Book picks similar to
In the Shadow of Porter's Hollow (The Porter's Hollow Series Book 1) by Yvonne Schuchart
horror
twists-and-turns-galore
mysteries
country-noir
The Buried Book
D.M. Pulley - 2016
He’s lucky to even have a home and must keep his mouth shut and his ears open to stay in his uncle’s good graces. No one knows where his mother went or whether she’s coming back. Desperate to see her again, he must take matters into his own hands. From the farm, he embarks on a treacherous search that will take him to the squalid hideaways of Detroit and back again, through tawdry taverns, peep shows, and gambling houses.As he’s drawn deeper into an adult world of corruption, scandal, and murder, Jasper uncovers the shocking past still chasing his mother—and now it’s chasing him too.
Three Incidents at Foster Manor
P.T. Phronk - 2019
An apocalyptic storm. Whispering voices in the air. She was right to fear the worst-case scenario. Amy Burnett has been buried in her work as a security expert. She likes it that way—her dark past can’t invade her thoughts as long as she stays holed up in her office. So why the heck has she ended up at a gothic mansion’s doorstep in the middle of the night? It’s because Craig Foster summoned her there. Amy’s company built the sealed chamber in his basement, for any worrisome worst-case scenario, but now the safe room has presented a scenario of its own: Craig’s daughter is trapped inside. It should be a quick fix. After all, what’s the worst thing that can happen when a stranger arrives at a remote mansion on a stormy night? An impossible mystery? A haunting? A visit from the lurking strangers in the woods? Surely not all three—that would require extraordinarily bad luck. Unfortunately, Amy’s been short on luck lately. Three Incidents at Foster Manor will keep you guessing until the end with a twist-filled, fast-paced, genre-blending mix of mystery, ghost story, thriller, and cosmic horror that will chill you to the core. This is a standalone story, but also acts as a sequel to P.T. Phronk's previous mystery, The Arborist. "Full of interesting characters, twists and scares, it will keep you off-balance all the way to the end!" —Franny "I'm always down some ghostly fun but then the fun dial twisted and wow." —Amazon Reviewer "If you like reading stories somewhat reminiscent of The Twilight Zone this is for you." —Alanna Patterson
The Haunting of Quenby Mansion, Book 2
J.S. Donovan - 2017
Assisted by her husband, Evelyn chases answers. With each mystery solved, another arises… along with new adversaries. The truth hides within her family’s dark past, but some secrets, once unearthed, cannot be reburied.
Nightmares of Caitlin Lockyer
Demelza Carlton - 2013
The worst part is that they're human. "Name?" "Nathan Miller.""What happened?""I was shot.""By whom?""A homicidal lunatic with a gun and bad aim." "Her name?""Caitlin Lockyer.""What happened to her?""Looks like someone tried to kill her."Nathan found Caitlin on a beach covered in blood. Saving her life was just the start. Now he's the prime suspect and he has to find out who's really responsible. Both of their lives depend on it.Who hurt her? Why was he shot? What did he promise? Why doesn't his story add up? Who was the dead man on the beach? What will she remember when she wakes up? A tiny taste of what's in store: "Stay away from her, Nathan. That girl isn't good for you."Stay away from her? I'd go crazy with worry in a day. "You don't know her."Chris looked grim. "Neither do you. Is there anything you wouldn't do for her?" "Yes," I snapped. "I wouldn't die for her."Chris turned around to stare at me, her mouth hanging open. "Do you want to know why?" I asked steadily. "I wouldn't die for her because I wouldn't be able to protect her any more. What if I missed one of the people who hurt her? I couldn't take that risk. She's too important." Nightmares Trilogy Dark, disturbing and definitely scary - Nightmares of Caitlin Lockyer is the first book in Demelza Carlton's Nightmares Trilogy. The second book is Necessary Evil of Nathan Miller.
Death on Demand / Design for Murder
Carolyn G. Hart - 2008
Hart delivers a novel approach to murder that is sure to enthrall you until the last killer is caught.. . .Death on DemandAt Annie Laurance’s Death on Demand bookstore in Broward’s Rock, South Carolina (“the finest mystery bookstore north of Miami”), murder suddenly isn’t confined to the shelves. An author’s abrupt demise during a gathering of famous mystery writers is proof positive that a bloody sword is sometimes mightier than a brilliant pen. But now Annie is in the unenviable position of prime suspect, which means that she and her wealthy paramour, Max Darling, must unmask a brutal and ingenious killer. For Annie, failing could mean prison . . . while success could mean her death.Design for MurderWhen Annie stages a Mystery Night for Chastain, South Carolina’s annual antebellum house tour, she finds herself the lead in a deadly drama wherein the curtain falls on a mean-spirited grande dame. But while fingers point at Annie as the murderer, the perpetrator lurks within the cast of Murder-Most-Make-Believe. Guilty until proven innocent, Annie hopes to clear her name with Max’s help—until her chief witness is killed. Now it will take all of Annie’s sleuthing skills to unmask the evil in the hearts of Chastain’s Beautiful People.
Second Chance
Elleby Harper - 2019
Now condemned to Rikers Prison for a murder he can’t remember, Bram Carver’s luck has run out. The job: infiltrate a criminal gang to stop a rogue soldier selling weapons of mass destruction to an unknown terrorist group. The problem: he’s stuck in Rikers and the evidence against him can’t be denied. Bram has renounced his family, but have they renounced him? Guilty or innocent, his sister, Detective Bex Wynter, will not give up on the big brother she adored. Together they learn that appearances are deceptive while loyalties will be tested. But Bram’s life is not the only one in the crosshairs. Someone’s sights are set on a thirteen-year-old slum brat who holds the key to stop thousands of innocent deaths. Bram knows one wrong foot will put them both in the firing line. The mystery deepens and the consequences become deadlier with each new clue Bex uncovers. When the hunters become the hunted, one false move will kill them all.
Second Chance
is the first electrifying book in the Bram Carver Thriller series. If you like page-turning suspense, globetrotting action, and gripping plot twists that leave you breathless, then you’ll love this exciting new series from Elleby Harper. Scroll up to buy Second Chance to experience this thrilling page-turner today! The Bram Carver thrillers are recommended for fans of Lee Child's Jack Reacher, Mark Dawson’s John Milton, Tim Tigner’s Kyle Achilles and Jason Kasper’s David Rivers series.What Amazon readers are saying about Second Chance: "This book blew through the pages like a bomb going off! What a stunningly brilliant beginning to Elleby Harper’s new series!" ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ "Elleby is one of the very rare gifted writers who not only opens a vivid window to the world she is writing about but plants you dead smack in the middle of it. I literately had a physical reaction to what I was reading…" ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “The author has an eye for interesting and complex characters, and this book has no shortage. Rich details of the underside of New York add to the total experience of the book. I have enjoyed all of the Bex Wynter books, but I think this one is the best so far. The plot is full of twists, and many subplots provide a very engrossing experience.” ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ "Another scorcher from Elleby." ★ ★ ★ ★ “Wonderful read. VERY well developed characters and a fantastic plot and a really great and exciting read. Everything about Second Chance screams grab a copy and read to your delight. A book that carries the reader along page by page turner page…” ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “Elleby Harper has another winner on her hands.” ★ ★ ★ ★ ★Books in the Detective Bex Wynter FilesDriven to DeathStolen GirlsCourting DeathDeath for SaleBlood Lines Killing Time Bram Carver Mystery ThrillersSecond ChanceHunt for Justice
Afterlife
Marcus Sakey - 2017
He wakes without a scratch. The building is in ruins. His team is gone. Outside, Chicago is dark. Cars lie abandoned. No planes cross the sky. He’s relieved to spot other people — until he sees they’re carrying machetes.Welcome to the afterlife.Claire McCoy stands over the body of Will Brody. As head of an FBI task force, she hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep in weeks. A terrorist has claimed eighteen lives and thrown the nation into panic. Against this horror, something reckless and beautiful happened. She fell in love… with Will Brody. But the line between life and death is narrower than any of us suspect — and all that matters to Will and Claire is getting back to each other.From the author of the million-copy bestselling Brilliance Trilogy comes a mind-bending thriller that explores our most haunting and fundamental question: What if death is just the beginning?
Twilight
William Gay - 2006
Suspecting that something is amiss with their father’s burial, teenager Kenneth Tyler and his sister Corrie venture to his gravesite and make a horrific discovery: their father, a whiskey bootlegger, was not actually buried in the casket they bought for him. Worse, they learn that the undertaker, Fenton Breece, has been grotesquely manipulating the dead.Armed with incriminating photographs, Tyler becomes obsessed with bringing the perverse undertaker to justice. But first, he must outrun Granville Sutter, a local strongman and convicted murderer hired by Fenton to destroy the evidence. What follows is an adventure through the Harrikin, an eerie backwoods filled with tangled roads, rusted machinery, and eccentric squatters–old men, witches, and families among them–who both shield and imperil Tyler as he runs for safety. With his poetic, haunting prose, William Gay rewrites the rules of the gothic fairy tale while exploring the classic Southern themes of good and evil.
The Six
Anni Taylor - 2017
She's stunned when she's offered a lifeline: A program that includes a six-day stay in a Greek monastery, six challenges and a chance at sixty thousand dollars. There is just one condition - she must keep it secret. Evie's husband Gray is gutted to find the note that Evie left behind. Why did she leave and where did she go? And is she ever coming back? But his anger turns to alarm as he begins to piece together the circumstances of his wife's disappearance. When Evie's car is found burned in woodland, the police suspect him of murdering Evie. Gray has got one chance to get out of the country and find Evie - before he's arrested for something he didn't do.Too late, Evie discovers the chilling truth about the program and the island itself. And the closer she gets to finding an escape, the closer the deadly danger lurking in the depths of the monastery gets to her.
Mr In Between
Neil Cross - 1998
He's an ideal employee: efficient, conscientious, and utterly loyal to the man for whom he kills. It is an existence that encourages solitariness, which Jon has cultivated, until he encounters Andy and Cathy, old friends from school, now married with a child.
Crimson Rain
Meg O'Brien - 2002
Adopting one-year-old twin girls seemed like an answer to desperate prayers. But when one girl is caught trying to kill her sister with a knife on Christmas Eve four years later, the Bradleys have no choice but to return the disturbed child to the care of an orphanage. Sixteen years pass before their actions come back to haunt them, and by then Paul and Gina's marriage is in trouble; the only light in their lives is Rachel, the child they raised. Then Rachel is kidnapped, and the sacrifice Paul and Gina must make to ensure her safe return results in their own utter humiliation. Will they have the strength to get her back?
Unknown Remains: A Novel
Peter Leonard - 2016
Outside his office window, Jack hears a booming sound, and then the worst thing imaginable. He works in the World Trade Center, and it is September 11, 2001.His wife in Connecticut, Diane, is visited the next day by a grief counselor, and then the mob, where she learns her husband owes them $750,000. Their personal bank accounts have been emptied. She’s totally and utterly broke. Lost in grief and now shock, Diane soon learns her husband was not the loving spouse he appeared to be. But neither is she, owing to that Beretta she keeps tucked into her handbag.The perfect summer read, Unknown Remains boasts an exciting crime story, inventive plot twists, and a cast of rogues, who just might be using a national tragedy to cover up their own deep transgressions and greed.
Burning Justice (Callie Justice Mystery)
Leighann Dobbs - 2015
murder." Private Investigator Callie Justice wants nothing to do with a client who she suspects is lying right to her face, but when that lie turns deadly, Callie is compelled to do what she does best ... seek justice. It should be easy, since the victim practically predicted her own death and all the clues point to one person ... or do they? Aided by her hunky robotic housekeeper who spends most of his time avoiding his household duties and her elderly amateur sleuth neighbors, Callie soon finds herself navigating a sea of lies in a twisty plot where no one can be trusted.
Beyond the Grave
R.W. Wallace - 2021
A small bump in the ground next to her grave marks former police officer Robert’s last resting place.And in thirty years, no visitors for either of them.Confined within the cemetery borders and yearning for closure to move on, the two ghosts can’t go after the people who killed them.Until Clothilde receives her very first visitor — and along with it, the means to escape the cemetery.Beyond the Grave is the first novel in the Ghost Detective series, following Robert and Clothilde in their search for justice.