Book picks similar to
Nine Toes In The Grave by Eric Beetner


crime
novella
crime-fiction-modern-noir
fiction

Circus of Nightmares: Death is the Ultimate Illusion (The Anglesey Mysteries Book 2)


Conrad Jones - 2021
    

A Place for Violence


Kevin Wignall - 2008
    There's Luke Williams, a young American who's been left in a wheelchair by a drunk driver. Then there's Brian Tully, a wise-cracking bully with connections in Vegas, together with his sheepish family. And finally there's Dan Borowski, an Australian security analyst. Trouble is, Dan isn't there to relax, and though they don't yet know it, nor are any of the others... This short story first appeared in "Storyglossia" in May 2008. Dan Borowski first appeared as a character in "For the Dogs", and this is one of two short stories (the other is "Retrospective") to feature him.

Rain Dogs


Sean Doolittle - 2005
    But the truth is, after losing a child and a marriage, Tom doesn't really care. And life is nice and quiet in the middle of nowhere. Until a drug lab blows up near his property--putting Tom in contact with the woman he once loved, a small-town cop with a chip on his shoulder, and a powerful local who doesn't want him poking his nose where it doesn't belong. Tom doesn't want to get involved in the first place. But in the hardscrabble Nebraska Sandhills, storms gather suddenly and bad blood runs deep. Now a quiet summer on the river is turning into a dangerous season of grudges, betrayal, and violent reckoning--and it's already too late to find shelter...

Murderer's Fete


Roger Keevil - 2011
    Throw into the mix a celebrated author, a dodgy solicitor, and a sponging relative, and Constable and Copper really have their work cut out!'MURDERER'S FETE' WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN 2012 UNDER THE TITLE 'FETED TO DIE'

Catch as Catch Can (Merseyside Crime, #1)


Malcolm Hollingdrake - 2021
    Together with new colleague Skeeter Warlock, Decent quickly discovers there’s a sinister link between them all, one that will bring them face-to-face with some uncomfortable home truths.Catch as Catch Can is the first in the Merseyside Crime Series from Malcolm Hollingdrake – bestselling author of the Harrogate Crime Series.

Hidden Genders


Colin Cotterill - 2011
    Jimm is the heroine (of sorts) of Colin Cotterill’s brand new crime series, which begins with Killed at the Whim of a Hat.

The Pistol Poets


Victor Gischler - 2004
    Here Victor Gischler draws us into a wild and wicked world, where tenured professors are busy burying bodies, cash-up-front P.I.’s hunt for missing coeds and one desperate street-tough has to decide which he’d rather be: a live poet or a dead criminal.An unlucky grad student just got himself killed in a robbery gone bad. And as lowly drug lieutenant Harold Jenks races with the killer out of the alley, a light goes off in his head: He’ll steal the dead kid’s identity. Now Jenks, who once lorded it over seven square blocks in East St. Louis, is headed due west. With a .32 in his pocket, a 9mm Glock taped across his back, and a rap sheet nearly as long as Finnegans Wake, he’s cruising the halls of academia as Eastern Oklahoma U’s newest grad student, looking for action and hoping he can stay one couplet ahead of his violent past. While this new bad boy on campus makes mincemeat of his metaphors, across campus visiting professor Jay Morgan has a more pressing problem: What to do about the dead coed in his bed. The professor’s no killer, but try telling that to private eye Deke Stubbs. With the professor on the lam and Stubbs hot on his trail, more trouble blows into town. Now, as St. Louis drug boss Red Zach and his minions converge on Fumbee, Oklahoma, looking for a consignment of missing cocaine, the bullets start flying faster than the zingers at a faculty hate fest. For Morgan and Jenks, now desperate fugitives from poetic justice, survival means learning new skills—and learning fast. Because if they find out they’re bottom-of-the-class, that means they’re already dead. Featuring the sleaziest, sorriest, and most captivating group of criminal lowlifes, sexed-up academics, poets, and rappers ever to collide in one crime novel, The Pistol Poets speeds deliriously to its electrifying payoff.From the Hardcover edition.

Drivers


Peter Carroll - 2014
    Revenge, justice, loyalty, lies, love, anger and an identity crisis. Turns out, the new chauffeur is not her only driver...so buckle up and enjoy the ride.

Truth Lies Waiting


Emma Salisbury - 2014
    And you're now being framed for it. Only the person framing you is a cop... Davy Johnson is a young man from the wrong side of the tracks with a target on his back. After a spell in prison he is trying to make a life for himself but one cop won’t leave him alone, following him around and carting him off to the station just for the fun of it. The harassment turns sinister when Davy witnesses his nemesis overstep the mark with a local junkie – and makes the mistake of telling him he’s been seen. What happens next sees Davy framed for a string of murders with no one to help him but the gang leader he turned his back on when he got out of jail – but what will he want in return? With the help of an ex con and a local cabbie Davy goes on the run to prove his innocence but as the body count rises he discovers a connection between what’s happening now and a tragedy involving his father many years before. Will he be able to work out the truth from the lie in time to save the killer’s next victim? Scottish crime fiction with a sting in the tail...

Losers Live Longer (Hard Case Crime #59)


Russell Atwood - 2009
    The death of legendary private eye George Rowell looked like an accident; but searching for the truth behind it will put down-and-out East Village detective Payton Sherwood on the corpse-littered trail of a runaway investment scam artist, a drug-addicted reality TV star, and the bewitching beauty whose appearance set it all in motion...

Hunted


Alex Knight - 2020
    It's a young girl, the daughter of the love of your life. She's scared, covered in blood, she says her mother is hurt. You let her in, try to calm her down, tell her you're going to get help. You reach for your phone, but it lights up with a notification before you touch it.It's an Amber alert, sent simultaneously to four million phones in the Bay Area. A child has been abducted by a dangerous suspect.The child is the girl standing in front of you. The suspect? You.

Nobody Move


Denis Johnson - 2009
    Nobody Move, which first appeared in the pages of Playboy, is the story of an assortment of lowlifes in Bakersfield, California, and their cat-and-mouse game over $2.3 million. Touched by echoes of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, Nobody Move is at once an homage to and a variation on literary form. It salutes one of our most enduring and popular genres—the American crime novel—but with a grisly humor and outrageousness that are Denis Johnson’s own. Sexy, suspenseful, and above all entertaining, Nobody Move shows one of our greatest novelists at his versatile best.

Henry Parker Series Books 1-5: Henry Parker Series


Jason Pinter - 2017
    Now, for the first time ever, the entire Henry Parker series is available in one box ebook set! Meet Henry Parker in THE MARK. Henry is a young, ambitious reporter with the world at his fingertips...until he’s accused of murder and forced to go on the run to clear his name and stay one step ahead of some dangerous folks who’d like to see him behind bars...or worse. In THE GUILTY, Henry investigates the murder of one of the most famous women alive, only to find that her killer has his sights set on more victims, and may just have a blood tie to one of the most infamous killers in history. In THE STOLEN, Henry meets Daniel Linwood, who was abducted from his home as a child, only to return five years later without a scratch...or memory of the encounter. In THE FURY, when a strange man accosts Henry on the street, Henry has no idea that this man is about to open the door to a past Henry had hoped to leave behind, but also might hold a clue to a rash of drug-related murders. In THE DARKNESS, Henry believes a long-dormant criminal kingpin has retuned to the city, and if he can’t figure out a way to end the reign of terror, everyone’s lives are at stake. As a BONUS, you’ll get the novella THE HUNTERS for FREE! This ebook exclusive serves as a “bridge” novella between THE FURY and THE DARKNESS, and offers a deeper look at characters you’ll grow to love...or love to hate. Discover the series readers have embraced around the world!

The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes


Lawrence Block - 2015
    Like posing as a hit man and wearing a wire to incriminate a local wife who’s looking to get rid of her husband. But when he sees the wife, when he looks into her deep blue eyes...He falls—and falls hard. Soon he’s working with her, against his employer, plotting a devious plan that could get her free from her husband and put millions in her bank account. But can they do it without landing in jail? And once he's kindled his taste for killing...will he be able to stop at one?Cover art by Glen Orbik.

A Touch of Death


Charles Williams - 1953
    Original.