Outside Chance


Lyndon Stacey - 2005
    This could be the racing scoop of a lifetime.But as the date of the Gold Cup draws ever closer, it is unclear whether the missing horse is still alive. Where could a valuable racehorse be hidden for so long? And what is the secret from the owner's past that he is keeping from the police? Doggedly chasing the truth, Ben finds himself tested, both physically and psychologically, as he gradually uncovers a tale of prejudice, ambition and heartbreak.

Spring Fever


Dick Francis - 1993
    In "The Rape of Kingdom Hill", poorly managed and vulnerable, Kingdom Hill racecourse has all the cast that conman Tricksy Wilcox needs so badly--and he has a perfect plan. But Tricksy isn't the only one with problems. In "Spring Fever", Mrs. Angela Hart looks back and realizes the moment she fell in love with her jockey. It was just before the treachery, the accident and the very lucky break. And in "Carrot for a Chestnut", a foolish young man is the wrong choice for sabotage--but Harvey Buskins bribes him like so many others before. Then everyone must watch the horror that follows.

Sleepyhead / Scaredy Cat (Tom Thorne, #1, #2)


Mark Billingham - 2001
    The first two brilliant Tom Thorne novels

Paradise City


Lorenzo Carcaterra - 2004
    His father was gunned down by the Camorra, the murderous clan run by Don Nicola Rossi. When his mother moved him from New York back to his family’s ancestral home in Naples, Gian found himself face-to-face with the source of the mob’s strength, the spring that spawned its deadly killers.Today, twenty-three years later, he is a dogged detective on the Naples police force, homicide division, the most dangerous beat in Europe. He is the nemesis of all who export evil, the man who stops it before it spreads overseas. His efforts have not gone unnoticed. “The strength of Naples reinforces the muscle of New York”–and now the two worlds are about to collide.In the highest towers of the most expensive streets of New York City, Pete Rossi, the son of Don Nicola, has decided to bring Gian back to America–permanently. When Gian learns that his teenage niece, Paula, has gone missing in Manhattan, he cancels a much-needed vacation to Capri, to paradise, joking that “one island is just as good as the other.”Gian’s homecoming will be anything but smooth. Someone must always watch his back, and Detective Jennifer Fabini gets the job. A gifted officer with her own personal demons, Jennifer thinks she’ll be dealing with a peasant from the old country. The handsome, reserved, unrelenting Gian is a revelation: an irritant and a temptation–especially for a woman who has sworn off cops as lovers. Together the two must solve a disappearance that appears to be a kidnapping . . . but turns out to be a deadly trap.As they dash from the sun-struck villages of Italy to the darkest drug dens of New York, their journey links old-world honor and modern-day danger, and ends in a dizzying explosion of the present and the past.

Break And Enter


Colin Harrison - 1990
    Assigned to an explosive homicide case - the murder of the mayor's nephew and the young man's beautiful mistress - the power and prestige he's always craved seem within his grasp. But soon the illusion of success shatters. His wife walks out on their seven-year marriage. The double-murder case casts a shadow of doubt on his most trusted peers. And, in a moment of weakness, Peter enters into an affair with a woman whose greatest skill is arousing suspicion. With everything spinning out of control, Peter is driven by rage into the blackest depths of corruption and perversity - following a twisted obsession for justice that will force him to break the law he has sworn to uphold: to punish the innocent as well as the guilty.

The Sins of the Mother (Miller & Stevens Book 1)


Scott Pratt - 2018
    Miller and Stevens are considered the best in their respective departments, and although they've never met, their superiors order them to work together in a coordinated effort to put an end to the violence as quickly as possible. Their reputations, and perhaps their careers, are on the line. As the body count grows, Lukas and Brooke find themselves growing more and more desperate to catch a cunning psychopath who delights in painting their terrified towns red with blood. Will Lukas and Brooke finally end the nightmare? Or will the hunters become the hunted?"Pratt's richly developed characters are vivid and believable..." -- Publisher's Weekly

Avenger


Frederick Forsyth - 2003
    But Dexter is no ordinary man.The summer before he goes to college, Ricky Colenso travels to Bosnia to volunteer as an aid worker. A few weeks later, he disappears and is never heard from again. A family grieves and is offered little hope--in the fog of that horrible time and place, the killer, too, has vanished.Or so it would seem. For in a world that has forgotten right and wrong, there are few like Cal Dexter who can settle the score. And so, years later, a worldwide chase is on and Dexter begins to draw a net around the killer. But this time CIA agent Paul Devereux must find a way to stop Dexter before his quest for vengeance throws the world into chaos.A heart-stopping novel of murder and mystery, double-cross and triple-cross, old loyalties and new hatreds, Avenger has all of Frederick Forsyth's page-turning trademarks.

Injustice For All


C.C. Warrens - 2018
    Detective Marx is determined to unravel the mystery behind the notes before another innocent dies, but his efforts might put him directly in the killer’s path. note: Injustice for All is a spin-off from the Holly Novels, but it can be read as a standalone book. If you're wondering where this book falls in relation to the Holly Novels, here's the timeline: Criss Cross, Winter Memorial, Cross Fire, Crossed Off, Injustice for All.

Patient Zero (A Medical Thriller)


Fritz Galt - 2017
    drug company interests and a criminal coverup to stop the disease in its tracks. But are they too late? Enjoy this close-up, clinical look at an unfolding disaster, with a Chinese city in crisis, relationships lost, international criminal justice in action, and a medical community’s desperate search for Patient Zero.“This novel sparkles!” – author Henry D. SmithOriginal edition: B06WLP2793This is an alternate cover edition.

Paranoia


Joseph Finder - 2004
    But when corporate security catches up with Adam Cassidy, a low ambition junior staffer at the high-tech behemoth, they call it something else: embezzlement, to the tune of nearly $80 grand.Ruthless CEO Nick Wyatt is impressed by Adam's scheming, and offers him one way out-take on the role of a rising corporate hotshot and infiltrate Wyatt's rival, Trion Systems. His mission is to get close to Trion's legendary founder Jock Goddard, and his ultra-secret "Project Aurora," and report back to Wyatt.With Wyatt pulling the strings and a dramatically improved identity, Adam is set up as Trion's new boy genius. Suddenly, he's got a sweet new Porsche, a closet full of $1,500 suits, and even a lovely lady who thinks he's a dream. But it's all just a mirage, because Adam is about to learn that nothing is what it seems and that it isn't paranoia...everyone is out to get him...

The God Conspiracy


Derek P. Gilbert - 2009
    Gilbert's "The Armageddon Strain" to expose the plot -- and discovers that he's not contending with flesh and blood.

Line of Succession: The Price of Power


Michael Vandor - 2014
    Senator Kathleen Canfield has made history through her election as Vice President of the United States. Beautiful, full of vigor and wit, she has been anointed by the media as "the female JFK". However, as events propel her toward the presidency, elements in the government set in motion plans to ensure that she never reaches the Oval Office. Canfield's journey will ultimately take her to the White House during a time of world crisis (the Balkan conflict), where she will battle forces within her own administration and government to lead a nation from the brink of war. The price she must pay for the power of the presidency will be the life of a member of her very own family. Stylishly written, this political thriller delivers a unique flavor that crosses lines between Tom Clancy and Danielle Steel. Opening with an assassination attempt on the Vice President, the story is fast paced, steaming downhill from cover to cover.

The Mystery of Christmas


Susette Williams - 2016
     Holly Anna Paladin can’t wait to celebrate Christmas with family and friends. She loves everything about the season—celebrating the birth of Jesus, singing carols, and baking Christmas treats, just to name a few. But when a local family needs help, how can she say no? Holly’s community has come together to help raise funds to save the home of Greg and Babette Sullivan, but a Bah-Humburgler has snatched the canisters of cash. Holly and her boyfriend, police detective Chase Dexter, team up to catch the Christmas crook. Will they succeed in collecting enough cash to cover the Sullivans’ overdue bills? Or will someone succeed in ruining Christmas for all those involved? ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS WISH ~ Samantha Bayarr Kate is lonely, single, and about to turn forty. She has lost all interest in the Christmas season until a mysterious package that has followed her around for twenty years winds up at her doorstep. When her handsome neighbor, Jack, takes an interest in the contents of the mystery package, will Kate's outlook on Christmas change? How will Jack help her get past her worst Christmas ever? BRIGHT NEW MURDER ~ Traci Tyne Hilton Homeless preschoolers, angry protesters, frozen yogurt, and murder. Jane Adler is keen to try on her detective hat, and the dead lady at the Christmas fundraiser is her perfect shot. Timing is everything and this murder was timed perfectly to destroy her best friend Jake's growing Fro-Yo business. He's a great friend--just a friend, honest-- and she owes him a favor or two. But discovering who would want to kill the town’s favorite preschool teacher is messy business, and Jane doesn't have a moment to waste! SECRET SANTA ~ Amanda Tru It was time for Hailey Rhodes to admit the truth: things were not going well. After losing her job as a teacher, she finds herself broke, unemployed, and tricked into accepting a date from a department store Santa Claus. When new opportunities and new love interests present themselves, will Hailey choose a career and a man she's always admired, or will she wait for the identity of her Secret Santa to be revealed? THEN THERE WERE NONE ~ V.B. Tenery Mass murder doesn’t happen in Matt Foley’s town . . . it doesn’t happen to his friends. Someone is going to pay. Disturbing crime scenes are nothing new to the Twin Falls Police Chief. But this one is different. The victims are friends. In their Tudor mansion just inside the city limits, a family is dead—husband, wife, two kids, and the family cook. The killer made one mistake. He left a survivor. The husband is one of the big three in the microchip industry. The family lived a quiet modest life. It doesn’t make sense. Until . . . SHADOWS OF DOUBT ~ Susette Williams Raffealle Gellermine has a very protective uncle and two protective brothers. They never like the men she brings home. Mathew Flannigan has a past, but for the life of her, she can’t figure out why her Uncle Rob and her brothers are trying to encourage a relationship between them.

London's Glory


Christopher Fowler - 2015
    In every detective’s life there are cases that can’t be discussed, and throughout the Bryant & May novels there have been mentions of some of these such as the Deptford Demon or the Little Italy Whelk Smuggling Scandal.Now Arthur Bryant has decided to open the files on eleven of these previously unseen investigations that required the collective genius and unique modus operandi of Arthur Bryant and John May and the Peculiar Crimes Unit - investigations that range from different times (London during the Great Smog) and a variety of places: a circus freak show, on board a London Tour Bus and even a yacht off the coast of Turkey.And in addition to these eleven classic cases, readers are also given a privileged look inside the Peculiar Crimes Unit (literally, with a cut away drawing of their offices), a guide to the characters of the Peculiar Crimes Unit, and access to the contents of Arthur Bryant’s highly individual library.

Maybe God was an Irishman


Bernie Donnelly - 2017
    He will know heartache, love, and violence. He will be falsely accused of kidnapping and his fame will spread around the world. He will live through the same events that shaped your life such as 9/11 and the recession years post-2008. Then it will all end in Easter 2017…or will it?