Forensic Mystery Fiction

Keeping watch over the Easter Sepulchre, where the Host and crucifix are stored between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, is considered a privilege. So it is shocking when it is discovered that Odo, the priest’s clerk, has abandoned his post. But as the hours pass and Odo is not found, Hugh de Singleton is called upon. It is Hugh that finds the dried blood before the altar, and fear grows for the missing man … Will Hugh be called upon to investigate another murder, or will the man be found hale and hearty? But if so, where has the blood come from?

En una plaza pública de Arabia Saudí, un hombre es ajusticiado bajo un sol abrasador y un chico observa impotente entre la muchedumbre: es su hijo. En un lúgubre hotel de Manhattan, aparece el cuerpo sin vida de una mujer joven y todos los indicios para identificarla han sido eliminados minuciosamente. Una línea invisible conecta todos estos hechos, dibujando un plan perfecto para cometer un monstruoso crimen contra la humanidad, y la única persona capaz de impedirlo es un ex agente que huye de su pasado y ha borrado su identidad: ahora sólo responde al nombre de Pilgrim.

A series of suspicious deaths in a retirement home draws Nameless into the confidence of a terrified former resident - and into the dark heart of a shocking conspiracy. In part five of the Nameless series, it’s time to hunt. Oakshore Park is Michigan’s most exclusive assisted-living community. Presided over by two killer angels of mercy, it’s also THE go-to facility in assisted dying. For a cut, they make impatient heirs happy. Nameless must concoct a scheme just as cunning.

DEA Special Agent Peter Malloy is no stranger to the devastating impact of drugs. So when six bodies turn up with surgical ports implanted in their spines, he's sure a potent new opioid is the culprit. But when lab tests show zero evidence of any known narcotics, he fears something far more sinister. Allison Stevens thought she knew everything about her boss. But after he disappears, she's stunned to discover his secret genetic research in pain tolerance. When she becomes the target of the FBI's investigation, Allison has only one move.

Grausame Verbrechen im ländlichen Idyll: Kay Scarpetta ermittelt. Der grausame Mord an der elfjährigen Emily Steiner schockiert die Kleinstadt Black Mountain im Westen von North Carolina. Die örtliche Polizei hatte es bislang selten mit Mord oder sexuellem Missbrauch von Kindern zu tun - und noch niemals mit einem Fall, auf den beides zutraf. Die Menschen dort kommen nicht mal auf die Idee, nachts ihre Haustüren abzuschließen. Gerichtsmedizinerin Kay Scarpetta, die in Virginia in einem ähnlichen Fall ermittelt, wird hinzugezogen und steht zunächst vor unlösbaren Rätseln.

Zahra Kane is a brilliant and daring archaeologist. The former British Army Intelligence linguist has used her fluency in a laundry list of languages, as well as her combat training, to succeed at the highest level. The intrepid adventurer isn't afraid to get her hands dirty or blow past the point of no return to obtain her prize. Late one night, she receives a frantic phone call from her estranged brother, an Egyptologist who's been tasked with examining a newly discovered tomb and the prize it contains: the original Book of the Dead-a scroll made of human skin and penned in human blood.

Scholar Richard Sabyn, a particularly obnoxious fellow, was believed to have been struck by lightning. However, Master Wycliffe believes otherwise and calls upon Sir Hugh de Singleton for help. Sir Hugh shares Wycliffe’s suspicions and launches a private investigation, learning that it might indeed be possible to make it look as though a man has died from a lightning strike. But who would go to all that effort, and why?

A tipsy young woman seeking aid on a desolate highway disappears into the inky black night. A retired schoolteacher is stabbed to death in broad daylight. Two women are butchered after closing time in a small-town beauty parlor. The ultimate whodunits, these crimes demand the attention of LAPD detective Milo Sturgis and his collaborator on the crime beat, psychologist Alex Delaware.

A grotesquely burned corpse found in a city park is a troubling mystery for Beijing detective Li Yan. Yan, devoted to his career as a means of restoring the respect his family lost during the Cultural Revolution, needs outside help if he is to break the case. The unidentified cadaver in turn provides a welcome distraction for forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell. Campbell, married to her work and having left America and her broken past behind, throws herself into the investigation and before long uncovers a bizarre anomaly.

Cole Evans thought he'd found a safe haven for his family and a growing band of survivors of the most lethal virus the world has ever known. But he finds continued survival is far from guaranteed as they battle hostile encounters with other survivors, nature, and devastating accidents. Are they prepared to survive their first brutal Wisconsin winter after the rest of the world has perished?

Can ghosts really talk? J.J. Graves is about to find out when her past comes back to haunt her. But before she and Jack can resolve her past, they need to deal with his. Six years ago Jack was left for dead during a SWAT raid he commanded. He never speaks of what happened that day, but he doesn't have a choice after someone starts murdering his men. According to the FBI, Jack is either next on the list, or he's the one behind it all.

At an internment camp in Indonesia, 47 people are pronounced dead with acute hemorrhagic fever. When Henry Parsons - microbiologist, epidemiologist - travels there on behalf of the World Health Organization to investigate, what he finds will soon have staggering repercussions across the globe: an infected man is on his way to join the millions of worshippers in the annual Hajj to Mecca. Now, Henry joins forces with a Saudi prince and doctor in an attempt to quarantine the entire host of pilgrims in the holy city....

Forensic genealogist Morton Farrier agrees to take on a case to identify the biological mother of three foundlings, abandoned in shop doorways as newborn babies in the 1970s. He has just one thing with which to begin his investigation: the three women’s DNA, one of whom is his half-aunt. With just six days of research time available to him, his investigation uncovers some shocking revelations and troubling links to his own grandfather, and Morton finds that for the first time in his career, he is advising his clients not to read his concluding report.

When an emergency call brings Dr. Alan Gregory to an ICU, he finds 15-year-old Merritt Strait recovering from a suicide attempt. Her stepsister, Chaney, already lies near death—after her managed care provider turned down an experimental treatment that could save her life. When a wealthy executive with the family's HMO is shot to death, Alan discovers shocking evidence linking Merritt to his killing. As time runs out, he searches for answers—and discovers the truth about a family that will stop at nothing to save one of its own.

There is a patch of ground in Tennessee dedicated to the science of death, where human remains lie exposed to be studied for their secrets. The real-life scientist who founded the "Body Farm" has broken cold cases and revolutionized forensics...and now he spins an astonishing tale inspired by his own experiences. Renowned anthropologist Dr. Bill Brockton has spent his career surrounded by death at the Body Farm. Now he's being called upon to help solve a baffling puzzle in a remote mountain community.

When a mass grave containing 18 mutilated female corpses is discovered in Shanghai, detective Li Yan is sent from Beijing to establish if the bodies are linked to an unsolved murder in the capital. Here, Li will be working with Mei Ling, deputy head of Shanghai's serious crime squad. Mei Ling is a formidable woman: a fact that is not lost on Li's on-again, off-again lover, forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell. But when Campbell learns that the victims were subjected to "live" autopsies, she swallows her pride and joins Li Yan and Mei Ling in the hunt for the murderer.

Dr. Bill Brockton is in the middle of a nuclear-terrorism disaster drill when he receives an urgent call from the nearby town of Oak Ridge - better known as Atomic City, home of the Bomb, and the key site for the Manhattan Project during World War II. Although more than sixty years have passed, could repercussions from that dangerous time still be felt today?

Dr. Jack Forester has seen his share of trauma as an emergency physician. He's now the dean of a medical school and a single father grieving the death of his wife. But the real abyss opens when a brilliant former colleague that Jack had flushed from cover as a psychotic serial killer a few years before conspires to destroy Jack and his hospital with the help of a cybercriminal. Jack is also faced with the need to somehow aid his beleaguered niece, Kaitlyn Anderson, a valiant teenager struggling to navigate a horrific home environment.

The women of Hope River trust midwife Patience Hester, whose skill in delivering babies is known for miles around. But though the Great Depression is behind them, troubles are not, for Europe is at war...and it can only be a matter of time before the US enters the fray. And while some are eager to join the fight, Patience’s husband, Daniel, is not. Daniel is a patriot - but he saw too much bloodshed during the First World War and has vowed never to take up arms again. His stance leaves Patience and their four children vulnerable as the government imprisons Daniel for his beliefs.

From the imaginative mind of international best-selling author, Bobby Akart, comes a series ripped from today's headlines. Meet the Virus Hunters, the disease detectives on the front line of a never-ending battle to save humanity from viruses one-billionth our size. Mr. Akart has delivered up-all-night thrillers in his 40-plus novels. His new Virus Hunters novels will give you pause and remind you that we're in a global war for survival against an unseen foe.