Book picks similar to
Grave Secrets by Dixie Land


romantic-suspense
suspense
stand-alone
mystery-amateur

The Light of the Fireflies


Paul Pen - 2013
    Before he was born, his family was disfigured by a fire. His sister wears a white mask to cover her burns.He spends his hours with his cactus, reading his book on insects, or touching the one ray of sunlight that filters in through a crack in the ceiling. Ever since his sister had a baby, everyone’s been acting very strangely. The boy begins to wonder why they never say who the father is, about what happened before his own birth, about why they’re shut away.A few days ago, some fireflies arrived in the basement. His grandma said, There’s no creature more amazing than one that can make its own light. That light makes the boy want to escape, to know the outside world. Problem is, all the doors are locked. And he doesn’t know how to get out.…

Big Little Lies


Liane Moriarty - 2014
    She’s funny, biting, and passionate; she remembers everything and forgives no one. Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare but she is paying a price for the illusion of perfection. New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for a nanny. She comes with a mysterious past and a sadness beyond her years. These three women are at different crossroads, but they will all wind up in the same shocking place. Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the little lies that can turn lethal.

Chasing Kate


Kelly Byrne - 2012
    She’s single, alone in a new city, and facing rock bottom again. And she’s not exactly child-friendly, so when she finds a tiny stowaway, five-year-old Sadie Beck, in the back of her Jeep on Halloween night, she’s in no mood to play.Then her world gets weird.Against her will, Kate begins to feel a surprising connection with the odd little girl. And when she realizes Sadie may be in real trouble, she vows to protect her at any cost.On their frantic journey across several state lines Kate rips through a complex landscape of moral choices her prior transgressions have left her woefully unprepared to handle. She begins, very seriously, to wonder who’s saving whom.When they exhaust all other options, Kate’s forced to go to the one place she swore she never would again, and to make the most difficult decision of her life.At once hilarious and heartbreaking, Chasing Kate is a raucous voyage of self-transformation, fueled by an unconventional love story, wending down the twisty road to redemption.

Ghost Gifts


Laura Spinella - 2016
    Her remarkable gift may help others rest in peace, but it also made for an unsettling childhood and destroyed her marriage. Finally content as the real estate writer for a local newspaper, Aubrey keeps her extraordinary ability hidden—until she is unexpectedly assigned the story of a decades-old murder.Rocked by the discovery of a young woman’s skeletal remains, the New England town of Surrey wants answers. Hard-nosed investigative reporter Levi St John is determined to get them. Aubrey has no choice but to get involved, even at the terrifying risk of stirring spirits connected to a dead woman’s demise and piquing her new reporting partner’s suspicions.As Aubrey and Levi delve further into the mystery, secrets are revealed and passion ignites. It seems that Aubrey’s ghost gifts are poised to deliver everything but a normal life.

The Watcher


Jo Robertson - 2011
    Working with a single-minded tenacity, she sets out to prove it.Deputy Sheriff Ben Slater hides his personal pain behind the job, but Kate's arrival in his county knocks his world on its axis. He wants to believe her wild theory, but the idea of a serial killer with the kind of pathology she proposes is too bizarre.Together they work to find a killer whose roots began in a small town in Bigler County, but whose violence spread across the nation. A Janus-like killer, more monster than man, he fixates on Kate. The killer wants nothing more than to kill the "purple-eyed girl again."

Rare


Jade Sinclair - 2016
    Not only did he have the nerve to rudely cut her off in the parking lot and steal her parking spot but he intentionally outbid her for the Artemis Clock with an obscene amount of money which he knew she couldn’t afford. He didn’t even want the rare antique! Despite her hatred for him and his egotistical and conceited nature, she couldn’t help notice his broad shoulders, his roguish looks and confident air as he tried to interest her in purchasing the clock, on his terms of course! Her passion to impress her boss, Mrs. Belkins with this rare and high quality antique compelled Michelle, to surrender to Tom’s conditions. Is this a bid she can win or does he win something else? This book is free on Kindle Unlimited. Download this exciting alpha billionaire bad boy romance!! Download your copy today! Read on your PC, Mac, smart phone, tablet or Kindle device. Readers should be 18 and over due to mature situations and language. A New Alpha Male Billionaire Romance by Jade Sinclair!

The Prey


Allison Brennan - 2005
    Then a killer made it real.Rowan Smith is living in a borrowed Malibu beach house while her bestselling novel is made into a Hollywood movie. A former FBI agent with a haunted past, Rowan thinks she has outrun her demons. But fiction and reality collide when a dismembered body is found in Colorado: the real-life victim had the same name, occupation, and looks as a character in Rowan’s novel. By the time the FBI, the LAPD, and her own private bodyguard gather around her, another person is killed–again, the murder ripped from the pages of Rowan’s book.In the company of a former Delta Force officer with secrets of his own, Rowan faces an excruciating dilemma: the only way to chase down the tormenting killer is by revisiting the darkness of her past–and by praying for some way out again.After the prey is chosen, the hunt is on and the kill is certain.From the author's website:Each book stands alone. The story is complete (no continuing mystery) and there is a separate hero, heroine and villain. However, I do have recurring characters throughout my books, so someone may be introduced as a minor or major secondary character in one book, then come back as the hero or a secondary character in another book.THE PREY (12/27/05)Setting: Malibu, CaliforniaHero: John Flynn, former Delta Force turned mercenary/DEA drug informantHeroine: Rowan Smith, former FBI agent turned crime fiction writer

Destiny Bay: Baby Dreams Boxed Set Vol. 2


Helen Conrad - 2013
    Some have pasts they would like to forget-- some have regrets, some have resentments--some have things to atone for. But most of the Carrington ladies have reached that stage of life where a yearning to bring a baby into the world begins to override all that. Some of their men feel the same-- and some have to be convinced! These are a few of their stories. Book 4-Tick Tock, Baby ClockWhen Lisa Carrington turns 35 and has her career goals in hand—she gets that panicky feeling.  Is it too late?  Baby dreams begin to loom large. She knows the sort of man she needs to complete her life plan.  A tweedy, academic type with leather patches on his elbows who quotes Shakespeare and makes wise decisions.  Too bad she can’t find one of those.  Instead, she gets Carson James, smart alecky and footloose—a man who never had a baby dream in his life.  But he is awfully cute—and his kisses make her swoon.   Is that enough to make her throw away all she’s gained and head for Tahiti?Book 5--JiltedKendall McCormick got left at the altar and she’s decided fate is trying to tell her something.  Men—who needs them?  But when she finds out the man who rescued her from humiliation at the chapel is really her ex-fiance’s big brother—and the one who convinced her fiancé to dump her--things don’t seem so simple anymore. Rafe Carrington is dealing with learning how to live with his two little girls now that his wife has died.  Still, even when stressed out, he doesn’t usually steal his brother’s women.  It’s just plain tacky.  But there’s something about Kendall that grabs him in the gut.  He should leave her alone, but he can’t ignore the aching need to have her—in his life and in his bed.  Book 6--Waiting for Baby KateAnn Dupree loved her husband Joey and was as hurt as he was when his best friend, Cam Carrington, ignored his cry for help.   When Joey died, she never expected to come face to face with Cam again, awakening the guilty crush she’d had on him for years.  Could she forgive and forget?  Or would every stolen kiss remind her of the man she was betraying?Cam is looking for a wife, but it isn’t until Ann gets closer to him that she finds out about the baby.  Conflicted feelings about her own lost child make her draw away.  Is it finally time to admit that she and Cam aren’t meant to be? Contain love scenes.

Fugitive Chase


Jenna Night - 2020
    Bounty hunter Harry Orlansky’s on the job when he saves Ramona from his mark. But Harry can’t protect her forever…and until he captures Ramona’s relentless stalker, neither of them will be safe.

Tips for Living


Renee Shafransky - 2018
    With the help of her best friend, she fled New York City for a small resort town, snagged a job as the advice columnist for the local paper, and is cautiously letting a new man into her life. But when Hugh and his perfect new family move into a summer house nearby, Nora backslides. Coping with jealousy, humiliation, and resentment again is as hard as she feared. It’s harder still when Hugh and his wife are shot to death in their home.If only Nora could account for the night of the murders. Unfortunately, her memories have gone as dark as her fantasies of revenge. But Nora’s not the only one with a reason to kill—and as prime suspect in the crime, she’d better be able to prove it.

The Woman


David Bishop - 2011
    This is a story of just one woman. As the story unfolds Linda gradually learns that some people do deserve to die, but that she is not one of those people. Linda Darby is a seven-year divorcee, living quietly in a small let-the-world-go-by beach town on the coast of Oregon, who day trades for a living. Her only close friend is a widowed elderly woman who manages a small consulting company, which, as is later discovered, never has visitors, sends and receives its business correspondence only by courier, and is not listed in any phone directory. No one in town knows what kind of consulting the company does, but the rumor is that whatever they do is done for the government. Linda doesn’t date local men. When her celibacy grows intolerable, she visits nearby towns to frequent the watering holes of successful men. Her motto: No relationships. No second dates. No use of her real name during one-night stands. Then one evening, Linda goes for a walk and nothing for her is ever the same. She is dragged into an alley by two men, but saved by a third, a stranger who disappears as suddenly as he appeared. The next day she finds out the two men in the alley had been killed, the town’s first murders ever. The following day she learns that hours before she had been dragged into the alley, her close friend was tortured and killed.

The Melody Lingers On


Mary Higgins Clark - 2015
    Hardcover Publisher: Large Print Press (2015) ISBN-10: 1629534471 ISBN-13: 978-1629534473 Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds

Deadly Switch


Karen Dodd - 2013
    Each obsessed and tormented.Both harboring too many secrets. He’s on the run; she’s in the chase of her life.What they discover changes everything. From the gruesome discovery in an exclusive enclave of West Vancouver, British Columbia, DEADLY SWITCH takes you on a wild ride from Italy’s Amalfi coast, to the idyllic seaside town of Carmel, California. Gavin Stone’s tormented daughter, Alexis, searches frantically for her missing father, matching wits with devious criminals. With demons of her own to fight, she shouldn’t care about proving him innocent of murder and embezzlement—but she does.Murder…intrigue… a romance built on a house of cards: this thriller will satisfy your thirst for the adrenaline rush that this intricately plotted story delivers. A delicious stay-up-all-nighter, DEADLY SWITCH stuns with its heart-pounding conclusion. You will not see it coming.If you love suspense/thrillers, you will devour DEADLY SWITCH.

The Wedding Guests: A Tassamara Short Story


Sarah Wynde - 2015
    However, when unexpected guests attend Akira and Zane's wedding, her life will change forever. But for better or for worse? For fans of the Tassamara series, this short story (16,000 words) takes place at the wedding of the main characters from A Gift of Ghosts, after the events of A Gift of Time. One reviewer calls it, "a super fun, sassy, and supernatural story you don't want to miss!"

Small-Town Christmas: Sweet, Faith-Filled, Clean Romances


Alexa Verde - 2020
    Opposites-attract romance! Feuding co-chefs have to put their differences aside before Christmas to give their siblings a great reception. A ruined wedding and failed business are not on the menu. But romance just might be...SEASON OF AFFECTION. A woman in jeopardy, bodyguard, and second chance romance! A celebrity in peril and the small-town boy who crushed her heart years ago. Can a Christmas reunion bring them a second chance at love?SEASON OF MIRACLES. Opposites-attract sports romance! New beginning or new heartbreak? A shy nurse starts over in a small town after breaking up with a demanding celebrity. The last thing she wants is to fall for her patient's grandson, a pro football player set on reaching sports glory.SEASON OF JOY. A single dad, second chance romance with a plus-size heroine! A successful travel reporter returns home for the holidays, and sparks fly between her and her first crush, now a single father. When his youngest son writes a letter to God asking for a Mom for Christmas, she agrees to help him find the right woman. But can this reunion be a second chance for these best friends?SEASON OF HOPE. Redemption romance! A single mother's quiet life with her little daughter is disrupted when a notorious former football player moves next door. Angry and lost after forced retirement, he surprises himself by getting involved in a small community and falling for his redhead neighbor. Can they help each other heal, or will their hearts be broken again?These books were previously published as solos. Several books were published in sets, except for SEASON OF AFFECTION, which is brand-new. This set contains religious themes. If this offends you, please steer clear. Everyone else, please read on!