The Last Straw

      Yvonne M Remington
     The Last Straw

Aileen knew her son Bobby had always been a rebel and hated authority growing up. . But at 29, he found a woman she hoped would settle him down. Until the phone call came, saying that he had killed the mother of his children during one of their many violent fights when the knife she threatened him with with was turned on her during the struggle, causing her death.The day of Bobby's sentencing came and she arranged to work the evening shift at the Horsey. She refused Joyce's offer to accompany her to the courthouse. It was Aileen's intention of getting through the ordeal as quickly as possible with a minimal amount of stress. Flashbacks of Bobby's earlier years haunted her. All her efforts to help him ended in failure. She had asked herself many times where she went wrong, but deep down, she knew she hadn't. There were just those people who chose a different path than the one you hoped they would take.

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    Girl Meets Ghost

      Lauren Barnholdt
     Girl Meets Ghost

A tween girl becomes a reluctant medium in this start to a hilariously haunting series. There’s an old saying that “dead men tell no tales” — but that saying is definitely not true. Just ask twelve-year-old Kendall Williams, who can’t get dead people to stop talking to her, no matter how politely she asks. It’s pretty frustrating being able to hear and see people that no one else can. For one thing, her friends and family think she’s going crazy. And for another, being spotted by your crush while talking to (seemingly) no one is positively mortifying. But Kendall is going to have to learn how to deal, because the only way to quiet the dead is to help them.'

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    The Gentleman's Walking Stick

      Jennifer Ashley
     The Gentleman's Walking Stick

London, 1817 An anthology of two short stories of the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries. In The Gentleman's Walking Stick, Lacey untangles a web of deceit involving a respectable society man, his only clue being a missing walking stick. (This story first appeared in the Regency fiction magazine, The Reticule in 2000.) In The Disappearance of Miss Sarah Oswald, Lacey is asked to locate a man's missing daughter, though he senses that the family will be just as happy for her to remain missing. The Disappearance of Miss Sarah Oswald was nominated for a Derringer Award for best short mystery in the year 2000. The story first appeared in Over My Dead Body! Mystery Magazine in Summer, 2000. The first story runs 6000 words; the second, 5000 words. While these are standalone stories, the events fall in the series timeline anytime after The Sudbury School Murders.

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    Cultic

      Todd Maternowski
     Cultic

An up-and-coming professor of mystery religions and the occult performs a Tarot divination on himself at the urging of his students -- and finds he will be murdered within the next three days.Nikolai is a young, up-and-coming professor of the occult and mystery religions at a prestigious Midwestern university. He has it all: a half-dozen books on the way, a beautiful and intelligent fiancee, and a classroom full of students who idolize him as a minor deity.All that changes, however, when he is urged by his students to perform a Tarot divination on himself, and finds that something catastrophic will happen... in the next three days.Cultic is the (short) story of one man's frantic search for his possible killer, a race against time as he desperately fights off both paranoid delusions and his own internal demons.

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    A Box of Tissues, 2 Rolls of Toilet Paper and a Plastic Bottle of Water

      Gail S. KibWhite
     A Box of Tissues, 2 Rolls of Toilet Paper and a Plastic Bottle of Water

A famous Tampa Bay, FL defense attorney has been kidnapped, drugged, and thrown into a room containing only a potty chair, two rolls of toilet paper, a box of tissues, and a plastic bottle of water. He wakes up to find his wallet and jewelry are missing; his clothes are filthy and bloody. He has no idea where he is, who did this to him, or why. He must escape before "they" return, but how?This short story is the first in a series of six or seven short stories to be published here in Smashwords.com. When all of the books in the series are published, they will be combined into one book titled Great 'Lil Escapes and published in print and as an ebook in Amazon.com and here in Smashwords for $2.99.***READ THE NEXT STORY IN THIS SERIES, THE BRAVE 'LIL COCKROACH, FOR FREE IN MY BLOG SITE***The second story in this series titled The Brave 'Lil Cockroach will be published in December, 2016 in Smashwords for $0.99. The third short story in the series will be titled Give That Dog a Bone..NOTE: PRIOR to the publication of The Brave 'Lil Cockroach this December in Smashwords for $0.99, I will be posting one small segment a week of the entire short story in both of my blog sites until the entire book has been published there. If you're interested in this book, go to my blog site and read it online for FREE prior to publication in Smashwords for $0.99 in December.My BLOG site: www.mysterynovels.gailskibbywhite.com

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    Cross

      James Patterson
     Cross

The #1 bestselling novel that inspired the major new motion picture Alex Cross starring Tyler Perry. Alex Cross was a rising star in the Washington, DC, Police Department when an unknown shooter gunned down his wife, Maria, in front of him. The killer was never found, and the case turned cold, filed among the unsolved drive-bys in D.C.'s rough neighborhoods. Years later, still haunted by his wife's death, Cross is making a bold move in his life. Now a free agent from the police and the FBI, he's set up practice as a psychologist once again. His life with Nana Mama, Damon, Jannie, and little Alex is finally getting in order. He even has a chance at a new love. Then Cross's former partner, John Sampson, calls in a favor. He is tracking a serial rapist in Georgetown, one whose brutal modus operandi recalls a case Sampson and Cross worked together years earlier. When the case reveals a connection to Maria's death, Cross latches on for the most urgent and terrifying ride of his life. From the man USA TODAY has called the "master of the genre," CROSS is the high-velocity thriller James Patterson and Alex Cross's fans have waited years to read - and the pinnacle of the bestselling detective series of the past two decades. This novel was originally published under the title Cross. The movie tie-in editions are published under the title Alex Cross.

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    The Dead Room

      Heather Graham
     The Dead Room

She talks to dead people... A year ago, archaeologist Leslie MacIntyre barely survived an explosion that took the life of her fiancé, Matt Connolly. Since then she's slowly come to terms with both her loss and an unsettling ability to communicate with ghosts, a "gift" received in the wake of her brush with death. Now she's returned to lower Manhattan, site of the explosion, to investigate a newly discovered burial ground. In this place restless spirits hold the secrets not only of past injustice but of a deadly conspiracy against the city's women—including Leslie herself. By night Matt visits her in dreams, warning her and offering clues to the truth. By day she finds herself helped by—and attracted to—his flesh-and-blood cousin Joe. Torn by her feelings for both men, caught between the worlds of the living and the dead, Leslie struggles against the encroaching danger. As she is drawn closer to the darkness, she must ultimately face the power of an evil mind, alone in a place where not even the men she loves can save her.

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    Basket Case

      Carl Hiaasen
     Basket Case

Once a hotshot investigative reporter, Jack Tagger now bangs out obituaries for a South Florida daily, "plotting to resurrect my career by yoking my byline to some famous stiff." Jimmy Stoma, the infamous front man of Jimmy and the Slut Puppies, dead in a fishy-smelling scuba "accident" may be just the stiff Jack needs-if only he can figure out what happened. Standing in the way are [among others] an editor who wants Jack to "break her cherry," Stoma's ambitious pop-singer widow, and the soulless, profit-hungry newspaper owner Jack once publicly humiliated. As clues from Stoma's music give Jack Tagger the chance to trade obits for a story that could hit the front page, murder gives his career a new lease on life.

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    Third Degree

      Greg Iles
     Third Degree

Sometimes the gravest dangers -- and the darkest souls -- live right beside us.... In the span of twenty-four hours, every-thing Laurel Shields believes about her life and her marriage to a prominent doctor will be shattered -- if she survives a terrifying ordeal. The day begins with the jarring discovery that, soon after ending an affair, Laurel is pregnant. But when she returns home to find her husband ashen, unkempt, and on the brink of violence, a nightmare quickly unfolds. In the heart of an idyllic Mississippi town, behind the walls of her perfect house, Laurel finds herself locked in a volatile standoff with a husband she barely recognizes. Confronted with evidence of her betrayal, she must tread a deadly path between truth and deception while a ring of armed police prepares a dangerous rescue. But Laurel's greatest fear -- and her only hope -- lies with her former lover, a brave man whom fate has granted the power to save both Laurel and her children -- if she can protect his identity long enough....

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    Pieces of Her

      Karin Slaughter
     Pieces of Her

What if the person you thought you knew best turns out to be someone you never knew at all . . . ? Andrea knows everything about her mother, Laura. She knows she’s spent her whole life in the small beachside town of Belle Isle; she knows she’s never wanted anything more than to live a quiet life as a pillar of the community; she knows she’s never kept a secret in her life. Because we all know our mothers, don’t we? But all that changes when a trip to the mall explodes into violence and Andrea suddenly sees a completely different side to Laura. Because it turns out that before Laura was Laura, she was someone completely different. For nearly thirty years she’s been hiding from her previous identity, lying low in the hope that no one would ever find her. But now she’s been exposed, and nothing will ever be the same again. The police want answers and Laura’s innocence is on the line, but she won’t speak to anyone, including her own daughter. Andrea is on a desperate journey following the breadcrumb trail of her mother’s past. And if she can’t uncover the secrets hidden there, there may be no future for either one of them. . . . *NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR*** I thought you guys might want to know some of my thoughts on my new book, PIECES OF HER. First off, let me say it’s NOT a Will and Sara book (that will be next year). I hope that you’ll give this one a try even if you’re a series fan. I’ve been writing about father/daughter relationships a lot in my standalones, but when the plot of PIECES OF HER started taking shape in my brain, I found myself thinking about how much I enjoyed writing scenes in the Grant County series between Sara and her mother . Mother/daughter relationships tend to be more fraught than father/daughter ones, and it’s always fun to play with those tensions. Primarily, I wanted to focus on the opportunities for women now vs. the limited choices when I was growing up. Laura Oliver is older than me, but she was faced with the same messages that I grew up with. No one was telling me I could be a doctor or lawyer—us girls were either fast tracked into nursing, teaching, or library sciences. Title IX was just reaching Morrow High School and I vividly recall being told again and again that girls weren’t interested in sports, or that girls weren’t good at math and science and all those other lies that young women are told about themselves. In contrast to this experience is Laura's 31 year old daughter, Andrea (Andy), who has so many choices that she is paralyzed. I think in many ways 31 year olds are closer to my generation’s 21 year olds. There is no stigma to living with your parents or even hanging out with them. All of the things that for better or worse furiously propelled my generation into adulthood—getting your own car, having your own apartment, making your own decisions, paying for your stupid mistakes—have ceased being motivating factors. I think a lot of readers can relate to this dynamic, whether they are on the mother side or the daughter side. Everywhere I’ve traveled, there’s some phrase in the popular culture that describes what we in the US call a “helicopter parent.” (In Denmark, they’re “curling parents”). Laura has done her level best to make Andy’s life easy and conflict-free, and the end result is that Andy is teetering on the precipice of adulthood, unable to take the leap and with no one around to give her a gentle shove. But don’t worry about all this character stuff. Those of you looking for a thriller should be very satisfied with the story. It opens (as all of my books do) with something really horrible happening. Andy is having a birthday celebration with her mother when suddenly, shit goes sideways. In a flash of violence, Andy sees Laura as not the gentle, loving mother she grew up with but as a complete stranger who is capable of doing terrible things. This leads Andy into a dark place—and also into a quest to find out who her mother really is. Most kids can relate to not really knowing their parents (and some kids don’t want to know!) but Laura’s secrets are deadly, which Andy quickly finds out when she starts to put together all the pieces of a woman she has never known.

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    The Good Knight

      Sarah Woodbury
     The Good Knight

Intrigue and rivalry among princes casts a shadow on the court of the king of north Wales. When a royal groom is murdered on the way to his wedding, the bride’s brother tasks his two best detectives with bringing the killer to justice. The Good Knight is the first Gareth & Gwen Medieval Mystery.Meet medieval sleuths Gareth & Gwen in their first mystery together--the first novel in a nine novel series, appropriate for teens to adults.Intrigue, suspicion, and rivalry among the royal princes casts a shadow on the court of Owain, king of north Wales... The year is 1143 and King Owain seeks to unite his daughter in marriage with an allied king. But when the groom is murdered on the way to his wedding, the bride's brother tasks his two best detectives--Gareth, a knight, and Gwen, the daughter of the court bard--with bringing the killer to justice. And once blame for the murder falls on Gareth himself, Gwen must continue her search for the truth alone, finding unlikely allies in foreign lands, and ultimately uncovering a conspiracy that will shake the political foundations of Wales.The Good Knight is the first Gareth & Gwen Medieval Mystery.

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    The Profilers Journal entry I Brothers

      Stephen McInturff
     The Profilers Journal entry I Brothers

This is a case about two brothers that have a special relationship that isn't what would be considered normal in any way.This is a case about two brothers that have a special relationship that isn't what would be considered normal in any way. It starts with the older brother, at a young age finding out about what his father enjoys doing and then realizes he also enjoys it. With the loss of his father he finds that he is not completely like his father. In an effort to satisfy his desires he begins to look at his little brother to help him with what he needs. He convinces his little brother to help him and to keep it a secret because his brother is mentally disabled and had endless trust for his older brother.

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    The Hanging Tree

      Ben Aaronovitch
     The Hanging Tree

The Hanging Tree was the Tyburn gallows which stood where Marble Arch stands today. Oxford Street was the last trip of the condemned. Some things don't change. The place has a bloody and haunted legacy and now blood has returned to the empty Mayfair mansions of the world's super-rich. And blood mixed with magic is a job for Peter Grant. Peter Grant is back as are Nightingale et al. at the Folly and the various river gods, ghosts and spirits who attach themselves to England's last wizard and the Met's reluctant investigator of all things supernatural.

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    The Forgotten Room

      Lincoln Child
     The Forgotten Room

A LONG-LOST EXPERIMENT OF UNGUESSABLE INTENT   A SECRET ROOM, INGENIOUSLY HIDDEN INSIDE A VAST SEACOAST MANSION   NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR LINCOLN CHILD AT HIS RIVETING BEST Professor Jeremy Logan (the quirky and charismatic “enigmalogist” who specializes in solving problems of the strange or seemingly supernatural variety) receives an urgent summons from the director of Lux, one of the oldest and most respected think tanks in America. An unexplainable tragedy has taken place in the sprawling compound located on the coastline of Newport, Rhode Island. One of Lux’s most distinguished doctors, overcome by erratic behavior, violently attacked his assistant before meeting with a gruesome self-inflflflffllflicted end. Deeply shaken by the incident and the bizarre evidence left behind from the doctor’s final project—as well as recent troubling behavior among several of the think tank’s other scientists—Lux fears there is something more sinister occurring within its walls and looks to Jeremy Logan to investigate.      Logan quickly makes a surprising discovery. In a long-dormant wing of the estate, he uncovers an ingeniously hidden secret room, unknown and untouched for decades. The room is essentially a time capsule, fiffiilled with eerie machinery and obscure references to a top-secret experiment known as “Project S.” As Logan attempts to unravel its meaning, he begins to discern what transpired in that room—and why the frightening project was suddenly abandoned and sealed off many years before. As his work draws him ever deeper into harm’s way, Logan soon unleashes a series of catastrophic events upon the rest of Lux . . . and himself.      One of Lincoln Child’s most thrilling novels to date, The Forgotten Room is replete with exhilarating action, veiled history, and mesmerizing science—making for a truly intelligent page-turner. From the Hardcover edition.

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