Book picks similar to
Bailey's Law by Meg Lelvis


mystery
ebooks
police-procedural
fiction

Murder Upstream: A Detective Mystery


Mark Hazard - 2016
     Detective Kyle Villante gets his first call after coming off a two-year undercover stint that ended in a bloodbath and marred his reputation with the brass. But he doesn’t get to work the case alone. Detective Solomon Aduwo of the State Police has arrived in Harding to assist with the investigation. Villante bristles at the perceived leash around his neck, but he and Aduwo set out to work the case, all while Villante struggles to keep secrets and ghosts of the past from coming back to haunt him. Meanwhile, Aduwo has come to Harding with secrets of his own and an agenda that could doom Villante’s future. Murder Upstream is a thrilling mystery, full of vivid characters, puzzling questions, action and suspense.

The Lift


Andrew Barrett - 2015
     CSI Eddie Collins embarks on another ordinary day. But the people he meets in a lift prove that you should never make assumptions, never let preconceptions sway your judgement. And never let down your guard.

Lasser- Beginnings


Robin Roughley - 2017
    Soaked to the skin with the lightning illuminating the tumultuous sky he is determined to get his man. This is only the start to a night that will change him forever. Soon he will find a young girl, a runaway with a terrifying tale to tell, leading Lasser on a race against time as he tries to help her find her way through the terror. Though as the mystery unfolds Lasser realises that there is more at stake and the clock it ticking. The question is can he save the innocent as well as the guilty as the thunder continues to bellow from the unforgiving heavens?

No Way Out


D.C. Brockwell - 2020
    But what exactly does that mean and what does she want with him?Meanwhile, Detective Constable Nasreen Maqsood gets assigned to Danny’s missing persons case, and not only does she want to crack it so she can prove to her male superiors that she’s right for the job; she also wants to find Danny as they used to be old school friends.Still trapped, Danny realises there are other bees in the bunker, new ones and ones that are coming to the end of their usefulness. What happens to a bee that is taken to C Wing? What happens when your time is up? Nasreen has no idea what she’s up against and for Daniel, the clock is ticking…

Slow Bleed


Tim Adler - 2014
     How do you convince police to search for a dead woman? As her world falls apart, Jemma realises she is the only one who can save her son. If somebody took your only child, how far would you go to get him back?

Death in Nostalgia City


Mark S. Bacon - 2014
    Nostalgia City is the ultimate resort for anyone who wants to visit the past. A meticulous recreation of an entire small town from the early 1970s, it’s complete with period cars, music, clothes, shops, restaurants, hotels—the works. The relaxed theme-park atmosphere is just what Lyle needs—until rides are sabotaged and tourists killed. Then park founder, billionaire “Max” Maxwell, drafts Lyle into investigating—unofficially. As the violence escalates and employees get rattled, Lyle gets help. Kate Sorensen, the park’s PR director—and former college basketball player—becomes another incognito investigator. Except that she’s six-foot-two-and-a-half-inches tall and drop-dead gorgeous. So much for incognito. Together, Lyle and Kate unravel a conspiracy of corporate greed and murder.

Vow of Silence (The Jill Shannon Murder #2)


Chris Patchell - 2018
     Five years after the brutal slaying of her husband, software executive Jill Shannon is ready to take the next step in her life. But with her wedding to prosecuting attorney Conner Manning just eight weeks away, her future father-in-law’s political ambitions for her fiancé threaten all her hopes. Jill’s past holds dark secrets. Secrets she can’t afford to have exposed under the relentless lights of a political campaign. When Phoenix Detective David Shaw turns up at Jill’s door asking questions about a reporter's murder, he has no idea what a lethal Pandora’s Box he’s just opened. Was the womanizing reporter killed by a jealous husband, or was it related to his drug use? Or did it have something to do with the secret expose the reporter was working on? Jill Shannon looks like a dead-end lead but Shaw can’t shake the feeling the beautiful widow has secrets she’s not sharing. Jill is caught between the sins of her past and the shattered hopes for her future. Shaw finds himself drawn deeper into a twisted labyrinth of lies and danger. One thing is clear: some vows are made out loud in front of witnesses. But some vows are made in silence, and witnesses can’t be left alive.

Murder in Palm Beach: The Homicide That Never Died


Bob Brink - 2014
    Rodger Kriger falls to the floor, mortally wounded, leaving a wife and six children. An ambitious prosecutor pins the deed on Mitt Hecher, a hoodlum and karate expert. At Hecher's trial, fellow jail inmates testify that he confessed. He is convicted and sentenced to the brutal and anarchic state prison at Raiford, where a stabbing a day and a killing a week are the "mean" average. Judges repeatedly frustrate Hecher and several attorneys working without fees to get a new trial, as investigators pursue myriad scenarios. Meanwhile, his wife contracts a deadly disease. Was Hecher innocent, and if so, who did it? Did the sons of a wealthy Cuban kill Kriger? Were the operators of a gambling enterprise out to get him? Was a love triangle the basis for the shooting? Did a vicious underworld figure do the bidding of a criminal gang? Was a prominent politician behind the slaying? Those are the questions seeking answers amid the exploration of issues of justice and power. Murder in Palm Beach is the saga of a battle between a man whose swagger has sent him spiraling to the bottom and powerful, sinister forces determined to keep him there. It is a story of redemption wrapped in a mystery tale reeking with power, sex, violence, and romance.

101 People to Kill Before I Die


Anthony O'Connor - 2017
    With a few comical moments and an array of colorful characters all as determined as they are deadly.Brian Samuals is a former soldier, a former police officer and an ex-convict, recently bankrupt, divorced and now diagnosed with terminal cancer. He has an epiphany. He has nothing to lose and a lot of people have offended against him. Therefore, before he goes they go. All of them. As he embarks on his killing spree he hooks up with a beautiful stripper, Natasha Brown, but is unsure how that's going to work.Be careful who you kill. Before long he has the Russian Mob, a Chinese Triad, the CIA, Interpol, the Australian Federal Police, the Australian SAS anti-terrorist squads and every cop in the state of Victoria hunting him down, screaming for his head. Things aren’t looking good for Brian and Natasha.

Foul Trade


B.K. Duncan - 2014
    May Keaps, the Poplar Coroner's Officer, has never failed to provide a jury with sufficient evidence to arrive at a just verdict.The poverty, drunken fights between visiting sailors, drug trafficking, and criminal gangs, haunting the shadows of the busiest docks in the world, mean that the Coroner sees more than its fair share of sudden and unnatural deaths.May relishes the responsibility placed upon her but there are many who believe it's an unsuitable job for a woman. Even May begins to wonder if that is the case when the discovery of a young man's body, in a Limehouse alley, plunges her into an underworld of opium dens, gambling, turf wars, protection rackets and murder.As her investigations draw her into danger, it becomes increasingly clear that whoever is responsible intends to avoid the hangman's noose by arranging to have May laid out on one of her own mortuary slabs.

Ransom X


I.B. Holder - 2009
    His study of the human mind was carried out in make-shift tents on the edge of the battlefield; he didn’t write or read the book on how to break a prisoner, he simply followed his instincts, dissecting human behavior in a way that verges on autism. He had a reputation for getting anything out of anyone – “had” being the operative word. Five years ago, a random crime shattered Legace’s world. Withdrawing inside himself, he built his life around the only family he had left, his teenage daughter. He withdrew from operations, and took the most isolated post he could, in the basement of the Alexandria FBI, working the archives. Legace brought consequence to the job. His tactics of getting inside the minds of criminals led to a controversial new form of investigation that came to be known as– shadow projection. It was a term coined by his insufferable regional director, Bailey, and Legace couldn’t begin to count the ways he hated the simplification of his process. Legace threw the deductive model out the window. He didn’t follow the trail of the criminal; he took on criminals who were smart enough to leave no trail. They were fixed objects like sundials casting a unique shadow for every incremental step in their journey. His methods involved knowing the inner workings of the criminal, and projecting forward to the next activity that such a person would engage in. His life was verging on stable when a young female agent from Washington walked into his office with an opportunity, an obligation and a threat. Now, normally Legace would have ignored all three, but there was something about the case and the victim that struck a very personal chord in him. All of his powers were going to be needed for a case that landed on his desk along the agent who now called herself his new partner. There was an abduction ring that was preying upon young women of marginal fame, using them in adult films and ransoming them for the price of pornography. The profit engine became a fad among perverts (the largest single unified economic bloc) and the income was staggering. This great influx of capital precipitated a bold move by the abductors. Their newest acquisition was the daughter of an old friend, the Director of the FBI. All hell was breaking loose over the Web and the world, and with a two-week window to find his quarry, Legace knew that his performance on this case would either cement his reputation as borderline charlatan with blood on his hands, or announce his reinstatement as borderline hero with all of the official responsibilities that entails, and he couldn’t actually say which outcome he feared more.

A Million Doorways


K. Martin Beckner - 2016
    Separated from his friends and mourning the tragic loss of his father, he feels isolated from all the things he has ever known and loved. But his outlook on life begins to change to one day when he takes a summer job working for the mysterious and eccentric Zelma Green. With nearly a century between them, he finds in her an unlikely kindred spirit. His new friend loves to tell stories about her life, taking him on a journey spanning over eighty years, from the happy days of her youth, a time of horse-drawn carriages, to the darkest moments of her life. But just as Ethan starts to settle and make peace with his new circumstances, he becomes shockingly aware of a soul-crushing deception in his life, a deception hidden away for years like the mummified body down in Zelma Green's cellar. As terrible secrets unfold, Ethan faces a decision: does he run, or does he stand and face the truth and his fears head on?

Fava


John Hazen - 2014
    Francine is a rising TV news reporter in New York City. Despite her brains, beauty and a growing following, she is stuck covering local interest stories. That is until her career literally hits the jackpot when the winner of a $450 million dollar lottery tells Francine that he is committed to using his new fortune to avenge his brother's killing at the Pentagon on 9/11. His seemingly crazy plan is backed by more than just money-he is in league with a ruthless and powerful Army Colonel gone rogue, religious extremists and co-conspirators in the highest levels of government. Francine teams with FBI Special Agent Will Allen, one of the few people who believe the threat is real, in a desperate race across three continents to stop the plot before it's too late.

The Night Bird


Brian Freeman - 2017
    When a series of bizarre deaths rock San Francisco—as seemingly random women suffer violent psychotic breaks—Frost looks for a connection that leads him to psychiatrist Francesca Stein. Frankie’s controversial therapy helps people erase their most terrifying memories…and all the victims were her patients.As Frost and Frankie carry out their own investigations, the case becomes increasingly personal—and dangerous. Long-submerged secrets surface as someone called the Night Bird taunts the pair with cryptic messages pertaining to the deaths. Soon Frankie is forced to confront strange gaps in her own memory, and Frost faces a killer who knows the detective’s worst fears.As the body count rises and the Night Bird circles ever closer, a dedicated cop and a brilliant doctor race to solve the puzzle before a cunning killer claims another victim.

FREE TO DIE


Bob McElwain - 2009
    Now he's back. And his hope for freedom appears to be within reach.Unfortunately there are those who have no interest in his legal status; they only want him dead or on the run once more.But for Brad, running is no longer an option. It's a table stakes game in which the risks are high. But he puts everything he has, including his life, on the table, then settles in, determined to win every hand.