Serial Killer Thrillers Fiction

Every cop makes mistakes. But in Baltimore, one slip-up could be a death sentence. The body of a young woman is discovered in a bleach bath in a derelict Annapolis apartment, throwing FBI Special Agent Caitlin Sandling into her worst nightmare. The victim suffered a terrible death. The tabloids say the killer is a vampire, and it’s a race against time to solve the case before panic spreads through the city. Separated from the Sofa Squad, Sandling is out on her own, while the rest of the team work another strange series of murders. A string of deaths among the city's leading detectives ...

John Wayne Cleaver is dangerous, and he knows it. He's obsessed with serial killers, but really doesn't want to become one. So for his own sake, and the safety of those around him, he lives by rigid rules he's written for himself, practicing normal life as if it were a private religion that could save him from damnation. Dead bodies are normal to John. They don't demand or expect the empathy he's unable to offer. Perhaps that's what gives him the objectivity to recognize that there's something different about the body the police have just found behind the Wash-n-Dry Laundromat - and to appreciate what that difference means.

In a riveting debut thriller that has drawn comparisons to masters of the genre like Dennis Lehane and Michael Connelly, Brian Freeman weaves obsession, sex, and revenge into a story that grips the reader with vivid characters and shocking plot twists from the first minute to the last.

The "maddog" murderer who is terrorizing the Twin Cities is two things: insane and extremely intelligent. He kills for the pleasure of it and thoroughly enjoys placing elaborate obstacles to keep police befuddled. Each clever move he makes is another point of pride. But when the brilliant Lieutenant Lucas Davenport, a dedicated cop and a serial killer's worst nightmare, is brought in to take up the investigation, the maddog suddenly has an adversary worthy of his genius.

Jonathan Stride and Serena Dial are both investigating high-profile murders in Las Vegas. A celebrity is assassinated during a fling with a prostitute, and a young boy is killed in a brutal hit-and-run incident. When the cases converge, Jonathan and Serena find themselves racing the clock against a determined serial killer and searching for a connection to the unsolved murder of a showgirl years earlier.

I thought the worst part of a blackout was waking up in a strange place. Turns out waking up next to a dead woman is far worse… Memory lapses have plagued PI Dean Steele since childhood. This time when he opens his eyes, there's a woman lying nearby. A woman he doesn't recognize. As Dean tries to determine how he ended up in the woods next to a dead body, he attempts to piece together the things he remembers. But the situation takes a bewildering turn when the dead woman’s body disappears from the scene. Someone doesn't want Dean uncovering secrets, and things get even more heated when ...

Forced to give up her career as a dentist, and still unemployed a year later, Valentina Knight has finally run out of options. With foreclosure looming she acts in desperation, lying to get a position as an assistant to the county medical examiner. Val's relieved. She won't be homeless. But Val didn't count on the lie trapping her in a dangerous game with a killer. Val quickly becomes involved in the case of Francine Donohue, who disappeared from her neighborhood and is discovered dead six months later. The bizarre circumstances surrounding the murder are not the first of their kind.

A festive holiday party turns into a nightmare when a guest is found dead, and a snowstorm causes a blackout. PI Dean Steele dedicated a significant portion of his life to serving his country. Now, a story from one of his past missions is on the verge of becoming a TV show. He is invited to attend a Christmas party with his military buddies and some entertainment industry professionals. Soon, a snowstorm hits, and a missing guest from the party is found dead. With the police unable to reach them and another body turning up, Dean does everything in his power to take control of the situation ...

She is the perfect assassin. A Russian orphan, saved from the death penalty for the brutal revenge she took on her gangster father's killers. Ruthlessly trained. Given a new life. New names, new faces - whichever fits. Her paymasters call themselves The Twelve. But she knows nothing of them. Konstantin is the man who saved her and the one she answers to. She is Villanelle. Without conscience. Without guilt. Without weakness. Eve Polastri is the woman who hunts her. MI5, until one error of judgment costs her everything.

After getting canned from the Seattle PD, brilliant, wisecracking Thomas Prescott follows his sister Lacy to Philadelphia, where she swims on the Drexel University team. While Thomas’s slapstick antics mask a keen analytic mind, it’s his nose for trouble that leads him again and again into dicey situations. The ex–homicide detective is not long in Philly before getting caught up in two high-powered criminal cases. Thomas stumbles into a crime scene amid the Occupy Philadelphia protests. Activist Brooke Wexley has been strangled within sight of city hall.

In 1919, Kathryn Wombacher finds a lonely-hearts ad placed by one Walter Andrew: "Would be pleased to correspond with a refined young lady or widow. Object, matrimony.” Kathryn and Walter fall in love and marry within weeks. What Kathryn doesn’t know...is that her new husband is really James “Bluebeard” Watson, a notorious West Coast serial killer who catfished and married 22 women, murdering 10.

Despite a childhood in the care system, Anna Price has beaten the odds and built for herself the perfect life, complete with beautiful seaside home, devoted husband and a job she loves. Then a policeman appears at Anna’s door: her estranged brother Henry is a wanted serial killer, and the police need Anna’s help to catch him before he strikes again. When an envelope turns up on her doorstep, Anna suddenly finds herself caught in a sick game. One that she remembers all too well from childhood – one that, this time, she must win at all costs.

In a sleepy Devon village, a woman is taken from the streets. Local vet Jenny is horrified. This kind of thing doesn’t happen here. But it’s not the first time she’s been so close to a crime scene. The daughter of a prolific serial killer, she’s spent her whole life running from who she really is. And the crime is harrowingly similar to those her father committed all those years ago.

After the body of a brutally murdered young woman is recovered from the Gulf of Mexico far from shore, FBI Special Agent Tess Winnett is called in to assist with the profiling of the murderer. Although only one body has been found, every detail about the gruesome crime points to the work of a serial killer. Have there been others left to die far at sea, where no one will ever find them? Is there a connection to be found, or is Tess searching for evidence that doesn’t exist?

The first three books in the Rebecca Watson crime thriller series. Stone Cold Detective Rebecca Watson is tracking a vicious serial killer in Eugene Falls, Florida. As a distraction, she’s dragged back into court for the retrial of a man convicted of murdering his girlfriend five years earlier. His defense attorney will use any means to get his client freed, including uncovering old wounds from Watson’s past. As the case takes a few hard turns, nothing can prepare her for the world she’s about to encounter, the past that haunts her, and the truth behind the serial killer’s motive. ...

In Shadow Prey, the crackling sequel to Rules of Prey, Twin Cities sleuth Lucas Davenport teams up with NYPD Lieutenant Lily Rothenberg to track down an elusive killer known only as Shadow Love. Among the victims are a Minneapolis slumlord, a judge from Oklahoma City, and a Manhattan politician. The murder weapon is a Native American ceremonial knife.

Revellers are flocking into Greenborough for the yearly Dark Greenborough Festival, a three-day event celebrating local folklore, superstition, and the darker side of life. What the public doesn't know is that there has been a warning sent to the police, saying that Greenborough will be a very dangerous place this year. The anonymous letter ends with the Latin phrase, Mors certa, hora incerta: Death is certain, the hour uncertain.

Hazel and Fox are an ordinary married couple with a baby. Except for one small thing: they're murderers. Well, they used to be. They had it all. An enviable London lifestyle, five-star travels, and plenty of bad men to rid from the world. Then Hazel got pregnant. Now, they’re just another mom-and-dad-and-baby. They gave up vigilante justice for life in the suburbs: arranged play dates instead of body disposals, diapers over daggers, mommy conversations instead of the sweet seduction right before a kill. And Hazel finds her new life terribly dull.

Amy receives an exclusive invitation to the party of the year. Billionaire business magnate Lawrence is getting married, and it looks set to be a summer wedding to remember. He rarely appears in the public eye, so this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Amy. She has spent months building up to this moment; it’s her only chance to get revenge. Because she knows who Lawrence really is – that beneath the polished public persona he is a vicious killer, responsible for the deaths of not just Amy’s sister but several other innocent women.

Detective Porter and the team have been pulled from the hunt for Anson Bishop, the Four Monkey Killer, by the feds. When the body of a young girl is found beneath the frozen waters of Jackson Park Lagoon, she is quickly identified as Ella Reynolds, missing three weeks. But how did she get there? The lagoon froze months earlier. More baffling? She's found wearing the clothes of another girl, missing less than two days.