Recommendations based on "State University of Murder A Nick Hoffman Mystery"

In New York Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz’s ingenious fourth literary whodunit following The Word is Murder, The Sentence is Death, and A Line to Kill, Horowitz becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation—and only one man can prove his innocence: his newly estranged partner in solving crime, Detective Hawthorne.“I’m sorry but the answer’s no.” Reluctant author, Anthony Horowitz, has had enough. He tells ex-detective Daniel Hawthorne that after three books he’s splitting and their deal is over.The truth is that Anthony has other things on his mind.His new play, a thriller called Mindgame, is about to open at the Vaudeville Theater in London’s West End. Not surprisingly, Hawthorne declines a ticket to the opening night.The play is panned by the critics. In particular, Sunday Times critic Margaret Throsby gives it a savage review, focusing particularly on the writing. The next day, Throsby is stabbed in the heart with an ornamental dagger which turns out to belong to Anthony, and has his fingerprints all over it.Anthony is arrested by an old enemy . . . Detective Inspector Cara Grunshaw. She still carries a grudge from her failure to solve the case described in the second Hawthorne adventure, The Sentence is Death, and blames Anthony. Now she’s out for revenge.Thrown into prison and fearing for both his personal future and his writing career, Anthony is the prime suspect in Throsby’s murder and when a second theatre critic is found to have died in mysterious circumstances, the net closes in. Ever more desperate, he realizes that only one man can help him.But will Hawthorne take the call?

Over the course of his legal career, Andy Carpenter has lost a few cases. But that doesn't mean he forgets his clients. Andy has always been convinced that Joey Desimone, a man convicted of murder nine years ago, was innocent and believes that Joey's family's connections to organized crime played a pivotal role in his conviction. While there isn't much Andy can do for him while he serves out his prison sentence, Joey suggests that he check up on Joey's elderly uncle. He'd rather not, but as a favor to Joey, Andy agrees to take his dog, Tara, on a few visits.The old man's memory is going, but when Andy tries to explain why he's there, it jogs something in the man's mind, and his comments leave Andy wondering if Uncle Nick is confused, or if he just might hold the key to Joey's freedom after all this time.Andy grabs on to this thread of possibility and follows it into a world where the oath of silence is stronger than blood ties, and where people will do anything to make sure their secrets are kept.Riveting, suspenseful, and highly entertaining, Leader of the Pack is bestseller David Rosenfelt's latest entry in his much-beloved Andy Carpenter series.

In his sleek, visceral novels Deviant Way, Kiss of Evil, and The Violet Hour, Richard Montanari slammed into the suspense field like a force of nature. Now Montanari has written an astounding novel that pits two besieged detectives against a fiercely intelligent serial killer.Sprawling beneath the statue of William Penn, Philadelphia is a city of downtrodden crack houses and upscale brownstones. Somewhere in this concrete crazy quilt, one teenage Catholic girl is writing in her diary, another is pouring her heart out to a friend, and yet another is praying. And somewhere in this city is a man who wants these young women to make his macabre fantasy become reality. In a passion play of his own, he will take the girls–and a whole city–over the edge.Kevin Byrne is a veteran cop who already knows that edge: He’s been living on it far too long. His marriage failing, his former partner wasting away in a hospital, and his heart lost to mad fury, Byrne loves to take risks and is breaking every rule in the book. And now he has been given a rookie partner. Jessica Balzano, the daughter of a famous Philly cop, doesn’t want Byrne’s help. But they will need each other desperately, since they’ve just caught the case of a lifetime: Someone is killing devout young women, bolting their hands together in prayer, and committing an abomination upon their otherwise perfect bodies.Byrne and Balzano spearhead the hunt for the serial killer, who leads them on a methodically planned journey. Suspects appear before them like bad dreams–and vanish just as quickly. And while Byrne’s sins begin to catch up with him, and Balzano tries to solve the blood-splattered puzzle, the body count rises. Meanwhile, the calendar is approaching Easter and the day of the resurrection. When the last rosary is counted, a madman’s methods will be revealed, and the final crime will be the one that hurts the most.Relentlessly paced and vividly told, The Rosary Girls is a smart, emotionally complex, fiercely gripping thriller from an author who takes chances, breaks new ground, and leaves readers haunted and moved long after the last page is turned.

NYPD Detective Michael Bennett will stop at nothing to protect family: his wife, his kids--and his fellow officers--in the latest psychological thriller from bestselling author James Patterson. At every death scene, Bennett says a prayer over the victim. But recently, too many of the departed have been fellow cops. "I want you to look at these deaths on special assignment," NYPD Inspector Celeste Cantor says. "Report only to me." Bennett excels as a solo investigator. But he's chasing a killer who feeds on isolation... and paranoia.

They’re making a major feature film of the first Hawthorne/Horowitz mystery novel. Except—they’re behind schedule, they’ve run out of money and . . . oh! The star has just been murdered. Ex-Detective Inspector Daniel Hawthorne is dead. Or, rather, the actor playing him in the film adaptation of The Word is Murder is. Rising star David Caine has been stabbed, and it seems that everyone on the set had a motive. Caine had just fired his PA. He had fallen out with his director, slept with the screenwriter, humiliated his co-star and dropped his agent days before he was about to sign a multi-million-dollar deal to appear in the next Spider-Man movie. But what if Caine’s murderer had made a mistake? What if it was the real Hawthorne who was the intended victim? For it turns out that the brilliant detective may have got it wrong ten years earlier. An innocent man has died in jail. And perhaps someone has decided that Hawthorne must pay the price. From the film set on the south coast of England, the story moves to Reeth, in Yorkshire, the village where Hawthorne grew up. A burned-down school, a car accident that isn’t what it seems, blackmail and murder in an Elizabethan country house . . . somehow they combine to unlock the secret of what has happened in Hastings. For once, the local police are helpful. DS Sarah Milnes gives Hawthorne carte blanche to investigate and there may even be a hint of romance in the air. Which leaves his hapless sidekick, Horowitz, on his own, stumbling his way to the truth. A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, A Deadly Episode is an intriguing page-turner that once again demonstrates why Anthony Horowitz is the reigning king of the modern whodunit.

In the long-awaited follow-up to the #1 bestselling thriller INVISIBLE . . . the perfect murder always looks like an accident. FBI agent Emmy Dockery is absolutely relentless. She's young and driven, and her unique skill at seeing connections others miss has brought her an impressive string of arrests. But a shocking new case-unfolding across the country-has left her utterly baffled. The victims all appear to have died by accident, and have seemingly nothing in common. But this many deaths can't be coincidence. And the killer is somehow one step ahead of every move Dockery makes. How? To FBI special agent Harrison "Books" Bookman, everyone in the FBI is a suspect-particularly Emmy Dockery (the fact that she's his ex-fiancee doesn't make it easier). But someone else is watching Dockery. Studying, learning, waiting. Until it's the perfect time to strike.

Luke Rickard has stolen Joe Hunter's identity and committed a vicious double murder. His motive? Revenge. His method? A blade. His mission? Kill anyone Hunter holds dear. It is a deadly duel of wits that takes Hunter from the streets of Miami to the squalid barrios of Colombia to the jungle hideaway of a drug baron.

Every four years, the spotlight of the world turns to the tiny state of New Hampshire, as the voters in its primary help choose the next president of the United States.Usually, Lewis Cole, a magazine columnist and ex--Department of Defense research analyst, tries to stay out of the spotlight. However, when he attends a political rally for the front-running senator, gunfire breaks out, and Lewis becomes the initial suspect in the attempted assassination.With the Secret Service shadowing his every move, with his budding romance with a campaign volunteer in jeopardy, and with the threat of continued violence against him and the candidate, Lewis desperately tries to find out who set him up for the attempted killing, and who is still stalking him.Lewis is operating in the glare of the news media and among aggressive campaign rivals as he also tries to keep secret a decades-old connection with the leading presidential candidate, a secret that could have shattering consequences if revealed.Drawing on his own shadowy government background and with the assistance of his friend Felix Tinios, a man with a foot on each side of the law, Lewis dives into the unsavory world of presidential politics, where secrets are traded for favors, where votes are cast and sometimes discarded, and where a trail of bodies and broken promises can lead to the White House.Once more, DuBois brilliantly goes behind Lewis Cole's quiet existence to the flickering black shadows of his past. Are unknown plotters using his secret DoD record to kill the candidate and pin the murder on Cole? And can Cole outsmart---or outshoot---them before their plan can work?

The spellbinding new Ben Hope thriller.

With San Francisco under siege and every cop a suspect, the Women's Murder Club must risk their lives to save the city-and each other. With a beautiful baby daughter and a devoted husband, Detective Lindsay Boxer can safely say that her life has never been better. Things seem to be going well for a change when all the members of the Women's Murder Club gather to celebrate San Francisco Medical Examiner Claire Washburn's birthday. But the party is cut short when Lindsay is called to a gruesome crime scene, where a woman has been murdered in broad daylight. As Lindsay investigates, shocking video footage of another crime surfaces: the video is so horrific that it shakes the city to its core. Their faces obscured by masks, the cold blooded criminals on the tape could be anyone-and now all of Lindsay's co-workers are suspects. As a rash of violence sweeps through San Francisco, and public fear and anger grows, Lindsay and her friends must risk their lives in the name of justice, before it's too late. With shocking twists and riveting suspense, 14th Deadly Sin proves yet again that when it comes to suspense fiction, "nobody does it better" than James Patterson (Jeffrey Deaver).