Staff Picks
#BroaderBookshelf 2020: Read a Book Set in Texas (Crime Novel, Mystery and Thriller Edition)
- Chantal W.
- Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Collection
Fulfill the 2020 #BroaderBookshelf prompt of reading a book set in Texas by reading one of these crime novels, mysteries or thrillers.
If You Can't Stand the Heat
Poppy Markham, Culinary Cop
Published in 2011
Poppy Markham investigates after a Michelin-rated chef is found stabbed to death with her stepsister's knife at her father's restaurant.
Track of the Cat
Published in 2003
Anna Pigeon takes a job as a park ranger looking for peace in the wilderness-but finds murder instead. The first novel featuring park ranger Anna Pigeon is reissued. When a fellow ranger is killed and his death is ruled a mountain lion attack, Anna's suspicions are raised. It's up to her to save the protected cats from the prejudiced locals--and prove the kill was the work of a species far less rare.
A Song to Die for
Published in 2014
Eagerly taking work as a new guitarist for a former country music legend, Vietnam veteran Creed Mason partners with Texas Ranger Hooley Johnson, who believes that the band has ties to a string of mob hits.
Cut and Run
Published in 2018
Medical examiner Faith McIntyre is called in on the case of an unconscious woman clinging to life after a hit and run. The woman is FBI agent Macy Crow is Faith's mirror image -- the twin sister she never knew she had. Faith knew that she was adopted, but now she and Texas Ranger Mitchell Hayden are following a trail of clues Macy left behind. They make a shocking discovery on an isolated country ranch: a burial ground for three women who disappeared thirty years before. Will Faith be able to save her sister and herself from the past? -- adapted from back cover.
Big Woods
Published in 2018
"A ten-year-old girl disappears from small-town Texas in 1989. Her sister investigates and a reclusive woman may hold the key" -- Provided by publisher.
Don't Close Your Eyes
Published in 2018
Annie Lakes has had the same recurring nightmare for years. Her heart pounding in her chest. A panicked voice, begging her to run faster. Her own bloodcurdling scream. But now Annie is starting to realize it's more than just a bad dream. She's starting to remember things about the night her cousin Jenny disappeared all those years ago. Things that make her believe her family was involved--and what they're hiding is much worse than she ever imagined. But she can't unravel this alone. She needs someone she can trust, someone like Detective Mark Sutton. Mark has seen enough--too much--to assume that Annie's story is a dead end. It turns out that her family is hiding some killer secrets. A long time ago, Annie was just an innocent little girl who saw something she shouldn't. Now she's a target, and Mark's running out of time to protect the woman he's starting to fall for. But how does Mark face off against a murderer who just may be someone Annie loves?
Grapes of Death
A Tangled Vines Mystery
Published in 2013
Elise Beckett has a wonderful family, a good job on the family-owned River Bend vineyard, and a smart, stable boyfriend--even if he does live five hours away. But when her long-distance beau offers her a dream job, she's torn between her family responsibility and exciting new horticulture research. Before Elise has time to think about her decision, Uncle Edmond, the family's money-loving and temper-toting black sheep--shows up to bully her mother into giving him ownership of the vineyard, which he claims is his inheritance. After she refuses, Edmond storms away, only to be later found dead by the river. What seems to be an accidental drowning turns out to be murder. Now Elise must help Sheriff's Deputy Jackson Landry solve the mystery before the killer strikes again.
Good As Gone
Published in 2016
"Thirteen-year-old Julie Whitaker was kidnapped from her bedroom in the middle of the night, witnessed only by her younger sister. Her family was shattered, but managed to stick together, hoping against hope that Julie is still alive. And then one night: the doorbell rings. A young woman who appears to be Julie is finally, miraculously, home safe. The family is ecstatic--but Anna, Julie's mother, has whispers of doubts. She hates to face them. She cannot avoid them. When she is contacted by a former detective turned private eye, she begins a torturous search for the truth about the woman she desperately hopes is her daughter. Propulsive and suspenseful, Good as Gone will appeal to fans of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, and keep readers guessing until the final pages."-- Provided by publisher.
Lady of Perdition
Published in 2019
"April, 1840. Benjamin January knows no black person in their right mind would willingly go to the Republic of Texas but when his former pupil Selina Bellinger is kidnapped and enslaved, he has no choice. Once there he is saved from being hanged by Valentina Taggart, wife of the wealthy landowner of Rancho Perdition. After Valentina is accused of the murder of her husband, she in turn calls on Benjamin for help. To do so, he must abandon the safe haven of New Orleans, where people know he's a free man, to return to the self-proclaimed "Slaveholders' Republic". In a land still disputed between vengeful Comanche, disgruntled Mexican Tejanos, Americans who want to join the United States and those who want to keep Texas free, January must uncover what happened to Valentina's husband. Behind lies, betrayals and rising political tensions lies the answer ... but finding it could cost Ben his life."--Amazon.com.
Black-Eyed Susans
Published in 2015
For fans of Laura Lippman and Gillian Flynn comes an electrifying novel of stunning psychological suspense. I am the star of screaming headlines and campfire ghost stories. I am one of the four Black-Eyed Susans. The lucky one. As a sixteen-year-old, Tessa Cartwright was found in a Texas field, barely alive amid a scattering of bones, with only fragments of memory as to how she got there. Ever since, the press has pursued her as the lone surviving "Black-Eyed Susan," the nickname given to the murder victims because of the yellow carpet of wildflowers that flourished above their shared grave. Tessa's testimony about those tragic hours put a man on death row. Now, almost two decades later, Tessa is an artist and single mother. In the desolate cold of February, she is shocked to discover a freshly planted patch of black-eyed susans--a summertime bloom--just outside her bedroom window. Terrified at the implications--that she sent the wrong man to prison and the real killer remains at large--Tessa turns to the lawyers working to exonerate the man awaiting execution. But the flowers alone are not proof enough, and the forensic investigation of the still-unidentified bones is progressing too slowly. An innocent life hangs in the balance. The legal team appeals to Tessa to undergo hypnosis to retrieve lost memories--and to share the drawings she produced as part of an experimental therapy shortly after her rescue. What they don't know is that Tessa and the scared, fragile girl she was have built a fortress of secrets. As the clock ticks toward the execution, Tessa fears for her sanity, but even more for the safety of her teenaged daughter. Is a serial killer still roaming free, taunting Tessa with a trail of clues? She has no choice but to confront old ghosts and lingering nightmares to finally discover what really happened that night. Shocking, intense, and utterly original, Black-Eyed Susans is a dazzling psychological thriller, seamlessly weaving past and present in a searing tale of a young woman whose harrowing memories remain in a field of flowers--as a killer makes a chilling return to his garden. Advance praise for Black-Eyed Susans "A tense, slow-burning, beautifully written novel of survival and hope. Highly recommended." --William Landay, New York Times bestselling author of Defending Jacob "The spectacularly dark and twisty story of what happened to one young Texas girl, and the ghosts who refuse to let her rest. I didn't want it to end--but I couldn't put it down." --Carla Buckley, author of The Deepest Secret "A twisted tale of how evil makes its mark, Black-Eyed Susans winds a net around the reader, shifting time, perspective, and events until the only sure thing is the pulsing question at the heart of this novel: What happens when a ruthless predator leaves one of his victims alive?" --Jenny Milchman, author of Cover of Snow "An absorbing character study and a good choice for readers who want to really sink into a psychological thriller." -- Booklist "A truly compelling tale of the fragility of memory and elusive redemption." -- Kirkus Reviews "Gripping . . . The suspense builds as Tessie uncovers devastating secrets from the past en route to the shocking ending." -- Publishers Weekly From the Hardcover edition.
Paper Ghosts
A Novel of Suspense
Published in 2018
"An elderly man with dementia, once acquitted of a terrible murder and suspected in many others, is removed from his assisted-living facility by a woman he does not recognize--a woman who claims to be his long-lost daughter. She takes him on a road trip across Texas, searching for answers to her own burning questions. Following the paths of vanished women, she attemps to discover the truth about this man. Does he really have dementia? Is he a murderer? What secrets lurk in the dark corners of his disintegrating mind?"-- Provided by publisher.
Zero Saints
Published in 2015
"Enforcer and drug dealer Fernando has seen better days. On his way home from work, some heavily-tattooed gangsters throw him in the back of a car and take him to an abandoned house, where they saw off his friend's head and feed the kid's fingers to ... something. Their message is clear: this is their territory, now. But Fernando isn't put down that easily. Using the assistance of a Santeria priestess, an insane Puerto Rican pop sensation, a very human dog, and a Russian hitman, he'll build the courage (and firepower) he'll need to fight a gangbanger who's a bit more than human ..."--Page 4 of cover.
Sunset and Sawdust
Published in 2008
Sunset Jones has just killed her husband. Never mind that he was raping her. Pete Jones was constable of a small sawmill settlement called Camp Rapture, where no woman refuses her husband. So everyone is angrily surprised when, thanks to the amazing understanding of her mother-in-law -- who owns three-quarters of the mill -- Sunset becomes the new constable and begins to investigate the murders of a woman and unborn baby in which her late husband might be implicated. Yet, no one is more surprised than Sunset when the murders lead her -- through a labyrinth of greed, corruption, and unspeakable malice -- not only to the conclusion of the case, but to a well of inner strength she never knew she had.
The Thicket
Published in 2013
"Jack Parker knows all too well how treacherous turn-of-the-century East Texas can be. His parents did not survive a smallpox epidemic. His grandfather was murdered. Now his sister Lula has been kidnapped by a criminal who may believe wearing a dead man's clothes protects him from death. With bounty hunter Shorty, a charismatic and cunning dwarf, and Eustace, a gravedigging son of an ex-slave, the heartbroken young Jack sets off on an epic quest to rescue his sister from the corrupt men who control much of the new territory. In the throes of being civilized, East Texas is still a wild feral place. Oil wells spurt liquid money from the ground, but blood and redemption rule supreme"-- Provided by publisher.
Stillwater
Published in 2015
"Former FBI agent Jack McBride took the job as Chief of Police for Stillwater, Texas, to start a new life with his teenage son, Ethan, away from the suspicions that surrounded his wife's disappearance a year earlier. With a low crime rate and a five-man police force, he expected it to be a nice, easy gig; hot checks, traffic violations, some drugs, occasional domestic disturbances, and petty theft. Instead, within a week he is investigating a staged murder-suicide, uncovering a decades old skeleton buried in the woods, and managing the first crime wave in thirty years. For help navigating his unfamiliar, small-town surroundings, Jack turns to Ellie Martin, one of the most respected women in town--her scandal-filled past notwithstanding. Despite Jack's murky marriage status and the disapproval of Ethan and the town, they are immediately drawn to each other. As Jack and Ellie struggle with their budding relationship, they unearth shattering secrets long buried and discover the two cases Jack is working, though fifty years apart, share a surprising connection that will rattle the town to its core."-- Amazon.com.
Black Water Rising
Published in 2009
In the tradition of Greg Iles and Dennis Lehane comes a powerful new voice in American fiction. Locke's debut thriller involves murder, greed, and redemption, set in the oil boomtown of 1980s Houston.
Bluebird, Bluebird
A Novel
Published in 2017
When it comes to law and order, East Texas plays by its own rules--a fact that Darren Mathews, a black Texas Ranger, knows all too well. Deeply ambivalent about growing up black in the lone star state, he was the first in his family to get as far away from Texas as he could. Until duty called him home. When his allegiance to his roots puts his job in jeopardy, he travels up Highway 59 to the small town of Lark, where two murders--a black lawyer from Chicago and a local white woman--have stirred up a hornet's nest of resentment. Darren must solve the crimes--and save himself in the process--before Lark's long-simmering racial fault lines erupt. A rural noir suffused with the unique music, color, and nuance of East Texas, Bluebird, Bluebird is an exhilarating, timely novel about the collision of race and justice in America.
Heaven, My Home
Published in 2019
The thrilling follow-up to the award-winning <i>Bluebird<i>, Bluebird Texas Ranger Darren Matthews is on the hunt for a boy who's gone missing--but it's the boy's family of white supremacists who are his real target.rget.
Pleasantville
Published in 2015
"Locke reintroduces us to environmental lawyer Jay Porter (her Black Water Rising protagonist), who takes one last case on the behalf of the community of Pleasantville in this new thriller--only to become embroiled in its shadowy politics, a disturbing education in how far those in power are willing to go to win"-- Provided by publisher.
Miss Ruffles Inherits Everything
Published in 2015
"Rich and flamboyant Honeybelle Hensley, the most colorful character in Mule Stop, Texas, dies a suspicious death and enrages the whole town by leaving her worldly fortune to the most undeserving recipient-her dog. The incorrigible Miss Ruffles is a Texas Cattle Cur, not a cuddly lapdog, and when Honeybelle was alive, Miss Ruffles liked nothing better than digging up Honeybelle's famous rose garden after breakfast, chasing off the UPS man before lunch and terrorizing the many gentleman callers who came knocking at cocktail hour. But now Miss Ruffles is in danger, and it's up to Sunny McKillip, the unwilling dogsitter, to keep her safe. Sunny is new to Texas, and sometimes she feels as if she's fallen into an alien world. If it isn't the pistol-packing football fans and the sweet-talking, yet ruthless ladies of the garden club who confound her, it's the rowdy rodeo hounds and the tobacco-spitting curmudgeon at Critter Control who have her buffaloed. With a killer on the loose and a cowboy lawyer keeping a suspicious eye on her every move, Sunny needs all the help she can get understanding how Texans think. There's more to Honeybelle's death than meets this Yankee's eye, and Sunny has Miss Ruffles to protect, too. It's a bucking bull ride of an adventure for Sunny, and if she's not careful she might just get killed. or her heart lassoed"-- Provided by publisher.
Before We Were Strangers
Published in 2018
Five-year-old Sloane McBride couldn't sleep that night. Her parents were arguing again, their harsh words heating the cool autumn air. And then there was that other sound--the ominous thump before all went quiet. In the morning, her mother was gone. The official story was that she left. Her loving, devoted mother! That hadn't sat any better at the time than it did when Sloane moved out at eighteen, anxious to leave her small Texas hometown in search of anywhere else. But not even a fresh start working as a model in New York could keep the nightmares at bay. Or her fears that the domineering father she grew up with wasn't just difficult--he was deadly. Now another traumatic loss forces Sloane to realize she owes it to her mother to find out the truth, even if it means returning to a small town full of secrets and lies, a jilted ex-boyfriend and a father and brother who'd rather see her silenced. But as Sloane starts digging into the past, the question isn't whether she can uncover what really happened that night...it's what will remain of her family if she does?-- Publisher's description
Texas Ranger
Published in 2018
"Across the ranchlands and cities of his home state, Rory Yates's discipline and law-enforcement skills have carried him far--from local highway patrolman to the honorable rank of Texas Ranger. A tough case in Waco has jeopardized Yates's chances at promotion, and he decides to take time off to recharge with his family in their small-town hometown, Redbud. He arrives and finds a horrifying crime scene--and a scathing accusation: he is named a suspect in the murder of his ex-wife, Anne, a devoted teacher whose only controversial act ever was deciding to end her marriage to a Ranger. In search of the killer, Yates follows the Ranger creed--never to surrender--into the inferno of the most twisted and violent minds he's ever encountered. That code just might bring him out alive."-- Provided by publisher.
Pleating for Mercy
A Magical Dressmaking Mystery
Published in 2011
Opening a custom dressmaking boutique in the old farmhouse she inherited from her late great-grandmother, Harlow Jane Cassidy gets more than she bargained for when her first client is accused of murder and she must help find the real killer--with a little help from beyond.
Big Red Tequila
Published in 1997
Jackson "Tres" Navarre returns to San Antonio to seek answers about his father's murder, but all he finds is mafia corruption and local politicians out to ruin his homecoming, and when his girlfriend is kidnapped, Tres must rescue her and save himself.
The Far Empty
Published in 2016
Chris Cherry, a newly minted sheriff's deputy in a small Texas border town, and seventeen-year-old Caleb Ross form an unlikely partnership as they investigate growing suspicions about the disappearance of Caleb's mother.
The Killer Inside Me
Published in 2014
"Everyone in the small town of Central City, Texas loves Lou Ford. A deputy sheriff, Lou's known to the small-time criminals, the real-estate entrepreneurs, and all of his coworkers--the low-lifes, the big-timers, and everyone in-between--as the nicest guy around. He may not be the brightest or the most interesting man in town, but nevertheless, he's the kind of officer you're happy to have keeping your streets safe. The sort of man you might even wish your daughter would end up with someday. But behind the platitudes and glad-handing lurks a monster the likes of which few have seen. An urge that has already claimed multiple lives, and cost Lou his brother Mike, a self-sacrificing construction worker fell to his death on the job in what was anything but an accident. A murder that Lou is determined to avenge--and if innocent people have to die in the process, well, that's perfectly all right with him. In THE KILLER INSIDE ME, Thompson goes where few novelists have dared to go, giving us a pitch-black glimpse into the mind of the American Serial Killer years before Charles Manson, John Wayne Gacy, and Brett Easton Ellis's American Psycho, in the novel that will forever be known as the master performance of one of the greatest crime novelists of all time"-- Provided by publisher.