Book picks similar to
Dance of the Butterfly by Scott Carruba
1-star
despicable-villains
suspense
horror
The Body Finder
Kimberly Derting - 2010
While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes that the dead leave behind in the world... and the imprints that attach to their killers.Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find the dead birds her cat left for her. But now that a serial killer is terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet on her quest to find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved by her hope that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer... and becoming his prey herself.
Buried
C.J. Carmichael - 2012
Now someone with inside knowledge is feeding clues to true crime writer Dougal Lachlan, promising him the best story of his career. Pursuing the leads means returning to Twisted Cedars, where his sister Jamie, is about to marry a man he deeply dislikes.Local Twisted Cedars librarian Charlotte Hammond prefers her mysteries - and her romances - between the covers of a good book, especially since the disappearance of her older sister, Daisy, eight years ago. But then the dark and tortured soul who is Dougal Lachlan walks into the Twisted Cedars Library asking for her help.Before long Charlotte realizes there is no safe zone. Not even in libraries...and especially not in Twisted Cedars.Twisted Cedar MysteriesBuried, Book 1Forgotten, Book 2Exposed, Book 3
The Buried Book
D.M. Pulley - 2016
He’s lucky to even have a home and must keep his mouth shut and his ears open to stay in his uncle’s good graces. No one knows where his mother went or whether she’s coming back. Desperate to see her again, he must take matters into his own hands. From the farm, he embarks on a treacherous search that will take him to the squalid hideaways of Detroit and back again, through tawdry taverns, peep shows, and gambling houses.As he’s drawn deeper into an adult world of corruption, scandal, and murder, Jasper uncovers the shocking past still chasing his mother—and now it’s chasing him too.
The Book of Blood and Shadow
Robin Wasserman - 2012
And Max, Nora's sweet, smart, soft-spoken Prince Charming, was gone. He was also—according to the police, according to her parents, according to everyone—a murderer.Desperate to prove his innocence, Nora follows the trail of blood, no matter where it leads. It ultimately brings her to the ancient streets of Prague, where she is drawn into a dark web of secret societies and shadowy conspirators, all driven by a mad desire to possess something that might not even exist. For buried in a centuries-old manuscript is the secret to ultimate knowledge and communion with the divine; it is said that he who controls the Lumen Dei controls the world. Unbeknownst to her, Nora now holds the crucial key to unlocking its secrets. Her night of blood is just one piece in a puzzle that spans continents and centuries. Solving it may be the only way she can save her own life.
London Falling
Paul Cornell - 2012
Then his prize suspect Rob Toshack is murdered in custody. Furious, Quill pursues the investigation, co-opting intelligence analyst Lisa Ross and undercover cops Costain and Sefton. But nothing about Toshack's murder is normal. Toshack had struck a bargain with a vindictive entity, whose occult powers kept Toshack one step ahead of the law -- until his luck ran out. Now, the team must find a 'suspect' who can bend space and time and alter memory itself. And they will kill again.As the group starts to see London's sinister magic for themselves, they have two choices: panic or use their new abilities. Then they must hunt a terrifying supernatural force the only way they know how: using police methods, equipment and tactics. But they must all learn the rules of this new game - and quickly. More than their lives will depend on it.
Mr. Flood's Last Resort
Jess Kidd - 2018
A tragic childhood event left her haunted, in the company of a cast of prattling saints who pop in and out of her life like tourists. Other than visiting her agoraphobic neighbor, Maud keeps to herself, finding solace in her work and in her humble existence–until she meets Mr. Flood.Cathal Flood is a menace by all accounts. The lone occupant of a Gothic mansion crawling with feral cats, he has been waging war against his son’s attempts to put him into an old-age home and sent his last caretaker running for the madhouse. But Maud is this impossible man’s last chance: if she can help him get the house in order, he just might be able to stay. So the unlikely pair begins to cooperate, bonding over their shared love of Irish folktales and mutual dislike of Mr. Flood’s overbearing son.Still, shadows are growing in the cluttered corners of the mansion, hinting at buried family secrets, and reminding Maud that she doesn’t really know this man at all. When the forgotten case of a missing schoolgirl comes to light, she starts poking around, and a full-steam search for answers begins.Packed with eccentric charms, twisted comedy, and a whole lot of heart, Mr. Flood’s Last Resort is a mesmerizing tale that examines the space between sin and sainthood, reminding us that often the most meaningful forgiveness that we can offer is to ourselves.
Harry's Justice (Harry Windsor Book 1)
Andy Wiseman - 2017
But he's finding it difficult. Following a chance meeting with a man whose daughter has gone missing and an offer of payment to find her, Harry begins a search. The consequences of which, take him back into London's criminal underworld and where he encounters the ruthlessness of Russian organised crime, the cunning of his former crime boss and the police, wanting to arrest him for murder.The search becomes one of survival as Harry deals retribution and justice in equal measure, yet torn between whether or not to break his vow to save the girl.Harry's journey is one of self-discovery and dark secrets while facing fears to exorcise the demons of the past - but how will his journey end?(contains some violence)
Housebroken
The Behrg - 2015
No ransom, no demands; there was nothing they wanted--other than to observe." When Blake Crochet and his family are taken hostage in their own home, they are forced to act out their everyday lives under the observance of two psychotic kidnappers. Each moment Blake must pit the decision to follow their captors' rules against the potential catastrophe of a failed escape.He soon learns that the consequences of both action and inaction are more terrifying than he imagined. As Blake's life erodes beneath him, secrets come to light that threaten to destroy his family before their kidnappers have a chance.Secrets carry consequences too.As the motives behind the kidnapping are revealed, Blake must sacrifice everything to hold on to the ever-shifting definition of what his family has become. In his battle for survival, he will face the ultimate consequence: for to fight a devil, you may have to become one yourself.
The Truth of All Things
Kieran Shields - 2012
When newly appointed Deputy Marshal Archie Lean is called in to investigate a prostitute's murder in Portland, Maine, he's surprised to find the body laid out like a pentagram and pinned to the earth with a pitchfork. He's even more surprised to learn that this death by "sticking" is a traditional method of killing a witch. Baffled by the ritualized murder scene, Lean secretly enlists the help of historian Helen Prescott and brilliant criminalist Perceval Grey. Distrusted by officials because of his mixed Abenaki Indian ancestry, Grey is even more notorious for combining modern investigative techniques with an almost eerie perceptiveness. Although skeptical of each other's methods, together the detectives pursue the killer's trail through postmortems and opium dens, into the spiritualist societies and lunatic asylums of gothic New England. Before the killer closes in on his final victim, Lean and Grey must decipher the secret pattern to these murders--a pattern hidden within the dark history of the Salem witch trials.
Nightfall
Stephen Leather - 2010
He has recently inherited a mansion from a man who turns out to be his father. A father who killed himself when he was unable to reverse a deal he did with a demon - a deal that sold his son's soul.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: Wiki content for your Kindle
AMencher19 - 2011
You can find The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo here.Wish you could read your favorite wiki content conveniently on your Kindle device? Now you can with the "Wiki content for your kindle" series.This book provides background information on the novel "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," written by Stieg Larsson.Read a plot summary, information about the characters, themes, and film adaptations.
Omens
Kelley Armstrong - 2013
The only daughter of a wealthy, prominent Chicago family, she has an Ivy League education, pursues volunteerism and philanthropy, and is engaged to a handsome young tech firm CEO with political ambitions.But Olivia’s world is shattered when she learns that she’s adopted. Her real parents? Todd and Pamela Larsen, notorious serial killers serving a life sentence. When the news brings a maelstrom of unwanted publicity to her adopted family and fiancé, Olivia decides to find out the truth about the Larsens.Olivia ends up in the small town of Cainsville, Illinois, an old and cloistered community that takes a particular interest in both Olivia and her efforts to uncover her birth parents’ past.Aided by her mother’s former lawyer, Gabriel Walsh, Olivia focuses on the Larsens’ last crime, the one her birth mother swears will prove their innocence. But as she and Gabriel start investigating the case, Olivia finds herself drawing on abilities that have remained hidden since her childhood, gifts that make her both a valuable addition to Cainsville and deeply vulnerable to unknown enemies. Because there are darker secrets behind her new home and powers lurking in the shadows that have their own plans for her.
The Protector's Bond
Lee Tobin McClain - 2015
When the man who ruined her is freed from prison and begins stalking the daughter she gave up for adoption to the founders of the Covenant School, Lissa searches for a way to help. Desperate to protect the child, Lissa takes a job as a janitor in their institution to keep a watchful eye on the girl. War hero and Covenant School security guard, Chad Sagar isn’t easily fooled. Despite his growing attraction to Lissa, it’s obvious from her anxious glances and suspicious behavior that she’s keeping a secret. And secrets can be dangerous. With a predator stalking Lissa and her biological daughter, it takes everything Chad has to save them and protect a bond that's unbreakable--even in the hands of danger. This Christian romantic suspense novella kicks off the Sacred Bond Guardians, a darker spinoff of the Sacred Bond series of Christian romances. Look for more Sacred Bond Guardians Christian Romantic Suspense novels later in 2015. Meanwhile, If you like this book, and want to know how the brotherhood got started, try A Christmas Bond (Christian Romance): Sacred Bond Series Prequel Novella. And check out the rest of the Sacred Bond Christian Romance series, featuring alpha males who live to serve others. Reader comments on the Sacred Bond series of Christian Romance novels: “I haven’t been this excited since I discovered Dee Henderson’s O’Malley series!” “Wonderful stories on how to live Christ-like in the real world with real feelings." “This series is awesome and just seems to get better and better!” “An engaging romance series with strong used-to-be-bad-boy heroes that'll make any woman's heart beat faster.”
Wicked Gentlemen
Ginn Hale - 2007
He is also a man with a brutal past and a dangerous addiction. And Belimai Sykes is the only man Captain William Harper can turn to when faced with a series of grisly murders.But Mr. Sykes does not work for free and the price of Belimai's company will cost Captain Harper far more than his reputation. From the ornate mansions of noblemen, where vivisection and sorcery are hidden beneath a veneer of gold, to the steaming slums of Hells Below, Captain Harper must fight for justice and for his life.His enemies are many and his only ally is a devil he knows too well. Such are the dangers of dealing with the wicked.
Tortured Dreams
Hadena James - 2013
She has survived attacks by two different serial killers and devoted her life to studying the darker side of human history. A new killer is using medieval torture methods to slay his victims. She can give them a glimpse into his twisted world, but not without a cost. If she opens herself, she risks falling into the depths of her own darkness. Can she afford to help, knowing that the cost could be her own humanity? Aislinn Cain's life is a horror story.