Mystery Reads

Angel of Mercy by Melina Druga

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Angel of Mercy by Melina Druga

She had her entire life planned until the Great War began and everything changed.

April 1914. Barrie, Ontario. Hettie Steward is feisty, educated, ambitious and stubborn. Her fiancé, Geoffrey Bartlette, the love of her life since childhood, has been a patient man. He waited while she attended nursing school and worked a year, but now it is time to wed. While Hettie is thrilled to be starting her life with Geoffrey, she laments that marriage means sacrificing her beloved nursing career, and domestic life brings her nothing but drudgery and boredom.

When the Great War begins a few months into their marriage, Geoffrey enlists and persuades Hettie to join the Canadian Army Nursing Service and follow him overseas. After all, everyone says the war will be short, and it will be their opportunity to have a proper honeymoon. Returning to work is exactly what Hettie was craving, and she eager accepts.

The war, however, does not end quickly. Soon tragedy strikes, proving true the old adage “be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.” Geoffrey is killed at the Second Battle of Ypres, and Hettie is faced with a choice. Return home or stay in Europe and continue nursing? Moreover, will she discover the person she is meant to be now that her life has been steered onto a new path?

Angel of Mercy is the first in a trilogy following Hettie and her family as they navigate the challenges and heartbreak World War 1 brings. Each novel is a standalone story.

Also available: Those Left Behind, the home front story. Adjustment Year, the homecoming story.

Frayed Ends by Sally J. Ling

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Frayed Ends by Sally J. Ling

Leaving her hectic job as a news producer in Washington, D.C., was never part of Randi Brooks’ plan, but when she learns of her parents’ tragic deaths, she has no choice but to rush home to Boca Raton, Florida. When she finds out their deaths weren’t accidental, things take a turn toward the dangerous. Toss in a fire and theft at the family-owned fabric store and upholstery shop and an unscrupulous real estate developer willing to do whatever it takes to get her property, and things become deadly.

To complicate matters more, a mysterious but handsome man living in the guest house and an attractive detective harboring a high school crush are both vying for Randi’s affection.

While Randi struggles to make some difficult decisions regarding her parents’ business, her job in D.C., and her conflicting feelings toward both men, the three of them must find out who murdered Randi’s parents before the killer strikes again.

White Hat Black Heart by D. B. Goodin

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White Hat Black Heart by D. B. Goodin

Playing a virtual game is fun…unless the game wants you dead.

Nigel Watson is a clever teenage hacker who uses his skills to make extra spending money. But, after someone plunders his mother’s bank account and drains the funds,Nigel realizes his hacking could save the family.

Soon, Nigel’s online expertise is noticed by the billionaire founder of the Colossal Machine, a virtual game played by millions of people around the planet. When Nigel is given a chance to show his prowess, his skills outshine the work of the current developers. He even discovers new ways to cheat the game that no one else knows. But, Nigel doesn’t realize that his sudden success has made enemies who want him dead.

Nigel is thrust into the shadows of the Dark Web – a hidden part of the Internet where evil can find its way to your door. Little does he know, but the object of the game has become Nigel’s life.

In this cyber thriller, you never know who to trust when the virtual world makes it impossible to decrypt friend from foe.

Midnight Black by R. J. Eastwood

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Midnight Black by R. J. Eastwood

“When plunder becomes a way of life for men, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.”
Frederic Bastiat, French Economist. 1801-1850

Fifteen years following his imprisonment for committing a brutal revenge murder, former top DEA Agent Billy Russell is paroled five-years early to a world controlled by autocratic billionaires. Armed only with his wits, Billy returns to find a society fighting for its very survival and soon finds himself embroiled in the wildest conspiracy he could have ever imagined.

Winner of the Author’s Circle Novel of Excellence for Fiction, The International Review of Books for Fiction, the Literary Titan award for Excellence in Fiction,

Spirit Ridge by L. A. Kelley

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Spirit Ridge by L. A. Kelley

A dark shadow rises.

San Francisco in 1885 was a dangerous place for those who crossed Colin Doyle. To Nob Hill elite he was a successful businessman. To the underbelly of San Francisco he was The Mick, a criminal mastermind ruling from the shadows. If a buyer’s tastes ran to opium, a whore, or a politician, The Mick could name a price. No one who betrayed him ever escaped the city alive.

Until now.

Nell Bishop is a fearless investigative reporter for the San Francisco Dispatch. She’s on the run to the Arizona Territory with the one witness who can expose Doyle’s corrupt empire and stop the plan to extend his evil dominion to the West.

Marshal Sam Tanner of Spirit Ridge in the Arizona Territory fought the visions sent by his Apache blood. They always foretold a death he couldn’t prevent. Then Sam dreamed of the coyote with golden brown eyes who warned of a black shadow spreading evil across the land. Did the message call him to help the beautiful woman who stepped off the stagecoach? Can Sam and Nell elude the mysterious dark riders who dog their trail or will the next vision mean death for both of them?

Do No Harm by James Cohoon

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Do No Harm by James Cohoon

Doctors go to medical school to save lives… right?

When Matthew Preston was eight, his father was shot and killed in rarefied Pacific Palisades by Ted Nash, a home burglar who happened to be the Preston’s neighbor. Though Nash was sentenced to life in San Quentin, Matthew’s lifelong obsession is to somehow get into the prison, gain access to Nash, and exact the ultimate personal revenge. He devises a plan to become a prison doctor to gain access to Nash.

While in medical school, Matthew falls for brilliant classmate Torrey Jamison from poverty-stricken East Palo Alto. Torrey is battling her own demons, having been raped by a school counselor while in high school. Matthew is focused on vigilantism; but he loves Torrey who is morally opposed to killing for any reason—or so she thinks.

Cursed Wolf by Brogan Thomas

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Cursed Wolf by Brogan Thomas

For a shifter…
…being stuck in wolf form is torture.

The moment I shifted; my life changed.

After witnessing a traumatic event at a young age, nine-year-old Forrest shifted into her wolf form – and was unable to shift back. Years later and suffering at the hands of her malicious step-brothers, she stubbornly clings to the hope that she’ll turn back into the girl she once was.

But when her magic returns at the moment she needs it most, Forrest is thrust back into the world of humans. There’s only one problem. Her pack is out to kill her.

Struggling to learn how to walk and talk again, Forrest finds herself on the run from the cold-blooded shifter council. But hidden deep within her human form lies a secret – a powerful magic that has the potential to set her free.

If only she can stay alive long enough to master it…

If you love high-octane Urban Fantasy with shifters, suspense, and one young woman fighting for her independence amid a dangerous patriarchal world, then you won’t want to miss Cursed Wolf. This thrilling novel strikes the perfect balance between humour, friendship, and slow-burn romance. Grab your copy now!

Written in British English.

Stone Cold by Karina Kantas

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Stone Cold by Karina Kantas

If being bullied through every school Billy went to wasn’t enough, being attacked in her own home just pushed her over the edge.
Now severely depressed and suicidal, Billy takes matters into her own hands and sees a counsellor.
After just one session, she’s now on her way to Scotland as a volunteer to help the Professor of Edinburgh university, dig and clean up an archaeological site that has just been discovered.

Although she tries to shy away from the others, not wanting them to find a reason to dislike her, she’s soon accepted as one of them. Without realising it’s happening, she becomes closer to Shane, a motocross enthusiast who has taken her under his wing.

However, whilst working at the site, Billy comes across an unusual stone. She takes it to the Professor to be looked at, but he dismisses it as a pendant probably dropped by a hiker and so threads the stone with a black leather cord and gives it back to Billy.
Only the peace they once had, the friendships they had all formed, gets tested as bodies start to pile up.

Dark Secrets of the Bayou by Kim Carter

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Dark Secrets of the Bayou by Kim Carter

“Could a concealed crime from the 1800s, or the family’s estate itself, harbor keys to unlocking the past?”

Catherine “Tink” Mabry, an up-and-coming attorney, is shocked by her recent inheritance from her estranged family on the bayou. After her mother died during childbirth, Tink’s father had quickly relocated them to the big city of Atlanta, Georgia.
With no memory of her mother, she is determined to learn more about her lineage and decides to visit the bayou town of Kane, Louisiana. Candace, Tink’s co-worker, and her best friend agrees to make the trip with her.

Before she has time to explore her family’s history or decide what to do with the declining property, local murders plague Tink’s homecoming. She quickly finds herself caught in the middle of a multiple murder investigation—and quite possibly, the prime suspect. When Candace retreats back to Atlanta, Tink finds support among an unlikely cast of characters and sets out to discover clues that have haunted and tormented her family for generations.

Could a concealed crime from the 1800s, or the family’s estate itself, harbor keys to unlocking the past? The more they learn, the more they question whether some secrets are best left buried.

Amazon Reader: “Dark Secrets of the Bayou is Kim’s best novel yet. Spellbinding! I didn’t want to put it down, but I didn’t want it to end!”

Shared Madness by Rick Moskovitz

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Shared Madness by Rick Moskovitz

A psychiatrist treating a psychotic patient descends into madness and finds himself at the nexus of a deadly plot. Can he trust anyone in his struggle for survival and his quest to regain his sanity? Can you guess who murdered his patient and what drove him mad? Share his hallucinations and terror through his eyes and try to unravel the mystery.