Category: Mystery

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.

Cry For Help by Wendy Dranfield

Posted February 23, 2021 by Marsha in Bookouture, Mystery, NetGalley, Series / 0 Comments

Shivering in the early morning chill, the caretaker flips the switch on the Ferris wheel and stumbles back in shock. The teenage girl’s body is slumped in a halo of pretty colored lights, long red hair spilling over her tear-stained cheeks, her eyes fixed forever on her dangling feet.

When teenager Nikki Jackson’s body is found at an amusement park, just hours after Fourth of July fireworks lit up the night sky, the Lost Creek police rule her death as suicide––a devastating final act from a girl who had lost all hope. But the absence of the knife used to make the wounds on her delicate wrists makes Detective Madison Harper think otherwise. And the partial fingerprint found on the girl’s face proves her right. Someone else was with Nikki in her final moments…

Back home in Colorado for the first time in seven years to investigate the murder of a woman with ties to the son she lost to the care system, the pressure is on for Madison to work both cases at once. Fearing the team has missed a vital clue, Madison searches the crime scene alone and finds the last thing she ever expected: a note proving the victims knew each other, and that the cases are linked. Is this a coincidence, proof a dangerous murderer is on the loose, or a trap set to lead Madison off the trail?

It’s only when Madison finally finds the knife used to harm Nikki, tucked in an almost impossible to find hiding place, that she knows she is closing in on a twisted killer. But the last person she expects to see dragged into the department in handcuffs is her own missing son…

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

One by One by Helen Bridgett

Posted January 26, 2021 by Marsha in Choc Lit/Ruby Fiction, Mystery / 0 Comments

When practicing what you preach is easier said than done …

Professor Maxie Reddick has her reasons for being skeptical of traditional policing methods, but, in between her criminology lecturing job and her Criminal Thoughts podcast, she stays firmly on the sidelines of the crime-solving world.

Then a young woman is brutally attacked, and suddenly it’s essential that Maxie turns her words into actions; this is no longer an academic exercise – this is somebody’s life.

But as she delves deeper, the case takes a sickening turn, which leads Maxie to the horrifying realization that the attack might not have been a one-off. It seems there’s a depraved individual out there seeking revenge, and they’ll stop at nothing to get it … little by little … one by one.

Shadow Falls by Wendy Dranfield

Posted January 25, 2021 by Marsha in Bookouture, Mystery, NetGalley, Owned, Series / 0 Comments

You thought your little girl was safe at summer camp. You were wrong…

The little girl drags her eyes open, realizing she’s starting to fade. She tries calling out—“Daddy?”—using all her remaining strength. But she’s too late and her voice just isn’t loud enough…

When Detective Madison Harper arrives at a remote summer camp in Shadow Falls, northern California, her heart breaks for Jenny, the sweet little girl last seen splashing in the lake with her friends before she vanished. Peering into the silent cabins filled with rows of neatly made beds, Madison knows this idyllic place is hiding a terrible secret.

The girl’s parents are distraught, and the local police have no leads—they desperately need Madison’s help. She’ll do whatever it takes to crack this case because it’s the only way back to the son she lost to the care system years ago when she was framed for a crime she didn’t commit.

But with the camp staff keeping tight-lipped and her new partner on the edge of a breakdown, Madison can’t find any truth to her instinct that there is more to Jenny’s perfect parents than meets the eye. Until she discovers a disturbing family portrait Jenny drew at the local library. Was this angelic girl more troubled than anybody knew? Was she in danger from those she trusted most?

One thing is certain if Madison doesn’t find the answers soon, the lives of more innocent children will be at risk…

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

Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane

Posted January 1, 2021 by Marsha in Mystery, Owned, Thriller / 0 Comments

Debut author Darby Kane thrills with this twisty domestic suspense novel that asks one central question: shouldn’t a dead husband stay dead?

Lila Ridgefield lives in an idyllic college town, but not everything is what it seems. Lila isn’t what she seems. A student vanished months ago. Now, Lila’s husband, Aaron, is also missing. At first, these cases are treated as horrible coincidences until it’s discovered the student is really the third of three unexplained disappearances over the last few years. The police are desperate to find the connection if there even is one. Little do they know they might be stumbling over only part of the truth….

With the small town in an uproar, everyone is worried about the whereabouts of their beloved high school teacher. Everyone except Lila, his wife. She’s definitely confused about her missing husband but only because she was the last person to see his body, and now it’s gone.

Don’t Look Back by Christie Craig

Posted December 19, 2020 by Marsha in Forever (Grand Central Publishing), Mystery, NetGalley, Romantic Suspense, Series / 0 Comments

FBI agent Brie Ryan’s latest mission is personal. She’s posing as a waitress at the Black Diamond strip club, the same club where her estranged half-sister worked until she turned up dead. When Brie’s undercover assignment is compromised, she turns to the only man she knows who can help her: Connor Pierce, a too-sexy-for-his-own-good, rule-breaking cop with a knack for solving cold cases.

When someone breaks into Brie’s apartment, Connor’s detective skills aren’t the only things that kick into overdrive. Although his job demands he remains detached, now he finds himself tempted not only by Brie’s beauty but also her intelligence and bravery. As the investigation-and their attraction-grows more intense, lives are in jeopardy, and Connor finds the most important rule he must break is his own. But can he put his heart on the line?

Titles in the Texas Justice series include – Don’t Close Your Eyes – Don’t Breathe A Word – Don’t Look Back –