Book picks similar to
Crimes of the Levee by John Sturgeon
mystery
ebook
history
true-crime
The Prodigal Captive
Rachel Woods - 2018
On a gorgeous morning in paradise, tourists find a dead body on the pristine white beach of St. Killian, an island in the Caribbean. The victim was killed in a ritualistic murder. The dead man was castrated and branded. Burned into his skin is a strange word—“eros.” Investigative journalist Vivian Thomas-Bronson heads to the scene of the crime. She’s got to cover the story alone. Her husband, Leo Bronson, has to do a mysterious favor for his father. Leo is less than thrilled when he’s asked to find the missing son of a billionaire. There’s only one clue to go on—something known as “eros.” Could the missing scion be connected to the dead man on the beach? And what is the mystery behind “eros"? Their investigation uncovers an ultra-secret cult whose members perform bizarre rituals. When Leo goes undercover to get more information, he finds himself face to face with a demented killer. Can he escape with the truth? Or, will he fall prey to a psychotic villain who believes that murder is a sacrifice worth making?
A Pepper Brooks Mystery Collection: A Cozy Box Set Books 1-3
Eryn Scott - 2019
Each book features a different classic author. ;) Happy reading!Book One: Literally DeadTo solve or not to solve?When a visiting professor is found dead, English major Pepper Brooks is caught in the middle of the investigation. Literally. While the detectives focus on crime scene forensics, Pepper can't ignore the Shakespearian clues left by the killer.With the help of a handsome library clerk, a dog named Hamburger, and the words of The Bard himself, this unlikely sleuth might just close the book on this case.Book Two: Literally MurderA Farewell to BlondesWhen a young woman shows up dead in Campus Creek, amateur sleuth Pepper Brooks is warned not to get involved. She's fine with that. It's her final quarter of college, she's immersed in Hemingway and planning her future. Plus, things are already complicated enough trying to figure out where everything stands with Alex, her maybe-boyfriend.But when two more fair-haired women show up drowned, Pepper literally can't stay away. Especially when her best friend may be the next one For Whom the Bell Tolls.Book Three: Literally GoneIt is a truth universally acknowledged that an overly inflated ego must be in want of the spotlight.When the actor set to play Mr. Darcy is found murdered in his dressing room, Pine Crest's annual AustenFest is derailed. Pepper Brooks must set her pride and prejudice aside to differentiate between rumor and truth as she searches for the killer.Between running her new bookstore and trying to decide who is a Darcy and who is a Wickham, Pepper quickly finds that her story might not end as happily as those written by Jane Austen.
The Way the Cookie Crumbles: Ginger Burnet Cozy Mysteries Prequel
Clementine Moore - 2021
Recently returned from big city life, and in an attempt to reconnect with her roots and restart her life, she takes up the job of school baker at the esteemed Chiswick Park Academy. Further turning her back on her recent past and following her true aspirations as an amateur baker, stars seem to finally align in Ginger’s life.When a mysterious invitation to a bake-off challenge for a new TV reality show comes up, Ginger takes the opportunity to further cement her presence in the small town. She still has a month until her new job starts, so what harm could possibly be done?As the contestants gather at the highly gated Manor, things take a bloody turn, and all of a sudden ten strangers will need to work together to get out of their host’s murdering sight.Can Ginger solve the mystery and save her life in time? Will her natural instincts protect her from the mansion’s death traps?Find out in this page-turning mystery full of wild turns and family secrets that will rock Little Chiswick to the core, and announce the arrival of a new amateur sleuth in town!*If you like quirky characters, witty dialogue, heart-wrenching twists and turns, and lots of mystery, then you’ll love “The Way the Cookie Crumbles”
The Hive
Gregg Olsen - 2021
Lindsay soon learns that the victim was writing an exposé. Her subject: a charismatic wellness guru who’s pulled millions into her euphoric orbit…To hear Marnie Spellman tell it, when she was a child, a swarm of bees lifted her off the ground and toward the sunlight, illuming her spiritual connection with nature—an uncanny event on which Marnie built a cosmetics empire and became a legend, a healer, and the queen of holistic health and eternal beauty. In her inner circle is an intimate band of devotees called the Hive. They share Marnie’s secrets of success—including one cloaked in darkness for twenty years.Determined to uncover the possibly deadly mysteries of the group, Lindsay focuses her investigation on Marnie and the former members of the Hive, who are just as determined to keep Lindsay from their secrets as they are to maintain their status.
Summer People
Aaron Stander - 2000
The summer residents are settling in for the season and the tourists are beginning to flood the highways and beaches. But the idyllic vision of a summer at the shore is suddenly shattered by a gangland-style shooting. This murder is quickly followed by the deaths of three more summer residents, each taking place under suspicious circumstances. At times hindered by local politics and the proverbial tension between the summer people and the natives, Sheriff Ray Elkins searches for the possible links between the four victims. As he probes into their tangled lives and dark histories, he finds both the motive and the possible murderer.
Murder at the Mansion
Sheila Connolly - 2018
Fifteen years later she's got a degree in hospitality management and a great job supervising every aspect of the day-to-day operations of a high-end boutique hotel on the Baltimore waterfront. Then her high school best friend asks her to come talk with the town leaders of Asheford, but she won't say why. Kate can't cut her last link to her past, so she agrees to make the short trip across the state to Asheford.Once Kate arrives, the town council members reveal that their town is on the verge of going bankrupt, and they've decided that Kate's skills and knowledge make her the perfect person to cure all their ills. The town has used its last available funds to buy the huge Victorian mansion just outside of town, hoping to use it to attract some of the tourists who travel to visit the nearby Civil War battle sites. Kate has less-than-fond memories of the mansion, for personal reasons, but to make matters worse, the only person who has presented a possible alternate plan is Cordelia Walker--Kate's high school nemesis, who had a hand in driving Kate away from Asheford so many years.But a few days later Kate receives a call from the police--Cordelia has been found dead on the mansion property, and Kate is all-but certain that her name is high on the suspect list. She finds herself juggling the murder investigation and her growing fascination with the magnificent old house that turns out to be full of long-hidden mysteries itself. Kate knows she must clear her name and save her town--before she ends up behind bars.
Crashed
Timothy Hallinan - 2012
Since he first started breaking into houses when he was fourteen years old, he’s never once been caught. But now, after twenty-two years of an exemplary career, Junior has been blackmailed by Trey Annunziato, one of the most powerful crime bosses in LA, into acting as a private investigator on the set of Trey’s porn movie venture, which someone keeps sabotaging.The star Trey has lined up to do all that’s unwholesome on camera is Thistle Downing, America’s beloved child star, who now lives alone in a drug-induced stupor, destitute and uninsurable. Her starring role will be the scandalous fall-from-grace gossip of rubber-neckers across the country. No wonder Trey needs help keeping the production on track.Junior knows what that he should do — get Thistle out and find her help — but doing the right thing will land him on the wrong side of LA’s scariest mob boss. With the help of his precocious twelve-year-old daughter, Rina, and his criminal sidekick, Louie the Lost (an ex-getaway driver), Junior has to figure out a miracle solution.
A Thread of Madness
Blythe Baker - 2020
But the unexpected discovery that the killer might be in their very midst soon changes everything, sparking an urgent desperation to ferret out his identity.While assisting the local constable in his investigation, Iris stumbles across a family mystery of her own, a buried secret that calls into question everything she thinks she knows about her sister. With Iris’s once-blind faith in Lily shaken, can the sisters unite long enough to escape the schemes of a dangerous lunatic?
Dear Crossing
Marjorie Swift Doering - 2012
Ray Schiller, a man with private demons of his own, follows the trail of evidence to Minneapolis where he teams up to investigate the murder with Homicide Detective Dick Waverly. The scrutiny of the widower's carefully guarded personal life threatens to ruin the executive's bid for his father-in-law's company. Ambition, greed, love and hate result in startling consequences, which threaten to stall the investigation while an unthinkable incident makes Ray the focus of a harrowing Internal Affairs investigation. His shaky marriage and law-enforcement career rest in the balanace. Meanwhile, Ray discovers the significance of several seemingly unrelated events, which turn the murder case on its head.
The Bone Jar
S.W. Kane - 2020
An abandoned asylum. Will a mysterious former patient help untangle the dark truth?The body of an elderly woman has been found in the bowels of a derelict asylum on the banks of the Thames. As Detective Lew Kirby and his partner begin their investigation, another body is discovered in the river nearby. How are the two murders connected?Before long, the secrets of Blackwater Asylum begin to reveal themselves. There are rumours about underground bunkers and secret rooms, unspeakable psychological experimentation, and a dark force that haunts the ruins, trying to pull back in all those who attempt to escape. Urban explorer Connie Darke, whose sister died in a freak accident at the asylum, is determined to help Lew expose its grisly past. Meanwhile Lew discovers a devastating family secret that threatens to turn his life upside down.As his world crumbles around him, Lew must put the pieces of the puzzle together to keep the killer from striking again. Only an eccentric former patient really knows the truth—but will he reveal it to Lew before it’s too late?
The Janissary Tree
Jason Goodwin - 2006
Europe is modernizing, and the sultan of the Ottoman Empire feels he has no choice but to follow suit. But just as he's poised to announce sweeping political change, a wave of murders threatens the fragile balance of power in his court. Who is behind the killings? Deep in the Abode of Felicity, the most forbidden district of Topkapi Palace, the sultan - ruler of the Black Sea and the White, ruler of Rumelia and Mingrelia, lord of Anatolia and Ionia, Romania and Macedonia, Protector of the Holy Cities, steely rider through the realms of bliss - announces, "Send for Yashim." Leading us through the palace's luxurious seraglios and Istanbul's teeming streets, Yashim places together the clues. He is not alone. He depends on the wisdom of a dyspeptic Polish ambassador, a transsexual dancer, and the Creole-born queen mother. He manages to find sweet salvation in the arms of another man's wife (this is not your everyday eunuch!). And he introduces us to the Janissaries. For four hundred years, they were the empire's elite soldiers. But they grew too powerful, and ten years earlier the sultan had them crushed. Are the Janissaries staging a brutal comeback? And if they are, how can they be stopped without throwing Istanbul into political chaos?
Deadly Motives
Ann Girdharry - 2019
The problem is, Travis was at the hospital in custody when the nurse was murdered but he was in the constant custody of two police officers.Determined to solve the case, Grant recruits a specialist to his team, Ruby Silver, a top criminal profiler. But Ruby is hiding something from her colleagues.Who is the killer and what is their motive?Grant and the team must work quickly to solve the case as the body count rises.Introducing Detective David Grant and Psychologist Ruby Silver.
Death Set to Music
Mark Hebden - 1979
The body was found in the salon, an elegant room with a grand piano and a Louis XIV escritoire. The shutters were still closed and the dead end of a record of Rigoletto was still turning.There are some obvious suspects, yet the clothes of none of them show any signs of blood. And what were the tensions that must have torn at this family? It’s only when a second murder takes place that the method of the first becomes startlingly clear.
Moody, sharp-tongued and worrying constantly about his health, Inspector Evariste Clovis Désiré Pel ensures that no case goes unsolved, in these mordantly witty French mysteries.
Another One
Tony Faggioli - 2017
After two tours in the Afghanistan War, he thought the horrors that he witnessed there were behind him. But the death of his partner has now opened a dark hole of memories that are threatening to swallow Parker alive. Desperate to maintain his grip, he focuses on the last unsolved case his partner left behind: the brutal murder of Hymie Villarosa. Father Bernardino Soltera is being destroyed by the present. After ministering to the gang ridden streets of East L.A. for over twenty years, he's unable to see past the pain and suffering that drugs and violence have wreaked on his neighborhood; he’s ready to give up. But when a young girl confesses that she's pregnant and her boyfriend will hurt her if she doesn't get an abortion? Father Soltera decides to make one more stand. Hector Villarosa is being mocked by the future. After being released from jail he discovers the love of his life is with another man. As the leader of his gang, losing face could mean losing his life, and the fact that detectives are now asking questions about the death of Hector's cousin, Hymie, isn't helping. But Hector's bigger problem is the demon that has followed him out of jail and on to the mean streets of East L.A. Three men, one neighborhood. All about to discover that the veil between this world and the next is razor thin. “Faggioli does an astonishing job bringing both criminals and cops to life as three-dimensional, sympathetic characters.” – Amazon 5 Star Review “This is a book that so profoundly illustrates the never ending battle of good and evil, I'm almost without the words to explain it.” – Amazon 5 Star Review
Murder on Black Swan Lane
Andrea Penrose - 2017
. .The Earl of Wrexford possesses a brilliant scientific mind, but boredom and pride lead him to reckless behavior. He does not suffer fools gladly. So when pompous, pious Reverend Josiah Holworthy publicly condemns him for debauchery, Wrexford unsheathes his rapier-sharp wit and strikes back. As their war of words escalates, London’s most popular satirical cartoonist, A.J. Quill, skewers them both. But then the clergyman is found slain in a church—his face burned by chemicals, his throat slashed ear to ear—and Wrexford finds himself the chief suspect.