As you probably know, I don’t do romantic themes for Valentine’s Day. I have picked a number of different themes such as friendship and aromantic books in the past.
This year, I have decided to go with family love as a theme. I set out looking for suspenseful plots hinging on love for a sibling, parent, or other close family figure of the protagonist.
I have selected three of my books to feature:
She Was At Risk
Zachary has done his very best to let go of ex-wife Bridget and relegate their relationship to the past. So when her current partner comes to him for help, he is understandably hesitant to help.
But Gordon has always been a stand-up guy and done right by Zachary, so he reluctantly lets himself be talked once more into helping Bridget and Gordon. Zachary struggles with obsessions and self-doubt at the best of times, and this is a case that could break him.
His investigations lead him from one dark revelation to another until Zachary has no idea how he’s going to find his way back into the light.
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He Was Not There
Then he was gone
Zachary Goldman just wants to put everything that happened to him that night at the hands of a monster behind him forever. But when Heather, his estranged sister, asks for his help in bringing her own rapist to justice, there is no way he can turn her down.
The case is cold, three decades ago. Heather never saw her attacker’s face, as he was wearing a mask. At the time, the police did everything they could, but there have been new advancements in technology and Zachary hopes to turn up something he can use to solve the case.
Somehow, he needs to find a way to finally bring Heather some peace, even when it means dealing with his own painful memories.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is a compelling story of family misfortune, child abuse and neglect, and of the inadequacies and challenges of the foster care system. Zachary’s devotion to a sister who, in truth, is nearly a stranger to him is inspiring. His dogged determination and unrelenting resolve to help another individual, regardless of his own problems or limitations, make him a remarkable and uniquely appealing character. The engaging characters, the intricately detailed storylines involving relevant and provocative issues, and the beautifully crafted flow of narrative make the stories in this series enthralling, entertaining, and completely addictive. I am eagerly looking forward to the next one.
Zachary Goldman, Private Investigator, is flawed with a capital F. Shattered by the tragedies of his own life, he will somehow still manage to pick himself up and dig just a little bit deeper than anyone else to find the vital clues.
Maybe being broken makes it easier for others who have faced tragedy to trust him. Walk with Zachary as he solves cases that will stretch his abilities to the limit.
Even with his own life in shambles, Zachary Goldman is still the one you want on the case.
Investigate this P.I. mystery now!
Make it a bundle:
BOOKS 5-7 BOOKS 1-10
Lion Within
The lion rages within him.
Leo grew up between a rock and a hard place. His experiences as a child made him tough. As the oldest of the children, the drive to be the protector of the innocent and helpless permeates every part of his life. But so does the anger that no amount of boxing can ever exorcise.
As he waits for the monster who is his father to die, a chance encounter brings Elizabeth and her baby into his protective circle. But is Elizabeth as lost and innocent she seems to be? Or has her own experiences turned her into something else?
As he learns more, Leo wonders whether he can help Elizabeth or if he is messing around with something beyond his ability to manage.
I really liked this book. It made me cry a lot, I felt sorry for the male protagonist in this book for all the trouble that his parents put him through. I can also understand that he had a hard time as an adult with trying to trust people when you go through what this young man and his siblings went through it just amazes me that they could even function in life and not let it get them down. I will read more by this author in future.
—Rebecca, Goodreads Reader
And more
I have consulted my fellow authors and scoured the bookshelves, and here are a few more for you:
Fear of Falling
Some dreams should be stronger than our fears
Fiona Easton is a contradiction – a ski instructor who’s scared of heights, and a passionate woman who’s afraid of intimacy.
But a lost child, an approaching blizzard and a legendary Scot force her to face her fears, and re-examine her dreams. Dreams which are hanging by a cobweb-thin thread…
Pawsitively Cursed
For the past fourteen years, Edgehill’s resident secret witch, Amber Blackwood, has been haunted by her parents’ deaths. The whole town knows about the tragedy, but the details remain a mystery even to Amber. From her tiny studio apartment above her shop, The Quirky Whisker, Amber can see her partially rebuilt old house out on the edge of town. Although she now has a good life—delighting children with her magically infused toys, concocting healing tinctures for Edgehill’s residents, doting on her cats, Tom and Alley, and sitting on the committee for the town’s annual Here and Meow Festival—she feels stuck in the past.
Amber suspects the fire that killed her parents was set deliberately by a witch from the cursed Penhallow clan, from whom no one has heard even a whisper since the night her parents died. The clan’s sudden disappearance is no coincidence to Amber, but her aunt Gretchen refuses to believe there’s a connection and urges Amber to stop looking for someone to blame. So Amber is shocked when Aunt Gretchen shows up unexpectedly, claiming the Penhallows have resurfaced and that one of them is heading for Edgehill with Amber in his sights.
The Invisible Case
It’s Easter 1970 in the seaside town of Tamarisk Bay. Amateur sleuth and professional librarian, Janie Juke, is settling into motherhood and some quality time with her family. When her Aunt Jessica is due back from Rome after nine years travelling around Europe, she arrives back in town with a new Italian friend, Luigi, and the whole family soon get embroiled in a tangle of mystery and suspicion, with death and passion at the heart of the story.
As time runs out on Luigi as prime suspect for murder, Janie has to use all of her powers of deduction in the footsteps of her hero, Hercule Poirot, to uncover the facts. Why did Luigi come to Tamarisk Bay? What is the truth about his family?
After Alice Fell
Until she discovers the truth of her sister’s death, no one will rest in peace.
New Hampshire, 1865. Marion Abbott is summoned to Brawders House asylum to collect the body of her sister, Alice. She’d been found dead after falling four stories from a steep-pitched roof. Officially: an accident. Confidentially: suicide. But Marion believes a third option: murder.
Returning to her family home to stay with her brother and his second wife, the recently widowed Marion is expected to quiet her feelings of guilt and grief—to let go of the dead and embrace the living. But that’s not easy in this house full of haunting memories.
Just when the search for the truth seems hopeless, a stranger approaches Marion with chilling words: I saw her fall.
The Family
Laura is grieving after the sudden death of her husband. Struggling to cope emotionally and financially, Laura is grateful when a local community, Oak Leaf Organics, offer her and her 17-year-old daughter Tilly a home.
But as Laura and Tilly settle into life with their new ‘family’, sinister things begin to happen. When one of the community dies in suspicious circumstances Laura wants to leave but Tilly, enthralled by the charismatic leader, Alex, refuses to go.
Desperately searching for a way to save her daughter, Laura uncovers a horrifying secret but Alex and his family aren’t the only ones with something to hide. Just as Laura has been digging into their past, they’ve been digging into hers and she discovers the terrifying reason they invited her and Tilly in, and why they’ll never let them leave…
Silent Voices
When Beth Mullen returns home, expecting to find her twin Rachel waiting for her, the silent house sends a shiver down her spine. She races upstairs to find her beautiful beloved sister cold in her childhood bed, her sparkling blue eyes closed forever, the morning after attending a glittering party…
Newly engaged Detective Lottie Parker knows that Rachel has been murdered the minute she enters the bedroom. Rachel’s neck is bruised and a shard of glass placed in her throat. Confronted with such a horrifying killing, Lottie wastes no time in pursuing every clue.
While interviewing the partygoers, Lottie discovers that Rachel’s handbag and keys are nowhere to be found. But as she is searching for them, a brilliant young doctor is found murdered with glass in her throat. The doctor was nowhere near the party and Lottie is forced to question everything. Two beautiful young women with the world at their feet have been brutally silenced. Why did the killer need them to die?
It All Falls Down
When a body shows up south of Henryetta, Rose knows trouble is on the horizon. Rufus Wilson worked for the county crime lord, Skeeter Malcolm, and she soon discovers Wilson had a special skill set—he could crack safes.
Now everyone is looking for Wilson’s girlfriend, including Rose, and it doesn’t take her long to realize Wilson’s murder might actually be connected to something else, something bigger. Hardshaw Group, a Dallas crime syndicate, is meeting a South American drug cartel in the county, only no one knows the time and place.
Denny Carmichael’s drug empire has a lot to lose if they move in, so now he’s calling in the favor he insists Rose owes him—find him the time and location. Or else.
Rose is a hair’s breadth away from losing everyone she loves, including her six-week-old daughter, and she’ll do anything she can to save them.
