Crime Town

A brutal murder in a town called Treachery? It's a story most journos would kill for, but for Stuart Dryden, it's a major inconvenience. He didn't take the gig at the local rag for its bustling crime beat. He'd sacrifice a career-making story for happy hour at the pub, but not even he can let a grisly murder through to the keeper. Especially when he keeps getting scooped by a persistent kid with a disposable Kodak.

There's a dead armadillo on my sidewalk; there's a dead 'possum right behind my tire. There's a groundhog stuck behind my car's grill; there's a raccoon crawling up my wall. There's a shuffling in my attic; the squirrel must be going nuts again. There's skunk smell wafting through my windows… Oh my God! What was that hideous, twangy song? Was it some sort of country genre called "Southern Gothic Grotesque?" The man behind me hummed along cheerfully with the upbeat tune which contrasted with the bizarre lyrics. The line moved and I suddenly had something else to ponder that wiped all ...

“But, but, I read it on the Internet. It must be true! Right?” Do the crazies on the internet push people to violence and the edge of madness? With countless conspiracy theories at every turn, the web is a veritable smorgasbord of reasons for anyone with prejudice and envy to strike out at the focus of these insane ideas why the world is against them. In the dead of night, a soybean silo erupts into a violent fireball — and starts Detective Max Harmon’s next case off with a bang. Any hope Max has of catching up on sleep flies out the window when the deceptively sleepy Midwestern ...

The salacious and scandalous murders of a series of couples on Texarkana's "lovers' lanes" created a media maelstrom and cast a pall of fear over an entire region. What is even more surprising is that the case has remained cold for decades. Combining archival research and investigative journalism, Pulitzer Prize-nominated historian James Presley reveals evidence that provides crucial keys to unlocking this decades-old puzzle.

Question: What does a weathered old, buried chest, five scrapbooks, and a strange strawberry shortcake recipe have in common? Answer: Tabitha Clive! A weathered chest buried under a grove of oak trees on the Clive family farm holds the power to unravel the tightly woven fabric of Tabitha’s family’s past. The year is 2010 and Tabitha Clive, now in her eighties, begins to question everything she knew about her family. Was her family’s history a lie? As Tabitha begins to sort through the items concealed in the long-buried chest, she uncovers a tangled web of heartache that stretches ...

A short read cozy mystery with a twist... In Sweetheart Valley, Valentine’s Day is overshadowed by secrets and heartbreak. When Amanda Love, owner of the beloved Sweet Stuff bakery, collapses and dies at the annual Valentine’s Day Ball, chaos ensues. The police scramble to unravel the baffling crime scene, but it’s Detective Benjamin Hart who takes the lead. Meet the suspects: Oliver Roseville: The mysterious newcomer with a vintage bookstore on Valentine Lane. Candy Monet: The wealthy socialite known for her lavish Valentine’s Day parties. Jed Whitman: The retired police chief who ...

When crime-fighting attorney Albert Patterson is gunned down in a Phenix City, Alabama, alley in the spring of 1954, the entire town seems to pause for just a moment—and when it starts up again, there is something different about it. A small group of men meet and decide they have had enough, but what that means and where it will take them is something they could not have foreseen.

Private Investigator Tony Caruso lives out of his rolling office, an old Ford pickup truck, with his German-trained bomb-sniffing dog, Panzer, a Giant Schnauzer. Tony retired after twenty years in the Navy as an aviation ordnanceman, but this training might not be enough when he is hired by an old friend to look into a murder suicide in Bend, Oregon, a resort Boom Town in the high desert east of the Cascades. Was it a murder suicide as the local sheriff thinks?

ORIGINAL STORY, WRITTEN BY A HUMAN Get ready for the thrilling conclusion to P.G. Robertson's Saltwater Crimes Trilogy and the return of the captivating Detective Ange Watson. After the messy Gold Coast affair, Ange is certain that the syndicate has eyes and ears everywhere, thwarting her every move. Forced south to Sydney, Ange soon picks up the trail of her deadly nemesis. It seems that drug trafficking isn’t the only game in town… With the help of her colleagues and an unlikely ally, Ange dives into the murky world of cryptocurrency and NFTs, exploring the dangerous waters where ...

There were only two things that Lori enjoyed in life. One of those two things was hiking. She had been eagerly anticipating her hike in the Red River Gorge and was looking forward to the tranquility of the trail. She was unaware that a psychopath had other plans. Lori was left for dead on the trail and awakened in the hospital with serious injuries and no memory. Who was she and what was going on? As she struggles to find the answers she can only rely on the handsome young doctor whose face was the first thing she saw when she awakened in the hospital. Can she trust him? Can he save her ...

Dover Station, Montana, is no place for a lawman. A sheriff's badge ain't worth a nickel here - unless you've got the bullets to back it up. When he signed up to be sheriff of this dirty little boomtown, Aaron Mackey knew he was asking for trouble. Once, when Mackey was the US marshal for the whole Montana Territory, he swore no job could get any harder. But that was before he took down a few of the bank-robbing Hancock gang in Dover Station - and incurred the wrath of the gang's maniacal matriarch, Mad Nellie Hancock.

Just released from prison, Trip Walker’s hopes for a fresh start are shattered after finding his twin sister Rose has vanished without a trace. Determined to uncover the truth, Trip plunges into the dark past he left behind, only to find powerful forces are also hunting for Rose—with sinister intentions. Dodging hired killers and crooked cops, he races to find his sister, all while uncovering secrets of his own family’s past. With time running out and enemies closing in, Trip faces an impossible choice: abandon his search, or risk everything—including his newfound freedom—for the ...

Elle Chambers is an enchantress, a witch whose powers focus on the manipulation of emotions. Some might even call her an emotion vampire. She makes her living in the natural world as an insurance investigator who solves cases using supernatural means. When an ancient relic of Scotland goes missing and Elle's powerful enchanter boyfriend, Niall, is the prime suspect, Elle travels to the Outer Hebrides with Fergie the werewolf, Rebecca the spell witch, and three goblins to meet a very special client... One who will change her path. Forever. Elle is determined to learn the truth about herself,...

On a chilly January night, Dr. Eugene Turner hastened the death of a three-day-old baby boy who had been pronounced brain-dead. Six weeks later, ER physician Dr. Bruce Rowan hacked his wife to death with an axe, then tried to kill himself - claiming he snapped after witnessing Dr. Turner's euthanasia. What really happened? What drove Dr. Bruce Rowan - a man who was entrusted to heal the sick - to so savagely take the life of his own wife? Acquitted by reason of insanity, Dr. Rowan was committed to a mental institution. And thought the trial is over, some fascinating ethical and legal questions have been raised by its outcome.

Enjoy this exciting 2 book series by mystery thriller author Michelle Files. Madison's bedroom was eerily quiet when the kidnapper lifted her from her crib. The moon filtered through the curtain, illuminating the baby's face in a cold, blue light. The next morning, Madison's parents awoke to an empty crib and police officers knocking at the door. Her disappearance sent shockwaves throughout the town. Determined to find out what happened that night in her bedroom, Madison began digging deeper and uncovered a web of secrets and deception that threatened both her safety and sanity. With each ...

Champion Cyclist Falls to Death It's spring in Dolphin Bay and a big cycle race is passing through town. Anna's Cafe sets up a stall with snacks and drinks for the participants. When a well known cyclist crashes to his death in the woods, the police blame the lemonade. Suddenly, Anna's granddaughter is the top suspect because she was seen handing out drinks to the dead guy. Anna and company are stumped because the victim was a total stranger who didn't know any of them. The new detective in town wants to close the case soon and time is running out. Meanwhile, the mayor and her minions ...

Turquoise water, rum punch, and fun in the sun. What better way to celebrate 35 years of marriage. Emily and Henry Fox go on an anniversary cruise to the Caribbean expecting nothing less, but when Henry’s old med school buddy turns up dead in his cabin, it’s anything but smooth sailing. The captain chalks it up to an unfortunate accident but Emily and Henry know better. The deadly tarantula didn’t crawl from the Puerto Rican rainforest to the ship on its own furry legs. With the help of a retired detective, they search for the killer. Why did the victim and his wife have separate ...

Davis Way Cole returns to her hometown of Pine Apple, Alabama, to fill in for her police chief father during the bustling Memorial Day Celebration. It'll be fun. Relaxing. And a no-brainer. After years of leading an elite security team at a billion-dollar casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, Davis has no doubt whatsoever she can run little ole Pine Apple in her sleep. She should think again.

Date with Poison is the brilliant fourth novel in Julia Chapman's Dales Detective Agency series and is perfect of fans of M C Beaton's Agatha Raisin series and Gervase Phinn. A young teenager has gone missing. Can Samson O'Brien and Delilah Metcalfe find him? Spring is in the air in Bruncliffe. But not everyone is filled with the joys of the season. Implicated in the murder of a man in Leeds, the Dales Detective Agency’s Samson O’Brien is facing tough questions from the police....

Gerrardsville, Colorado. One tragic event. Two witnesses. Two conflicting accounts. One witness sees a woman throw herself in front of a bus—clearly suicide. The other witness is Jack Reacher. And he sees what really happened—a man in grey hoodie and jeans, swift and silent as a shadow, pushed the victim to her death, before grabbing her bag and sauntering away. Reacher follows the killer on foot, not knowing that this was no random act of violence. It is part of something much bigger.