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ABOUT THE BOOKS
The following books are included in the Mound of Mysterious Books prize. Click on the book cover to learn more about each book.
NONE WITHOUT SIN by Michael Bradley
Everyone has secrets. Some of them may kill you.
When a Delaware real estate mogul is murdered, newspaper journalist Brian Wilder wants the scoop on the killing, including the meaning behind the mysterious loaf of bread left with the corpse. Reverend Candice Miller, called to minister to the grieving family, quickly realizes that the killer has adopted the symbolism of sin eating, a Victorian-era religious ritual, as a calling card. Is it the work of a religious fanatic set to punish people for their missteps, or something even more sinister?
As more victims fall, Brian and Candice follow a trail of deceit and blackmail, hoping to discover the identity of the killer—and praying that their own sins won’t catch the killer’s attention.
When a Delaware real estate mogul is murdered, newspaper journalist Brian Wilder wants the scoop on the killing, including the meaning behind the mysterious loaf of bread left with the corpse. Reverend Candice Miller, called to minister to the grieving family, quickly realizes that the killer has adopted the symbolism of sin eating, a Victorian-era religious ritual, as a calling card. Is it the work of a religious fanatic set to punish people for their missteps, or something even more sinister?
As more victims fall, Brian and Candice follow a trail of deceit and blackmail, hoping to discover the identity of the killer—and praying that their own sins won’t catch the killer’s attention.
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF TRUDY SOLOMON by Marcy McCreary
In the waning days of the Catskills hotel era, Stanley and Rachel Roth, the owners of the Cuttman Hotel, were practically dynasty—third generation proprietors of a sprawling resort with a grand reputation. The glamorous and gregarious matriarch, Rachel. The cunning and successful businessman, Stan. Four beautiful children. A perfect family deserving of respect and loyalty. Or so it seemed.
Fast forward forty years. The Roths have lost their clout. When skeletal remains are found on the side of the road, the disappearance of Trudy Solomon, a coffee shop waitress at the Cuttman in 1978, is reopened. Each member of the Roth family holds a clue to the case, but getting them to admit what they know will force Detective Susan Ford to face a family she’d hoped never to see again.
Fast forward forty years. The Roths have lost their clout. When skeletal remains are found on the side of the road, the disappearance of Trudy Solomon, a coffee shop waitress at the Cuttman in 1978, is reopened. Each member of the Roth family holds a clue to the case, but getting them to admit what they know will force Detective Susan Ford to face a family she’d hoped never to see again.
THE GHOSTS OF THORWALD PLACE by Helen Power
Rachel Drake is on the run from the man who killed her husband. She never leaves her safe haven in an anonymous doorman building, until one night a phone call sends her running. On her way to the garage, she is murdered in the elevator. But her story doesn’t end there.
She finds herself in the afterlife, tethered to her death spot, her reach tied to the adjacent apartments. As she rides the elevator up and down, the lives of the residents intertwine. Every one of them has a dark secret. An aging trophy wife whose husband strays. A surgeon guarding a locked room. A TV medium who may be a fraud. An ordinary man with a mysterious hobby.
Compelled to spend eternity observing her neighbors, she realizes that any one of them could be her killer.
She finds herself in the afterlife, tethered to her death spot, her reach tied to the adjacent apartments. As she rides the elevator up and down, the lives of the residents intertwine. Every one of them has a dark secret. An aging trophy wife whose husband strays. A surgeon guarding a locked room. A TV medium who may be a fraud. An ordinary man with a mysterious hobby.
Compelled to spend eternity observing her neighbors, she realizes that any one of them could be her killer.
JOVE BRAND IS NEAR DEATH by J. A. Crawford
Eighteen years ago, Ken Allen played the famous fictional superspy in Near Death, a movie so bad it was never meant to be seen. Since then, Ken has faded into cult obscurity, but when his celebrated successor is killed in the same ghastly fashion as the villain in Near Death, Ken is cast as the prime suspect.
The only way for Ken to clear his name is to go full method and once again play the part of Jove Brand, except this time it’s for real. As murder surrounds him, the secrets behind Near Death Ken fought to keep buried for eighteen years begin to surface.
The only way for Ken to clear his name is to go full method and once again play the part of Jove Brand, except this time it’s for real. As murder surrounds him, the secrets behind Near Death Ken fought to keep buried for eighteen years begin to surface.
DEAD ON MY FEET by Patricia Broderick
Milo is dead. And Nellie Bly has to write his obituary. Not exactly what she was hoping for when she left her post as the local weather girl in Kansas for a posh Southern California beach side community. But as more and more upstanding citizens of La Joya turn up dead in ghastly ways, Nellie and her pals at the Coastal Crier join forces with Detective Wendy Nakamura to follow the murderous trail of a ruthless cartel that traffics in endangered wildlife.
When Nellie’s eccentric landlady, former B-movie actress, Dame Catherine Cavendish, begins to drop hints that threaten to bring to light the dark secrets of the village, unsettling incidents begin happening at the Cavendish estate, endangering the motley crew of scribes. Greed, betrayal, vengeance, gangsters and old Hollywood glamour make for great copy—if Nellie can stay alive long enough to meet her deadline.
When Nellie’s eccentric landlady, former B-movie actress, Dame Catherine Cavendish, begins to drop hints that threaten to bring to light the dark secrets of the village, unsettling incidents begin happening at the Cavendish estate, endangering the motley crew of scribes. Greed, betrayal, vengeance, gangsters and old Hollywood glamour make for great copy—if Nellie can stay alive long enough to meet her deadline.
FOOL HER ONCE by Joanna Elm
As a rookie tabloid reporter, Jenna Sinclair made a tragic mistake when she outed Denny Dennison, the illegitimate son of an executed serial killer. So she hid behind her marriage and motherhood. Now, decades later, betrayed by her husband and resented by her teenage daughter, Jenna decides to resurrect her career—and returns to the city she loves.
When her former lover is brutally assaulted outside Jenna’s NYC apartment building, Jenna suspects that Denny has inherited his father’s psychopath gene and is out for revenge. She knows she must track him down before he can harm his next target, her daughter.
Meanwhile, her estranged husband, Zack, fears that her investigative reporting skills will unearth his own devastating secret he’d kept buried in the past.
From New York City to the remote North Fork of Long Island and the murky waters surrounding it, Jenna rushes to uncover the terrible truth about a psychopath and realizes her own investigation may save or destroy her family.
When her former lover is brutally assaulted outside Jenna’s NYC apartment building, Jenna suspects that Denny has inherited his father’s psychopath gene and is out for revenge. She knows she must track him down before he can harm his next target, her daughter.
Meanwhile, her estranged husband, Zack, fears that her investigative reporting skills will unearth his own devastating secret he’d kept buried in the past.
From New York City to the remote North Fork of Long Island and the murky waters surrounding it, Jenna rushes to uncover the terrible truth about a psychopath and realizes her own investigation may save or destroy her family.
THE DEAD WON'T TELL by S. K. Waters
When Abbie Adams, a historian-turned-journalist, is hired to investigate a cold-case murder from 1969, she jumps at the chance. But soon after she begins researching the case, she realizes that Frank Wexler, the faculty advisor who tanked her thesis and a member of a powerful family in town, is connected to the crime and is definitely not talking.
As Abbie tracks down the remaining living witnesses, she slowly pieces together the events of that fateful night, and yet is not a single step closer to solving the case. Were the police back then told to stand down? To cover up the crime?
When her witnesses suddenly wind up dead, it becomes clear that Abbie has stumbled upon a sensitive truth that threatens to tear the fabric of the southern town apart. The killer could still be out there, and now he could be hunting her.
As Abbie tracks down the remaining living witnesses, she slowly pieces together the events of that fateful night, and yet is not a single step closer to solving the case. Were the police back then told to stand down? To cover up the crime?
When her witnesses suddenly wind up dead, it becomes clear that Abbie has stumbled upon a sensitive truth that threatens to tear the fabric of the southern town apart. The killer could still be out there, and now he could be hunting her.
HER SISTER'S DEATH by K. L. Murphy
When her sister is found dead in a Baltimore hotel room, reporter Val Ritter’s world is turned upside down. An empty pill bottle at the scene leads the police to believe the cause of death is suicide. With little more than her own conviction, Val teams up with Terry Martin, a retired detective who has his own personal interest in the case, to prove that something more sinister is possible.
In 1921, Bridget Wallace, a guest on the brink of womanhood, is getting ready to marry an eligible older man. But what seems like a comfortable match soon takes a dark turn. Does the illustrious history of the stately Franklin hotel hide another, lesser known history of death?
In 1921, Bridget Wallace, a guest on the brink of womanhood, is getting ready to marry an eligible older man. But what seems like a comfortable match soon takes a dark turn. Does the illustrious history of the stately Franklin hotel hide another, lesser known history of death?
THE REGISTRATION by Madison Lawson
Imagine it’s legal to commit one murder in your lifetime⎯if you Register the victim and accomplish the kill within fourteen days. So when Lynell Mize stands in line to Register the man who abused her as a child, she’s shocked to hear a stranger Register her to be killed. Why would anyone who doesn't know her squander his one legal murder on her? Desperate to survive the next two weeks, she must find out who wants to kill her⎯and why.
Easier said than done as Lynell soon discovers that multiple strangers have used their Registration on her. Along the way, she reunites with her estranged husband who is determined to dig up a past Lynell prefers to keep buried. With only days left to live, Lynell fights to uncover the truth and survive a destiny not of her choosing.
Easier said than done as Lynell soon discovers that multiple strangers have used their Registration on her. Along the way, she reunites with her estranged husband who is determined to dig up a past Lynell prefers to keep buried. With only days left to live, Lynell fights to uncover the truth and survive a destiny not of her choosing.
THE IMMORTAL DETECTIVE by D. B. Woodling
Celeste Crenshaw has survived her parents’ grisly murders, grueling and gender-biased police training, a battle with rogue vampires, and even her own death. While immortality might seem a dream come true, can she accept the strings attached?
Celeste spends the start of her immortal life being mentored by the Elders of the Hollow Earth. They release her once they feel certain Celeste has honed her supernatural powers. But little do they know, Celeste isn’t wholly committed to granting eternal life to those deserving. Upon a return home to her immortal lover, and the Kansas City Detective Squad, she battles mortal foes, not so unlike the demonic undead. And when a fellow detective falls victim to a murderous gang member, Celeste faces a gut-wrenching decision and the possible wrath of the Elders.
Celeste spends the start of her immortal life being mentored by the Elders of the Hollow Earth. They release her once they feel certain Celeste has honed her supernatural powers. But little do they know, Celeste isn’t wholly committed to granting eternal life to those deserving. Upon a return home to her immortal lover, and the Kansas City Detective Squad, she battles mortal foes, not so unlike the demonic undead. And when a fellow detective falls victim to a murderous gang member, Celeste faces a gut-wrenching decision and the possible wrath of the Elders.
THUNDER ROAD by Colin Holmes
When an Army Air Force Major vanishes from his Top Secret job at the Fort Worth airbase in the summer of 1947, down-on-his-luck former Ranger Jefferson Sharp is hired to find him, because the Major owes a sizable gambling debt to a local mobster. The search takes Sharp from the hideaway poker rooms of Fort Worth's Thunder Road, to the barren ranch lands of New Mexico, to secret facilities under construction in the Nevada desert.
Lethal operatives and an opaque military bureaucracy stand in his way, but when he finds an otherworldly clue and learns President Truman is creating a new Central Intelligence Agency and splitting the Air Force from the Army, Sharp begins to connect dots. And those dots draw a straight line to a conspiracy aiming to cover up a secret that is out of this world⎯literally so.
Lethal operatives and an opaque military bureaucracy stand in his way, but when he finds an otherworldly clue and learns President Truman is creating a new Central Intelligence Agency and splitting the Air Force from the Army, Sharp begins to connect dots. And those dots draw a straight line to a conspiracy aiming to cover up a secret that is out of this world⎯literally so.
THE WAYWARD SPY by Susan Ouellette
When her fiancé, a CIA operative accused of treason, is killed overseas, intelligence analyst Maggie Jenkins smells cover-up and sets out to clear his name. Maggie disobeys direct orders and travels to Tbilisi, Georgia, to follow a trail littered with secrets and lies, corruption and deceit, risking her own life to expose the terrorist threat at the intersection where the Russian Mafia, Chechen rebels, Al Qaeda and … US government officials meet.
From the halls of power in Washington, D. C. to the political chaos of the former Soviet Union, Maggie must confront players from the intelligence, political, and criminal worlds who will do anything to stop her. How far will Maggie go to uncover the truth?
From the halls of power in Washington, D. C. to the political chaos of the former Soviet Union, Maggie must confront players from the intelligence, political, and criminal worlds who will do anything to stop her. How far will Maggie go to uncover the truth?
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