Book picks similar to
Death of Choice: Eight Tales of Murder, Mayhem, and Mystery by Micheal Maxwell
mystery
new
short-stories
a-pending-placement
Dirty Talk
Lucia Jordan - 2016
And even now that they’re all grown up, things haven’t changed much. But when Mandy sprains her ankle and is unable to attend an all-important work event, Carrie agrees, after much nettling, to go in her sister’s place. Pretending to be Mandy isn’t as easy as it sounds though, despite the fact that they’re identical twins—if she screws up, Mandy will certainly lose her job. Carrie doesn’t expect much to come of the evening, but she soon realizes that pretending to be the sexy, wild sister is completely exhilarating. As she becomes more caught up in the act, she finds herself in the company of a mysterious man whose dominant touch and allure is all it takes for her to forsake any reservations she’d had about letting loose. Soon, she is pressing her body up against him, moving as one on the dance floor. Will Carrie allow herself to follow her desires, wherever they may take her, and even if it’s only for one night?
Past Crimes: A Compendium of Historical Mysteries
Ashley Gardner - 2017
A Soupçon of Poison (Kat Holloway Victorian Mysteries) Kat Holloway, a young cook who is highly sought after by the wealthy of Victorian London, becomes embroiled in murder and must clear her name. Only the mysterious Daniel McAdam, who is much more than he seems, can come to her aid. Blood Debts (Leonidas the Gladiator Mysteries) Leonidas, freedman, once the most popular gladiator in Rome and champion of the games, now must fight for his life outside the arena. A man who owed him money was murdered, and Leonidas is a prime suspect. With the assistance of Cassia, daughter of a Greek scribe who has been bestowed upon him as his slave, Leonidas fights for justice in the back lanes of Imperial Rome. The Necklace Affair (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries) Captain Lacey agrees to help a society matron discover what has become of her cherished diamond necklace and to clear her maid, who has been arrested for its theft. Lacey quickly becomes enmeshed in scandal and past secrets, and finds himself competing with the underworld criminal, James Denis, for the necklace's retrieval. This collection includes three novellas of about 25,000-30,000 words each.
Paradigm Rift
Randy McWilson - 2014
Denver Wayne Collins, Afghanistan War veteran, is struggling to maintain the deteriorating pieces of his fractured personal life. And then...it happens. During an electrical storm, he is violently thrown back to 1956...to the quiet town of Normal, Illinois. Is this nightmare real, or is this an elaborate governmental fabrication? Denver discovers a fragile alliance of time jumpers from across the last six decades. The group has been desperately seeking the technology to return each of them back to their proper places in the space-time continuum. But will they succeed before the relentless forces of the CIA and a female KGB assassin find them? Who can they trust? Can they trust each other? From Roswell in 1947, to Area 51 and far beyond, the Back to Normal series will challenge the way you understand contemporary world history...and even time itself. If you are fascinated by conspiracy theories, then the Back to Normal series is your newest escape. Back to Normal will tease your mind with shocking conclusions about the famous Roswell event, Area 51, the Philadelphia Experiment, and even...the Kennedy assassination. You will never look at history the same way again...it's time to get challenged, it's time to get the whole story, it's time to get Paradigm Rift: Book One of the Back to Normal series.
Detective Riker - Night of the Vampire: A crime to solve (The Vampire Trilogy Book 1)
Steven Loton - 2014
Out of nowhere, police begin finding victims whose bodies have been massacred who’ve been entirely drained of blood. When the government gets involved in the case, Riker sees his chance for a once-in-a-lifetime payday. Can the overweight, out-of-shape, private detective, Riker lead government agents to take on a rogue vampire splinter cell before they murder the royal family and take over the country? Despite himself, this aging, over-the-hill detective might be just the hero his nation needs.Enjoy this humorous free novella and join the crazy ride as London's finest Private detective, Harry Riker, is hot on the heels of the deathly vampires, and also hot on the heels of a vampire romance with the stunning Jane. With his unique brand of wit, bravado, brilliant use of dialogue and genuine likeable anti-hero roguish charm, Riker leads you through the edgy underbelly of London. This free novella will have you laughing out loud as you join in with the action, romance and mystery leaving you wanting more of the great private detective, Harry Riker.About the author: Mixing genres as only he can, London novelist Steven Loton’s latest book on the misadventures of everyone’s favorite private eye is a tour de force tornado of old-school noir fiction and today’s best supernatural thrillers, mixed with brilliant comedy, wit, this novella is a thrilling action packed ride. The author of the groundbreaking Kai-Me-Rah and Jungle Shark, Loton injects his gift for observation and razor-sharp action into the latest misadventures of Riker – who could be the city’s best detective, if only he could get out of his own way.
Screw Friendship
R.G. Manse - 2014
Frank is Rosy’s biological dad, a man Rosy’s been shielded from her entire life, a man so monstrous, his own mother has snipped his face from all the family photos.This summer, the summer Rosy thinks will be the start of her high-flying genetics career, she will set eyes on Frank, and genetics might well be her undoing. Because nothing has prepared her for the encounter, for the unfathomable urge to help Frank, or for the ungodly contents of her grandmother’s biscuit tin.Rosy’s determined digging is about to reveal that everybody in her circle of friends and family hides beastly secrets. Even Snuggy, the sausage dog.This self-contained, darkly fun novel tells a complete story with no cliffhanger ending, but it's also the start of an epic mystery, the story of a murder many years ago and of Frank Friendship, the murderer’s son.
Welcome to Seascape Cove
M'Lissa Moorecroft - 2019
When Cressi Harris got dumped by her husband Huxley for a woman half her age, she changed everything. She left New York City for Seascape Cove, a tiny village almost a hundred miles north of San Francisco. She stopped ghost writing Huxley’s very successful mystery series and started expressing her creativity in the kitchen of her new restaurant, The Dockside Cafe. Cressi made the transition painlessly. So did Jacko, her lively black spaniel. Both of them preferred fresh ocean breezes to the traffic fumes of New York City. She never even thought of New York, except when Huxley phoned, which he did too often because he wasn’t a very good writer without Cressi’s help. Cressi was smart and good at what she did. The Dockside Cafe flourished, even in the winter, and so did her growing friendship with good looking Police Chief, Trent Marlow and crusty retired banker Kevin Rodgers. Life was pretty darned good... ...Until her troubles started. Somebody had it in for Cressi, but who? She hadn’t been in town long enough to upset anybody, had she? Apparently she had... because somebody really had it in for her. Trent Marlow wasn’t about to let anybody get away with destroying the new life and business Cressi was building. He was determined to discover who was trying to destroy her business, and why. Welcome to Seascape Cove is Book One of The Seascape Cove Cozy Mystery Series. If you like strong women who take charge of their lives and handle whatever life throws at them, you’ll love Cressi Harris and the friends and family who support her. Download the book now and welcome Cressi to your Library. I know you’ll like her.
Between a Smile and a Tear (A Crime Thriller)
Robert Bucchianeri - 2012
He meets a fan, an attractive woman, in a coffee shop and she plies him with compliments and a Mickey. The next morning he wakes up at a seedy motel naked, reeking of alcohol, alone, and confused. A blackmail ensues and he becomes entangled in a shadowy underworld involving strippers, prostitutes, gangsters, corrupt politicians, and cops. His wife and son leave him and he plunges into the mean streets of San Francisco seeking answers to the riddles at the heart of those seeking to destroy him.My main character in Between a Smile and a Tear, Jack Waters, a successful novelist, is a recovering alcoholic coming to terms with the damage his drinking has caused to his family and friends. He's trying his best to make amends, but is it too late? Is it impossible to right some wrongs?I've read a number of James Hall's antic thrillers set in Florida (primarily the Thorn books) with their wild and crazy bad guys and they inspired me to create my villain here: Wallace Unger. I tried to make him both humorous and scary, a counterpoint to the serious and darker action and themes of the novel.Wallace is wild and crazy, funny and dumb, but also unpredictable and a dangerous antagonist made even more fearsome by his employer, the amoral gangster boss, NIck Ravelli.This is a "bigger" novel than others that I have written, featuring multiple point-of-view characters, more subplots, a wider range including political and social forces impacting the characters, as well as a deeper attention to location and geography.I've tried to make San Francisco a major character in its own right here. I grew up in the city and know it well, but supplemented that knowledge with research and maps and a couple of trips back to the Bay Area. I think San Francisco, in all of its beauty and mystery, comes alive in the novel and I hope you agree.I put my heart and soul into this book and hope you feel that while you read.Thanks for taking the time.
The Lighthouse
Amy Cross - 2015
I've always been able to see her.” While her friends head off to start new lives in London after university, Penny has a different idea. She's going to go and take a job at a remote lighthouse for a year, helping to keep the place running while she saves money. When she arrives at Culthorpe lighthouse, however, she quickly realizes that something is very wrong. Something is hiding nearby the lighthouse, something that only makes its presence felt at night. Meanwhile, Penny is concerned about one of her co-workers, a man whose memory seems to be almost non-existent. What is the dark secret of Culthorpe lighthouse? Is Penny really crazy, or has she been visited by a ghost since she was a child? And who or what is hidden beneath the hatch in the generator room? The Lighthouse is a horror novel about a girl who was taught to doubt herself, and about the refusal of dead souls to rest until all debts have been paid.
Clifton Manor - Episode One
Victoria Spencer - 2014
But as Anna Holden is about to discover, it is a house not only steeped in history, but in secrets as well… Upon her arrival as the new assistant cook, Anna discovers that a thousand mysteries await her. What lies beyond the heavily padlocked door the other servants do their best to avoid? Who has Lady Clifton been speaking to in such hushed, surreptitious tones? What is the cause of the misfortune running rampant amongst the staff? And why does George Winston, the eligible bachelor of the family, seem more taken with Anna than he does the proper ladies his mother parades before him? Despite her station in life, Anna can’t seem to put these questions out of her mind. As the pieces fall into place around her, she wonders: how long will it be until her own secrets are revealed? Author's note: As you will have noticed, this book is referred to as “Episode One” which may sound like a slightly unusual subtitle for a book. The idea is that there will be six episodes per “season” of this story and I will keep writing it for as long as I have stories to tell in the Clifton Manor universe. I love reading books in the same way I watch TV shows—regular bursts of short, digestible content. This style is not for everyone, but I hope some of you like it and keep reading. I will be releasing episodes of Clifton Manor on a regular basis so you should never have to wait too long for you next fix.
The Vampire's Possession: Book 1
Ella Price - 2015
The most exciting event was the arrival of the Lockwood family. Hailey spent her days attending her last year of high school and running her parents coffee shop. Everything changes one night, when Lation Lockwood walks into her parent’s coffee shop. The events of the night turn Hailey’s world upside down when she discovers the entire Lockwood family’s secret. Her life is suddenly in danger when she meets Lation’s brother, Peirce. Peirce is unlike any man she has ever met. She soon learns he isn’t exactly a man. She is instantly attracted to him even though Lation, Peirce’s brother, saw her first. Hailey attempts to stay alive, and keep the people she loves out of danger as she gets caught up in a world she never imagined existed. To complicate her life even more, Peirce claims ownership over her. Hailey attempts to resist Peirce’s hold, all while trying to remain sane as she fights to find her place in this new unfamiliar world of darkness. Hailey soon finds herself a vampire’s possession, when Peirce refuses to let her go.
The Sometime Bride
Ginny Baird - 2011
John has endured all the romantic disasters she thinks she can in a lifetime. That is, until her fiancé jilts her the weekend of her bridal shower. Carrie can't show up unaccompanied again and admit to her family she's a failure. When Carrie meets Mike Davis at an historic country inn, the recently ditched hottie offers to help fill the bill. But, at what price?Mike Davis was finally going to prove his old high school buddies wrong. Voted "most likely to remain a bachelor" in his prestigious prep school's class, he was looking forward to ushering in his fiancée at his upcoming reunion. Suddenly empty-handed, he's got a new ploy in mind involving the ultra sexy and accomplished Carrie. But Mike doesn't bank on giving up his heart in the bargain. Neither does Carrie, who is soon to learn there are things that even money can't buy...
You saw something you shouldn't have
Brandon Faircloth - 2018
To be entertained. Then you find yourself in a school where a group of friends have brought something terrible to life. You meet a family whose extraordinary luck comes at a horrific price. You write a letter to yourself and get a reply that leads to death and madness. As you journey through these shrouded lands, you look back and can't make out where you started. Because once you're traveling through the darkness, the only way out is through. Read the collection of novellas and short stories that is being called "genius", "amazing", and "scary AF". But be prepared. You won't be the same when you come out the other side.
Peter and the Frankenstein
Darren Pillsbury - 2011
Rowling (the HARRY POTTER series), Darren Shan (CIRQUE DU FREAK), R.L. Stine (the GOOSEBUMPS series), and Stephen King (IT)! Volume Three in the PETER AND THE MONSTERS series! Follow the adventures started in PETER AND THE VAMPIRES (Volume One) and PETER AND THE WEREWOLVES (Volume Two)!Tragedy has struck Peter’s best friend Dill. In his effort to help, Grandfather might have actually made things worse. But help is on the way in the form of a new ally, and important information surfaces that might explain the Curse now haunting Peter and his family. In this volume, Peter battles more supernatural mayhem, including:A scientist who pieces together a family of monstrous creations…A pack of small creatures that kill the local baker, and plan to make Peter their next victim…Peter’s own dark side, which rears its ugly head in a violent rampage…A mysterious ‘snow demon’ out of Native American legend that menaces Peter on a ski trip…And a couple of ‘walking dead’ who try to put Peter in the morgue during a visit to the hospital. The PETER AND THE VAMPIRES series is for teens and adults who, when they were kids, were looking for stories that kicked butt. The protagonist might be young, but the stories are dark, funny, and edge-of-your-seat suspenseful.PETER AND THE FRANKENSTEIN is the third in an ongoing series that includes PETER AND THE VAMPIRES (Volume 1) and PETER AND THE WEREWOLVES (Volume 2). This book is 150,000 words (450+ pages) and contains some mild language, violence, and scary situations.
Marshland
D.R. Bell - 2016
Years ago he was a popular athlete in the local school, then a successful mid-level executive, father, husband. Now Ben is a loner, content to spend his free time in the "reality" of the internet.Ben reluctantly snaps out of his seclusion when he tries to understand why an old friend and neighbor killed himself and realizes that this is no longer the same neighborhood he grew up in. It's as if someone used resources of social media, internet and surveillance to strip away a layer of civilization, exposing a nightmare of conflicts and betrayals. When Ben is threatened by the same forces, he has to re-discover his own strengths to fight back against a shadow opponent.
New Dawn
Andrew J. Morgan - 2016
. . With mankind on the brink of economic collapse, a population growing at an unmanageable rate and a limited supply of natural resources, there is only one place we can look to for our future . . . the stars. A deep space mining tug is sent to a planet codenamed New Dawn to begin a mission to relocate humanity.. . . the only person you can trust . . . is youThe mission falls into chaos when a crewmember dies unexpectedly. Geologist Jake Brooks must keep his wits about him to uncover what really happened—but are the confines of the ship clouding his judgment? Is there really a sinister motive behind the death—and the mission—or is he letting his mind get the better of him? What really awaits him on New Dawn? He must push on to reveal the truth, no matter who or what stands in his way . . .Please note: New Dawn is not a hard sci-fi novel.Here's what people are saying about New Dawn:"The suspense is killing me!""A perfect ending""A whodunit in space!"