Showing results for "Maria" in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

"The man was hanging stiffly by a slip noose, his shirt ripped to shreds, with a thick stick piercing his belly." Police constable Maria Wern and her colleagues are stunned by the bestiality they encounter. A similar murder occurred in Uppsala nine years earlier. The killer had apparently died in a car fire. Could there be a connection after all? Thanks to Maria's persistence, the image of a murderer begins to coalesce—a human being betrayed and degraded to the point where reality gives way to insanity.

It was supposed to be a holiday to fix the cracks in our fractured family. I knew the seven days would be endless, but I never imagined that one of us would only survive for six of them… As I carry my case into the charming and rustic cottage and smile at my sister-in-law, Kelli, I allow myself a moment of hope. Perhaps this holiday will force our family to address our long-held grudges and leave with the promise of a happier future.

Detective Inspector Karen Eiken Hornby is not the only person to have returned to her native island nation, Doggerland, after years abroad. Following a ten-year hiatus, Luna has chosen to secretly record her comeback album where she was born and raised. Spirits are high among her team at the wrap party, though Karen is less than impressed with the simpering singer. The next morning, Luna is nowhere to be found. Nothing goes unnoticed in the tight-knit community—certainly not the arrival, or disappearance, of a world-famous singer.

Detective Inspector Karen Eiken Hornby has returned to the main island, Heimö, after many years in London and has worked hard to become one of the few female police officers in Doggerland. So, when she wakes up in a hotel room next to her boss, Jounas Smeed, she knows she's made a big mistake. But things are about to get worse: later that day, Jounas's ex-wife is found brutally murdered. And Karen is the only one who can give him an alibi.

Meet Tannie Maria: a woman who likes to cook a lot and write a little. One Sunday morning, as Maria savours the breeze through the kitchen window whilst making apricot jam, she hears the screech and bump that announces the arrival of her good friend and editor, Harriet. What Maria doesn't realise is that Harriet is about to deliver the first ingredient in two new recipes (recipes for love and murder) and a whole basketful of challenges.

Watching and listening to Lou and Charlie used to leave me fraught with envy and loneliness. But now, living next door to my old adversary Liz, I long for the old days—when I was left alone. My sister Jenna can’t understand how the girl who was my childhood bully could now want to be my friend. People change, I tell her. But do they? Neither can she understand why Liz is paying for a cruise to atone for the misery she once caused me. There must be strings attached, Jenna says. She’s right. There is.

I open the front door and there’s Amy, smiling sweetly and ready to help. She’s been a lifesaver since Jon and I moved here–from walking the dog to picking up my little son Teddy from nursery last minute. I’m so lucky we met in the playground the first day we arrived. Amy is more than just a good friend. My only friend, really. Whenever Amy and Jon exchange glances I’m sure it seems like they’ve met before, even though Jon swears they haven’t. But then again Jon recognises lots of people from his childhood round here without truly knowing them.

Millions of people–looking to cheat on their partners–signed up for Ashley Madison in the early 2000s, seeking a private space to share their public desires. The promise of discretion was shattered in the summer of 2015, when anonymous hackers stole the company’s cache of user information and published it worldwide. The result? One of the most shocking data breaches of the internet age. Overnight, millions of unfaithful spouses had their real names, addresses and sexual preferences published online in a searchable database that anyone could browse.

After her philandering husband's boat went down, newly single Mia Carina went back to Astoria, the bustling Queens neighborhood of her youth. Living with her nonna and her oversized cat, Doorstop, she's got a whole new life - including some amateur sleuthing...Mia is starting work at Belle View, her father's catering hall, a popular spot for weddings, office parties, and more. Soon she's planning a bachelor party for a less-than-gentlemanly groom. But it goes awry when the gigantic cake is wheeled in and a deadly surprise is revealed.

While her colleagues enjoy the seasonal festivities, DI Karen Hornby is called to investigate a suspicious death on the northernmost island of Doggerland. But how close to home is the truth of the case.

Drew thought she was destined to rise above her small New Jersey hometown and make it as a serious journalist in New York City. But now she’s back in Clearfield, pushing thirty, newly single, and living with her father. After a chance encounter at the grocery store, she reconnects with her ex-best friend, Steph, who married young and never left their hometown. But Steph looks … good. She’s tanned, clear-skinned, and glowing. She drives an expensive car and wears only name-brands. What’s her secret?

I’ve never felt welcome in my husband Dominic’s family home. His parents make it clear I’m a poor comparison to his perfect first wife, Carla. But we’re here for Christmas, so it’s important to pretend everything is fine. Until Dominic’s mother bustles into our bedroom. Smiling thinly, she blindsides me: ‘You won’t mind, will you. Carla is coming for the holidays. She’s still one of the family to us, and she can’t get home because of the storm.’ My eyes widen—did she and Carla plan this on purpose? I know Dominic won’t say a thing. He never stands up to his parents.

Tomás Nevinson has left the secret service and returned to his old job working in the British Embassy in Madrid. Assumed dead by his wife Berta, Tomás attempts to resume his previous life and heal from his psychological wounds. But when he is contacted by his old boss, Bertram Tupra, Nevinson reluctantly becomes involved in a plan to locate and eliminate a woman believed to have helped orchestrate the 1987 Hipercor bombing. Detonated by the ETA, a Basque separatist group, the bomb killed 21 people and injured 45.

As I walk into the pine-scented air of my seaside childhood home, gripping my husband Neil’s hand tight, I have a brief moment of hope. Maybe this Christmas will be different — for once my family might get on fueled by mulled wine and festive cheer. But the sound of happy carols are replaced by my older sister Christy’s over-loud laugh and slurred words. Rebecca, my younger sister, stalks out of the room as soon as I enter, as though I’m the Grinch here to steal Christmas. And their husbands, brash and arrogant, slap Neil’s back in a way that promises torment rather than welcome.

Today’s the day. The things I’ve packed are hidden away and I’m waiting for the go-ahead to collect the keys to the new house. I’m so close to escaping Justin’s moods, his drinking and his violent tendencies, which are gradually getting worse. His promises of change mean nothing anymore and I’ve got to get away from him. But a national lockdown has just been announced.

In 1914 Paul Bumer and his classmates are marched to the local recruiting office by a sentimentally patriotic form-master. On a calm October day in 1918, only a few weeks before the Armistice, Paul will be the last of them to be killed.Here, he tells their story. A few years after publication, the Nazis would denounce and publicly burn Remarque's novel for insulting the heroic German army - in other words, for 'telling it like it was' for the common soldier on the front line where any notions of glory and national destiny were soon blasted away by the dehumanizing horror of modern warfare.

Tattooed on my skin are the words, “Bow to no man.” I live by them. Die by them. I’ve been on the run since my mother was killed right in front of me, hiding in the gritty underbelly of New Orleans. After a lifetime of being alone, the only thing I crave is revenge. But I never anticipated Lincoln Asher.

When Detective Maria Miller walks up creaking stairs into the attic of the old brownstone she senses this isn’t an ordinary crime scene. The brutality of the murder is enough to shock even an experienced detective like Maria. But there’s something else. An unsettling presence seems to lurk in the shadows sending a chill through Maria’s bones, making her desperate to run back down the stairs and never return. The killing is identical to the murder of an actress sixty years before, a crime that tore a family apart and sent shockwaves through New York City.

As I stand outside the registry office with my husband-to-be, Hugh, I can tell something isn’t right. He won’t speak to me, he won’t even look at me and it’s almost making me have second thoughts. Almost. Despite the feeling in my gut, I’m sure I’m doing the right thing. After all I’ve been through in the last year—the death of my parents, and my partner of ten years walking out, I deserve this chance of a new start. I can’t return to my lonely life—I don’t want to be alone again.

I stand at the front door and meticulously check my reflection in the glass. I must look perfect to meet Lou's new boyfriend. I haven't been invited but best friends don't require invitations, right? Her presence has always been a constant, demanding focus in my life. Now, however, it's evolving into something deeper, with unsettling imitations and intrusive encroachments into every aspect of my world. The struggle to create distance only seems to intensify Donna's attachment, Pulling her dangerously closer.