Category: Mystery

The Girl in the Mist by Kristen Ashley

Posted January 8, 2022 by Marsha in Crime, Mystery, Owned, Romantic Suspense, Series, Sexual Content, Small Town Romance, Thriller / 2 Comments

Renowned author Delphine Larue needs a haven. A crazed fan has gone over the deep end, and she’s not safe. Her security team has suggested a house by a lake. Secluded. Private. Far away. In a beautiful area of the Northwest close to the sleepy town of Misted Pines. It’s perfect. So perfect, Delphine has just moved in, and she’s thinking she’ll stay there forever.

Until she sees the girl in the mist.

After that, everything changes.

Delphine quickly learns that Misted Pines isn’t so sleepy. A little girl has gone missing, and the town is in the grips of terror and tragedy. The local sheriff isn’t up for the job. The citizens are up in arms. And as the case unfolds, the seedy underbelly of a quiet community is exposed, layer by layer.

But most importantly, girls are dying.

There seems to be only one man they trust to find out what’s happening.

The mysterious Cade Bohannan.

Titles in the Misted Pines series include — The Girl in the Mist –

This is an adult 18+ story that may contain language, possible violence, and/or sexual situations geared to an adult audience.

The Birthday Party by Wendy Dranfield

Posted January 7, 2022 by Marsha in Bookouture, Crime, Mystery, NetGalley, Thriller / 0 Comments

Charlotte waves at her mother across the crowded lawn. Little red boots on, cowboy hat crooked over her blonde pigtails, she’s been looking forward to this party for weeks. Moments later, she disappears without a trace…

Kathy Hamilton drives away from her sister-in-law’s pristine-white suburban house in Maple Falls certain she’s left her daughter in safe hands. On the hottest day of the year, a birthday is a perfect excuse to gather friends, family, and neighbors around the pool for a barbecue. But when she returns hours later to find her little girl has vanished, her world shatters.

Nobody laughing and drinking in the garden that day saw anything unusual.

Kathy’s eldest daughter is anxious and hardly eating. Is she sick with worry for her sister, or hiding a terrible secret?

The phone rings and rings, but why can’t Kathy get hold of the babysitter?

And is she imagining it, or when her husband rushed from work to join the search, was he wearing a different shirt to the one she saw him leave the house in that morning?

As the temperature rises, and long-buried secrets begin to surface, it’s clear that even the most perfect families keep devastating secrets. But in a town as small as this, is there anyone you can trust?

Ending on a Die Note by Nancy Robards Thompson

Posted October 9, 2021 by Marsha in Author ARC, Cozy Mystery, Mystery, Series, Tule Publishing / 0 Comments

All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely killers…

Everybody’s talking about Hemlock’s annual fall festival headliner band, ShakesPierre. Everyone but Tess Harrison, whose breakup with Pierre, the lead singer, left them both singing the blues years ago. And now that Pierre is back, he’s publicly putting his feelings for Tess in the spotlight.

So when Pierre ends up stabbed in the alley outside Tess’s bakery, she’s the number one suspect—especially since she’s famously known for her quality kitchen knives. But the evidence strikes a false note with Maddie and Jenna Bell, who are determined to clear their friend’s name and make sure the real murderer plays…uh, pays for his crime.

The clues lead them out of Hemlock and into danger far outside of Sheriff Jackson Bradley’s jurisdiction. Can Maddie save everyone before the real killer strikes back and Tess goes down for a crime she didn’t commit?

Titles in The Wedding Bell Mysteries series include – Slay Bells Ring – A Crime of Fashion – Ending on a Die Note –

Serve ‘N’ Protect by Tee O’Fallon

Posted October 8, 2021 by Marsha in Author ARC, Entangled Publishing, Mystery, NetGalley, Romantic Suspense, Series / 0 Comments

Ambushed and left for dead, U.S. Secret Service K-9 Officer Markus York is on the mend and laying low in a safe house while his team tracks down his attacker. But Markus isn’t good at sitting still. Even with his K-9, Ghost, for company, he gets restless and decides now is the perfect time to do some repairs around the house…and inadvertently tears open his wounds.

Fresh out of a bad relationship that ended after a car accident left her with limited mobility, freelance accountant Cassidy Morgan has sworn off men. At least, that’s the plan. Until a frantically barking dog leads her to a neighbor’s house where she finds a mysterious man out cold and bleeding on the floor…and mumbling things like “no, they’ll find me” when she tries to call an ambulance.

Yeah, that’s not at all concerning.

Despite Markus’s surly attitude, Cassidy senses there’s something else at work beneath his rugged, keep-your-distance exterior. Whatever it is, it’s sexy as hell.

With someone still trying to kill him, Markus doesn’t want an innocent to get hurt, let alone take care of him.

If only his dog wasn’t crazy in love with her.

If only the chemistry between Markus and Cassidy didn’t explode whenever they were in the same room.

If only Cassidy wasn’t a target now, too.

Titles in the Federal K-9 series include — Lock ‘N’ Load – Armed ‘N’ Ready – Dark ‘N’ Deadly – Trap ‘N’ Trace – Serve ‘N’ Protect –

This is an adult 18+ story that contains language, possible violence, and/or sexual situations geared to an adult audience.

Faithless in Death by J. D. Robb

Posted September 25, 2021 by Marsha in Crime, Mystery, Owned, Police Procedural, Series, Sexual Content, St. Martin's Press, Thriller / 0 Comments

What looked like a lover’s quarrel turned fatal has larger—and more terrifying—motives behind it…

The scene in the West Village studio appears to be a classic crime of passion: two wine glasses by the bed, music playing, and a young sculptor named Ariel Byrd with the back of her head bashed in. But when Dallas tracks down the wealthy Upper East Side woman who called 911, the details don’t add up. Gwen Huffman is wealthy, elegant, comforted by her handsome fiancé as she sheds tears over the trauma of finding the body—but why did it take an hour to report it? And why is she lying about little things?

As Eve and her team look into Gwen, her past, and the people around her, they find that the lies are about more than murder. As with sculpture, they need to chip away at the layers of deception to find the shape within—and soon they’re getting the FBI involved in a case that involves a sinister, fanatical group and a stunning criminal conspiracy.

Faithless in Death is the 52nd title in the “in Death” series. A complete list of all the titles in this futuristic police procedural mystery series can be found on our J. D. Robb page.

This is an adult 18+ story that contains language, possible violence, and sexual situations geared to an adult audience.

Shadows in Death by J. D. Robb

Posted September 18, 2021 by Marsha in Crime, Mystery, Owned, Police Procedural, Series, Sexual Content, St. Martin's Press, Thriller / 0 Comments

Lt. Eve Dallas is about to walk into the shadows of her husband’s dangerous past…

While Eve examines a fresh body in Washington Square Park, her husband, Roarke, spots a man among the onlookers he’s known since his younger days on the streets of Dublin. A man who claims to be his half-brother. A man who kills for a living—and who burns with hatred for him.

Eve is quick to suspect that the victim’s spouse—resentful over his wife’s affair and poised to inherit her fortune—would have happily paid an assassin to do his dirty work. Roarke is just as quick to warn her that if Lorcan Cobbe is the hitman, she needs to be careful. Law enforcement agencies worldwide have pursued this cold-hearted killer for years, to no avail. And his lazy smirk when he looked Roarke’s way indicates that he will target anyone who matters to Roarke…and is confident he’ll get away with it.

Eve is desperate to protect Roarke. Roarke is desperate to protect Eve. And together, they’re determined to find Cobbe before he finds them—even if it takes them across the Atlantic, far outside Eve’s usual jurisdiction…

Shadows in Death is the 51st title in the “in Death” series. A complete list of all the titles in this futuristic police procedural mystery series can be found on our J. D. Robb page.

This is an adult 18+ story that contains language, possible violence, and sexual situations geared to an adult audience.

Forgotten in Death by J. D. Robb

Posted September 11, 2021 by Marsha in Crime, Mystery, Owned, Police Procedural, Thriller / 2 Comments

The body was left in a dumpster like so much trash, the victim a woman of no fixed address, known for offering paper flowers in return for spare change―and for keeping the cops informed of any infractions she witnessed on the street. But the notebook where she scribbled her intel on litterers and other such offenders is nowhere to be found.

Then Eve is summoned away to a nearby building site to view more remains―in this case, decades-old, adorned with gold jewelry and fine clothing―unearthed by recent construction work. She isn’t happy when she realizes that the scene of the crime belongs to her husband, Roarke―not that it should surprise her, since the Irish billionaire owns a good chunk of New York. Now Eve must enter a complex world of real estate development, family history, shady deals, and shocking secrets to find justice for two women whose lives were thrown away…

Forgotten in Death is the 53rd title in the “in Death” series. A complete list of all the titles in this futuristic police procedural mystery series can be found on our J. D. Robb page.

This is an adult 18+ story that contains language, possible violence, and sexual situations geared to an adult audience.

A Silent Child by Claire Sheldon

Posted September 10, 2021 by Marsha in Author ARC, Choc Lit/Ruby Fiction, Crime, Mystery, Series, Thriller, Trigger Situations Possible / 2 Comments

The streets are no place for a child …

After a traumatic event that almost ripped Jen Garner’s family apart, life is finally starting to get back to normal. Then a woman’s body is found in the river.

Shortly afterward, a young boy is discovered wandering the streets. He refuses to speak to anyone, just repeats one name over and over, to the confusion of most of the local authorities –but Jen knows exactly who he’s asking for, and it’s enough to make her blood run cold …

Titles in the Lisa Carter Files series include — Perfect Lie – A Silent Child –

Little Girl Taken by Wendy Dranfield

Posted July 29, 2021 by Marsha in Bookouture, Crime, Mystery, NetGalley, Series, Thriller / 0 Comments

Rain rattles through the trees as she leans into the car, careful not to touch anything. Two pretty blue eyes stare back through the dark, wide with relief, or maybe fear. A baby girl, wrapped up in a pink snowsuit, reaches out a tiny hand. Her mother is nowhere to be found…

An abandoned baby is the last thing Detective Madison Harper expects to find as she drives to her first day back at work since the case that ripped her life apart. But as she cradles the shivering child close, all her instincts tell her there’s something more sinister at play. Then she finds a lone sneaker down a muddy trail nearby, the laces spattered with blood…

In a town as small as Lost Creek, Colorado, the baby and the shoe are quickly identified as belonging to Kacie Larson, a waitress at the local diner who quietly stashed away her tips to make a better life for her daughter. A mother herself, Madison can’t believe that Kacie would just abandon her child, but she also can’t convince her new team. Not for the first time, Madison feels she must go it alone to get the job done.

But when a body is pulled from a nearby lake, and it’s not Kacie, the case takes an agonizing turn. Is this missing mother really who she says she is? Is there a chance she’s still alive? Madison barely has time to think before the sweet little girl she rescued is snatched on a crowded street. Gone, in the blink of an eye.

To break this case and earn her place back on the force, Madison must learn to trust her team, and herself again—and fast. If she doesn’t find this twisted individual in time, a little girl could die…

Titles in the Detective Madison Harper series include – Shadow Falls – Cry For Help – Little Girl Taken –

A Case for the Cookie Baker by Candace Havens

Posted June 16, 2021 by Marsha in Author ARC, Contemporary Romance, Mystery, Romantic Suspense, Series, Tule Publishing / 0 Comments

It’s all fun and games until the last cookie crumbles…

Ainsley McGregor and the entire town of Sweet River, Texas, are preparing for the annual summer celebration. And thanks to the extra tourist traffic, Ainsley’s shop, Bless Your Art, has never been busier. Good thing her new friend, Lizzie, has opened a bakery nearby and provides Ainsley and her staff with tasty treats and daily sugar rushes. It’s all cookies and fun until someone ends up dead in the bakery and her new pal is the prime suspect.

Ainsley is convinced Lizzie is innocent. Unfortunately, her brother, the town sheriff, and her boyfriend, Jake, have some not-so-secret suspicions. With a town full of strangers who just might be suspects, Ainsley finds herself targeted by a killer.

Even as her world crumbles faster than a cookie, she’s determined to prove her friend’s innocence—if she can stay alive long enough.

Titles in The Ainsley McGregor series include – A Case for the Winemaker – A Case for the Yarn Maker – A Case for the Toy Maker – A Case for the Candle Maker – A Case for the Cookie Baker –

The Sweet Taste of Muscadines by Pamela Terry

Posted April 21, 2021 by Marsha in Mystery, NetGalley / 0 Comments

Lila Bruce Breedlove never quite felt at home in Wesleyan, Georgia, especially after her father’s untimely demise when she was a child. Both Lila and her brother, Henry, fled north after high school, establishing fulfilling lives of their own. In contrast, their younger sister, Abigail, opted to remain behind to dote on their domineering, larger-than-life mother, Geneva. Yet despite their independence, Lila and Henry know deep down that they’ve never quite reckoned with their upbringing.

When their elderly mother dies suddenly and suspiciously in the muscadine arbor behind the family estate, Lila and Henry return to the town that essentially raised them. But as they uncover more about Geneva’s death, shocking truths are revealed that overturn the family’s history as they know it, sending the pair on an extraordinary journey to chase a truth that will dramatically alter the course of their lives.