Book picks similar to
Vials by Alec Peche


mystery
thriller
mystery-crime
ebooks

The Gossiping Gourmet


Martin Brown - 2014
    But for love of his caramel chicken and cherry fudge brownies, everyone has a story to share regarding their fellow citizens—Stories that too often find their way into his weekly gossip-filled newspaper column, "Heard About Town." When the great chef and his admirers, the Sausalito Ladies of Liberty, take offense to a newly arrived Manhattan power couple, their insular world of tasty sauces and stinging insults leads to deadly results.Everyone has their own theory about who killed Warren. But it takes the combined efforts of Rob Timmons, the local newspaper publisher, and Eddie Austin, his childhood friend and Marin County’s top detective, to unravel this tale of delicious dishes and malicious deception.

Trudy, Madly, Deeply


Wendy Delaney - 2013
    With no physical evidence of foul play, Char's on the case, much to the irritation of Detective Steve Sixkiller, who doesn't want her to stick her pretty nose for trouble in his investigation. But she's a woman on a mission to uncover the truth, and she'd better keep her eyes open or the next body on the way to the morgue could be hers....

Influence


Chris Parker - 2014
    Influence equals power, the power to affect people and events. The most powerful people alive have the greatest influence. And they can use it for good or bad. Marcus Kline is the world's leading authority on communication and influence. He can tell what you are thinking. He can see inside you. He can step inside your mind. Yet when a series of murder victims bear the horrific hallmarks of an intelligent and remorseless serial killer, Detective Inspector Peter Jones turns to Marcus for help - and everything changes. As the killer sets a deadly pace, the invisible, irresistible and terrifying power of influence threatens friendships, reputations, and lives. When events appear to implicate the great Marcus Kline himself, everyone learns that the worst pain isn't physical...

Fire and Ice


Dana Stabenow - 1998
    But that was before his life unraveled. Transferred in disgrace to this rough-and-tumble fishing town on the shores of Bristol Bay, Liam knows Newenham is the end of the line. It's also his last shot at getting his life back.. He's about to come in for a very rough landing. Stepping onto the airstrip at Newenham, Liam walks into a crime scene: a body torn apart by the propeller of a Piper Super Cub. As if that isn't enough of a welcome, the woman bending over the corpse is Wyanet Chouinard, the only woman Liam ever truly loved - and soon to be his prime suspect. Next, a man is held hostage in the town's only decent burger joint--held for shooting out a jukebox that was playing Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. And Liam still doesn't have his uniform on.

In the Bleak Midwinter


Julia Spencer-Fleming - 2002
    Alban's new priest, fits like a square peg in the conservative Episcopal parish at Millers Kill, New York. She is not just a "lady," she's a tough ex-Army chopper pilot and nobody's fool. Then a newborn infant left at the church door brings her together with the town's Police Chief, Russ Van Alstyne, who's also ex-Army and a cynical good shepherd for the stray sheep of his hometown. Their search for the baby's mother quickly leads them into the secrets that shadow Millers Kill like the ever-present Adirondacks. What they discover is a world of trouble, an attraction to each other--and murder...

Dead Girls Don't Blog


Pamela Frost Dennis - 2014
    Sickened that he could soon be preying on other young girls, Katy throws caution to the wind and sets out to make sure this doesn't happen, not realizing she might not survive to blog about it.Sometimes, doing the right thing can get you killed.

Bone Set


Bette Golden Lamb - 2016
    Compassionate to most, downright lethal to those who would harm her patients. This is an action-packed, shocking, take-no-prisoners series about the dark rough and tumble side of the medical profession and its adjuncts. Fans of hard-boiled medical thrillers will eat it up ... as will lovers of strong women sleuths, hospital mysteries, and all medical fiction, especially fans of Tess Gerritsen, Carolyn McCray, Eileen Dreyer, Lisa Genova, and Robin Cook. BONE DRY (#1) Carl Chapman, a young man with an excellent prognosis, dies--and Gina knows he shouldn't have. Another patient’s acting weird and desperate; a third, a teen-ager, has actually run away. Gina soon learns Carl’s cancer treatment had gone missing, in fact finds out her patients are being subjected to a form of blackmail so diabolical Hanibal Lecter could have dreamed it up. … a medical thriller "not for the squeamish."-Publishers Weekly, SIN AND BONE (#2) "Help me quit killing redheads." That’s the plea RN Gina Mazzio hears when she gets an anonymous call the night before her wedding. The cops say it’s a crank call. Her fiancé says she’s altar-shy. Her fellow workers call her “silly”. But Gina’s got a bad feeling… And then it turns out two of her fellow nurses at San Francisco’s Ridgewood Hospital are missing. Instead of a honeymoon, she’s plunged into the dark world of the black market trade in human body parts. Need we mention this is not medical suspense for the faint-hearted? BONE PIT (#3) Why does a hospital need bars on the windows? And why is the parking lot empty? As RNs Gina Mazzio and her fiancé Harry Lucke arrive for their new assignment as travel nurses, they suddenly have the chilling feeling of being about to enter a Stephen King novel—only in rural Nevada instead of Maine. This adventure’s supposed to be a respite from San Francisco, with its numbing memories of murder and kidnapping, but they seem to have signed up to work at a hospital with no windows on the first floor and barred windows on the second.

A Sharp Edged Truth: A Thomas Cole Book


Scott Jones - 2015
    The authorities call it a good shooting, open and shut. But the boy's sister is an Army widow and ex Army Ranger Thomas Cole is asked to look into the inconsistencies. Tom and his mentor Martin Crow travel to the town of Willow Springs and begin asking the right questions of the wrong people. With the help of some of the town's concerned citizens they uncover secrets that people in power are willing to kill to protect.

The Curse: A Cozy Mystery From the 1920s


Alice Simpson - 2018
    Jane grapples with a vandalized shop, a kidnapping, a creepy doll with seemingly supernatural powers, and a stolen diamond necklace. What do all these have in common? It's up to Jane to find out. About the Jane Carter Historical Cozy Mystery Series: This quirky historical cozy mystery series is set in the fictional American city of Greenville during the 1920s, and features Jane Carter, a young widow who returns home to live with her father after the tragic death of her journalist husband. Jane’s father owns a local newspaper, and wants Jane to take it over someday, but Jane is adamant that she has no desire to be a reporter. Instead, she turns her talent for writing to concocting melodramatic romances for fly-by-night rags who almost never pay on time. This work pays so poorly that Jane supplements her income by becoming an agony aunt, soliciting letters from the lovelorn through advertisements in the back of women’s weekly magazines. Jane dispenses advice to all and sundry, but her personal life is in shambles. Jane claims that she's holding out for a millionaire before she marries again, but the only man who makes her heart beat faster is Jack, a reporter on her father's staff. Not only has Jane vowed she will never be a newspaper man herself, she's doubly insistent on never again marrying one. While trying to turn out enough column inches of overwrought romantic bilge to keep her old car on the road, and herself in shoes, Jane runs into the most extraordinary circumstances. In Jane's madcap world, it's a constant round of kidnappings, curses, stolen jewels, counterfeit paintings, and hidden stashes of gold. There's plenty of crime to go around, but nary a murder. Accompanying Jane on her adventures is her best friend, Florence. Jane and Flo may get into one perilous situation after another, but they are never damsels in distress, because, as Jane puts it, "A real lady always carries her own pocket knife." Neither Jane nor Flo think it beneath them to slip a cosh into their handbag, either, should the situation call for it. All this getting into harm's way alarms the Carter's housekeeper, Mrs. Timms. Mrs. Timms believes it's her mission in life to turn motherless Jane into a proper lady, but seeing as Jane has just turned twenty-four, Mrs. Timms considerable efforts appear to have been in vain. However, the housekeeper won't give up trying, just as Jane won't give up on seeing Mrs. Timms and her father center-aisling it to the alter and saying, "I do." If you like light-hearted historical mysteries with quirky characters and a bit of zany humor, this may be the series for you! These are murderless mysteries. Despite a constant crime wave, there seem to be no murders in the city of Greenville. There may be plenty of peril in the form of kidnappings, heists, and the occasional assault, but nobody ever dies, and justice is always served. There’s plenty of romance, but sex is strictly behind closed doors. Suitable for readers looking for a "clean" mystery novel. This series may be of interest to fans of: Lee Strauss (Ginger Gold Mysteries), Jaqueline Winspear (Masie Dobbs Mysteries), Patricia Wentworth (Miss Silver Mysteries), Jessica Ellicot (Berl and Edwina Mysteries Series), Clara Benson, L. B. Hathaway (Posie Parker Mysteries), Leighann Dobbs (Hazel Martin Mysteries), T. E. Kinsey (Lady Hardcastle Mysteries), Margarete Addison (Rose Simpson Mysteries), Emily Organ (Penny Green Mysteries), and the Phryne Fisher Mystery Series.

Crazy, VA


Shannon Hill - 2012
    She started life as the unwanted daughter of both of Crazy's feuding founding families. She's enforcing the law in a quirky town more used to paying bribes than fines. And her love life is in hiding. But Lil's luck changes when she adopts Boris, a foul-tempered tomcat who quickly becomes her feline deputy.Then Crazy gets its first murder in decades: Lisa Littlepage Hunter, heir to the powerful Littlepage business empire and the cousin Lil never knew. Lil's investigation will lead her and Boris through a twisted web of forbidden love and family secrets, and before it's over she'll need all the help her furry deputy can give her - and then some.

The Serenity Stone Murder


Marianne Jones - 2014
    Visiting the city to attend a retreat, friends Margaret and Louise become intrigued by the circumstances surrounding the murder and quickly find themselves embroiled in the investigation. Will they discover that they’ve stepped into something they won’t be able to walk away from? Will the murderer target them next?

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie


Alan Bradley - 2009
    Then, hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath.For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. “I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.”

Run from Me


Natasha Luke - 2019
    A message is painted on the wall using the victims' blood, and all evidence points to a man she wronged many years ago. Now that man is back for her, and Sara has nowhere to run. RUN FROM ME is the first instalment to a gripping new serial killer series. It features Sara Hunt, a no-nonsense homicide detective with a big secret, and that secret is on the verge of coming out.

Saving Babe Ruth


Tom Swyers - 2014
    Captivating characters lead double lives and keep secrets in this award-winning page-turner based on a true story.A cast of shady adults and the high school baseball coaches hate David for trying to save it. They'll do anything to wreck the league so that their elite travel teams can take over its beautiful ball field, even if it means going after David and his family.The harder David battles to save the league, the worse things get. He's in way over his head and he's also stuck in a family catch-22. If he surrenders, he might lose his son's love along with his own self-respect to say nothing of losing baseball for the sandlot kids in town. Yet if he doesn't back down, he'll lose his marriage and his son will lose any chance to play on the high school team.To make things right, underdog David Thompson needs to know when to fold and when to fight. He's being pushed and shoved to his breaking point and only one thing is for sure: If he snaps, he's not planning on taking prisoners.David is on an emotional roller coaster and he can't get off. He's fighting his own civil war as he struggles to make a difference in the town he cherishes without bringing harm to the family he loves.·An Amazon multiple category bestseller.·Gold Winner, Benjamin Franklin Award, 2015 "Best First Book: Fiction."·Silver Winner, Benjamin Franklin Award, 2015 "Best Popular Fiction."·Readers Views, "Best Regional Fiction 2014/2015: Northeast."·Finalist, "Best New Fiction," 2014 USA Best Book Awards.

Fractured Eden


Steven Gossington - 2015
    Aaron Rovsing, Family Practice Physician, is fired from his medical practice in Connecticut because of alleged incompetence. After he flees and starts over in a town in East Texas, he discovers that things are not as they first appear, and soon Aaron must combat the deranged and addicted minds of the townspeople.Events take an even deadlier turn when he finds himself the next chosen victim of a serial killer who plans to add the doctor to his collection of skeletons. In this town of insanity and with a serial killer waiting to strike, how can Aaron manage to stay sane . . . and alive?