No Game For a Dame


M. Ruth Myers - 2011
     Moving through streets where people line up at soup kitchens, Maggie draws information from sources others overlook: The waitress at the dime store lunch counter where she has breakfast; a ragged newsboy; the other career girls at her rooming house. Her digging gets her chloroformed and left in a ditch behind the wheel of her DeSoto. She makes her way to an upscale bordello and gets tea – and information – from the madam herself. A gunman puts a bullet through Maggie’s hat. Her shutterbug pal on the evening paper warns her off. A new cop whose presence unsettles her thinks she’s crooked. Before she finds all the answers she needs, she faces a half-crazed man with a gun, and a far more lethal point-blank killer. If you like Robert B. Parker's hard boiled Spencer series and strong women sleuths, don't miss this one-of-a-kind Ohio detective from a time in United States history when dames wore hats -- but seldom a Smith & Wesson.

The Ice Maiden


B.D. Smith - 2017
    Seeming to select his victims at random, he acts out the rituals of the Spanish Inquisition before committing their bodies to the sacred waters of nearby Sebec Lake. Anne Quinn, an investigator for the Piscataquis County sheriff’s office, and Detective Douglas Bateman with the Major Crimes Unit of the Maine State Police join forces in tracking him down. Hiding in plain sight, the killer is clearly from the local community and plays a deadly “catch me if you can” game with Quinn and Bateman. He seems determined to humiliate them and demonstrate his superior intellect, leading them to suspect that perhaps there is a deeper motive and purpose behind his string of murders.

This Doesn't Happen In The Movies


Renee Pawlish - 2011
    A rich, attractive femme fatale. A missing husband. A rollicking ride to a dark and daring ending. Reed Ferguson’s first case is a daring adventure, complete with a dose of film noir, and a lot of humor. With a great supporting cast of the Goofball Brothers, Reed’s not too bright neighbors, and Cal, Reed’s computer geek friend, This Doesn’t Happen In The Movies is detective noir at its best. Follow Reed as he solves crime akin to his cinematic hero, Humphrey Bogart. Great for fans who love a fast-paced, humorous read, without a lot of swearing or sex.

Blood Orchids


Toby Neal - 2011
    On a routine patrol she finds two murdered teenagers—one of whom she’d recently busted. With its echoes of her own past, the murdered girl’s harsh life and tragic death affect Lei deeply. She becomes obsessed—even as the killer is drawn to Lei's intensity, feeding off her vulnerabilities and toying with her sanity.Despite her obsession with the case and fear that she's being stalked, Lei finds herself falling in love for the first time. Steaming volcanoes, black sand beaches and shrouded fern forests are the backdrop to Lei's quest for answers—and the stalker is closer than she can imagine, as threads of the past tangle in her future. Lei is determined to find the killer—but he knows where to find her first.

Last Gasp


Robert F. Barker - 2015
    Now they want him to do it again, only this time the 'victim' is a Dominatrix. As if he hasn't enough on his plate: there's a brutal killer poised to strike again, shadows of the past that still haunt his dreams, an investigation under mounting pressure to succeed, and a beautiful woman whose bizarre lifestyle may be the key to finding the killer. That's not counting the young girl whose life he's trying to save from ruin, or the ambitious colleague scheming to bring him down. As the kill-count mounts, signs point to a link with Carver's first serial killer case - that of the notorious Escort Killer, Edmund Hart. But Hart is dead, having hung himself in prison, so how can that be? This is just one of the mysteries Carver must solve in this gripping first outing for the detective who knows his reputation as, "The UK's Foremost Serial Sex Crime Investigator" is built on sand. And when the killer strikes at the heart of the investigation, he knows that in order to protect those closest, he must confront what he most fears - his own failings. The first in the DCI Jamie Carver Series, and Book One of The Worshipper Trilogy, LAST GASP is a novel of murder, deception, sexual intrigue, and human weakness. It is a story about one man's struggle to put the past behind him, and save those he loves. ROBERT F BARKER is a former, British Senior Police Detective. LAST GASP is the first in a series of gritty crime thrillers set mainly in and around England’s Northwest featuring his resourceful but sometimes conflicted murder detective, DCI Jamie Carver.

Murder in the Manor


Fiona Grace - 2019
    She needs to quit her job, leave her horrendous boss and New York City, and walk away from the fast life. Making good on her childhood promise to herself, she decides to walk away from it all, and to relive a beloved childhood vacation in the quaint English seaside town of Wilfordshire.Wilfordshire is exactly as Lacey remembers it, with its ageless architecture, cobblestone streets, and with nature at its doorstep. Lacey doesn’t want to go back home—and spontaneously, she decides to stay, and to give her childhood dream a try: she will open her own antique shop.Lacey finally feels that her life is taking a step in the right direction—until her new star customer turns up dead.As the newcomer in town, all eyes are on Lacey, and it’s up to her to clear her own name.With a business to run, a next-door neighbor turned nemesis, a flirty baker across the street, and a crime to solve – is this new life all that Lacey thought it would be?

One for Sorrow


Sarah A. Denzil - 2018
    To nurse Leah Smith, no matter what, all offenders are patients first and foremost. When Leah is appointed as nurse to Isabel Fielding, she is determined to remain professional despite the shocking crime Isabel allegedly committed in her past.Years ago, six-year-old Maisie Earnshaw was found face down in a duck pond, her body mutilated. Isabel--at age fourteen, found covered in Maisie's blood--was convicted of murder.As Leah spends time with Isabel, she comes to know her as a young woman with a sweet, gentle nature, someone she could never see as a murderer. Leah begins to suspect members of the Fielding family of framing Isabel as a young girl, and she's not the only one. True crime blogger James Gorden thinks Isabel is innocent too.Is Leah allowing her own dark past to taint her judgement as she grows closer to her patient? Or has a young woman been unjustly robbed of her childhood?

The Gray and Guilty Sea


Scott William Carter - 2010
    An iconoclast. A loner. That's how people describe Garrison Gage, and that's when they're being charitable. After his wife's brutal murder in New York, and Gage himself is beaten nearly to death, the crippled private investigator retreats three thousand miles to the quaint coastal town of Barnacle Bluffs, Oregon. He spends the next five years in a convalescent stupor, content to bide his time filling out crossword puzzles and trying to forget that his wife's death is his fault. But all that changes when he discovers the body of a young woman washed up on the beach, and his conscience draws him back into his old occupation – forcing him to confront the demons of his own guilt before he can hope to solve the girl's murder.

The Anonymous Source


A.C. Fuller - 2015
    BREAK THE STORY. STAY ALIVE.ONE YEAR AFTER the 9/11 attacks, Alex Vane--a brilliant, fitness-obsessed reporter for The New York Standard--wants nothing more than to break into the flashy world of TV news. But when he uncovers the scoop of a lifetime, his tightly controlled world is rocked: his editor buries his story, a source turns up dead, and Alex finds himself at the center of a violent media conspiracy.AS HE RECEIVES TIPS from a mysterious source, Alex enlists the help of a captivating professor, Camila Gray. Aided by an Internet genius, a billionaire's sexy widow, and a washed-up sports reporter, Alex and Camila discover a $500-million secret that could derail the largest media merger in history.IT'S A SECRET THAT unearths dark memories from Alex's past. It's a secret that leads back to the morning of 9/11. And it's a secret that could get them both killed.IN HIS DEBUT MEDIA THRILLER, A.C. Fuller brings you a young journalist chasing the biggest story of his career--from the courtrooms of New York City to the beaches of Hawaii, from a crowded newsroom to a lavish boardroom at the top of a media empire.

Dead Wood


Dani Amore - 2011
    A disgraced ex-cop turned private investigator is hired by the dead woman’s father and immediately becomes the target of a violent ex-convict. An enigmatic music star performs damage control on her links to the dead woman. And a professional killer who idolizes Keith Richards is brought into town by a mysterious employer. Dead Wood is what great mysteries are all about: love, hate, faith and vengeance, all wrapped up in an explosive story that simply refuses to let up.

Famished


Meghan O'Flynn - 2016
    At least, it feels that way until a serial killer starts dicing up women from the shelter where she volunteers. Despite the ever-present tingling at the nape of her neck, Hannah manages to convince herself that the killings have nothing to do with her brutal past—until her boyfriend is murdered in the same ruthless manner as the others. It doesn’t help that the police think she might have done it. But the cops are right about one thing: Hannah is responsible. Because she knows who the killer is. Now she must face the fact that she brought a monster with her to Ash Park—and his appetite for blood is insatiable. Everyone's hungry for something. Some are more famished than others.

The One You Love


Paul Pilkington - 2011
    Her fiancé vanishes, leaving the battered and bloodied body of his brother in their London apartment. Someone is stalking her, watching her every move. And her family are hiding a horrifying secret; a secret that threatens all those she loves. In a desperate race against time, Emma must uncover the truth if she ever wants to see her fiancé alive again. The One You Love is a fast-paced suspense mystery, full of twists and turns, following in the tradition of writers such as Nicci French and Sophie Hannah.

The Alex Troutt Thriller Series: Books 1-3


John W. Mefford - 2016
     AT Bay (Book 1) Alexandra Giordano never knew she had it so good. Until it was all gone in an instant. As she begins her daunting quest to uncover the black spots on her memory, what she finds isn’t sweet or charming or even pleasant. And that’s when she begins to question everything, including herself. Her work as a Special Agent for the FBI is only a distraction, serving as a mental metronome…anything to crank the gears of her feeble mind. And then it happens—a bizarre, ritualistic murder. She loses herself in her work, fully immersed in the investigation. Unable to recall even her own kids, she’s somehow able to formulate coherent theories on what type of person could pull off such a sickening act. As her mind slowly plugs a few memory gaps, her emotions are scrambled by the reality of her worlds colliding. And the resulting explosion tears her in two. Can she pick up all the incendiary fragments to solve the twisted crime while she clings to some semblance of sanity? One woman can only keep so much…AT Bay. AT Large (Book 2) The pursuit of the truth. The hunt for a life. For the first time in months, FBI Special Agent Alex Troutt feels almost normal, hanging out at a local bar with friends after work. Not long into the evening she stumbles over one of the most disturbing images she has ever seen. And that’s only the beginning. A body is found in Lowell, the human damage, once again, inconceivable. Hours later, another strike. Pushing heartache aside, Alex immerses herself in the investigation. But with every new clue comes a new twist. With the killing spree drawing the attention of every intelligence and law enforcement agency in a five-state radius, Alex is forced to partner with an egomaniac from the CIA. Yet, even with limitless resources, every step forward proves to be a step too late, the kill list seemingly endless. Once the killer makes it personal, Alex is left with no other option—she must confront the person who destroyed her life to try to cease the vicious murders. And when she finally learns the killer’s end game, every second counts if she has any hope of stopping the brutal killings. The hunt will end. Will Alex? AT Once (Book 3) “If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.” FBI Agent Alex Troutt has no intentions of falling for anything. Apparently, neither do the bad guys, as the Boston area is once again targeted by extremists. Boston Strong of just a few years ago is now Boston on Edge. And this time, the targets are men of the cloth—priests. At least that’s how it looks at first. As investigators struggle to make sense of the bombings, Alex is thrown for a loop when the FBI assistant director asks her to investigate one of their own—a colleague and friend who is suspected of having ties to a known terrorist. Torn between her values of friendship and the oath she gave when she accepted her FBI credentials, Alex must now lead two investigations simultaneously.

Bad To The Bones


James Harper - 2014
    The love and support of her husband Robbie was all that kept her sane—until the day he ran away. Makes you thankful you're not Linda Clayton. Wise-cracking, street-smart PI Evan Buckley thought his problems were bad enough. When his latest case ends in disaster, he’s at the end of his tether—until fate throws him headlong into Linda Clayton's desperate world and a long-dead investigation that everybody wants to stay that way. But Evan never does what everybody wants, and he vows to uncover the truth—and in the process kick into touch the demons that come to torment him every night. As the suspense ratchets up, he’s caught in a desperate fight for his life with a stone cold killer who will go to any lengths to protect his secrets ... With action-packed twists and turns and a pace that doesn’t let up until the thrilling conclusion, Bad to The Bones is a brilliant start to a gripping new crime series from James Harper. Bad To The Bones was previously published as Cruel Comfort/In Cold Blood.

Sign Off


Patricia McLinn - 2012
     TV journalist Elizabeth “E. M.” Danniher will tell you she committed two sins — she didn’t stay young, and she made an enemy of a powerful news executive — her ex. She used to break national news. Now her top story as the “Helping Out!” reporter at dinky KWMT-TV in Sherman,Wyoming is getting a refund for a defective toaster. Tough, funny and determined, Elizabeth wrestles with isolation, keeping a professional edge, and an evolving self-image. Is Wyoming — the land of cattle, cowboys, tumbleweeds, and fewer than six people per square mile — her new home or a road to permanent obscurity? Soon she’s in a battle of wills with ex-football player turned journalist Mike Paycik, who sees her as a handy rung on his career ladder. And there’s the matter of a deputy sheriff—missing or murdered? Elizabeth finds herself investigating at the insistence of a girl who’s set on proving her father’s innocence. Not that enigmatic rancher Thomas David Burrell makes investigating easy. But Elizabeth won’t fade to black without a fight, no matter how final some might want to make her SIGN OFF. Don’t miss any of the Caught Dead in Wyoming series by USA Today bestselling author Patricia McLinn:Sign OffLeft HangingShoot FirstLast DitchLook LiveBack StoryCold OpenHot Roll