Recommendations based on "The Mystery of the Talking Skull"

When DI Terry Connor turns up on David Hunter's doorstep, it's an unwelcome reminder of the past in more ways than one. The two used to be friends before Connor's behaviour caused a bitter rift. And the news the policeman brings is even less welcome: the psychotic rapist and murderer Jerome Monk has escaped from high security prison. Monk's is a name all too familiar to Hunter. Eight years before he'd part of an ill-fated Body Recovery team assembled to try and find the graves of Monk's teenage victims on the bleak expanse of Dartmoor. Only one of the missing girls' bodies was ever found, and Monk's own controversial involvement in the search led to more failure and a violent denouement. And now Monk is on the loose - and seems to be targeting anyone involved with the original search. Then Hunter receives a mysterious appeal for help from Sophie Keller, a young woman who also worked on the operation, he suddenly finds that the past is far from dead and buried. Neither the events unfolding now, nor those from all those years ago, are quite as they seem. And as the maniac's bloody trail edges ever closer, Hunter is forced to question who he can really trust. Especially when his own life depends on it...

Odd Interlude, Dean Koontz’s New York Times bestselling three-part digital series—now in one volume for the first time.   THERE’S ROOM AT THE INN. BUT YOU MIGHT NOT GET OUT.   Nestled on a lonely stretch along the Pacific coast, quaint roadside outpost Harmony Corner offers everything a weary traveler needs—a cozy diner, a handy service station, a cluster of cottages . . . and the Harmony family homestead presiding over it all. But when Odd Thomas and company stop to spend the night, they discover that there’s more to this secluded haven than meets the eye—and that between life and death, there is something more frightening than either.   “[Odd Thomas is] one of the most remarkable and appealing characters in current fiction.”—The Virginian-Pilot   “An inventive . . . mix of suspense, whimsy and uplift.”—The Washington Post   “Odd Thomas is the greatest character Dean Koontz has ever created. He’s funny, humble, immensely likable, courageous, and just a joy to read about.”—Seattle Post-Intelligencer   “Koontz gives [Odd Thomas] wit, good humor, a familiarity with the dark side of humanity—and moral outrage.”—USA Today

Sebastian Gage returns home to battle the ghosts of his past and prevent them from destroying his future with Kiera in the latest exciting installment in this national bestselling series. July 1831. It's been fifteen years since Sebastian Gage has set foot in Langstone Manor. Though he has shared little with his wife, Lady Kiera Darby, about his past, she knows that he planned never to return to the place of so many unhappy childhood memories. But when an urgent letter from his grandfather reaches them in Dublin, Ireland, and begs Gage to visit, Kiera convinces him to go. All is not well at Langstone Manor. Gage's grandfather, the Viscount Tavistock, is gravely ill, and Gage's cousin Alfred has suddenly vanished. He wandered out into the moors and never returned. The Viscount is convinced someone or something other than the natural hazards of the moors is to blame for Alfred's disappearance. And when Alfred's brother Rory goes missing, Kiera and Gage must concede he may be right. Now, they must face the ghosts of Gage's past, discover the truth behind the local superstitions, and see beyond the tricks being played by their very own eyes to expose what has happened to Gage's family before the moors claim yet another victim...

In 1961, a Hollywood movie company came to tiny Polvo, Texas, to film a movie about Pancho Villa. However, the film was dogged with trouble: a man was found murdered on an island in the middle of the Rio Grande and the case was never solved.Now, forty years later, trading post owner Texana Jones is hosting a video crew making a special celebrating the film's anniversary. Most of the townspeople are excited by this event, but some want nothing to do with the project. On the day the townspeople gather to meet the actors, the RV belonging to actor Dane Anthony catches fire and explodes. Is it an accident or arson? And who is the mysterious river watcher in the camouflage suit? While Texana's veterinarian husband Clay fights to save several abandoned horses, Texana searches in the past for a key to the present danger. She makes some startling discoveries about her own family and about the conflicting presence of the movie people forty years earlier. But, when a local child goes missing, Texana relies on a freelance reporter to help her discover who is behind the threats and whether or not the death of the Villista is connected to present day events. As the past and present converge, Texana slowly begins to uncover a motive for all the evil, but has she done it in time to prevent further tragedy?

In New York Times bestselling author Kay Hooper's new novel, an SCU team investigates a troubling string of disappearances. But how do you find someone who has vanished without a trace? Something strange is happening in the small mountain town of Serenity, Tennessee. People going on routine errands never reach their destination. It's as if they simply disappear. Over the past few weeks, it's happened to five men and women--and now a child. The local police chief calls the FBI, and a team from the Special Crimes Unit is immediately sent in. Agents Lucas and Samantha Jordan, partners in work and in life, have very different abilities. Samantha is clairvoyant and Lucas possesses a unique ability to find the lost or abducted. With them are new partners Dante Swann, a medium, and Robbie Hodge, a telepath. The town is already on the edge of panic, but the mysterious events take a sinister turn when a body unrelated to the missing persons case surfaces and one of the SCU agents vanishes. Now, the team's hunt for the lost has turned into something very personal...and very dangerous.

During a kachina ceremony at the Tano pueblo, the antics of a dancing koshare fill the air with tension. Moments later, the clown is found bludgeoned to death, in the same manner a reservation schoolteacher was killed only days before.Officer Jim Chee and Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn believe that answers lie in the sacred clown's final cryptic message to the Tano people. But to decipher it, the two Navajo policemen may have to delve into closely guarded tribal secrets -- on a sinister trail of blood that links a runaway, a holy artifact, corrupt Indian traders, and a pair of dead bodies.

The legendary Independent Agent is dying . . . so who will inherit his hoard of secret information and fabulous secrets? For most of the last century, he was the greatest spy in the world, but now The Independent Agent is retiring, he has decided on one last great game - the six greatest spies in the world today must work together - and compete against each other - to solve the six greatest mysteries in the world. Whoever wins the game will also win The Agent's priceless treasure-trove of information. Eddie Drood, aka Shaman Bond, has been invited to join the great game, and of course he can't say no, especially when he learns what the mysteries are - everything from the Tunguska Incident to the Philadelphia Experiment, to whatever the hell it was really happened at Roswell. But that means he needs to survive working alongside old friends and old enemies . . . especially when the spies start dying, one by one . . . And one of them is going to haunt him . . . for the rest of his life. THE SPY WHO HAUNTED ME is the third of the Secret Histories: a riveting roller-coaster ride through the dark side.

After more than 120 years, the regalia worn by Arapaho Chief Black Heart in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show were supposed to be returned to his people. But the cartons containing the relics were empty when they arrived at the Arapaho museum. Rancher and Indian artifact collector Trevor Pratt had them shipped from Germany and believes thieves must have stolen them en route. Vicki and Father John suspect Trevor knows more about the theft than he's telling--a suspicion that's confirmed when they witness a car speeding from his home and he's found murdered inside. To find the killer, they must first uncover the truth about a blood feud between two Arapaho families--and the original theft of Black Heart's possessions dating back more than a century...

In the sweet subtle wind of a Pennsylvania Dutch town, a lost woman and a man of duty will risk their lives to uncover her true identity The foundation of Amanda Curtiss's very existence cracks the moment she discovers the woman she thought was her mother has never given birth. Where she belongs is a question she can't put to rest. But when the clues lead her to a charming yet chilling small town, the threat against her begins to unfold. Trey Alter is a fixture in Echo Falls. The town and the people are his to protect. He was born to take his place in the family legal firm, but now that a stranger desperate to unlock her past is depending on him, he's forced to make an impossible choice. If Trey doesn't protect Amanda, she'll walk straight into a deadly trap. If he helps her expose the secrets that haunt her, the truth could shatter them both.

YA. Horror fiction. This is the spooky eleventh title in the Midnight Library collection, compiled from the darkest, most dusty shelves of Nick Shadow's bookroom. Adam seems to be taking his dance of death too seriously during the carnival preparations, Annabel races to catch up with a ghostly rival, and Alfi e's not looking forward to sleeping in a dead man's bed. Once they've read one of these books, children will be keen to read and collect them all-to create their own Midnight Library!