Family Suspense

Laurel Dane faces tough challenges as she grapples with betrayal, family secrets, and a dangerous criminal underworld in her Tennessee hometown. Haunted by the dishonesty of a close family member, Laurel must confront her own feelings of anger while unraveling a nationwide kidnapping ring that targets innocent babies for ransom. Determined to bring justice to the victims and stop the criminals behind the operation, Laurel dives deep into the investigation, risking everything to save lives and uncover the truth. But as Laurel delves deeper into the case, she's forced to make difficult ...

In their home in southern Louisiana, Iris and her husband Joseph were both shot point-blank in the head by an unknown assailant. She wakes with her memory fractured. She doesn't remember her husband's family, eager as they are to take her into their world of marble, maids, and prim Southern manners.

Donald J. Sobol’s pint-sized amateur detective has been a hit with young readers for over three decades. For 25 cents a day—plus expenses—Encyclopedia Brown will solve any case, big or small for the kids in his neighborhood. He also secretly works with his police chief father to crack the toughest investigations and keep the streets of Idaville safe. Here are 10 more beguiling mysteries that will have listeners scratching their heads.

USA Today best-selling and award-winning author Barbara Freethy writes wonderfully entertaining contemporary novels. Summer Secrets is the compelling story of three sisters and the burden of the terrible secret they share.

In the eighth installment of Alexander McCall Smith’s best-selling Isabel Dalhousie series, the inquisitive heroine helps a new friend discover the identity of her father. Jane, a visiting Australian philosopher on sabbatical in Edinburgh, has more questions than answers. Adopted at the age of six, she knows little about her father, other than he was a student in Edinburgh years ago. Always up for a challenge, Isabel is more than happy to help.

Having published 45 books, Ruth Rendell is an internationally popular mystery writer. She has won four Gold Dagger and three Edgar awards. She has been presented with the Commander of the British Empire honor, and named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. In A Sight For Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell’s exceptional literary talent shines from each word. Teddy Brex is a handsome young man. Raised by parents who never loved him, he has grown to put his trust in objects.

Five minutes changed Poppy Sadler's life forever. Tick. The hospital called. Her mother's battle with cancer was finally over. Tock. The police showed up at her door. Her father's body has just been pulled from the river. Tick. Murdered....

After my Yaya passed away, I didn't have anyone that cared for me. I mean, not even a month after Yaya was in the ground, he sat me down in the living room and sold me to a thirty-year-old man. I was sixteen, and my big brother, the man who was supposed to protect me, sold me off like cattle on a farm. My entire life has been to please Zayne. I'm his fourth wife and the youngest wife. Nobody has ever protected or cared for me. I was tossed the cards that life handed me and had to make do with them. That is until Cappadonna Delgato and I cross paths—again.

Some places are too good to be true. Under a pink moon, there is a perfect little town not found on any map. In that town, there are quiet streets lined with pretty houses, houses that conceal the strangest things. After a couple years of hard traveling, ex-cop Mona Bright inherits her long-dead mother's home in Wink, New Mexico. And the closer Mona gets to her mother's past, the more she understands that the people of Wink are very, very different....

For decades, Donald J. Sobol’s kid detective Encyclopedia Brown has thrilled amateur sleuths of all ages with his uncanny knack for solving the most difficult mysteries. Sobol was even honored with a special Edgar Award for this timeless series. Ten-year-old Encyclopedia, the son of Idaville’s police chief, investigates all sorts of curious cases for kids around the neighborhood—all for 25 cents a day, plus expenses.

Brecken Hill in upstate New York is an expensive place to live. You have to be rich to have a house there, and Fred and Sheila Merton certainly are rich. But even all their money can't protect them when a killer comes to call. The Mertons are brutally murdered after a fraught Easter dinner with their three adult kids. Who, of course, are devastated.

Christina Lattimore’s family is wealthy and powerful. She attends the best private high school. Yet Christina feels trapped by her family’s expectations. Frustrated and angry at her situation, she pays little attention when a strange car follows her home one night. Its headlights are the last thing she remembers until she wakes up in captivity. Christina is terrified when she realizes kidnappers are holding her for ransom. But after her rescue, she faces an even greater shock. Her family thinks she was an accomplice in her own kidnapping! Can she convince them of her innocence?

Perhaps best known for his No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, #1 New York Times best-selling author Alexander McCall Smith delights fans around the world with his warmhearted 44 Scotland Street novels. In the series’ sixth entry, the residents of 44 Scotland Street grapple with problems both trivial and severe, but none so great as when six-year-old Bertie Pollock - who longs to be seven - mislays his mum and learns a valuable lesson about wish fulfillment.

Sometimes the most twisted secrets come from your own past... Seven years after her little sister drowned in a lake, Kate is finally beginning to heal from Emily's tragic death. Until one night, after returning to her hometown, she sees the one face she never thought she'd see again. It's Emily. The girl is all grown up now, but Kate knows her sister's face better than anyone. The chilling sighting reignites the doubts Kate has always had about Emily's drowning, and forces her to revisit all the mysterious circumstances that surrounded that day. With the help of her high school ex-boyfriend...

The last time former SEAL Bridger North saved Jane Reilly's life, it wasn't her fault. This time, though, it's her own past putting her--and Bridger--in danger. Jane would give anything to forget the con man who married her, then left her broken-hearted. But when he shows up in town, offering to sign over custody of the stepson he ripped out of her life, she can't refuse the deal. His offer is an answer to her prayers. Until it's not. Her ex disappears with her money, leaving her to take the fall for his embezzlement scheme. On the run from the FBI, and the crime bosses chasing her ex, Jane...

Armand Blackstone wants very little in life, and needs even less--he's a millionaire in his own right, and scion of the Blackstone Empire. He has everything at his fingertips, everything a man could want--except Jo Dawson. His borderline obsession has lasted for over a decade, and he manages it the same way he controls everything else around him: with icy perfection. Simultaneously distancing himself and yet staying constantly aware of her, he's managed to keep his dignity intact and stay away from the one woman that drives him past the point of control. But now she's at risk, his younger ...

This seventh entry picks up right from the cliffhanger ending of Tales from the Hood, as Sabrina and Daphne's parents finally awake from their sleeping spell. But this is no time for complacency. The family must help Prince Charming's Everafter army fight the Scarlet Hand, and Sabrina must confront the deadly and mysterious Master.

All her life, Cricket's mama has told her stories about a secret room painted by a mysterious artist. Now Mama's run off, and Cricket thinks the room might be the answer to getting her to come back. If it exists. And if she can find it. Cricket's only clue is a coin from a grown-over ghost town in the woods. So with her daddy's old guidebook and a coat full of snacks stolen from the Cash 'n' Carry, Cricket runs away to find the room.

Scarlet Drew isn’t to be messed with. As the daughter of a notorious London gangster, she’s got enough street smarts to take on the world. But when the most important person in Scarlet’s life is murdered in cold blood on the East End streets where she grew up, she can only think of one thing - revenge. Scarlet’s aunt, Lily, is fierce, straight-talking and a force to be reckoned with. As head of the family firm and queen of the London underworld, she welcomes her niece into the business and swears to help her get revenge - after all, family comes first.

When the Mystery Writers of America bestowed a Special Edgar Award on Donald J. Sobol’s Encyclopedia Brown series, its reputation as a classic of children’s literature was assured. This fun read finds 10-year-old Leroy Brown (known to the people of his town as Encyclopedia Brown) honing his impressive detective skills.