Book picks similar to
Lost Orphans Omnibus by J.S. Donovan


mystery
g-f-protagonist-female
postponed
character-rachel

The Black Ledger


D.G. Allen - 2017
    Gangs shoot up the streets, while corrupt politicians and predatory businesses get rich by stealing from the poor. In a place fraught with danger and fueled by poverty, a young white man named Ron Pickles discovers a resilient people with an indestructible spirit. But, there are sinister forces looking to create misfortune and reap profits at the expense of people that society cares little about. Ron soon learns that it isn’t the ghetto he needs to fear, but the corrupt insurance agency that recruited him in the first place. Inspired by a true story, “The Black Ledger” is a multi-cultural/mystery crime thriller that will take you into the heart of Chicago’s most dangerous neighborhoods and experience a life you couldn’t imagine existed in the United States. “D.G. Allen’s The Black Ledger is a smart, often funny, and compelling look at the dirty business of “death insurance” on the West Side of Chicago. Allen has vividly recreated the time and place with impeccable detail, colorful characters, and crackling dialogue; not to mention a heartbreaking murder mystery that always keeps you guessing. It may be set in the 80’s but it is a powerful message about race and corruption still resonating today!” - Tim Sulka, screenwriter: “Children of the Corn 666: Isaac’s Return” Author: Prime Cuts (graphic novel) “I grew up in the Chicago community depicted in this novel. D.G. Allen depicts a much darker but funnier side of that neighborhood that I could ever have imagined. It is a captivating and wonderfully written story. A MUST READ!” - Debra Wright Hughes “This novel breaks the barriers of the thriller genre. I have never read something so unique as this world that D.G. Allen has created.” - John Franklin, screenwriter: “Children of the Corn 666: Isaac’s Return” Author: Prime Cuts (graphic novel) “Highly recommended! This story takes us into a world most of us will never see and into a business that most of us never dreamed existed. He writes with such skill that you will laugh one minute, cry the next, and never even realize your jaw has dropped. His characters are believable and fascinating! I became engrossed in this book from start to finish. A unique and mesmerizing novel…don’t miss it!” - Elizabeth Benney MA. DT. CIMI, Director LTP Center

I Am Phantom


Sean Fletcher - 2015
    Inexplicable. Powerful. Dangerous.He’s always been desperate to know why.But he’s not ready for the one person with answers to be a psychopath with a murderous vendetta.Still, Drake will do anything to discover the origins of his abilities and protect his new friends and the girl he loves. Even if that means finding Lucius Sykes, the notorious psychopath ‘gifted’ with the same powers as Drake by a long-destroyed illegal organization called Project Midnight.Except that Project Midnight is back. And they’ll also do anything to finish what they started…Pulse-pounding action and adventure, superhero origins, coming of age, and romance collide in this intense young adult superhero urban fantasy! Read now to discover why readers have fallen in love with I Am Phantom!

The Romanov Legacy


Jenni Wiltz - 2012
    A missing treasure. One woman holds the key.Natalie Brandon believes the rumors that Nicholas II, last tsar of Russia, left behind a secret bank account to provide for his family in exile. But getting someone to believe her is harder than finding the account itself. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, Natalie is tormented by a recurring hallucination, the voice of an angel named Belial. Even her sister, a Russian history professor, won't take her claim seriously...until a blond, blue-eyed Russian spy kidnaps Natalie, claiming she's the only one who can lead him to the treasure.But Constantine Dashkov isn't the only one after the missing millions. The Russian prime minister, Maxim Starinov, will do anything to get the money for himself. Natalie and Constantine must outrun Starinov's death squad and track the treasure from San Francisco to Moscow to London. The hunt draws in Natalie's sister, Constantine's partner, and a loyal Russian family whose only mission is to guard the Romanovs' secret.With nothing more than Natalie's ghostly intuition to guide them, the pair must fight for their lives in a race to protect the tsar's legacy from a greedy despot. Blending suspense, romance, and espionage, The Romanov Legacy is an action-packed thriller that takes an unlikely heroine on one of the world's greatest treasure hunts.At the end of the story, keep reading for a preview of the forthcoming prequel, The Dante Deception.

Bleak Harbor


Bryan Gruley - 2018
    Deep down, they think they’re to blame. Summertime in Bleak Harbor means tourists, overpriced restaurants, and the Dragonfly Festival. One day before the much-awaited and equally chaotic celebration, Danny Peters, the youngest member of the family that founded the town five generations ago, disappears. When Danny’s mother, Carey, and stepfather, Pete, receive a photo of their brilliant, autistic, and socially withdrawn son tied to a chair, they fear the worst. But there’s also more to the story. Someone is sending them ominous texts and emails filled with information no one else should have. Could the secrets they’ve kept hidden—even from one another—have led to Danny’s abduction?As pressure from the kidnapper mounts, Carey and Pete must face their own ugly mistakes to find their son before he’s taken from them forever.

Kate Benedict Series 1-3


Carrie Bedford - 2017
    She’s competent, reasonable... and somehow able to see a death-predicting aura over the people around her—from the new prime minister to her oldest, closest friends—through the posh streets of London to the beautiful Tuscan countryside. And she can’t help but help others avoid the unthinkable at all costs.Fans of traditional British (but not too cozy) mystery, savvy female sleuths, and suspense with a metaphysical twist will love this paranormal trilogy —now available for a killer price! THE AURALife spins out of control for London architect Kate Benedict when she sees a dancing aura above certain people’s heads that seems to signal death. Suddenly she’s psychic. But that can't be! Psychic’s not acceptable in her circle, where the supernatural is strictly for the superstitious. And yet…people are dying. People close to her.Kate's tentative attempts to talk about her new-found metaphysical gift are met with eye rolls, so much so that she can’t even tell the nice Scotland Yard detective who's investigating the death of a close friend, Rebecca Williams. And now Rebecca’s neighbor has an aura.So what's Kate to do but try to save him by turning detective herself? A break-in and attack on her boyfriend confirm that the murderer’s catching on that Kate knows too much. But he (or maybe she) has no idea that what Kate knows is a little on the paranormal side. DOUBLE BLINDTwo politicians and her best friend have the death-predicting auras London architect Kate Benedict can see despite her most fervent wishes. She’s had the dubious gift for a year now, and suddenly there’s no longer any ignoring it.But the only way to get to the two pols is via her old friend, DCI Clarke; yet her warnings go unheeded. Her frustration builds when her best friend, Anita, refuses to believe in their existence as well — even when one appears over Anita’s boss in the hospital where she works. And then Anita develops her own aura. THE FLORENTINE CYPHERLondon architect Kate Benedict’s weekend begins with “Follow that cab!” and takes us off and running on an international adventure, ticking off picturesque locales from London to a Venetian palace and the Tuscan countryside, pausing just long enough for a quick tour of Florence’s Duomo, with danger dogging every step.What began as a quiet Friday night dinner date with an old childhood friend turns into a manhunt when Kate arrives at the rendezvous just in time to find her friend Ethan leaving in a taxi. Kate is alarmed to see the distinctive swirling pattern above his head that only she can see, and that she has come to recognize as a portent of imminent and mortal danger. When Ethan’s disappearance is followed by a series of cryptic text messages, Kate goes looking for him at his sister’s house in Florence, Italy, but it’s immediately cl

Wired In


Toby Neal - 2016
    identifies an anomaly that leads her into a cat-and-mouse game online with a deadly enemy whose motives are unclear. The chase lures her through dark corridors of cyberspace into a confrontation with the violence from her past that sent her fleeing to the United States. She’ll need every skill she’s learned to defeat her worst nightmare — and the stakes couldn’t be higher.

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.

Living with Markus


Florence Osmund - 2016
     Having put an embittered past behind him, Marc builds a successful landscaping business with clientele from the affluent suburbs of Chicago and starts to appreciate the finer things in life—and he's found the perfect woman to share in it. But when his alcoholic sister and her two young sons enter into the picture, Marc falls victim to their helplessness and temporarily puts his own life aside. When his despondent father is added to the mix, it doesn’t take long for Marc to completely lose sight of his own dreams—and his girlfriend. Does Marc save his relatives from their ill-fated lives, or save himself from entering into a life of self-sacrifice and missed opportunities? Painful soul-searching and late-night talks with the captivating tenant downstairs guide him to an unexpected decision and discovery of his true purpose in life.

Relative Fortunes


Marlowe Benn - 2019
    For sophisticated booklover Julia Kydd, life’s too short for politics. With her cropped hair and penchant for independent living, Julia wants only to launch her own new private press. But as a woman, Julia must fight for what’s hers—including the inheritance her estranged half brother, Philip, has challenged, putting her aspirations in jeopardy.When her friend’s sister, Naomi Rankin, dies suddenly of an apparent suicide, Julia is shocked at the wealthy family’s indifference toward the ardent suffragist’s death. Naomi chose poverty and hardship over a submissive marriage and a husband’s control of her money. Now, her death suggests the struggle was more than she could bear.Julia, however, is skeptical. Doubtful of her suspicions, Philip proposes a glib wager: if Julia can prove Naomi was in fact murdered, he’ll drop his claims to her wealth. Julia soon discovers Naomi’s life was as turbulent and enigmatic as her death. And as she gets closer to the truth, Julia sees there’s much more at stake than her inheritance…

The Grave Man


David Archer - 2015
     Sam Prichard was a cop, and a good one, until the bullets took out the joint of his right hip. Now he's trying to learn to live without being a cop, and getting to know his neighbors, learning to walk again and even ride a motorcycle. Life is bearable, barely, but then he gets asked to find a missing child, and the lure of getting back into some kind of police work is too much for him to resist. When he teams up with computer whiz Indiana Perkins, he suddenly becomes one of the best investigators he's ever even known. Now, he's found the missing child, but it's thrown him right into the middle of something that may be a drug war--or could be a chance to stop the next 911! There's no way out for Sam, so he's in for the ride of his life, but when the girl he's becoming fond of is suddenly drawn into the line of fire with her own little daughter, Sam is ready to forget all the rules and do whatever is necessary to win the day.

If The Bed Falls In: A man in two minds; are either of them his? (Bedfellows thriller series Book 1)


Paul Casselle - 2016
    After a series of increasingly horrifying hallucinations, his life starts to flip between normality and a frightening alter-ego; a renegade British secret agent working against a corrupt MI6. As his psychological torment intensifies, he is plunged into a world of conspiracy, espionage and murder. He is alone and can trust nothing he sees. However, as hard as he tries he cannot remember what his plan was or how he was going to carry it out, but more to the point, is he really an MI6 agent or simply Tom? He is a man in two minds; are either of them his?

Beach Lawyer


Avery Duff - 2017
    When a client confides in him that senior partner Jack Pierce sexually assaulted her, Robert breaks two of his mentor’s cardinal rules: Never let yourself get emotional about clients. And never make an enemy of Jack Pierce.Robert crosses Pierce and is fired on the spot, losing not only his job but also his reputation. Advised to go quietly, Robert vows revenge against the ruthless man who betrayed him. But his investigation uncovers a twisted shadow world of sex, infidelity, and deception, where nothing is as it seems and no one can be trusted. Only one thing is clear: Pierce will go the limit to keep his secrets.This straight shooter will need to use every angle if he hopes to win. But could victory come at too high a price?

The Skeletons of Birkbury


Diana J. Febry - 2012
    Gossip turns to fear and suspicion as they realize the killer is one of them and is prepared to kill again. DCI Peter Hatherall must fight his past and class divisions to find the killer. All must decide which secrets are worth dying for.

Don't Make a Sound


T.R. Ragan - 2020
    Now, after finally getting promoted at work, she is forced to return home and face her past.River Rock is where she’d been abandoned by her two older sisters to suffer alone, and in silence, the unspeakable abuses of her family. It’s also where Sawyer’s best friend disappeared and two teenage girls were murdered. Three cold cases dead and buried with the rest of the town’s secrets.When another girl is slain in a familiar grisly fashion, Sawyer is determined to put an end to the crimes. Pulled back into the horrors of her family history, Sawyer must reconcile with her estranged sisters, who both have shattering memories of their own. As Sawyer’s investigation leads to River Rock’s darkest corners, what will prove more dangerous—what she knows of the past or what she has yet to discover?

Death By Sarcasm


Dani Amore - 2011
    She is asked to assist in finding the killer by both the police and family members. Mary quickly discovers that her uncle's death was just the opening act for a bloody rampage. As Mary investigates, she exposes a dark and deadly legacy with mysterious links to her own past.DEATH BY SARCASM careens through Hollywood, Catalina Island and the exclusive enclave of Malibu, with nonstop action and unforgettable characters.THis is the first novel by Dani Amore, who can be found at her website, deadlysarcasm.com"A welcome shot of estrogen into the private eye genre." --Bluffton Today"Mary Cooper is tougher than Stephanie Plum, smarter, and would reduce her to tears in under 30 seconds with her sharp tongue." --St. Augustine Record"Packed to the gills with hard-hitting action and a non-stop plot." --Jacksonville News"DEATH BY SARCASM cuts like a knife." --Savannah Morning News