Around age thirteen I discovered Perry Mason and put Nancy Drew on a back shelf. By the time I discovered Raymond Chandler’s mean streets, I was hooked. A vastly over-protected child, I longed to explore places that would make my mother faint. To paraphrase Chandler, I wanted to read about the best woman of her world and a good enough woman for any world. The kind of woman (or yes, a man) who would never ever need to be rescued. And when I sat down to write, I wanted to write about men and women who could handle themselves on those mean streets without turning mean themselves.
This book is the first in a strong series about another woman pressed into a “man’s job” when her husband, the sheriff, is murdered. The streets of Lily Ross’s town in 1920s Ohio may seem bucolic at first, even cozy. But Montgomery delves deep into the vicious side of small towns.
I grew up in some mean streets in Ohio, which is why I picked up the book, and this series made me believe they ain’t changed much. And you gotta admire a woman who takes on vicious killers and corrupt authorities in between raising kids and canning tomatoes. By the way, the book is based on a true historical person. You can look it up.
“The Widows kept me on the edge of my seat. Montgomery is a masterful storyteller.” ―Lee Martin, author of Pulitzer Prize-Finalist The Bright Forever
Kinship, Ohio, 1924: When Lily Ross learns that her husband, Daniel Ross, the town’s widely respected sheriff, is killed while transporting a prisoner, she is devastated and vows to avenge his death.
Hours after his funeral, a stranger appears at her door. Marvena Whitcomb, a coal miner’s widow, is unaware that Daniel has died, and begs to speak with him about her missing daughter.
From miles away but worlds apart, Lily and Marvena’s lives collide as…
Author Mary Cunningham penned a hilarious, madcap story chocked full of zany characters. The plot runs at a breakneck pace with the protagonist, hapless travel agent Andi Anna Jones, getting herself out of one mess only to fall into a bigger one the next time.
Cunningham liberally peppers Andi’s antics with snappy dialog that is spicier than hot salsa. Add a dash of romance with a smokin’ hot local sheriff to the foibles, and you’ve bought yourself a ticket to a wild ride from Cancun to Las Vegas.
Fast-moving and adventurous, Margaritas, Mayhem & Murder is more fun than whacking a pinata.
Andi Anna Jones, so-so travel agent and amateur sleuth, puts aside her resentment of her father's widow and books a sixtieth birthday cruise to Cancun for Ruby and three friends. Never does Andi imagine the cruise will include the murder of a has-been lounge singer--or that Ruby might be the main suspect. Flirting with more than danger after arriving in Mexico, Andi connects with charming local sheriff, Manual Gonzales. An embarrassing night involving the sheriff, too many margaritas, and a Mariachi band, can't quell her determination to clear the name of her ex-stepmother. While gathering clues and interviewing witnesses, however,…
I didn't have time to draw a breath before this book took me on a maddening ride through the world of a black sheriff in a rural Virginia county. His writing and story-telling gallops across the page with a message that elevates and enriches.
*** THE TIMES - THRILLER OF THE MONTH*** *** MAIL ON SUNDAY - BEST NEW FICTION*** *** FINANCIAL TIMES - BEST NEW CRIME BOOKS***
'A crackling good police procedural....fresh and exhilarating' STEPHEN KING
'S. A. Cosby's novels always hit the grand slam of crime fiction; unstoppable momentum, gripping intrigue and deep character with a hard and telling look at culture and society' MICHAEL CONNELLY
'Titus Crown is one of the most compelling characters I've read in a long time.' STEVE CAVANAGH
A BLACK SHERIFF. A SERIAL KILLER. AND A SMALL TOWN READY TO COMBUST.
I'm an actor turned journalist and writer. After a series of roles on low-budget movies and forgettable soap operas, I moved to Latin America to write about travel and life and all the heartbreak and humour it entails. El Flamingo follows the misadventure of a struggling actor who gets mistaken for a rogue assassin in Mexico and is forced to assume the mysterious identity in order to survive. It is a preposterous plot that could never happen in real life, yet the essence of it all was inspired by places I went, people I crossed paths with, and a sense of adventure that, to me, was authentic.
This is somewhat of an underground, little-known novel that I came across deep in the midst of a rural second-hand bookshop a few years back.
Set in 1958, the novel follows its deputy sheriff protagonist on a journey from the mid-west to Los Angeles via the famous Route 66. It has elements of noir, suspense, romance, adventure, and a good-guy vs mafia dynamic, all while tipping its hat to the American Road genre.
As a reader, you feel like you’re just another guy along for the ride, passing through state lines, watching the story unfold.
An innocent cup of coffee at a roadside diner on Route 66 embroils vacationing deputy sheriff Kevin Pulaski in a dangerous case involving a beautiful woman and missing fortune in Mafia loot.
My favorite mode of transport is being on the back of a good horse. I have enjoyed horse treks in Ecuador on the Inca Trail, in the backcountry of British Columbia, the High Sierras, and on the Wild West coast of Ireland, as well as numerous stays at guest’s ranches in the U.S. My equestrian articles have appeared in Equus, Horse Illustrated, and California Riding Magazine, to name a few. A back injury forced me to give up my mare and the riding world I loved. Writing The Cowgirl Jumped over the Moon was my way of letting go and moving forward in life.
I bought this book because I am a Longmire fan. The tight-lipped, tough Wyoming sheriff with a big heart and true grit is my kind of guy. I expected a juicy murder mystery, but not the heart-catching ride on a black beauty double.
Although Longmire's wild bareback ride on an unbridled mare stretches credulity, it is great fun to be there. If you like the haunting landscape of the West, the relentless pursuit of the truth, the mysticism of the Native Americans, and a good mystery, you will tick off all those boxes here.
The fifth book in the New York Times bestselling Longmire series, featuring Sheriff Walt Longmire
Wade Barsad locked his wife Mary's horses in their barn and then burned it down. In return she shot him in the head six times - or so the story goes. Sheriff Walt Longmire doesn't believe Mary's confession, and he's determined to dig deeper.
Posing as an insurance claims investigator, Walt goes undercover and soon discovers that the population of an entire town might have wanted Wade dead, including a beautiful Guatemalan bartender and a rancher with a taste for liquor but not so much…
I devour dark, gripping, thrillers which take readers on a journey alongside the characters. People who battle their own demons on whatever road they travel. It’s with this passion that I write stories which do the same. I bring readers into the story to the point where they are cheering for both the hero and the villain. Throw in a few twists and cliffhangers and voila – readers don’t sleep, or do their chores ;) The books on this list fuel my need to be thrilled. I hope you grip the pages like I did…and forget those chores!
An intriguing, layered, story that kept me wanting to know what happened to the missing girls.
A little slow to start, but it didn’t take me long to become gripped to the page. Paula digs deep into the social issue of missing girls and women through fiction, which intrigued me as I try to do the same with my writing.
Compelling characters and lyrically beautiful scenes made me feel the heartbreak and frantic desire to solve the case. What I found so intriguing about this novel was all the psychological elements of the characters and how a person’s past invariably affects the present.
Forget mowing the lawn. Turn the blades of suspense in your mind with this thriller!
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GOOD MORNING AMERICA BUZZ PICK • “A total departure for the author of The Paris Wife, McLain’s emotionally intense and exceptionally well-written thriller entwines its fictional crime with real cases.”—People (Book of the Week)
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY MARIE CLAIRE • “The kind of heart-pounding conclusion that thriller fans crave . . . In the end, a book full of darkness lands with a message of hope.”—The New York Times Book Review
“This mystery will keep you guessing, and stay with you long after you finish. Dive in.”—Daily Skimm…
There's something about broken people trying to do good that has always resonated with me. In basic training, a drill sergeant with debilitating PTSD told us what combat would be like through a storm of choking sobs and a haze of tears. He needed us to know. Even if it broke him. Working as an investigator in Denver and Washington, I watched people with complicated pasts and uncertain futures fight tooth and nail (sometimes literally) to put human traffickers behind bars. Literature has always been a bridle for that wildness I saw in the world. A tool for taking the ghashing, stomping, unruliness of the human experience and making it rideable, relatable, survivable.
This one is a standout of the Longmire series. A bus full of serial killers mashes its potatoes into the side of a mountain during a whiteout and it’s up to Absaroka County Sheriff Walt Longmire to get rounded them up. There’s an epicness about this story that leaves you feeling like you’re riding a literary wave into the pilings and Craig Johnson paints the whole debacle with a Hillerman-esque mysticism and his own singular brand of stoic humor.
The seventh book in the New York Times bestselling Longmire series, featuring Sheriff Walt Longmire.
Raynaud Shade, an adopted Crow Indian and one of the country's most dangerous sociopaths, has just confessed to murdering a boy twenty years ago and burying him deep within the Bighorn Mountains. Absaroka County Sherriff Walt Longmire must escort Shade through a snowstorm to the site, but the mission turns personal when Walt learns whom the dead boy's family is.
Guided only by Indian mysticism and a battered paperback of Dante's Inferno, Walt braves the icy hell of the Cloud Peak Wilderness Area, cheating death…
I am from rural Kansas, and I find that most rural areas are overlooked in mysteries. So it was with great pleasure that I discovered Shannon Baker’s Kate Fox series, set in the Nebraska Sandhills.
These books introduced me to this fascinating area of the Midwest with intriguing descriptions of landscapes and weather patterns, and reminded me of the close-knit everyday life of ranchers and surrounding communities in small towns.
When everyone knows everyone else, few are neutral about their neighbors. Every individual has an opinion, a prejudice, and sometimes a hidden agenda. Kate Fox is the new sheriff in the county and needs to deal with it all with all eyes focused upon her.
Sometimes, even the best-kept secrets can’t stay hidden forever.
"Bitter Rain seeps into your bones and stays with you, its characters haunting your thoughts long after the rain stops and the sun breaks through the clouds.” —Colorado Book Review
Sheriff Kate Fox is still settling into her new role when Deputy Kyle Red Owl’s sister, Shelly, vanishes from the nearby Lakota reservation. Convinced it’s an “Indian issue,” neighboring sheriffs are reluctant to get involved. Tempers flare—and Kate knows things are bound to get even more heated.
But when Kate and Kyle start to gather evidence, they realize the case isn’t…
I am a total sucker for people who are so complicated I can’t get a read
on them. This love comes from growing up without any extended family. When I heard little bits of my parents’ pasts, it felt like the world got more interesting, and I wanted to dig in to know everything there was to know about what shaped them and, by proxy, what shaped me. I’m drawn to
shady characters who don’t want to give up the goods, as they present a
joyful challenge by withholding mystery, and those types of characters
are the ones I love to read and write about.
I devoured this novel in one sitting. It has tons of dark stories that weave the families of unforgettable characters trying to hold their lives intact in Nebraska’s Sandhills.
I loved each interaction between Harley and the youngest Reddick boy, who is steeped in such a history of menace and projecting trouble that the mere mention of him made me nervous. As he and Harley spiral closer together it just feels like it is going to lead to an unforgettable collision.
In a dusty town in Nebraska's rugged sandhills, weary sheriff's deputy Harley Jensen patrols the streets at night, on the lookout for something-anything-out of the ordinary. It's July 1978, and the heat is making people ornery, restless. That and the Reddick family patriarch has decided, decades after authorities ended the search for his murdered boy's body, to lay a headstone. Instead of bringing closure, this decision is the spark that threatens to set Pickard County ablaze.
On a fateful night after the memorial service, Harley tails the youngest Reddick and town miscreant, Paul, through the abandoned farms and homes outside…
The happiest day of Payton Lambert's life was the day she graduated high school and watched Bald Knob, Kentucky get smaller and smaller in her rearview mirror. She wanted more for her life than a tiny town where everyone knows your business and you can’t find a decent cup of coffee for at least forty miles. Twelve years later, an unexpected phone call in the middle of the night has her packing up her life in Chicago and racing back home to the one person she ever regretted leaving behind.Upon her return, she sees that Leo Hudson, the scrawny boy…
