Mystery Thriller Fiction

Matthew Riker keeps to himself, doesn't cause trouble, and never talks about his past. But after a chance encounter with a woman and a small child on the run, Riker will have to make a choice: use his hard-won skills to protect two innocent victims, or stay in the safety of his quiet life. What follows is an adrenaline-soaked thrill ride that will take Riker on a cross-country chase, through the seedy underbelly of a New York criminal empire, and into the darkest places of the human heart.

After leaving a decade ago, Angie Curtis has been called back to Harbor Haven, Maine, by her grandmother, Charlotte, who raised her following her mother's disappearance when she was a child. Her mother has been found, and now the question of her whereabouts has sadly become the mystery of her murder. The bright spot in Angie's homecoming is reuniting with Charlotte, who has started her own needlepointing business with a group called the Mainely Needlepointers.

Breathless and painstakingly researched, this is a stunning debut mystery in which Sherlock Holmes unmasks Jack the Ripper. Lyndsay Faye perfectly captures all the color and syntax of Conan Doyle’s distinctive nineteenth-century London.

With the lovely Priscilla Halburton-Smythe away in London, Hamish Macbeth, the constable of the small Scottish town of Lochdubh, pines for company during the long Scottish winter. He gets his wish - and more - when a troupe of flashy, urbane filmmakers clamors into the nearby town of Drim. Before long bedlam erupts around their make-believe mystery - and culminates in the sudden appearance of one very real corpse.

Homicide is always an abomination, but there is something exceptionally disturbing about the victim discovered in a high, lonely place: a corpse with a mouth full of sand, abandoned at a crime scene seemingly devoid of tracks or useful clues. Though it goes against his better judgment, Navajo tribal police lieutenant Joe Leaphorn cannot help but suspect the hand of a supernatural killer.

It's not the fall that kills you. Three years ago, the body of an elderly woman was found in the cool waters beneath the Deception Pass Bridge near Whidbey Island, Washigton. Two years later, a deceased man of almost ninety floated onto the pebbly shore of Bremerton, just south of the Manette Bridge. Each case left the authorities puzzled. Were these the final acts of individuals lost to despair, or were they meticulously staged murders? Two inexplicable deaths, two years apart, the cases colder than the waters where the bodies were found.

Bob Howard is a computer-hacker desk jockey, who has more than enough trouble keeping up with the endless paperwork he has to do on a daily basis. He should never be called on to do anything remotely heroic. But for some reason, he is.

For nearly a century, tourists have ventured to the idyllic seaside town of Maple Bay in search of a legendary lost pirate treasure, though locals know there’s more than just gold buried in the sand. As the paths of three strangers converge in Maple Bay, the truth is about to be blown wide open. Peter Barnett is rapidly approaching forty with little to show for his life when a mysterious letter invites him to Maple Bay and the mansion his estranged family has called home for generations.

A classic thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Crichton, Sphere is a bravura demonstration of what he does better than anyone: riveting storytelling that combines frighteningly plausible, cutting-edge science and technology with pulse-pounding action and serious chills.

When the bodies of two biker gang members are found, Detective David Wolf finds himself caught in a lethal environment, where truth comes at a price. Two members of a ruthless biker gang called the Sons of the Void show up dead at a cabin in the woods, and Wolf and his team learn violence in a neighboring county has bled south into their jurisdiction. Despite the easily explainable crime, the brand new sheriff in office is hard-pressed to look active on the case and sends his ringer—Wolf—to northern Colorado to help investigate.

A relaxing day of rock climbing takes a disturbing turn when Kayden McKenna's route leads her face to face with a dead climber. Is it a terrible accident or something sinister? When the case is handed to the overburdened sheriff, he turns to Jake Westin. With Jake's past now revealed, he's ready to use his talent for investigation again - but he could never prepare for where the case will takehim. Kayden and Jake soon realize that the death was no accident. And worse, it seems the killer is on to them.

Roger Ferris is one of the CIA's soldiers in the war on terrorism. He has come out of Iraq with a shattered leg and an intense mission: to penetrate the network of a master terrorist known only as "Suleiman". Ferris' plan for getting inside Suleiman's tent is inspired by a masterpiece of British intelligence during World War II: he prepares a body of lies, literally the corpse of an imaginary CIA officer who appears to have accomplished the impossible by recruiting an agent within the enemy's ranks.

When the body of a renowned British archeologist is found inside a sarcophagus he was bringing back from a dig in Egypt, Redmond and Haze must determine who aboard the Sea Witch had reason to want him dead. The method of murder suggests it was someone familiar with the funerary rites of the Ancient Egyptians, casting suspicion on members of the expedition, but there were others aboard the vessel who might have harbored a grudge against Blake Upton for reasons unconnected to the dig.

A safari expedition in Zambia is the disguise Emily employs in order to locate a professional assassin among her fellow explorers. Along the way, she meets an extraordinary man named Cyrus.

Hamish Macbeth, constable in the small Scottish Highland town of Lochdubh, is feeling down after losing both his promotion and his girlfriend, the town beauty, Priscilla Halbourton-Smythe. A trip to a charming seaside inn with his dog Towser's meant to raise his sagging spirits. Instead, he arrives at “Friendly House” to find the ambiance chilling, the food inedible, and his fellow guests less than neighborly. There’s an amorous spinster, two flirty girls, a retired military man, a secretive London family, and Bob Harris, who so nags his wife that everyone wants to kill him.

An FBI undercover operation gone bad convinces Rae Gabriella to move near her hometown and work as a private investigator with another former agent. But the small town of Justice, Illinois, is not as safe as she thinks. Attractive and stylish young women, just like Rae, are quietly dropping dead in their hotel rooms, with money and valuables still untouched. When the next victim turns up just a few rooms away from Rae's hotel room, the grieving parents hire her to investigate.

London, 1558. Queen Mary is dead, and twenty-five-year-old Elizabeth ascends the throne. Summoned to court from exile abroad, Elizabeth's intimate spy, Brendan Prescott, is reunited with the young queen, as well as his beloved Kate, scheming William Cecil, and archrival Robert Dudley.

An old-fashioned looking book, found in the Cornish hotel where Kirsty was hiding from the horror of her old life, seemed to offer her an escape. But slowly, things start to go horribly wrong and Kirsty's past begins to catch up with her, until she has to confront her worst fears.

To Clare Cosi's surprise, this fall's hottest fashion trend is anything caffeinated - because designer Lottie Harmon, a loyal coffeehouse customer, has just created an ingenious collection of coffee-inspired fashion accessories. So naturally Lottie chooses the Village Blend as the perfect backdrop for fall Fashion Week insiders to view her new line of "Java Jewelry." When barista Tucker unwittingly serves a poisonous latte to a prominent figure on the fashion scene, Clare suspects that the real target may have been Lottie. Now she must protect her thriving business, Lottie, and Tucker....

Restaurant critic Derek Schumaker, notorious for his bitter reviews, is about to visit Daisy's Tea Garden, and Daisy and Aunt Iris are simmering with anxiety. A bad word from the culinary curmudgeon could really hurt their business. But how can he resist her cucumber sandwiches with pimento spread - not to mention the cheesy cauliflower soup and strawberry walnut salad? Schumaker takes a to-go order when the afternoon tea service is done, which Daisy hopes is a good sign. But when he perishes from a seizure, it looks like his food was dosed with something deadly.