kidnapping

The 7 She Saw by Elle Gray

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

The 7 She Saw by Elle Gray

Throughout history and in just about every religion the number 7 has held significance.
And in the small town of Briar Glen the secret of the 7 will forever haunt you.

Blake Wilder is plagued with nightmares from her dark and twisted past.
Fourteen years ago, her entire family was taken from her.
Her parents murdered, and her sister taken.
At the age of 22, Blake joined the FBI in hopes of one day discovering the truth behind the mysteries of her own past.
The past few years since joining the FBI, Blake has seen many gruesome and nightmare inducing cases.
Now, she faces what may be the most grim and mysterious case of her career.
A case that will take her to Briar Glen.

Briar Glen is a sleepy and affluent town on the coast of Washington.
But this idyllic seaside town is far from what it appears to be.
As Blake digs deeper into the case to unravel the strange mystery behind the 3 female victims, she finds that little is as it seems.
People are not who they say they are, and there are killers that lurk in the shadows.
The more she learns about the town, the more she realizes that there is an evil darkness that underlies everything in this place.

This is a town built on blood and paid for with human lives.
There’s no playing it safe when you’re hunting monsters.
And there are so many here in Briar Glen that one false move could be Blake’s last.

Featured Book: Icy Silence by Sandra Nikolai

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

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.

Buy Icy Silence Here

Sandra Nikolai’s Website
Follow Sandra Nikolai on Facebook
Follow Sandra Nikolai on Twitter
Sandra Nikolai’s GoodReads Profile

Featured Book: Murder in the South of France by Susan Kiernan-Lewis

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

When her sister dies, Atlanta copywriter Maggie Newberry flies to the south of France to find the little niece that no one in the family even knew existed. Along the way, she finds handsome sexy Frenchman Laurent Dernier to help with the search. Meanwhile, her sister’s murderer sets his sights on the little girl—and Maggie.

Buy Murder in the South of France Here

Susan Kiernan-Lewis’s Website
Follow Susan Kiernan-Lewis on Facebook
Susan Kiernan-Lewis’s GoodReads Profile

Featured Book: The Complete Mia Kazmaroff Mysteries, Books 1-6 by Susan Kiernan-Lewis

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

This sexy romp through Atlanta’s underworld is a spine-tingling, page-flipping thrill ride from one book to the next! Mia Kazmaroff has a gift nobody wants. She’s 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 every law, and lobs as many sparks and landmines at each other as if they were adversaries–which half the time they are—all while attempting to ignore their undeniable mutual attraction.

Buy The Complete Mia Kazmaroff Mysteries, Books 1-6 Here

Susan Kiernan-Lewis’s Website
Follow Susan Kiernan-Lewis on Facebook

Cold Valley Nightmare by Anna Willett

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

Cold Valley Nightmare by Anna Willett

A troubled past resurfaces when an investigative journalist agrees to help find a missing child.

The Australian bush is unforgiving, and there is not much hope when a four-year-old boy, Clem, apparently disappears into it without a trace. When the police begin to suspect the boy’s step-father, his lawyer hires Damon, a specialist private investigator, to help defend him.

No stranger to missing person cases, Damon agrees to let his partner, Lucy, interview the family. There she finds a strong connection to the boy’s mother, and determines to find Clem no matter the cost. Having lost her own parents young, and nearly lost her brother, she hopes it will help her to exorcise her own demons.

Refusing to believe that Clem is dead, Lucy begins a search that will take her into the seedier side of a rural community with many secrets. In so doing, she will stumble across criminal activity that will put her in serious danger.

But it will also stretch her fledgling relationship to Damon, the only person she has ever really trusted. Can she find Clem? Can she find an inner peace? Can she let Damon in?

If you enjoy suspense thrillers you are in for a treat with COLD VALLEY NIGHTMARE. It is a standalone, but you can also read about Lucy’s backstory in the bestseller SMALL TOWN NIGHTMARE, which is FREE with Kindle Unlimited and available in paperback.

Boxes For Beds by Maryann Miller

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

Boxes For Beds by Maryann Miller

In 1961 the mob still ruled Hot Springs, Arkansas and had Sheriff Bates under their thumb. When babies are being kidnapped in nearby Pine Hollow, Bates has to put this case to bed before the bosses come down from Chicago. They don’t need the heat of a major investigation that could involve the feds.

Who is taking the babies? Is the current case connected to the disappearance of babies 25 years ago?

In a desperate move to solve the case before the FBI has to be called in, Bates decides to arrest Leslie Richards, the new woman in town, even though there is only thin circumstantial evidence against her. Better for it to be a stranger taking those babies and not one of their own.

Leslie has left New York with her ten-year-old daughter, Mandy, hoping to escape from the secrets of her past and the ruins of a relationship, only to discover that there is little peace for her in Pine Hollow, Arkansas.

Featured Book: Vanished? by Christer Tholin

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

“He could only hope he’d get out of here in one piece.”
Hunt across Sweden

To come to terms with his recent divorce, Martin, an attorney in Berlin, plans a peaceful vacation – two weeks in a Swedish summer house seem to be the solution. It won’t be peaceful, however, and those two weeks will change his entire life. He takes a liking to Liv, a Swedish woman whom he meets in the neighbourhood. Unfortunately, they don’t get to have their first date – Liv disappears under mysterious circumstances. Martin begins his search but soon realises he can’t find Liv in a foreign country by himself. He hires two private investigators, and their discoveries make everything seem even stranger.
The complexities in this suspenseful criminal case lead to a hunt across Sweden. Martin comes close to finding answers, but his search lands him in very real danger, eventually leading to the first deaths. Soon he’s wondering if he can get Liv and himself out of this situation alive.

Buy Vanished? Here

Christer Tholin’s Website

Satan’s Garden: A Novel by Kit Lyman

By Mystery Reads Curator Leave a Comment

Dani and Keely imagined that life was more magical than others believed. If they had to be summed up, their one plus one would equal three. Together, they became something greater. It was twin sisters against the world.

But the world had different plans.

The man followed them to their secret tree house that unusually warm day in September. He only came for one, there and gone in the blink of an eye.

“Satan’s Garden” takes you on the six-year journey of two sisters who learn what it means to survive. It’s a story of resiliency, hope, and above all, a bond that cannot be taken away. It teaches us how quickly life can change and yet how much of it we can change ourselves.

Targeted Age Group:: 16+

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
Although I originally pursued comedy as a screenwriter, I have always been drawn to the thriller genre and its evolution over the years. Psycho-thrillers are challenging to write and exciting to imagine, and their authors have been pushing the boundaries more and more. Desensitization is a concern for writers because it creates this plaguing pressure to be more shocking than the next, to be darker and more twisted. I was inspired to take a step back and not give in to that pressure. “Satan’s Garden” does capture the horrors and devastation that we may come across in life, but those parts aren’t what I hope to leave behind.