Meet Jane Bell. After her husband dies she leaves her job as a teacher to volunteer as a special constable with the police.

On her very first shift Jane is called to the scene of a murder. A young man has dragged himself to the top of Greestone Stairs to die. It’s a brutal introduction to police work—watching someone’s final moments play out on cold stone steps, their life bleeding away before help can arrive. Following her instincts rather than protocol, Jane finds herself becoming deeply involved in the investigation, unable to shake the victim’s face from her mind or the questions that haunt her about his final hours. 🔍

For Detective Steph Warwick, volunteer specials have absolutely no place in a serious murder investigation—and this particular upstart rookie is meddling exactly where she doesn’t belong. Warwick has spent years earning her position in homicide, navigating a male-dominated department and proving herself through countless difficult cases. The last thing she needs is an amateur with good intentions contaminating evidence, spooking witnesses, or worse, getting herself killed trying to play detective. But Jane Bell refuses to be dismissed or sidelined, and her persistence starts becoming impossible to ignore. 👮

The victim ran a controversial group at the university teaching men how to pick up women—a so-called “pick-up artist” operation that promised lonely guys confidence but delivered something far more sinister. Jane and Steph must venture into the dark underbelly of online misogyny, where forums celebrate manipulation, where rejection is treated as warfare, and where women are reduced to targets to be conquered. The deeper they dig, the more they uncover a digital ecosystem breeding resentment, entitlement, and rage. What starts as teaching “techniques” has evolved into something genuinely dangerous, and someone took that ideology to its lethal conclusion. 💻

Steph knows about abusive men all too well—her past carries scars both visible and hidden, experiences that inform every case she works and every interaction she navigates. She’s built walls to protect herself, learned to compartmentalize trauma, and channeled her pain into catching predators. But can she work alongside Jane Bell, this determined newcomer who seems to see through those carefully constructed defenses? Can two women from completely different worlds—one hardened by experience, one fueled by raw determination—bridge the gap between them to put this killer behind bars before he strikes again? 🚨

What makes this essential: Janice Frost delivers a gritty British crime debut that pairs unlikely partners in a case ripped from today’s most disturbing headlines, exploring how toxic masculinity turns deadly while building a detective duo worth following through the entire Warwick & Bell series.

He has no idea those “pointy sticks” are weapons—and she knows exactly how to use them.

When Abigail mysteriously inherits her dream cottage from a great-aunt she barely remembers, she thinks her luck has finally turned after years of looking over her shoulder and jumping at shadows. The cozy little house nestled in Cypress Hollow seems like the perfect fresh start, a place where she can finally exhale and build the peaceful life she’s been dreaming about. What she doesn’t expect is the brooding cowboy who apparently comes with the property—along with his volcanic temper that could melt steel and his assumption that she’s nothing but a temporary nuisance who’ll be gone by spring. 🧶

Fleeing a dangerous past she can’t talk about without risking everything, Abigail sees her unexpected inheritance as divine intervention wrapped in weathered wood and a wraparound porch. She’ll transform the ramshackle cottage into a cozy knitting haven where she can disappear into wool, needles, and the peaceful rhythm of creating something beautiful with her hands. Here, surrounded by fiber and pattern books, she can become someone new—someone safe. But first she’ll need to deal with her insufferable neighbor and his certainty that she doesn’t belong. 🏡

Cade MacArthur owns every inch of land surrounding her new home, and this scorching-hot rancher considers the sharp-tongued city girl with her designer boots and zero farming knowledge nothing more than a trespasser who’s invaded his hard-won territory. He’s spent years building his ranch from nothing, proving himself to a town that remembers when he had nothing, and he doesn’t appreciate complications. Especially complications that come in the form of a woman who argues with him about property lines, refuses to be intimidated by his scowls, and somehow makes even yarn talk sound like foreplay. 🤠

What starts as a battle of wills—fought over fence posts and property easements and her right to plant whatever she wants in her own garden—ignites into something far more dangerous than either anticipated. Every heated argument crackles with undeniable attraction neither wants to acknowledge. Every stolen glance threatens to combust into flames. And when the deadly secrets Abigail thought she’d escaped come hunting for her in Cypress Hollow, she’ll have to trust the one man who makes her burn with more than anger—with her life, her future, and the heart she swore she’d never risk again. Because Cade MacArthur didn’t build his empire by backing down from a fight, and he’s not about to let anyone hurt the woman who’s gotten under his skin in ways he never saw coming. 🔥

Why this deserves your attention: Rachael Herron kicks off the Cypress Hollow Yarns series with a enemies-to-lovers romance that combines cozy small-town charm with genuine heat, proving that the softest yarn can wrap around the toughest hearts when the right cowboy comes calling.

A jaded single dad. A woman returning to her small-town roots. Neither was prepared for their paths to collide…

I should have known I was in trouble the moment I backed my old, beat-up truck into the shiny Range Rover in the feed store parking lot. The paint scrape echoed like a gunshot, and when the driver emerged, he looked like a gorgeous fallen angel—one who’d been booted right out of paradise specifically for being a giant prick. Those icy blue eyes could freeze flames, and the way he looked at my dented bumper and dusty jeans made it clear exactly what he thought of small-town girls who can’t park straight. Good thing I’ll never have to see his judgmental face again. 🚗

Except life in a small town has a wicked sense of humor, doesn’t it? When I show up for my new job—training a sweet little girl how to ride her horse at one of Time River’s most prestigious ranches—I find those same icy blue eyes glaring back at me from the porch. Turns out Mr. Range Rover is Caleb, the girl’s overprotective father, and he’s about as thrilled to see me as I am to see him. The tension between us could set the barn on fire, and not in a good way. Well, maybe in a good way, but I’m not about to admit that to his infuriatingly perfect face. 🐴

Paisley Dae is completely reckless behind the wheel, has zero filter, and possesses exactly the kind of wild spirit that makes responsible single fathers lose sleep for all the wrong reasons. She’s also the best horse trainer in this small town, and Evelyn deserves nothing less than the best. My daughter has been through enough—we both have—and I won’t let anyone hurt her, won’t let anyone get close enough to leave when things get hard. Protecting the little girl who owns my entire heart is my one focus, my only job that truly matters. Distractions are dangerous when you’re raising a child alone, when every decision could be the one that breaks her fragile trust in the world. 💔

Only the sassy trainer in her cut-offs and cowgirl boots quickly gets under my skin in ways I didn’t think possible anymore, slipping past defenses I thought were impenetrable. She makes Evelyn laugh—really laugh, the kind that lights up her entire face. And worse, Paisley makes me remember what it feels like to want something for myself, not just for my daughter. One reckless night of giving in to the chemistry we’ve been fighting, one moment of weakness where I let those walls crack, and Caleb and I spiral into a web of passion that threatens everything I’ve carefully built. Because wanting Paisley isn’t just complicated—it’s dangerous to hearts that can’t afford to break again. 🌟

What makes this irresistible: A.L. Jackson launches the Time River series with a single-dad romance that hits all the emotional beats, combining small-town sweetness with genuine steam and a hero who’ll make you believe in second chances and cowboys who aren’t afraid to fall hard.

Kat Sullivan finally has the perfect life she’s spent years building brick by careful brick. A prestigious job at a Manhattan firm where her talent is finally recognized. A handsome, devoted husband who looks at her like she hung the moon. A beautiful New York home in exactly the neighborhood she always dreamed about. And now, the ultimate blessing—a baby on the way, growing inside her, making everything feel complete and right and earned after all the years of struggle. This is the life she was supposed to have, the one she fought so hard to create. 🏙️

Now her first husband—the one nobody even knew existed—wants to destroy it all, piece by devastating piece.

She opens the letter with trembling hands, recognizing handwriting she hasn’t seen in years, handwriting that shouldn’t exist in her carefully constructed world: ‘I AM SO CLOSE I CAN ALMOST SMELL YOU.’ The words are a violation, intimate and terrifying, suggesting proximity that makes her skin crawl. Her hands shake so badly she nearly drops the paper, and suddenly her beautiful home feels like a trap, every window a vulnerability, every shadow a threat. 💌

No one even knew Kat had a first husband, not her current spouse, not her closest friends, not the colleagues who think they know her story. He is the secret she thought she’d buried forever in a shallow grave of lies and careful omissions. What started as a holiday fling that went too far—a stupid, reckless mistake made by a younger, more naive version of herself—became the nightmare she’s spent a decade trying to forget. She changed her name, changed cities, changed everything about herself to escape him. Now she’s going to pay the price for thinking she could outrun her past. And so is everyone close to her, everyone she’s brought into the blast radius of her terrible secret. 😱

The threats escalate with surgical precision, each one more invasive than the last, each one proving he knows exactly where she works, where she lives, what her routines are, who she loves. He’s not just watching—he’s orchestrating a campaign of psychological terror designed to dismantle everything she’s built. Kat realizes with growing horror that her first husband isn’t just angry—he’s been planning this for years, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, and now that she’s finally happy, finally vulnerable with a baby coming and a life worth protecting, he’s ready to take it all away. The question isn’t whether he’ll destroy her life. The question is whether she’ll survive what comes next. 🔪

What makes this a must-read: McGarvey Black delivers a pulse-pounding psychological thriller about secrets that refuse to stay buried, exploring how far someone will go to protect their perfect life when the past comes knocking with vengeance in its heart.

In Kathmandu’s notorious backpacker district—where cheap guesthouses overflow with gap-year travelers and prayer flags flutter above streets thick with exhaust and incense—young travelers are disappearing without a trace. Not the usual kind of vanishing where someone decides to extend their trip or heads to an ashram without telling anyone. This is different, more sinister, a pattern that locals whisper about but authorities seem determined to ignore. When journalist Leo Keane arrives to find one specific missing woman, he uncovers something far more disturbing and far-reaching than he ever imagined possible in this chaotic, beautiful, dangerous city. 🏔️

Jobless after his last exposé went spectacularly wrong, anxious to the point of barely sleeping, and still haunted by memories of a woman who vanished from his life two years ago—a disappearance he’s never quite forgiven himself for—Leo is desperate for any kind of break, professional or personal. So when he’s offered surprisingly good money to track down a wealthy politician’s missing daughter somewhere in Nepal’s capital, he doesn’t ask too many questions about who’s funding the search or why they need a disgraced journalist instead of proper investigators. That lack of curiosity turns out to be his first mistake in a series of mistakes that will nearly cost him everything. 📰

Allissa runs a carefully hidden hostel that doesn’t appear in any guidebook or online listing—a sanctuary for victims of human trafficking who’ve managed to escape their captors but have nowhere safe to go in a city where corruption runs deep and protection is never guaranteed. She knows exactly how dangerous Kathmandu really is beneath its tourist-friendly facade, understands the networks of criminals who prey on vulnerable travelers, and recognizes the signs when someone’s asking the wrong questions to the wrong people. When Leo stumbles upon her underground operation while searching for the missing girl, they’re both pulled into a web of lies, violence, and secrets that powerful people will absolutely kill to protect. 🔐

As the city tightens its grip around them and Leo realizes the disappearances connect to something much larger than one politician’s daughter, he and Allissa must navigate a labyrinth of corrupt officials, trafficking networks, and buried truths while staying one step ahead of people who’ve made careers out of making problems disappear. The deeper they dig, the more they uncover the machinery that turns idealistic travelers into commodities, that transforms Kathmandu’s beauty into camouflage for unspeakable crimes. They must expose the truth before the hunter becomes the hunted—and before they become the next names on a list of foreigners who came to Nepal and were never seen again. 🚨

Why this grips from page one: Luke Richardson launches the International Detectives series with a taut, atmospheric thriller set against Kathmandu’s vibrant chaos, combining the moral urgency of human trafficking investigation with page-turning suspense and a journalist determined to finally save someone.

What should have been a celebration of love and new beginnings turns into a nightmare when a bachelorette party at the luxurious Bellamy Island Resort ends in murder. A young woman is found strangled, her life stolen during what should have been one of the happiest weekends of her existence. Special Agent Bailey Flynn arrives on the island and immediately suspects this isn’t an isolated incident—the method, the location, the victim profile all point to something far more sinister 🏝️

Bailey’s instincts prove correct when her investigation uncovers a disturbing pattern: a decade earlier, another young bride-to-be was strangled on this same island, her murder never solved and quietly forgotten by authorities eager to protect the resort’s reputation. The similarities between the two cases are too specific to be coincidental. Someone has been getting away with murder for ten years, and they’ve just killed again, emboldened by their past success and the passage of time 💍

The investigation takes a darker turn when it reveals an unidentified set of remains buried near the most recent victim’s body—evidence of yet another crime, another life taken and hidden away. How many victims has this killer claimed over the years? And when a possible witness to the latest murder goes missing, presumably taken by the same predator who’s been hunting on this island, the case becomes a desperate race against time 🔍

Bailey calls on FBI profiler Bridget Bishop, bringing in expertise to help track down the evil serial killer responsible for these brutal crimes. Together, they must piece together the pattern, understand the killer’s psychology, and stop him before another innocent life can be taken. The island that markets itself as a paradise for celebrations has become a hunting ground, and the killer clearly believes he’s untouchable in his carefully chosen territory 🌊

Why this grips from page one: Melinda Woodhall delivers the seventh installment in the Bailey Flynn series with a chilling investigation that exposes how predators can hide in plain sight when nobody wants to look too closely—perfect for thriller readers who demand both psychological depth and relentless pacing.

An action-packed and painstakingly researched alternate history by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and historical fiction author William R. Forstchen, Gettysburg reimagines one of the most pivotal moments in American history. This is the first book in a trilogy that explores how a Confederate victory would have fundamentally changed the destiny of the nation forever, splitting one country into two and reshaping the entire future of North America ⚔️

The year is 1863, and General Robert E. Lee and his legendary Army of Northern Virginia are poised to launch their most audacious offensive yet—a sweeping attack into Northern territory that represents the Confederacy’s last, best chance for ultimate victory and international recognition. Lee, brilliant and bold, understands that the South cannot win a war of attrition against the North’s superior numbers and industrial capacity. He needs a decisive victory on Union soil, something so devastating that it will break the North’s will to continue fighting 🎖️

Launching his men into a sweeping operation that pushes deep into Pennsylvania, Lee audaciously pursues his vision of what the Gettysburg Campaign should have been—the crushing blow that would force Lincoln to negotiate peace and allow the Confederate States to exist as an independent nation. With renewed spirit after their stunning victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, Lee’s battle-hardened lieutenants embark on this campaign with the confidence of men who believe destiny is on their side. They’re fighting for what they believe is their right to self-determination 🗺️

The soldiers in the line, both Yankee and Rebel, understood with crystal clarity that this would be the great challenge, the decisive moment that would determine whether one nation would die or whether a new nation would be born from its ashes. This wasn’t just another battle—this was the collision that would decide everything they’d been fighting for over two bloody years. Both sides were ready and willing to lay down their lives for their respective causes, knowing that history would be written in the next few days of combat. The alternate history Gingrich and Forstchen construct is both thrilling and thought-provoking, meticulously researched and vividly imagined 📖

What makes this essential: Gingrich and Forstchen deliver a masterfully researched alternate history that doesn’t just ask “what if Lee won at Gettysburg?” but explores the profound consequences that would have rippled through generations—compelling reading for Civil War enthusiasts and alternate history fans alike.

A room with a view—to murder. June 1933, and Kitty Underhay is the epitome of modern independence, from the top of her fashionable shingle bob to the tip of her stylish t-strap heels. She’s a thoroughly modern woman who prides herself on running her family’s ancient hotel on the blustery English coast with efficiency and grace. The Dolphin Hotel has weathered centuries of storms, and Kitty intends to maintain its sterling reputation through the challenging economic times of the 1930s 👠

But then a body is discovered on the premises, rooms are ransacked by someone clearly searching for something specific, and disturbing rumors begin circulating through the village. Whispers suggest that someone is hunting for a valuable stolen ruby—a precious gem that Kitty’s mother may have possessed when she herself mysteriously disappeared during the chaos of the Great War, leaving young Kitty with only questions and a legacy of uncertainty. The past and present are colliding in dangerous ways 💎

Before Kitty can do more than flick a duster at the gathering chaos, she finds herself thrust into the center of a murder investigation that threatens everything she’s worked to build. The local police inspector, more interested in maintaining appearances than uncovering truth, shows absolutely no signs of solving the shocking crimes plaguing her beloved hotel. His incompetence is almost as infuriating as the crimes themselves 🔍

When it becomes clear that official channels won’t deliver justice, Kitty steps briskly into the breach with characteristic determination. Together with Matthew Bryant, her new hotel security officer and an ex-army captain with his own mysterious past, she’s absolutely determined to decipher this tangled mystery. They must preserve not only the good name of her hotel but also the lives of her guests, who may be in more danger than anyone realizes. Could there be a cold-blooded killer staying under her own roof, sipping tea and plotting murder? And what connects the missing jewel to the long-unsolved mystery of Kitty’s own past and her mother’s disappearance all those years ago? 🏨

Why I’m including this: Helena Dixon launches the Miss Underhay series with a delightful 1930s mystery featuring a capable heroine who refuses to let murder disrupt her hotel’s reputation—perfect for fans of period cozies with genuine intrigue and a touch of family mystery.

After choir practice for midnight mass, college sophomore Rose Grandon takes what should have been a harmless shortcut through Harbor Park, eager to get home on a cold December night. Grabbed violently from behind, she’s brutally assaulted, beaten with savage intensity, and left for dead in a ditch. The attack is methodical, vicious, personal in its cruelty. The last thing she hears before losing consciousness is someone singing Silent Night, the sacred carol twisted into something profane and terrifying 🎄

Several hours later, police find Rose lying broken in that ditch—badly beaten, hypothermic, traumatized beyond measure, but miraculously alive. As she slowly recovers in the hospital, surrounded by concerned family and detectives asking questions she can barely process, Rose receives devastating news: she’s pregnant from the assault. She faces a terrible, impossible choice that will define the rest of her life. After agonizing contemplation, she decides to keep the baby, finding purpose in transforming unspeakable trauma into something meaningful 👶

Nine months later, Rose gives birth to a beautiful baby girl she names Mary—the one purely good thing to emerge from her horrible ordeal, an innocent life untainted by the violence of her conception. Rose settles into quiet life in her small Connecticut hometown, raising her daughter with fierce protectiveness and slowly, painstakingly getting pieces of her old self back. She builds routines, finds small joys, creates a life worth living despite the shadows that still haunt her 💔

But her evil attacker has never been caught, never faced justice for what he did to her and others. The police investigation went cold, and he continues to walk free, emboldened by his success. He strikes twice every year with terrifying predictability: once on Christmas Eve, once on Christmas Day, targeting vulnerable women and transforming the holiest nights into hunting expeditions. The pattern is clear, the threat ongoing. Until he’s behind bars, Rose and her baby daughter can never truly be safe. Every December brings renewed fear, every carol a reminder of that voice singing in the darkness 🎅

What makes this a must-read: McGarvey Black delivers a psychological thriller that explores survival and resilience, examining how one woman builds a life from the ashes of trauma while a predator continues stalking—tense, emotional, and unflinching in its examination of both horror and hope.

His identical twin was murdered in cold blood, and now they want him dead too. From international bestselling author Jack Hunt comes a page-turning, suspense-filled mystery thriller set in the unforgiving Adirondacks of Upstate New York, where millions of acres of wilderness can swallow secrets—and people—whole. When a highly decorated police officer is found brutally murdered in the ski resort town of High Peaks, the State Bureau of Criminal Investigation immediately steps in, recognizing this isn’t just another homicide 🏔️

Upon hearing the devastating news, homicide investigator Noah Sutherland makes the difficult journey back to his hometown in the Adirondacks—a place he’d left years ago for complicated reasons he’s never fully confronted. Noah believes with absolute certainty that his brother’s death was more than just a cold, methodical ambush by some random criminal. The execution-style killing speaks of planning, of personal motivation, of secrets buried deep in the frozen ground of their shared past. Someone wanted his twin dead for a specific reason 🔍

Every town has secrets, especially small communities where everyone knows everyone’s business and family histories stretch back generations. Amidst the millions of acres of pristine wilderness where one wrong step or poor decision can prove deadly even in the best of circumstances, Noah and his slain brother’s K-9 partner Axel—both distressed by profound loss and struggling to process their grief—form an unlikely bond. The dog recognizes something familiar in Noah, some echo of his beloved handler 🐕

As they pursue the violent and ruthless through the treacherous high peaks, navigating terrain that’s as beautiful as it is dangerous, Noah uncovers disturbing truths behind the shocking crime. Layer by layer, he peels back the carefully maintained secrets of a tight-lipped community that’s spent decades protecting its own, even when “its own” includes killers. Every family has a past they’d rather keep buried, and the Sutherland family is no exception. The question is how far someone will go to keep those secrets from seeing daylight 🌲

Why this deserves your attention: Jack Hunt delivers a gripping thriller that combines family secrets with mountain wilderness survival, exploring how far people will go to protect the past—perfect for readers who love their crime fiction atmospheric and emotionally complex.