X by Sue Grafton

X by Sue GraftonX_by_Sue Grafton

X:  The number ten. An unknown quantity. A mistake. A cross. A kiss.

X:
 The shortest entry in Webster’s Unabridged. Derived from Greek and Latin and commonly found in science, medicine, and religion. The most graphically dramatic letter. Notoriously tricky to pronounce: think xylophone.

X: 
The twenty-fourth letter in the English alphabet.

Sue Grafton’s X: Perhaps her darkest and most chilling novel, it features a remorseless serial killer who leaves no trace of his crimes. Once again breaking the rules and establishing new paths, Grafton wastes little time identifying this sociopath. The test is whether Kinsey can prove her case against him before she becomes his next victim.
Copyright 2015

ISBN 978-1-101-98187-0
Paperback

Make Me

MakeMe_LeeChild

Make Me by Lee Child

ISBN 978-0-8041-7879-2
Paperback

“Why is this town called Mother’s Rest?” That’s all Reacher wants to know. But no one will tell him. It’s a tiny place hidden in a thousand square miles of wheat fields, with a railroad stop, and sullen and watchful people, and a worried woman named Michelle Chang, who mistakes him for someone else: her missing partner in a private investigation she thinks must have started small and then turned lethal.

Reacher has no particular place to go, and all the time in the world to get there, and there’s something about Chang . . . so he teams up with her and starts to ask around. He thinks: How bad can this thing be? But before long he’s plunged into a desperate race through LA, Chicago, Phoenix, and San Francisco, and through the hidden parts of the internet, up against thugs and assassins every step of the way—right back to where he started, in Mother’s Rest, where he must confront the worst nightmare he could imagine.

Walking away would have been easier. But as always, Reacher’s rule is: If you want me to stop, you’re going to have to make me.

Dust

Dust_MarthaGrimes

DUST by Martha Grimes – A Richard Jury Mystery

When an old friend pulls Richard Jury into the investigation of a wealthy bachelors murder, Jury soon finds himself in over his head with the beautiful chief inspecting officer and the false leads surrounding the once-charismatic dead man, last seen alive in a club named Dust

ISBN 978-0-670-03786-5

Copyright 2007
Hardcover]

Alex Cross, Run

AlexCrossRun_JamesPatterson1

Alex Cross, Run by James Patterson

Detective Alex Cross arrests renowned plastic surgeon Elijah Creem for sleeping with teenage girls. Now, his life ruined, Creem is out of jail, and he’s made sure that no one will recognize him–by giving himself a new face.

A young woman is found hanging from a sixth-floor window, and Alex is called to the scene. The victim recently gave birth, but the baby is nowhere to be found. Before Alex can begin searching for the missing newborn and killer, he’s called to investigate a second crime. All of Washington, D.C., is in a panic, and when a third body is discovered, rumours of three serial killers send the city into an all-out frenzy.

Alex’s investigations are going nowhere, and he’s too focused on the cases to notice that someone has been watching him–and will stop at nothing until he’s dead. With white-hot speed, relentless drama, and hairpin turns, ALEX CROSS, RUN is James Patterson’s ultimate thrill ride.

Copyright 2013
Paperback
ISBN 978-0-446-57184-5

 

Suspect

Suspect_Michael_RobothamSuspect by Michael Robotham

Renowned psychologist Joseph O’Loughlin has it all–a thriving practice, a devoted, beautiful, fiercely intelligent wife, and a lovely young daughter. But when he’s diagnosed with Parkinson’s, O’Loughlin begins to dread the way his exceptional mind has been shackled to a failing body, and the cracks in his perfect existence start to show.

At first, O’Loughlin is delighted to be called in to a high-profile murder investigation, hoping his extraordinary abilities at perception will help bring a killer to justice. But when O’Loughlin recognizes the victim as one of his former patients, an emotionally disturbed young woman who nearly brought ruin upon him, O’Loughlin hesitates-a fateful decision that soon places O’Loughlin at the top of the lists of both a bullish detective, and a diabolical killer

Copyright 2005
First Large Print Edition
ISBN 0-375-43469-0

 

Missing You

 

missing_you_harlan_cobenMissing You by Harlan Coben

Surfing an online dating site, NYPD detective Kat Donovan feels her whole world explode. Staring back at her is her ex-fiancé, the man who shattered her heart—and whom she hasn’t seen in eighteen years.

But when Kat reaches out to the man in the profile, an unspeakable conspiracy comes to light. As Kat begins to investigate, her feelings are challenged about everyone she’s ever loved—even her father, whose cruel murder so long ago has never been fully explained.

With lives on the line, including her own, Kat must venture deeper into the darkness than she ever has before and discover if she has the strength to survive what she finds there.

Copyright 2014
ISBN 978-0-451-41412-0

 

The Mephisto Club

TheMephistoClub_TessGarritsen

The Mephisto Club by Tess Gerritsen

Evil exists. Evil walks the streets. And evil has spawned a diabolical new disciple in this white-knuckle thriller.

PECCAVI

The Latin word is scrawled in blood at the scene of a young woman’s brutal murder: I HAVE SINNED. It’s a chilling Christmas greeting for Boston medical examiner Maura Isles and Detective Jane Rizzoli, who swiftly link the victim to controversial celebrity psychiatrist Joyce O’Donnell–Jane’s professional nemesis and member of a sinister cabal called the Mephisto Club.

On top of Beacon Hill, the club’s acolytes devote themselves to the analysis of evil: Can it be explained by science? Does it have a physical presence? Do demons walk the earth? Drawing on a wealth of dark historical data and mysterious religious symbolism, the Mephisto scholars aim to prove a startling theory: that Satan himself exists among us.

With the grisly appearance of a corpse on their doorstep, it’s clear that someone–or something–is indeed prowling the city. The members of the club begin to fear the very subject of their study. Could this maniacal killer be one of their own–or have they inadvertently summoned an evil entity from the darkness?

Delving deep into the most baffling and unusual case of their careers, Maura and Jane embark on a terrifying journey to the very heart of evil, where they encounter a malevolent foe more dangerous than any they have ever faced . . . one whose work is only just beginning.

From the Hardcover edition.

Copyright 2006

P is for Peril

PisforPeril_SueGrafton

P is for Peril by Sue Grafton

Kinsey Millhone never sees it coming. She is mired in the case of a doctor who disappeared, his angry ex-wife, and beautiful current one–a case that is full of unfinished business, unfinished homes, and people drifting in and out of their own lives. Then Kinsey gets a shock. A man she finds attractive is hiding a fatal secret–and now a whole lot of beauty, money, and lies are proving to be a fatal distraction from what Kinsey should have seen all along: a killer standing right before her eyes. . .
Copyright 2001
Hardback
ISBN0-399-14719-5

Private: #1 Suspect

Private#1Suspect_PattersonPrivate: #1 Suspect by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Since former Marine Jack Morgan started Private, it has become the world’s most effective investigation firm–sought out by the famous and the powerful to discreetly handle their most intimate problems. Private’s investigators are the smartest, the fastest, and the most technologically advanced in the world–and they always uncover the truth.

When his former lover is found murdered in Jack Morgan’s bed, he is instantly the number one suspect. While Jack is under police investigation, the mob strong-arms him into recovering $30 million in stolen pharmaceuticals for them. And the beautiful manager of a luxury hotel chain persuades him to quietly investigate a string of murders at her properties.

The #1 suspect is Jack Morgan

While Jack is fighting for his life, one of his most trusted colleagues threatens to leave Private, and Jack realizes he is confronting the cleverest and most powerful enemies ever.

Copyright 2012
ISBN 978-0-446-57177-7
Paperback

Lord John and the Private Matter

LordJohn_PrivateMatter

Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon

The year is 1757. On a clear morning in mid-June, Lord John Grey emerges from London’s Beefsteak Club, his mind in turmoil. A nobleman and a high-ranking officer in His Majesty’s Army, Grey has just witnessed something shocking. But his efforts to avoid a scandal that might destroy his family are interrupted by something still more urgent: the Crown appoints him to investigate the brutal murder of a comrade in arms, who may have been a traitor.

Obliged to pursue two inquiries at once, Major Grey finds himself ensnared in a web of treachery and betrayal that touches every stratum of English society—and threatens all he holds dear. From the bawdy houses of London’s night-world to the stately drawing rooms of the nobility, and from the blood of a murdered corpse to the thundering seas ruled by the majestic fleet of the East India Company, Lord John pursues the elusive trails of a vanishing footman and a woman in green velvet, who may hold the key to everything—or nothing.

ISBN 978-0-385-33748-9
Copyright 2003 by Diana Gabaldon
Paperback $16.00

Credit to back of book description