Book picks similar to
A Wash of Black by Chris McDonald


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An Unlamented Death


William Savage - 2015
    Adam Bascom trips over a body in Gressington churchyard, he never imagines it will change the whole direction of his life. As a recently-qualified physician trying to establish a practice in a small market town in north Norfolk, Adam should be devoting all his energy to his business. But it soon becomes clear that the authorities are intent on making sure the death is accepted as an accident and refuse any deeper investigation. Adam’s curiosity and sense of justice cannot accept this. He knows there are many unanswered questions about the death, but he has no standing that would allow him to become involved formally. Instead, he uses friends, old and new, unexpected contacts and even his own mother to help him get to the truth. Set against the turbulence of late-Georgian England, a country on the brink of war with Revolutionary France, the book reveals a land where spies keep constant watch on everyone the government deems ‘undesirable’, religion is polarised between the established church and a mass of dissenting sects, and the perennial ‘Irish question’ has at last spilled over into outright terrorism. Bad weather, poor harvests and enclosure have driven many people in the countryside into abject poverty. Only the smugglers along the coast offer regular and highly-paid ‘work’ helping to unload contraband. Yet here too, the Revenue’s Riding Officers, backed up by troops of dragoons, are waging an increasingly successful campaign to stamp out the major gangs. Adam must thread his way through all of this, encountering many new demands along the way, from a family torn apart by religious bigotry, and a teenage thief turned informer, to a secret section of The Alien Office, a government department dedicated to keeping a close eye on anyone likely to prove a threat to the realm. As he becomes more and more essential to the government’s efforts to combat internal dissension and prepare for war, Adam finds he must draw on all his medical and personal skills to bring the case to a successful conclusion.

The Dublin Trilogy Deluxe Part 2


Caimh McDonnell - 2021
    The series has been a critically acclaimed worldwide Amazon bestseller and it is optioned for TV.The two-part box set features the books with the ancillary novellas and short stories presented in the order the author Caimh McDonnell thinks they should be read in, with new introductions written especially for this edition. Please note - This is the second part!The Dublin Trilogy Deluxe Part 2 contains:Angels in The Moonlight (The Dublin Trilogy Book 3)For Detective Bunny McGarry, life is complicated, and it is about to get more so. He’s set the task of bringing down the most skilled and ruthless armed robbery gang in Irish history. So the last thing he needs in his life is yet another complication. Her name is Simone. She is smart, funny, talented and, well, complicated.Sisters Gonna Work It Out (Novella)Annoying a drug baron is usually a very bad idea but it is just another day at work for the sisters of the saint. An ex-communicated order of kickass nuns, they take no prisoners but they might just free a few.How To Send A Message (Short Story)Bunny McGarry is the kind of man who is inclined to take it personally when someone tries to threaten his life. Two gangland thugs find out to their cost that if you’re going up the meanest copper in Dublin, you’d better be prepared for a truly unforgettable experience.Last Orders (The Dublin Trilogy Book 4)As a wise man once said, just because you're done with the past, doesn't mean the past is done with you. When long-buried bodies are discovered in the Wicklow Mountains, Bunny's past starts closing in on him. Who can he trust when he can't even trust himself? When he’s got nowhere left to run and nobody he can turn to, will the big fella make the ultimate sacrifice to protect the ones he loves?Please note: All of the novels and short stories have been previously available to readers separately.

The I-94 Murders


Frank F. Weber - 2018
    A tryst of bondage.  A lover's murder.  Investigator Jon Frederick returns in a search to uncover the identity of a killer creeping through communities along I-94 in Minnesota, targeting couples who store their fetish photos online.  The killer taunts Jon with hidden messages embedded  in local media that lead him to Sonia, a young woman with a terrible secret.  A fast-paced thriller based on the profile of a true-life serial murderer, The I-94 Murders  guides the reader with an insider's light along the dark road of a killer.

Little Bird


Sharon Dempsey - 2017
    But that is only the start of his problems.Welsh Detective, Anna Cole is running away from a dead-end relationship and the guilt of her mother's death. She hopes secondment to the Police Service of Northern Ireland will provide a distraction. There is a killer on the streets targeting young women and leaving behind macabre mementoes to taunt the police.Can Declan and Anna work together to catch the deranged killer before he strikes again?And is it ever possible to leave the past behind you?

Night of the Coyote (The Coyote Saga, #1)


Ron Schwab - 2015
    It’s now 1875, however, and there has been peace in this part of Wyoming for several years, and Ethan has settled down in the small town of Lockwood. No longer working in stealth, he is the town’s lone lawyer. When two young Sioux are lynched by a makeshift posse for a crime they may or may not have committed, Ethan knows he must act quickly to prevent a bloody retaliation from their Sioux tribe. Can he gain the trust of both his former enemy and the townspeople of Lockwood so that there is enough time to unravel the mystery of the crime and ensure justice is fairly served? In Night of the Coyote, the worlds of the old and new collide, and the clock is ticking for Ethan to prevent a further descent into violence.

He Made Me (a Booker & Cash Story Book 2)


Oliver Tidy - 2017
    Someone is demanding a lot of money from her husband and she wants to know why.What do the dying words of one man - he made me - actually mean?As the mystery unfolds people will come undone and reputations will be ruined before the answer becomes clear.At the end of the day Mrs Swaine might end up wishing she’d let sleeping dogs lie… Also available in the Booker & Cash series: Bad Sons

A Killing in November


Simon Mason - 2022
    As a young Detective Inspector, he's lost none of his disgust with privileged elites - or his objectionable manners. But he notices things; they stick to his eyes. His professional partner, DI Ray Wilkins, of affluent Nigerian-London heritage, is an impeccably groomed, smooth-talking graduate of Balliol College, Oxford. You wouldn't think they would get on. They don't.But when a young woman is found strangled at Barnabas Hall, they're forced to.Rich Oxford is not Ryan's natural habitat. St Barnabas's irascible Provost does not appreciate his forceful line of questioning. But what was the dead woman doing in the Provost's study? Is it just a coincidence that on the night of her murder the college was entertaining Sheik al-Medina, a Gulf state ruler linked to human-rights abuses in his own country and acts of atrocity in others?As tensions rise, things aren't going well. Ray is in despair. Ryan is in disciplinary measures. But their investigation gradually disentangles the links between a Syrian refugee lawyer now working in the college kitchens, a priceless copy of the Koran in the college collection and the identity of the dead woman.A Killing in November introduces an unlikely duo from different sides of the tracks in Oxford in a deftly plotted murder story full of dangerous turns, troubled pasts and unconventional detective work.

Gone Forever


Scott Blade - 2015
    LONER. HERO. DRIFTER. ORPHAN SON. Set in the world of #1 International Bestseller Lee Child's Jack Reacher. In The Affair, Reacher was sent to a small town to solve a crime. In true Reacher fashion, he snuffed out the bad guys and said goodbye to a beautiful woman. But this time, he left something behind--a son. Cameron learns at his mother's deathbed that his father is some drifter named Jack Reacher. Armed with Reacher genes and his sheriff mother's relentless upbringing, Cameron sets out into the world to Get Jack Reacher. To know his father; Cameron follows in his footsteps--literally. With one thumb out, he hits the road to track down the father that doesn't know he exists, but what he gets instead is a small town with a deadly secret and a distraught husband fighting to find his missing wife. Cameron is on a mission. The need for justice drives him. Like father, like son.

The Rose Killer


Pat Gragg - 2010
    A serial killer.A young widow tormented by unanswered questions. Was Valerie Yates' late husband, a police officer, hunting for the Rose Killer on his own? What was his relationship with the beautiful young woman who was the Rose Killer's third victim? Valerie's search for the truth uncovers the dark secrets of her idyllic little town and puts her squarely in the Rose Killer's path. The question now is: Will she survive?

Learning German through Storytelling: Heidis Frühstück - a detective story for German language learners (for intermediate and advanced students) (Baumgartner & Momsen mystery 5)


André Klein - 2014
    This is the fifth episode of the popular Baumgartner & Momsen mystery series for German learners.When a loyal family dog comes upon a human ear in its feeding dish one morning, the police is notified immediately, but due to a sudden change in staff, the investigation proceeds only haltingly.Help Kommissar Baumgartner and Kommissarin Momsen to solve this case and improve your German effortlessly along the way!Why brood over grammar sheets and lifeless workbooks when you can be entertained and learn natural German at the same time!This book contains:- a page-turning story crammed with humor and suspense- special emphasis on idioms and natural German- vocabulary sections with difficult and important words translated to English- ready for on-demand translation- exercises for comprehension training- hand-drawn illustrations by the author

DETECTIVE HILLARY GREENE BOOKS 1–5 five absolutely gripping crime mysteries box set


Faith Martin - 2021
    

Fallout: A Sam Jameson Conspiracy Thriller (Sam Jameson Conspiracy Thriller Series Book 6)


Lars Emmerich - 2015
    Move over, Lee Child." "Lars Emmerich is right up there with Patterson, Baldacci, Forsyth, and DeMille." "Some of the best action and spy thriller fiction you will ever read." Special Agent Sam Jameson's friend and colleague was just murdered in Budapest. It falls to Sam to clean up the mess. Unsavory, but routine. Until she discovers she's being followed. And before she can make heads or tails of the situation, she's fighting for her life, alone and outgunned in a strange city. As Sam claws her way through a ruthless and brutal cabal, she discovers that she's up against one of the most dangerous conspiracies in history. Fallout is a transcontinental thrill ride full of twists, turns, and pulse-pounding suspense.

A Christmas Tail


T.F. Muir - 2013
    But in the season of goodwill to all men, will it take a cat to prove that miracles can still happen?

The Mackinac Incident: A Thriller


Len McDougall - 2013
    Navy vessel patrolling the area. The men make up a team of al-Qaeda-trained specialists skilled in the black arts of terrorist warfare and are headed by a man who has billions of dollars in oil money with which to indulge his murderous fantasies. What they do next will determine the fates of thousands of Americans.Rod Eliot, an aging ex-con turned survival expert, stands between them and one of the most devastating plots ever hatched by the deviated mind of a killer: to blow up the five-mile-long Mackinac Bridge and detonate enough plutonium to contaminate the area for decades. When an encounter with the bomb-toting terrorists occurs deep in the woods of the Upper Peninsula, Eliot finds himself in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game with no alternative but to go head-to-head with these murderers. Rod may be the only person who can stop them. But he’s in over his head.Due to Eliot’s checkered past, law enforcement officials have him pegged for the crimes that unfold over the next few days. Only one, a seasoned FBI agent who is on his trail, thinks Eliot is innocent and is willing to prove it.

One Man Crusade


Steven Suttie - 2014
     Somebody has started shooting unsuspecting citizens dead as they go about their daily business in the north west of England. But it is a very specific type of person that the gun man is targeting. Paedophiles. In order to keep the public calm, the police have no alternative but to explain the killer's motive. And that's when things start to get really tricky for the investigating officers. PLEASE NOTE: This book contains swearing throughout.