Readers' Choice Spotlight - Mystery

Remember to vote for your pick in each category and to enter the giveaway on this page.

A Reason to Live by Matthew Iden

Review

In the late nineties, a bad cop killed a good woman and DC Homicide detective Marty Singer got to watch as the murderer walked out of the courtroom a free man. 

Twelve years later, the victim's daughter comes to Marty begging for help: the killer is stalking her now.


There's just one problem: Marty's retired...and he's retired because he's battling cancer. But with a second shot at the killer--and a first chance at redemption--Marty's just found A Reason to Live.

Bitter Nothings by Vicki Tyley

Review

Half her family have been murdered in their beds. Her father is the prime suspect. And things are about to get a whole lot worse...

Graphic designer Dervla Johns wakes one morning to the news that her father, Warren, is missing and her stepmother and step-siblings were found dead in their beds. While the police hunt for Warren, Dervla searches for answers. Could her father really be a killer? Refusing to be warned off by police threats, or intimidated by the reporter who appears to be following her, she delves into her family's past.


But as she uncovers one shocking secret after another, Dervla's world is rocked further by another murder - and she finds herself desperately trying to untangle a web of illicit love and betrayal. Soon, Dervla must face her greatest fear... or suffer the same deadly fate as her stepmother.

Cairo Caper by Barbara Silkstone

Review

Part-time tomb raider and full-time real estate broker, Wendy Darlin joins her lover, archaeologist Roger Jolley, in a quest for Cleopatra’s tomb. All they have to do is get from Cairo to the Temple of Taporisi Magna alive. Armed only with a couple of hijacked ashtrays and faced with a trek across the blazing Sahara desert can Wendy out-maneuver Russian oligarchs, a dozen Dark Force mercenaries, and Roger’s chubby ex-girlfriend in time to find the tomb and seal it before chaos erupts in Egypt? 

Lay Death at Her Door by Elizabeth Buhmann

Review

Twenty years ago, Kate Cranbrook’s eyewitness testimony sent the wrong man to prison for rape and murder. When new evidence exonerates him, Kate says that in the darkness and confusion, she must have mistaken her attacker’s identity.

She is lying.


Kate would like nothing better than to turn her back on the past, but she is trapped in a stand-off with the real killer. When a body turns up on her doorstep, she resorts to desperate measures to free herself once and for all from a secret that is ruining her life.

Nine Feet Under by Morgan C. Talbot

Review

Margarita and Bindi have big plans for the Fourth of July, involving borrowed bicycles, a geocaching power trail, live podcasts, and plenty of fun. But their day quickly goes awry when they stumble upon what looks like a murder in progress.

Strange rivalries and secret alliances test Margarita's puzzle-solving skills, and Bindi suffers a rather painful setback when she comes face to face with someone she never thought she'd see again.


The overly stoic sheriff can't be in two places at once, so the girls need to figure out whodunit and rescue the next potential victim before the explosive finale.