Mystery Reads

Featured Book: Reap the Whirlwind by Robert Sells

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

About Reap the Whirlwind by Robert Sells

Whit Emerson had a beautiful girlfriend, great friends, the respect of his peers, and more than enough money. Until he discovered his bank account has been depleted by a single check from a firm he didn’t recognize. A day later he’s fired from his job. Friends die, disappear, or disown him. Everywhere he goes, he is watched by security cameras. Something is definitely wrong with his world, but Whit doesn’t know who or why. Then he is accused of a crime he didn’t commit. After that his life got worse. Much worse.

Whit seeks help from a stuttering computer nerd, his attractive sister, a bank robber and a rogue detective all hiding from the government for different reasons. Together they search for a legendary computer expert known as Little Lion. Eleven years before Little Lion created a super computer for the military, a super computer which is now being used to take over the internet.

Little Lion mysteriously disappeared but left strange clues behind to help Whit and his friends. When the clues are unraveled, an even worse threat faces the friends. They are determined to stop a nightmare scenario if they can live long enough. Please be advised, the story is fictional, but the ‘nightmare scenario’ is inevitable, if it hasn’t already happened.

Get The Book From Amazon.

Featured Book: Secrets in the Fairy Chimneys by Linda Maria Frank @AnnieTillery123

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

The third great teen mystery book of the Annie Tillery Mysteries is now live. Award winning author, Linda Maria Frank, has created another page-turning, can’t-put-it-down mystery. “Secrets in the Fairy Chimneys” has it all. The story is set in exotic Istanbul and Cappadocia, a land of enchanted caves and rock formations. The plot involves ancient mysteries, archaeological secrets, and thieves who will commit murder rather than give up the treasures they steal. Annie acquires new friends. Cedric Zeeks is trying to find a link between his African ancestors and the inhabitants of a 9,000 year old town in Cappadocia. Yelda and Ahmet Atsut, twins with a Ouija board and awesome sleuthing talents, help Annie and boyfriend, Ty Egan, solve the mysteries, both the ancient ones and the ones that threaten them as they work the archaeological dig.

Buy Secrets in the Fairy Chimneys on Amazon

Linda Maria Frank’s Website
Follow Linda Maria Frank on Facebook
Follow Linda Maria Frank on Twitter
Linda Maria Frank’s GoodReads Profile

A Model Murder by Celia Conrad

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

A Model Murder is part 1 of the Alicia Allen Investigates crime trilogy featuring Alicia Allen, the Anglo-Italian Pringle munching lawyer with a passion for solving crime.

When an aspiring Australian model, Tamsin Brown, who lives in the apartment below Alicia’s is found raped and murdered and her body dumped in an alleyway in Soho, Tammy’s flatmate Kim begs for Alicia’s help. Alicia feels compelled to assist with the murder inquiry and having discovered that Tammy has been working in a hostess club in Piccadilly, Alicia is sucked into the sleazy world of nightclubs. Soon after, Alicia takes a new position at a firm where Kim works as a legal secretary, but it becomes clear that nothing is as it seems and nobody can be trusted. Is there some connection between the firm and Tammy’s murder? When her elderly neighbor Dorothy is brutally attacked for something she has witnessed in connection with the murder, Alicia risks everything to solve the crime thereby endangering herself and those around her in her quest to bring the perpetrator(s) to justice.

Targeted Age Group:: Adult

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I come from a legal background and I had the idea to write a novel building upon my experiences from within the law. I was relaying to a friend one day about one of my “experiences” and he suggested that I write it down. After I left the law, through a chance meeting I was offered a modelling assignment and as a result I met several models who talked to me about their experiences and how they supplemented their income when work was in short supply. This inspired me to research the “club” world which features prominently in this book. It was an eye-opening experience for me!

Featured Book: Heritage of Deceit by Graham Downs

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

While surfing the Internet at work, Lloyd believes he’s found a relic from an old genocide. If he’s right, the artefact would be worth a ton of money, and it will give lots of people closure when they find out what really happened to their families.
But there’s one problem. The artifact–if it really exists–is in the possession of Carla, a shy woman in the company’s Accounts Department, and she never lets it out of her sight.

Lloyd seeks the help of his friend and fellow employee, Robert, whom Carla is desperately in love with. Will Robert agree to use Carla’s feelings for him to get information about the mysterious object?

Buy Heritage of Deceit Here

Graham Downs’s Website
Follow Graham Downs on Facebook
Follow Graham Downs on Twitter
Graham Downs’s GoodReads Profile

Featured Book: Bribing Saint Anthony by Rita Moreau

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

About Bribing Saint Anthony by Rita Moreau

Bribing Saint Anthony will be featured on Kindle Countdown for 99 cents on August 15, 16, 17 and 18. Grab it while you can!

Bribing Saint Anthony is an entertaining and humorous mystery.
A missing husband.
A plot to blow up a national treasure.
Fortune telling aunts.

Mary Catherine, MC for short, didn’t move as the Queen of Boca Vista, Babbs La-Fleur, placed a pile of cash, which appeared out of a purse she knew cost more than her car, smack dab in the middle of her desk.

Word at all the cocktail parties was that MC had a skill that came in handy for an aging socialite going through a divorce. She was good at finding cash in hidden bank accounts. Cash to pay for a nip and tuck and a new identity: Cougar.

Hired that day by Queen Babbs to find her bad boy husband, Charlie, MC was back on familiar ground, tracking down bad guys through clues left in the DNA of their paper life.

Asking her Aunt Sophia to read the family fortune telling cards might have helped. Instead, the paper trail Charlie left takes MC from a murder in the world of rich socialites to working with covert government agents deep in the world of counter terrorism.

Get The Book From Amazon.

Featured Book: The Devil’s Handshake by Michael Reagan

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

About The Devil’s Handshake by Michael Reagan

“The Devil’s Handshake” is fast paced political thriller set in the global backdrop of natural resources. The protagonist, Sir Thomas Litchfield is an Anglo-Russian billionaire bound by Homeric code who tries to steer a pragmatic course in the new “Cold War” between USA and Russia.

The story unfolds in a fictional nation located in the Horn of Africa. Taking the reader on a journey through the intrigue and clashes as two contrasting worlds meet.
The key to this battle and what ultimately brings the countries to the brink of war is the new naval base that Russia is about to construct in the young African nation as part of Litchfield’s natural resources deal. To counter the re-emergence of the new look Russia, the new director of the CIA manipulates his President to effect a regime change in the country by backing an ambitious Interior Minister who is the chief antagonist in his coup attempt. To stop this Litchfield and his team broker a deal between the two powers “below the line” to stop them going to war. At the end of the book although he is successful as the two nations avoid going to war it is the loved ones of Thomas who ultimately pay the highest price.

Neither good nor evil; Litchfield is a survivor who adapts to the situation around him: The two key impact characters that influence the Litchfield character are: his true love a former beautiful young prostitute from Turkmenistan that he saves one night and his bodyguard who tries to act as the voice of reason in his life, but fails. The book’s overall premise is. “Blood is always thicker than water,” and despite trying what may Litchfield and the villain and those around them can never escape their pasts and with the underlying theme of “Life doesn’t always bring everybody who commits a crime to justice” and there always has to be a “Scapegoat” when the Bear meets the Eagle in the field of battle.

This is the first book in the series the second story “The Devil’s Playground” due out in August and is set in North Korea, Japan, Turkmenistan, China and Russia.

Get The Book From Amazon.

Featured Book: Ruby Silver by Randall Reneau

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

About Ruby Silver by Randall Reneau

Geologist Trace Brandon and his partner Will Coffee are just back from Liberia, West Africa. Cashed-up and looking for a new venture, they once again team up with Cyrus “The Virus” McSweeny. This time the quarry is the silver-rich ore of the old Ruby Mining District. And this time they’ll not only have the Pantelli crime family to deal with, but also lumberman Autry Ollinger—three hundred pounds of obnoxiousness whose preferred method of negotiation is a right hook. When the Pantellis unleash a bizarre extortion plot to seize control of Ruby Mining Company, Cyrus is forced to bring former clandestine operative Marion Thistlewaite out of retirement. Marion’s unique expertise may give them the edge they need to hold on to their company . . . and their lives.

Get The Book From Amazon.

Unmarked Grave by Vickie Britton and Loretta Jackson

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

Ardis Cole travels to Scotland to do a facial reconstruction on a skull her friend Bruce McBrier has discovered in the woods outside his ancestral castle. Because of an ancient ax buried in the skull, Bruce presumes the skull to be a historical relic, possibly the remains of a medieval ancestor murdered in battle. When Ardis makes the shocking discovery that the remains are that of a more recent murder, Constable Mark Ridley asks her help in going ahead with the facial reconstruction in hopes the victim can be identified. But someone is willing to go to great lengths … even murder … to keep the skull’s deadly secret.

Targeted Age Group:: General Readership

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
My sister and I took a trip to Scotland and we saw many interesting castles and heard intriguing stories about Scottish history. We just had to write a book set in Scotland, so we chose this setting for our second Ardis Cole mystery.

The Monster of Silver Creek by Belinda G. Buchanan

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

Terror has come to this small town in Prairie County, Montana. A sinister killer is on the loose. A serial killer who feeds off of young women’s fear…and leaves a most unusual calling card. Police Chief Nathan Sommers is on the hunt, but every road leads to a dead end.

Nathan is battling his own demons as he tries to cope with the death of his wife. He feels her dying was a direct result of his actions and is consumed with guilt.

His personal life becomes more complicated when he meets Katie, the pretty new owner of the bakery. Nathan slowly builds a relationship with her, but still struggles with Jenny’s death.

As he draws nearer to the killer, everything in his life suddenly comes undone. He is forced to deal with his feelings for Katie, as well as his love for his dead wife.

Targeted Age Group:: 18+

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
My family and I had taken a day trip to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. They had recently found a new entrance, but you had to take a bus to get there. Okay, so we get on the bus. As I’m looking around, I happen to take notice of the driver. He looked as if driving the bus was his day job, and at night he went back to his prison cell.

So, with my imagination being what it is, I immediately began to think about a story involving a serial killer in a small town. We live by a lake, so I decided to center it around water.

Seven weeks later, The Monster of Silver Creek was created.

And as a side note – personal impressions aside, the bus driver was very nice. He actually pointed out a rattlesnake about fifteen feet away from me as I was getting back on the bus. Needless to say, I hurried. 🙂

A Deal on a Handshake by Vickie Britton and Loretta Jackson

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

What a deal! This short story book introduces Sheriff Jeff McQuede, the hero of the High County Mystery Series. In these seven mysteries Sheriff Jeff McQuede finds himself square in the middle of a deal made on a handshake—where the result is murder. Set in modern-day Wyoming, the stories take place at an old-time mountain man rendezvous, in a pawn shop where traders vie over rare Native American pottery, and after an engagement ceremony where two family patriarchs pretend to bridge a lifetime of feuding by the gift of a rare peace pipe. McQuede’s arch-enemy Ruger, is a suspect in many of these tales, and just manages to evade his traps. In each of these stories McQuede= relentlessly seeks out the dangerous men who have broken trust.

Full-length novels in the High Country Mystery Series include Murder in Black and White, Whispers of the Stones, Stealer of Horses, and The Executioner’s Hood.

Targeted Age Group:: General Readership

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
The inspiration to write this book and all the books in the High Country Mystery Series arose from the Wyoming setting and the many stories we’ve heard, both past and present. Our background in antique dealing also led to the creation of many stories that deal with rare finds and artifacts discovered in unusual place such as swap meets. The High Country of Wyoming seemed a perfect place to tell our tales.