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MYSTERY & SUSPENSE



Fiction / African-American / Anthologies / Cross Genre
Fantasy & Sci Fi / Graphic Novels / Historical / Horror / Inspirational
LGBTQ / Literary / Multicultural / Mystery & Suspense / New Age
Novella/Novelette / Poetry / Religious  / Romance / Short-Story
Thriller & Adventure / Visionary / Western / Women's Fiction / Young Adult



The Family Tree by Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry

Winner
Fiction: Mystery/Suspense
2021 Best Book Awards

The DNA results are back. And there’s a serial killer in her family tree…

Liz Catalano is shocked when an ancestry kit reveals she’s adopted. But she could never have imagined connecting with her unknown family would plunge her into an FBI investigation of a notorious serial killer…

The Tri-State Killer has been abducting pairs of women for forty years, leaving no clues behind – only bodies.

Can Liz figure out who the killer in her new family is? And can she save his newest victims before it’s too late?

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Star Revelations by Steven Paul Terry

Get their attention before it's too late... The Quiet War has begun...

Acclaimed journalist and media celebrity Diana Willis can snag the inside scoop and truth on any story. But when her helicopter mysteriously malfunctions and plummets to the ground, everything changes, sending Diana down a maze of murderous intrigue and confusion. Waking up from a coma eight weeks after the crash, she struggles with the recurring dreams that reveal an extraordinary past life. Now, Diana's hellbent on uncovering the secrets about those past memories.

Delving into a world of mind control and past lives, the truth is more terrifying than she ever imagined as she travels back in time to face the perpetrators of America's most confidential and sinister projects. Teaming up with an unlikely ally, an elusive interdimensional mentor from her other life, Diana is able to restore her psychic and telepathic powers. Suddenly, they're in more danger than ever before as their enemies seek world domination through mind control and media manipulation.

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Distorted Perception by Trish Arrowsmith

At twenty-six years of age, Kathleen has almost everything she needs: a fulfilling teaching career, a new car, and a recently purchased home. She dedicates her free time to her students, supporting them in a manner she never had growing up. Her days are filled with love and hope, but her nights are empty without a family to call her own. While spectating the first home baseball game of the season, she meets a man that she believes will change her evenings in the best possible way. With no children of his own, he committed his free time to bringing his young nephew to watch the game, hoping to encourage him to play. Kathleen is immediately drawn to him and sees him as a true family man.

Maxwell is handsome, successful, and charming. When he proposes marriage shortly after they begin dating, Kathleen is eager to accept as the desire to start her own family consumes her. Within months of their marriage, Maxwell’s sweet, doting personality gives way to a more sinister, controlling side. Kathleen quickly realizes that while she was looking for a partner, Maxwell was looking for someone who existed solely to fulfill his needs.

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Leaving Phoenix by Jafe Danbury

EVERYONE HAS A PAST.

HOW PREPARED ARE WE TO GO THERE?

Born in a crucible, Phoebe has been living on borrowed time. Faced with a series of excruciating truths and a cryptic letter from a mysterious stranger, she becomes consumed with learning the truth about her past.

In the course of her journey, she finds that answers may come at a terrible price as she begins to witness an insidious evil and underbelly to her existence she could have never imagined.

From the award-winning author of THE OTHER CHEEK, a story of descent into a nightmare existence of abuse at the hands of a close family member, comes the thrilling tale of self-discovery that results after becoming embroiled in the decisions and lives of strangers.

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Enough to Make the Angels Weep by Ernesto Patino

Hired to investigate the murder of an 84-year-old widow, P.I. Joe Coopersmith hits one dead end after another in his search for leads. With few clues and no suspects, he nearly gives up, until he uncovers a connection to a bizarre plot to kill the descendants of Irish soldiers who fought for Mexico during the Mexican-American War. Known as San Patricios, they belonged to the St. Patrick’s Battalion, an elite Mexican unit composed mostly of Irish Immigrants. When someone threatens Coopersmith’s life, he knows he’s on the right track. Undeterred, he digs deeper into the plot, soon learning the identity of the man behind it and his warped motive for the cold-blooded murder of the elderly widow.




SPINNAKER: An Enduring Romance Novel Entwined with Suspense and Espionage by Sabato diVincenti

SPINNAKER is a thrilling tale of romance, weaving fiction, and fact in an intriguing mystery, adding drama and suspense while intertwining espionage within the characters' lives. Chapter after chapter you will join in on incredible and bizarre events and follow a passionate love affair along with grim details of murder and revenge.

As the story unfolds in 1943 war-torn Germany, the plot takes many unexpected turns with unpredictable suspense. Joyful surprises with unparalleled sadness and glorified fulfillment await, coupled with bone chilling and harrowing twists.

A squadron of B17 bombers are dispatched to participate in the first American bombing raid into war-torn Germany. Twenty-one-year-old Karl Schellenberg is piloting the lead scout aircraft ahead of the initial wave. His mission is to keep a lookout for the Luftwaffe's counterattack. A strange phenomenon of light in the night sky causes him to become disoriented. His aircraft suffers catastrophic mechanical failure. Karl ejects and deploys his parachute. Moments later, his parachute fails, he plummets helplessly to the ground.

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Last Liar Standing by Danielle M. Wong

Vonny Kwan wakes up in a Nevada hospital, the victim of a hit-and-run accident she doesn't remember. As she struggles to recover from her injuries, she learns that she also has no memory of the past nine years, including her marriage and what she was even doing in the West.

While she's still reeling from the shock of her amnesia, two detectives visit and inform her that her husband, John, was recently murdered. As more information comes to light, Vonny grows increasingly suspicious of everyone around her.

Vonny realizes she must piece together the last decade to uncover the truth. The missing chunk of time holds secrets about the person she became, the mysterious man she fell for, and the life she never wanted.




Deadly Declarations by Landis Wade

An unlikely trio of retirees try to solve a man’s death, his strange will, and the 250-year-old colonial period mystery of the controversial and long-vanished First American Declaration of Independence, actions which–if successful–will change United States history. That is, if they don’t die trying.

t’s modern day in the New South City of Charlotte, North Carolina, when three retirees at the Independence Retirement Community, a/k/a The Indie, team up to solve two mysteries related to the death of a 96-year-old resident. Why was his manuscript about the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence missing when they found his body? And why did his handwritten will dated the day he died disinherit his beloved granddaughter (his only heir), and leave his $50 million fortune to Sue Ellen Parker, the most despised resident at the Indie?

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The Killing of Faith by William Holms

Do you like a shocking thriller? Do you like a twist you never see coming?

The Killing of Faith is the riveting, award-winning, suspense/thriller told by Faith, a mother of three children, caught in an unhappy marriage. After swearing off love, she finally meets the man of her dreams and finds love again. We've all read a similar tale. What sets this story apart is the dark turn it takes. Faith's lies plunge her into a living nightmare beyond anything you can imagine. Faith has always used her good looks to get everything she wants, but her looks can’t save her this time. All she can do is pray for a miracle before time runs out on her life and death fight for survival.

You'll be shocked when you realize what happened to Faith can happen to you!




Fire and Ice by B.T. Polcari

After encountering a brief power outage at work, college student Sara Donovan might be allowing her imagination to run wild. The main vault in the Carlton Museum holds the Fire and Ice Exhibit, a collection of rare gems, including the Star of Midnight, a 175-carat diamond. Although all the stones are accounted for, Sara suspects the Star of Midnight was stolen and replaced with a fake.

While conducting her own investigation, what Sara uncovers is beyond even her wildest imagination: a coded message, papers with strange characters, and a mysterious set of numbers carved into an office wall. Despite dismissive historians and other experts, she is certain these clues point to a mysterious centuries-old legend.

Unfortunately, her colorful history of usually being right, but always being wrong, means she must solve the mystery to prove her theory.




Frozen Fears by C.E. Nelson

Special Agent Don Trask was sent to a prairie town in western Minnesota to confirm what he already knew, the dead girl found by the snowmobile trail was the daughter of a powerful Minnesota politician. Any agent could have done it, but his boss wanted to put on a good show and send the head of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). Trask fully expected to make a brief statement to the press and head back to St. Paul, but that didn't happen.

Not when someone tried to kill him.

The Trask Brothers are back in the latest installment of the highly rated murder mystery series.

Readers of Sanford, Connelly, Patterson, Child and alike will enjoy this gripping and fast-paced murder mystery detective thriller.




Nothing Personal by Larry Temple

The ultimate predator kidnaps seven women for a sadistic game of his own design. The women must fight for their freedom while serving as this madman's messenger to the outside world. FBI agent Laura Spencer is thrust into the center of the investigation as she attempts to decode the messages. Do the clues lead to a killer from a generation ago or are they just a ruse to throw off the investigation? Every day brings more harrowing danger and abuse for the women. Follow this journey into the mind of a madman as he uses the truth to serve his own purposes. Some truths are meant to remain hidden...




Stand Your Ground by A.J. Ullman

When Cady Fox leaves dinner with the senior attorneys at her law firm one spring night, the only thing on her mind is: Will they make her a partnership offer the next morning? What she doesn’t expect is to be accosted on her bike ride home in an inner-city park by a man whose nefarious intent requires her to shoot him to death on a deserted basketball court at 11 p.m.

Growing up poor in Appalachia, Cady had few expectations that she would be a success in Big Law. Now, on the cusp of her greatest moment, she becomes the focus of a police investigator tired of people claiming white privilege when killing Black men and a public outcry for justice for the dead man.

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Threads by Bryan Cassiday

A fashion icon murdered in Beverly Hills has skeletons in his closet and a long list of enemies.

After the crass, but outrageously successful, fashion designer Max Reed, who exploits violence in his ads by shooting them at actual murder scenes, is blown up in his penthouse office, police watch a CCTV video of the person who delivered the bomb to Reed’s office and peg the LA private investigator Scott Brody as the killer. The truth is Brody didn’t know he was delivering a bomb. The local LA mobster Sal Andrasi duped Brody into thinking he was delivering a bowling ball to Reed. In order to clear his name, with the help of his sometime partner, the impetuous Tess Hardwick, Brody must find the real killer, the mastermind who hired Andrasi to hire Brody as the delivery boy. Which turns out to be more difficult than it seems.

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Windows of the Heavens by Henry G. Brinton

When the heavens open on the small river town of Occoquan, Virginia, the streets flood and a candle shop is swept away. A Methodist pastor named Harley Camden witnesses the destructive deluge and then discovers, in the debris, a dead man with a crude carving of Satan's claws in his back. Harley is drawn into the mystery of what caused the flood and who killed the man, while diving into questions of good and evil, body and spirit, humanity and the environment—especially questions about the change in climate that now threatens life around the globe. He discovers that there is a spiritual dimension to every social issue, whether it be the violence of Central American gangs or the racism that leads a black businessman to make a fateful choice.

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The Dance Towards Death: The Brotherhood Chronicle, Volume 3 by Tejas Desai

Welcome to the culmination of Tejas Desai’s riveting international crime trilogy, The Brotherhood Chronicle!

Following the #1 Amazon Bestseller and Pencraft Award Winner The Brotherhood and its captivating and acclaimed sequel The Run and Hide, The Dance Towards Death continues the exciting story of former private investigator Niral Solanke and several survivors of a complex international criminal world across Thailand, India, Australia, New York City and the American South.

Combining Hindu-Buddhist thought with gritty dialogue, lushly described settings, informative details and an action-filled plot, this epic journey culminates in a series of powerful climaxes.

As with the previous books in The Brotherhood Chronicle, The Dance Towards Death includes Glossaries of Terms (Indian, Thai, Australian and American) for the convenience of readers.

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Twinkle by Patricia Leavy

Twinkle follows Tess Lee and Jack Miller after two years of marriage. Tess is a wildly successful and world-famous novelist. Her inspirational books explore our innermost struggles and the human need to believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Jack is a federal agent. After spending decades immersed in a violent world, a residue remains. As they both heal from past trauma, their epic love, fostered by their ability to truly see one another, has brought them true happiness. However, when an anonymous threat is made against Tess’s life, everything changes.

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The Woods of Hitchcock by Ann W. Jarvie

The Woods of Hitchcock by award-winning author Ann W. Jarvie is a thriller about a psychically gifted Chicago copywriter and victim of violence who returns to South Carolina's equestrian country to solve a riddle involving murder, the metaphysical and the secrets of her eccentric family.

Suzanne Clayborn is a psychically gifted southerner working in her dream job in Chicago, which also conveniently takes her away from the ghosts of her past. But when she's nearly killed, she realizes all she wants is to return home to her eccentric family, her horse and the one place she feels safe: Hitchcock Woods, an enchanting equestrian forest in South Carolina.

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Gemini Divided by Lauren Kristen Roberts

For fans of DIAL A FOR AUNTIES and FINLAY DONOVAN IS KILLING IT

Everyone has secrets, but the skeletons in Jen's closet are bigger than most.

By day, she writes fanfiction for her favorite TV show, Gemini Divided, but by night, she works as an assassin to pay her mother's chemotherapy bills. Her world tilts on its axis the day she is assigned to kill Will Bryant-the handsome and charming star of Gemini Divided, and her celebrity crush. What could Will have done to land on someone's hit list?

The assignment gets Jen up close and personal with Will, who is just as kind in person as he is in the media coverage she obsesses over. When she stumbles onto the reason Will ended up as her target, she must make a life-altering choice: kill Will and keep her mother alive, or save Will and put herself in danger, leaving no way to fund her mother's treatments in the future. She has to decide quickly, because in two days, the choice will be made for her.




Bad Medicine by James B. Cohoon

Finalist
Fiction: Mystery/Suspense
2021 Best Book Awards

From busy hospitals in San Diego to the barren deserts of Arizona, this tension-filled thriller, the second installment of The Medical Students series, follows the life and death challenges, the surprising twists and turns, and the ethical dilemmas of two young doctors in their quest to rid the profession of bad doctors who practice bad medicine resulting in bad outcomes.

Book One, Do No Harm, introduced Torrey Jamison and Matthew Preston. Torrey, with her genius IQ, gained acceptance to Stanford Medical School to pursue her dream of becoming a pediatric neurosurgeon in honor of her little sister, Leia, who died of brain cancer. At Stanford, she met her future husband, Matthew, who pursued medical school for the sole purpose of becoming a prison doctor in order to gain access to—and kill—his father’s murderer who was incarcerated in San Quentin. As their relationship deepened, Torrey was forced to confront the potential value and moral ambiguity of vigilantism.

In this page-turning, stand-alone suspense sequel, Bad Medicine, newlyweds Torrey and Matthew have graduated from medical school and are now new doctors at Kaiser hospital in San Diego. While there, they learn of a friend’s young niece who has fallen victim to a doctor who is running a phony cancer treatment center. Putting their careers and marriage in jeopardy, Dr. Jamison and Dr. Preston agree to help their friend’s family seek the ultimate revenge.




Blue Madagascar by Andrew Kaplan

Finalist
Fiction: Mystery/Suspense
2021 Best Book Awards

From the NYT's Bestselling Author Of "Homeland: Carrie's Run" comes a Gripping New Action Thriller

After Carrie Mathison, there's a bold new heroine in town.

She was a throwaway kid from the mean streets of Central Los Angeles. Now a Homeland Security Special Agent, the future of America may depend on what she does next.

A Presidential candidate commits suicide, and no one knows why. A mysterious man is killed during a jewel heist on the French Riviera. Intelligence agencies around the world are scrambling. U.S. Homeland Security sends the one woman who might be able to solve the secret of "Blue Madagascar" before it's too late. The trail leads her on a cat-and-mouse chase across Europe. But others are interested – and they will kill to get it.

Move over Jack Reacher, Mitch Rapp, and Jason Bourne and make room for Casey Ramirez, a heroine for our times. A woman whose story you won't be able to put down or forget. The glowing early reviews are in. Join the excitement!




Murder on the Metro by Jon Land

Finalist
Fiction: Mystery/Suspense
2021 Best Book Awards

In Margaret Truman's Murder on the Metro, Jon Land's first thrilling addition to the New York Times bestselling Capital Crimes series, Robert Brixton uncovers a sinister plot threatening millions of American lives!

Israel: A drone-based terrorist attack kills dozens on a sun-splashed beach in Caesarea.

Washington: America awakens to the shattering news that Vice President Stephanie Davenport has died of an apparent heart attack.

That same morning, a chance encounter on the Washington Metro results in international private investigator Robert Brixton thwarting an attempted terrorist bombing. Brixton has no reason to suspect that the three incidents have anything in common, until he’s contacted by Kendra Rendine, the Secret Service agent who headed up the vice president’s security detail. Rendine is convinced the vice president was murdered and needs Brixton’s investigative expertise to find out why.

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One Day You'll Burn by Joseph Schneider

Finalist
Fiction: Mystery/Suspense
2021 Best Book Awards

An incredible debut from up-and-coming author Joseph Schneider. Detective Tully Jarsdel may not be a typical Los Angeles cop—but he's the only one who can solve this case

A body so badly burned that it could be mistaken for a movie prop... except for the smell. That's not something California law enforcement finds lying on the street every day. And when Detective Tully Jarsdel is called to the scene, it's clear to him that something about the placement of the corpse is intentional, even ritualistic. Jarsdel isn't a classic noir detective, but his former career in academia seems to finally be coming in handy, rather than serving as material for jokes from his partner, Morales.




Saving Grace: A Psychological Thriller by D.M. Barr

Finalist
Fiction: Mystery/Suspense
2021 Best Book Awards

Grace Pierrepoint Rendell, the only child of an ailing billionaire, has been treated for paranoia since childhood. When she secretly quits her meds, she begins to suspect that once her father passes, her husband will murder her for her inheritance. Realizing that no one will believe the ravings of a supposed psychotic, she devises a creative way to save herself—she will write herself out of danger, authoring a novel with the heroine in exactly the same circumstances, thus subtly exposing her husband's scheme to the world. She hires acclaimed author Lynn Andrews to help edit her literary insurance policy, but when Lynn is murdered, Grace is discovered standing over the bloody remains. The clock is ticking: can she write and publish her manuscript before she is strapped into a straitjacket, accused of homicide, or lowered six feet under?

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What Waits for You by Joseph Schneider

Finalist
Fiction: Mystery/Suspense
2021 Best Book Awards

A serial killer lurks in people's homes for hours or days before he strikes...

The nightmare descends on a Tuesday. An elderly couple's home is transformed into a scene straight out of a horror film, their mutilated bodies the only clue left behind by the killer—and they are only the unlucky first in a series of impossible crimes. Soon dubbed the Eastside Creeper, the murderer stalks Hollywood, camping out undetected in his victims' homes until he's ready to strike. After killing, he vanishes like smoke.

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