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Professor Whit Filmore thought he’d left his life as a detective behind to focus on teaching, but after a personal realization changed his life, he discovered his heightened senses help him pick up on clues that others can’t. The transition from detective work to academia was supposed to bring peace, but Whit’s unusual abilities—sharpened by whatever life-altering experience he underwent—won’t let him fully retire from solving mysteries 🔍
Together with his assistant Anna, an empath who is barely scratching the surface of her own talents, Whit travels to Aldridge, a small town in Texas, at the request of an old acquaintance in the FBI. The pairing is unconventional: a professor with heightened senses and an empath still learning to control her gift. But their complementary abilities might be exactly what’s needed for a case this complex 🌟
Two girls have gone missing from opposite sides of town, and no one is cooperating. The disappearances seem unrelated at first—different neighborhoods, different families, different social circles. But the fact that no one will talk suggests something darker binding the community together in silence. Aldridge has secrets, and those secrets are protecting whoever took these girls ⚠️
With so many obstacles, can Whit use his keen senses to find the girls in time? The clock is ticking, the town is hostile, and every lead gets blocked by walls of silence. Whit’s heightened perceptions pick up details others miss—the slight tremor in a witness’s voice, the barely perceptible lie in someone’s body language. But sensing the truth and getting people to admit it are two very different challenges 💔
WL Knightly creates a detective duo that operates on intuition and abilities that blur the line between natural talent and something more. The small-town Texas setting adds claustrophobia—everyone knows everyone, which means everyone’s complicit in the silence that’s letting two girls remain missing 🎯
What makes this gripping: WL Knightly launches a thriller series featuring a professor with heightened senses and an empath assistant investigating missing girls in a Texas town where silence protects dark secrets. Perfect for readers who love detective duos with unconventional abilities and mysteries where the entire community is hiding something.
Beautiful PhD student Clara Zapata has never subscribed to the theory that the only thing men care about is looks, but after getting dumped by her fiancé for gaining weight, she’s starting to think her gold-digging mother is on to something. If men are going to treat her like a trophy, why shouldn’t she treat them like a credit card? 💔
All heir-in-waiting Ian Dunning has ever wanted was the love of a good woman. But after being seduced and abandoned by yet another gold digger, he’s beginning to lose hope of ever finding real love. If all women will ever want him for is his money, why shouldn’t he just chase after the ones with the biggest boobs and the fewest brain cells? His cynicism is hardening into bitterness, turning him into exactly the shallow person he swore he’d never become 💰
What happens when this cynical son of a billionaire gets stuck on a disastrous road trip with the jaded daughter of a gold digger? Clara and Ian are primed to hate each other on principle—she assumes he’s another shallow rich guy, he assumes she’s after his money. Both have been hurt badly enough to default to the worst possible interpretation of the other’s intentions 🚗
Will Ian and Clara follow in their parents’ footsteps, or will they find true love? Forced proximity on a road trip that goes hilariously wrong strips away their defenses and assumptions. When you’re stranded together, dealing with flat tires and bad weather and worse motel rooms, it’s hard to maintain the cynical armor you’ve built. Real personalities emerge, vulnerabilities show, and suddenly the person you thought you had figured out becomes unexpectedly appealing 💕
Augusta Reilly writes romantic comedy that tackles body image, wealth disparity, and the damage our parents’ choices can inflict on our own relationship patterns. Clara and Ian are both wounded and defensive, which makes their inevitable attraction feel earned rather than instant. They have to work through genuine obstacles beyond simple miscommunication 😄
Why this charms: Augusta Reilly delivers enemies-to-lovers road trip romance where a jaded PhD student and a cynical billionaire’s son must overcome their parents’ toxic legacies to find real connection. Perfect for readers who want their rom-coms with substance, addressing body image and gold-digger stereotypes while delivering genuine laughs and swoons.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING, SNUFF FILMS, AND ONE WOMAN OUT FOR REVENGE…
Just when you get out… Former Chicago cop Jack Daniels thought she’d left her former life behind. She’d traded her badge for a toddler, and her lifelong pursuit of heinous serial killers for a boring house in the suburbs. Retirement was supposed to be about soccer games and homework, not hunting monsters 👮♀️
…they pull you back in. Then Jack sees some pictures. Pictures of men who were supposed to be dead. And once again, against the fierce insistence of her husband, Phineas Troutt, Jack reluctantly straps on her gun and goes hunting. Hunting for the worst of the worst. The photos prove that the case she thought she closed is still wide open, and the monsters she put down are somehow still breathing 📸
This leads to a trek across the Great Plains, searching for a modern slavery ring, on a collision course with three of the most horrible villains Jack has ever faced. The investigation takes her into the darkest corners of human depravity—trafficking operations that treat people as disposable commodities, snuff films that document unspeakable acts. These aren’t just criminals; they’re predators who’ve built an empire on human suffering 💀
But Jack, and her irritating buddy Harry McGlade, will face them, and much more. Because they’re prepared to go to hell and back to rescue an old friend. The trick will be getting back in one piece. And—spoiler alert—they don’t. Konrath’s warning is literal; this is book 16 in a long-running series, and Jack has accumulated enough scars, both physical and psychological, to fill volumes ⚡
J.A. Konrath writes procedurals that don’t flinch from depicting evil in its rawest forms while maintaining dark humor through McGlade’s presence. Jack is older now, a mother trying to protect her family while being drawn back into the work that defined her. The tension between domestic life and the hunt creates genuine stakes 🔍
What makes this essential: J.A. Konrath’s 16th Jack Daniels thriller proves the series still delivers brutal crime fiction as retired cop Jack hunts a trafficking ring and the villains who were supposed to be dead. The spoiler warning that Jack and Harry don’t return unscathed is honest—this is dark procedural fiction with real consequences.
Lt. Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels of the Chicago Police Department is back, and once again she’s up to her Armani in murder.
Someone is sending Jack snuff videos. The victims are people she knows, and they share a common trait—each was involved in one of Jack’s previous cases. This isn’t random violence; it’s targeted, personal, and designed specifically to torment her. Someone has been watching Jack’s career, cataloging her cases, and now they’re systematically eliminating everyone connected to her past investigations 📹
With her stalwart partner hospitalized and unable to help, Jack follows a trail of death throughout the Midwest, on a collision course with the smartest and deadliest adversary she’s ever known. Without her partner’s support, Jack is more vulnerable than usual, making mistakes she wouldn’t normally make, pushing herself harder to compensate for working alone 🔍
During the chase, Jack jeopardizes her career, her love life, and her closest friends. She also comes to a startling realization—serial killers have families, and blood runs thick. The investigation forces Jack to confront an uncomfortable truth: the monsters she hunts aren’t isolated sociopaths. They’re connected to other people, including family members who might share their appetites or protect them despite knowing what they’ve done 💔
The snuff videos escalate in brutality as the killer taunts Jack with each new victim. Every death is a message, every murder scene is choreographed for maximum psychological impact. The killer wants Jack to know they’re coming for everyone she’s ever helped, everyone she’s ever saved, everyone she’s ever cared about ⚠️
J.A. Konrath’s third Jack Daniels thriller ratchets up the personal stakes by targeting Jack’s past cases and forcing her to work without her partner. The “blood runs thick” theme adds complexity—family loyalty to a killer creates moral grey areas that simple good-versus-evil narratives can’t address 🎯
Why this grips from page one: J.A. Konrath delivers Jack Daniels Book 3 with snuff videos targeting people from Jack’s past cases and a revelation that serial killers have families too. The Midwest chase, personal stakes, and Jack’s realization about blood loyalty create procedural fiction that’s both brutal and psychologically complex.
SOMETIMES YOU JUST NEED A BAD GUY…
His name is Phineas Troutt. He’s a problem solver. If a woman is being stalked by her ex-husband, Phin can convince him to stop. If a union is being squeezed, Phin can squeeze the squeezer. He’s not a mercenary. He’s not a bodyguard. He’s not a private dick. He’s a guy who takes cash for solving problems with violence 💪
When a doctor at a suburban women’s health clinic is being harassed, she hires Phin to make it stop. But the situation proves to be larger, and more dangerous, than even he can handle on his own. What starts as dealing with protesters and threats escalates into something that connects to larger forces—religious extremism, political pressure, and people willing to kill to shut down the clinic 🏥
So he calls in some friends to help out; a P.I. named Harry McGlade and a female cop named Jack Daniels… This is Book 8 in the Jack Daniels series, but it shifts perspective to Phin, giving readers a different angle on the world Jack inhabits. The three-person team brings together different skillsets and approaches—Phin’s willingness to use violence, Harry’s investigative chaos, and Jack’s procedural expertise 🔍
The clinic harassment case becomes a powder keg as competing interests collide. Protesters with genuine beliefs mix with extremists willing to use terror tactics. Political figures putting pressure behind the scenes. And someone coordinating violence that’s designed to look like grassroots activism rather than organized assault ⚡
J.A. Konrath uses the clinic harassment storyline to explore how “problem solving with violence” intersects with legal authority and investigation. Phin operates outside the law, which creates both advantages and complications when working alongside a cop. The story examines what happens when the legal system can’t or won’t protect people, and whether vigilante solutions are justified 💔
Here’s what you’re getting: J.A. Konrath’s Book 8 shifts focus to Phineas Troutt, the “problem solver” who uses violence for cash, as he teams with Harry McGlade and Jack Daniels to protect a clinic doctor. The harassment case explodes into something larger, testing whether Phin’s methods can work alongside Jack’s badge.
Good Days Bad Days: A Novel
Charlie McFadden was fifteen years old when CPS removed her from her hoarded home. Her mother, Betty, chose her worthless collectibles. Her father chose Betty. Neither chose Charlie 💔
Thirty-one years later, a mother herself and cohost of a popular reality show with her husband, Charlie is proud of what she accomplished without her parents—relative strangers she never saw again. Until the day Charlie’s father pleads with her to come home and to say goodbye to her mother, now confined to a memory care center 🏠
Betty has her good days, recognizing her daughter with familiar resentment. And her bad ones, lost in the past as a blissful young mother with a cherished newborn. Those days make Charlie feel loved. On good days, Betty remembers choosing the hoard over her daughter, the bitterness and criticism intact. On bad days, Betty remembers Charlie as an infant, showering her with the maternal affection Charlie never actually received 🌸
Emily Bleeker writes about the complicated grief of losing a parent you never really had. Charlie is trapped between wanting to walk away from the woman who abandoned her and desperately craving the affection Betty only shows when dementia erases decades of dysfunction. The memory care visits become simultaneously healing and devastating 💕
The reality show success contrasts sharply with Charlie’s childhood trauma—she’s built a public persona as a confident, accomplished woman while privately grappling with abandonment that shaped every relationship she’s formed. Returning to face Betty means confronting the child she was and the mother she’s become ⚡
What makes this moving: Emily Bleeker explores complicated grief as Charlie, removed from a hoarded home at fifteen, returns thirty-one years later to say goodbye to her dementia-afflicted mother who only shows love when lost in the past. The good days versus bad days structure creates heartbreaking examination of maternal abandonment and the impossible longing for love that never was.
Love is patient. Love is kind. Love will stab you from behind.
It’s Halloween night, and out-of-work writer Goldie Monroe’s trip to the drugstore scares up more than the fake blood she’s looking for. It leads to the man of her naughtiest dreams. And in spite of her costume, sparks fly from the moment they meet 🎃
Noah Adler, aspiring sneaker designer, is impossibly gorgeous—like a tatted-up version of Goldie’s favorite blue-eyed vampire. He’s there for candy, but it’s Goldie he can’t resist. When she invites him to her sister’s F/X company bash, he’s all in without a second thought. The chemistry is instant, electric, and intense enough to make them both ignore warning signs 💀
The pair’s flirty connection heats up fast, carrying them to electrifying new heights. But after Goldie discovers Noah is hiding a dark secret, it all starts to crumble. Looking for answers about her own past awakens new dangers, and when Goldie and Noah land at a slasher camp for adults, a deadly tragedy threatens to repeat itself 🔪
If they can survive this one killer night, they can definitely slay a happily ever after. Trilina Pucci writes horror comedy that embraces slasher tropes while delivering genuine romance and suspense. The slasher camp setting is perfect—a place where horror fans pay to be scared becomes genuinely deadly when past trauma and present danger collide 💕
The “love will stab you from behind” tagline is both darkly funny and literal. Goldie and Noah’s romance develops against a backdrop of actual murder, forcing them to figure out if they can trust each other while running for their lives. The F/X company connection adds meta-commentary on horror versus real violence 🎬
What makes this irresistible: Trilina Pucci delivers horror comedy romance where writer Goldie meets Noah on Halloween, sparks fly immediately, but dark secrets and a deadly slasher camp threaten their happily ever after. Perfect for readers who want Scream meets rom-com with genuine scares, genuine romance, and slasher camp mayhem.
What are friends for?
Wallflower Cate Cabot has always been content to keep the world at arm’s length, particularly from behind the register at the upscale Floridian boutique where she’s worked for the last nine years. Her days are filled with old-moneyed locals and nouveau-riche tourists, most of them paying her no mind as she rings up their lavish hauls 👗
Until Odessa DuVernay. At first glance, Odessa is just another picture-perfect Palm Shores trophy wife—until she proves herself personable, humble, and unassuming. She even goes so far as to take a genuine interest in Cate, inviting her for lunch dates, matinees, and girl talk—a refreshing change of pace for the woman who never quite mastered the art of making (and keeping) friends 💕
But what begins as an unlikely friendship detours into the unthinkable when Odessa leaves Cate a panicked voicemail asking to meet—and then ghosts her. And worse, when Cate attempts to find her, it’s as if the enigmatic Mrs. DuVernay never existed at all. No phone number works, no one recognizes her name, and the address Odessa gave leads nowhere 🔍
Consumed, Cate refuses to stop searching. But the truth won’t come easy. In fact, it could cost her everything. Every attempt to find Odessa uncovers more questions than answers. Was the friendship real? Was Odessa even real? Or was Cate being used for purposes she can’t yet understand? 💔
Minka Kent writes domestic suspense that examines loneliness and the desperate need for connection. Cate’s wallflower nature makes her vulnerable to manipulation, but it also makes her tenacious when someone she cares about disappears. The Florida wealth setting adds layers of facade and deception ⚡
What makes this gripping: Minka Kent delivers domestic thriller where lonely boutique worker Cate finally makes a friend in trophy wife Odessa—until Odessa vanishes and no one remembers her existing. Cate’s obsessive search for the truth threatens everything as the mystery deepens—perfect for readers who love psychological suspense about friendship, obsession, and women who might not be who they claim.
The cabin is unlocked, but there’s no escape.
When Brooke was kidnapped on her way home from work, she thought her life was over. That was ten years ago 💔
She’s been held captive in an isolated cabin on the Oregon coast ever since, scrambling to follow her kidnappers’ twisted instructions to the letter. Because the price of a mistake is death. Ten years of living in constant fear, ten years of walking on eggshells, ten years of surviving moment to moment 🌲
But when a new victim shows up, everything changes. Including the rules. And this time, the only way to survive is to break them. The arrival of another captive shifts the dynamics Brooke has learned to navigate. New victim means new variables, new dangers, and possibly new opportunities 🔓
Steph Nelson writes psychological horror that examines what happens to someone after a decade of captivity. Brooke isn’t the same person who was kidnapped—she’s been fundamentally changed by years of trauma and survival. The introduction of a new victim forces her to make choices she’s avoided for ten years ⚡
The unlocked cabin is particularly sinister—Brooke could theoretically leave, but psychological conditioning and the threat of violence keep her trapped more effectively than any lock. The Oregon coast setting provides isolation that makes escape nearly impossible even if she finds the courage to try 🌊
Why this grips from page one: Steph Nelson delivers horror suspense where Brooke has been captive in an Oregon cabin for ten years, following twisted rules to stay alive—until a new victim arrives and forces her to break every rule to survive. The psychological horror of long-term captivity and the unlocked-but-inescapable cabin create claustrophobic terror.
Can these opposites turn up the heat… without burning down the house?
House-flipping sensation and YouTube star Maggie Nichols can’t wait to dig into her next challenge. Arriving in tiny Kinship, Idaho, with only a cot and a coffeemaker, Maggie is prepared to restore a crumbling Victorian mansion in four months or less. She has her to-do lists, her blueprints, and her team. What she doesn’t have is time for sexy, laid-back landscaper Silas Wright 🏡
The man takes flirtation to a whole new level. And he does it shirtless…sometimes pants-less. He and his service school-dropout dog are impressively persistent. But she’s not interested in putting down roots. Not when fans tune in to watch her travel the country turning dilapidated houses into dream homes 🔨
A short-term fling on the other hand could fit nicely into her calendar. After all, Maggie remembers what fun is like. Vaguely. Her entire life is scheduled, filmed, and optimized for content. A four-month project with a hot landscaper who doesn’t take no for an answer might be exactly the chaos her perfectly planned life needs 💕
Lucy Score writes romantic comedy with genuine chemistry and characters who challenge each other. Maggie’s commitment-phobia stems from her transient lifestyle—she literally can’t stay in one place, her career depends on moving on. Silas represents everything she avoids: permanence, community, emotional attachment 🌟
The house renovation provides natural structure and deadline pressure. As the Victorian mansion transforms, so does Maggie’s resistance to staying put. The small-town Idaho setting offers community she’s never experienced, and Silas offers stability she’s always feared. The question becomes whether she’ll move on like always or finally stay ⚡
What makes this irresistible: Lucy Score delivers rom-com gold where house-flipping YouTube star Maggie plans to restore a Victorian mansion and move on—until laid-back landscaper Silas and his persistent flirtation make her reconsider her commitment to never putting down roots. Perfect for readers who love home renovation romance, small-town Idaho charm, and heroines learning that staying might be better than moving on.
Harper Emery has always lived in the shadow of her best friend, Sidney Westwood. While Sidney’s outgoing and charming personality draws people towards her, Harper prefers spending time alone, often hidden behind a sketch pad or sewing machine, dreaming of a future as a fashion designer 👗
Despite their differences, the two are often inseparable, bonded by their love for nature and an unspoken connection that runs deep between them. Harper is content being the quiet one, the observer, the creative force behind the scenes while Sidney shines in the spotlight 💕
But everything changes during a trip to Destin, Florida. After a near-death experience, Harper finds herself being pulled from the waves by Cameron Spears, a lifeguard who gives her a taste of the limelight and the exhilaration of a whirlwind romance. For the first time, Harper isn’t in Sidney’s shadow—she’s the center of someone’s attention, and it’s intoxicating 🌊
A decade later, the memories of that unforgettable summer, the love that followed, and the inevitable heartbreak still haunt Harper. Despite seemingly having it all—fame, success, and wealth—thirty-year-old Harper still feels like a failure when it comes to love 💔
But when she agrees to be maid of honor at Sidney’s wedding, little does Harper know that her own happily ever after may be waiting right around the corner. Returning to face Sidney’s new chapter forces Harper to confront her own unfinished story. Sometimes the best friend’s wedding is exactly where you find your own second chance ✨
What makes this touching: Buck Turner writes coming-of-age fiction spanning a decade as Harper moves from Sidney’s shadow to her own spotlight, haunted by a Destin summer romance that still defines her view of love. The best friend’s wedding becomes the catalyst for Harper’s own happily ever after—perfect for readers who love friendship dynamics, second chances, and fashion designer heroines.
… See the rest of today ‘s Book Picks here on page 2Page 2