Child Crimes

2017 Silver Falchion Award Nominee ​"He's first. You're next." That's the message someone scribbled on a photo of Stacy May Charms' six-year-old son, two days before her release from prison. Stacy knows why. She doesn't know who. And she's not waiting around to find out. Her plan is to grab her child and run. Elizabeth McClaine has no idea why Stacy ran, but she intends to find out. Contracted to oversee the governor’s early release program for young incarcerated mothers, she is responsible for the program’s first successful applicant. But when Stacy May breaks parole only two hours ...

A man shot dead in the street. But what the police find nearby is far worse. An elderly African man is found dead in the street, shot through the head. The killing has the hallmarks of a professional assassin. Dumped in a waste bin next to the dead man is the dismembered torso of a child. On his first day back at work, disgraced Detective Superintendent Ray Paterson finds himself teamed up again with newly promoted Detective Inspector Johnny Clocks. They must hunt down a ruthless killer with connections that go far beyond anything they’ve ever encountered before.

Jack Reacher - six foot five and dangerous. Adrift in the hellish heat of Texas. Moving like a shark in the water. Looking for a lift through the vast empty landscape. A Cadillac stops. A ride, but with a hitch. A pretty young woman, alone. Her husband's in jail. When he comes out, he's going to kill her. Her family's hostile, she can't trust the cops, and lawyers won't help. Reacher is her last option. Will this be the first time he says no - to a lady in distress?

The night she came back to Winter Haven, I should’ve killed her. But instead, I made her my prisoner. Vera was mine before she betrayed me. Now she claims our child is alive—the child she said was stillborn. I’m torn between the man I must be and the monster I’ve become. I want to make her suffer. I want to tear her apart. But in the cold, the heat between us won’t die. Every kiss drags me deeper, every glance sets me on fire. The line between revenge and desire blurs with every minute we’re together. She’s hiding something, and I’ll use her body to get the truth. I’ll ...

Security and safety challenges rank among the most pressing issues of human society of all times. There are numerous books and video courses about self-defense that cover various scenarios from hand to hand combat to fire arms. All these courses teach how to survive violent attack and offer wide variety of techniques and approaches to the problem of self-defense. Best way of self-defense is when attack never happens. While practicing martial arts and tactical shooting is certainly good, actual fighting is the last resort and it represents only 2% of complete self-defense strategy. ...

In Who Stole Mona Lisa?, author Ruthie Knapp crafts a fascinating look at the disappearance of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911—retold from the point of view of the painting. Mona Lisa gets millions of visitors from all over the world. But one night, she hears footsteps, and before she knows it, she’s ripped right off the wall of the Louvre! Who would do such a thing?

A terrible crime forces Lucy to turn to Lockwood for help and sets them on the trail of dark secrets at the heart of London society. Both professionally and personally, their investigation stirs up forces they may not be able to control.... Ghouls and spectres, thrills and tension in this brand-new instalment in Jonathan Stroud's best-selling series.

Based on years of investigative reporting and unprecedented fieldwork, Walking the Bowl immerses readers in the daily lives of four unforgettable characters: Lusabilo, a determined waste picker; Kapula, a burned-out brothel worker; Moonga, a former rock crusher turned beggar; and Timo, an ambitious gang leader. These children navigate the violent and poverty-stricken underworld of Lusaka, one of Africa’s fastest growing cities.

Officer Jack is in Hamilton Township airport when a woman screams, “Help Me! My baby’s not breathing! Somebody, help me!” His partner, Officer Kate, knows how to help, but a scanner system blocks her path to the frantic mother. Can she get there in time to save the baby?

Jack Reacher walks alone. No job, no ID, no last known address. Doesn’t want to be found. But he never turns down a plea for help. Especially from a woman. Now a woman tracks him down. A woman serving at the very heart of US power. A woman who needs Reacher’s native cunning, surly charm and controlled aggression to help her with her new job. Her job? Putting herself in the line of fire. Protecting the vice-president of the United States. Her problem? Someone wants the VP dead.

Claire Mumford has had enough of the supernatural. The last time she tangled with a ghost almost got her killed. But the lure of an unnamed spirit haunting the waters by Lums Pond State Park is more than she can resist. Can she discover the identity of the ghost who screams so plaintively in the darkness? All that may be left are rumors and speculation. Who was the poor woman who lost her life so brutally by the pond so many years ago? Can the undeniable powers of her two year old daughter finally help her give a name to The Screaming Woman Of Lums Pond? Should Claire risk everything to ...

Manchester, England 1965. Little Kathy Openshaw is waiting in the car, with only her toy doll for company, while her mother Connie visits close friends Myra and Ian. But when Connie returns to the car, Kathy has vanished. Instantly, she thinks of the news reports of the children who have gone missing from the area. Parents everywhere are worried sick. Connie is struck with terror: What kind of mother leaves their child alone, when a kidnapper is on the loose? Listen to this pulse-pounding, heart-wrenching, and unforgettable story.

In the quiet, close-knit town of Lake Redding, a sudden abduction shatters the community's calm. When seven-year-old Lacy Peters vanishes, her teenage cousin Blakely is left haunted by secrets that everyone in town seems to be hiding. As Blakely digs deeper into the mystery, she uncovers a web of lies that could unravel the town’s reputation and bring a long-buried truth to light. In a race against time, Blakely must piece together the clues before Lacy’s fate is sealed forever.

In the tranquil northern seaside town of Scarborough, a student is found cruelly murdered. For months, the investigators are in the dark - until they are faced with a copycat crime. The investigation continues as they struggle to establish a connection between the two victims. Ambitious detective Valerie Almond clings to the all too obvious - a rift within the family of the second victim - but there is far more to the case than it first appears. Soon Valerie is led toward a dark secret inextricably linked to the evacuation of children to Scarborough during World War II.

WHO’S KILLING OUR CHILDREN… Biology teacher Barbara Gibson believes in using science to make the world a better place. The fact that she achieves this through poisoning people doesn’t bother her in the least. Thrown into the recipe is a copycat poisoner, threatening anonymous letters, and an underestimated former student who is the detective assigned to the serial murders. The end result is a deadly mixture of hate, fear, and revenge. Will Barbara and the copycat get away with murder? Or… will Detective Monica Ruiz stop the killing and save the children? BULLET BOOKS ON A PLANE… ...

Justice is worth the risk The death of a child is always heartbreaking, but what Kenzie Kirsch, assistant to the Medical Examiner, finds on her slab shakes her to the core. Kenzie can't help but feel a surge of anger and sadness as she examines the evidence. As she delves deeper into the case, Kenzie uncovers a tangled web of lies and deceit. But Kenzie is not one to back down from a challenge. She will not rest until the guilty are brought to justice. With each new piece of evidence, Kenzie's resolve grows. The truth must be revealed, no matter the cost to her professional career. If ...

Genius girl, Bounce, and her two drifter sidekicks, Wiggins and Orange, are holding the Frog hostage. As the stakes grow higher and the guilt and tension mount, Wiggins begins to question his complicity and must choose where his loyalties lie. Not for the faint of heart, Adam Rapp’s mesmerizing narrative told in alternating viewpoints ventures deep into disturbing territory. A powerful, unforgettable story.

When Navy SEALS track down and kill Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan, it's obvious there was a traitor on the inside. After the false friends are revealed to be two British students, Malik and Chaudhry - former Islamic fundamentalists recruited by MI5 - they become targets themselves. Dan 'Spider' Shepherd must teach the pair how to survive undercover with al-Qaeda closing in. But Spider is not used to playing the handler.

New Year's Day, 1990. The Berlin Wall is coming down. Soon America won't have any enemies left to fight. The army is under pressure to downsize. Jack Reacher is the duty military police officer on a base in North Carolina when he takes a call reporting a dead soldier. The body was found in a sleazy motel used by local hookers. Reacher tells the local cop to handle it, it sounds like the guy just had a heart attack. But the dead man turns out to have been a two-star general on a secret mission.

Hamburg 1947: It is the year of extremes. After a bitterly cold winter of starvation, the bombed city groans under excruciating heat. And Chief Inspector Frank Stave is confronted with a new case. In the ruins of a shipyard, the corpse of a boy is found and Stave's hunt for the killer leads him into the world of "wolf children" - orphaned children who have fled from the Occupied Eastern Territories and are now united in gangs. When two more bodies are discovered Stave is under even increasing pressure....