Book picks similar to
A Better Time by Jill Province


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mystery
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Taking Lives


Joseph Lewis - 2014
     The bodies of six boys are found in remote areas in different states with startling similar characteristics. FBI Agent Pete Kelliher and his team from the Crimes Against Children Unit investigate and discover a curious pattern that his superiors refuse to believe. Unfortunately for Pete, there are no other leads and nothing else to go on, and no proof to verify Pete’s theory. Brett McGovern is a handsome and athletically talented eleven year old. He and his younger brother, Bobby, discover that someone breaks into their home at night while their family sleeps. One afternoon, an incident occurs, but Brett doesn’t tell his parents or anyone else, choosing instead to keep it a secret. A decision that is very costly. More than a thousand miles away on the Navajo Indian Reservation, George Tokay, an eleven year old Navajo, and his grandfather have vivid, troubling dreams and visions. Neither understands the meaning or has an explanation. This lack of understanding is deadly. Even though they live in separate parts of the country, the lives of Pete Kelliher, Brett McGovern, and George Tokay are separate pieces of a puzzle. The two boys become interwoven with the same thread that Pete Kelliher holds in his hand. The three of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their futures grow dark and dreadful as each search for a way out.

One Handler's Journey


Sharolyn L. Sievert - 2011
    Deceased. The first words out of the Operations Officer's mouth, after saying Sam was found, were "You are going to kick yourself."A volunteer search and rescue dog handler, Rebekkah has always put duty and responsibility first. She lives by the rules, believing that success means having a plan and not deviating from it. Dreams are things that happen at night and don't ever seem to come true for her. Things in Rebekkah's life are about to change, and she’s not really sure she’s ready for it. With her K-9 partners Ariel and Gus, Rebekkah faces decisions that could jeopardize their lives every time they deploy. As she responds to missing person searches through treacherous terrain, emotional battles and bitter disappointment, she finds that there is a fine line between success and failure; but that the search for life is definitely worth the risk.Sharolyn Sievert, a seasoned K-9 handler herself, takes the reader with her on fictional missions in K-9 SEARCH—One Handler’s Journey, weaving the laughter, fears, faith and tears of a life that isn’t sensational or sexy, and definitely not glamorous, but a heartwarming and genuine reflection of a SAR dog handler and her dogs.

Her Hidden Secret


Alexandria Clarke - 2020
    Until a one hundred year old case gives her a new purpose.When Jacqueline, a self-professed detective with a dark secret, arrives in Whitechapel, she becomes embroiled in one of London's greatest mysteries.Buried SecretsWhen Jacqueline Frye heads to Chicago for a wedding, she never expects a homicide case to land in her lap. Another copycat killer is on the loose, and this time the culprit is obsessed with America’s first serial killer, H. H. Holmes. As Jack navigates secret passageways, coded journals, and charming locals, more victims disappear and the mystery deepens. Then there’s Jack’s best friend, Evelyn, who seems to be hiding a big secret…

Justice for All (A Holt Foundation Story Book 1)


Chris Patchell - 2019
    But all that changes when, after a romantic birthday with her fiancée, Elizabeth returns home, unaware a secret watcher has unimaginably horrible plans for her. Left for dead . . . Days after the attack, Elizabeth emerges from a coma, but she is irrevocably changed. Compelled to find her attacker and find justice, she travels down a dark path that forces her to choose between love and her obsession--not just for herself, but other survivors. Justice or vengeance... Forced to choose between obsession and love, Elizabeth doggedly pursues justice for the victims of other crimes, while her attacker remains at large. Until finally she gets a call with the news she’s been waiting twelve years for. But what Elizabeth learns could tear her life apart...

Romeo's Town (Mike Romeo Thrillers Book 6)


James Scott Bell - 2021
    

Blindsided


Erica Hilary - 2020
    A man was the last thing she needed. But that was before Richard Lynch literally crashed into her life.After Reilly and the charismatic Brit are involved in a fender-bender, she's unable to resist the exhilarating romantic freefall. The enigmatic Rick is not who she thinks he is, however, and Reilly finds herself in a twisted maze of sordid secrets and devious manipulations. Navigating this terrifying new reality, can she rally and find a way out before her soulmate-turned-stranger destroys everything she treasures.

Sleeping Dogs


William Paul - 1995
    His present lifestyle is complicated enough before past indiscretions come back to haunt him. Once a gung-ho investigator of murderous criminals and violent crime, Fyfe has been taken off the frontlines and reassigned to the low-profile Fraud Squad — mistakes from years earlier conspired to condemn him to dull work that he doesn’t much enjoy. His enforced distance from solving murders bothers him particularly at the moment, as a series of seemingly drug dealing–related murders in the city is all anyone can talk about. When Chief Constable Sir Duncan Morrison asks him to look into the several hundred thousand dollars missing from the Catholic Church’s accounts, Fyfe expects the job to be little more than soothing the Archbishop’s worries — only to discover that things are considerably more complicated than they first appear. As he begins his investigation into the licentious Father Byrne and the accused embezzler Father Quinn (Byrne’s superior), Fyfe begins to find evidence that link the corrupt priests to racketeering kingpin Gus Barrie…and an armed robbery that occurred nearly a decade previously. For Fyfe himself, the spectre of the past rises with not only the reappearance of his ex-lover Sylvia, whose impending marriage throws him for a loop, but the return to British soil of the beautiful Angela — a sexy widow whose acquaintance he first made in the aftermath of the robbery ten years earlier. But this time Angela has blood on her hands and a million pounds in unmarked notes stuffed into her luggage. Any ordinary policeman would make the arrest and wrap up the inquiry. But David Fyfe is no ordinary policeman… Sleeping Dogs is a fast-moving, wryly humorous, expertly plotted crime novel with an outrageous finale. Praise for William Paul ‘Fyfe's engrossing ruminations on the human condition [means] readers will find themselves absorbed from beginning to end’Booklist Sleeping Dogs is the first of three books featuring DCI David Fyfe. William Paul has also authored a number of other books, including Seasons of Revenge and The Lion Rampant.

The Threat


Jonas Saul - 2011
    Things go bad fast. During the deal on the fourteenth floor of an apartment building, the dealer disappears, and Drake is stuck in the apartment with a dead woman.The police are at the door. He has nowhere to go.On the run from the police and the maniacal killers intent on framing Drake for murder, he must uncover the truth before it is too late.There is a reason behind the madness that has become his life. That information takes him back twelve years to when he was hospitalized with a concussion and his fiancée went missing.The only way out is to clean up someone else's mess. The only way out is murder.Drake Bellamy didn't want to break the law, but now he is out for blood.

Cold Mourning - Part 1


Brenda Chapman - 2013
    Stonechild, who is from a First Nations reserve, is a lone wolf who is used to surviving on her wits. Her new boss, Detective Jacques Rouleau, has his hands full controlling her, his team, and an investigation that keeps threatening to go off track.Old betrayals and complicated family relationships brutally collide when love turns to hate and murder stalks a family.

Retard


Daniel I. Russell - 2015
    Back then, it was par for the course, the situation attracting only gossip and disapproval, but of course everyone was too busy to intervene..." December, 1987. Single mother Christine Stephenson watches with envy as the Birthday boy opens his present. A Fabled Four action figure. Her special son is obsessed with The Fabled Four but how could she possibly afford such a gift? Not that he deserved it. Wesley simply couldn't behave. She'd find a way, being such a good parent.

Shaking the Tree (The Man with Three Names)


Michael Donohue - 2011
    Out of prison, but still on parole, the only thing he wants is to keep his head down, go to work and maybe grab a cold beer at the end of his shift. He doesn't even care that the program stuck him in Essex - a nice, but nowhere small town. With his head already full of bloody and painful memories, he'd like it just fine if his past and future stayed nice and quiet.Too bad the present just got really messy.A body in a tree. A missing briefcase. A Russian hit man. A DEA agent bent on revenge. A corrupt mayor. Not to mention a sheriff with dangerous ambition. A meth lab in the woods. And some pissed off bikers. Things are suddenly very interesting in sleepy Essex county. Bodies are turning up. Secrets are coming out. Questions are being asked. Fingers are being pointed. It's not good being the new guy in a small town.

The Red-Headed League / A Scandal in Bohemia / The Adventure of the Speckled Band / The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton


Arthur Conan Doyle - 1913
    

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?

The Owner


Shane Simpson - 2013
    Ten years later, the Great Recession economically displaced his livelihood when he was fired from Metal Presses Incorporated. When nothing is left and you've reached your limit for abuse, it's time to release the inner vigilante.THE OWNER is a NON-STOP, HEART-POUNDING, MYSTERY-SUSPENSE THRILL RIDE. Karl Remons has been unstoppable - until now. The murdering, swindling womanizer meets his match when Albert Pabek sails into town. Albert's anger has been stewing for a long time, and he's out for revenge - pure, but not so simple. The plan took five years. Now, he has three days to kill what destroyed his family.Growing up in a Detroit blue-collar family, Albert had a normal childhood. He had expected the same career as his dad. That was, until life dealt its blows. It wasn't a stormy day when Albert sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge. But, before he was finished, Albert was expecting to deliver a gale...______________________________________________SERIES OVERVIEW#1 - THE OWNERTHE OWNER is a standalone mystery-suspense-thriller. It's a story about Albert Pabek and his vigilante mission to avenge the deaths of his parents. The storyline is deceptively twisty and you'll be guessing until the end. The book opens with an interesting mystery. The middle of the story gets really crazy. And, it closes out with a huge surprise.For one and done readers, the story is a perfect ten to twelve hour read (it's 450 pages long). There are no loose ends and it has an awesome ending.For those of us who enjoy continual character development that can only be delivered in a series, pick up THE OBSESSOR and keep going. The Detroit vigilante really touches something in each of us. Albert is a simple guy who is tired of power and money hungry people ruining his life, as well as the lives of his family and friends.#2 - THE OBSESSORTHE OBSESSOR, set three months following the shocking end to THE OWNER, has Albert returning to San Francisco. Focused on bailing out his friends, he realizes quickly that the ripples created on the first days of summer are now waves of destruction.THE OBSESSOR kicks off Albert's new life after those first days of summer. It establishes the broader group of characters, as well as reveals the flaws and selfish motivations of each. Albert and his allies weren't - and still aren't - as perfect as it seemed in THE OWNER. Finally, there are additional antagonists, new friends, and ever-growing-larger problems. Book 2 wraps up a few storylines, but Albert is in a real jam during the last few pages...#3 - THE OFFENDERContinuing from the tailending of THE OBSESSOR, Book 3 follows Albert as he seemingly conquers his dilemma in Book 2, but still struggles to focus his energy productively. He's off balance and irrational. And, he's now bordering on outright criminal status.The other allies are also in trouble. The real villain is revealed, and he's a helluva lot more powerful than Karl Remons in THE OWNER. Pete Quinn and Rebecca Underwood, the primary antagonists from THE OBSESSOR, are no match for the offender in Book 3. And, he really is the biggest problem in Albert's "new" life.THE OFFENDER concludes with a soft ending. It has as much closure as real life situations can, and it's open to the reader's imagination if Albert finally reached his "peace". (Of course, Book 4 confirms he didn't get there.)#4 - THE OBJECTORReleasing in Spring 2017, THE OBJECTOR, brings some hard closing ends to the stories threading through THE OBSESSOR and THE OFFENDER. This time around, Albert really does make it back to the first day of his new life.Quinn and Rebecca, now strongly disagreeing about who is the most powerful, realign their respective bases. Metal Presses Incorporated is back in the picture. Bill Shefford has pulled a phoenix move - he is more powerful than ever. And, then there's the lady from Key West...

Detective Nikki Galena Books 1–5


Joy Ellis - 2021
    A talented young student goes missing on the marsh. Nikki and Joseph find themselves joining forces with a master criminal to save her. They need to look behind the masks, but when they do, they find something more sinister than they ever expected.Book 2: SHADOW OVER THE FENSA man is found executed on a piece of wasteland. The cold-blooded murder triggers terrible memories for Detective Joseph Easter. Just when things seemed to be going better, he realizes that the nightmare is coming back, threatening his career, his sanity, and maybe even his life.Book 3: HUNTED ON THE FENSA vicious criminal is targeting Detective Nikki Galena and her team. One by one he will hunt them down and destroy their lives — unless Nikki can stop him first. Can she save her team and herself from her most determined adversary yet?Book 4: KILLER ON THE FENSDetective Nikki Galena’s dying father has one final request: “Find Eve.” But tracing the mysterious Eve is a challenge that will stretch DI Galena to the limit. Meanwhile a dead drug dealer is found on an abandoned airfield that the locals say is haunted. The trail of both mysteries will lead to the most shocking discovery of Nikki’s career and put her whole team in mortal danger.Book 5: STALKER ON THE FENSDI Nikki Galena’s friend Helen Brook is involved in a serious accident where she is trapped in a collapsed cellar. Weeks on, Helen is still getting flashbacks to a man she says was down there with her and who confessed to a murder.No trace of this man can be found. Then Helen tells Nikki that someone is watching her.Perfect for fans of LJ Ross, Peter May, JD Kirk, Angela Marsons, JM Dalgliesh, Elly Griffiths or Ann Cleeves.