#SixForSunday; Crime and Mystery Novels To Get People Out of Reading Slumps

It's Sunday and perhaps time for a new Six For Sunday post, courtesy of A Little But A Lot. The theme of the week was books to get people out of reading slumps and I decided narrowing it down to crime and mystery novels. I can't speak for everyone else, but when I'm in a reading slump I want to get out of, I often want something action-packed and fast paced and I suspect I'm not the only one.

Anyway, here's my six picks.

The Secrets of the Lazarus Club by Tony Pollard

Description from Goodreads

London, 1857 - A series of mutilated corpses are pulled from the Thames. Young surgeon Dr George Phillips is first consulted, and then suspected, by baffled police...

Meanshile, a secret society meets. This gathering of the finsest minds of the age - Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Charles Babbage, Charles Darwin and others - wish to use their discoveries to change the world...

But there are those who use the club for their own mysterious and dark ends. With his reputation and his life on the line, Dr Phillips must unmask the plotters before they unleash on an unsuspecting world an awesome scientific power...

Tracking Game by Margaret Mizushima

Description from Goodreads

Two brutal murders, a menacing band of poachers, and a fearsome creature on the loose in the mountains plunge Mattie Cobb and her K-9 partner Robo into a sinister vortex.

An explosion outside a community dance sends Mattie Cobb and Cole Walker reeling into the night, where they discover a burning van and beside it the body of outfitter Nate Fletcher. But the explosion didn't kill Nate--it was two gunshots to the heart.

The investigation leads them to the home of rancher Doyle Redman, whose daughter is Nate's widow, and the object of one of their suspect's affection. But before they can make an arrest, they receive an emergency call from a man who's been shot in the mountains. Mattie and Robo rush to the scene, only to be confronted by the ominous growl of a wild predator.

As new players emerge on the scene, Mattie begins to understand the true danger that's enveloping Timber Creek. They journey into the cold, misty mountains to track the animal--but discover something even more deadly in Tracking Game, the fifth installment in Margaret Mizushima's Timber Creek K-9 mysteries.

Silent Scream by Angela Marsons

Description from Goodreads

Even the darkest secrets can’t stay buried forever…

Five figures gather round a shallow grave. They had all taken turns to dig. An adult sized hole would have taken longer. An innocent life had been taken but the pact had been made. Their secrets would be buried, bound in blood …

Years later, a headmistress is found brutally strangled, the first in a spate of gruesome murders which shock the Black Country.

But when human remains are discovered at a former children’s home, disturbing secrets are also unearthed. D.I. Kim Stone fast realises she’s on the hunt for a twisted individual whose killing spree spans decades.

As the body count rises, Kim needs to stop the murderer before they strike again. But to catch the killer, can Kim confront the demons of her own past before it’s too late?

The Cryptic Lines by Richard Storry

Description from Goodreads

Set in a sprawling gothic mansion in a remote coastal location, somewhere in the British Isles, the elderly recluse Lord Alfred Willoughby is deciding what is to become of his vast fortune after his death.Whilst his head is telling him to leave nothing at all to his wastrel son, Matthew, his heart is speaking differently.After much deliberation, in a last-ditch attempt to try and show to his son the importance of applying himself to a task and staying with it to the end, he devises a series of enigmatic puzzles cunningly concealed within the lines of a poem - the cryptic lines.If he completes the task successfully and solves the puzzles he will inherit the entire estate; but if he fails he will receive nothing.However, from Lord Alfred's Will it emerges that Matthew is not the only interested party. The mysterious old house holds many secrets, and nothing is as it first appears...If you have yet to set foot inside this crumbling mansion, the release of this special edition provides the perfect opportunity to do so!

The Teacher by Katerina Diamond

Description from Goodreads

You think you know who to trust? You think you know the difference between good and evil? You’re wrong...

The body of the head teacher of an exclusive Devon school is found hanging from the rafters in the assembly hall.

Hours earlier he’d received a package, and only he could understand the silent message it conveyed. It meant the end.

As Exeter suffers a rising count of gruesome deaths, troubled DS Imogen Grey and DS Adrian Miles must solve the case and make their city safe again.

But as they’re drawn into a network of corruption, lies and exploitation, every step brings them closer to grim secrets hidden at the heart of their community.

And once they learn what’s motivating this killer, will they truly want to stop him?

SMART. GRIPPING. GRUESOME.

This is a psychological crime thriller in a class of its own.

WARNING: Most definitely not for the faint-hearted!

Scarlet Fever by David Stever

Description from Goodreads

He’s a hard-drinking ex-cop with nothing to prove. She’s a gorgeous mystery woman with everything to lose.

She needs his help. He just needs HER.

The mobsters won’t know what hit them.

Private investigator Johnny Delarosa’s seen it all. Cheating spouses, greedy embezzlers, insurance scammers—it’s all part of the game to him. But when a drop-dead gorgeous redheaded mystery woman walks into his bar and drops a $20,000 retainer in his lap, he knows he’s met his match.

Claire Dixon wants the hard-drinking Johnny to find $2 million that was stolen from her mob-wife mother thirty years ago, but the money is only half the mystery. When every lowlife in Port City suddenly comes out of the woodwork to claim their share of the take, suddenly Claire’s nowhere to be found—and the body count starts to climb.

With the help of a bright young amateur sleuth, can Johnny crack the case before the streets of his beloved Port City run scarlet?

With a wink and a nod to the hard-boiled detective fiction of yesteryear, David Stever offers up a heaping helping of old-school noir sure to satisfy every thriller lover, even genre purists. Scarlet Fever is the first book in the Johnny Delarosa Mysteries.

Fans of Sunburn by Laura Lippman, Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King, The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn, and The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler are sure to love this book.

This book is for anyone who likes reading about:

Crime fiction

Hard-boiled detectives

Femme fatales

Gangsters and mob bosses

Mysteries and thrillers