Creatures of Appetite


Todd Travis - 2013
    Everyone else calls it a nightmare. Locked doors don't stop him. He leaves no trace behind. He only takes little girls. His nickname... The Iceman. A deranged serial killer roams wintry rural Nebraska with a demented purpose no one can fathom. Special Agent EMMA KANE, a former DC cop and damaged goods now with the FBI, is assigned to babysit burnt-out profiler JACOB THORNE, once the best in the business but now said to have lost his edge, as they both fly to Nebraska to catch this maniac. Thorne is erratic, abrasive and unpredictably brilliant, but what he and Kane find in the heartland is much more than anyone bargained for, especially when the Iceman challenges them personally. The clock is ticking and a little girl's life is on the line. And maybe even more with that, once they find out what he's really up to.NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: This book has frank and profane adult language within... this is often how many a law enforcement officer speaks, in my experience. Not all, but many, very many. The book also has violence and adult situations, but the profanity is the only thing that some folks have been noting, for some odd reason, so I'm warning you now that it has profanity. I totally understand that not everyone wants to read curse words. However, to write a book like this without a cop cursing would not, in my mind, be authentic. Therefore, if you can't handle HBO-style language, (a la THE WIRE, etc.) this book is not for you. If fictional bad language bothers you more than the fictional murder of young people, this book is definitely not for you, but I thank you for your time and consideration.

A Criminal Defense


William L. Myers Jr. - 2017
    The defendant, David Hanson, was Mick’s close friend in law school, and the victim, a TV news reporter, had reached out to Mick for legal help only hours before her death.Mick’s played both sides of Philadelphia’s courtrooms. As a top-shelf defense attorney and former prosecutor, he knows all the tricks of the trade. And he’ll need every one of them to win.But as the trial progresses, he’s disturbed by developments that confirm his deepest fears. This trial, one that already hits too close to home, may jeopardize his firm, his family—everything. Now Mick’s only way out is to mastermind the most brilliant defense he’s ever spun, one that will cross every legal and moral boundary.

Into The Fire


F.J. Gale - 2013
    If you are not comfortable with that, this is not the book for you. This book is NOT for young readers.)In a city ravaged by the criminal activities of the notorious Syndicate, only one entity stands between losing control and protecting the people. Led by Commander Adam Reede, the Civilian Security Agency (CSA) fights to rid the city of the enemy. When the founder of the agency is murdered, if falls to Adam to pick up the pieces. Taking his fallen leader's daughter, Abbey, under his wing, he attempts to protect her, but is thwarted by one of his very own who has fallen to the dark side. With the stability of the agency threatened, dissention amongst his men and interference weigh heavily on Adam as he fights to maintain control. In an unexpected turn of events, it is Abbey who is forced to face her own demons before joining him to take on the enemy together.

The Naturalist


Andrew Mayne - 2017
    So when mutilated bodies found deep in the Montana woods leave the cops searching blindly for clues, Theo sees something they missed. Something unnatural. Something only he can stop.As a computational biologist, Theo is more familiar with digital code and microbes than the dark arts of forensic sleuthing. But a field trip to Montana suddenly lands him in the middle of an investigation into the bloody killing of one of his former students. As more details, and bodies, come to light, the local cops determine that the killer is either a grizzly gone rogue… or Theo himself. Racing to stay one step ahead of the police, Theo must use his scientific acumen to uncover the killer. Will he be able to become as cunning as the predator he hunts—before he becomes its prey?

Only the Truth


Adam Croft - 2017
    He travels for work and plays the carefree bachelor when he can. But now, on a solo business trip, in a remote coastal hotel, he’s surprised to find Lisa in his bathroom. She’s dead.He has no idea how she got there but one chilling fact is clear: everything points to Dan having murdered her. Someone is trying to frame him. Someone who might still be watching. In a panic, he goes on the run. But even as he flees across Europe, his unknown enemy stacks up the evidence against him.Dan is determined to clear his name and take revenge on Lisa’s killer, but the culprit is closing in. And then there’s the agony of his own guilty conscience. No, he didn’t kill her—but is it all his fault?

Return To Sender


Dick Cluster - 1988
    But he’s got a complication right now—he’s trying to survive chemo. And then Gerald Meyer, a stranger he meets at the Post Office, asks him to mail a package to Meyer’s daughter. Easily done, but too late, Meyer changes his mind. And turns up dead. But now the package is gone, and clearly dangerous! Will Meyer’s daughter be the next victim? Worse, is Alex about to be arrested for murder? Out of those fears is born Alex’s career as an international detective—because the stranger’s daughter lives in Berlin, and he doesn’t know how to contact her. Too intrigued to let it go (and also because he’s a mensch) Alex sets off on an adventure that takes him to London and Berlin in the last years of the Wall, in a search for package, perpetrators, and to prove his own innocence. Along the way he’s plunged into the wreckage of Gerald Meyer’s life, a wake that includes the daughter, half-German and half-Jewish, as well as an underworld network, unusual banking transactions, blackmail, shadowy neo-Nazis, and a city in which, as Meyer’s daughter puts it, “Under all the showy stuff, Berliners are frightened of so many things.” Police detectives in two countries don’t make it any easier, but Alex learns to cope, trading bits of information while explaining his actions with metaphors such as the Yiddish meaning of his family name. Great scenes in Berlin make this a must-read for fans of international mysteries and thrillers, and World War II buffs will appreciate the historical aspects. Fans of Jewish detectives like Rabbi Small, Jake Samson, Rebecca Schwartz, Peter Decker, and Rina Lazarus will find themselves adding another series to their favorites. But it’s a great P.I. story for all mystery fans, in the vein of vintage male sleuths who are neither cozy nor hard-boiled—just regular detective guys, like Ellery Queen, Father Brown, Gideon Oliver, Charles Paris, and Tubby Dubonnet.

Missing Person: The Beginning


James Hunt - 2017
    In addition to its annual fall cider festival, it also boasts one of the lowest crime rates in the state. It’s an idyllic little town, where people escape the big city to enjoy nature. For Chase Grant, it was a fresh start, a new beginning. But when the family down the street disappears, Grant is forced to confront a past that he had thought he’d left behind.

Fifth Avenue


Christopher Smith - 2010
    In the thriller Fifth Avenue, each intermingles within a revered society that is unprepared for what's in store for it when one man finally strikes in an effort to destroy another man for murdering his wife thirty-one years ago. Louis Ryan is that man. George Redman, his wife, two daughters and their close friends are his targets. Both men are self-made billionaires who came from nothing to stake their claim to Fifth Avenue. But when Louis Ryan hires an international assassin to literally rip the Redman family apart, a series of events that can't be stopped catapults them all through a fast-paced, hard-edged thriller in which nobody is safe. Secrets are revealed. The Mafia get involved. And George's two daughters, Celina and Leana Redman, come to the forefront. More than anyone, it's they who are caught in the throes of their father's past as Louis Ryan's blind desire to kill them all takes surprising turns in his all-out effort to see them dead.

Hostile Witness


Rebecca Forster - 2004
    Josie, once a hot-shot criminal defense attorney, left the fast track behind for a small practice in Hermosa Beach, California. But Hannah Sheraton intrigues her and, when the girl is charged as an adult, Josie cannot turn her back. But the deeper she digs the more Josie realizes that politics, the law and family relationships have created a combustible and dangerous situation. When the horrible truth of the murder is uncovered it could save Hannah Sheraton or destroy them both.

Saving Grace


Pamela Fagan Hutchins - 2012
    When she flees Texas for the Caribbean, Katie escapes professional humiliation, a broken heart, and a wicked Bloody Mary habit, but she trades one set of problems for another when she begins to investigate the suspicious deaths of her parents on the island of St. Marcos. She’s bewitched by the voodoo spirit of an abandoned house in the rainforest and discovers that she’s as much a danger to herself as the island’s bad guys are. As the worst of her worlds collide, Katie drags herself back to the courthouse to defend her new friend Ava, an island local accused of stabbing the senator she’s been sleeping with.

And Then She Was Gone


Christopher Greyson - 2016
    Only a few more steps and she’d be within its grasp. Stacy Shaw has her whole life ahead of her. New job, new house and now a baby on the way—everything she’s ever hoped for is finally coming true. But on a warm summer night on the way home from work, she vanishes. The police race to find her, but the clues don’t add up. Conflicting facts emerge as her story twists and turns, sending the trail spiraling in all directions. A hometown hero with a heart of gold, Jack Stratton was raised in a whorehouse by his prostitute mother. Jack seemed destined to become another statistic, but now his life has taken a turn for the better. Determined to escape his past, he's headed for a career in law enforcement. When his foster mother asks him to look into the girl’s disappearance, Jack quickly gets drawn into a baffling mystery. As Jack digs deeper, everyone becomes a suspect—including himself. Caught between the criminals and the cops, can Jack discover the truth in time to save the girl? Or will he become the next victim?And Then She Was Gone is part of the Detective Jack Stratton Mystery Series

Murder on Potrero Hill


M.L. Hamilton - 2012
    Jake truly loved his wife. So what went wrong?Stepping into the circle of the social elite, Peyton finds that things work differently when you’re at the top. And Jake Ryder seems to be caught in the epicenter.Ultimately, Peyton finds that you never know what darkness lurks in the human mind and that some will murder to keep that darkness hidden.

314


A.R. Wise - 2012
    She has a good life as a music teacher now, and might rekindle her relationship with her one true love. However, the number 314 haunts her, and threatens to bring her back to the day that her brother disappeared. When a reporter shows up, just days before March 14th, Alma realizes that her past is coming back to haunt her. What happened on March 14th, at 3:14, 16 years ago? No one but The Skeleton Man can remember.

Good as Dead


Susan Walter - 2021
    Holly saw it all. In one violent moment, a hit-and-run accident turns Holly’s life upside down. Then a fixer for the high-powered guilty party approaches Holly with an offer she is in no position to refuse. Holly and her daughter, Savannah, will want for nothing, beginning with a luxury dream house—all for the price of their silence. But when their sudden appearance in privileged Calabasas, California, piques the curiosity of neighbors, the price becomes greater than they imagined. Because Holly and Savannah aren’t the only ones in the neighborhood with something to hide.Told from alternating points of view, Good as Dead draws together an unlikely group of people bound to one another by a crime, a cover-up, and compounding deceptions. As carefully constructed lives begin to crumble, how far will everyone be willing to go to bury the truth and protect the people they love?

Killing Katie


B.A. Spangler - 2015
    But the consequences are Deadly. Amy Sholes has a problem. An obsession. She’s a murderer. A talented and prolific serial killer. To most, she is a monster—an evil person with a cancer on her soul. But to many, she is an avenging angel, serving justice and helping those who could not help themselves. Her one rule, she only kills those who prey on others. Amy is beautiful and sexy with a wonderful husband and a family she adores. Her world may seem perfect, but Amy knows it could be better. And she’s willing to do whatever it takes to rid the world of bad people. She’s a killer you’ll want to root for. Book 1 follows Amy’s Affair with Murder. She succumbs to the seductive draw of a dark society, risking everything for a little taste. Her desires lead her into a thrilling world filled with twists and turns so intoxicating that she loses sight of who she is. Soon, Amy is living two lives—a dangerous juggling act in which one misstep could destroy her and shatter the family she loves. But her newfound obsession has bled into her family's lives, jeopardizing everything. Amy’s husband is a police detective and some of her adventures have showed up on his desk. She’s determined to keep her two worlds separate, and finds herself tangled in a deep web of lies, telling one after another to throw off the suspicions of the man she loves and to save who they are. Amy knows people live for the idea that their fantasies can come true. The question she begins to ask: should they?