Book picks similar to
Stop This Man! by Peter Rabe


hard-case-crime
crime
fiction
mystery

An Ordinary Decent Criminal


Michael Van Rooy - 2005
    But for a man who's never held down a legitimate job and who faces the daily temptation of returning to the drugs and violence of his past, it isn't going to be easy.When Monty foils a robbery in his new home, killing the intruders, it doesn't make staying on the straight and narrow any easier. He soon finds he has both a small-time crime boss and a star police sargeant looking for ways to ruin him and run him out of town.It's going to take all of the tricks this aging, streetwise ex-con has up his sleeves to prove his innocence and protect his family, all the while avoiding the seductive allure of the life he left behind.

Still Waters


Viveca Sten - 2008
    Before long, he has identified the deceased as Krister Berggren, a bachelor from the mainland who has been missing for months. All signs point to an accident—until another brutalized corpse is found at the local bed-and-breakfast. But this time it is Berggren’s cousin, whom Thomas interviewed in Stockholm just days before.As the island’s residents reel from the news, Thomas turns to his childhood friend, local lawyer Nora Linde. Together, they attempt to unravel the riddles left behind by these two mysterious outsiders—while trying to make sense of the difficult twists their own lives have taken since the shared summer days of their youth.

When You're Gone


Marguerite O'Callaghan - 2017
     Eighteen-year-old Lydia Stone wakes up one morning in the north London gothic mansion she shares with her family, to find that her twin sister Kate has disappeared off the face of the earth. CCTV footage shows Kate entering a night club in south London on the night she went missing, but there is no evidence that she ever came out of the club, and police are considering the idea that she was sex-trafficked. In the days and weeks that follow, Lydia takes a closer look at her twin sister's life; her modelling career, penchant for fetish clubs, and interesting array of older friends. It seems like Kate was definitely hiding something. But she isn't the only one...

Made of Honor


Marilynn Griffith - 2005
    When Dana Rose's ex gets married, and then starts the business Dana had dreamed of opening, Dana has her friends and her faith to rely on.

Perfect Remains


Helen Sarah Fields - 2017
    All that will be left to identify the respected lawyer are her teeth and a fragment of clothing.In the concealed back room of a house in Edinburgh, the real Elaine Buxton screams into the darkness…Detective Inspector Luc Callanach has barely set foot in his new office when Elaine’s missing persons case is escalated to a murder investigation. Having left behind a promising career at Interpol, he’s eager to prove himself to his new team. But Edinburgh, he discovers, is a long way from Lyon, and Elaine’s killer has covered his tracks with meticulous care.It’s not long before another successful woman is abducted from her doorstep, and Callanach finds himself in a race against the clock. Or so he believes … The real fate of the women will prove more twisted than he could have ever imagined.Fans of Angela Marson, Mark Billingham and M. J. Aldridge will be gripped by this chilling journey into the mind of a troubled killer.

Where the Shadows Lie


Michael Ridpath - 2009
    Something worth killing for. Something that will cost Professor Agnar Haraldsson his life.Untangling murder from myth is Iceland-born, Boston-raised homicide detective Magnus Jonson. Seconded to the Icelandic Police Force for his own protection after he runs afoul of a drug cartel back in Boston, Magnus also has his own reasons for returning to the country of his birth for the first time in nearly two decades - the unsolved murder of his father.And as Magnus is about to discover, the past casts a long shadow in Iceland.Binding Iceland's landscape and history, secrets and superstitions in a strikingly original plot that will span several volumes, Where the Shadows Lie is the first in a thrilling new series from an established master.

Silent Screams


C.E. Lawrence - 2009
    As he wraps his fingers around the girl's pretty throat, his power increases. As he carves into her skin, his words become flesh. As he arranges her lifeless body in a loving tableau, his fantasies demand new, more violent sacrifices. . .A Profiler's Cunning Plan At first, NYPD detectives suspect a jealous boyfriend. But criminal profiler Lee Campbell senses something darker, even ritualistic, about the murder. More chilling, he's convinced he's witnessing the genesis of a full-blown serial killer. But time is running out. A new victim has been chosen. Campbell must search the most terrifying recesses of the human mind--and his own past--before the screaming starts again. . ."Pulse-racing, compelling, first rate. Lawrence knows how to build and hold suspense with the best of them. Once you get into this one, you can't get out. A wild ride down a dark road." --John Lutz, New York Times bestselling author of Urge to Kill"C. E. Lawrence has achieved a rare level of authenticity, not only in character development but also in the realistic use of behavioral science. If you want to read a serial-killer thriller that's solidly based on frightening reality, this is the one." --Louis B Schlesinger, Ph.D., professor of forensic psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice"C. E. Lawrence delivers finely honed suspense, with unique twists, and accurately captures the logic and intuition of a profiler under pressure." --Katherine Ramsland, professor of forensic psychology, De Sales University, and author of The Devil's Dozen"Criminally compelling, Silent Screams by C.E. Lawrence nails you to your seat with a fascinating NYPD profiler who's hurled into the case of his lifetime. From the Bronx to Manhattan, Catholic churches to university classrooms, this journey into violence and the soul is unforgettable." --- Gayle Lynds, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Spies and The Last Spymaster"Silent Screams is a wickedly brilliant, carefully wrought thriller where the roles of hunter and hunted are skillfully blurred. Team up with a virtuoso profiler and a street-wise Bronx detective as they are thrown into an escalating torrent of murder that threatens to sweep them away. It's ride that neither they, or you, will soon forget." --Gregg McCrary, author of The Unknown Darkness: Profiling the Predators Among Us "By setting the horror of fictional killings against the background of 9/11, C.E. Lawrence constantly reminds the reader that life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. The deviant perpetrator of grisly murders is described as someone who has a sophisticated knowledge of forensic investigations. The same can be said of the author. Silent Screams beckons C.E. Lawrence to become a repeat offender in this genre." --Marina Stajic, Ph.D., President of American Board of Forensic Toxicology

Blood and Justice


Rayven T. Hill - 2013
    Shaken out of their comfort zone of Internet searches and poring over public records, the couple soon find themselves facing the frightening possibility they are looking for the latest victim of a serial killer.As more bodies pile up, the town is gripped with fear. It seems no one is safe, and the Lincolns race to solve an impossible puzzle before they become the killer's next victims. About This Mystery Series • Book 1: Blood and Justice (A Free eBook) • Book 2: Cold Justice • Book 3: Justice for Hire • Book 4: Captive Justice • Book 5: Justice Overdue • Book 6: Justice Returns • Book 7: Personal Justice • Book 8: Silent Justice • Book 9: Web of Justice • Book 10: Fugitive Justice • Book 11: Profane Justice (Coming Next)

One Last Kill


Finn Bell - 2016
    It's a case like no other. And step by gruesome step the simple, true things Bobby knew to be right and good begin to make less and less sense. Because Bobby is learning about pain. He doesn't like to admit it. He doesn't like to know, but he's slowly realizing: If you hurt someone bad enough for long enough then there's nothing, absolutely nothing, you can’t make them do.*Please Note: This book was originally titled ‘Pancake Money.’

Little Girl Lost


Richard Aleas - 2004
    So how did she wind up shot to death on the roof of New York s seediest strip club? It s up to detective John Blake to uncover his ex-girlfriend s secret life as a striptease queen. But the deeper he digs, the darker the secrets he uncovers, until a shattering face-off in an East Village tenement changes his life forever. First time in paperback--a stunning debut novel from an author whose stories have been selected for BEST MYSTERY STORIES OF THE YEAR and THE YEAR S BEST HORROR STORIES, as well as short-listed for the Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America.

The Perfect Woman


James Andrus - 2010
    Then he packs his victims in luggage—a nod to the cops that he works alone. Dremmel’s no fool, he’s also a college professor. He just likes using his intellect for darker purposes….Is Another Man’s Anguish…Haunted by his own daughter’s unsolved disappearance, Detective John Stallings is committed to finding runaways and busting their abductors. When a series of girls is found dead and stuffed into duffle bags, he’s consumed with capturing “The Bagman”—at the risk of his marriage, his career, and possibly his tough-as-nails partner, Patty Levine…And Neither Intends To Give UpAs The Bagman grows more brazen in his crimes, the clues line up. But when he draws terrifyingly close to Patty, Stallings is determined to play by his own rules—and they won’t be pretty—or quiet…

The Teacher


Katerina Diamond - 2016
    It meant the end.As Exeter suffers a rising count of gruesome deaths, troubled DS Imogen Grey and DS Adrian Miles must solve the case and make their city safe again.But as they’re drawn into a network of corruption, lies and exploitation, every step brings them closer to grim secrets hidden at the heart of their community.And once they learn what’s motivating this killer, will they truly want to stop him?SMART. GRIPPING. GRUESOME.This is a psychological crime thriller in a class of its own.WARNING: Most definitely not for the faint-hearted!

Hunt Them Down


Simon Gervais - 2019
    Will his daughter pay the price?Former Army Ranger Pierce Hunt is no stranger to violence. Fresh off a six-month suspension, he’s itching to hit a notorious Mexican drug cartel where it hurts, even if that means protecting crime boss Vicente Garcia, a witness in the case against sadistic cartel leader Valentina Mieles. But things spiral out of control when the cartel murders Garcia and kidnaps his granddaughter and an innocent bystander, Hunt’s own teenage daughter.Mieles wants the new head of the Garcia family on a plate—literally. Hunt has seventy-two hours to deliver, or Mieles will execute the girls live on social media. With the clock ticking, Hunt goes off the grid and teams up with Garcia’s daughter, a former lover and current enemy. To save the girls, Hunt will have to become a man he swore he’d never be again: an avenging killer without limits or mercy.

Walk Into Silence


Susan McBride - 2016
    Did she simply run off, or is something darker at play?When Patrick Dielman shows up at Detective Jo Larsen’s desk insisting that his wife, Jenny, is missing, Jo wonders if it’s a case of a bored housewife running away.But as she digs deeper into Jenny’s life, Jo learns that Dielman keeps a stranglehold on the family finances, down to the last nickel, and that Jenny’s first marriage dissolved following the death of her young son. By all accounts—including her doctor’s—she never recovered from the loss. Between a controlling husband, a tragic past, and a callous ex-husband, Jo can’t be sure if she should suspect foul play or accept that the woman may have wanted to disappear.For Jo, whose own demons are shadowing her every step, finding Jenny becomes more than the typical protect-and-serve.

Swamp Bones


Kathy Reichs - 2014
    In the prequel to Reichs’s upcoming thriller Bones Never Lie, Tempe takes a much-needed vacation—but murder follows wherever she goes.   Although a trip to Florida is supposed to be about rest and relaxation, there’s no such thing as a day off for Dr. Temperance Brennan. She has come to visit her friend, a dedicated ornithologist who’s researching the threat that intrusive Burmese pythons pose to indigenous bird species in the Everglades. While sorting through the stomach of an eighteen-foot specimen, they make a disturbing discovery: bones that are unmistakably human. And when Tempe spots the telltale signs of murder by a very different kind of predator, she’s drawn into a case with its roots in the darkest depths of the swamp.   Features a preview of the highly anticipated new Temperance Brennan novel, Bones Never Lie!