Book picks similar to
Ava James and the Ivy Grove by A.J. Rivers
mystery
fiction
not-reading
prequel-sequel-series
Say You're Sorry
Melinda Leigh - 2017
Now, surrounded by family, she’s finally found peace and a promising career opportunity—until her babysitter is killed and her neighbor asks her to defend his son, Nick, who stands accused of the murder.Tessa was the ultimate girl next door, and the community is outraged by her death. But Morgan has known Nick for years and can’t believe he’s guilty, despite the damning evidence stacked against him. She asks her friend Lance Kruger, an ex-cop turned private eye, for help. Taking on the town, the police, and a zealous DA, Morgan and Lance plunge into the investigation, determined to find the real killer. But as they uncover secrets that rock the community, they become targets for the madman hiding in plain sight.In a new series from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh, former prosecutor Morgan Dane faces the most personal—and deadly—case of her lifetime.
Back to Lazarus
Judy K. Walker - 2014
He beat and choked her to death. I'm told that he was found hanging from a homemade noose in his cell. I want to know why he waited so long to do it." Sydney Brennan isn't sure how to answer her client's question, short of holding a séance, and the Tallahassee detective has some questions of her own. Why does Noel Thomas remember so little about her childhood? Why is she delving into her father's suicide now? And, most importantly, why isn't Noel telling her the truth?Sydney crisscrosses the Florida Panhandle, reconstructing the tragic Thomas family history. The violence that destroyed the Thomas family connects to a present-day web of deceit and corruption through a desperate man willing to do anything to keep his secrets safe. To discover his identity, Sydney must go Back to Lazarus, back to the town where Noel's beautiful but troubled mother began her inevitable descent over twenty years ago. But by following in the footsteps of the murdered woman, does Sydney risk sharing her fate?Rooted in bars and back roads and Panhandle prisons, forgotten towns and forgotten people, at its heart Back to Lazarus is about stories: the stories people tell us, the stories we tell ourselves, and what happens when we realize it's all a lie.
The Fixer's Daughter
Hy Conrad - 2020
“The Fixer’s Daughter” pits a powerful Texas lawyer against his idealistic daughter in a twisted tale of murder, politics and family loyalty.
A Strange Twist of Fate
Debra Erfert - 2017
Hampered by agonizing loneliness, her obsessive-compulsive mother, and her over-controlling father, she defies convention, and the law, to investigate on her own. When she runs up against Lee Adams, a handsome police detective who’s determined to save Anna from herself, she has to step up her rogue search for the killer, before time and dwindling leads run out.
A Cape May Diamond
Larry Enright - 2012
I’ll never forget that day. The Vietnam War had ended with the fall of Saigon that April, and the world was mired in one of its worst recessions ever. Unemployment in the United States was nearly nine percent, inflation even higher, and leadership lacking. The Watergate scandal had cast a smear across American politics, resulting in Richard Nixon’s resignation in August 1974 to avoid impeachment, and his successor’s immediately pardoning him to close the book on an unhappy chapter in U.S. history.It was not a good time for anyone and a particularly hard time for the old Victorian town of Cape May. The crown jewel of the New Jersey shore had fallen into neglect and disrepair and was dying a slow death. Once the elegant summer home to presidents and kings, it had become the last refuge of the deposed.That’s where I met Tom Ryan. Tom was a king, or so he would have you believe, but unlike Richard Nixon, when Tom was dethroned, he wasn’t sent home with a slap on the wrist. He was sent to prison. He was a convicted draft dodger, but one of the lucky ones released early by President Ford as part of his mass clemency after Nixon’s pardon. The problem was, Tom had nowhere to go when he got out, so he took the money his dad mailed to him and spent it on a bus ticket to get as far away as possible to a place where nobody cared who he was or what he had done, a place where nobody cared about anything. That place was Cape May.As hard a time as it was for everyone, it was harder for me because that was the day I met Tom Ryan. I should have turned and walked away. I knew it when he first looked at me, but I didn’t, not my first mistake, but one that would make Monday, May 19th, 1975 the hardest day of my life. This is the story of how Tom Ryan and I met and how things never quite work out the way you think. You might find a love story in here somewhere. You might not. You might find a message hidden in one of the nickel pop bottles collected by the beachcombers from some of the most beautiful white sand beaches in the world. You might even find a little mystery, but life is a mystery, isn’t it?
Bad Games
Jeff Menapace - 2013
Some fishing, some barbecue, some games...The Fannelli brothers are heading to Crescent Lake too. Some stalking, some kidnapping, some murder, definitely some games...though not necessarily the type of games the Lamberts had in mind. But it doesn't matter. The Lamberts are going to play whether they like it or not.An intense psychological thriller, Bad Games has the dark, mind-bending chills of The Bad Seed combined with the fish-out-of-water dread and suspense of Deliverance. So let Jeff Menapace's highly anticipated suspense thriller keep you up all night as it delves into the mystery of nature versus nurture when comprehending the evil in man, along with the will and determination an innocent family must summon to fight back against horrific odds.
Trance
Adam Southward - 2019
He is in control. This is his revenge—and he’s only just begun.Three university scientists are found dead in a gruesome murder-suicide, and the only suspect in the case, Victor Lazar, is quickly captured. When the spate of violent suicides follows him to prison he is moved to solitary confinement, reserved for the highest-risk inmates. And then his assigned psychologist inexplicably takes his own life.Alex Madison, a former forensic psychologist turned private therapist, is brought in to interview Victor. He suspects that Victor is controlling his victims, somehow coaxing them into a suggestive trance. It seems like science fiction, but as Alex digs deeper he uncovers a frightening reality of secret research and cruel experimentation—and the perpetrators are closer to home than he could ever have imagined.Too late, Alex learns the true extent of what Victor is capable of—and who he’s after. With everything he holds dear at risk, can Alex take control of a dangerous mind—before it takes control of him?
Appleseed Creek Books 1 - 3
Amanda Flower - 2014
The series begins with the Amish mystery novel A Plain Death. After moving to Amish country, new resident and computer whiz Chloe Humphrey must take on the role of detective when she is involved in an accident that is soon after labeled as murder by local police. With God’s help, Chloe and the victim’s brother, a handsome Amish carpenter, must solve the mystery that is rocking this small Amish town. USA Today and New York Times best-selling author Shelley Shepard Gray reported she read the first book in this series “in one sitting” and could not wait to read the next! The second installment in the Appleseed Creek Mystery Series is the novel A Plain Scandal. Soon after the dust has settled on the “accident thought to be murder” in the first book, we take another thrill-ride with Chloe Humphrey as she attempts to discover who is murdering the Amish and cutting off their hair and beards in Appleseed Creek. Chloe knows from before that finding the murderer and restoring peace to Appleseed Creek is as much her responsibility as anyone else’s in town and she is determined to do so. It is Christmas time in Amish country, and once again we meet Chloe Humphrey in the final installment of the Appleseed Creek Mystery Series entitled A Plain Disappearance. Chloe has begun to settle in to her life in Appleseed Creek, and is excited to see where her new relationship with Timothy Troyer will lead. Unfortunately, it leads to another murder mystery when the couple discovers the body of Amish teenager Katie Lambright while on their first date. Timothy’s best friend Billy Thorpe is implicated in the crime, and it is discovered he has been living in Amish country for the past ten years under a stolen alias. Now, Chloe and Timothy must find Billy, and either bring him to justice or prove his innocence.
Deception Bay
Chris Patchell - 2019
He’s dangerous. Together, can they stop a killer from tearing a small island community apart? When wise-cracking cozy mystery author, Austin Martell, left his hometown on Whidbey Island for the bright lights of New York, he vowed he would never go back. But some promises are impossible to keep, and when Austin discovers that his mother has suffered a serious accident, he has no choice but to return. Austin soon learns that her accident may be no accident at all, and secrets that were laid to rest after his brother’s tragic death off the coast of Deception Bay, have now begun to surface. >>>As they close in on the killer, new dangers arise Austin finds himself in the center of a real-life murder mystery, when Police Chief Ellie Sharpe uncovers a curious connection between the author and the death of a local businessman. Born and raised on Whidbey and trained as a New York cop, Ellie is smart, and tough, and determined to solve the mystery behind the killing before more people die. Sparks fly as the two pair up to figure out who is responsible for the murder. The closer they come to discovering truth, the more desperate someone is to keep the sins of the past from coming to light. >>>Someone close to Austin harbors a deadly truth. Can Ellie unmask a killer before Austin becomes one more secret buried beneath the waves of Deception Bay?
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The Daisy Gumm Majesty Cozy Mystery Box Set 3 (Three Complete Cozy Mystery Novels in One): Historical Mystery (Daisy Gumm Majesty Mystery)
Alice Duncan - 2019
But when the producer's wife experiences a mysterious illness and another cast member is murdered, it looks like someone doesn't want the show to go on.AWARDS:Romantic Times Top PickReviewer's Choice Awards, finalistTHE DAISY GUMM MAJESTY MYSTERIES, in series orderStrong SpiritsFine SpiritsHigh SpiritsHungry SpiritsGenteel SpiritsAncient SpiritsSpirits RevivedDark SpiritsSpirits OnstageUnsettled SpiritsBruised SpiritsSpirits UnitedSpirits UnearthedShaken SpiritsScarlet Spirits
Shadow Kill
David Caris - 2021
Betrayed by his employer and left for dead, Kovac decides to lie low in Tokyo.His plan? Revenge...But when a young woman asks him to protect her from the yakuza, Kovac feels duty-bound to help. She’s a victim of abuse, and long experience tells him if he doesn’t step in tonight she’ll be a corpse before dawn.As Kovac works to uncover the truth of his last job, he finds himself drawn into a conspiracy which goes well beyond the yakuza to a new and terrifying multinational cartel. One that will stop at nothing to control the global drug trade.The kingpins are certain they’ve covered all bases. They're well-funded and utterly ruthless. But they’ve failed to account for one man – John Kovac.SHADOW KILL is the first in a fast-paced, unflinching thriller series that won't in any way shortchange you on action. Perfect for fans of Lee Child, Mark Greaney and Mark Dawson.
The Family Shadow: A historical mystery with long-buried secrets and dual timeline suspense
Suzanne Winterly - 2021
A modern-day family researcher. Can she solve the century old puzzle of a racehorse trainer’s death and his wife’s disappearance?Ireland, 1891. Rosalind Thornton only wants to be a perfect mother and spouse. Happy at first to have given her husband the son he longed for, she begins to worry about his increasingly erratic spending and volatile moods. And when his body turns up in the local woods, her guilt remains in question for 130 years…2019. Fiona Foley needs to put her husband’s betrayal behind her. Offered a chance to get away and recover, the disillusioned history teacher travels to an old rambling house on the sweeping Wexford coast to assist an eccentric descendant of the Thornton family. Fending off a prying journalist intent on digging up dirt, Fiona finds herself in a race to uncover the truth.As the two women separately untangle a devastating plot, only an old journal full of riddles might be the key to solving the crime.Can Fiona figure out what really happened on the fateful night Rosalind disappeared forever?The Family Shadow is a gripping historical mystery novel. If you like long-buried secrets, dual timeline suspense, and surprising twists and turns, then you’ll love Suzanne Winterly’s evocative page-turner.
Whisper Me This
Kerry Anne King - 2018
The only thing Maisey’s sure she’s gotten right is her relationship with her twelve-year-old daughter, Elle…until a phone call blows apart the precarious balance of their lives. Maisey’s mother is in a coma, and her aging father faces charges of abuse and neglect.Back at her childhood home, Maisey must make a heartrending life-or-death decision. Her confused father has destroyed family records, including her mother’s final wishes. Searching for answers, Maisey uncovers one unspeakable secret after another when she stumbles upon a shattering truth: a twin sister named Marley.Maisey’s obsession with solving the mystery of her sister forces her to examine her darkest memories and triggers a custody battle with Elle’s father. Will Maisey’s love for her daughter be strong enough to break a cycle of abuse and create a new beginning for them all?
The Engine House
Rhys Dylan - 2022
But as the killer scrambles to cover up the truth, the body count rises.Working with a new young team, Warlow peels away the layers to reveal the dark and rotten heart that beats beneath the chocolate box tranquillity of an area renowned for its quiet beauty.But does he still have what it takes to root out the monstrous truth before all hell lets loose?The Engine House is the gripping debut crime thriller set in the heart of wild Wales from author Rhys Dylan. Perfect for fans of LJ Ross, JD Kirk. JM Dalgliesh and Simon McCleave. Celtic noir with a spatter of dark humour.
Identity Crisis
Eliza Watson - 2018
She learns they were placed in the Federal Witness Security Program when she was five years old. Her father was involved in an art forgery ring and testified against the mob. Brought up not to trust anyone, Olivia has a difficult time relying on U.S. Marshal Ethan Ryder to protect her, and to keep her secret. She fears her father may have continued his life of crime through her art gallery. She has little choice but to depend on Ethan when she realizes someone is now after her. Olivia’s search for the truth leads her and Ethan across the country to a family and a past she doesn’t remember. At the age of ten, Ethan witnessed a brutal murder. He vowed that when he grew up, he’d protect people in danger. Protecting Olivia is difficult when she won’t trust him. He soon realizes his desire to protect her goes beyond doing his job, but if his judgment becomes clouded by emotions, her safety could be jeopardized. Can Ethan and Olivia learn to trust each other when they uncover secrets that will change their lives forever? *This book was originally published under the name Eliza Daly.