Book picks similar to
Dust in the Heart by Ralph Dennis


crime-fiction
crime-fiction-all
stand-alone-fiction-usa
southern-us-crime

Germania


Harald Gilbers - 2013
    All of the victims are linked to the Nazi party. But according to one eyewitness account, the perpetrator is not an opponent of Hitler's regime, but rather a loyal Nazi.Jewish detective Richard Oppenheimer, once a successful investigator for the Berlin police, is reactivated by the Gestapo and forced onto the case. Oppenheimer is not just concerned with catching the killer and helping others survive, but also his own survival. Worst of all, solving this case is what will certainly put him in the most jeopardy. With no other choice but to futher his investigation, he feverishly searches for answers, and a way out of this dangerous game.

Trap for Cinderella


Sébastien Japrisot - 1962
    Two young women -- friends on the surface but deep down foes -- are trapped inside. One is rich, the other poor. One is killed and the other survives, burned beyond recognition and in a state of total amnesia. Plastic surgery gives her a new pretty face, but it can not restore her memory of her identity. Who is she? The heiress or her friend? A killer or an intended victim? Only one person knows the truth about the betrayal and hair-raising terror which took place that night. And she is not about to give it away...Winner of France's most prestigious crime-fiction award, Trap for Cinderella is an engrossing tour de force by a master of mystery and deception.

Mammon In Malmö: The Eighth Inspector Anita Sundström Mystery (The Malmö Mysteries Book 8)


Torquil MacLeod - 2021
    

Santa Cruz Noir


Susie BrightPeggy Townsend - 2018
    Each story is set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book.Featuring brand-new stories by: Tommy Moore, Jessica Breheny, Naomi Hirahara, Calvin McMillin, Liza Monroy, Elizabeth McKenzie, Jill Wolfson, Ariel Gore, Jon Bailiff, Maceo Montoya, Micah Perks, Seana Graham, Vinnie Hansen, Peggy Townsend, Margaret Elysia Garcia, Lou Mathews, Lee Quarnstrom, Dillon Kaiser, Beth Lisick, and Wallace Baine.From the introduction by Susie Bright:Every town has its noir-ville. It’s easy to find in Santa Cruz. We live in what’s called “paradise,” where you can wake up in a pool of blood with the first pink rays of the sunrise peeking out over our mountain range. The dewy mist lifts from the bay. Don’t hate us because we’re beautiful—we were made that way, like Venus rising off the foam with a brick in her hand. We can’t help it if you fall for it every time . . .“If I lived in a place like this,” visitors often say, “I’d wake up with a smile every day.”Oh, we do, thank you for that. There’s no beauty like a merciless beauty—and like every crepuscular predator, it thrives at dawn and dusk. You’re just the innocent we’ve been waiting for, with your big paper cone of sugar-shark cotton, whipped out of pure nothing. We have just the ride for you, the longest tunnel ever. Santa Cruz is everything you ever dreamed, and everything you ever screamed, in one long drop you’ll never forget.

The Far Cry


Fredric Brown - 1951
    No one knew where she had come from, or why she had died, or who killed her. Years later a man moved into the same house and discovered that nothing is more seductive than an unsolved murder.

Mermaids of Bodega Bay (Terrence Reid Mystery Series)


Mary Birk - 2014
     Anne, a talented historic garden designer, doesn’t know whether to bless or curse the luck that had her husband show up on her doorstep just as disaster strikes the Grainger Art Colony. Moving on after he left her was hard, but she’d done it with Andrew Grainger’s help. When Anne and her lover become the FBI’s chief suspects, Reid, compelled to exonerate the woman he still loves, steps in to investigate—and in the process, uncovers a shocking web of deceit and danger.

The Guilty Spouse: A Private Investigator Mystery Series of Crime and Suspense, Lee Callaway (Unknown Suspect Series Book 21)


Thomas Fincham - 2020
    Many believe he has run away. But Alex's sister, Kathleen, believes something far worse has happened to him. Detective Fisher isn't sure if it's a murder investigation or a missing persons case. All evidence points to it being the latter.Meanwhile, Detective Holt is haunted by an old case. His actions had caused a woman to lose her unborn child. Holt wants desperately to make things rights. But can he?Private Investigator Lee Callaway is approached by a man who wants Callaway to find out who had attacked his only son. As Callaway digs deeper into the man's case, he can't help but feel that something doesn't feel right.Fans of James Patterson, Harlan Coben, and David Baldacci will love THE GUILTY SPOUSE.

Elite Security


Clara Kendrick - 2018
    Lots of suspense, mystery, and romance. Almost 500,000 words. No cliffhangers! Book 1 The man she considered the love of her life has been abducted under strange circumstances. Charlotte Peterson only has one person she can reach out to and she’s not sure he will even come, not even for his own brother’s disappearance. Daniel Booth and his brother have two different lives, Daniel is a man of honor and he isn’t ready when a blast from his past pulls him into the seedy world of his brother. Book 2 James Holbrook has never been mistaken for a sweet guy. He’s an ex sniper with the Army and he likes his life exactly the way it is. He keeps people safe for a living and then hides out in his quiet life on his off time. But Brooklyn Oliver is no match for his norms and when he finds himself coming to her rescue, he can’t stop his heart from feeling something. Book 3 His celebrity good looks have managed to get Marco May out of a lot of sticky situations over the years but when he meets Kathryn (Kat) Short he will have to work harder than usual to win her over. She’s a top notch lawyer and immune to his boyish charms until she comes under fire and he’s the one there to save her. Book 4 Chase Reyes is as tough as they come. He prefers the outdoors and working hard. When he’s assigned to keep Ruby Reynolds safe it’s like mixing oil and water. Ruby is the billionaire daughter of one of the biggest tech firm owners in the world. She’s spoiled and used to getting her way. Her seductive ways have but one flaw, they are putting her in danger. Book 5 Alessia Faulkner grew up in the spotlight and fame. After a successful stint on television she’s taking over the social media world and skyrocketing to fame. When she sets her sights on ex-police officer Trevor Kaplan the fireworks between them are just the start. Alessia is use to getting what she wants and she wants Trevor. Book 6 His daughter has been kidnapped and if Jack Vaughan doesn’t agree to commit a heinous crime she will be murdered. As the owner of the Elite Security Group, Jack has a long history of keeping other’s safe but will he be able to keep his own daughter safe against this threat?

The Long and Faraway Gone


Lou Berney - 2015
    Six movie-theater employees were killed in an armed robbery, while one inexplicably survived. Then, a teenage girl vanished from the annual State Fair. Neither crime was ever solved.Twenty-five years later, the reverberations of those unsolved cases quietly echo through survivors’ lives. A private investigator in Vegas, Wyatt’s latest inquiry takes him back to a past he’s tried to escape—and drags him deeper into the harrowing mystery of the movie house robbery that left six of his friends dead. Like Wyatt, Julianna struggles with the past—with the day her beautiful older sister Genevieve disappeared. When Julianna discovers that one of the original suspects has resurfaced, she’ll stop at nothing to find answers.As fate brings these damaged souls together, their obsessive quests spark sexual currents neither can resist. But will their shared passion and obsession heal them, or push them closer to the edge? Even if they find the truth, will it help them understand what happened, that long and faraway gone summer? Will it set them free—or ultimately destroy them?

Serious Intent


Margaret Yorke - 1995
    Soon after their wedding, Richard discovers that his wife is a depressed alcoholic with violent mood swings. When Richard's attention strays to his neighbor, his wife begins a reign of domestic terror that threatens to destroy more than their marriage.

Making Her Bones (Stephanie Chalice Thrillers Book 8)


Lawrence Kelter - 2021
    

Line of Sight


James Queally - 2020
    Until Keyonna Jackson, a social justice activist, presents him with a troubling video: a made-for-Youtube cell phone snippet chronicling the same kind of questionable use-of-force that had set New York City, Ferguson, and Cleveland on fire in recent years. The same use-of-force that he’s been covering up for Newark PD.Now, the young black man who filmed this video is dead and the more questions Russell asks, the less his cop buddies like him. For the first time in his life, Russell finds himself on the wrong side of the guys with the badges and guns. When details of the shooting become public―and a city with race riots in its DNA flirts with the idea of letting history repeat itself―Russell finds himself allying with street activists and gang members as he races to put together the biggest story of his life… before the city he needs to tell it to burns down around him.

Casting Bones


Don Bruns - 2016
    When a prominent New Orleans judge is brutally murdered, former Detroit cop Quentin Archer is handed the case. His enquiries will lead him into a world of darkness and mysticism which underpins the carefree atmosphere of the Big Easy. Interrogating crooked police officers, a pickpocket, a bartender with underground contacts and a swamp dweller, Archer uncovers some troubling facts about the late judge's past. But it's only when he encounters a beautiful young voodoo practitioner that he starts to make headway in the investigation.Voodoo queen Solange Cordray volunteers at the dementia centre where her mother lives. When she starts reading the mind of one of her patients, she learns that a secretive organization known as Krewe Charbonerrie may be behind the murder of the judge. And the second murder. And the third . . .

Key Lime Blues


Mike Jastrzebski - 2010
    For Wes Darling it was guns, lies, and dead bodies. The Darling Detective Agency was founded in 1876 by Aaron ‘Dusty’ Darling. Now Wes’s chain smoking, stressed out mother is grooming Wes to take over. How does he handle his mother’s demands? He heads to Key West, moves onto a sailboat, and takes a job tending bar at a little joint called Dirty Alvin’s. Life is carefree until his mother’s lover, a man who mentored Wes for years, is murdered on a Key West Beach. Reluctantly, Wes is drawn into a spinning web of murder, sex and deceit. First there are his mother’s pleas for help. Throw in a six-foot-tall red-headed stripper, a retired mobster who acts like it’s the 1940’s, a pair of dim-witted hit men, a phobic psychic named Elvis, a small fortune in stolen diamonds, and what do you have? Mayhem in Key West.

Gun Work


David J. Schow - 2011
    That’s what the Mexican kidnapping cartel was demanding for Carl Ledbetter’s wife. So Carl reached out to the one person he knew with a chance in hell of saving her, a deadly man whose own life he’d saved in the sands of Iraq. It was time to call in some favors. Because some situations call for negotiation, but some… call for gun work.