Small Town Crime

Twelve conspirators meticulously plan to throw open all the gates to the prison that contains them, so that more than a thousand convicts may escape and pour into the nearby small town. A search ensues, but the twelve get away. After two years, all efforts by police have been in vain. The mayor and city attorney meet, and Leah Hawkins, former star basketball player and resident good cop, is placed on sabbatical so that she can tour the country learning advanced police procedures. The sabbatical is merely a ruse, however, as her real job is to track the infamous twelve. And kill them.

When a young woman dies in a late-night restaurant fire, the owner, Bobby Carter, is charged with arson and murder. The evidence is stacked against him, but something doesn’t add up. And his only chance for justice rests on the shoulders of small-town lawyer Leland Munroe… Leland is convinced someone’s out to frame his client. But as the trial heats up, he realizes that he's facing more than just a legal battle.

Defense attorney Leland Monroe lost it all: his big-city job, his reputation, and, worst of all, his loving wife. Now he’s back in his hometown to hit restart and repair the relationship with his troubled son. But the past is always present in a small town. Leland returns to find his high school sweetheart hasn’t had the easiest of lives - especially now that her son faces a death sentence for murdering his father.

When beloved mayor turned state senator Carlton Osborn is found dead on his boat, the prime suspect is the only other person on board: his pregnant teenage girlfriend, Amber Vega. Struggling to restore his self-confidence after a string of personal and professional losses, Spencer Dunn isn’t eager to defend a young woman who is almost certainly guilty yet refuses to follow his legal advice. But once Spencer starts digging, he realizes this case isn’t as simple as the police are making it out to be.

A stunning thriller from the bestselling author of Scrublands and Treasure & Dirt. A man runs for his life in a forest. A woman plans sabotage. A body is unearthed. Newly-minted homicide detective Nell Buchanan returns to her home town, annoyed at being assigned a decades-old murder - a 'file...

Nothing casts a more sinister shadow over our nation's history than the gruesome lynchings that happened between 1882 and 1937, claiming 4,680 victims. Often, in a show of racist violence, the lynchers tortured their victims before murdering them. Most killers were never brought to justice; some were instead celebrated as heroes, their victims' bodies displayed or even cut up and distributed as trophies.

Running his own law firm is harder than Leland Munroe ever imagined, but he’s determined to make it work. Judy Reed, accused of killing her wealthy father, is just the kind of high-profile and high-paying client he needs to keep his firm afloat. Yet the deeper he digs, the more complex her case becomes. Nurse LaDonna Winters’s financial situation isn’t as ideal. Struggling to make ends meet, she can barely afford legal representation. But her case is compelling—accused of a crime at her hospital she insists she didn't commit, LaDonna is desperate to clear her name.

The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller ‘A book to get lost in’ Ann Cleeves ‘Utterly brilliant. I could not put it down’ Marian Keyes Five years ago, Sam Crowley vanished on his twenty-first birthday. The only clues were his footprints in the dust of three abandoned houses. One set in. One...

T.J. had the world in the palm of his hand. He was handsome. Popular in school. Smart. A stellar athlete. The son of superstar pro quarterback Tony Okerson, he seemed destined to follow in his father's footsteps to a career of gridiron glory. That bright, shining dream ends when T.J.'s lifeless body is found on a rocky shoreline near his family's Chesapeake Bay home.

Whether in Truman Capote’s detailed murder of the Clutter family or Ted Bundy’s small-town charm, criminals have always roamed rural America and towns worldwide. Featuring murder stories, criminal case studies, and more, The Best New True Crime Stories: Small Towns contains all-new accounts from writers of true crime, crime journalism, and crime fiction. And these entries are not based on a true story—they are true stories. Edited by acclaimed author and anthologist Mitzi Szereto, the stories in this volume span the globe.

A vindictive killer, deadly secrets, and a community on a knife edge. When Emmett opens his wheelie bin to dispose of the morning waste, he finds a decapitated head staring back at him. Someone is killing the local prostitutes, chopping them up, and dumping the parts in wheelie bins around the...

A BRAND NEW chilling, pulse-pounding psychological thriller from BESTSELLER Amanda Brittany 🏘️🩸😯 'Twisty and heart-stopping' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Valerie Keogh Eleven years ago, Maple Close was scarred by a horrific crime. Three teenage girls who lived on the secluded...

NO ONE IS EVER INNOCENT IN PARADISE. **THE TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH** **A TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024** A small town. A closely guarded secret, stretching back decades. And blood in the water. 'A masterful, stunning thriller. A twisting mystery epic in scale yet intricate in detail...

A brilliant new whodunnit, perfect for fans of M.C. Beaton and Richard Osman! A night of tricks, treats, and murder… When an old school acquaintance calls on auctioneer Felicia Grant for help, she finds herself at a glittering bash at the exclusive yet mysterious Aquitaine club. What starts as...

"Narrator Susan Bennett offers a moving performance of this multilayered story of two women whose lives are affected by a WPA mural...Overall, Bennett adds an exciting dimension to a gripping story of racism, madness, murder, and even romance." — AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award winner From...

A "neatly crafted story about lives connected and changed by one night" (New York Journal of Books)--perfect for fans of God of the Woods and Wild Dark Shore. A small Southern town. An ordinary Saturday night. A little boy disappears without a trace. And four worlds collide. Everyone in Wynotte...

When successful prosecutor Katy's daughter is abducted, she must navigate a small town's dark underbelly to find her. But the case takes a sinister turn when Katy discovers the perpetrator is her long-lost twin sister, who has been living a life of abuse and seeks revenge. With the help of former felon Sloan and unlikely allies, Katy races against time to save her daughter and stop her twisted sister's deadly plan. A gripping abduction mystery set in a small town that will leave you on the edge of your seat.

When her son goes missing, a single mother will stop at nothing to find him, even if it means exposing secrets about herself. As a single mother, Bella thought she had her life under control. But when her ex-husband's new fiancé starts to interfere in the joint custody of their son, Phillip, things start to unravel. And when Phillip goes missing, the list of suspects only grows. Bella is determined to find her son and will stop at nothing, even if it means revealing secrets about herself that she's kept hidden for years. Can she uncover the truth before it's too late?

Charlotte McKay is new to Sweetwater Falls, but that doesn’t mean she's about to look the other way when everyone’s least favorite miser goes missing. Following her dream of selling her cupcakes at a bakery is put on hold as she follows a trail of clues, each stranger than the last. Nearly every person in Sweetwater Falls has a grudge against Amos, who was known more for his penny-pinching than his benevolence.

Newly arrived in the quaint village of Norfolk's Pudding Corner, Daphne Brewster is glad to be leaving London life behind. As time goes by, and she finds herself in great demand as the village's unofficial Vintage Lady, she begins to acclimatise to this more sedate new way of life. But when the village school's headmaster is discovered dead, lying face down in his allotment patch, everything changes. His wife refuses to accept a verdict of natural causes, and the village is suddenly ablaze with scandal about 'the potting shed murder'.