seems open and shut. Remorseless teenager Viola Kent is accused of killing her mother. Amid stories of childhood horrors and Viola’s cruel manipulations, the bad seed has already been found guilty by a rapt public. But Gretchen might be seeing something in Viola no one else does: herself.If Viola is a scapegoat, then who really did it? And what are they hiding? To find the truth, Gretchen must enter a void that is not only dark and cold-blooded, but also frighteningly familiar.
Silent Victim
Caroline Mitchell - 2018
But the truth can’t stay hidden for long.Emma is a loving wife, a devoted mother…and an involuntary killer. For years she’s been hiding the dead body of the teacher who seduced her as a teen.It’s a secret that might have stayed buried if only her life had been less perfect. A promotion for Emma’s husband, Alex, means they can finally move to a bigger home with their young son. But with a buyer lined up for their old house, Emma can’t leave without destroying every last trace of her final revenge…Returning to the shallow grave in the garden, she finds it empty. The body is gone.Panicked, Emma confesses to her husband. But this is only the beginning. Soon, Alex will discover things about her he’ll wish he’d learned sooner. And others he’ll long to forget.
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.
More Short Fuses (Four Free Short Stories)
Stephen Leather - 2014
The short stories are: Rules of Engagement (where Spider Shepherd has to help a friend who is in serious trouble with the police), The Constituency Meeting (where a group of old folks decide to commit a murder), Ghost Kids (where a holidaymaker takes more home from Thailand than he expected) and Massage Therapy (where the massage skills of a Thai masseuse change a man's life forever). There are also tasters of five of his bestselling novels, including Hard Landing, The Stretch and The Tunnel Rats. Stephen Leather is one of the UK’s most successful thriller writers, an eBook and Sunday Times bestseller and author of the critically acclaimed Dan “Spider’ Shepherd series and the Jack Nightingale supernatural detective novels. Before becoming a novelist he was a journalist for more than ten years on newspapers such as The Times, the Daily Mirror, the Glasgow Herald, the Daily Mail and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. He is one of the country’s most successful eBook authors and his eBooks have topped the Amazon Kindle charts in the UK and the US. In 2011 alone he sold more than 500,000 eBooks and was voted by The Bookseller magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the UK publishing world. Born in Manchester, he began writing full time in 1992. His bestsellers have been translated into fifteen languages. He has also written for television shows such as London’s Burning, The Knock and the BBC’s Murder in Mind series and two of his books, The Stretch and The Bombmaker, were filmed for TV. You can find out more from his website www.stephenleather.com and you can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/stephenleather
The Speed of Sound
Eric Bernt - 2018
Resident Eddie Parks’s contribution is nothing less than extraordinary: an “echo box” that can re-create never-recorded sounds using acoustic archeology.All Eddie wants is to hear his late mother’s voice. But what he’s created is inadvertently posing a threat to national security.To Harmony House’s shadowy government backers and radical extremists, the echo box is the ultimate intelligence asset—an end to the very concept of secrecy. Now for Eddie and the compassionate Dr. Skylar Drummond, the true nature of the institution is becoming chillingly clear.As ruthless competing enemies close in on Eddie and his miraculous machine, Skylar risks all to take him on the run. Because once that prize is won, Eddie Parks will no longer be considered a “special person” but a dangerous redundancy. An inconvenient echo that must be silenced.