Book picks similar to
Kiss and Kill by Richard Deming


pulp-fiction
crime-noir
mystery
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Monday's Child (Homicide: Life with Nick #1)


Jamie Lee Scott - 2015
    Now you get to see his story, from his point of view. Monday's Child is a crime novel set in San Francisco, California. SFPD patrol officer, Nick Christianson, is the first on the scene of a dead boy found in an alley. When the homicide cops don't have time to find the killer of a "street kid," Nick takes it upon himself. But even after this case is solved, it haunts Nick for more than a decade. See why...

Honeysuckle Lane


Squid McFinnigan - 2015
    Next door to the O’Sheas, the Murphys are a young and upwardly-mobile couple whose marriage is thrown into ruins by Martha Murphy’s instant attraction to their sexy new neighbor.Across the street from the Murphys, the Sweenys’ abusive patriarch, Pat, has finally pushed his wife, Mary, to the breaking point. Their teenage daughter, Angie, finds escape whenever possible in the company of her boyfriend, Tony, whose life is in danger when the neighborhood creep sets his eyes on Angie.As the residents of Honeysuckle Lane’s stories collide, their secrets spill out for the world to see . . .

Murder in the Goblins Playground (DCI Arthur Ravyn Mystery, #1)


Ralph E. Vaughan - 2016
    Located deep in Red Cap Woods, it has long been the site of weird events, from pagan rites to human sacrifice by secret devil cults. When local rowdy Allan Cutter staggers into the snug bar of the Three Crowns pub and dies, old fears that have lain dormant for ages come to the fore. His death is quickly followed by the murder of a developer who planned to destroy Red Cap Woods. Villagers believe dark powers are awakening, that the murderous elves reputed to dwell in the woods will again dip their caps in human blood. Into this maelstrom of fear and emotion come DCI Arthur Ravyn and DS Leo Stark. As the bodies continue to mount, they discover it will take all their combined skills, intellect and courage to solve the mysterious deaths, keep the villagers from panicking, and not get sacked by powers even more inimical than those lurking in the eldritch depths of Red Cap Woods.

Dieselpunk ePulp Showcase


Grant Gardiner - 2013
    Blazing brawls and gritty adventure awaits dieselpunks, nostalgians, die hard or pulp-curious fans. Hope you can take a punch, because these two-fisted tales hit hard!For young hoods, the Aether Age streets of mob-plagued Chicago present a world of opportunity. And Mack and Mickey are headed straight for the top in "That Sort of World: a Tale of the Aether Age."It's class-warfare in Citadel City as Pandora Driver and her Car of Tomorrow deliver rough justice to the elites and a douche named the Gooch in "Who are the People in your Neighborhood?""The Wise Man Says" introduces Mick Trubble: a hard drinking, chain smoking charmer who bites off more than he can chew... then chews like hell. The Troubleshooter takes the grit and slang of a hardboiled detective and drops it in a dystopian setting that mixes Fedoras, trench coats, flying cars and android policemen.The dirty streets of Roanoketown were his home and his only family. Until he met HER. Now he'll follow HER into hell, tamahaak held high, and fight as a proud Indian against the Anglo Oppressors. He'll wager his life to be a true "A Friend of Spirits."Download if you dare!

Here Comes a Candle


Fredric Brown - 1950
    It is the story of Joe Bailey, whose young life is at a crossroads. Not only is he involved with a tough Milwaukee racketeer and two completely different women, but he is haunted by childhood trauma. Psychologically complex and told in an array of stylistic variations, it is a tour de force with a savagely ironic ending not to be soon forgotten.

AGATHA CHRISTIE Collection : The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Poirot Investigates, The Murder on the Links, The Secret Adversary, The Man in the Brown Suit


Agatha Christie - 2020
    

A Troublesome Woman (The Inspector Lazarus Mysteries Book 1)


Suzanne Downes - 2014
    Allingham's daughter Arabella has run away with a debauched fortune-hunter and Allingham wants her back before a scandal ruins her reputation. Lazarus is not inclined to help, but has no choice when he realizes that Arabella's life could be in danger. When a series of poisonings distract him from Arabella's abduction, Allingham uses his attractive niece Constance to bring Lazarus back to the matter in hand. The inspector would like to dispense with Constance's help as she is a member of the despised Allingham family, but he needs her aid in interviewing the tight-knit gentry, who use their influence with the upper echelons of the police force to protect their own. As more young women fall victim to the killer, Lazarus begins to rely more and more on Constance and slowly overcomes his initial prejudice.

The Whicher Series: Books 1 & 2 (The Whicher Series Book Bundle)


John Stonehouse - 2016
    CASE, AMAZON TOP 500  REVIEWS, CA. AN AMERICAN OUTLAWGilman James comes home from Iraq--the last of three childhood friends to return. His brothers-in-arms are mere shadows of their former selves--Gil, unmarked, determines to take care of them. But how far should a man go for the people he loves?Stepping across the line between right and wrong, Gil finds himself stranded in the Texan desert--as a bank heist he's planned goes horribly wrong. Pursued into the badlands by US Marshal John Whicher, a moment of violent reckoning is set in train.What makes an outlaw? Marshal John Whicher, veteran of the First Gulf War thinks he knows. But can natural justice ever outrank the law?AN AMERICAN KILL                                                                                                      'A classic series in the making... I found the first book in this series compulsive reading. This one is even more compulsive.'  AMAZON REVIEWS                                                            'Exceptional...'  ROD REYNOLDS, author, 'THE DARK INSIDE''Loved the first one, this one's even better. Best newcomer in ages, class...' Y.GUILLEMOT, AMAZON REVIEWSJohn Whicher is a US Marshal, not long out of training - barely twelve months back from serving in the Persian Gulf war. In south Texas, he's working his first case when a multiple shooting on the US / Mexico border leaves five non-documented aliens and one American dead.The county decides to limit any inquest - money's tight, deaths among illegals are notoriously hard to crack. But Whicher, new to law enforcement, is not about to let his first case slide.

Milicent Le Sueur


Margaret Moseley - 2001
    Millicent Le Sueur is an eccentric, obsessive-compulsive bag lady in a rural Southern town who witnesses the killing of a teenage girl. Or so she claims. Some townsfolk believe she killed the girl and made up the story to cover her crime. Counting, checking, deducing and tracking, she looks for a killer she hopes won’t count her as the next victim.

Maybe I Should Just Shoot You In The Face


Brian PanowichMark Krajnak - 2014
    This collection features new stories from all the Zelmer Pulp regulars as well as stunning noir photography from Mark Krajnak and an introduction by Brit Grit Godfather Paul D. Brazill.Zelmer Pulp arrives with both guns out in this Volume 1 noir collection.

Burn: A Sam Jameson Thriller


Lars Emmerich - 2017
    A shadowy figure from Sam Jameson’s past. They invade Sam’s self-imposed exile to deliver shocking news: Alexander Wells, the man who murdered a five-year-old girl and framed Sam to take the fall, didn’t die in the fiery blast that almost claimed her life. Wells is alive. And he’s recruited a team of hardened criminal operatives with just one target in their sights: Sam Jameson. Sam soon finds herself at the mercy of forces with unthinkable reach and resources. With rogue government elements, a brutal organized crime family, and the world’s most powerful clandestine cabal all lined up against her, Sam must escape a terrifying fate at the hands of a madman to make the most difficult choice of her life. And along the way, Sam must reconcile her growing feelings for an old friend with her heartbreak over the loss of Brock James, the man she planned to spend her life with. BURN is the most explosive installment yet in Amazon #1 Bestselling Author Lars Emmerich’s runaway international hit Sam Jameson series, loved by fans of espionage, conspiracy, and crime thrillers from masters such as James Patterson, David Baldacci, Nelson DeMille, Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, Catherine Coulter, and Daniel Silva. Interview with #1 Bestselling Author Lars Emmerich
 Q: Who are your influences?
 A: Too many to list! I started out years ago as a Tom Clancy addict, and I thoroughly enjoy many of Nelson DeMille’s novels. I regularly read David Baldacci, Vince Flynn, Barry Eisler, Michael Connelly, and John Grisham. James Patterson has redefined what it means to be a working author, and I read his stuff as well. My top picks are usually espionage and private detective novels, any of the thousands of thrillers and mystery best sellers, and, of course, books featuring classic pulp heroes. And I’m greatly influenced by all sorts of nonfiction, as well. I read all the time, and I’m a bit of a magpie about the topics — science, economics, finance, politics, history, mathematics, engineering, biomechanics, medicine… It’s a big world out there, and I love learning more about it. Many of those topics find their way into my fiction, so I can justify it all as “research.” 

 Q: The Sam Jameson series has become quite a phenomenon. What do you think has been the driving force behind the books’ success?
 A: I think Sam has something of a unique voice. She says the things we all wish we could say, and she gets away with it about half of the time. The other half of the time, not so much. I think she’s also a very human heroine. She has plenty of flaws and weaknesses, yet she accomplishes some amazing things. She’s like every one of us in that regard, which resonates.

 Q: You have developed personal relationships with your readers over the years, which is a little unusual in the publishing business. Was that a conscious choice?
 A: Absolutely. Books are intimate things. They occupy a person’s mind and thoughts for hours at a time. Good books leave a lasting impression, and great books might even change the way we think about things, but all books are a relationship. I always wanted a conversation. I wanted to learn from my readers, to hear what was on their minds, to listen to their criticism and hopefully improve the books I write. It’s been extremely rewarding, and I’m hopeful it can continue for years to come.
 BURN genre information: Spy thriller, spy thrillers kindle books, best crime thrillers, conspiracy thrillers, espionage thrillers, mystery thrillers and suspense best sellers, female spy books

The Magpie


Marrisse Whittaker - 2021
    A detective who is out of control. Meet DSI Wilde. Wilde by name. Wild by nature. DSI Billie Wilde is on a mission to catch the killer responsible for a horrific showcase of murders, in order to prove that she’s still at the top of her game. But when hidden skeletons come out of dark corners, she is forced to confront her past and face the truth - that she is the ultimate target, now firmly in the executioner’s sights.As Billie grapples with her past, and learns she isn’t who she thought she was, she uncovers devastating childhood links to each of the victims. The past refuses to stay buried and Billie soon finds herself wondering if she knows who’s behind the brutal murders.But can Billie solve the case and unravel the mystery of her own past before it’s too late?

At End of Day


George V. Higgins - 2000
    Higgins's final novel, was completed in the fall of 1999, just weeks before the author's death at the age of 59. It seems unlikely that the coming year will bring us a novel with a sadder, more appropriate title. Like Higgins's famous first novel, iThe Friends of Eddie Coyle/i, iAt End of Day/i is an authoritative and decidedly unromantic portrait of life as it is really lived in the criminal underworld of Boston. Like iEddie Coyle/i, it is the clear product of a genuine American master.pTwo figures dominate the crowded narrative: Arthur McKeach and Nick Cistaro, career criminals who have clawed their way to the top of the food chain by ruthlessly eliminating all competitors and who have remained at the top -- unchallenged and unindicted -- for an unnaturally long time. Together, McKeach and Cistaro have successfully opposed the traditional center of organized crime -- the Cosa Nostra -- and have established an empire based on extortion, gambling, drug dealing, loan sharking, and the rigorous application of terrorist tactics. They rule by fear and will do whatever is necessary to preserve what they have built.piAt End of Day/i is the story of the violent world of McKeach and Cistaro, and of the secret "arrangement" that has kept them in power -- and out of jail -- for decades. More than 30 years before the primary narrative begins, McKeach and his partner established a symbiotic relationship with the FBI's resident expert on organized crime. In exchange for information to be used against their common enemy -- the Boston Mafia -- the two received a degree of protection from the inconvenient investigations of local law enforcement agencies. This immensely profitable arrangement, which was passed along like a family legacy from one FBI agent to the next, has persisted into the present day and has contributed enormously to the durability of the McKeach/Cistaro empire.pThis devious, mutually corrupting relationship stands at the heart of this painstaking portrait of the Boston criminal milieu. As always, Higgins fleshes out the portrait with a varied, credible gallery of characters on both sides of the law. As always, he brings these characters to immediate life through his uncanny ear for dialogue and his matchless ability to create the sustained, rambling dramatic monologues that are so much a part of his narrative technique. In iAt End of Day/i, as in all of Higgins's novels, a succession of characters step into the spotlight and proceed to talk, gradually revealing their histories and circumstances, their essential natures, and the shape and direction of their circumscribed lives. pMonologue follows monologue, each one amplifying, illuminating -- sometimes even contradicting -- the ones that have come before. Together, they create a coherent picture of the predatory universe that most of Higgins's characters call home.pThe inhabitants of this universe include FBI agents Jack Farrier and Darren Stoat, the latest inheritors of the McKeach/Cistaro relationship; Jim Dowd and Emmett Naughton, Boston policemen who are ignorant of the relationship and have their own independent agendas to pursue; Todd Naughton, Emmett's son, who is drawn simultaneously to the world of the cop and the world of the criminal; Tim Sexton, a paraplegic Vietnam vet who conceives an astonishing plan for accumulating and distributing prescription medications; and Max Rascob, a former public accountant who is forced -- as a result of a single, irrevocable mistake -- to throw in his lot with Arthur McKeach and Nick Cistaro. These and other equally vital characters -- all of them bound together by blood, circumstances, or a sense of common cause -- light up the novel, and are as effortlessly, seamlessly real as an overheard conversation in a corner bar.piAt End of Day/i is George V. Higgins at the top of his form and may be his most successful novel since his 1987 masterpiece, iOutlaws/i. No one understood the world of modern urban hoodlums better than Higgins. No one reproduced the scatological rhythms of their everyday speech with the same reportorial accuracy. George V. Higgins died much too soon, and he will be greatly missed. Fortunately for all of us, he left behind a varied, voluminous body of work that includes two dozen novels, a collection of short stories, and several volumes of cogent nonfiction. These 30 books, though not all uniformly excellent, constitute a large and singular accomplishment. The best of them -- such as iOutlaws/i, iThe Friends of Eddie Coyle/i, iCogan's Trade/i, iThe Digger's Game/i, and, of course, his swan song, iAt End of Day/i -- will be read, admired, and remembered for a very long time to come.P#151;Bill Sheehan

Daisy Dalrymple Omnibus


Carola Dunn - 2012
    But her interview gives way to interrogation when suave Lord Stephen Astwick meets a chilly end on the tranquil skating pond. With evidence that his death was anything but accidental, Daisy joins forces with Scotland Yard so the culprit can't slip through their fingers like the unfortunate Astwick slipped through the ice...THE WINTER GARDEN MYSTERY: So who put the body in with the spring bulbs?The merest hint of spring has arrived in Cheshire, and so has young reporter Daisy Dalrymple. The feisty flapper's visit is a breath of fresh air for gloomy Occles Hall. But while photographing the rather barren grounds, Daisy spots that someone's been digging among the first green shoots - and much to her horror unearths the corpse of missing parlour maid Grace Moss.So begins an extraordinary adventure, as first the dead woman's shocking secret is revealed and then Daisy swiftly realizes she needs to catch the killer before she herself is left pushing up the daisies...REQUIEM FOR A MEZZO: With dashing Scotland Yard detective Alec Fletcher at her side, Daisy Dalrymple is enjoying a splendid performance of Verdi's Requiem featuring her neighbour Muriel Westlea's celebrated sister, Bettina. But the show comes to an abrupt end when what emerges from the star's gifted vocal chords is literally a dying gasp. Daisy soon learns that the doomed diva was notoriously difficult and had more than her share of enemies. There's a philandering tenor, a burly Russian bass and even her own vocal coach husband, with whom she had a turbulent relationship.Did one of them poison the singer? Or was it someone determined to see that Daisy's investigation ends on as bitter a note as Bettina's last performance...MURDER ON THE FLYING SCOTSMAN: Daisy's in danger of heading off the rails!Daisy's embarking on a journey to Edinburgh and her biggest worry is that she has forgotten her book, so how will she pass the time? Her concern proves to be pointless, however, as once the journey begins Daisy finds a pint-sized stowaway on board - Belinda, the daughter of dreamy Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher, Daisy's beau.No sooner has this problem revealed itself than Daisy and Belinda run into a bickering Scottish clan en route to the deathbed of the head of the family. But before the express reaches its first stop, one of the greedy McGowans has turned up dead. Is it murder? Daisy's willing to bet her first-class ticket it is - after all, the victim was the heir-in-waiting and she's sharing the carriage with an entire family of suspects who have everything to gain by his death...

The Hackman Blues


Ken Bruen - 1997
    Find a white girl in Brixton. Piece of cake. What I should have done is doubled my medication and lit a candle to St Jude - maybe a lot of candles. Add in a lethal ex-con, an Irish builder obsessed with Gene Hackman, the biggest funeral Brixton has ever seen, and what you get is the Blues like they've never been sung before.