Books at Bookhabit.com http://www.bookhabit.com 2008-10-06 19:04:10 Checkmate - A Crime thriller: A story of obsession, sex, death…… and chess. What happened to the missing journalist, Helen Baxter? Did Simon Carrington have her killed for discovering the truth about his business - or did she fall victim to the unhealthy obsession of photographer David Kilbride? To find the answers, Detective Inspector Nick Anderson embarks on an investigation that will lead him to abandon his principles, question his loyalties, distrust those closest to him and risk his career on a game of chess with one of his prime suspects - a game that endangers his sanity and his life. Checkmate - where chess and obsession are deadly games, where nothing is what, and no one is who, they seem. http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=612 An unusual crime story with an unlikely hero; Simon Warne is an inspector with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). He has a warrant and the power to enter any workplace, day or night, but he is vulnerable, having recently broken up with his partner and still suffering from the death of his elder brother in an industrial accident - the reason for his new career. He is about to meet two women and both will have a massive impact on his life - but in different ways. Simon is sent to investigate the mysterious death of a female scientist at a pharmaceutical company and discovers that the health and safety manager (Sian) is an old acquaintance. Although the death seems accidental, he senses something is wrong. But Sian is a welcome distraction, and when he is attacked and his case-files stolen, their relationship intensifies. Jenny Sands has recently joined an animal rights group to campaign against what she sees as unnecessary animal suffering. She is told to find work at the company to gather evidence but her plans are changed when the group find evidence that the company are working on bubonic plague; they are studying ways of increasing the infectivity of bubonic plague - they are producing super bugs. She meets Simon and quickly realises they have a lot in common but he remains obsessed with Sian. And despite his misgivings about the mysterious death, he is under pressure to finalise the case when the police withdraw from it. Suddenly, a highly-placed spy within the company begins to supply the animal rights group with confidential information about the plague research. Jenny is given a key and codes, and is persuaded to steal the genetically modified bacteria - supposedly as a publicity coup. But she begins to doubt the motives of the group's leader and his associates. The sinister TT is a qualified microbiologist who has links to shadowy contacts, and he's short of money. Although Jenny breaks into the freezer where the deadly bacteria are kept, her fears resurface and she delays. She decides to question the group further before she proceeds. But the spy suddenly withdraws his co-operation and the plan becomes much more dangerous. Jenny anguishes but finally contacts Simon to tell him of the plot and swear him to secrecy. He reluctantly agrees to the condition, but the sudden emergence of the spy has suggested that the mystery death wasn't the accident it seemed. The spy is now the main suspect; he knows about health and safety investigations, he knows how to throw the police off the scent, and he knows all about the drug that killed the scientist. Very few people fit this profile - he may not be a "he" after all. And Sian has disappeared so he can't question her. He then discovers that she was the ex-lover of the murdered woman - a fact she kept from him. He realises he needs Jenny's help to uncover the mystery spy and she agrees to his plan. He wants to protect her and when she is approached by TT, Simon follows the man and confronts him. In the scuffle, TT is accidentally killed. Now Simon's options have narrowed even more. But Sian reappears with an apparent explanation for all his doubts, and he wants to believe her. Together, they discover the dead woman's diary and an apparent explanation for the murder emerges. Sian goes to question a colleague of the dead woman and Simon has a visit from Jenny. She's discovered the identity of spy and Sian is in danger. They race to intercept her but she's not there. Instead they meet the killer, and only Sian's timely arrival saves Simon's life. At last, everything seems resolved. But Jenny's final bombshell changes his mind again. Sex, violence, animal rights and genetic science colour the mixture but in the end, it comes down to emotion and guesswork. http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=569 Hostile takeover or terrorist plot? David Thorn struggles to understand his mentor's brutal assassination. And is Kim Hollister just another demanding client or something far more sinister? Try as he might, his past refuses to let go. Join the international action as Thorn tries to uncover the deal behind the deal! http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=1 Detective Billie McCoy is competent, determined and intent on seeing justice done. By her side are her three newfound friends - Jane, Casey and Sarah, three ex-criminals. When Casey's cousin, Jill, turns up out of the blue emerging from a dodgy past, the happy reunion soon turns to disaster after she is identified in a robbery. Unfortunately Billie is forced to chase it up; she is not prepared with what will unfold. Through Jill's deceitfulness, the four friends' lives are plunged into treacherous predicaments. Ruthless thugs, blackmail, blood money, a large strategic jewellery hoist and murder entwine throughout the fast paced storyline. Not only will Billie need all her skill and experience to survive dangerous dilemmas, she will strive to keep her friends alive and find a way out of the mess Jill has laid upon them. http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=632 Description: DYIMurder.com “George, the key is hidden it the usual place. If you don’t find me here when you get back, check the county morgue… I may be there.” Mary April, a schoolteacher retired turned sleuth in a cockeyed world of an animated cartoonist best friend steps up to the drawing board to give her assistance. Detective George Stoop, still one of Chicago’s finest and a part timer moon lighter, a second time stands along side with Mary April, and her redoubtable Yorkshire Terrier Pixie Poo swear to solve this crime or else. Was this poor little ole lady really so innocent? Was her well earned rest in the wrong place at the wrong time? Innocent or MURDER? You be the judge!!!!!! http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=984 With every new victim come new verses. With every new victim come new levels of horror and existential terror. Dark forces gather in the endless pine forests of rural Western Georgia as a serial killer terrorizes the nation with his heinous deeds. Two men stand in his way. A rural Sheriff who has been crying wolf for months without attention, now finally validated in his beliefs with a series of grisly new slayings. With him a mysterious FBI Agent that may be more monster than man. Can they stand in the way of the Butcher of Babylon? Or will they be his next victims? http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=886 Heinz Noonan is a detective who specializes in impossible crimes - like diamonds that disappear from locked safes, two-ton alabaster coffins that disappear from basements with no elevators and obscene phone calls made by corpses. http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=279 The novel is in three parts: Part 1. Chrysalis (Tragedy)…the emergence of the teenage Petra as an individual and her ill-fated experiences. Part 2. Imago (Retribution)…the horrific consequences of Petra’s dramatic change of persona. Part 3. Metamorphosis. (Atonement)…the resultant impact of Petra’s renaissance on those close to her. After visiting a fortune teller at a May fair, a teenage rebel sets out to fulfil her destiny of fame and fortune together with its associated materialistic lifestyle. By chance Petra discovers the power of her own femininity whilst striving towards her ultimate goal. Freeing herself from her perceived dysfunctional family, she takes a part-time job where the work “experience” opens her eyes to her innate potential to manipulate others in satisfying her desires and demands. Having gained a place at university, she determines to use this controlling influence to reach her goals whilst studying for her degree. As she searches in vain for her prophesised fame she becomes the victim of the evil face of humanity. One of her schemes ends in near tragedy, leaving her dreams in shreds. Following a vicious assault where the police fail in their efforts to apprehend the culprit, she travels abroad where she undergoes intensive surgery. D.I. Massey, having solved a difficult rape and murder case in Cheshire is invited to assist Greater Manchester Police in leading a team to investigate a spate of sadistic serial killings in hotel bedrooms south of the city. D.S. Turner joins him as part of the arrangement. Discovering parallels with the attack on the young student, Petra, their inquiries lead them to a hostelry in Derbyshire which was the scene of the previously unsolved crime. Petra suddenly becomes their star witness but the case reaches an impasse when they discover that further tragedy has struck her down. In a bizarre twist of fate, the Tsunami in Thailand becomes the catalyst for the problems which the murder team must face. Petra’s obsessive desire to atone for the tragic events in Phuket not only impacts on those close to her with devastating consequences, but also causes a dramatic personality change which transforms her outlook on life. Stolen identities and cover-ups continue to frustrate Massey and his team until evidence points the finger in a completely unexpected direction. Despite conflicting forensic evidence from various leads, the police make several arrests. Whilst the suspects are in custody and during the subsequent court case, powerful individuals intervene with unexpected consequences. “One day you will be famous…….” James R. Vance July 2008 http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=987 When a lesbian is brutally murdered in a sleepy college town in Central Vermont, Police Chief Frank Macy ignores his homophobic tendencies and sets out to catch the killer. Before he and his small team of officers can solve the crime, another young lesbian is similarly murdered. Six years earlier, the governor of Vermont signed legislation to allow civil unions of the same sex, disrupting the small town of Farmington, and doubling its population, with most of the new residents admittedly gay. Now, because of the murders, the town is split evenly in its support of their police department and its investigation. On one side, the gay community claims that the Chief is deliberately hindering the murder investigation because the victims are lesbians. On the other side, the original residents enthusiasticaly support him and his department, and are resentful of the newcomers, whom they believe are trying to make the town theirs. Among all this turmoil, Frank Macy tries to balance his duties with his tumultuous family life. When his wife leaves him, and his loving daughter rejects him, it becomes a race as to whether he will catch the murderer, who is rapidly destroying his once idyllic town, before his own family life disintegrates. http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=1126 Although this is primarily a tale of crime and punishment, weird, dark, and unexpected laughs abound in this deadly serious novel. Insanity involving cats weaves a spell of symbolism in a lateral story. Can nothing stop the beast? What's it all about and who wins the mini war between cat and man? The narrator/protagonist/killer is Nicholas, the straight man of the bunch. He is preoccupied with orderliness to the point of killing; then too, he's responsible for the murders of other women. Murphy is his friend, an ex-con who is perpetually in the wrong place at the wrong time. When a crime is committed in their own neighborhood, Murphy is the logical choice to take the rap. The novel deals with Nicholas' feelings over inadvertently getting his friend in trouble and also spells out his attempts to not only cover his own crime, but to get Murphy safely off the hook. But safety is not to be for the poor, hard-luck bastard Murphy, who's on the superhighway to death row. There is another major player in this drama, old man Nailor, a gossip who is at the top of his game and who disseminates information to deadly effect, often making the news. It's an amazing truth that a single bit of information, totally unfounded, can indeed become fact. http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=53 Passion-killer is a murder mystery. It is about how love, jealousy and obsession turn passion to murder. It begins when Sylvia arrives home one evening to find her boyfriend lying in a pool of blood. As the murder investigation gets underway past loves and jealousy combine to ensure friends and acquaintances becoime suspects. http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=308 Detective Billie McCoy - attractive, intelligent and lethal – is a member of an elite undercover squad. For the past three years prostitutes, criminals and lowlifes have been vanishing without trace. Fates unknown, the only common link is their prison record. The mastermind behind their disappearance has proven to be a smart contender, outwitting the best, cunningly leaving no clues - until he goes against all the rules and kidnaps a cop. Detective McCoy is on assignment when her world is unexpectedly turned upside down. Stumbling onto a slavery racket that goes deeper than she could ever have imagined, she is plunged into a desperate journey – a fight for freedom. Filled with determination, companionship, disappointment and twists, the story follows Billie’s fight for freedom and her greatest ever challenge. The journey will bring out the best and worst in all involved. In its wake, friendships are cemented between the most unlikely characters. Billie will need all her cunning and skill to get herself and her newfound friends out alive and see justice done. Blood will be spilt, hopes will be destroyed, tears will be shed - all to uncover a plot so unpredictable that only fate can decide… http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=993 The Unicate and the Rebellion plan to tear each other apart in another nuclear war. But how much more fallout can Earth absorb? In a treacherous climate where you can't tell friend from foe, Radomir Lascek unleashes his secret weapon... But who is the Master and who is the Slave? Is the Rebellion really an ally? And what is actually behind the Unicate? Books in the series of the Solar Wind: 1. The Mystery of the Solar Wind 2. The Assassin Coming soon: 3. Freedom Fighter http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=856 He calls himself the Coppersmith. A religious fanatic bent on murder, he begins systematically eliminating pastors in Upstate New York. From small towns to large cities he selects his victims, seemingly at random, and subjects them to a torturous death. Janelle Becker is the agent with the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit charged with solving the crimes. But even with the Bureau's resources, she finds herself ill-prepared to unravel the Coppersmith's message. Why do his methods keep changing? How can they know where he'll strike next? As she and her fellow agents track down the clues of the Coppersmith, they find themselves following an ancient itinerary that hearkens back to the steps of the apostle Paul. It becomes a race against this faceless killer as they struggle to predict his movements and get ahead of his deadly message of judgment. Can they stop this killer in time? http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=628 The Courier In their quest to solve what originally appears to be a mundane case of misplaced baggage involving an innocent student, two detectives are drawn into a complex web of deceit. The contents of a lost briefcase in London's Waterloo station escalates the investigation to a high level of intensity. As the mystery unravels they realise that some highly professional criminal activity is taking place. Their enquiries lead them to northern France, resulting in the discovery of a school which uses English students to smuggle contraband goods into the United Kingdom. When two suspects are assassinated in St. John's Wood and Primrose Hill, a murder hunt ensues in tandem with their ongoing investigation.Further revelations indicate the awesome possibility of a potential bio-terrorism threat, resulting in personal problems for both the inspector and his sergeant. In opposition to accepted procedures they enlist the support of the criminal fraternity to prevent the infiltration of bio-chemical components into mainland Britain. To their horror, they learn that their actions have been thwarted. Decisions, putting lives at risk, have to be made to stop the destructive forces of evil. Will the power of the state over-ride the future lives and careers of its servants or will loyalty and dedication to duty prevail? James R. Vance March 2008 http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=354 The Lighthouse Murders is written with a particular Scottish blackness. Even the sparrows are dying. http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=3 “Yes, pirates,” agreed Federi with a dark grin. The year is 21 16. Three Irish musicians who are fleeing from the sinister world government, the Unicate, board a trader, the Solar Wind. But that’s where the trouble starts, because the Solar Wind is a pirate ship. Her Captain, sea-devil Radomir Lascek, is going to sail his ship through Panama to break through to the Pacific, come hell or high water. Panama is a death trap, the narrow canal is watched by the Unicate along its whole length. How is the pirate hoping to escape? But not enough – on the way he sails his crew straight into a beleaguered Hamilton harbour, just to prove a point to the enemy. Followed by bounty hunters, hounded by the Unicate and pursued by the Rebellion too, Radomir Lascek forges on, balanced precariously between his luck and skill, and the underworld… Trouble - yes, Captain Radomir Lascek is trouble. But not half as much trouble as he has loaded on himself by hiring Shawn, Paean and Ronan Donegal, the three teen musicians who boarded in Dublin... Books in the series of the Solar Wind: 1. The Mystery of the Solar Wind 2. The Assassin Coming soon: 3. Freedom Fighter http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=585 What is an appropriate punishment for committing one of the worse crimes known to man? Jail? Eye for an eye? Well a crew of grifters think everything has a cash value, even heinous crimes. Their sense of fiscal justice might not match Batman's vigilante ideals but it does make them very wealthy very quickly. They only stumble across the perfect con after numerous trials and tribulations but once they discover how to garner more money than they can spend their troubles don't end. The victims of their scam aren't the only ones on their case, Interpol wants to catch them too. As they continue to snare all kinds of marks in their ingenious scam they catch two big fish. These two Americans are both celebrities who after having had a dip in their celebrity status are once again in the ascendancy, they are not about to be undone by a group of English con artists and begin to scheme a way to solve their problem. By the end of the novel there are several arrests, a few deaths and a large stack of money waiting to be claimed in an off shore bank. Can you handle the roller coaster of The Peepspage Con? http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=367 SHE is orphaned at an early age, adopted by an uncle, assaulted by a close friend, bent on revenge, charged with murder...the future is bleak. HE appears when all hope is lost; the only one that understands, the only one willing to risk his life for what is right, to save the girl from the cruel grip of death. He may be madly in love, or may have simply lost his mind... TOMORROW: It may come, or may not come. The battle must be fought...and won...even through the fiery, stormy night... http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=831 Duncan Weaver is a prison officer. A non-violent, happily married man with two young daughters. Then his wife and children are burnt to death in a hit and run car crash and his life is reduced to unrelenting grief. Until he discovers the killer's identity, a gang leader. A man who serves a short sentence on an unrelated charge in the prison where Duncan works. Grief gives way to violence as Duncan plans revenge. He takes on the gang alone and suffers the violent consequences. Finally, he and the gang leader face each other alone. The action takes place between authentic scenes of a prison community uneasily shared by 'screws' and prisoners. And a female officer who keeps Duncan sane. http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=1091 Orphaned at a young age, Sam Nelson had strived his whole life to attain that which he wanted most; a family. And now husband to a loving wife and father to four young children, Sam was happy and content. It was the perfect life of a good man. Then one night Sam had a dream that exposed him to some of the great mysteries of heaven and though he couldn't remember the dream after waking the next day, his rich full life would soon be over. While on vacation with his family in San Antonio a few weeks later, the city is attacked by middle-eastern terrorists during the height of the annual week-long fiesta celebration. The terrorists explode four powerful bombs that kill tens of thousands attending the parades. As a result of the attack, Sam's family is killed; he himself is gravely injured after selflessly trying to fight four heavily-armed men. Succumbing to his wounds, Sam lay in a coma for three long years. Upon awakening, the harsh reality of his loss pushes him to the brink of insanity and suicide. With the help of a kindly old man, Sam begins to heal only to find himself a pawn to the forces of good and evil. Learning that one of his children may have survived the attack, Sam with his new friend Ben, begin a search that reveals the wrathful nature of mankind as well as the humble penance that can also be ours. In an epic struggle between heaven and hell, the Creator calls upon Sam to fulfill a destiny he could never have imagined while Lucifer sees Sam as a tool that can finally provide him with the single victory over Heavenly Father he has always sought, and in the end, Sam may have no choice but to give Lucifer his prize. http://www.bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=493