Mystery Reads

Broken Cowboy by Jamie Schulz

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

Broken Cowboy by Jamie Schulz

From an Award-Winning author & 2022 RONE Award Finalist

Addie needs a capable ranch hand for her rundown ranch. Cade needs a job and a little TLC.
When the violence stalking Addie escalates and Cade’s past returns, can their newfound love survive or will they both be destroyed?

“…Do not miss a fantastic start to what promises to be an awesome series.”
Lynn-Alexandria McKendrick
~ InD’tale Magazine

“…The storyline is great…the plot twists and turns are absolutely crazy good; and the HEA was totally kick ass!”
~Amazon Reviewer

When Push Comes to Shoot by Rena Koontz

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

When Push Comes to Shoot by Rena Koontz

Emma Hunter’s tyrannical brother deserved to die, even if the manner of his murder was horror-movie gruesome. As a police lieutenant, she’s duty-bound to provide whatever assistance she can in hunting down her brother’s killer, but she doesn’t mourn his loss. Business acquaintances, former friends, and even his relatives agree the world is better off without the despicable bully.
With no clues and too many suspects, it looks like the murderer might be home free—until tenacious Detective Jared Jones’ suspicions turn to Emma’s sweet sister-in-law. Emma knows for a fact that her brother’s mentally and emotionally abused wife is innocent, but conflicting loyalties prevent her from speaking up and turning the investigation in the right direction. What’s best for her brother’s widow could cost Emma everything she values—her career, her reputation, even her freedom.

Hollow Stars by Lauryn Dyan

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

Hollow Stars by Lauryn Dyan

Discover the dire side effects of partying like a rock star.

As lead singer of popular, emerging rock band, Tracing Stars, Kennedy has the swagger of a badass, or at least she used to. While caught up in the booze, passion, and chaos of her first major rock tour, her dreams are erased by a string of ever-worsening blackouts. Now, the instability of her mind has landed her in a psychiatric hospital. Despite being convinced one of her tour mates sabotaged her, she lacks any evidence. Trapped in the asylum, she alternates between the past and the present determined to recover her lost memories so she can return to her band before she’s just a footnote in their rise to fame.

Walk the Plank by Marilyn Barr

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

Walk the Plank by Marilyn Barr

Branko learns he will be sold into slavery when they dock in Charles Town, so he doesn’t hesitate to jump ship onto a neighboring sloop in the harbor. This boat will weigh anchor with him at the helm–once he decides what to do with the lady chained in the cargo hold who claims she’s a vampire.

Magda Dashkovari’s body has been given to science while she’s still living in it. Her prayers are answered when a pirate boards her boat, but she should have asked for her rescuer to be less bloodthirsty than she is…

Scientists hunt her in town, plantation owners hunt him from the north and south, Blackbeard blocks Charles Town Harbor to the east, and a war rages between settlers and natives to the west. These unlikely allies will have to link together to escape a life in chains…but will their trust in each other endure their journey to freedom?

Running with the Enemy by Lloyd Lofthouse

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

Running with the Enemy by Lloyd Lofthouse

A US Marine is framed for a crime he didn’t commit. He has a choice to make, save the woman he loves, or prove his innocence. He can’t have both.

“Obviously drawn from the author’s first-hand experiences as a Marine serving in Vietnam … a rough but occasionally heartfelt war story … is quite good and has a lot to say about the nature of the conflict.”
— Judge’s comment from 21st Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards.

When Push Comes to Shoot by Rena Koontz

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

When Push Comes to Shoot by Rena Koontz

With no clues and too many suspects, it looks like the murderer might be home free — until tenacious Detective Jared Jones’ suspicions turn to Emma’s sweet sister-in-law. Emma knows for a fact that her brother’s mentally and emotionally abused wife is innocent, but conflicting loyalties prevent her from speaking up and turning the investigation in the right direction. What’s best for her brother’s widow could cost Emma everything she values — her career, her reputation, even her freedom.

All the Colors of My Soul by Leta McCurry

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

All the Colors of My Soul by Leta McCurry

What could drive a loving wife and mother to commit cold-blooded murder?

Growing up in the 1930s Santa Clara Valley, California, Neva Holiday wanted nothing more than to reach eighteen, have a beau, get married and mother a houseful of kids. Simple, quiet, peaceful.

As she blossoms into a young woman during high school, she finds herself torn between a life-long bond with the boy next door and her growing love for a handsome newcomer escaping the destitution of Dust Bowl Oklahoma. Before she can discover the desire of her heart, WWII tears her world apart, plunging her into years of fear and dread of receiving the telegram beginning, “We regret to inform you.”

A son brings joy, purpose and focus to her life until an insidious influence creeps into the family unawares, creating an unspeakable tragedy, forever shattering Neva’s dreams of quiet happiness, and forcing her to confront whether she will turn the other cheek or deliver cold-hearted retribution.

In a dizzying exposé of the human spirit, Leta McCurry weaves a riveting tale of a young woman’s descent into darkness. Emotionally gripping and magnificently crafted, this rich and heart-wrenching novel will keep you on the edge of your seat as you race to its extraordinary conclusion. — Heidi Thomas, Award-winning author of the “Cowboy Dreams” series.

All the Colors of My Soul is a sweeping twentieth-century historical fiction. If you like captivating character studies, poignant moral quandaries, and vivid snapshots of the past, then you’ll love Leta McCurry’s mesmerizing story. — Sally Bates, Award-winning author of Western fiction and poetry.

Targeted Age Group:: 18+
Heat/Violence Level: Heat Level 4 – R Rated

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
Two tragic family incidents. The situations were similar but the responses of the individuals involved were vastly different. All the Colors of My Soul is not the story of either of those incidents, but was inspired by the different reactions of the human spirit to an unspeakable tragedy.

How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
Characters are always influenced to some degree by people we have known, particularly in childhood for me. Additionally there are those people who appear for an instant and then are gone, the slouched old man sitting on a park bench, his face a road map of life, the thin woman with a smelly infant slung on her hip, the child with the haunted eyes. They speak to me on a primal level and I remember them. I don't pattern characters after any one person, but exposure to all these are the bits and pieces of the mosaic that becomes a new identity in my stories. Beyond that, the stories themselves are a big factor in character development – kind of like the character rises to the occasion.

Book Sample
Inside my chest, my heart slowly expanded until it pushed against the constraints of my ribs and into my throat as if it would flow out and fill the room with something sparkling and golden, but warm and soft. I held my breath, wanting to extend the moment, to fill my hands with the manifestation of my love for him, to smear it on my face and arms, and his, where it would forever color our skin with a lasting testimony of my unspeakable love for him.

Links to Purchase Print Book version – Click links for book samples, reviews and to purchase
Buy Print Edition at Amazon

Links to Purchase eBook version – Click links for book samples, reviews and to purchase
Buy this eBook On Amazon
Buy this eBook on Barnes and Noble for Nook
Buy this eBook on Kobo
Buy this eBook on Scribd

About the Author

Please join this author’s email list
Learn more about the author on their website
Follow the author on Amazon

Follow the author on Social Media:
Facebook
Goodreads
Instagram
LinkedIn
YouTube Channel

All information was provided by the author and not edited by us. This is so you get to know the author better.

Brink of Life by Rick Moskovitz

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

Brink of Life by Rick Moskovitz

A woman plunges into consciousness in the midst of what seems like someone else’s life, sending her on a quest to discover who she is and to craft an identity that makes sense within her current circumstances. As she digs into the mystery of her life, she uncovers a top secret government organization plotting world domination and a clandestine vigilante organization dedicated to destroying it and is caught between these warring factions. Nobody in her new world is exactly who they appear to be, including herself. Identity, she learns, is complicated and inseparable from the body in which it resides.

Seduced By Her Safeguarder by Lisa Weaver

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

Seduced By Her Safeguarder by Lisa Weaver

When a mock engagement between a clandestine princess and a sexy billionaire private security expert blossoms into something more, will the secrets they’re both keeping destroy their chance for a future together?
No risk is too great, but will the price they pay be too high?

Alchemy of Revenge by Athan Noel

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

Alchemy of Revenge by Athan Noel

Leo has been betrayed,
Kira has been deceived.
Torn apart, love manipulated into hate, their world is irretrievably shattered as Leo is condemned to a hellish existence.
Dead to the world…
But not dead
A charismatic Israeli ex-assasin and a ruthless drug lord hold the key to Leo’s salvation. The decade-long machinations of an alchemy transforms despair into Revenge on those who stole Leo’s life.
Will he be able to generate hope from hopelessness and rekindle love from the ashes and reunite his lost and destroyed family?