Book picks similar to
The Rayner-Slade Amalgamation by J.S. Fletcher


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Harbored Secrets


Marie F. Martin - 2013
    473 Five Star reviews on Amazon. Historical novel with a psychological mystery in the unearthing of family secrets. In May of 1935, Blinny Platt's homestead shack burns to the ground forever leaving her family asunder, scattering them like the embers flew on the Montana wind. She was only eight-years-old, sent away and in charge of her little sister. She could handle that because Platts take care of Platts.However, it is the hidden secrets of her parents smoldering beneath the charred remains that haunts Blinny until 1982. She once again leaves the home place to build a house for herself. As the foundation is poured and the walls go up, each of the hurtful memories are uncovered. Finally the mystery, left in the ashes of the burned home, is revealed. How could her mother do what she did?Recent Five-Star Reviews:By the end of the very first paragraph, I knew Marie F. Martin had written a book I would have a hard time putting down. In between high drama, there is a love letter to Montana, and she uses her love of the English language throughout. More "Oh wow" moments in this book than any other I have ever read in my more than half a century of life.  Yvonne Bechtold, Five-star reviewerThis is a tale so well told, you can smell the sage, feel the heat, and pain this family shares. I wish more authors crafted their characters so well.  Renita Hulsey Five-Star Reader Review.The author was a master at weaving the past with the present.  Quaintreader Five-Star Reader ReviewMartin knows family dynamics and human frailties.  From these she has crafted a heartbreaking story, of love, loss, and endurance.   Barb Ward Five-Star Reader Review

Hombre


Elmore Leonard - 1961
    Set in Arizona mining country, Hombre is the tale of a white man raised by Indians, who must come to the aid of people who hate him when their stagecoach is attacked by outlaws.

No Shelter


Robert Swartwood - 2011
    NANNY BY DAY. ASSASSIN BY NIGHT. Holly Lin is living two lives. To her friends and family, she's a pleasant, hardworking nanny. To her boss and colleagues, she's one of the best non-sanctioned government assassins in the world. But when a recent mission goes wrong causing one of her team members to die, she realizes she might no longer be cut out for the work — except the mission, as it turns out, is only half over, and to complete it will take her halfway across the world and bring her face to face with a ghost from her past. Things are about to get personal. And as Holly Lin's enemies are about to find out, she is not a nanny they want to piss off. Praise for NO SHELTER: "Excellent—memorable and something I’ll read more than once." —Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of An Untamed State "NO SHELTER is part mystery, part thriller suspense, and all kinds kick ass!" —The Man Eating Bookworm

Straight into Darkness


Faye Kellerman - 2005
    In the latest entry in the Peter Decker-Rina Lazarus series, New York Times bestselling author Faye Kellerman takes us on an edge-of-the-seat journey to the past, and a city stalked by a killer so ruthless no one is safe-not even the police.

The Reluctant Heiress


Annabel Laine - 1978
     When his lordship first meets the ravishing Caroline Malcolm, he is taken aback by her reaction to him. She turns as white as the ribbons that trim her elegant muslin gown, and looks as if she is about to faint from shock. Unable to ignore a promising mystery, and by no means impervious to Miss Malcolm’s charms, he soon finds himself embroiled in events that prove to be much more stirring than he bargained for. Aided, and sometimes impeded, by a vivid array of characters — including his caustic sister and exuberant younger brother — the earl perseveres with his investigation despite all opposition. Even his provoking client, Miss Malcolm, considers him arrogant, autocratic, and secretly irresistible. When his lordship stumbles across a splendidly devious plot involving priceless diamonds, suspicious ‘accidents’, and secrets that have been closely guarded for more than 20 years, a whole new world begins to emerge… The Reluctant Heiress is the perfect combination of heart-warming romance and thought provoking mystery. ’A jaunty Regency mystery with romantic underpinnings, a high-spirited cast, and some delightful research into the period's theatrical lows.' – Kirkus Reviews Annabel Laine is the pseudonym of bestselling author Reay Tannahill, whose work, published in Britain and the United States, has also been translated into French, German, Dutch and Japanese. One of her recent historical studies was a main choice of the American Book-of-the-Month Club. Annabel Laine is Scottish by birth and, most of the time, by inclination. She is married and lives in the Highlands.

Unknown Remains: A Novel


Peter Leonard - 2016
    Outside his office window, Jack hears a booming sound, and then the worst thing imaginable. He works in the World Trade Center, and it is September 11, 2001.His wife in Connecticut, Diane, is visited the next day by a grief counselor, and then the mob, where she learns her husband owes them $750,000. Their personal bank accounts have been emptied. She’s totally and utterly broke. Lost in grief and now shock, Diane soon learns her husband was not the loving spouse he appeared to be. But neither is she, owing to that Beretta she keeps tucked into her handbag.The perfect summer read, Unknown Remains boasts an exciting crime story, inventive plot twists, and a cast of rogues, who just might be using a national tragedy to cover up their own deep transgressions and greed.

Number Seventy-Five


Ashley Fontainne - 2013
    With very little options available in her small town of Bainsville, Tennessee, Mandy lets her best friend Shawna persuade her into joining and online dating site.Feeling she has met someone she can really connect with, Mandy decides it's time to meet face to face with her new suitor, unaware of his true plans for her. Dark, sinister plans that will test Mandy's physical strength, mental fortitude and will to survive.Will Mandy prevail or will she become number seventy-five?

The Game You Played


Anni Taylor - 2016
    International visitors surge into Sydney's Darling Harbour. Two-year-old Tommy is sailing his toy boat in the park when he vanishes. Six months later, taunting notes written as nursery rhymes begin arriving at his parents' home.Little Boy Blue, where did you go? Who led you away? Only I know . . . . The police believe the messages are just a cruel prank. But Tommy's mother Phoebe becomes obsessed with tracking down the writer of the rhymes. Her life and marriage shatters.When the shocking identity of the message-writer is discovered, Phoebe's desperate race for the truth has only just begun."I love love love this author! This is the sort of book I love but never find very often!" - reviewer

Sleight of Hand


V.F. Streets - 2021
    But with a past that still haunts her, she prefers to serve justice on the bad guys, instead of helping them go free. So when she gets offered a job to frame a wife-beating police officer, despite her reservations, she takes it.But when the facts don’t add up, and the man she’s hired to frame turns out to be the lead investigator for a suspicious death, Bristol decides to change sides before more lives are lost. Unfortunately, that means teaming up with her rival, Cole Sullivan, a move that carries risks of its own.As the questions pile up and every lead dead ends, Bristol's move to double-cross her employer leads to the discovery that her past choices have made her a pawn in a much bigger game, a game that now threatens those closest to her.Now, there is only one choice she can make to save the ones she loves … she must surrender herself to the truth she’s spent her whole life running from. A truth that could destroy her from the inside out.

The Old Man in the Corner


Emmuska Orczy - 1908
    For devotees of Sherlock Holmes: ingenious, well-crafted stories by the author of The Scarlet Pimpernel.

Seal of Secrets


William J. Cook - 2016
    He never talks about himself, never mentions a family or friends. She sees sorrow in his eyes, and something else, something sinister. When his past comes back to haunt him, Chloe's own life and the life of her daughter are put in jeopardy. As the mystery deepens, Chloe gets pulled into a vortex of deception and murder.

What Happened at the Lake


Phil M. Williams - 2018
    Not everyone made it back.The Palmers went to the lake for a week of fun in the sun. But Alex Palmer had an agenda. He wanted his brother to reconcile with their hypercompetitive father. He wanted his daughter to break up with her shady boyfriend. Most of all, Alex wanted them to be a family one more time before he faced his predicament at home.Evil incarnate and a brutal double murder shifted Alex's focus from wants to needs. He needed to keep his family safe. He needed to find her. He needed to know what happened at the lake.His pastor often said, "God won't give you more than you can bear."This had nothing to do with God.NOTE TO THE READER: This is a dark psychological thriller that delves into depraved acts of humanity. For adult readers only who can handle these subject matters. Adult language and explicit sexual violence.

Signal Red


Robert Ryan - 2010
    The group lay low in a nearby farm but, panicked by the police closing in they clear out, leaving behind numerous fingerprints. Outraged by the gang's audacity and under political pressure for quick arrests, the police move into top gear. As huge quantities of money start to turn up in forests and phone boxes, dumped by nervous middlemen, Scotland Yard begin to track down the robbers, one by one...

Past Crimes: A Compendium of Historical Mysteries


Ashley Gardner - 2017
     A Soupçon of Poison (Kat Holloway Victorian Mysteries) Kat Holloway, a young cook who is highly sought after by the wealthy of Victorian London, becomes embroiled in murder and must clear her name. Only the mysterious Daniel McAdam, who is much more than he seems, can come to her aid. Blood Debts (Leonidas the Gladiator Mysteries) Leonidas, freedman, once the most popular gladiator in Rome and champion of the games, now must fight for his life outside the arena. A man who owed him money was murdered, and Leonidas is a prime suspect. With the assistance of Cassia, daughter of a Greek scribe who has been bestowed upon him as his slave, Leonidas fights for justice in the back lanes of Imperial Rome. The Necklace Affair (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries) Captain Lacey agrees to help a society matron discover what has become of her cherished diamond necklace and to clear her maid, who has been arrested for its theft. Lacey quickly becomes enmeshed in scandal and past secrets, and finds himself competing with the underworld criminal, James Denis, for the necklace's retrieval. This collection includes three novellas of about 25,000-30,000 words each.

Fantômas


Marcel Allain - 1911
    Three appalling crimes leave all of Paris aghast: the Marquise de Langruen is hacked to death, the Princess Sonia is robbed, and Lord Beltham is found dead, stuffed into a trunk. Inspector Juve knows that all the clues point to one suspect: the master of disguise, Fantômas. Juve cleverly pursues him in speeding trains, down dark alleys, through glittering Parisian salons, obsessed with bringing the demon mastermind to justice. As thrilling to read now as it was when first published in 1915, Fantômas is not a puzzle but an intoxicant” (The Village Voice).