Book picks similar to
Spilled Blood: Inspector Drake Mysteries Box Set Book 1-3 by Stephen Puleston
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An Eye for an Eye
Carol Wyer - 2021
A detective spiralling out of control.DI Kate Young is on leave. She’s the force’s best detective, but her bosses know she’s under pressure, on medication and overcoming trauma. So after her bad judgement call leads to a narrowly averted public disaster, they’re sure all she needs is a rest.But when Staffordshire Police summon her back to work on a murder case, it’s a harder, more suspicious Kate Young who returns. With a new ruthlessness, she sets about tracking down a clinical, calculating serial killer who is torturing victims and leaving clues to taunt the police. Spurred on by her reporter husband, Young begins to suspect that the murderer might be closer than she ever imagined.As she works to uncover the truth, Young unravels a network of secrets and lies, with even those closest to her having something to hide. But with her own competence—and her grip on reality—called into question, can she unmask the killer before they strike again?
Grave Situation
Alex MacLean - 2011
When he finally decides to leave the force and start over, he's assigned a string of murders that all bear the signs of a serial killer collecting trophies.As Stanton unravels each grisly crime scene, the mounting evidence points uncomfortably close to him and a case more disturbing than anything he's ever seen.
The Cipher
Isabella Maldonado - 2020
Until now…FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera escaped a serial killer’s trap at sixteen. Years later, when she’s jumped in a Virginia park, a video of the attack goes viral. Legions of new fans are not the only ones impressed with her fighting skills. The man who abducted her eleven years ago is watching. Determined to reclaim his lost prize, he commits a grisly murder designed to pull her into the investigation…but his games are just beginning. And he’s using the internet to invite the public to play along.His coded riddles may have made him a depraved social media superstar—an enigmatic cyber-ghost dubbed “the Cipher”—but to Nina he’s a monster who preys on the vulnerable. Partnered with the FBI’s preeminent mind hunter, Dr. Jeffrey Wade, who is haunted by his own past, Nina tracks the predator across the country. Clue by clue, victim by victim, Nina races to stop a deadly killer while the world watches.
Found, Near Water
Katherine Hayton - 2014
Her daughter is missing – lost for four days – but no one has noticed; no one has complained; no one has been searching.As the victim support officer assigned to her case, Christine Emmett puts aside her own problems as she tries to guide Rena through the maelstrom of her daughter’s disappearance.A task made harder by an ex-husband desperate for control; a paedophile on early-release in the community; and a psychic who knows more than seems possible.And intertwined throughout, the stories of six women; six daughters lost."I thought that not knowing was the worst thing I could ever endure. Not knowing if she was in trouble or needing my help or in pain. I worried that she’d been taken by someone that would hurt her, then I worried that she’d been taken by someone who would love her and care for her and in a year or two she’d have forgotten I ever existed. Not knowing was killing me.The police found her body stuffed into an old recycling bin out the back of a sleep-out. My beautiful girl had been bent to fit as though she was just a piece of rubbish, something to be disposed of.When I went to the hospital to identify my beautiful girl’s broken body - that was worse than not knowing. When I buried her in the cemetery and compared the size of the gravesite to the other freshly buried bodies - that was worse than not knowing. When I drank myself to sleep on the anniversary of her sixth birthday, and realised that I would likely be doing that until my life ended - that was worse than not knowing."
Blood for Blood
Victoria Selman - 2019
Now one is profiling her.Rush hour, London. A packed commuter train is torn apart in a collision. Picking through the carnage, ex-special forces profiler Ziba MacKenzie helps a dying woman who passes on a cryptic message: He did it. You have to tell someone.When a corpse is found bearing the gruesome signature of a serial killer dormant for twenty-five years, Ziba is pulled into the hunt for the perpetrator. As the body count rises it becomes clear he’s on a new spree. But what’s brought the London Lacerator back after such a long hiatus? And does his sudden return have anything to do with the woman on the train?Ziba scrambles to profile the killer in the hope of predicting his next move. But time is running out. And the closer she gets to uncovering his identity, the closer he gets to destroying hers.
What She Knew
Gilly Macmillan - 2015
It’s an ordinary request on an ordinary Sunday afternoon, and Rachel has no reason to worry—until Ben vanishes.Police are called, search parties go out, and Rachel, already insecure after her recent divorce, feels herself coming undone. As hours and then days pass without a sign of Ben, everyone who knew him is called into question, from Rachel’s newly married ex-husband to her mother-of-the-year sister. Inevitably, media attention focuses on Rachel too, and the public’s attitude toward her begins to shift from sympathy to suspicion. As she desperately pieces together the threadbare clues, Rachel realizes that the greatest dangers may lie not in the anonymous strangers of every parent’s nightmares, but behind the familiar smiles of those she trusts the most.Where is Ben? The clock is ticking...
Deranged
Jacob Stone - 2017
investigator Morris Brick, a former homicide cop on the trail of a murderous psychopath who gives a terrifying new meaning to the word DERANGED . . . They call him the Skull Cracker Killer. He drugs his victims. Breaks open their skulls with a hammer and chisel. The rest is inhuman. Five years ago he terrorized New York City, claiming twelve victims before the killing stopped. Now he’s racking up victims on a fresh hunting ground. Where former LAPD homicide detective Morris Brick is working as a consultant on a serial-killer film. Where a desperate mayor pleads with Brick to take on the case. And where the only way he can stop the next wave of murders is by outsmarting a madman—before he strikes again, this time much too close to home . . .
Two Days Gone
Randall Silvis - 2017
The perfect house. The perfect life. All gone now.What could cause a man, when all the stars of fortune are shining upon him, to suddenly snap and destroy everything he has built? This is the question that haunts Sergeant Ryan DeMarco after the wife and children of beloved college professor and bestselling author Thomas Huston are found slaughtered in their home. Huston himself has disappeared and so is immediately cast as the prime suspect. DeMarco knows—or thinks he knows—that Huston couldn't have been capable of murdering his family. But if Huston is innocent, why is he on the run? And does the half-finished manuscript he left behind contain clues to the mystery of his family's killer? A masterful new thriller by acclaimed author Randall Silvis, Two Days Gone is a taut, suspenseful story that will break your heart as much as it will haunt your dreams.
Mortal Crimes 2 (The Mortal Crimes Collection)
J. Carson Black - 2014
After that the bundle will be gone for good!_____________IMPROPER INFLUENCE (Sasha McCandless Series) - Melissa F MillerSasha McCandless and fiance Connelly follow a trail of corruption to political influencers, backroom deals, and the biggest law firm in Pittsburgh when investigating the interconnected deaths of several young women._____________THE DEVIL'S CAULDRON (Devil's Deep Series) - Michael WallaceParalyzed and locked in, Meggie can't tell anyone what really happened the night of her accident seven years earlier. Now, for the first time, there's hope for a cure -- and there are those who will do anything to keep it from her..._____________ULTIMATE JUSTICE (The Justice Series) - M A ComleyA shocking cover-up, a family trauma, an old wound reopened -- P.I. Lorne Simpkins navigates a minefield of danger as she takes on a grisly case of human trafficking that may well end up with her locked in a cage herself._____________DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (Laura Cardinal Series) - J Carson BlackThe murder of two newlyweds leads Laura Cardinal to the dark side of love when she discovers ties to an underground organization that plunge her into a high-stakes conspiracy deep in the Mojave -- where there are no second chances._____________NIGHT GAME (The Night Series) - Carol Davis LuceWhen the King's Club resort casino becomes the hunting ground for a shadowy killer, owner Jay King places his bets on PI Kasey Atwood's talents, instigating a game of passion and revenge that puts Kasey's heart -- and her life -- at risk._____________POE (Alexandra Poe Series) - Brett Battles & Robert Gregory BrowneDesperate to locate her father -- who's been disgraced and accused of treason -- Alexandra agrees to run point on a dicey mission to acquire a fugitive that will take her behind the walls of a brutal and dangerous women's prison._____________SECTOR C - Phoenix SullivanThe search for Patient Zero in a cross-species outbreak leads CDC analyst Mike Shafer and veterinarian Donna Bailey to a shocking discovery at a big-game compound in North Dakota whose owner will kill to keep the secret of Sector C.
Last Words
Michael Koryta - 2015
On the same day his wife died, the body of a teenage girl was pulled from the extensive and perilous cave system beneath Southern Indiana. Now the man who rescued the girl, who was believed to be her killer, begs Novak to uncover what really happened.Garrison is much like any place in America, proud and fortified against outsiders. For Mark to delve beneath the town's surface, he must match wits with the man who knows the caverns better than anyone. A man who seemed to have lost his mind. A man who seems to know Mark Novak all too well.Last Words is a pulse-pounding thriller of one man's undoing; you just may not know which man.
Lost And Found
Amy Shojai - 2012
But can she team up with a service dog to save a missing child and catch a murderer?Animal behaviorist September Day protects her broken heart by keeping everyone at arm’s length. Still distraught over her husband’s death in the line of duty, she heads back to her Texas home to launch a dog-training business. But her grief takes a back seat when her autistic nephew goes missing in a freak blizzard.Partnering with the boy’s support pup Shadow, September uncovers a shocking conspiracy hiding a deadly “miracle drug.” Hounded by vengeful enemies, human and dog must learn to work together and sniff out the source of corruption before more vulnerable kids die.Can September and Shadow forge a bond and stop a ruthless conspiracy and relentless killer?Lost And Found is the first action-packed installment in the gripping September and Shadow series. If you like dark suspense, novice detectives, and courageous animals, then you’ll love Amy Shojai’s roller-coaster thrillers.
Dead Irish
John Lescroart - 1990
He's left both the police force and his law career behind. Unfortunately it's not as easy to leave behind the memory of a shattering personal loss-but for the time being, he can always take the edge off with a stiff drink and round of darts. But when the news of Eddie Cochran's death reaches him, Hardy is propelled back into all the things he was trying to escape. Now he must untangle a web of old secrets and raw passions, for the sake of Eddie's pregnant widow Frannie--and for the others whose lives may still be at risk.
The Complete Deemer: Lover Man, Lush Life, Don't Explain
Dallas Murphy - 2014
In the Edgar-Award finalist Lover Man, Artie becomes a reluctant detective when his ex-girlfriend is killed. "The writing is flip and sophisticated," New York Times In Lush Life, Artie falls for a sexy pool player whose sleazy ex-husband has disappeared with $14 million of his company's assets. Now Artie finds himself in the middle of wild caper involving the mob and the CIA. "A bouncy, quirky, funny mystery...more twists and turns than a New York cab driver running up the meter," Washington Post In Don't Explain, Jellyroll has become the target of death threats from crazed stalkers, so Artie takes him to a remote island, only to discover their hideaway is overrun with an assortment of colorful killers. "An outstanding series," Publishers Weekly
The Good Lawyer
Thomas Benigno - 2012
Working as a Bronx Legal Aid Attorney he learns how to twist the system, how to become an unbeatable defense lawyer, and he his peacock proud of his perfect record-not a single conviction. But it's 1982. The Spiderman rapist is on the loose and New York City is a city in fear. When an outraged rape victim commits suicide right before his eyes, searching for absolution, he grabs the headline case of a teacher’s aide accused of molesting three students. Armed with a firm belief in his client’s innocence, he knocks the pegs out from under the prosecution’s case. When one of the children turns up dead, he discovers that his client may be strangely connected to the Spiderman. Digging deeper, horrifying revelations about his family's past collide with the true identity of the sadistic sociopath behind the Spiderman's rampage. In the process, this good lawyer comes face-to-face with his greatest conflict and deepest fear: to win, really win-save the city and even the woman he loves-must he sacrifice every principle he believes in and embrace his family's mafia past to become judge, jury, and executioner?
If Angels Fall
Rick Mofina - 2000
Pointing them out now no longer applies to the current edition.Tom Reed is a crime reporter with The San Francisco Star, whose superb journalistic skills earned him a Pulitzer nomination. But years later Reed’s life is coming apart. His editor wants him fired. His wife has left him to wrestle with his demons. Alone, Reed is tormented by the fear he may have caused the suicide of an innocent man suspected of murdering a two-year-old girl.Reed’s friend on the case is legendary San Francisco Homicide Inspector, Walt Sydowski, who has one of California’s highest clearance rates. He is also a lonely widower haunted by the fact he cannot solve the girl's heartbreaking death.Both men grapple with the past while they race the clock to learn the truth behind a several new abductions that have anguished the Bay Area, in this acclaimed thriller set in the late 1990s.