Category: Mystery

Murder Gone Cold by B. J. Daniels

Posted April 22, 2026 by Marsha in A TBR Read, Challenges, Connection to another series, Harlequin, Harlequin Intrigue, Modern Western Romance, Mystery, Owned, Romantic Suspense, Series, Small Town Romance / 0 Comments

Could his unsolved murder case reveal all of her family’s past secrets?

When James Colt decides to solve his late father’s final murder case, he has no idea of the danger he’s unleashing.

And Lorelei Wilkins can’t believe that her high school crush is implicating her stepmother!

Now James and Lorelei are embroiled in unraveling a cover-up involving some of Lonesome, Montana’s finest citizens…including a killer determined to keep the truth hidden.

Titles in the A Colt Brothers Investigation series include:  Murder Gone Cold* ~ Sticking to Her Guns* ~ Christmas Ransom* ~ Set Up in the City* ~ Her Brand of Justice* ~ Dead Man’s Hand* ~

This story may contain language, violence, and/or sexual situations intended for an adult 18+ audience.

Read More

Divider

A Cruise to Die For by Heather Graham

Posted April 20, 2026 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance, Harlequin, Harlequin Trade, Harlequin/MIRA, Mystery, NetGalley / 0 Comments

Special Agent Chloe McMurray has been asked to do many things in the name of her job. Going undercover on a cruise ship leaving from her home port of Miami, however, is a new one. Not only that, but she’s tasked with posing as the wife of her federal counterpart, Special Agent Wesley Law.

Their investigation? A string of murders and suicides across three states that seem unrelated, until they uncover a deadly technological connection. Every victim was an expert in technology and had some connection to Milestones, a megacorporation with ties to many industries…including the cruise industry.

Chloe and Wesley must successfully go undercover as tech employees on the ship hosting the ten-year anniversary of the Milestones cruise company. A tough ask when the two have never met before. They’ll infiltrate the technology events, investigate their fellow passengers, and try to uncover what’s really going on.

However, danger is never far behind. Their killer can use tech to do the job without lifting a finger, and at sea, there’s no escape if their covers are blown.

~Standalone~

This story may contain language, violence, and/or sexual situations intended for an adult 18+ audience.

Read More

Divider

Targeted in the Swamp by Kerry Johnson

Posted April 19, 2026 by Marsha in Closed Doors/ Fade to Black, Contemporary Romance, Harlequin, Love Inspired Suspense (Harlequin), Mystery, NetGalley, No Spice Romance, Romantic Suspense, Series, Small Town Romance / 0 Comments

Hunted by killers.  And time is running out fast…

Laurel Bell’s first day as a wildlife photography ranger takes a treacherous turn when she is nearly drowned by a masked assassin.

Her witness protection cover has been blown, and she knows it’s only a matter of time before her attacker returns to finish the job.

Her only chance at survival is police sergeant Heath Calhoun, who will do anything to deliver Laurel to her marshal handler.

But when Heath’s young daughter is taken hostage, the stakes are raised, and now they must race to outsmart the powerful enemies who will stop at nothing to exact their revenge…

Titles in the Forest Ranger Rescuers series include:  Hunted in the Forest* ~ Abducted in the Woods^ ~ Targeted in the Swamp^ ~

This is a no-spice romance, perhaps with closed-door or fade-to-black scenes. Tension and kisses might be involved. Yet, keep in mind that this story is a “Suspense” novel, so there may be some indication of violence within the storyline.

Read More

Divider

Unearthed by Anna J. Stewart

Posted April 17, 2026 by Marsha in Booksprout ARC, Contemporary Romance, Crime, Mystery, Romantic Suspense, Series, Tule Publishing / 0 Comments

After surviving betrayal and violence, forensic investigator Dr. Cassia Davis lives a life of isolation, her once-brilliant career confined to online consulting. When a Hollywood Hills murder mystery exposes a mass grave connected to her past, Cass must confront the man who shattered her trust—FBI Special Agent Mitchell Keaton.

His mistake nearly cost her life. Now, working together on the crime scene investigation, they must unearth the truth about a serial killer tied to The Circle of the Red Lily, a ruthless secret society that controls Hollywood’s darkest corners.

But digging into the past means reopening old wounds. As their passion reignites, Cass and Mitch must overcome guilt, trauma, and the lies that tore them apart. Because the closer they get to the truth, the more dangerous the hunt becomes.

Solving her biggest case means facing her greatest fear.

Titles in the Circle of the Red Lily series include:  Framed ~ Vanished ~ Unearthed ~

This story may contain language, violence, and/or sexual situations intended for an adult 18+ audience.

Read More

Divider

Murder Never Forgets by Nicole Helm

Posted April 16, 2026 by Marsha in Booksprout ARC, Contemporary Romance, Marietta, Marietta Montana, Modern Western Romance, Montana (Tule), Mystery, Romantic Suspense, Series, Sexual Content, Small Town Romance, Thriller, Tule Publishing / 0 Comments

When the past knocks, deadbolt the door…

For private investigator Samantha Price, life is finally starting to feel more settled. Working investigations with her live-in boyfriend, Nate Bennet, is both personally and professionally fulfilling. With one of Nate’s brothers engaged and his older brother, Cal, finally moving back home to Marietta, Montana, the only thing that can disrupt the present…is the past.

Mystery author Jill Harrington can no longer pretend that her grandmother’s history isn’t important. She secretly hires Sam to get to the bottom of what caused Glenda’s traumatic muteness decades ago. But Glenda Harrington is a local ghost story to the people of Marietta, and she has no desire to change that. For years, she’s protected the Bennet family secrets along with her own, and she’ll do whatever she can to stop Sam and Nate from discovering the truth.

But attorney Cal Bennett knows his childhood memories still shield critical secrets. To understand what happened when he was a child, he joins forces with Jill, Sam, and Nate to dig up what Glenda’s been hiding. And what they unearth endangers them all.

Titles in the Western Edge Mystery series include: Double-Edged Reckoning ~ Dark Mountain Ambush ~ Long Lost Winter ~ Murder Never Forgets ~ Dead Man’s Alibi ~

This story may contain language, violence, and/or sexual situations intended for an adult 18+ audience.

Read More

Divider

Vanished by Anna J. Stewart

Posted April 16, 2026 by Marsha in Booksprout ARC, Contemporary Romance, Mystery, Romantic Suspense, Series, Sexual Content, Thriller, Trilogy, Tule Publishing / 0 Comments

Seven years after her twin sister vanished, single mother Mabel Reynolds has turned heartbreak into purpose. As a justice-seeking heroine, she’s dedicated to helping victims of violence find their voice. But when new evidence reopens her sister’s missing women mystery case, Mabel refuses to stay quiet—especially when the investigation leads straight to the city’s power players.

Assistant District Attorney Paul Flynn has been promised an easy win on the case—until Mabel storms into his life. Her passion for justice clashes with his political ambition, but their enemies-to-lovers spark quickly turns to something deeper. Together, they uncover a trail of secrets and lies linking Mabel’s sister to a web of corruption and crime that someone will kill to protect.

As desire and danger collide, Paul must choose between his career and the woman he’s come to protect. And Mabel must face the unthinkable truth about how far justice can go before it breaks her heart.

She’ll risk everything to expose the truth.

Titles in the Circle of the Red Lily series include:  Framed ~ Vanished ~ Unearthed ~

This story may contain language, violence, and/or sexual situations intended for an adult 18+ audience.

Read More

Divider

Framed by Anna J. Stewart

Posted April 15, 2026 by Marsha in Booksprout ARC, Contemporary Romance, Mystery, Romantic Suspense, Series, Sexual Content, Small Town Romance, Suspense, Thriller, Tule Publishing / 0 Comments

When photographer Riley Temple develops a roll of film and uncovers an image of a murdered woman, she becomes the target of a deadly Hollywood conspiracy. The deeper she digs, the clearer it becomes that someone powerful wants her silenced.

Her only ally is LAPD Detective Quinn Burton, a man whose loyalty to his family and the force is as unshakable as his attraction to Riley. Their partnership sparks an undeniable chemistry, but their investigation threatens to expose his father—the city’s police commissioner—as part of a secret society thriller that rules Los Angeles’s elite.

As Riley and Quinn race to uncover the truth, danger closes in. Caught between duty and desire, they’ll have to trust each other to survive. But in this world of love, lies, and corruption, trust could be the most dangerous choice of all.

A Hollywood conspiracy. A forbidden attraction. A truth worth dying for.

Titles in the Circle of the Red Lily series include:  Framed ~ Vanished ~ Unearthed ~

This story may contain language, violence, and/or sexual situations intended for an adult 18+ audience.

Read More

Divider

Your Soulmate is Attached by Joan F. Smith

Posted April 15, 2026 by Marsha in Mystery, NetGalley, Standalone, Thriller / 0 Comments

What if everyone in the world found out who their soulmates are at the same time?

Olivia Adler’s life is picture-perfect: a behind-the-scenes job she loves in a bustling Manhattan newsroom, an engagement to golden-boy Wells, and a once-in-a-lifetime chance to create the documentary she’s always wanted to make.

Then one sleepless night, everything unravels.

One message on Wells’s phone shatters her engagement.

A second message—an anonymous global email quickly dubbed Soulmail—shakes the world.

Delivered to every individual on earth, Soulmail reveals the name and birthdate of their soulmates. Suddenly, love as the world knows it is rewritten overnight, and Olivia accidentally becomes the face of the phenomenon when she reports on the story live and goes viral.

With millions watching her every move, Olivia resolutely refuses to open her Soulmail. She’s not ready for fate to make her choices—especially not now. But when she crosses paths with her childhood best friend—the boy she loved and lost—everything she thought she knew about destiny, timing, and love comes into question.

Is true love written in the stars…or something we choose for ourselves?

~Standalone~

This story may contain language, violence, and/or sexual situations intended for an adult 18+ audience.

Read More

Divider

Deadly Rodeo Threat by Sami A. Abrams

Posted April 8, 2026 by Marsha in Closed Doors/ Fade to Black, Contemporary Romance, Crime, Harlequin, Love Inspired Suspense (Harlequin), Mystery, NetGalley, Series, Small Town Romance, Suspense / 0 Comments

A trail of missing women leads him right into a killer’s trap.

When his twin sister disappears, Navy SEAL Logan Russell’s search for her leads him deep into the woods, where he finds her best friend in the clutches of a masked assailant.

Sheriff Isabelle Sinclair is determined to solve Lisa’s mysterious disappearance the night of her last rodeo—and someone will do anything to keep her from digging too deep.

When crucial evidence links Lisa’s case to a string of barrel racers who’ve also vanished, Logan and Izzie fight against the clock to track down a suspected serial killer.

But when he sets his sights on Izzie, can they outsmart their enemy before both women end up dead?

Titles in the Stone Creek Ranch series include:  Christmas Rodeo Killer ~ Deadly Rodeo Threat ~ Rodeo Witness Protector ~

This is a no-spice romance, perhaps with closed-door or fade-to-black scenes. Tension and kisses might be involved.  Yet, keep in mind that this story is a “Suspense” novel, so there may be some indication of violence within the storyline.

Read More

Divider

Stalked in the Mountains by Danica Winters

Posted April 6, 2026 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance, Harlequin, Harlequin Intrigue, Mystery, NetGalley, Romantic Suspense, Series, Sexual Content, Small Town Romance, Suspense / 0 Comments

She’s sworn she’ll never return home…  Until she needs a hideout.

Actress Scarlett Leafletter’s former agent is stalking her. Concealing her identity, she and her assistant hide out at her estranged family’s resort ranch.

The new guest annoys cowboy Miles Miller, despite his powerful attraction to her. Scarlett’s also drawn to Miles, but both are wary of trusting one another.

As they navigate their conflicted feelings, Scarlett’s past catches up to her, endangering those around her. Then Scarlett’s assistant and Miles’s brother disappear.

And Scarlett must reveal everything. Now, trusting each other is the only way to save those they love.

Titles in the West Glacier Ranch Suspense series include:  Rodeo Crime Ring* ~ Mystery on the Range* ~ Stalked in the Mountains (ARC) ~Murder in the Mountains ~

This story may contain language, violence, and/or sexual situations intended for an adult 18+ audience.

Read More

Divider

Bait the Devil by Winter Austin

Posted April 5, 2026 by Marsha in Booksprout ARC, Contemporary Romance, Crime, Mystery, Romantic Suspense, Series, Small Town Romance, Trigger Situations Possible, Tule Publishing / 0 Comments

In bounty hunting, clean jobs are a myth. Dot knows—she’s seen the blood.

Dot Ybarra doesn’t bluff. Fresh into her bounty hunting career, she’s already earning a reputation for results. But when a “routine” rogue bounty—taken as a favor to her lawyer cousin—turns lethal, she’s staring down a case with international reach, bodies in its wake, and the stench of power.

Her business partner, T.J. Roman, is hiding a secret. If Dot finds out … well, she can’t find out. It would end the effective partnership they’ve built. But the trail won’t wait. What should have been a clean pickup of a fellow military veteran spirals into a hunt through the shadows, where one wrong move could see them both buried in an unmarked grave.

To stop the predators at the center of a violent trafficking ring, they’ll have to go straight into its core—and make themselves the bait. Every step makes them vulnerable to each other as well.

The devil’s coming for them.

Dot plans to be the one still standing after he bites.

Possible Trigger Warning

Titles in the A Bounty of Shadows series include: Ride a Dark Trail ~ Bait the Devil ~

This story may contain language, violence, and/or sexual situations intended for an adult 18+ audience.

Read More

Divider

Sheriff’s Honor by Jill Sorenson

Posted April 4, 2026 by Marsha in Booksprout ARC, Modern Western Romance, Mystery, Romantic Suspense, Series, Sexual Content, Small Town Romance, Tule Publishing / 0 Comments

She’s hiding from a past that could destroy her. He’s sworn to uncover the truth—no matter what the cost.

Meredith Rose never meant to point a shotgun at the new deputy sheriff. But when Wade Hendricks strides onto the Lost Lake ranch to visit his mother, all Texas heat and authority, her fight-or-flight instincts kick in. The honorable lawman makes her heart race for all the wrong reasons.

Wade came home to bury ghosts, not dig up new ones. Yet the wary beauty his mother hired as a caretaker unearths feelings he’d rather keep hidden. The air sizzles every time they meet, but Wade knows better than to fall for a woman who lies to his face. When a cold case hits too close to home, Meredith becomes an unlikely ally–and a temptation he can’t resist.

In a small Texas town where secrets won’t stay buried, the forbidden fire between them threatens to ignite a blaze of cowboy justice.

Titles in the His to Protect series include: Cowboy’s Last Stand ~ Sheriff’s Honor ~ Last Man Standing ~

This story may contain language, violence, and/or sexual situations intended for an adult 18+ audience.

Read More

Divider

Carnival Cold Case by R. Barri Flowers

Posted April 1, 2026 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance, Crime, Harlequin, Harlequin Intrigue, Mystery, NetGalley, Series, This one's a Keeper / 0 Comments

His mind should be on the case…  But he can’t stop thinking of her

When Stefanie Nguyen discovers a dead body at the annual Founder’s Day celebration, police detective Campbell Sawyer picks up the case.

Could the murder be related to a cold case his father worked? Or to a sinister cult?

Despite his goal of keeping things strictly business, Campbell is deeply drawn to Stefanie as he investigates the mystery. Can he keep her safe as the danger escalates?

Titles in the Criminal Case Files series include:  Explosion at the Marina ~ Carnival Cold Case ~ Targeted at Christmas ~ Ranger in Pursuit ~

This story may contain language, violence, and/or sexual situations intended for an adult 18+ audience.

Read More

Divider

The Final Storm by Fern Michaels

Posted March 31, 2026 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance, Kensington Books, Mystery, Romantic Suspense, Standalone, Women's Fiction / 0 Comments

In her award-winning wildlife photographs, Charlotte Gray captures all the beauty and wonder of the natural world. Far better to focus on breathtaking landscapes than to turn the lens on her own painful childhood and the uncaring mother she left behind in Florida. Piece by piece, Charlotte has built a new, independent life, one she’s eager to protect.

A chance encounter on assignment in Las Vegas sparks an intriguing relationship, and for the first time, Charlotte impulsively follows her heart. But along with love and fresh beginnings comes a trove of secrets about her new husband. And someone in his past is determined to upend Charlotte’s happiness by threatening what she cares about most.

After everything she’s weathered, Charlotte is about to face the task of rebuilding her life yet again. But this time she’s doing it with hard-won strength, experience, and the wisdom to know when to forgive, when to let go, and how to walk into the sunshine and claim the support and love she deserves . . .

~Standalone~

This story may contain language, violence, and/or sexual situations intended for an adult 18+ audience.

Read More

Divider

Chasing Justice by Kathleen Donnelly

Posted March 1, 2026 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance, Harlequin, Harlequin Trade, Mystery, NetGalley, Owned, Romantic Suspense, Series, Sexual Content / 0 Comments

After losing her military K-9, former Marine Maya Thompson swears she’ll never work with dogs again. But when she returns home to Colorado and accepts a job with the US Forest Service law enforcement, fate brings K-9 Juniper into her life just as another tragedy unfolds.

Juniper, a beautiful two-year-old Malinois, isn’t the only new addition to Maya’s life. Josh Colten, the local deputy sheriff, insists on helping with her new case. Handsome and mysterious, he’s all anyone in town can talk about, but Maya can’t let herself like him, let alone trust him.

When Maya’s grandfather goes missing amid a growing drug war, Maya must put her faith in Josh, and her own battered instincts, to find him. But there’s a web of secrets tying her grandfather to the tragedy that brought Juniper into her life—secrets someone would kill to keep hidden.

Titles in the National Forest K-9 series include:  Chasing Justice ~ Hunting the Truth ~ Killer Secrets ~ Buried Lies ~ Deadly Revenge ~

This story may contain language, violence, and/or sexual situations intended for an adult 18+ audience.

Read More

Divider