Book picks similar to
Project Enterprise: The Short Stories by Pauline Baird Jones


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Blind Eye


S.W. Hubbard - 2015
     We see what we want to see, nothing more. When detectives Coughlin and Holzer investigate the disappearance of a successful young businessman, they’re both impressed by his beautiful wife. Slender, curvy, delicate—Michelle Fanning is not the kind of woman a man would choose to leave. Soon, a gruesome discovery leads the detectives to believe they’re investigating a murder. Reeling from the collapse of his own marriage, Detective Coughlin sees Michelle Fanning as a suspect. Detective Holzer, fascinated by her gentle femininity, sees her as a victim. Which cop turns a blind eye to the truth? Inspired by a true crime that occurred in New Jersey, this **short story** originally appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. The story introduces the character of Detective Sean Coughlin, who goes on to play a role in the full-length novels, ANOTHER MAN’S TREASURE and TREASURE OF DARKNESS, in the Palmyrton Estate Sale Mystery series. Please be aware that BLIND EYE is a short story, not a full-length novel. Chapter 1 of ANOTHER MAN’S TREASURE is also included.

The New Enemy: Episode 6 (Liam Scott series Book 3)


Andy McNab - 2015
    The action-packed finale to THE NEW ENEMY. Full story available in hardback on January 1st.

A Woman Scorned


John Locke - 2020
    Virtually broke, they turn to embarrassing home invasions and petty hits to rebuild their nest egg. In addition to each other, Callie and Creed have dreams. Creed’s is to retire and live in a scenic lake house. Callie’s is to romance a local hot mom. The same hot mom who happens to be the target of a creepy, dangerous stalker named Walter Develin.

The Land of Strong Men


A.M. Chisholm - 1919
    Excerpt and one of them, Gavin, was reputed to be the strongest man in the neighborhood. The daughter, a long-limbed slip of a girl who rode like a cow-puncher, was about the boy's age. Though Godfrey French had a ranch it was worked scarcely at all. The boys did not like work, and apparently did not have to. Godfrey French was reputed to have money. His ranch was a hang-out for what were known as "remittance men," young Englishmen who received more or less regular allowances from home--or perhaps to keep away from home. There were rumors of gambling and hard drinking at French's ranch. "Well, I'll take you home," the boy said. "You can ride my pony. He's on a rope a mile from here. But I'll have to hang up this buck, or the coyotes will chew him." He found two small saplings close together, bent them down, trimmed them and lashed their tops. Over these he placed the tied legs of the buck. With a little search he found a long dry pole. With this he had a tripod. As he hoisted with the pole the spring

The Husband's Secret - A 30-Minute Summary


Instaread Summaries - 2014
    The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty - A 30-minute Instaread SummaryInside this Instaread Summary: - Overview of the entire book- Introduction to the important people in the book- Summary and analysis of all the chapters in the book- Key Takeaways of the book- A Reader's PerspectivePreview of this summary: Chapter OneCecilia's husband, John-Paul, is in Chicago on business. She is a busy mother and part-time Tupperware consultant. Her twelve-year-old daughter, Esther, is currently obsessed with the Berlin Wall. Cecilia has a piece of the wall from a trip she took to Germany several years ago. While in the attic searching for it, she finds a mysterious envelope with her name on it. A note on it says that it should only be opened in the event of her husband's death. She does not open it. When she mentions the letter to John-Paul on the phone, she is troubled by his awkward silence.Chapter TwoTess and Felicity are cousins. Felicity was always overweight until recently, when she joined Weight Watchers and lost forty pounds. Tess, her husband, Will, and Felicity own a marketing business together in Melbourne. Tess is worried about her mother, who has just broken her ankle, and her six-year old son, Liam, who is being bullied at school. Will and Felicity call Tess into a meeting to tell her they have fallen in love. Furious, Tess says she will move back to Sydney with Liam to help her mother. She believes that her husband became attracted to Felicity when she lost weight. She tosses cold coffee in their faces....

Mrs. Basu's Uncensored Familism


Chirasree Bose - 2020
    Arpita Basu, the only daughter-in-law of Basu family, is here to tell you a story that will leave your stomach hurting with chuckles and laughter. A Chudail to her prim mother-in-law, inexistent to the devil father-in-law, a damped down bomb to her once best friend Naveena and well, nothing whatsoever to her own husband Akash, the 23-year-old finds herself questioning the very concept of familism as her six months of tumultuous married life is hit with unanswerable questions sprouting every now and then in her head.Speaking of head, what do you think is its importance in Mrs. Basu's life? Oh boy, you're in for a surprise! Because the quirks of their tongue-in-cheek relationship is bound to make you split your sides.However, in a split second Mrs. Basu's life goes kaput as her dark past comes knocking at the door. While she struggles to keep it at bay, her husband leaves her side with no promise of coming back ever.Is it mere coincidence that her past holds a connection to the disappearance of her husband? Or, is it what Mrs. Basu deserves for all she did in the past?This chapter of her life will unravel the mysteries of the present, all the knots of the past and the road to the future. Of course, in the most hilarious way possible.

The False Sun


R. Scott Bakker - 2012
    A story set in the far antiquity of Bakker's fictional world world of Eärwa, the setting for his Prince of Nothing and Aspect Emperor series.

Red Runs the Plain


W.R. Benton - 2007
    Army Scout'Escaping from the Oto Indians who brutally slaughtered his whole family, fifteen-year-old Jarel Wade runs aimlessly into a snowstorm. On the verge of death he's rescued by a pair of cantankerous old mountain men as rugged as the mountains off which they live. Taken under their wing, Jarel proves himself worthy of the trail, but something's coming; something far more sinister that will test every ounce of his newly earned skills and mettle. A rogue former British Army officer is systematically exterminating the free trappers. He wants to corner the fur trade for himself, and he commands a pack of thieves, murderers and outcasts who know the mountains as well as they know how to dig Jarel a grave."RED RUNS THE PLAIN is a crackerjack story written by a craftsman at the top of his form. A whirlwind of a tale that will keep you turning pages."— Matt Braun

Holes: A Play


Louis Sachar - 2015
    This winner of the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award features Stanley Yelnats, a kid who is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnats. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the warden makes the boys "build character" by spending all day, every day, digging holes five feet wide and five feet deep. It doesn't take long for Stanley to realize there's more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake: the warden is looking for something. Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment-and redemption..

Subtropical High


Gregory S. Dew - 2014
    With a street value over eight million dollars, the grungy duo sets up a buyer then rumbles through Florida in their 1973 El Camino to unload the square grouper and end their financial woes. Unfortunately, in their efforts to make the rendezvous, they become unexpectedly entangled with a host of unsavory characters, including an expatriate haunted by his single testicle, a destitute real estate developer with a penchant for GMILFs, a toupee-wearing pederast, Florida’s first closet-gay Governor, and a game warden turned eco-maniac, all of whom must be dealt with as a Category 5 hurricane, Cyclone Tyrone, spins ashore.

A Winter Hope


Sheila Newberry - 2019
    Number five Kitchener Avenue heralds the start of a new life for the Hope family. For pregnant Miriam it is a warm, safe environment to bring up her child. For her sister, fourteen-year-old Barbara, it means independence . . . and boys. And for Fred it provides the security he craves for his young family. In the lead up to Christmas, the Hopes settle in, and start to make happy memories in their new home. But World War II is round the corner, and this carefree life can't last. Soon the family are split up. Bar, wanting to do her bit for the war effort, joins the ATS, while Miriam and her children are evacuated to the countryside and away from her husband. As the country is thrown into turmoil, can the Hope family come back together and find the happiness they crave? 'A Winter Hope is a heartwarming novel following two sisters from pre-war to post-war, their parallel stories filled with love and loss. I found myself completely wrapped up with their experiences and shed a tear at the twists and turns of their lives.' Mollie Walton, author of The Daughters of Ironbridge 'I have long been a fan of Sheila Newberry's novels. I love their wonderful warmth and charm.' Maureen Lee, bestselling author of The Seven Streets of Liverpool 'Reading a Sheila Newberry book is like having dinner with your mother in her warm and cosy kitchen. You can feel the love and care put into every juicy morsel' - Diane Allen, bestselling author of For the Sake of Her Family Previously published as The Family at Number Five.

Merry Wrath Mysteries Boxed Set Vol. I


Leslie Langtry - 2016
    Instead of black bag drops in Bangkok, she now spends her time leading a young Girl Scout troop. But Merry's new simple life turns not-so-simple when an enemy agent shows up dead at scout camp. Suddenly Merry is forced to deal with her former life in order to preserve her future one. It doesn't help matters that the CIA sends in her former, sexy handler to investigate…or that the hot new neighbor across the street turns out to be the local detective in charge of her case. And when Merry is forced to take on a roommate in the voluptuous form of a turned KGB agent/bimbo, things become trickier than wet work in Waukegan or cookie sales in the spring. Nothing in the CIA or Girl Scouts' training manuals has prepared her for what comes next… Mint Cookie Murder (book #2) Ex-CIA agent turned suburban scout leader, Merry Wrath, is just trying to live a normal, quiet life. But all that goes out the window when a convicted traitor (who’s inconveniently not in his prison cell) dies on her doorstep, and an obese cat, who bears a disturbing resemblance to Hitler, decides to move in. To make things worse, it’s time for the annual troop cookie sale, her new boyfriend’s old college flame shows up to win him back, and someone’s shooting at Merry in the frozen foods section of the grocery store. Is the assassin after her or the cat? Is Riley, her hot former CIA handler, hitting on her? Is Rex, her boyfriend, going to dump her? Will she sell enough cookies to take her troop to Winter Sniper Camp? If Merry doesn't find answer to these questions soon, it may be too late! Marshmallow S'More Murder (book #3) What could be better for former CIA agent turned Girl Scout leader Merry Wrath than taking twelve little girls to Washington DC for a bit of summer fun? Almost anything. Unfortunately, between her girls terrorizing the Secret Service and "accidentally" destroying the hotel pool, Merry has her hands full with this troop. And when her former handler, Riley, is kidnapped Merry has to turn to an old friend from her spy days and her parents, Senator and Mrs. Czrgy, to help her wrangle the troop and rescue the man she once briefly called her boyfriend. Armed only with a perpetually AWOL parent, stalked by a runaway King Vulture, and plagued by a mysterious death from her past, Merry's mayhem weaves a wacky trail from moonshiners in the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the bowels of the Japanese Embassy, to the ductwork of the International Spy Museum. With things heating up with current boyfriend, Detective Rex Ferguson, can Merry decipher clues from her past to find ex¬-boyfriend Riley and finally solve the murder of Yakuza boss, Midori Ito, before the target on her back is filled with lead?

The Doll Collector


Joanne Stephen-Ward - 2018
    Utterly brilliant." Marjorie Hall-Venmore - reviewer A couple and their young son burn to death in a house fire. A girl dies from a nut allergy. A woman falls under a train during the rush hour. An accountant falls down the steps to his basement.Their deaths appear to be accidents but Gloria knows they were murdered because she murdered them. And every time Gloria kills she buys a doll.But how many dolls will she need to keep her satisfied?When Gloria takes a room as a lodger her behaviour starts to spin out of control. Gloria wants love and happiness and friendship and she will do anything she can to get what she wants... What everyone is saying about The Doll Collector: "Amazing book. Loved it from beginning to end." Tracey Shults - reviewer"The ending was a real twist and I did not see it coming" Michelle Debnam - reviewer"OMG. A crime book with a difference." Nicki's Book Blog"The Doll Collector is one hell of a creepy read that is sure to give you goosebumps." Chelle's Book Reviews"I highly recommend this book.... a breath of fresh air and not too graphic." Peggy Beaver - reviewer"OMG I loved this twisty and creepy read which had a couple of twists I just didn't see coming!" Sandra Robinson - reviewer The Doll Collector is a twisty and gripping serial killer thriller. It will appeal to fans of psychological thrillers, as well as fans of authors like Mel Sherratt, Sharon Bolton, Jenny Blackhurst and Rachel Abbott.

Dog Boys


Charles de Lint - 2012
    Then he does.

The Torment Of Others / The Mermaids Singing


Val McDermid - 2004
    The scene matches in every detail a series of murders two years ago-murders that ended when irrefutable forensic evidence secured the conviction of a deeply disturbed young man named Derek Tyler.But there's no way Tyler could have killed the latest victim. He's been locked up in a mental institution since his trial, barely speaking a word. So is there a copycat?All his years of experience tell top criminal psychologist Dr. Tony Hill that there isn't-but that would make the murders literally impossible. While Hill tries to crack Tyler, DCI Carol Jordan and her team must mount a desperate undercover operation to trap the murderer-a decision that will have terrible consequences.The Mermaids Singing:This was the summer he discovered what he wanted--at a gruesome museum of criminology far off the beaten track of more timid tourists. Visions of torture inspired his fantasies like a muse. It would prove so terribly fulfilling.The bodies of four men have been discovered in the town of Bradfield. Enlisted to investigate is criminal psychologist Tony Hill. Even for a seasoned professional, the series of mutilation sex murders is unlike anything he's encountered before. But profiling the psychopath is not beyond him. Hill's own past has made him the perfect man to comprehend the killer's motives. It's also made him the perfect victim.A game has begun for the hunter and the hunted. But as Hill confronts his own hidden demons, he must also come face-to-face with an evil so profound he may not have the courage--or the power--to stop it...