Recommendations based on "The Reluctant Detective A C.T. Ferguson Crime Novel"

Torture.Ghost detainees.And a massive cover-up that continues even today.This is the propulsive thriller that only former CIA operative turned bestselling novelist Barry Eisler could write.Marooned in a Manila jail after a bar fight fatality, black ops soldier Ben Treven gets a visit from his former commander, Colonel Scott Horton, who explains the price of Ben’s release: Find and eliminate Daniel Larison, a rogue operator from Ben’s unit who has stolen ninety-two torture tapes from the CIA and is using them to blackmail the U.S. government.But other players are after the tapes, too, and to find Larison, Ben will have to survive CIA hit teams, Blackwater mercenaries, and the long reach of the White House. He’ll also have to find a way to handle Paula Lanier, a smart, sexy FBI agent who has her own reasons for wanting the tapes and is determined to get them before Ben does. With the stakes this high, everyone has an angle—everyone but Ben, who will have to find the right alliance if he wants to stay alive.

Alex Cross was a rising star in the Washington, DC, Police Department when an unknown shooter gunned down his wife, Maria, in front of him. Alex's need for vengeance was placed on hold as he faced another huge challenge-raising his children without their mother.Years later Alex is making a bold move in his life. He has left the FBI and set up practice as a psychologist once again. His life with Nana Mama, Damon, Jannie, and little Alex finally feels like it's in order. He even has a chance at a new love.Then Cross's former partner, John Sampson, calls in a favor. He is tracking a serial rapist in Georgetown, one whose brutal modus operandi includes threatening his victims with terrifying photos. Cross and Sampson need the testimonies of these women to stop the predator, but the rape victims refuse to reveal anything about their attacker.When the case triggers a connection to Maria's death, Alex may have a chance to catch his wife's murderer after all these years. Is this a chance for justice at long last? Or the culminating scene in his own deadly obsession?

Val McDermid's Number One bestselling crime series, featuring psychological profiler Dr Tony Hill and Jacko Vance - protagonist of new novel THE RETRIBUTION - in the suspenseful and ferociously readable thriller that led to the much-loved TV show. Young girls are disappearing around the country, and there is nothing to connect them to one another, let alone the killer whose charming manner hides a warped and sick mind. Dr Tony Hill, head of the new National Profiling Task Force, sets his team an exercise: they are given the details of missing teenagers and asked to discover any possible links between the cases. Only one officer comes up with a theory - a theory that is ridiculed by the group ... until one of their number is murdered and mutilated. For Tony Hill, the murder becomes a matter for personal revenge and, joined by colleague Carol Jordan, he embarks on a campaign of psychological terrorism - a game where hunter and hunted can all too easily be reversed.

"One of the finest police procedural writers around... [Standing in the Shadows] is as narratively rich and surprising as Robinson's best work. Knowing it's his last makes the reading bittersweet." -- New York Times Book Review The 28th twisting installment in the DCI Alan Banks mystery series that Stephen King calls "the best now on the market." In November 1980, Nick Hartley returns home from a university lecture to find his house crawling with police. His ex-girlfriend, Alice Poole, has been found murdered, and her new boyfriend Mark Woodcroft is missing. Nick is the prime suspect. The case quickly goes cold, but Nick cannot let it go. He embarks on a career in investigative journalism, determined to find Alice's murderer--but his obsession leads him down a dangerous path. Decades later, in November 2019, an archaeologist unearths a skeleton that turns out to be far more contemporary than the Roman remains she is seeking. Detective Superintendent Alan Banks and his team are called in to investigate, but there is little to be gleaned from the remains themselves. Left with few clues, Banks and his team must rely on their wits to hunt down a killer. As the two cases unfurl, the investigations twist and turn to an explosive conclusion.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Daniel Silva delivers another stunning thriller in his action-packed tale of high stakes international intrigue. A brutal murder, a missing masterpiece, a mystery only Gabriel Allon can solve . . . Art restorer and legendary spy Gabriel Allon, hero of an unforgettable, long-running series, has slipped quietly into London to attend a reception at the Courtauld Gallery celebrating the return of a stolen self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh. But when an old friend from the Devon and Cornwall Police seeks his help with a baffling murder investigation, he finds himself pursuing a powerful and dangerous new adversary. The victim is Charlotte Blake, a celebrated professor of art history from Oxford who spends her weekends in the same seaside village where Gabriel once lived under an assumed identity. Her murder appears to be the work of a diabolical serial killer who has been terrorizing the Cornish countryside, but this is no random crime; it’s a murder mystery with threads reaching into the past. There are a number of telltale inconsistencies, including a missing mobile phone. And then there is the mysterious three-letter cypher she left behind on a notepad in her study. Gabriel soon discovers that Professor Blake was searching for a looted Picasso worth more than a $100 million, and he takes up the chase for the painting as only he can in a classic art heist thriller—with six Impressionist canvases forged by his own hand and an unlikely team of operatives that includes a world-famous violinist, a beautiful master thief, and a lethal contract killer turned British spy. The result is a stylish and wildly entertaining mystery that moves at lightning speed from the cliffs of Cornwall to the enchanted island of Corsica and, finally, to a breathtaking climax on the very doorstep of 10 Downing Street. Supremely elegant and suspenseful, A Death in Cornwall is Daniel Silva at his best—a dazzling tale of murder, power, and insatiable greed that will hold readers spellbound until they turn the final page.

"Stunning . . . Shrewdly written and sharply plotted . . . The Last Detective is a rare treat."--The Washington Post Book World "Fast-moving . . . a page-turning thriller."--Chicago Tribune P.I. Elvis Cole's relationship with attorney Lucy Chenier is strained, but it becomes even more tense when the unthinkable happens: While Lucy is away on business and her ten-year-old son, Ben, is staying with Elvis, the boy vanishes without a trace. When the kidnappers call, it's not for ransom, but for a promise to punish Cole for past sins he claims he didn't commit. With LAPD wrestling over the case and the boy's estranged father attempting to take control of the investigation, Cole vows to find Ben first. But Cole's partner, Joe Pike, knows more about this case than he has said. Pike lives in a world where dangerous men commit crimes beyond all reckoning. Now, one of those men is alive and well in L.A.--and calling Elvis Cole to war.

The fourth novel in the DI Sean Corrigan series - authentic and terrifying crime fiction with a psychological edge, by an ex-Met detective. Perfect for fans of Mark Billingham, Peter James and Stuart MacBride. Guilty or not guilty? A lone vigilante is abducting wealthy Londoners and putting their fate in the hands of the public. Within hours of disappearing, the victims appear on the internet, bound to a chair in a white room. Revenge or mercy? Their crimes of greed and incompetence are broadcast to the watching thousands who make up the jury. Once the verdict is cast, the man who calls himself 'The Jackdaw' will be judge and executioner. Live or die? DI Sean Corrigan and his Special Investigations Unit are under pressure to solve this case fast. But as The Jackdaw's popularity grows, Corrigan realizes he's hunting a dangerously clever and elusive adversary - one who won't stop until his mission is complete.

Learn the secret – or die trying Has ex-SAS soldier Ben Hope finally got out of his depth? That’s the question Ben faces when the hunt for a missing girl takes him to China. He’s a stranger in a strange land – but he’s also the victim’s only hope. To make things worse, she’s almost family. As the pressure mounts, so does the gruesome death toll. With ruthless enemies in pursuit and an unlikely alliance with an enigmatic detective his only lifeline, Ben realises that this situation is far more explosive than even he’d bargained for. Suddenly it’s no longer just the missing girl’s fate depending on him. At the heart of the mystery lies an ancient secret dating back to China’s first emperor and the legendary Terracotta Army – a secret that people will still kill for, millennia later. Ben Hope has never turned his back on those in need, and he’s no stranger to tough odds. But can he survive long enough to discover the truth – and is he ready for the consequences?

No case is too curious for Arthur Bryant and John May, London’s most ingenious detectives. But with their beloved city engulfed in turmoil, they’ll have to work fast to hold a sinister killer’s feet to the fire. In the week before Guy Fawkes Night, London’s peaceful streets break out in sudden unrest. Enraged by a scandal involving a corrupt financier accused of insider trading, demonstrators are rioting outside the Findersbury Private Bank, chanting, marching, and growing violent. But when someone hurls a Molotov cocktail at the bank’s front door, killing a homeless man on its steps, Bryant, May, and the rest of the Peculiar Crimes Unit is called in. Is this an act of protest gone terribly wrong? Or a devious, premeditated murder? Their investigation heats up when a second victim is reported dead in similar fiery circumstances. May discovers the latest victim has ties to the troubled bank, and Bryant refuses to believe this is mere coincidence. As the riots grow more intense and the body count climbs, Bryant and May hunt for a killer who’s adopting incendiary methods of execution, on a snaking trail of clues with roots in London’s history of rebellion, anarchy, and harsh justice. Now, they’ll have to throw themselves in the line of fire before the entire investigation goes up in smoke. Suspenseful, smart, and wickedly funny, Bryant & May and the Burning Man is a brilliantly crafted mystery from the beloved Christopher Fowler.Praise for Bryant & May and the Burning Man “Fabulously unorthodox . . . [Fowler] takes delight in stuffing his books with esoteric facts; together with a cast of splendidly eccentric characters [and] corkscrew plots, wit, verve and some apposite social commentary, they make for unbeatable fun.”—The Guardian “Winningly eccentric . . . The books are set in a skillful synthesis of a phantasmagorical earlier era and the modern age.”—Financial Times “The most delightfully, wickedly entertaining duo in crime fiction . . . Fowler’s tale is a rich mix of laugh-out-loud lines, acerbic wit, obscure British history and a wonderfully puzzling story. Grade: A”—The Plain Dealer “Fowler is even better than usual at getting readers to care about his squad of misfits.”—Publishers Weekly “Not even Arthur Bryant’s alarming behavior can dampen the twelfth installment in the most joyously inventive mystery series of our time.”—Kirkus Reviews “Fascinating and intriguing . . . This book is definitely a standalone novel that keeps the reader absorbed in the story, and will make everyone want to go back and read them all. . . . This is a very solid story and a great addition to Fowler’s long-running series. The mystery is fascinating and readers will definitely want to know what happens next. And for newcomers to the series, this will be an excellent place to start.”—Suspense Magazine “Fans of the Bryant and May series will welcome this latest installment with plenty of obscure historical details mixed with outré crimes and the banter of the PCU members. Newcomers will find plenty to enjoy as well without finding the amount of details included from earlier outings overwhelming.”—Library Journal “Witty with a dry sense of humor . . . finely plotted . . . complex and funny.”—RT Book Reviews “A fascinating investigation with lots of false leads and a plethora of historical factoids.”—Mystery Scene

Seattle investigator J. P. Beaumont is drawn into an intriguing, and shockingly personal, case in this superb tale of suspense from New York Times bestselling author J. A. Jance.Former Seattle homicide cop, J. P. Beaumont, is learning to enjoy the new realities of retirementdoing morning crossword puzzles by a roaring fireplace; playing frisbee with his new dog; having quiet lunches with his still working wife.But then his pastcomes calling.When a long ago acquaintance, Alan Dale, shows up on Beaus doorstep with a newborn infant in hand and asking for help locating his missing daughter, Beau finds himself faced with an investigation that will turn his own life upside down by dragging hisnone-too-stellar past onto a roller-coaster ride that may well derail his serene present.It turns out that, even in retirement. murder is still the name of J. P. Beaumonts game.