Book picks similar to
Forbidden Falls by V.J. Chambers


could-have-been-better
ph-read
psychological-thriller
thriller-mystery

Holiday in Fool's Gold: Only Us: A Fool's Gold Holiday\Yours for Christmas


Susan Mallery - 2018
    She’s fell for veterinarian Cameron McKenzie’s good looks, caring nature and especially his devotion to his young daughter. For months Cameron’s pushed away all thoughts of taking Rina in his arms and kissing her, unwilling to risk their friendship. But when a kiss under the mistletoe unlocks the simmering passion between them, Rina and Cameron may just find love for the holidays after all...YOURS FOR CHRISTMASFamous former NFL stars don’t date single working moms like Bailey Voss. She’ll allow herself to daydream about Kenny Scott’s muscles and killer smile, but wanting more would lead to post-holiday regret. Then Kenny volunteers to run a toy drive with Bailey, and she learns that he’s not just hot…he’s also generous, funny, nice. And as festive spirit spreads, Kenny gets wrapped up in Bailey’s kisses — and decides to make this the first of many Christmases together…Previously published.

Mayan Star


Howard Allan - 2018
    What we don’t know is why. Excavations at a recently discovered Mayan site near Valladolid in the Yucatan unearth a codex – the first to be discovered in over 50 years. A mangled body is found among the ruins. It belongs to Father Colvin McNeery, an expert on the Gospel of Matthew, the only Gospel to mention the Star of Bethlehem. The local police say he was killed by a jaguar. Dr. Isabel Reyes, renegade daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Mexico, is called away from her clinic to issue a death certificate. She wonders, when she sees the claw marks, what sort of jaguar is left-handed? Ex-rabbi and scholar Simon Press has just seen another of his controversial lectures on the spread of Christianity end in violence. He’s back at his hotel nursing a scotch when he gets the news that his friend and colleague, Colvin McNeery, is dead in the Yucatan. Press has always been resentful of Christianity’s success; what he finds in McNeery’s translation of the codex will allow him to get even. Detective First Class Benito Rufino of the Antiquities Police is pulled off a sting he’s spent nine months setting up, and ordered to Valladolid. He’s furious until he finds out why: a codex worth $500 million pesos is missing. Leon Cortes - devout Catholic and a direct descendant of the Conquistador - has become drug overlord for all of the Yucatan because he believes his faith requires him to mortify his soul as his Savior mortified his body. Now he’s ordered by the Vatican to find the codex and send it to them. The 1500 year old codex contains an account of a holy man, a savior who is born under a bright star to a virgin, performs miracles, dies a horrible death, and is resurrected. If McNeery’s translation of the codex is correct, then something is radically wrong with the conventional accounts of the European discovery of the Americas. Or - and this is the only other possibility - something is radically wrong with Christianity’s notion of itself. Mayan Star is mystery/thriller with a Borgesian twist.

Lies That Bind Us


Andrew Hart - 2018
    She’s flying to Crete to reunite with friends she met there five years ago and relive an idyllic vacation. Basking in the warmth of the sun, the azure sea, and the aura of antiquity, she can once again pretend—for a little while—that she belongs. Her ex-boyfriend Marcus will be among them, but even he doesn’t know the secrets she keeps hidden behind a veil of lies. None of them really know her, and that’s only part of the problem.Then again, how well does she know them?When Jan awakens in utter darkness, chained to a wall, a manacle around her wrist, her echoing screams only give her a sense of how small her cell is. As she desperately tries to reconstruct what happened and determine who is holding her prisoner, dread covers despair like a hand clamped over her mouth. Because, like the Minotaur in the labyrinth in Greek myth, her captor will be coming back for her, and all the lies will catch up to her…

Lurk


Adam Vine - 2016
    But late one night, he finds a box of old Polaroids buried under his house that can change to show him whatever he desires, and Drew finds himself with the power to watch the people around him without them ever knowing.Yet as Drew falls deeper into the rabbit hole of jealousy and despair, he begins having strange visions of the students who lived at the house twenty years ago and the gruesome fates they met after moving out. He finds evidence of a stalker who may be living on the property. The line between reality and nightmare blurs. Drew realizes there is something under the house that is manipulating him through the pictures, an eldritch, not-quite-dead thing that will drive him to do unspeakable evil if he doesn't look away...A blistering page-turner, LURK is horror unlike you've ever read.

Hush


Adam Nicholls - 2015
    until obsession with a killer drove him further from his family. That life was left behind, until today. Now a part-time PI, a familiar string of murders is pulling him back into the cycle. Mason must choose between bringing the killer to justice or remaining a humble family man. With his marriage on the line, the police seek his knowledge of the unsolved case, to help identify and track down the psychopath. But now he's too close to the Lullaby Killer, who is driven to have a little fun... at Mason's expense.

The Spider in the Corner of the Room


Nikki Owen - 2015
    Convicted of killing a priest, she is alone, in prison and has no memory of the murder.DNA evidence places Maria at the scene of the crime, yet she claims she’s innocent. Then she starts to remember…A strange room. Strange people. Being watched.As Maria gets closer to the truth she is drawn into a web of international intrigue and must fight not only to clear her name but to remain alive.As addictive as the Bourne novels, with a protagonist as original as The Bridge’s Saga Norén.Part one of The Project trilogyPraise for The Spider in the Corner of the Room‘A powerful, penetrating and intensely different read that seizes your attention from the very first page.’ – Liz Robinson, LoveReading‘An intriguing and original novel, with an underlying sense of menace and mystery.’ - Ruth Hunter, Booktime Editor at Bertram‘A great conspiracy thriller and a mind-bending tale!’ – Booktime‘Powerful and gripping – an adrenaline-filled thriller you won't forget' – Sunday Times bestseller Kimberley Chambers

The Roommate


Kiersten Modglin - 2021
    He’s drowning in debt.His demanding career isn’t letting up. And, to top it all off, after years of ignoring their failing marriage, his wife has had enough.Heartbroken and in desperate need of a place to stay while he gives his wife the space she’s asked for, Wes is shocked when he runs into a familiar face from his past. As they catch up, Wes quickly learns his old classmate has an extra room and a non-existent social life. He can’t help feeling grateful to spend time with someone who remembers who he was during their glory days, long before his life fell apart. So, when Elias offers to rent out his spare bedroom, it seems like the answer to all Wes’s problems. Wes takes his old friend up on the offer without hesitation. Living with someone you barely know is better than living with a stranger… Isn’t it?But soon, Wes realizes moving in with Elias may have been a mistake.Between the wild mood swings, strange occurrences, and total disregard for his new roommate’s privacy, Wes begins to wonder if Elias will be his savior or his worst nightmare.When his wife reveals devastating news that destroys the final bit of shaky ground Wes was standing on, his new roommate may be all he has left.Maybe that’s what Elias wanted in the first place… Or maybe it’s all in Wes’s head.Elias invited him in…Will Wes ever be able to leave?

The Chick Bowdrie Short Stories Bundle


Louis L'Amour - 2015
    This outlaw turned Texas Ranger was one of the favorite protagonists of master storyteller Louis L’Amour, appearing in a total of nineteen short stories bursting with unforgettable heroics and harrowing action. They’re all here in this eBook bundle, together forming an epic portrait of a man standing at the crossroads between good and evil:   McNelly Knows a Ranger • A Job for a Ranger • Bowdrie Rides a Coyote Trail • A Trail to the West • The Outlaws of Poplar Creek • Bowdrie Follows a Cold Trail • More Brains Than Bullets • The Road to Casa Piedras • Bowdrie Passes Through • Where Buzzards Fly • South of Deadwood • Too Tough to Brand • Case Closed—No Prisoners • The Killer from the Pecos • A Ranger Rides to Town • Rain on the Mountain Fork • Down Sonora Way • Strange Pursuit • Strawhouse Trail   The name is Bowdrie. It was a name that caused the most hardened gunmen to break out in a cold sweat. Chick Bowdrie. He could have ridden the outlaw trail, but the Texas Rangers recruited him because they didn’t want to have to fight against him. Pursuing the most wanted men in the Southwest, he knew all too well the dusty trails, the bitter cattle feuds, the desperate killers, and the quiet, weather-beaten, wind-blasted towns that could explode into action with the wrong word. He had sworn to carry out the law, but there were times when he had to apply justice with his fists and his guns. They called in the Rangers to handle the tough ones, and there was never a Ranger tougher or smarter than Bowdrie.

The Old Boys


Mark Gillespie - 2021
    It’s a past that goes back twenty-five years. Back to when they were a gang of teenage bullies known as the Lads – a gang that delighted in torturing their classmates at every opportunity.The kidnappers are waiting outside. But who are they?After all these years, have the victims come back to turn the tables on the bullies?The Old Boys is a dark psychological thriller about friendship and the deterioration of once seemingly unbreakable childhood bonds. It’s also a story of revenge and regret. If you love tense, claustrophobic thrillers packed full of mystery and suspense, you’ll love The Old Boys.

Cozy Mysteries 12 Book Box Set:


Hope Callaghan - 2019
    This boxed set contains the first six books from both series. BONUS: RECIPES INCLUDED --------------------------------------- Contents: (From the Garden Girls Cozy Mystery Series) 1-Who Murdered Mr. Malone? 2-Grandkids Gone Wild 3-Smoky Mountain Mystery 4-Death by Dumplings 5-Eye Spy 6-Magnolia Mansion Mysteries (From the Cruise Ship Cozy Mystery Series) 1-Starboard Secrets 2-Portside Peril 3-Lethal Lobster 4-Deadly Deception 5-Vanishing Vacationers 6-Cruise Control ----------------------------------------------- Book 1-Who Murdered Mr. Malone? Nothing exciting ever happens in the small town of Belhaven. Nothing that is, until a body was found in the woods behind the local elementary school. With the entire town in an uproar, "Garden Girl" Gloria Rutherford makes it her personal mission to find the killer or killers and solve the mystery with some help from her friends. With a little amateur detective work, Gloria is able to uncover enough clues that point right to the murderer. She's about to discover, however, things aren't always as clear cut as they would appear. Book 2-Grandkids Gone Wild "Garden Girl" Gloria Rutherford, has her hands full. Her mischievous and energetic grandsons are coming for a weekend visit. To top things off, she discovers someone is living in her barn. But who and why? As this amateur sleuth investigates what's going on in her own backyard, another murder victim turns up in their sleepy little town. Hot on the trail of a murderer, trying her best to make sure her grandkids don't end up in the ER and facing a budding romance, Gloria and her small town of Belhaven are once again about to be turned upside down. Book 3-Smoky Mountain Mystery Life is good for "Garden Girl" Gloria Rutherford. Spring has finally sprung, love is in the air, and no dead bodies have turned up in the small town of Belhaven...lately. It seems as if it's almost too good to be true. Just as Gloria starts to get settled into her familiar routine, she receives a mysterious message from her older sister, Liz. Certain that her sister, the drama queen, is once again bent on turning Gloria's life upside down for no good reason, she almost chooses to ignore the dire message that she may be in danger. When a key to her sister's place shows up in her mailbox after Liz mysteriously vanishes, Gloria jumps in with both feet to track her down. Crisscrossing the country with one of the other Garden Girls in tow, the two amateur sleuths find themselves on an adventure of a lifetime. Gloria soon discovers her sister's mysterious disappearance is the least of her worries. PLUS NINE MORE COZY MYSTERIES FOR YOU TO ENJOY!

The Last One To See Her


Mark Tilbury - 2020
    So why did he lie?Mathew Hillock was the last person to see eleven-year-old Jodie Willis alive. When her dead body turns up four days later in his garden shed, the police think he’s guilty of her murder. So do most people in the town. But there’s no DNA evidence to link him to the crime. Battling the weight of public opinion and mental illness due to a childhood head trauma, he sinks into a deep depression. Can Mathew do what the police failed to do and find evidence linking the real killer to the crime?The Last One to See Her is a terrifying story of what happens when you’re accused of a crime and no one believes you are innocent

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.

Girls of Brackenhill


Kate Moretti - 2020
    It’s been seventeen years, and though desperate to start a new life with her fiancé, Hannah is compelled to question the events of her last summer at Brackenhill.When a human bone is found near the estate, Hannah is convinced it belongs to her long-lost sister. She launches her own investigation into that magical summer that ended in a nightmare. As strange happenings plague the castle, Hannah uncovers disturbing details about the past and startling realizations about her own repressed childhood memories.Fueled by guilt over her sister’s vanishing, Hannah becomes obsessed with discovering what happened all those years ago, but by the time Hannah realizes some mysteries are best left buried, it’s too late to stop digging. Overwhelmed by what she has exposed, Hannah isn’t sure her new life can survive her old ghosts.

Little Deadly Secrets


Pamela Crane - 2020
    They know everything about each other. Or so they believe.Nothing could come between these three best friends . . .Except for a betrayal.Nothing could turn them against each other . . .Except for a terrible past mistake.Nothing could tear them apart . . .Except for murder.

The Trophy Wife


Sunday Tomassetti - 2020
    Her days are filled with old-moneyed locals and nouveau-riche tourists, most of them paying her no mind as she rings up their lavish hauls.Until Odessa DuVernay.At first glance, she’s just another picture-perfect Palm Shores trophy wife—until she proves herself personable, humble, and unassuming. She even goes so far as to take a genuine interest in Cate, inviting her for lunch dates, matinees, and girl talk—a refreshing change of pace for the woman who never quite mastered the art of making (and keeping) friends. But what begins as an unlikely friendship detours into the unthinkable when Odessa leaves Cate a panicked voicemail asking to meet—and then ghosts her. And worse—when Cate attempts to find her, it’s as if the enigmatic Mrs. DuVernay never existed at all… Consumed, Cate refuses to stop searching. But the truth won’t come easy.In fact, it could cost her everything.