Book picks similar to
Faces of Darkness by Steven A. McKay


historical-fiction
mm
mystery
mystery-historical

To Probe a Beating Heart


John B. Wren - 2011
    She was last seen talking to a man as the clouds opened and a rain began. Th e only witness is an elderly woman whose description of the possible kidnapper could fi t any number of people. As police, friends and family search the immediate area for Annette, she is taken farther away and becomes one of the predator's early victims. Over the course of the next several years, along the interstate 90 corridor between Toledo, Ohio, and Albany, New York, a number of young girls disappear without a trace. Jim McLarry, Annette's cousin and a rookie cop with the Cleveland Heights police force, pursues his own investigation of the missing girls in hopes of finding his cousin. As he feeds information to the detectives assigned to the case, McLarry demonstrates his ability as an investigator. Years earlier, a boy, born and raised in difficult circumstances, determined that he will kill his adoptive mother and sister. Each summer a new victim is another rehearsal for his intended goal. As he plans and executes his annual killings, he leaves virtually no clues. Only little mistakes, the dogged determination of the Cleveland Heights cop and the intervention of Annette's extended family, the Clan, lead to Averell's downfall. To Probe a Beating Heart is a fi ctional, but realistic study in the creation of a killer. Th e monster that Averell has become must be stopped and if the authorities cannot make that happen, the Clan will.

Stones: Data


Jacob Whaler - 2013
    Genghis Kahn. Julius Caesar. Attila the Hun. Mao. Stalin. For thousands of years, the Stones have been hidden among us, giving a privileged few the power to rule over masses, destroy old empires and create new ones. Now it's near the end of the 21st century. On the eve of a trip to Japan, Matt Newmark finds a dark rock in the shape of a claw, and it changes everything. With the help of a Shinto priest, he discovers it’s a Stone, a piece of ancient alien technology that gives him a sweeping view of history and control over time, matter and energy. But Matt is not alone. Mikal Ryzaard, a survivor of the Nazi death camps, has a Stone of his own and a burning vision to eliminate suffering and bring back Paradise. With all the resources of the world's largest multinational corporation behind him, he tracks down Matt and makes him an offer. Join me or die. This is the first book in the Stones series, a new techno-thriller quadriligy by Jacob Whaler.

Portrait of Stella


Susan Wüthrich - 2014
    Jemima Ashton is desperate to discover her real identity. With scant information and the burning question 'who am I?', she embarks on an incredible journey of detection. On learning of her late mother Stella's disappearance during WWII, she retraces her footsteps across the globe and at a distant vineyard, unearths a family she had no idea existed. While treading a path of narrow-minded bigotry, scandalous revelations emerge of two families inextricably linked by one woman and the drastic steps they took to hide the truth. ‘A powerful story of love and loss spanning two generations’ Frances di Plino - author of the Paolo Storey Crime Series

Sherlock Holmes and the Egyptian Hall Adventure


Val Andrews - 1995
     During one of his tricks a priceless woman’s ring has gone missing. The conjurer had intended to smash the ring and reproduce it, but it disappeared and now Lady Windrush wants it back. Holmes and Watson visit the Egyptian Hall to view a performance, but are shocked when it is announced that Cyrano has been killed. The detective pair are called upon to decipher the mystery behind the entertainer’s death. Watson must also battle his obvious attraction to the married Lady Windrush in a riveting addition to the Holmes canon. 'A treat for any fan of the master detective.' - Tom Kasey, best-selling author of 'Cold Kill'. Val Andrews (15 February 1926 – 12 December 2006) was a music hall artist, ventriloquist and writer. Andrews was a prolific writer on magic, having published over 1000 books and booklets from 1952. He also authored Sherlock Holmes pastiches and Houdini's novels. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.

Ollie Stratford Cozy Mysteries: 5 Book Box Set: An Ollie Stratford Cozy Mystery


N.C. Lewis - 2018
    Lewis's popular Ollie Stratford Cozy Mysteries series. Enjoy hour upon hour of good, clean, humorous, reading with characters you will grow to love! BOOK1: TEXAS TROUBLES Middle-aged Professor Ollie Stratford's been hounded by a psycho realtor, outrun by a bunch of grandma’s, taken advice from sock puppets, stuck in a brimming toilet bowl, and almost run out of college by a drunken professor. How is that for her first few days in a quiet little Texas town she never wanted to live in? BOOK 2: CREEK CRISIS When a mysterious Portuguese film producer hires Ollie Stratford's event center she thinks it is going to be fun and games... until the brawling and fisticuffs amongst the Divas break out followed by Murder! BOOK 3: BITTER BONES When the bones of beloved local, Garrick Markovich, turn up buried by the oil well, Ollie's dreams of financial stability are put in danger. Now, Ollie must uncover the secrets of tight lipped locals to find the killer and obtain justice for Garrick. BOOK 4: MAGIC MUMBLES Doctor Ollie Stratford loves a good mystery. But the last thing she ever expected was to stumble into one while relaxing at Mysterious Malcolm's Magical Masquerade show. When a body shows up during the show, and the Magician leaps from the stage and disappears, Ollie gets sucked into a world where everyone has a grudge, and no one is talking. BOOK 5: TEDDY TUMPIN Ollie is trying to live a normal life, in a normal Texas Hill Country town, with a normal event center business. All that changes when the high school homecoming brings a local hero back to town. Then strange things happen—including to Ollie—and a body appears unexpectedly in a most unusual place. As Ollie follows a twisted trail, she does not understand the terrible consequences that will result. Will Ollie and the gang be able to track down the killer before the next victim or is it already too late? Pick up this TOTALLY ABSORBING COZY MYSTERY BOXSET FULL OF STUNNING TWISTS AND TURNS.

Murder Revisited


William Coleman - 2020
    But before he can make a start, he is suddenly reassigned by his boss, Terrance Singleton, to the cold case of Timothy Waters, who had served 20 years in prison for the murder of Elizabeth Mitchell, the daughter of the then mayor.A review of his conviction has set him free and as a friend of the family, Singleton wants to make sure Mallory finds more evidence to put him back behind bars.But the case is complex and before long Mallory discovers that there is a lot more to it than meets the eye; family tensions, a witness run out of town and the possibility the victim had a second boyfriend. It all points to a shoddy investigation and a blunder that sent an innocent man to prison.When Mallory’s investigation reveals a link between the girl in the alley, Elizabeth, and another murder victim from seven years ago, he can’t help but wonder if they are connected. With the motive unclear, and the perpetrator a mystery, Mallory must piece together the evidence that may solve three cases instead of one, overcome a miscarriage of justice and uncover a killer who may be closer than he thinks.

Mobley's Law


Gerald Lane Summers - 2011
    President Grant appoints Judge Mobley Meadows to the Texas Federal Circuit Court and charges him with preventing the situation from getting out of hand. Davis quickly realizes that Mobley is a threat when he overturns the Governor’s land reappraisal decree, a source of graft for Davis’s supporters, and sends his personal assassin to get rid of Mobley. Mobley and his two deputy marshals, Edson Rabb, a handsome Cherokee Indian, and Jack Anthony Lopes, the illegitimate son of General Santa Ana and the English Lady Madeleine Smythe, are repeatedly attacked on their journey from Waco to Austin. They know Davis is behind the attacks, but they cannot make a case against him. Davis loses the election by a majority of two to one, but arranges for his personally appointed state Supreme Court to overturn the election on a technicality involving a single misplaced semi-colon in the new Texas constitution. He then refuses to leave office or to participate in a trial in Mobley’s court. Davis’s opponent, Richard Coke, does not accept this decision and with his supporters storms the state administrative building in Austin. Davis’s forces counterattack and manage to take back the first floor of the building. A standoff then prevails that can only be resolved by the action of President Grant. Mobley suggests a course of action to the president, that in the end works, but not without Mobley having to compromise his beliefs, his sense of honor, and everything he thinks he stands for.

FBI Dragon Chronicles Complete Omnibus


J.L. Hendricks - 2019
     A Ritual of Death When Alyson, top-flight FBI agent and the world's last dragon shifter, and her vampire partner Vlad saved the world last month, they thought that would be the last apocalypse they would ever have to deal with. Not only did Alyson find out that she isn't the last dragon in the world, but a fresh ritualistic murder sends the pair on a death-defying investigation overseas to Russia, and right into Vlad's dark pastWith enemies on all sides and no support from the FBI, Alyson and Vlad need to crack the case before not only are they taken out, but the entire race of vampires is wiped from the planet! Including Vlad... A Ritual of Conquest When Alyson, dragon shifter and FBI special agent, and her sexy vampire partner, Vlad, get back from a death-defying mission to Moscow, they discover that the apocalyptic revelations of their case are only the beginning. Alyson is not the last dragon anymore, and Bravog is working to bring about the end of the world as she knows it. Allied with demonic forces, twisted weres, and corrupted mages, Bravog seems to hold all the cards. But when Alyson realizes her true magical potential and Vlad ascends past his limits, the two just might have a chance to stop Bravog, crack the biggest case of their careers, and save the world! WIll they finally succumb to the emotions sparking between them? Or will duty take priority? Scroll back up and click the Read for Free or buy with 1 click button to join the team and defeat the evil today!

Come Back


Sally Crosiar - 2017
    But what if your aunt begs you to perform at her 60th birthday bash? She cared for you like neither of your parents ever did. And something about her voice on the phone seems off? Vi can’t say no. How bad can three days be? She can act like she has no secrets for that long, can’t she? What if you’ve fretted about why your kid ran away and you hadn’t seen or heard from her in ten long years? What if you know tongues are wagging again all over town – this time about why she’s staying with her aunt and not you? Ben Johansen worries the girl will shame him again before he can make her say why she left. What if you’ve schemed and plotted to get the perfect life? But your stepdaughter could take it all away? Would you be scared? Tammy Johansen is. Down to her bones. What if Ben finds out why Vi ran, and that Tammy has always known? She’s built her life around loving Ben. What if he won’t forgive her? What then? What if the girl you worked so hard to get over waltzes into the diner where you’re having breakfast? What if you know you should hate her for the suspicion her disappearance rained down on you? But you can’t? What if you know neither of you are the same people you were? Would you still want her? Nate Barlow does. Against his better judgment. What if you and Nate pinky-swore to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Would you keep your oath and risk your last drop of hope? Of all the questions Vi faces when she comes back to Freedom, Iowa, this might be the biggest? Three days? It’s no ride on a pink duck.

An Unlamented Death


William Savage - 2015
    Adam Bascom trips over a body in Gressington churchyard, he never imagines it will change the whole direction of his life. As a recently-qualified physician trying to establish a practice in a small market town in north Norfolk, Adam should be devoting all his energy to his business. But it soon becomes clear that the authorities are intent on making sure the death is accepted as an accident and refuse any deeper investigation. Adam’s curiosity and sense of justice cannot accept this. He knows there are many unanswered questions about the death, but he has no standing that would allow him to become involved formally. Instead, he uses friends, old and new, unexpected contacts and even his own mother to help him get to the truth. Set against the turbulence of late-Georgian England, a country on the brink of war with Revolutionary France, the book reveals a land where spies keep constant watch on everyone the government deems ‘undesirable’, religion is polarised between the established church and a mass of dissenting sects, and the perennial ‘Irish question’ has at last spilled over into outright terrorism. Bad weather, poor harvests and enclosure have driven many people in the countryside into abject poverty. Only the smugglers along the coast offer regular and highly-paid ‘work’ helping to unload contraband. Yet here too, the Revenue’s Riding Officers, backed up by troops of dragoons, are waging an increasingly successful campaign to stamp out the major gangs. Adam must thread his way through all of this, encountering many new demands along the way, from a family torn apart by religious bigotry, and a teenage thief turned informer, to a secret section of The Alien Office, a government department dedicated to keeping a close eye on anyone likely to prove a threat to the realm. As he becomes more and more essential to the government’s efforts to combat internal dissension and prepare for war, Adam finds he must draw on all his medical and personal skills to bring the case to a successful conclusion.

The Dublin Trilogy Deluxe Part 2


Caimh McDonnell - 2021
    The series has been a critically acclaimed Amazon bestseller worldwide and it is optioned for TV.The two-part box set features the books with the ancillary novellas and short stories presented in the order the author Caimh McDonnell thinks they should be read in, with new introductions written especially for this edition.Please note: this is the second part!The Dublin Trilogy Deluxe Part 2 contains:Angels in The Moonlight (The Dublin Trilogy Book 3): For Detective Bunny McGarry, life is complicated, and it is about to get more so. He’s set the task of bringing down the most skilled and ruthless armed robbery gang in Irish history. So, the last thing he needs in his life is yet another complication. Her name is Simone. She is smart, funny, talented and, well, complicated.Sisters Gonna Work it Out (Novella): Annoying a drug baron is usually a very bad idea but it is just another day at work for The Sisters of the Saint. An ex-communicated order of kick-ass nuns, they take no prisoners, but they might just free a few.How to Send a Message (Short Story): Bunny McGarry is the kind of man who is inclined to take it personally when someone tries to threaten his life. Two gangland thugs find out to their cost that if you’re going up against the meanest copper in Dublin, you’d better be prepared for a truly unforgettable experience.Last Orders (The Dublin Trilogy Book 4): As a wise man once said, just because you're done with the past, doesn't mean the past is done with you. When long-buried bodies are discovered in the Wicklow Mountains, Bunny's past starts closing in on him. Who can he trust when he can't even trust himself? When he’s got nowhere left to run and nobody he can turn to, will the big fella make the ultimate sacrifice to protect the ones he loves?Please note: All the novels and short stories have been previously available to readers separately.

The Dragon Sword


Griff Hosker - 2021
    Sven Bersisson has to grow up quickly and to follow in his father’s footsteps. Sweyn Skull Taker, his uncle, becomes his foster father and they raid Wessex and Frankia where the young warrior becomes a man. King Sweyn Forkbeard, the King of Denmark, uses their clan to help in his dream of defeating the Norwegians and then taking the throne of England. Sven becomes part of those plans but when he takes possession of a fabled Dragon Sword, his life changes and he becomes greater than his father could ever have dreamed.Set in the late tenth century, The Danelaw Saga follows the hugely successful Dragonheart series and precedes the Saxon trilogy, Housecarl.

Blood Feud


S.J.A. Turney - 2021
    Christianity has swept unstoppably across Scandinavia, leaving few enclaves of the old ways clinging on to their fading world as King Olof of Sweden works to convert his people.A young warrior, Halfdan, has witnessed the ‘mercy’ of the Christian lords, watched his people attacked, his village burned and the Odin stone toppled as heretical. Watched his father cut down by an ambitious Christian jarl and his zealous priest. Among the ashes of his world he vowed an oath of vengeance before all the gods.That oath will bring together an unlikely band of allies and carry them to the very edge of the world, fighting giants, dragons and wraiths, in pursuit of his father’s killer: Yngvar. The jarl is powerful, and the weaving of Fate difficult, but the blood price must be paid.

Sherlock Holmes: and the Mystery of the Broken Window


William Todd - 2016
    The only clue: her window had been smashed through by a rock thrown by an unknown person the night before. With little to go on and no help from the local police, the great detective seems sure of only one thing: if he and Watson cannot find her before dawn, she will be lost forever.

The Snow Leopard


Daniel Leston - 2010
    Cruelly betrayed while a mere boy by his brother’s vaulting ambition, he eventually overcomes bitter slavery far from his native land, achieving the status of a legendary warrior without peer among his adoptive people. Ultimately forced by tragic circumstances to choose between these two diverse cultures, he must finally decide where his true loyalties lay. About the Author:In his early years, Daniel Leston was known as a 'Story Teller' by his nephews and nieces, weaving wondrous tales for their young imaginations about heroes and heroines that strangely seems to carry the same monikers as the intended listeners. It was on this foundation that he decided to pen his first two books, primarily for the enjoyment of family and close friends.With the emergence of a remarkable tool called the 'e-reader', he decided to retrieve his novels from their long attic slumber, dust them off and offer them to the public in 2009.Blending his passion, as a former student of Art and History, Mr. Leston has drawn from his background to create two great tales steeped in history, adventure and human conquest. Opting to avoid the more chosen route of hiring a graphic artist for his first submissions to the literary world, he chose instead to complete the package, bringing his vision to life by painting his own covers.Daniel Leston is currently busy pounding the keyboard on his newest work... a continuing adventure for his beloved character from 'The Amun Chamber', Professor David Manning, scheduled for release in Fall 2012.