Mystery Books

The Victim’s Child by Loretta Jackson and Vickie Britton

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..AND THE KILLER HAD NO FACE…
Lara Radburn arrives minutes after a crime is committed. She finds her renter, Crystal Mar, a local artist, dead. She has been bludgeoned by one of her own works in progress…the sculpture of a fierce lion. Her four-year-old daughter, Karma, has disappeared. In a frantic search through the surrounding woods, Lara encounters a stranger who helps her find Crystal’s child. But she soon discovers that Dane Lanford is the man who has taken her late brother’s role as head of the local art retreat, a place shrouded in rumors and mystery, and has ties to Crystal through her artwork. To the traumatized child, the face of the killer has merged with that of the stone lion, so she can identify no one. Lara suspects charming Dane Lanford may be Karma’s father…and a cold-blooded killer.

Targeted Age Group:: General readership

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
Our family spent many summer vacations in the Ozarks. We particularly enjoyed Hot Springs where we attended art auctions and went to the mineral baths. We were intrigued with the history of the town and of the many artists who made Hot Springs their home. We thought this charming place would make a good setting for a suspense book.

The Wedding Crasher: A Sam Tate Mystery by Nikki Stern

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from Kirkus Reviews: ““In this first mystery in a series, small-town sheriff must catch a serial killer who murders young brunette women.
Samantha Tate is the sheriff of Pickett County, Tennessee. Two years have passed since the death of resident Claire Hooper, the last victim of the so-called “Wedding Crasher,” who killed four young women with brown hair who were about to be married—one each April, for four years. Sam had hoped that the Wedding Crasher’s killings were at an end, but then, one spring morning, Elizabeth “Bitsy” Newsome, a real estate agent based in Nashville, is found murdered in a sacrificial manner near oak trees, like the other victims. Sam thinks that the Wedding Crasher may be a local resident. After the death of a Byrdstown high school student, who seems to be a victim of the same killer, local pressure further builds to solve the crime. Sam becomes more determined than ever to bring the perpetrator to justice. As she investigates, she must also contend with her chronic nightmares stemming from a traumatic childhood and the death of her fiancé. Stern (The Former Assassin, 2017, etc.) weaves a suspenseful and intriguing story, and surprising revelations will keep readers guessing about the murderer’s identity. Sam’s own background is rich with ambiguity, and the book’s conclusion will leave readers wondering about the implications of the sheriff’s tragic past—and will undoubtedly leave them wanting more mysteries starring Sam, who proves to be a strong but unassuming protagonist. Stern repeatedly upends readers’ assumptions about key suspects, leading to an unexpected revelation about the perpetrator’s motives. Overall, the book will be ideal for readers looking for an easygoing, plot-driven whodunit.
An absorbing and surprising mystery tale.”

Targeted Age Group:: adult and precocious teens

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I admire Michael Connelly and wanted to write a procedural. At the same time, I needed to move away from the big cities–that's been done. Then I drove through north-central Tennessee and voila! Pickett County became the location. For now.

Featured Book: The Mia Kazmaroff Mysteries, Books 1-3 by Susan Kiernan-Lewis

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Mia Kazmaroff is able to tell the story behind any object simply by touch.It’s a gift that comes in handy when she solves cases with her partner, ex-cop Jack Burton. Together, Mia and Jack create a partnership that breaks all the rules, skirts the law, and sparks fireworks as they attempt to ignore their undeniable mutual attraction.

Buy The Mia Kazmaroff Mysteries, Books 1-3 Here

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Featured Book: Murder à la Mode by Susan Kiernan-Lewis

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With the wine harvest behind them, things had just started to calm down for Maggie and Laurent in their French village of Saint-Buvard when a team of food industry entrepreneurs and celebrity judges arrived to put on a contest to decide in a blind taste test which country makes the best chocolate éclairs—the Brits, the Americans, the Germans or the French.

When one of the contestants ends up stabbed to death, the suspect is Maggie’s close friend. Maggie will need to find a way past the woman’s obvious motive and the damning circumstantial evidence to help her friend—without putting herself or Laurent in the hot seat in the process.

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Featured Book: Icy Silence by Sandra Nikolai

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Bargain book promo at $0.99

When ghostwriter Megan Scott and investigative reporter Michael Elliott agree to speak at an exclusive boarding school, the undisclosed deaths of two students overshadow their agenda. Fear mounts as a powerful ice storm cuts them off from the rest of the world—harboring a potential murderer in their midst.

Without access to outside help, Megan and Michael are forced to rely on their wits. Desperate measures drive them beneath the protective façade of the elite high school in a frantic search for a coldblooded killer. What they discover are secrets more terrifying than anyone could ever expect.

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Souls on Fire by Jay Williams

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AIDS activists resort to terrorism in the action-packed mystery SOULS ON FIRE. In Austin, Texas, circa 1985, terrorists attack a bank and slaughter innocent civilians while stealing cash. Their motivation for this and later assaults is not devotion to a religion, not revenge for some event, nor out of greed. Their outrage stems from the police and society treating them as less than human. They have AIDS. They have decided to follow the Viking belief that it’s better to die in battle than helplessly in bed. The violence escalates and soon copycat attacks happen in other American cities. Will authorities capture or stop these terrorists before more attacks paralyze the city? Buy SOULS ON FIRE to enjoy a fast-paced thriller and discover the surprising conclusion.

Targeted Age Group:: 18+

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
SOULS ON FIRE is a follow-up to my book TAX BREAK. However, the topics and events in SOULS comes from remembering some news articles about AIDS protests in the 80s. One thing that stood out was that the police wore gloves because they were scared to death they'd get AIDS just touching the protestors. This attitude just inflamed the protestors more and often led to some violent confrontations. So I had that in the back of my mind and when I began thinking about a new book, the idea sprang from there. Basically, the idea was "well, what if these protestors kicked it up a notch?"

Seven Deadly Sinners by Carmel McMurdo Audsley

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A drought, a flood, an outback pub – and a serial killer. There’s no electricity, no phone and no way out. After years of drought, the rains have finally come and the rivers are rising fast. The roads become impassable. When strangers are stranded at an old isolated pub in Outback Australia in 1957, they soon realise that a serial killer lives among them. Can you guess whodunnit? A quick read novella.

Targeted Age Group:: 18+

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I like to travel in the outback and have visited lots of isolated pubs, where there are no other people around for hundreds of miles. I wondered what it would be like to be trapped in a wild and lonely place, with a bunch of strangers, and one of them turned out be a cold-blooded killer. I created characters that could easily have existed in 1957, and wanted to give the reader a feeling of what it would be like to live without mobile phones, electricity, enough water to bathe or a proper toilet.

Featured Book: Croak, Monsieur! by Susan Kiernan-Lewis

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When Jules goes to Marseille to run an errand for the twins, she meets an exotic new friend who offers her a day trip on a French yacht to wash away the gloom of the post-apocalyptic winter Jules has just endured.
The trip promises everything Jules has been craving for the last six months…sunshine, rosé wine, exciting company, bracing sea air…and murder.
What starts out as a pleasure cruise quickly turns into the sail of the damned as, trapped on a boat with a killer, Jules scrambles to find out who not to turn her back on.

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Profit and Loss by Kelly Wood

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He proposed. She ran. Right into a murder.

Regan Harris lives her life full of adventure and fun, but when her long-time love pops the question, she panics. Seeking friends and some advice, Regan runs to Chicago only to walk into a murder investigation, intrigue, and her ex-boyfriend. The one who broke her heart and soul.

Torn between her old love and her new one, Regan throws herself into the murder investigation. With her emotions riding high and blinded by friends and love, Regan finds herself in the sights of the killer.

Caught between love, friends, and murder, who will she choose? And will she solve the mystery before her time runs out?

Profit and Loss is the first book in Kelly Wood’s Regan Harris Romantic Mystery Series. If you like Sara Rosett and Cee Cee James then you’ll love this light-heart and humorous romantic mystery!

Read now to follow Regan on her first adventure!

Targeted Age Group:: 25-60

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I loved writing as a kid and making up stories. On an adventure with my husband I finally had the time. We'd taken a year off to backpack around Central America. While my husband worked on his computer, I started the first book. It was such an exciting time!

Featured Book: Boulevard Dreams by E Ryan Janz

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This is a free book promo running on September 7, 2019.
In this intelligent anti-noir mystery set in 1958 San Francisco, a down and out private eye, Joe Nails, experiences surrealistic dreams, in which his once best friend, Mark Tamlyn, pleads for Joe’s help before turning a gun to his own head and firing. To ease his doubts, Joe sets out to locate him, and discovers Tamlyn vanished weeks before the dreams began. As his investigation deepens, Nails uncovers a conflicting portrait of Tamlyn rendered by people who knew him best; from those intimating his disappearance is customary, to those hinting he is on the lamb from mobsters, and to the several who insist he is dead. But Joe wants the truth, and becomes embroiled in an encircling world of murder, deception, and confusion, and as the road narrows toward the shocking reality of his friend’s fate, Joe Nails finds himself staring into the dreadful face of the unimaginable.

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