Book picks similar to
Exposé by Laura Van Wormer


mystery
fiction
chick-lit
mystery-thriller

Love Me If You Must


Nicole Young - 2007
    For a start she discovers something unsettling in the basement that interests the police officer next door.

Trust


Pamela M. Kelley - 2014
     Her Fiance, David, is a former minor-league pitcher turned stockbroker who is surprised to discover that there are things he didn't know about Lauren. With the help of his 91 year old grandfather, & his friend Jack, the assistant sheriff, he searches for the truth.

Death By Honeymoon


Jaden Skye - 2011
    Cindy finds her newly beloved taken away from her, drowned in a freak accident in the ocean. The local police are quick to declare it an accident, to insist that he was caught in a sudden riptide. But Cindy, left all alone, is not convinced.Cindy must return to her and Clint’s now-empty home in New York and face her in-laws, who never wanted Clint to marry her, and who did everything to make her engagement and wedding hell. She must deal with all of these women’s backbiting, gossiping and unspoken accusations, while she tries to get a handle on her own grief and to get clear on what really happened to Clint.Cindy is mailed an anonymous photo of a woman she had never met, addressed to Clint. As she tries to unravel the mysterious package, as she begins to dig deeper into Clint’s emails and files, she realizes how many secrets Clint had been hiding from his past. She realizes that she didn’t really know the man she loved. And she also realizes that Clint was murdered.She digs deeper, into the depths of Clint’s massive corporation, DGB oil, and as she starts to unearth information she shouldn’t, she goes too far. Soon her own life is in peril. On the run, she realizes that the only way to get answers, and to save her own life, is to return to where it all began: Barbados. As she heads into the dark underside of the island, into the heart of the local villages, she is shocked to discover what really happened to her husband on their honeymoon.But by then, it may already be too late.Books #2--#7 in the Caribbean Murder series (DEATH BY DIVORCE) are now also available!

Intrusion


Mary McCluskey - 2016
    While Scott throws himself back into his law practice in Los Angeles, Kat is hesitant to rejoin the workplace and instead spends her days shell-shocked and confused, unable to focus.When an unwelcome face from Kat’s past in England emerges—the beautiful and imposing Sarah Cherrington—Kat’s marriage is thrown into a tailspin. Now wealthy beyond anything she could have imagined as a girl, Sarah appears to have everything she could need or want. But Sarah has an agenda and she wants one more thing. Soon Kat and Scott are caught up in her devious games and power plays.Against the backdrops of Southern California and Sussex, in spare and haunting prose, Mary McCluskey propels this domestic drama to its chilling conclusion.

Foreclosed


Traci Tyne Hilton - 2010
    Foreclosed is the word no homeowner wants to hear and Mitzy is determined to save the incredible mansion on her street from that fate. But with the homeowner desperate to keep Mitzy away from his property and Alonzo, the dangerously hot rival investor trying to snatch it out from under her, Mitzy knows she has to work fast, or the economy won’t be the only thing dead… Enjoy this cozy Christian Mystery for free today! Praise for the Mitzy Neuhaus Mysteries A fun cozy mystery. The lead character, Mitzy Neuhause, is what one would get if Legally Blond were about real estate. She is well-intentioned, beautiful, slightly clueless, and really, really good at what she does - which is selling homes in Portland, Oregon. The fun begins when she butts heads with a local commercial property real estate agent over a stunning and mysterious Victioran mansion. The next thing you know Russian royal jewels are being discussed and the Russian mob may, or may not, be involved. Mitzy needs to keep her faith, her head, and her big, blonde, 80's hair in place in order to bring everything to a happy ending.—Jane Wells, author of Glitter in the Sun Foreclosed is a thoroughly entertaining and superbly plotted debut novel from Traci Hilton. The book approaches the genre of mystery from an unusual but extremely engaging setting: the world of real estate. And alongside the book's delightful protagonist Mitzy Neuhaus, the reader loses himself in the grandeur and enigmatic qualities of the stunning mansion that the author so authoritatively conveys. The chemistry between Alonzo and Mitzy is apparent from their first encounter and adds a layer of tantalizing romance to the book; their chemistry is electric and their battle of wills really brings the book's main plot to life. But it is Mitzy who deserves the greatest plaudits. She is an emotionally engaging character with an incredible amount of depth; resourceful, polite, entrepreneurial and caring, she is the book's main attraction and could quite easily sustain a lengthy series of mysteries that the book's many readers would enjoy. Finally, the author's writing must receive its deserved praise. Often with light reads such as Foreclosed, the writing can be suspect. But Traci Hilton displays effortless control and command of language. A highly recommended read. –A. S. Anand author 2032

Ties That Bind


Carolyn Arnold - 2011
    The rest of the world thought she was going crazy—until it was too late.When Laura Saunders is found strangled in her home with a man’s necktie, Detective Madison Knight is assigned the case. Her sergeant at the Stiles Police Department wants her to conclude it was an isolated incident and move on with the investigation, but Madison’s not the type to cave under pressure. She’s haunted by certain unexplainable clues at the crime scene, including the presence of a mysterious photograph. Madison believes the picture may somehow tie into the murder, but before she can dig into it, another woman’s body is discovered in a local park. Heather Nguyen was also murdered with the same brand of necktie that had been used on Laura.On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be anything beyond the way they were killed that connects the women. But as Madison delves into the lives of the victims, she unravels a web of deceit and betrayal and lays bare decades of deadly family secrets. Edging closer to the truth, Madison’s quite sure at least one more woman is slated to die. But can Madison piece together all the clues in time to save her?A gripping crime thriller full of heart-pounding twists. Perfect for fans of Robert Dugoni, J.D. Robb, and Lisa Regan.Readers love Ties That Bind:“Arnold has written one of the best female cops that I’ve ever read… Madison is just one of those characters that will stay with you.” –Harlie’s Books, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“A good detective story with lots of twists and turns and an unexpected ending.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“This is one heck of a mystery!” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“Brace yourself for the ending! I didn't see that one coming.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“I loved Madison Knight and her sassy dialogue.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“I found myself unable to stop reading this book.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“A must-read for the mystery fan.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“So many twists and turns I never saw the ending coming!” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“A solid police procedure mystery.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“If you like true suspense, this is a book to read.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“Like watching an award-winning police drama in my mind.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“Intriguing, suspenseful, and full of surprises!” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“Well-written and researched on police procedures.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“It was very difficult to set this book aside to do something else.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“From the moment I began reading this book, I was hooked.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Bad Karma


Douglas Clegg - 1997
    You will never escape me.” She’s the most dangerous inmate in the hospital for the criminally insane...and she just broke out. When Trey Campbell takes his family to Catalina Island, his escaped patient leaves a trail of bodies behind as she hunts for her one true love – from a previous life.

The Memory Closet


Ninie Hammon - 2009
    She understands that something profoundly evil lurks in the swirling purple haze of her amnesia. For a quarter of a century, she was enslaved by what she called the "Boogie Man"-- images from her lost childhood that appeared in the shadows behind her reflection in mirrors and wine glasses, haunted her dreams and attacked her in screaming night terrors. Fear of facing that secret held her hostage. Like a schoolyard bully, it twisted her arm behind her back and forced her to accept that her life began at age 11 in the dirt beside the ditch where the family station wagon burned like hell had opened up a crack in the world right there in the back seat. Then the Boogie Man destroyed her career. And Anne saw him in her dying mother's eyes. With her last breath, Susan Mitchell begged for her daughter's forgiveness. She didn't mean for it to happen, she gasped, but she'll burn in hell for what she did all the same. What did her mother do? Anne has to know. So she has come home to a small Texas prairie town to live with her crazy grandmother in the rambling old house where she grew up, determined to take a stand there against the Boogie Man.But Anne isn't really prepared for how expensive remembering might be. The cost of her memories might be her sanity. Each new revelation loosens Anne's grip on reality. Surely her crazy grandmother didn't do THAT to Anne's beloved parakeet! Yes, the old woman DID! No ... actually, she didn't. The horror that attacks her in the garage--it can't possibly be real...can it? And most important: what happened to the little Indian girl with a face like a china doll whose name was Laughs in the Wind? The Boogie Man knows. He also knows Anne's here. He knows it's showtime. And he knows what she doesn't--that Anne might very well have to pay for her past with her future, that the cost of remembering could be her life.

Murder on the Hill


Kennedy Chase - 2014
    Until now she’s been know as many things: Thief, Bandit, The girl dressed like a ninja… When she’s offered an investigative position at the Silvers Finders Agency, she decides it’s time to go straight. But when a jewelry store break-in she’s investigating turns into a murder case, Harley will need all her skills to find the killer and avoid the attentions of a Russian crime boss. With the help of her new friends, and some from her underworld past, Harley faces a race against the clock. She’ll need to uncover the secret behind the artifact left at the jewelry store if she’s to catch the murderer. If she fails, it won’t just be the job she loses — but her life.

Afterwards


Rosamund Lupton - 2011
    They are in there...Black smoke stains a summer blue sky. A school is on fire. And one mother, Grace, sees the smoke and rush. She knows her teenage daughter Jenny is inside. She runs into the burning building to rescue her.Afterwards Grace must find the identity of the arsonist and protect her children from the person who's still intent on destroying them. Afterwards, she must fight the limits of her physical strength and discover the limitlessness of love.

The Ascendant


Drew Chapman - 2014
    Not according to Garrett Reilly who, just two weeks past his twenty-sixth birthday, thinks he’s probably the best bond analyst at his brokerage—maybe even the best in all of Manhattan. Garrett’s memory for numbers is photographic. But he doesn’t just memorize them; he sorts them, ranks them, senses patterns in them. As he watches buy and sell numbers float across his Bloomberg terminal, Garrett notices what nobody else can: that US Treasury bonds are being sold off at an alarming rate—two hundred billion dollars’ worth. It’s a discovery that he knows will make him incredibly rich.Then the United States military arrives at his office, and Garrett’s life is blown to pieces. As Captain Alexis Truffant explains, Garrett has stumbled upon something much larger—and scarier—than he could have imagined: the first attack in a covert war of unthinkable proportions. His biggest problem? Numbers don’t lie…but governments can.In this taut and cunning novel, Drew Chapman takes readers into a scenario that is eerily plausible and utterly terrifying—an unconventional war capable of bringing a superpower to its knees. The Ascendant is a brilliant new twist on the art of the white-knuckle thriller.

A Good Enough Mother


Bev Thomas - 2019
    . .Ruth Hartland is a psychotherapist with years of experience. But professional skill is no guard against private grief. The mother of grown twins, she is haunted by the fact that her beautiful, difficult, fragile son Tom, a boy who never "fit in," disappeared a year and a half earlier. She cannot give up hope of finding him, but feels she is living a kind of half-life, waiting for him to return. Enter a new patient, Dan--unstable and traumatized--who looks exactly like her missing son. She is determined to help him, but soon, her own complicated feelings, about how she has failed her own boy, cloud her professional judgement. And before long, the unthinkable becomes a shattering reality....An utterly compelling drama with a timebomb at its core, A Good Enough Mother is a brilliant, beautiful story of mothering, and how to let go of the ones we love when we must.

The Stranger Beside You


William Casey Moreton - 2011
    She has a nice home in the suburbs, a husband working on Wall Street, and two fabulous kids. But when the FBI rings the doorbell at midnight, storming her home and arresting her husband Tom for murder, her peaceful world is shattered.When Tom is killed under mysterious circumstances within hours of his arrest,Brynn finds herself following a trail of cryptic clues planted by Tom himself. Soon it's clear that her husband was leading a secret life, and now those same secrets threaten to kill her next.

I, Spy?


Kate Johnson - 2007
     All she has on her side is sarcasm, blonde hair and a small cat called Tammy, but that’s not going to keep her from saving the day...once she’s figured out who to save it from. Sexy spies, plane crashes, firebombs and multicoloured cocktails: they’re all in a day’s work for Sophie. Roll over Bond, there’s a new bombshell in town! This is a new edition of the beloved book, containing brand new material.

Untouchable


Scott O'Connor - 2011
    A year has passed since Lucy Darby's unexpected death, leaving her husband David and son Whitley to mend the gaping hole in their lives. David, a trauma-site cleanup technician, spends his nights expunging the violent remains of strangers, helping their families to move on, though he is unable to do the same. Whitley--an 11-year-old social pariah known simply as The Kid--hasn't spoken since his mother's death. Instead, he communicates through a growing collection of notebooks, living in a safer world of his own silent imagining.As the impending arrival of Y2K casts a shadow of uncertainty around them, their own precarious reality begins to implode. Questions pertaining to the events of Lucy's death begin to haunt David, while The Kid, who still believes his mother is alive, enlists the help of his small group of misfit friends to bring her back. As David continues to lose his grip on reality and The Kid's sense of urgency grows, they begin to uncover truths that will force them to confront their deepest fears about each other and the wounded family they are trying desperately to save.