Indie Crime Fiction of the Month for April 2024
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 March 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 cozy mysteries, historical mysteries, Jazz Age mysteries, 1930s mysteries, 1950s mysteries, paranormal mysteries, science fiction mysteries, crime thrillers, legal thrillers, action thrillers, technothrillers, police officers, FBI agents, private investigators, amateur sleuths, lawyers, assassins, mass shootings, cold cases, crime-busting witches, crime-busting socialites, crime-busting grannies, crime-busting housekeepers, murder and mayhem in London, San Francisco, Hollywood, Detroit, New Orleans, Atlanta, Venice, Kenya 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:
Something strange is going on next door. Suspicious that an elderly neighbor may be in danger, Barbara and her friend Vicky investigate mysterious activities down the street.
Barbara also has worries further from home, as a certain attractive but crooked restaurant owner has discovered the part she played in his downfall. Can Barbara uncover the truth next door without being blind to a more shadowy danger across town?
Stunning views across the Grand Canal and a hotel suite fit for royalty… Lady Eleanor Swift is having a jolly good time on her Italian vacation, until a gondola ride is cut murderously short!
1924. Lady Eleanor Swift has been on a grand tour around Italy for a month with her butler Clifford. Finally arriving in Venice, she’s thrilled to be attending the famous carnival: all that’s needed is the perfect bejewelled costume for her faithful bulldog, Gladstone. But on her first gondola ride to take in the sights, a passenger collapses into the canal with a knife sticking out of his back.
Eleanor saw an argument break out between the gondolier and the victim, Councillor Benetto Vendelini, and it turns out they're rivals from the city's two great families. Vendelini’s murder is sure to reignite their centuries-long feud. While attending a glitzy ball that night, Eleanor learns of a plot to steal a precious family heirloom from the Vendelini household. Is the stolen item the key to solving this baffling murder?
July 1922
Josephine and her friends have gone to San Francisco. Compared to Carmel, it could be New York City.
They fill their days with shopping and eating and their evenings with the theater and parties. San Francisco feels like the glamorous home where they can be true to themselves. That is until they stumble across Chessie’s rogue husband.
He’s wants to torment her and take everything she has. She wants to divorce him and free herself. Someone else plans to get their revenge—and they succeed.
Now it’s up to Josephine and Mrs. Sloan to clear Chessie’s name, before she’s taken in for a crime she wanted to commit.
Only the cheetah knows who the killer is…and she isn't talking!
Hollywood 1936
It seems like just another day of putting out fires when one of Olympus Studios’ actresses goes missing. Maisie Hart is due to make an appearance on the balcony of her home for a public appearance, but seems to have vanished. Lisette Darling is put into service to find her.
What results is a madcap adventure that uncovers a puzzling crime scene, a mystery that may be worth a million dollars, two dead bodies…and a cheetah!
Oddly enough, the only innocent party appears to be the cat.
Returning home after several years is stressful enough. The last thing you need is a dead body and a murder accusation.
Skye Williams left Kenya to go to school and start a new life in America. When she decides to return to her childhood home, she dreams of finding the peaceful, relaxing life that alluded her in the New York. Unfortunately, when her neighbor is killed and she becomes the prime suspect, Skye must use all of the street smarts and problem solving skills she learned in America to keep herself out of jail. Can she catch a killer and save herself and her dreams of a peaceful life in her old childhood home?
Murder by the Sea is the first story in the Skye Williams Kenyan Cozy Mystery series. If you like fast-paced mysteries with interesting characters, exotic settings, and unexpected twists, you’re going to love Skye Williams.
“Urgent Code 10. Gunshots heard inside Honeybee Lounge on McComb Street. Backup needed.”
There’s been a mass shooting with over 23 casualties in Atlanta.
FBI agent Blake Wilder and her team are called by D.C. Headquarters to spearhead the case.
Upon their arrival to the crime scene, they are greeted with hostility by the field officers present.
Unfazed by the tension, Blake begins to sort through the identities of many victims, most of them high profiled lawyers.
While attempting to identify a motive, the team sorts through the deceased lawyers' case files.
Soon after, Blake realizes that the footage and evidence regarding this case has gone missing.
And this case now leads to a dead end.
All is seemingly hopeless until a crucial lead points to one undeniable truth.
The French Quarter is quiet for a change. Christmas is just around the corner, and the off-season is allowing for some rest and relaxation for the local business owners. Ofelia Archer is basking in it…until her mother’s walking group stumbles upon a body in Jackson Square.
The White Walkers—a group Ofelia and her fiancé Zach Sully are constantly mocking—have been getting bolder and bolder in the Quarter. Their aim is to stop the crime and clean things up…even if that means pointing the finger at a homeless man Ofelia is convinced is innocent.
As things come to a head between Ofelia and her mother, a group of shadow assassins takes shape and begins a cleanse in the Quarter. They’re acting as vigilantes, but who is controlling them?
All eyes turn to the White Walkers.
Ofelia has always made it a point to let her mother live her own life. That’s no longer an option. It’s time to infiltrate the group and find out exactly what’s going on.
Ofelia isn’t going to like what she finds.
Ofelia has always taken it upon herself to care for the homeless population in New Orleans. With the White Walkers working against her efforts, the battle is afoot.
Ofelia won’t let those who need help go without it.
Marie Charlies won’t back down.
It’s mother against daughter and the fate of the French Quarter is in the balance.
Who will win?
Can Martha win a TV game show and catch a killer?
Senior Martha is going to appear on a TV game show! She flies to LA, along with her fluffy white Coton de Tulear dog Teddy, and their roomie Pru, who works as an assistant librarian in the small town of Gold Leaf Valley.
Martha holds her own at first when she competes, but when one of her fellow contestants is murdered, she declares that as president of the senior sleuthing club, she needs to investigate!
Since the other members of the club are Teddy and Pru, they help Martha “sleuth”.
Is the killer one of the game show crew members, a fellow contestant, or someone from the audience?
When the showrunner breaks his arm in a friendly football game, Martha thinks it’s suspicious.
But when they finally face the killer, has their time run out? Or will they stay alive for their next senior sleuthing club mystery?
When anger’s unleashed…
Assassin Tom Maverick thought he had left his troubled past behind. But a threat against his young son drags Tom back into the life he’d been trying to escape. He is forced to accept a contract, the assassination of a high-ranking Chinese politician hiding deep inside Iran.
As Tom gets closer to his target, he realizes the assignment is not what it seems. Those he trusts have been paid to betray him. And those he loves die. Just when he thinks it can’t get worse, it does…
But if they think they can corner him, they’re wrong.
With his anger unleashed, how will Tom execute the contract, get out of Iran alive, and save his son?
Find out in book two of Tom Maverick’s adrenaline-drenched series.
Luna Thorn is a witch about town. She likes to fancy herself a loner, but the truth is, she has the weight of the world resting on her shoulders.
Gorgons are infiltrating Detroit, and they’ve set their sights on Luna. They want her. The question is: why? Luna is determined to find out. It won’t be easy.
When zombies attack the Cathedral, the building Luna and the people she cares for call home, Luna is determined to snuff out the culprit. Unfortunately for her, the only lead she has is a witch who isn’t in the mood to offer up help.
When the most powerful mage in the Midwest pops up for a visit, Luna is glad for the help. The responsibility is becoming overwhelming, though, and she’s afraid she might crack under the pressure.
As a traveler, Luna can wander through time. If only she could control her powers. It’s not as easy as she hoped, however. Instead, she keeps overshooting her mark, and the resulting chaos is not what she bargained for.
Luna wants to save the world. More than that, she wants to keep the people she loves most safe. An ancient order of monsters wants to stop her in her tracks.
It’s a fight to the finish, and when Luna delves into the history of the world she resides, she finds that some things should be left in the past. Will she have that option, though?
Luna won’t give up. Neither will the friends she’s surrounded herself with. That just might be their downfall, though.
Will she survive to find out the truth of her past? Or will she die never knowing what she was truly meant to be?
When Augusta Peel finds a mysterious letter in a book she’s repairing, her enquiries take her to Baker Street. But events turn sinister when she learns the address is linked to a missing person.
Enlisting the help of Philip Fisher and his detective agency, Augusta attempts to solve a crime which has been hidden for ten years. Can the pair possibly match the skills of Baker Street’s most famous resident, Sherlock Holmes?
It’s not long before the body count rises. And when someone discovers her true identity, Augusta’s own secrets threaten to catch up with her.
We are the promises we make, the vows we keep, and the oaths we dare not break.
When PI Dean Steele received a call from his high school sweetheart Brielle, he never imagined it would lead him to the discovery of her lifeless body. His hunt for her killer takes him on the road to the biggest mystery of his life.
Could Brielle have been hiding his child?
What secrets was she hiding from Dean and even her own family?
While searching for the killer of the woman he once loved, he uncovered more secrets that will change everything he thought he knew.
This is the promise that defines us. The last promise we could ever make.
There are memories that we try our hardest to forget.
Reminders of what was taken from us...
For FBI Agent Emma Griffin pain and brokenness was all she knew.
At eleven, she found her mother murdered. The love she most cherished was gone in an instant. Even after catching the culprit, the pang in her heart never left her.
Now with her husband and newfound family, it seems like the painful chapters are finally closed.
When bodies are found seemingly mimicking Emma’s old cases, it seems like an enemy from agent Griffin's past is zeroing in on those close to her.
When a floodgate of memories resurfaces, birthing a desire in Emma to destroy those who dare threaten the people she loves, she starts to remember pain points that her mind attempted to erase.
There’s time for justice, then there’s time for retribution.
To crush the things that stomps on the innocent and robs us of our joy.
Revenge isn’t sweet, it’s judgement.
Amid the pulsating beats of an upscale strip club in San Francisco's historic North Beach, a chilling crime unfolds. Ex-cop César Ochoa stands accused of brutally stabbing the club's star dancer, Chloe Carson. The evidence is damning, but César maintains his innocence.
In a desperate bid for justice, César turns to Public Defenders Mike Daley and Rosie Fernandez. As they delve into the shadows of the club, they unearth a web of sex, drugs, infidelity, and hidden pasts involving the city's elite. With time ticking away, the legal duo races against the establishment to unravel the truth in this lightning-paced thriller.
In the 16th gripping installment of Sheldon Siegel's bestselling series, LAST DANCE, readers are plunged into a world where loyalties crumble and the line between guilt and innocence blurs. For Mike and Rosie, this could be their most challenging case yet, where one misstep could be their last.
Salvation has a price.
An enthralling murder mystery with a vividly realised future world that forces readers to grapple with hard-hitting questions regarding our relationship with Artificial Intelligence and the price we would be willing to pay, as a species, to be saved from crises of our own making. This jaw-dropping techno-thriller is perfect for fans of Blake Crouch, Neal Stephenson, Philip K Dick, Kim Stanley Robinson and RR Haywood.
It's 2050, a decade after a heatwave that killed four hundred million across the Persian Gulf, including journalist Marcus Tully's wife. Now he must uncover the truth: was the disaster natural? Or is the weather now a weapon of genocide?
A whistleblower pulls Tully into a murder investigation at the centre of an election battle for a global dictator, with a mandate to prevent a climate apocalypse. A former US President campaigns against the first AI politician of the position, but someone is trying to sway the outcome.
As the murder of a crucial witness derails the investigation, Tully must find the truth, convince the world to face it and make hard choices about the future of the species. But will humanity ultimately choose salvation over freedom, whatever the cost?
Comments
Post a Comment