Smart Thrillers

Fresh out of prison, after taking the fall for their insurance fraud scheme, Jessica has only one thing on her mind. As she masterminds her elaborate plan for justice, Jessica must come face to face with the ghosts of her past. But while some people are beyond redemption, there is only one person who can satisfy her revenge.

Withering and waspish, Ursula Smart (not her real name) gate-crashes her mother's book club at an isolated country house for a long weekend retreat. Much to Mother's chagrin. Joining them are Mother's best friend, Mirabelle, Aunts Charlotte and Less, and Bridget with her dog, Mr. Bojangles. It doesn't matter that they've read Gone Girl three times this year already, this retreat is their chance to escape bustling suburbia. But someone has other ideas. A body is found in the grounds.

When a traveling carnival arrives in Hollowbeck, it promises magic and mayhem. It's also an opportunity for Morgan to find someone who can transform her brother, Ruiner, back into a human—he's a little tired of being a talking cat, and she's a little tired of cleaning his litter box. Things look promising until the curtains rise on rehearsal night to reveal Ruiner sitting on the lifeless body of the wizard who promised to help him.

Ursula Smart, along with her dysfunctional family, heads to Scotland for a gentle weekend of foraging and camping in the Outer Hebrides. Their boat capsizes. Washed up on an uninhabited island, the Smart women face starvation, freezing conditions, and - worse - no Wi-Fi. A fun break swiftly turns into a desperate battle for survival. Someone begins killing them off one by one.

When a modern home in High Peaks burns to the ground killing the family, it appears as if the tragic deaths were an accident. But a gut instinct tells Noah Sutherland otherwise. Days later, a family at another residence is found dead under bizarre circumstances. A coincidence, or are the two related? As the calculating stalker dubbed The Smart Killer stays in the shadows and continues slaughtering ordinary families in their homes, the investigation shakes the small Adirondack town to the core.

Yard sales can bring out the worst in people. So when Scumble River school psychologist Skye Denison organizes a 100-mile yard sale, otherwise neighborly folk get downright nasty: her own mother creams a woman, and a battle of the sexes breaks out. But when her former boss is found murdered, nobody knows for sure how this cookie will crumble.

Ursula Smart and her mother are invited to a supper club at Greystone Castle on the edge of a picturesque Dartmoor village, along with their ever-adventurous book group.

D.I. Graves is back on the case to face his toughest challenge yet: a case with no motive and no suspect, nothing at all that could explain why someone would kill innocent people and then take parts from the bodies. Then the next victims are discovered: another pair of bodies, new body parts taken, and again in their own home. Someone is breaking into houses across the city at night, leaving horror in their wake. It seems to Graves that this could be two serial killers, working together. But how are they choosing their victims? Is any house in London a target? Is anyone safe?

With a trillion sensors feeding data into a central computer unleashed into the world, governments, militaries, mega-corporations, dictators, and even hackers will be able to hear the heartbeat of the Earth. This is an invisible communications network enveloping everything, including your home. These Smart Dust particles, 100 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair, easily penetrate human skin, enabling trackers to monitor every moment of your day.

A dentist dangles from the window of a swanky Park Avenue hotel, while Toby Peters, a Los Angeles detective who's very far from home, clutches the man by his jacket, which is tearing slowly, stitch by stitch. Across the room, a dead man lies on the bed, his killer pounding on the hotel room door, which sounds like it's going to give way as quickly as the dentist's jacket. Somehow, this entire mess is Albert Einstein's fault. Two groups have been threatening the great physicist. One is a ring of blackmailers who claim to have evidence that he has been passing nuclear secrets to Russia.

In Wager Smart, Eddie and Uncle Mike take on a cold case for Arlene Adams, the wealthy widow of a notorious hitman. The case leads Eddie and his uncle to Vegas, where they meet the hitman’s old partner, the Deacon, a legend in the mob. The cold case quickly spirals into an investigation of a current murder that requires the men to make a dangerous deal with the mob.

Heidi’s gone; her body lies curled up at my feet. Despite the ache inside my chest, it falls to me to alert our alpha and maintain calm within the pack. Those are rules I vowed to obey. Yet, when my vampire neighbor Eli flashes his investigator’s badge, insisting Heidi’s death wasn’t the first, I join his hunt for the murderer, instead. Eli should come with a warning label, though.

Die Studentin Janine kauft ein gebrauchtes Smartphone in einem Handyshop. Kurz danach wird der Inhaber des Ladens ermordet. Die Polizei beschlagnahmt Janines Handy; sie wird verdächtigt, mit dem Mord zu tun zu haben. Dann taucht ein Mann auf, der dem Mordopfer zum Verwechseln ähnlich sieht: der Zwillingsbruder. Er behauptet, dass es bei der Tat eine Verwechslung gab und er das Opfer hätte sein sollen. Jetzt sei auch sie in Gefahr, und die Polizei könne ihr nicht helfen.

Who can you trust when no one is who they seem? Aided by his wife Ria and friend Dev, Partho’s long overdue vacation on the US east coast is finally on. But mysteries have a way of tracking him down, especially the sinister ones. It started out as a cheerful family outing to a Spanish restaurant on Thanksgiving Eve. Somewhere in between the entrée and the dessert, it has turned into a calamity, embroiling them in a sinister plot involving an escaped convict, assassinations, and corporate greed and malfeasance.

Conversations with the Dead is a themed trio of very short stories - yes, three very short stories - perhaps better described as anecdotal tales with a spooky twist. In "Of Ghosts and Ghouls", Kelly is a very naughty girl, and her ill deeds have grave consequences. In "The Unwanted Birthday Gift", Mary discovers the unpalatable truth about her family. And in "Tomorrow Waits for No Man", Luke gets stuck in traffic with an unusual passenger.