Indie Crime Fiction of the Month for January 2022
Welcome to the latest edition of “Indie Crime Fiction of the Month”.
So what is “Indie Crime Fiction of the Month”? It’s a round-up of crime fiction by indie authors newly published this month, though some December books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future editions.
Our new releases cover the broad spectrum of crime fiction. We have hardboiled mysteries, cozy mysteries, humorous mysteries, historical mysteries, Jazz Age mysteries, Regency mysteries, 1950s mysteries, paranormal mysteries, science fiction mysteries, noir, crime thrillers, psychological thrillers, legal thrillers, action thrillers, police officers, private investigators, amateur sleuths, spies, FBI agents, lawyers, disgraced profilers, vigilantes, serial killers, the Russian mob, crime-busting witches, crime-busting socialites, crime-busting realtors, crime-busting ghosts, murder and mayhem in New York City, London, New Orleans, Florida, Texas, Alaska, Paris, Mexico, the far future and much more.
As always, I know the authors at least vaguely, but I haven’t read all of the books, so Caveat emptor.
And now on to the books without further ado:
When a shocking crime endangers the life of a friend, Jane must set aside her suspicions about her Pemberton cousins and try to unravel the motives of a killer. But while Jane hunts one villain, another might be closer than she thinks...
When Lillian Crawford’s parents sent her to stay with wealthy relatives in England, they hoped she would return a refined lady, having outgrown her headstrong ways. Instead, Lillian and her twin brother Felix stumble headfirst from one dangerous adventure into another.
While attending a concert in the city, Lillian witnesses a deadly crime that sets her off on a new investigation to uncover the identity of a killer who will stop at nothing to silence the one woman who stands in his way...
Smith doesn't pretend to be anything but a man of blunt opinions and a fierce heart. His wife, however, is far gentler, far kinder, and somehow able to see the best parts of him.
Then along comes someone who knows him. And that person is obsessed with Beatrice. Obsessed with a woman who seems to make all the worst parts of Smith better. Obsessed with a person who could love someone like him. It turns out that Smith's heart is fiercer and more dangerous than even Smith knew, but only when Beatrice is at risk.
Are you selling secrets to the Russians? These ladies and gentlemen Want to Know.
The Department of Justice has hired the law firm of Gray, Soros, Shepherd, and Standish to defend American environmental interests when the Russians come to the US and begin fracking. Gray law suddenly starts losing environmental cases across the US as secret DOJ documents keep turning up in Russian hands. Suddenly Russian fracking is running wild across the United States.
The FBI calls upon a Gray lawyer named Miles Standish to plug the leak of Top Secret documents. Miles accepts the assignment and sets up a secret arm of the law firm that has just kicked him out. He narrows down the suspects to one. Now to prove what he knows. A lawyer from Gray law joins his team. Her name is Inga Kopovsky. He has admired her before, and she has noticed him. They have dinner and make a plan.
Can they expose the Russian and American spies before US drinking water is contaminated and panic takes to the streets? Can Miles Standish outsmart the Russian assassin close behind with her guns?
If you like high-level intrigue and spies on spies, here's Miles Standish in a desperate chess game with the Russians. Lawyers In Gray is a thriller that will only make you want more in this proposed ten-book Miles Standish series. Grab this one now!
Private Investigator Dev Haskell is summoned by local crime lord Tubby Gustafson to look into the inner workings of financier Casper Trickle. It seems Gustafson is looking to invest. Dev contacts former friend, with benefits, Heidi Bauer. He’s just met Melissa Donnelly on line and surprisingly she seems interested in him. There’s just on problem, Melissa’s ex-husband, Jeremy Lawrence, a stalker with a well deserved restraining order. Dev has his hands full and crime lord Tubby Gustafson is about to add to the pressure. Fortunately, Dev’s Golden Retriever, Morton is on hand to keep things in line. You’d better check it out. Oh, and get comfortable, because you won’t want to put Silencio! down. Enjoy the read!
Faricy is America’s hottest new mystery writer and Dev Haskell is one of the looniest and most enjoyable characters inhabiting the world of fictional private investigators out there today.
FBI Agent Angel Blondeaux is the focus of a man the press has labeled the Blindfold Killer. With each victim, she receives the call informing her where the dead body is to be found. The New Orleans Police have no choice but to enlist her help in his capture.
However, phone calls are only the beginning. This man wants more from Angel than just conversation. He wants her to be a part of his world. As Angel is pushed to her limits, will she stay safe and follow the NOPD rules, or will she play right into his hands?
“YOU ARE LIVING A LIE. Everything about you is a lie…”
This is a story about an ordinary woman, a mother of two.
To most women, to most mothers, her life is relatable in every way.
Except behind closed doors her truth comes with unimaginable consequences.
Amid a night of fun and festivities, Isabella Walker found herself alone with a bold masked man at her front door.
Unable to fight off her would-be abductor, the mother of two, soon found herself a victim of an extraordinary and grim circumstance.
FBI agent Olivia Knight has investigated her fair share of bizarre cases.
When she and Brock are called to the suburbs of Hidden Hills to investigate a strange abduction. Olivia quickly realizes that there’s more to this case than a mere kidnapping.
Why was Isabella Walker targeted?
Is there more to this housewife and mother than meets the eyes?
What is the truth behind the missing pieces of her past?
As more questions arise and more questions remain unanswered.
Olivia finds that to solve this case, to uncover the truth,
she’ll have to go undercover and face the Grim Reaper himself.
Unfortunately, behind closed doors there are secrets that are worth taking to the grave…
Harper Harlow-Monroe is settling into married life well. Her biggest problem is her best friend Zander, who is planning his own wedding. That is until a new resident comes to Harper with a poltergeist problem.
Beckham Lighthouse is located in a unique spot, where the lake and the river meet. When a body washes up on the shore close to the building, talk turns to the poltergeist … which they’re having zero luck dealing with.
Harper’s husband Jared, a local police detective, believes they’re looking for a human culprit. Harper thinks her case and his might be connected. Together, they have to dig deep. Things take a turn when Jared realizes that the new owner of the lighthouse is a familiar face from his past.
Debbie Montlake was an ex-girlfriend he had no problem leaving behind. Her appearance in town right when a murder occurs has him rattled, however, even as Harper starts bonding with the woman.
There’s a killer on the loose and a poltergeist locked in a lighthouse. Are the two things connected? Harper is determined to find out, even if she has to ask for help from a witchy friend to get her answers.
Magic is might, and Harper’s group has magic on their side. Survival isn’t a given, however. Everybody is going to have to work together to solve this one, and even then, the answers might be more than anybody can bear.
He wasn’t looking for trouble. But it was looking for him.
Former black ops specialist Tom Rollins has spent the last six months living in the wilds of Alaska. He’s enjoying the isolation, but his peaceful life comes to an end when he rescues a stranger, Roger Noakes, from two hitmen.
Turns out Roger is a crooked accountant who works for the Russian mafia. Some of their money has gone missing and Roger is the number one suspect.
And now that Tom has rescued Roger, mafia boss Yuri lets it be known that he is on their hit list too. Tom isn’t worried about himself, but he is afraid the mob might try to get to him through people he cares about.
And so he is dragged into a fight he never wanted against a formidable organization which is plotting to blow up the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, causing an ecological disaster in the wilderness he has come to love.
With the threat of large-scale devastation looming, and Yuri’s half-mad henchman Fedorov in hot pursuit, keeping his friends safe and alive will require every one of Tom’s lethal skills.
Stella never expected a visit to the candy factory would turn on its head like this!
In the midst of the holidays, Stella is scrambling to keep up with her house showings. When the great Candy King is killed in the playhouse at one of the homes, Stella's is shocked to find out it's Charity Valentines long time friend.
Little did she realize she has more in common with Charity than she realized. As Stella is unwillingly dragged into the investigation, she discovers everything isn't all chocolate bunnies and ever-lasting gob-stoppers. She must fight to save the chocolate factory before it's too late.
Check out the Flamingo Realty series that has readers saying, character-driven mystery that's full of clean fun. Between bookstores, library, a bed and breakfast, and spooky mansions, the Flamingo Realty mysteries deliver cozy suspenseful whodunits that are both heartwarming and humorous.
A murder committed in front of a million online viewers.
Everyone clicked. Watched. Commented. Shared.
No one intervened.
Desperate for fame and fortune, there’s never been a get-rich-quick scheme housewife Juliet Clay hasn’t chased. When she finally goes viral selling diet shakes, she figures all her dreams have come true. But when her husband ends up dead from poison, Juliet’s dreams become a nightmare and she’s the prime murder suspect.
A sucker for lost causes, defense attorney Cass Leary takes the case to pay forward a favor she owes. Though Cass soon learns this case is more hopeless than most. Juliet made more enemies than friends in town and publicly threatened to kill her husband. Twice. The physical evidence draws a direct line to Juliet as well.
All of Cass’s instincts tell her Juliet might be innocent. The woman is way too smart to act that guilty. Cass becomes convinced the police haven’t dug deep enough. But that alone won’t carry the day in court.
Now it’s up to Cass to expose the truth and stand up to a killer. Even if it’s her next client…
Hadley Hunter is living the good life until a group of authors shows up on Moonstone Bay, and one of them clearly has murder on their mind.
Jasmine Riley was the lone female writer in a male-dominated genre, and she was on top of her game. When she winds up dead in the ditch on the highway outside of the city, suspicion turns to her competition. There’s just one problem … the culprit might be supernatural.
Hadley not only finds the body but is injured in the aftermath, catching a glimpse of a door to another world before losing consciousness. Did the head injury cause her to hallucinate, or was it something more?
Galen taps Hadley to be his partner on the case, convinced that’s the best way to keep her from finding trouble. Unfortunately for both of them, plane doors are starting to open all over the island, and with them come monsters from another world. That means trouble continuously finds them.
Plane doors are forbidden on Moonstone Bay, but somebody doesn’t care about the rules. Hadley is determined to find answers … and she gets help in the form of Bay Winchester, a Michigan witch on her honeymoon with FBI Agent Landon Michaels. Together, they start digging … and find that not all monsters are obvious.
Someone is controlling the plane doors. That someone is putting everyone on the island at risk. Hadley is determined to find out who … and stop them. Along the way, she will find new friends … and maybe even the ever-elusive shark shifter she’s been dying to cross paths with.
It’s a meeting of powerful witches and a battle for the ages. Strap in and enjoy the ride.
Fame is fleeting but infamy will haunt you.
A voice from the past breaks into P.I. Mac Moynahan’s pre-dawn workout and drags him back to a world of mortal sin and sacred ritual.
A vintage playbill pinned to the door of a famous church, a bloody corpse staged in a copycat chapel, a priest bound by the seal of the confessional, some slick hacking by his method-acting office manager, and a few yellowed photographs send Mac in search of answers long-buried among the dead.
Broadway legend Leo Albion outlived his fame — but not the one person who hated him enough to track him down and kill him. And as Mac closes in on a motive, if not a suspect, someone is tracking him.
A macabre murder, an elusive killer, a missing motive and a twisted tale of wealth and perversion rival the darkest tragedies of Shakespeare.
It takes a killer to catch a killer.
Logan Wolf was the Behavioral Analysis Unit's most-respected profiler. Then a serial killer murdered his wife and tore his life apart. Now he's a vigilante fugitive, hiding from the FBI while he hunts the nation's deadliest criminals.
When a college student and her boyfriend vanish in West Texas, Wolf suspects the Devil's Rock killer. But the FBI hasn't captured the murderer, and after a decade of terror, the trail is turning cold.
Posing as the missing girl's uncle, Wolf investigates the tiny town of Dusk Corners, the last place anyone saw the students alive. But the local sheriff doesn't trust Wolf, and it's just a matter of time before he learns Wolf's true identity.
To solve the mystery, Wolf must dodge the FBI and power-hungry sheriff. But a killer deadlier than any he's encountered lies in wait.
In Dusk Corners, danger lurks in every shadow.
An Afghan informer who refuses to speak to anyone but Cutter Grogan.
In Paris.
Where the reception he gets isn't what he was expecting.
It isn't an assignment Cutter would normally take on; go to Paris to speak to an informer he knows nothing about. The FBI has ordered him to, however. Which means whatever intel she has, is critical.
Fly in, talk to her, fly out, report back to the Feds.
A two day job, he reckons. No sweat. He loves Paris and looks forward to his visit.
The first inkling he has that the assignment isn't a walk in the park, are the gunmen who burst through his hotel room.
South Regent Mansions has all the modern conveniences . . . including murder
London, February, 1924. Discreet sleuth for the high society set, Olive Belgrave is delighted with her new flat at South Regent Mansions where she’s made several friends, including the modern career woman, Minerva, who draws a popular cartoon about a flapper for a London newspaper.
But then Minerva comes to Olive for help after catching a glimpse of a disturbing sight—a dead body. At least, that’s what Minerva thought she saw, but there’s not a dead body anywhere in the posh building, and the residents are continuing with their lives as they normally do. Is Minerva seeing things? Is she barmy? Or is there a more sinister explanation?
To help restore Minerva’s peace of mind, Olive investigates her neighbors. They include: society’s “it” girl of the moment, an accountant with a fondness for gadgets, a snooty society matron, and a school teacher turned bridge instructor. Olive uncovers rivalries, clandestine affairs, and hidden jealousies. With dashing Jasper at her side, Olive must discover whose secret is worth killing for.
"A Sci-Fi Dresden files with a gritty edge! I couldn't put it down."
Felix Lasko always wanted to be a detective, even if it meant working his way up from the bottom of the barrel. Little did he know how deep that barrel would be in the futuristic city Neotopia.
The only client he can find is a Presser—an addict who gets his thrills by flooding his brain with pleasure straight through the wire in his skull. Even if Felix can find the device the man is looking for, getting paid by the junkie is another challenge.
Can he solve the case and get his foot in the door as a detective? Or will he strike out and let his dream slip through his fingers?
Join Felix in Elliott Scott's hilarious and engaging Sci-Fi Noir Mystery story.
Murder's a bash!
When Rosa Reed attends a birthday party in the spring of 1957, the Mexican fiesta turns deadly. It wasn't how Rosa wanted to celebrate with Detective Miguel Belmonte, nor how she hoped to be introduced to his large complicated family.
Before long, Rosa Reed Investigations is on the case. Can Rosa and Miguel find the murderer before some else dies?
And when will Rosa have time to plan a wedding?
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