Book picks similar to
Lightning on a Quiet Night by Donn E. Taylor


mystery
historical-fiction
christian-fiction
romance

Coyote's Revenge


Vannetta Chapman - 2017
    For Aiden, work comes first and allows him to make amends for his past. Then Madison Hart is caught in the terrorist web of an insurgent named Coyote. Unaware that her life is in danger, she finds herself falling for the elusive Aiden Lewis. But Aiden disappears for days at a time, and he has a past that haunts him. Is their relationship doomed from the beginning? Can they learn to trust each another?Coyote is the mastermind behind operation Dambusters, which is compromised because of Aiden. Coyote knows the way to hurt Aiden is to target Madison. As Coyote makes his move for revenge, both Aiden and Madison must face their past while their future hangs precariously in the balance.This gripping romantic thriller combines a terrifyingly realistic plot with believable characters and fascinating details about military ops, terrorists, and the vulnerability of our infrastructure. A story that will leave you wondering how much of our past defines who we are, and how we can move beyond it to embrace our future.Vannetta Chapman is the author of over twenty bestselling novels, including Hidden, Protected, and The Remnant Series. Vannetta is a Carol award winner and a Christy award finalist. She has won over a dozen awards from Romance Writers of America chapter groups. She currently writes full time, teaches college students on the side, and resides in the Texas Hill country.

A Chance Mistake


Jackie Zack - 2015
    His latest best seller has left him freaked out, and he begins to suspect that he’s being followed. Is he the target of a nefarious scheme? Has his money-making imagination veered out of control? An array of Kory’s books in a Welsh bookstore window pulls him into the shop to browse. He is astonished to meet Dafina Perry, the living image of a female character in his last book. As his vacation progresses down its unusual track, he finds himself inexplicably and somewhat humorously entangled in her family drama. Dafina, struggling with betrayal and potential loss, worries about the welfare of the handsome, brilliant novelist. Will helping him bring unexpected love and happiness to her life? Or will her good intentions invoke destruction for them both?

The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman


Carole Brown - 2013
    So when her husband, a founding member of the cult, suffers a massive heart attack, Caralynne allows her husband to die. Caralynne’s secret seems safe until Dayne MacFarland returns, determined to learn the truth about the cult. His investigation and his rekindled love for Caralynne lead the pair toward a confrontation with the group’s elders. Can Dayne’s love for Caralynne bridge the gulf of anger and bitterness that divides the community? Or will Caralynne’s deadly secrets prove too high a price for her redemption?

Smolder


Desiree Douglas - 2017
    She is preparing to begin her dream job when she's called home to help her estranged mother, a hoarder, clean out her mess or risk losing her house. Reluctantly returning home, nothing prepares her for the shock of coming face to face with her first love. Brody Finch may have been Greenshade's glorious football legend, but he is also the man who deserted her a decade ago, when she needed him the most. As Scarlett attempts to handle her combative mother, she's forced to come to terms with airing her family's dirty laundry on the reality TV show, Packrats. Community members with agendas of their own rally to help, harm, or just plain gawk. Unexpectedly, the cold case murder of her sister comes back into focus, and Scarlett finds her own life in danger as she struggles to discover the truth about what happened so long ago. In the midst of this chaos, a serial arsonist brings the small town to its knees. Where there's smoke, there's fire. Can Scarlett and Finch find the love they once shared and lost? And if they do, will she live through the process?

Hide in Plain Sight


Marta Perry - 2007
    At the same time, she is able to accept help and love from a handsome mystery boarder.

The Janus Journals


H.L. Wegley - 2019
    When her father is murdered, he left her with a warning, an assassin on her trail, and his secret history contained in a set of journals. As Allie tries to elude the assassin and read the journals, she learns that the loving father who raised her was not the man he appeared to be, and the man she must now trust with her life is someone Allie must never trust with her heart.At strong safety, Grady Jamison could defend against opponents in the red zone, but he couldn't stop the drunk driver who hit his car and killed his sister. Does Allie Petrenko's call for help mean Grady has been given a second chance, a chance to do things right? Once again, he's defending in the red zone. And he must not let the world-class assassin score, because the goal line marks the end of Allie Petrenko's life.The Janus Journals, set in Virginia and near Lake Chelan in Washington State, is high-action romantic suspense at its best. The dual timeline will take you on an epic journey through the twilight years of the Cold War that reshaped one man's destiny while creating deadly tentacles, reaching into the present, threatening an innocent young woman.

Lake Surrender


Carol Grace Stratton - 2014
    The dry hills of California are a metaphor for her empty soul, but she can't afford to wallow in self-pity with an autistic son who can't make eye contact and a precocious twelve-year-old daughter counting on her to get it together. With no other available jobs, Ally steps through the only open door for employment, working as head cook at a dilapidated Christian camp. Problem is, she doesn't cook and doesn't like religious fanatics. But despite everything, she finds herself strangely hopeful as she learns her journey ends where the lake begins.

Summer Shadows


Killarney Traynor - 2014
    Medallion Honoree!Mystery. Romance. Danger. Murder. Not the typical family vacation. When Julia Lamontaigne arrives in Franklin, New Hampshire, she's looking for an escape from the tragedies that have taken over her life. Haunted by the legacy of her beloved sister, and entrusted with her sister's three orphaned children, Julia hopes for a summer of peaceful healing... And hopefully, bonding. At first, the small New Hampshire town seems to be the perfect location. They quickly settle in and make friends with their eccentric neighbors, then begin work on their summer house - while Julia is drawn into a relationship with Robert Wilde, the handsome cop next door. But Franklin is haunted, too - by the decades-old murder of a beautiful young artist, killed in the house at the end of Julia's street. Even though everyone says that the case is solved, Julia can't escape the feeling that there's more to the story than she's being told. She's right. Someone doesn't want the murder case re-opened. And they're willing to kill again to stop it. The house at the end of the street hasn't begun to give up its secrets.

No Safe Harbor


Elizabeth Ludwig - 2012
    Her search lands her in America, amidst a houseful of strangers and one man who claims to be a friend--Rourke Walsh.Despite her brother's warning, Cara decides to trust Rourke and reveals the truth about her purpose in America. But he is not who he claims to be, and as rumors begin to circulate about an underground group of dangerous revolutionaries, Cara's desperation grows. Her questions lead her ever closer to her brother, but they also bring her closer to destruction as Rourke's true intentions come to light.

The White City


Grace Hitchcock - 2019
    She tries to convince her father, an inspector with the Chicago police, to look into reports of mysterious disappearances around the White City. Inspector Wylde tries to dismiss her claims as exaggeration of an overactive imagination, but he eventually concedes to letting her go undercover as secretary to the man in question—if she takes her pistol for protection and Jude Thorpe, a policeman, for bodyguard.Will she be able to expose H. H. Holmes’s illicit activity, or will Winnifred become his next victim?

Finding Hope in Savannah


Melissa Wardwell - 2015
    When she witnesses something horrifying and dangerous, they are forced into hiding. She seeks refuge in the small community of Isle of Hope, Georgia only to find that her life and her heart are still hanging in the balance.Officer Jake Andrews, dedicated his life to protect and serve the people of Savannah. In the back of his mind always wondering “what if”? The arrival of a young woman from his past forces him to face a long-buried secret, that will change how he sees his future.As danger comes to Georgia, Liz & Jake must learn to trust God and each other, to see their way out of the situation.

Miranda Warning


Heather Day Gilbert - 2014
    The Glock-wielding, knife-carrying housewife knows how to survive whatever life throws at her. But when an anonymous warning note shows up in her best friend Miranda’s mailbox—a note written in a dead woman’s handwriting—Tess quickly discovers that ghosts are alive and well in Buckneck, West Virginia. Hot on a cold trail, she must use limited clues and her keen insight into human nature to unmask the killer...or the next victim might be Tess herself.Tinged with the supernatural and overshadowed by the mountains' lush, protective presence, this twisting psychological mystery is the first in A Murder in the Mountains series.

The Reckoning at Gossamer Pond


Jaime Jo Wright - 2018
    When a man is found dead in his run-down trailer home, Annalise inherits the trailer, along with the pictures, vintage obituaries, and old revival posters covering its walls. As she sorts through the collection, she's wholly unprepared for the ramifications of the dark and deadly secrets she'll uncover. A century earlier, Gossamer Grove has been stirred into chaos by the arrival of controversial and charismatic twin revivalists. The chaos takes a murderous turn when Libby Sheffield, working at her father's newspaper, receives an obituary for a reputable church deacon hours before his death. As she works with the deacon's son to unravel the mystery behind the crime, it becomes undeniably clear that a reckoning has come to town--but it isn't until another obituary arrives that they realize the true depths of the danger they've waded into.Two women, separated by a hundred years, must uncover the secrets within the borders of their own town before it's too late and they lose their future--or their very souls.

Inescapable


Nancy Mehl - 2012
    Lizzie Engel is used to running away. At eighteen, she left her Mennonite hometown, her family, and her faith with plans never to return. Five years later, Lizzie finds she'll have to run again. False accusations at her job, a stalker, and a string of anonymous threatening letters have left her with no other options. This time, however, her escape is back to Kingdom, her hometown. As Lizzie becomes reacquainted with Kingdom, she realizes she may not have left her Mennonite roots and her faith as firmly in the past as she thought. She draws on the support of Noah Housler, an old friend, as she hides out and attempts to plan her next steps. When it becomes painfully clear that the danger has followed Lizzie to Kingdom, suspicions and tensions run high, and she no longer knows who to trust. With her life and the lives of those she loves at risk, Lizzie will have to run one last time--to a Father whose love is inescapable.

Only the Truth


Pat Brown - 2012
    Life changes little for him from day to day until he brings home a young drifter he meets at the railroad tracks, the mysterious Charlene, whose last name he never asks. He becomes her Sweet Billy Ray and his love for Charlene is steady and uncomplicated until the sheriff shows up to take her away in handcuffs. With the only woman he has ever loved behind bars for cold-bloodedly murdering the old man across the road, a confused and devastated Billy Ray sets out on a quest to find the truth, only the truth, whether it leads him to be able to save his Charlene from a death sentence or it frees him from her spell.