Book picks similar to
Kiss and Kill by Richard Deming


pulp-fiction
hard-boiled-a-e
have-but-not-read
mystery

My Soul To Keep (A Detective Sergeant Alex Brady Thriller)


Sue McNeill - 2013
    She is tasked with a mundane missing persons' enquiry. But her first case back on the job is anything but simple. The missing person is the niece of her Assistant Chief Constable Jack Dawlish's - Susannah Reynolds.And when a body is discovered, Alex Brady finds herself embroiled in a murder investigation. When Edith, a gentle, old landlady, turns up at the police station wishing to offer her clairvoyant assistance, Alex isn’t convinced. And with the attractive yet mysterious DCI John Rutland as her new boss, she’s more than a little worried about how he’d react to Edith as a source of information.But when a second disappearance is successfully predicted, this has to be more than just a coincidence? Where is Edith getting her information from? Is she just using psychological tricks? Or is there more to it?Something doesn’t add up. But who is telling the truth?What exactly happened to Susannah that night?And how do these seemingly random women connect to one another? 'My Soul to Keep' is a gripping contemporary crime novel that will keep you guessing until the very end. It is the first in a series featuring Detective Sergeant Alex Brady and the team."A brilliant new detective series that will have crime readers hooked." - Tom Kasey, best-selling author of 'Trade Off'. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.

The Murder Map: DI Jack Frost series 6 (DI Jack Frost Prequel)


Danny Miller - 2019
    But then signs of a burglary are discovered, and Frost senses there’s more to the story than meets the eye – even though the only thing taken was a worthless amateur painting.Then a young girl is abducted outside the school, an infamous gangster fresh from prison arrives in the area, and dead bodies start turning up in the woods. As Frost and his team dig deeper, everything seems to lead back to Ivan Fielding’s murky lifetime of misdeeds.Will they find the answers they need before the dead man’s past puts them all at risk?

The Preacher: Aces and Eights: A Preacher Thriller


Ted Thackrey Jr. - 2017
     The Preacher, the ex-priest and Vietnam vet turned professional gambler, is playing in the highest stakes poker game ever dealt. His opponents are mobsters, arms dealers and terrorists. The jackpot is an atomic bomb. And if he loses, the entire city of Las Vegas will be dealt the Dead Man's Hand. "The Preacher is distinctive and unique...with doses of subtle and sarcastic humor." Bookgasm "This is a book that has a lot going for it. It has a noirish sensibility and some darn good writing." Bill Crider, the Anthony and Derringer Award-winning author of Outrage at Blanco

One Last Breath (Detective Jessie Talbot #1)


Adam Nicholls - 2020
    A detective with everything to lose. Homicide Detective Jessie Talbot has solved countless murder cases, but when a body is found with bizarre patterns carved into its chest, a chilling new case pushes her skills beyond what she ever thought possible. The killer’s name is Zeus, and the body count grows with every move he makes. While a helpless old lady lies in the path of danger, and an innocent young boy from the streets tries to help, Jessie has to fight past her own problems and solve the case before the weight of her investigation finally breaks her down. Tough, sexy and stylish. Jessie Talbot is a breath of fresh air in the serial killer genre. She perfectly balances police work with her personal struggles, which makes for a unique yet lovingly familiar thrill ride. *These books can be read in any order.

Bedelia


Vera Caspary - 1945
    But is Bedelia too good to be true? A mysterious new neighbor turns out to be a detective on the trail of a “kitten with claws of steel”—a picture-perfect wife with a string of dead husbands in her wake.Caspary builds this tale to a peak of psychological suspense as her characters are trapped together by a blizzard. The true Bedelia, the woman who chose murder over a life on the street, reveals how she turns male fantasies of superiority into a deadly con.Femmes Fatales restores to print the best of women’s writing in the classic pulp genres of the mid-20th century. From mystery to hard-boiled noir to taboo lesbian romance, these rediscovered queens of pulp offer subversive perspectives on a turbulent era. Enjoy the series: Bedelia; The Blackbirder; Bunny Lake Is Missing; By Cecile; The G-String Murders; The Girls in 3-B; In a Lonely Place; Laura; Mother Finds a Body; Now, Voyager; Skyscraper; Stranger on Lesbos; Women's Barracks.

Mystery Ranch


Arthur Chapman - 1921
    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Bone Baby


Diane M. Dickson - 2017
     For many years, Lily and her partner had kept a terrible secret. When her partner dies, this secret becomes her burden alone. Soon it becomes an obsession. Having worked alongside her more flamboyant partner in the publishing industry in London, the more sensitive Lily was used to playing second fiddle in their enigmatic social set. But their nice life hid a dark secret, one that she does not want to carry to her grave. Many years ago, Lily and her partner covered up a crime. They took something precious that didn’t belong to them and lost it. Lily has had to live with the consequences of her actions until she is given the chance to repair the damage she has done. This leads Lily down a dangerous path into the past. Disorientated, paranoid and scared, she uncovers a far graver crime. What she contemplates next is unthinkable. BONE BABY is set in the present-day cities of Bath and Portsmouth in southern England. BONE BABY is the eleventh novel by Diane Dickson to be published by THE BOOK FOLKS. Diane has a distinctive style and her thrillers and mysteries explore the lives of ordinary people facing difficult situations. Look out for her bestselling LEAVING GEORGE and the recently-published TANGLED TRUTH.

In a House of Lies -- Free Preview (A Rebus Novel)


Ian Rankin - 2018
    The remains, found in a rusted car in the East Lothian woods, not far from Edinburgh, quickly turn into a cold case murder investigation. Rebus' old friend, Siobhan Clarke is assigned to the case, but neither of them could have predicted what buried secrets the investigation will uncover. Rebus remembers the original case--a shady land deal--all too well. After the investigation stalled, the family of the missing man complained that there was a police cover-up. As Clarke and her team investigate the cold case murder, she soon learns a different side of her mentor, a side he would prefer to keep in the past. A gripping story of corruption and consequences, this new novel demonstrates that Rankin and Rebus are still at the top of their game.

Midnight Haul


Max Allan Collins - 1986
    The tiny New Jersey town she lived in has seen a rash of suicides lately, with the unlikely coincidence that everyone who has died worked for Kemco, the chemical factory company that fuels the town’s economy.As Crane digs deeper, he encounters Boone, a local woman writing a book about the environmental destruction that has come at the hands of the local chemical giant. The two team up to unravel the conspiracies surrounding the factory—which soon makes them the next targets for those aiming to keep Kemco’s shady dealings under wraps.The pair races to expose the illegal operations poisoning the town and bring Kemco to justice—before either of them becomes the latest in the growing list of “suicides.”

Vine Street


Dominic Nolan - 2021
    SOHO, 1935.SERGEANT LEON GEATS' PATCH.A snarling, skull-cracking misanthrope, Geats marshals the grimy rabble according to his own elastic moral code.The narrow alleys are brimming with jazz bars, bookies, blackshirts, ponces and tarts so when a body is found above the Windmill Club, detectives are content to dismiss the case as just another young woman who topped herself early.But Geats - a good man prepared to be a bad one if it keeps the worst of them at bay - knows the dark seams of the city.Working with his former partner, mercenary Flying Squad sergeant Mark Cassar, Geats obsessively dedicates himself to finding a warped killer - a decision that will reverberate for a lifetime and transform both men in ways they could never expect.

Long Shot


Dan Ames - 2015
    When he is murdered during a sailboat race, no one sees it coming. Private investigator John Rockne investigates the killing and soon unravels a web of greed and betrayal. A hard-hitting, action-packed story in the bestselling and award-winning John Rockne Mystery Series.

The Vengeful Virgin


Gil Brewer - 1958
    But that's the life she was trapped in - until she met Jack.Now Shirley and Jack have a plan to put the old man out of his misery and walk away with a suitcase full of cash. But there's nothing like money to come between lovers – money, and other women...

The Silent Ones #2


James Hunt - 2018
    He had decided he wanted a fresh start, and that was exactly what he got. Life has never been better for Seattle’s most storied detective. But Grant knows better than anyone that all good things come to an end, and peace of mind has an expiration date.

Crime Fiction: Private Eye Thriller


B.A. Savage - 2016
    When he finds, Coleman's dead he may be pursuing the wrong suspect. Shallow Grave When Stone is hired to pick up a jar of face cream from a Frenchman named Lorenzo Carlos, he thinks it's going to be a quick one thousand bucks, but faith has its own plans. Stone's life is threatened by a cosmetic company owner that has a soft voice but an itchy trigger finger, leading to an explosion that rocks the foundation of the case. All this for a jar of face cream? There's something wrong in Central City, and it's Stone’s job to find out the truth. Wishful Thinking When a carnival employee hires Randall Stone to investigate his girlfriend, a girl is murdered in a fire accidentally blowing a secret wide open. Cold Fury When Stone meets a beautiful woman in the Lake View Bar, she shows him a clipping out of the Personal columns of the newspaper. An attorney wanted to know the whereabouts of Mary Patton, wife of the late, Ben Patton, who died seven years ago in the Philippine Islands. Mr. Patton left a legacy of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for his wife. She hired Stone to claim her inheritance and he meet a man with his code of vigilante justice and Randall Stone’s on the top of his list.Die to Be Rich When Stone's hired to pick up an envelope for Mellissa, it's supposed to be a simple case, but nothing is as it seems when you’re a private eye. On the way back from the pickup, Stone is covered by two thugs that use him as a punching bag. Now Stone carries out his own brand of justice on the streets of Central City. You’re Going to Die Mr. Stone When a Puerto Rican man walks into Stone’s office and tells him; he’s going to die Stone’s asked to deliver a letter to the man who’s trying to kill the Puerto Rican. A guy just released from prison named Tony Ramirez. And when two men are murdered, Stone tries to find the link between the dead men and lottery racket in the Northpark area. It’s Called Murder Scott Braga has one wish, to talk to his son before he leaves Central City and has 12 hours before he goes. He hires Randall Stone to find his son on Fifth Street one of the most dangerous areas in town. When a murder happens, Stone tries to identify the real culprit. Sweet Letters of Death When a man hoping to find a companion or even a soul mate gets taken for a considerable amount of money through a mail order bride he hires Randall Stone to get his money back. Stone races to expose them before it happens to someone else. Tales of: Detective, Police Detective, Police, Murder, Investigation, Death, Violence, Blood, Shootout, Police Officer, Shot to Death, Corpse, Revenge, Fight, Gun, Murder Investigation, Gunfight, Husband Wife Relationship, Fistfight Neo Noir, Interrogation, Police Investigation, Deception Blood Splatter, Gangst

Private Heat


Robert E. Bailey - 2002
    So when the senior partner of one of the premier legal firms in Grand Rapids approaches Hardin about a job protecting his niece from her soon-to-be ex-husband for a couple of days, Hardin isn't exactly eager to take on the job. However, Hardin finds that the fee offered to too great to pass up. After a hatchet attack, a house burnt down, and a few violent encounters with some crooked cops, Hardin can hardly wait for the case to be over. But when the husband is found murdered, the niece attempts suicide, and Hardin is brought in on a trumped-up warrant for the crime, it is no longer a case that he is willing to walk away from -- even if he could.