Female-Led

Plot Summary

When a woman’s mutilated body is discovered in a remote countryside property, Detective Kay Hunter is faced with one of the most challenging investigations of her career.

There is nothing in the victim’s past to explain her brutal slaying, and no clues as to how her killer got away.

Then a second body is found in a run-down storage facility, the man’s remains covered in horrific injuries that bear the hallmarks of prolonged torture.

With two families demanding justice, Kay is under pressure from her superiors to deliver a swift result – but there is no evidence to connect the two victims.

When a third victim is found just a short distance from her own incident room, Kay realises that the killer has no intention of stopping – and they already have their next victim in their sights…

A Deadly Promise is the 13th book in the Detective Kay Hunter series by USA Today bestselling author Rachel Amphlett, and perfect for readers who love fast-paced crime thrillers.

Plot Summary

Love and murder are in the air this Valentine’s day in Maggie Blackburn’s third Beach Reads mystery, perfect for fans of Eva Gates and Miranda James.

When Beach Reads bookshop hosts a Valentine’s Day event, “Romance by the Sea,” bookseller Summer Merriweather has no idea that the guest author is under investigation for her own husband’s murder. When that same author is found dead at the local bed and breakfast, nobody assumes it’s natural causes–there were plenty of people who wanted her dead.

As Summer searches for the truth about the author’s stranger-than-fiction life, Summer finds suspicious indications of shady behavior in the author’s belongings. But the casual sleuthing is quickly derailed when Summer’s friend Glads gets hauled in for the murder, and they launch a full-blown investigation to clear her name.

As Summer and company pick through the scant clues to solve the case, they may find more treachery and heartbreak than they bargained for.

Plot Summary

Innkeeper Holly White has a lot to be joyful about this season, until an attempted robbery throws the town into suspicion in the sixth installment of the Christmas Tree Farm mysteries from bestselling author Jacqueline Frost.

As Christmas descends on Mistletoe, Maine, Holly White has an extra gift for the a new baby on the way. Her husband, Sheriff Evan Gray, has been worried about her elevated blood pressure and Holly has agreed to take this year easy. Being idle has never been one of Holly’s gifts, so when Evan surprises her with tickets to the town-wide dinner, she and her many cravings thank him. But when a thief tries and fails to steal an antique ornament from the dinner’s holiday display, it’s clear that someone is on the naughty list. 

The thief manages to escape, but after dinner, Holly spots their lifeless body. It’s clear that someone in town was keen to kill them. Evan is less than jolly to find his wife at the scene of yet another holiday homicide and asks her to promise that she’ll leave the investigating to the police. But Holly has never been one to turn down a challenge and has to get creative with the help of a few of her friends in order to find this killer.

Will she and her friends be able to stop the killer, and uncover the motive behind the attempted robbery, or will the killer strike again and paint the town a bloody red?

Plot Summary

The mystery of three missing teens and a traumatizing murder unearths decades of buried secrets.

Twenty years ago, five teenage campers disappeared. Two eventually turned up, bound and left for dead on the Columbia River’s rocky shore. Only Devin Bonner miraculously survived, but with no memories of what happened in the Oregon forest.

After decades, the cold case generates heat for FBI Special Agent Mercy Kilpatrick and her husband, Police Chief Truman Daly. They’re investigating the murder of a true-crime podcaster found at the river’s edge in the same location, and with the exact same manner of death. With the discovery, Devin’s nightmares return. His only real friend is Ollie Smith, Truman’s orphaned ward, whose own search for the truth sucks Ollie into a mystery far greater and more dangerous than anyone imagined.

Following a trail of fresh blood and an escalating series of murders, Mercy and Truman must work fast to unlock whatever traumas are buried in Devin’s memories before the secrets of the past claim another victim.

Plot Summary

A master manipulator accused of murder. An attorney sworn to defend her. Keera Duggan returns in a riveting novel of suspense by New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.

When Jenna Bernstein, disgraced wunderkind CEO of a controversial biotech company, is accused of murdering her former partner and lover, she turns to Seattle attorney Keera Duggan to defend her. Keera is more than a master chess player who brings her intuitive moves into court—she’s Jenna’s childhood friend. But considering their history, Keera knows that where Jenna goes, trouble follows.

Three years earlier, Keera’s father successfully defended Jenna when she was tried for the killing of her company’s chief medical scientist who threatened to go public with allegations of corporate fraud. Keera knows Jenna too well. When she was a kid, Keera saw Jenna for what she a manipulative and frighteningly controlling sociopath. Now, with only circumstantial evidence against Jenna, Keera is willing to bury any trepidation she might have to defend a woman she believes, this time, to be innocent.

As the investigation gets underway and disturbing questions arise, Keera puts her trust in a client who swears nothing but the truth. If this is all just another devious game, Keera might be working to set a murderer free. 

Plot Summary

His passport read Giovanni Rossi. But decades ago, during the Urban Wars, he was part of a small, secret organization called The Twelve. Responding to an urgent summons from an old compatriot, he landed in New York and eased into the waiting car. And died within minutes…

Lieutenant Eve Dallas finds the Rossi case frustrating. She’s got an elderly victim who’d just arrived from Rome; a widow who knows nothing about why he’d left; an as-yet unidentifiable weapon; and zero results on facial recognition. But when she finds a connection to the Urban Wars of the 2020s, she thinks Summerset—fiercely loyal, if somewhat grouchy, major-domo and the man who’d rescued her husband from the Dublin streets—may know something from his stint as a medic in Europe back then.

When Summerset learns of the crime, his shock and grief are clear—because, as he eventually reveals, he himself was one of The Twelve. It’s not a part of his past he likes to revisit. But now he must—not only to assist Eve’s investigation, but because a cryptic message from the killer has boasted that others of The Twelve have also died. Summerset is one of those who remain—and the murderous mission is yet to be fully accomplished…

Plot Summary

The case in Olivia Matthews's Coconut Drop Dead is going to be a tough nut to crack.

Brooklyn’s annual Caribbean American Heritage Festival is finally here, and Spice Isle Bakery is thrilled to be one of the event’s food vendors. After all, the Murrays have been attending the festival for years. Co-owner Lyndsay Murray hopes their West Indian pastries and finger foods draw people back to the bakery in Little Caribbean. She’s looking forward to having fun, connecting with customers, and celebrating with her family.

The day's festivities are cut short when Camille, lead singer of an up-and-coming reggae band, dies. The police think it may be a tragic accident. But Lyndsay’s cousin Manny was close to Camille, and he believes someone cut her life short. Now Manny needs Lyndsay’s help to make sure a killer faces the music.

Plot Summary

Claire Barclay is enthusiastic about her British Mystery Book Tour business. She enjoys taking her guests, usually from America, to the settings of mystery novels where bodies are long dead. Her neighbor's plea for help to deal with a recently murdered well-known author unsettles her. She leaves the body to the police and takes her guests to Cornwall, including a British tourist who far is too interested in the dead author.

Plot Summary

Dr. Emilia McRoy is back on the case in the second book in the Scottish Isle mystery series, perfect for fans of Sheila Connolly and Charlene O’Connor.

Something old, something new, something borrowed and someone’s blue…

Finally feeling like Sea Isle, Scotland is becoming her new home, American doctor Emilia McRoy is delighted when she is invited to a wedding at Morrigan's Castle. Her friends have warned her that it's a three-day party and it's bound to get wild, not to mention the impending snowstorm. Constable Ewan Campbell, owner of the castle, ensures their safety with the blizzard. What he didn’t ensure, is that all of his guests would survive the night alive. When Emilia explores the impressive castle, she finds a dead man in one of the turrets.

The snowstorm hits and the local police can’t reach the castle until it lets up. With no one able to leave, the family insists they carry on with the wedding, which makes Emilia's job as the coroner a bit easier—the suspects are in one place­––and complicated because the killer has Emilia in his sights. The fact no one claims to know the victim isn't helping. Why would someone no one knows be murdered at a castle in the middle of nowhere?

It’s up to Emilia to uncover the mystery who the victim is, so the killer doesn’t get away Scot free.

Plot Summary

Bridal wear designer-turned-entrepreneur Rayne McGrath remains in the Irish countryside ready for some wedding mayhem in this charming and colorful cozy, perfect for fans of Carlene O’Connor and Sheila Connolly.

Rayne McGrath’s efforts to save the rundown family castle she inherited were an epic failure after she accidentally set fire to the tower and tanked the budget. Is the castle haunted, or is she just unlucky? Meanwhile, her cousin, Ciara Smith, is anxiously booking their joint calendar with special events in the hopes of bringing the property around before they lose everything. 

When a bridalwear client from LA asks Rayne for help as her guest list spirals out of control, Rayne nabs the answer to her prayers. McGrath Castle is the perfect destination for the exclusive and intimate wedding party of heiress Tori Montgomery and her fiancé, heartthrob actor Jake Anderson. But this white veil occasion turns into a nightmare when Tori’s best friend’s assistant, Tiffany Quick, is found dead. 

It’s feared Tiffany jumped from the tower, but that theory is quickly put in doubt as secrets within the wedding party come to light. And as the villagers protest this new wedding venue venture, Rayne begins to wonder if she will succeed in her endeavor or lose it all.   

Plot Summary

 This wrong number is turning out to be deadly…

As summer settles over Airlie Falls, Texas, baker Rosie Hart is gearing up for the upcoming Fourth of July celebrations. Orders are coming in fast, but when someone calls in an order for a mud cake, Rosie feels uneasy. After a series of confusing phone calls, she comes to the chilling conclusion that the term ‘mud cake’ is in fact code for a ‘hit’—someone is ordering a murder!

As the dough for her Apple Custard Brioche Bread rises, so does Rosie’s anxiety. This isn’t like any of the cases she’s solved before. This time she has to save someone, but first she has to discover exactly who she’s supposed to be saving—and more importantly, who wants that person dead.

With her commitment to the town’s week-long festivities, trying to control her nonagenarian friends who’ve just discovered the home shopping network, determining if a long-lost child has indeed resurfaced, and not to mention an Elvis impersonator on every corner, Rosie’s wondering if she can really unmask the person with murderous intent before they take matters into their own hands.

Plot Summary

A gated dream town for the megarich becomes a murderous nightmare in a riveting Eve Ronin thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg. Hidden Hills is a private celebrity enclave of white picket fences and horse trails that seems to exist in a dreamworld. But when reality superstar Kitty Winslow is killed within their gates and corpses are found in the vast state park outside them, LASD detective Eve Ronin realizes there is a deadly, razor-thin line between what’s real and what’s imagined. Eve discovers that Kitty’s surreal on- and off-camera life, a blur of fact and fantasy, shockingly mirrors her own as she struggles to investigate the killings, wade into a music industry war, and battle a vicious Chilean gang―all while her life is being turned into a fictional cop show directed by her estranged father. Eve’s grip on reality and the case is strained to the breaking point as the slayings continue, the media frenzy reaches a fever pitch, and the only inescapable truth she can see is death…and it’s coming for her.

Plot Summary

When two cross-country cases collide, Bree Taggert and Mercy Kilpatrick join forces to catch a serial killer in an addictive novel of suspense by bestselling authors Melinda Leigh and Kendra Elliot.

During a vicious heat wave, a county maintenance worker stumbles upon two suspicious suitcases abandoned by the side of the road. Sheriff Bree Taggert responds to find two bodies stuffed inside the luggage. The press demands action. The community is on edge. Suddenly, Bree is at the center of a media firestorm.

In Oregon, a senator’s daughter goes missing. FBI Special Agent Mercy Kilpatrick agrees to keep the politically sensitive case on the down-low. When she finds a link between the disappearance and a double homicide three thousand miles away, Mercy takes the next plane out—and lands right in the middle of Bree’s double homicide investigation.

To save the missing girl, Bree and Mercy must work together to stop a killer who’s playing deadly games with the press and stirring up public rage. Hungry for notoriety, he dares Bree and Mercy to catch him before he kills again.

Plot Summary

In the second book in the Detective Harriet Foster thriller series, author Tracy Clark weaves a twisted journey into the underbelly of Chicago as Harriet and her team work to unmask a serial killer stalking the city’s aldermen.

The Chicago PD is on high alert when two city aldermen are found dead: one by apparent suicide, one brutally stabbed in his office, and both with thirty dimes left on their bodies—a betrayer’s payment. With no other clues, the question is, Who else has a debt to pay?

Detective Harriet Foster is on the case before the killer can strike again. But even with the help of her partner, Detective Vera Li, and the rest of their team, Harriet has little to go on and a lot at risk. There’s no telling who the killer’s next target is or how many will come next.

To stop another murder, Harriet and her officers will have to examine what the victims had going on behind the scenes to determine who could be tangled up in this web of betrayal…and who could be out for revenge

Plot Summary

Poppy Fields, Hollywood princess and social media influencer extraordinaire, accompanies her A-list mother to Paris, and why not? It’s PARIS!

What her mother doesn’t know is Poppy’s on assignment. Her mission? To help bankrupt a drug cartel. To do that, she must access encrypted account numbers, evade a drug lord with a grudge, dodge a Russian oligarch, and align herself with a man who looks like a Norse god.

Oh, and there’s that plot—the one to launch a massive attack on the City of Lights.

If Poppy’s not careful, La Vie en Rose might just turn funereal black.

Plot Summary

The Fairy Tale Cupcakes crew helps two professional football players in knead when the athletes are suspected of murder and their dream of opening a bakery is crushed, from New York Timesbestselling author Jenn McKinlay.

Professional football players Keogh Graham and Tyler Matthews want to open a Fairy Tale Cupcakes franchise. They’re spending the off-season in Scottsdale working in Mel’s bakery, learning about the business and how to bake show-stopping cupcakes. The popular athletes bring a boom of customers to the store as football fans flock to see the friends mixing batter and piping icing.

Everyone’s excited the athletes are pursuing their dream of owning a bakery—except for those who fear the players will ditch football for fondant and retire early from professional sports. The angry naysayers include their team owner and Keogh's sports agent, along with some very vocal fans.

When the owner of their team, the Arizona Scorpions, is found dead on the floor of their new bakery following an argument with Keogh, the pros become prime suspects. As the investigation heats up, Mel and the rest of the cupcake bakery crew must step up and prove their franchise owners are innocent before it’s game-over for the new bakers.

Plot Summary

Someone in Brooklyn’s Little Caribbean neighborhood has an appetite for murder in Olivia Matthews' Hard Dough Homicide.

Spice Isle Bakery owner Lyndsay Murray is always looking for new ways to grow her family’s business. But she already regrets agreeing to host the retirement dinner for local high school principal Emily Smith. The tyrant used to be her mother's boss and they did not get along. Six guests arrive for the celebration, but only five survive. Emily starts convulsing—right after eating the curry chicken—and dies soon after. It’s not long before the police are knocking on Spice Isle’s door, bringing the Murray family back into the heart of another murder investigation—driving away customers in the process. Lyndsay can't help but wonder if this is the end of the bakery, even though it's just begun. She must put aside her reservations about investigating another crime, because the Murrays refuse to go down without a fight.

Plot Summary

Claire Barclay, responding to an invitation to tea, does not expect to find her hostess murdered and herself the chief suspect. It is all overwhelming---a new house, a new village, new friends and now murder. She will cope, she always copes, but it won’t be easy. 

Plot Summary

Three boys were taken and murdered fifteen years ago. The killer is in jail. So why is history repeating itself? A family outing to Tattershall Castle comes to a chilling end when eleven-year-old Tommy Burton disappears without a trace in broad daylight. All that remains in his place is a small blue teddy bear. DS Karen Hart and her team are called in to investigate the unusual circumstances―but for DI Morgan the crime scene is eerily familiar. It’s been fifteen years since Morgan worked on a traumatic case that saw Graham Donaldson put behind bars for abducting and murdering three young boys. His calling a blue teddy bear left at the scene of each crime, a detail never revealed to the press or public. Could Donaldson, recently transferred to a local prison, have something to do with the missing boy? Has he somehow inspired a copycat? Or, worse, is the original killer still out there―and embarking on a second campaign of terror? With Tommy still missing, and a growing list of suspects, Karen’s team must piece the puzzle together before the unthinkable happens. But as a dizzying chase for the truth unfolds, could it be that the evil they seek is hiding in plain sight?

Plot Summary

When murder mars the grand opening for Lila Macapagal’s aunties’ new laundromat, she will have to air out all the dirty laundry in Shady Palms to catch a killer…

Lila Macapagal's godmothers April, Mae, and June—AKA the Calendar Crew—are celebrating the opening of their latest joint business venture, a new laundromat, to much fanfare (and controversy). However, what should’ve been a joyous occasion quickly turns into a tragedy when they discover the building has been vandalized—and the body of Ninang April’s niece, recently arrived from the Philippines, next to a chilling message painted on the floor. The question is, was the message aimed at the victim or Lila's gossipy godmothers, who have not-so-squeaky-clean reputations?

With Ninang April falling apart from grief and little progress from the Shady Palms Police Department in this slippery case, it’s up to Lila and her network to find justice for the young woman.

The Calendar Crew have stuck their noses into everybody’s business for years, but now the tables are turned as Lila must pry into the Calendar Crew’s lives to figure out who has a vendetta against the (extremely opinionated yet loving) aunties and stop them before they strike again.