Book picks similar to
Gumbo Justice by Holli Castillo


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Greenwater


K.R. Griffiths - 2018
    Crossing our famous covered bridge into town, you’re sure to be met by warm smiles and a hearty Vermont greeting. While you’re here, why not take a trip out to Rum Cherry Ridge for some world class skiing, tour the site of our historic marble factory, or just kick back and relax with new friends in the town that’s easy to love, and impossible to leave! Oh, and don’t forget to bring a weapon. You’re going to need it. Derrick Aldridge isn’t planning on seeing the sights. He’s only in Greenwater, along with his wife Jasmine and teenage son Lee, to settle an ancient family dispute. He believes he will spend no more than a couple of hours in the tiny, isolated town. But Greenwater is gripped by an almost preternaturally powerful storm, and when the night sky is ripped apart by a sound that definitely isn’t thunder, Derrick begins to suspect that the place isn’t all that it appears to be. He's right. There’s something wrong with the residents of Greenwater. Something dangerous…

The Scarlett Bell FBI Series: Books 1-5


Dan Padavona - 2019
    Have you met Scarlett Bell? She's the expert profiler the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit calls upon to catch the nation's deadliest serial killers. Cunning, beautiful, deadly. And hunted. Someone wants Scarlett Bell dead. When a teenage girl is brutally murdered in an idyllic lake community, the local sheriff calls upon Scarlett Bell to find the murderer. Another girl goes missing, and the special agent must stop the killer before time runs out. The killer is a ghost, a phantom hiding in plain sight, and Scarlett must untangle a confusing web of evidence if she hopes to track him down. But Scarlett is the killer's next target.

They Called Me Margaret


Florence Osmund - 2018
    To break from this tradition, she becomes a writer of cozy mysteries and is in the process of living out her dream of opening her own bookstore—The Indie Book Nook—featuring self-published authors. But when she perceives her husband is behaving similarly to some of the unscrupulous characters in her books, she fears that she will lose him or—maybe even worse—that she is losing her mind. While abandonment is nothing new to Margaret—she hasn’t seen or heard from her mother since she was six years old—the fear of losing her husband is devastating. As she struggles to find the strength to mend her shattered marriage, she must also cope with her obscure health issues, her daughter’s precarious behavior, a disingenuous neighbor, and an unpredictable mother-in-law. Who in her life is a friend and who is more of a foe is not always apparent, and it’s up to Margaret to figure it all out.

The Replacement


Patrick Redmond - 2014
    As Robert embarks on a luxurious retirement, his beautiful wife Caroline thrives as an accomplished hostess, and their handsome twins launch their own high-flying careers. It is almost too good to be true.No one envies Stuart. Used to fending for himself after a childhood of foster homes, he is now making his way as best he can, vowing to lose a bit more weight and become a bit more successful.But a chance encounter sets in motion a series of events which will shatter everything. Some will think they've lost, and some will think they're winning, but none of them will be prepared for what is to come in the final catastrophe of jealousy, betrayal and agonizing justice.They should never have invited Stuart in - and Stuart should never have trusted them.A brilliantly assured psychological thriller that builds tension with such power and conviction, you will feel like you are there with them, fighting for a say.

A Party In San Niccolo


Christobel Kent - 2003
    Set during one week in springtime Florence, A Party In San Niccolo follows the events leading up to the seventy-fifth birthday party for Frances Richardson, a much-loved English resident. Around her, Frances' friends are gearing up for the party too: Frank, a disenchanted journalist; Jane, who runs an Italian cookery school for rich Home Counties wives; her shady husband Niccolo; and Gina, a beleaguered mother-of-three who has come to Florence for a break. Before the week is out love, death, family secrets and old memories will come to a head at Frances' party, with dramatic results...

The Courier


Gordon J. Campbell - 2019
    They sized him up as someone with potential for strategic deployment, and more importantly, he's under the radar. Gregg's exploits start with what he thinks is a one-off assignment as a courier, and the straightforward task spirals out of control. He's forced to rise to the occasion and use every resource available to survive. Even his family is jeopardized which forces him to return to Japan to settle scores.The Courier is one man’s struggle to fight for survival in a world that he's not been trained for and where violence and retribution are the names of the game.

The Odd Fellows Society


C.G. Barrett - 2015
    First, historian Jasper Willoughs, his closest friend, didn’t toss himself off a dormitory roof. Second, a Georgetown University secret society—a running joke on campus—has blood on its hands. Torres’s pursuit of the truth embroils him in a bizarre and thrilling scavenger hunt. The clues, scratched out on parchment by the mysterious Odd Fellows Society, lead Santi to risk everything he holds sacred: his job, his life, even the woman he secretly loves. As for his relationship with his God? Well, that’s complicated. A hold-your-breath thriller that explores our national obsession with race, The Odd Fellows Society will have you looking at the U.S. capital—and its monuments’ secrets—in a whole different shade of black and white.

It Was You


Jade Lee Wright - 2018
    Everything I did, I did for her..."When Regan Pen discovers that her long-term boyfriend has been cheating on her with over eight women, she packs her bags and leaves the sunny island in Spain that she had called home for a year. She returns to South Africa where she is given the chance to start over in life. Reassemble herself. Now is her time to be selfish. Find a new career, get a home of her own. Become whoever she wants to be... but when her best friend, Peyton, is brutally murdered, Regan is forced to put her life on hold to take responsibility for her friends thirteen year old daughter, Harley. As the police battle to solve the murder of Peyton and her unborn child, Regan becomes convinced that her Godchild is not the sweet, innocent little girl everyone seems to think she is. Could Harley have been so consumed by her jealousy and fear of not being the epicenter of her mothers universe that it lead to murder? If so, is Regan safe in her own home?

Chasing Hunter


Cort Malone - 2007
    Framed for a brutal murder, Jake Hunter, a summer associate at a prestigious Manhattan law firm, finds himself caught up in a harrowing game of cat and mouse that puts his friends and family in grave danger. When Jake discovers his mentor, the firm's biggest rainmaker, lying in a pool of blood and near death, the attorney's final words lead Jake to evidence that could topple the highest ranks of the Russian mafia. Unable to go to the police, who are convinced that he is the killer, Jake is forced to go on the run. With only three days to save himself, his new girlfriend, and his kidnapped younger brother, Jake's time is running out. Unsure of who to trust, and faced with a dark secret from his past, Jake quickly learns that nothing is as it seems. Only one thing is certain-with the Russian mob, the FBI, two mercenary spies, and a private detective all hot on his trail-everyone is Chasing Hunter.

Catch as Catch Can (Merseyside Crime, #1)


Malcolm Hollingdrake - 2021
    Together with new colleague Skeeter Warlock, Decent quickly discovers there’s a sinister link between them all, one that will bring them face-to-face with some uncomfortable home truths.Catch as Catch Can is the first in the Merseyside Crime Series from Malcolm Hollingdrake – bestselling author of the Harrogate Crime Series.

Hidden: Part One


Linda Berry - 2019
    His parents are estranged, his rodeo legend father is an invalid, and the family ranch is nearing bankruptcy. The county is in an uproar. Thieves have been striking neighboring ranches, stealing champion horses, and disappearing into the desert like ghosts. While recovering, Sully attempts to make peace with his abusive father. The dark secrets that destroyed his parent’s marriage slowly come to light. Though furious, Sully is forced to live and work with his father for the survival of the ranch. Sully’s only refuge is the mother of a young marine recently killed in action. Despite their age difference, he begins to connect with her in a way he never thought possible. When Sully’s close friend is killed by the horse thieves, he and his Paiute companion decide to track the renegades themselves. What awaits in the high desert will sorely test their courage and survival skills—skills neither of them thought they’d ever use on American soil.

The Unseen Face


Joannes Rhino - 2013
    His plans for their future, of marriage and kids, died right along with her. He preferred feeling numb, rather than feeling the pain of losing his dreams. That all changed the day he received an anonymous letter in the mail with just three words: I am innocent. James began dreaming of Emilia that same night. However, his dream quickly becomes his nightmare as she haunts his sleep, demanding he knows the truth, that he faces the unseen. And what is hidden threatens to change James' life forever.

The Breakdown [Sample]


B.A. Paris - 2016
    Where she left the car, if she took her pills, the house alarm code - and whether the knife in the kitchen really had blood on it. Bestselling author B A Paris is back with a brand new psychological thriller full of twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Sleep then my Princess


O.N. Stefan - 2015
    While mourning the death of her husband, Senior Tissue Engineer, Stephani Robbins, is plagued by recurring visions of a child being locked up in a chicken coop. Meanwhile, someone is sending her creepy love poems, roses, and photos that have been taken without Stephani's knowledge. As more photos appear, the police suspect that Stephani has hired someone to take these photos. She before she can convince the police to take her seriously she is kidnapped. While imprisoned she discovers why she has been having these visions and it is more chilling than she ever imagined. Can she make it out alive? What some of my beta readers said... Wow! You've got a thriller with a level of horrific reality here. You take the reader inside a perverted serial killer's head and an innocent woman whose life has been ripped from her and whose present season of recovery is being trespassed. You describe the love of an adoring niece for her mourning auntie and this connects the reader to the prologue and adds another level of emotion to this already captivating plot. What a book! I have to say 'wow' because your writing style is so picturesque. You show a every detail to plainly. I was captured right away. The showing is real and to telling, which is a top virtue in any real book. The main character Stephanie has a sassy attitude underneath all of the hurt. Her story is heart breaking and so deep I felt her agony. This is a worthy read. O.N. Stefan, this one is so chilling and well written. The villain jumps off the page at the reader and scare the bejeebers out of you. You descriptions of the lab scene in the first chapter are right on and her getting the poem was quite spooky. The conflict of the mother and Puddles was well done showing just the type of upbringing or lack of this man had. High stars! I think you have a great novel here. The prologue is intense and urged me to keep reading, as well as setting the stage for when she discovers the pictures to give a sensation of malice. Your voice is exciting and the dialogue is good. It does seem more formal at times, but that is to be expected when having highly educated characters. I especially like your detailed descriptions and the use of medical terminology.

The Berlin Escape (An Aubrey Endeavours Spy Thriller Book 1)


Warren Court - 2021
    America's newest spy is trying to stop it!Young, beautiful and fearless, Aubrey Endeavours fought for recognition in the male dominated world of aviation.And Won!Then her country called.Recruited into America’s fledgling spy agency. Her first mission; to steal vital information about Hitler's next move.Now she is alone and undercover in Berlin. Hunted by the Gestapo. Torn between her loyalty to her country……and the enemy she’s fallen in love with.This time, Aubrey is fighting for her life.If you like historical spy thrillers mixed with romantic suspense then you’ll love The Berlin Escape.Get your copy today!