Book picks similar to
Blinding Lies by Amy Cronin
fiction
irish-author
booksirens
thrillers
Rain Will Come
Thomas Holgate - 2020
Ruthless and riddled with vices, Czarcik always gets his man. And fast. Until now…A double slaying isn’t the open-and-shut case of urban crime he’s used to. Connecting it to a high-profile Texas judge, Czarcik realizes something bigger is going on. It’s the work of a serial killer for whom Chicago is just the beginning. Now he’s inviting Czarcik to play catch-me-if-you-can on a cross-country murder spree.Going rogue, Czarcik accepts the challenge. But as the bodies pile up, he must come to grips with the fact that nothing—not the killer, the victims, or the rules—is what it seems in this bloody game of cat and mouse.
Scorpion Trail
Geoffrey Archer - 1995
Though he is an aid worker, the secret service minders who have protected him for twenty years have reactivated him: they want information about the man who perpetrated a massacre in a Muslim village in Bosnia. His target is the most ruthless killer in the whole war zone: Milan Pravic, codename the Scorpion. And the only eyewitness to the massacre is a twelve-year-old girl whom Pravic will do anything to silence-
No Going Back
Casey Kelleher - 2021
A family is out for revenge.Riley Cooke is just one day old when he is stolen from the hospital. His young mother, Shelby, is beside herself. DC Lucy Murphy and her team face a race against time to find the vulnerable baby and bring him home – before the child’s grandfather, fearsome gangster Pete Baker, takes matters into his own hands.Pete is sure he knows who’s behind baby Riley’s abduction, and he thinks they ought to pray Lucy finds them before he does. Because someone is going to pay dearly for causing this much pain to his family.They say never stand between a gangster and his target. But that’s exactly what Lucy must do – because if Pete is wrong, innocent blood could flow.A shocking and addictive read that will keep you turning the pages. Fans of Martina Cole, Kimberley Chambers and Emma Tallon will love this.
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?
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.
In a Deep Dark Wood
Tina Pritchard - 2021
She tells the police exactly what she saw, but their investigation doesn’t seem to make much headway.Fran tries to settle back into a normal life, but is tormented by guilt – was there something she could have done to save the boy? Fran can’t let it go and finds herself drawn to Tyler’s grieving mother, Mel, both finding some strange connection through this shared trauma.Then someone launches a terrifying campaign of intimidation against Fran and her husband, Laurie. Could it be the killers? Are they letting her know she had better be careful what she says? Who she sees? And why is Mel acting so strangely? Does she know more about her son’s death than she is saying?Fran can’t help herself – she needs to know the truth. But when she begins to dig, she uncovers the terrible secret of the deep, dark wood – a secret that will change her life forever.
Impure Blood
Peter Morfoot - 2013
A man has been found murdered in the midst of a Muslim prayer group, but no one saw how it was done. Then the organisers of the Nice leg of the Tour de France receive an unlikely terrorist threat. In what becomes a frantic race against time, Darac must try and unpick a complex knot in which racial hatred, sex and revenge are tightly intertwined.
Breaking Bones
Robert White - 2018
A ruthless criminal gang. A law unto themselves. Detective Jim Hacker has watched The Dogs grow from thuggish youths to psychotic criminals and seems to be the only cop in town with the determination to see justice done. Meanwhile Jamie Strange, a young Royal Marine, finds himself embroiled in the lives of the gang when his girlfriend, Laurie Holland, cuts off their engagement... to be with the most dangerous of The Dogs: Frankie Verdi. Strange knows right from wrong, but when Verdi begins to target Jamie's family, he makes an enemy of a man, more dangerous than even he could imagine. Crisp, slick and often terrifyingly violent, this 1980's crime thriller will appeal to the readers of Ian Rankin, Martina Cole and Stephen Leather.
Little Voices
Vanessa Lillie - 2019
She knows he’s innocent.Devon Burges is in the throes of a high-risk birth when she learns of her dear friend’s murder. The police quickly name another friend as the chief suspect, but Devon doesn’t buy it—and despite her difficult recovery, she decides to investigate.Haunted by postpartum problems that manifest as a cruel voice in her head, Devon is barely getting by. Yet her instincts are still sharp, and she’s bent on proving her friend’s innocence.But as Devon digs into the evidence, the voice in her head grows more insistent, the danger more intense. Each layer is darker, more disturbing, and she’s not sure she—or her baby—can survive what lies at the truth.
Lies We Bury
Elle Marr - 2021
At twenty-seven, Marissa’s moved beyond the trauma and is working under a new name as a freelance photographer. But when she accepts a job covering a string of macabre murders in Portland, it’s impossible for Marissa not to remember.Everything is eerily familiar. The same underground lairs. Sad trinkets and toys left behind, identical to those Marissa had as a child. And then there is the note meant just for her that freezes Marissa’s blood: See you soon, Missy.To determine the killer’s next move, Marissa must retrieve her long-forgotten memories and return to a past she’s hidden away. But she won’t be facing her fears alone. Someone is waiting for her in the dark.
A Killing in November
Simon Mason - 2022
As a young Detective Inspector, he's lost none of his disgust with privileged elites - or his objectionable manners. But he notices things; they stick to his eyes. His professional partner, DI Ray Wilkins, of affluent Nigerian-London heritage, is an impeccably groomed, smooth-talking graduate of Balliol College, Oxford. You wouldn't think they would get on. They don't.But when a young woman is found strangled at Barnabas Hall, they're forced to.Rich Oxford is not Ryan's natural habitat. St Barnabas's irascible Provost does not appreciate his forceful line of questioning. But what was the dead woman doing in the Provost's study? Is it just a coincidence that on the night of her murder the college was entertaining Sheik al-Medina, a Gulf state ruler linked to human-rights abuses in his own country and acts of atrocity in others?As tensions rise, things aren't going well. Ray is in despair. Ryan is in disciplinary measures. But their investigation gradually disentangles the links between a Syrian refugee lawyer now working in the college kitchens, a priceless copy of the Koran in the college collection and the identity of the dead woman.A Killing in November introduces an unlikely duo from different sides of the tracks in Oxford in a deftly plotted murder story full of dangerous turns, troubled pasts and unconventional detective work.
Nine Lives
Anita Waller - 2021
The police realise this new death is linked to a spate of cold case murders and the killer is back. Five years earlier, four young women were found murdered, their bodies left in woody areas, and the new victim shares similar hallmarks. But why did the killer stop killing for all that time and what has inspired them to start again? As more young women fall victim to a vicious and calculating murderer, Erica and Beth find themselves chasing their tails. But when a witness is identified the case takes an unexpected and macabre turn. Can Erica and Beth bring the killer to justice, or will this case prove too much?
Girls Like Us
Cristina Alger - 2019
Nell and her father, Homicide Detective Martin Flynn, have never had much of a relationship. And Suffolk County will always be awash in memories of her mother, Marisol, who was brutally murdered when Nell was just seven.When Martin Flynn dies in a motorcycle accident, Nell returns to the house she grew up in so that she can spread her father's ashes and close his estate. At the behest of her father's partner, Detective Lee Davis, Nell becomes involved in an investigation into the murders of two young women in Suffolk County. The further Nell digs, the more likely it seems to her that her father should be the prime suspect--and that his friends on the police force are covering his tracks. Plagued by doubts about her mother's murder--and her own role in exonerating her father in that case--Nell can't help but ask questions about who killed Ria Ruiz and Adriana Marques and why. But she may not like the answers she finds--not just about those she loves, but about herself.
Blood Stained
Rebecca Bradley - 2021
But now his own wife has gone missing.Then a large pool of blood is discovered in their garage. And Dominic is the prime suspect.Is Dominic being framed by a serial killer or will Claudia expose an even uglier truth?Can’t tell a soul how it ends.