Books like 'The Ambitious Card'
Readers who enjoyed The Ambitious Card by John Gaspard & Jim Cunningham also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary mystery serial killer action / adventure cozy crime magic amateur-sleuth law-enforcement whodunit
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Longstone by L.J. Ross
Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBetween the devil and the deep blue sea… Viking treasure is discovered beneath the icy waters of the North Sea and local historian Doctor Anna Taylor is called in to help catalogue the most exciting hoard in living memory. But when a shipwreck diver washes up dead, she’s soon out of her depth... -
The Moor: A DCI Ryan Mystery by LJ Ross
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFROM THE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF HOLY ISLAND and LONGSTONE The circus is in town… When a ten-year-old girl turns up on DCI Ryan’s doorstep to tell him she’s witnessed a murder, he has no idea he’s about to step into his most spellbinding case yet... -
Bamburgh by L.J. Ross
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen a cantankerous old woman dies at her home in the sleepy, picturesque village of Bamburgh, DCI Ryan doesn’t think much of it—except, that is, for the small matter of it having been his wife who happened to find her body... -
The Infirmary by L.J. Ross, Jonathan Keeble
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIntroducing the new, unabridged version of The Infirmary by LJ Ross, the author of the international number one best-selling series, the DCI Ryan Mysteries.There's a serial killer targeting the streets of Newcastle, seemingly picking his victims at random but subjecting them all to the same torturous end... -
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The Hangman by Mary Burton
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsJulia Vargas is a cop with a mission. When she’s not chasing down bad guys, Julia dedicates her time to investigating the Hangman serial killer…the same unsolved case that her father, Jim Vargas, was working on when he supposedly shot and killed himself three decades before. While rumors continue to swirl around her father’s death, Julia attempts to hunt down the truth... -
Visions in Death by J.D. Robb
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 27 ratings"The summer had been long hot and bloody. Fall, with its cooler temperatures was coming. Maybe people wouldn't be as inclined to kill each other. But she doubted it." Eve Dallas' latest case involves the murder of a young mother, found raped and strangled. As Eve starts investigating an offer of help comes from an unlikely source... -
Judgment in Death by J.D. Robb
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 30 ratings'She stood in Purgatory and studied death. The blood and the gore of it, the ferocity of its glee. It had come to this place with the wilful temper of a child, full of heat and passion and careless brutality.' In an uptown strip joint a cop is found bludgeoned to death. The weapon's a baseball bat. The motive is a mystery... -
Cragside by L.J. Ross
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAfter his climactic battle with notorious serial killer The Hacker , DCI Ryan is spending the summer with his fiancée within the grounds of Cragside, a spectacular Bavarian-style mansion surrounded by acres of woodland. When they are invited to attend the staff summer party – a Victorian murder mystery evening – it’s all a joke until the lights go out and an elderly man is found dead... -
The Poet by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsDenver crime-beat reporter Jack McEvoy specializes in violent death. So when his homicide detective brother kills himself, McEvoy copes in the only way he knows how--he decides to write the story. But his research leads him to suspect a serial killer is at work--a devious murderer who's killing cops and leaving a trail of poetic clues...Categorized as:
amateur-sleuth crime law-enforcement suspense whodunit action-adventure adult audiobook -
Fated for Felony by Victoria Laurie
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn New York Times bestselling author Victoria Laurie’s newest Psychic Eye Mystery, Abby is after a serial killer who’s simply fated for felonies... -
Borderlands: A DCI Ryan Mystery by LJ Ross
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFROM THE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF HOLY ISLAND AND PENSHAW When the gods made man, they made a weapon... After uncovering a fresh wave of corruption within the ranks of Northumbria CID, Detective Chief Inspector Ryan was looking forward to an uneventful summer... -
Mania: An Alexander Gregory Thriller by LJ Ross
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFROM THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE DCI RYAN MYSTERIESYou can’t run from the past…Back in London after a dramatic trip to North America, Doctor Alexander Gregory finds himself without an occupation while he awaits the all-important decision of the disciplinary panel at Southmoor Hospital... -
Ghost of Deceit by Alice Winters
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsHiroSeeing the dead has never been easy, but the last thing I expected was to be a pawn in a serial killer’s game.Moving in with Maddox was supposed to be the only thing we needed to worry about. Not a dead teacher, and not the fact that a serial killer knows my abilities... -
Imitation in Death by J.D. Robb, Nora Roberts
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsLieutenant Eve Dallas becomes entangled in the deadly mind game of a vicious copycat killer...Summer 2059. A man wearing a cape and a top hat approaches a prostitute on a dark New York City street. Minutes later, the woman is dead. Left at the scene is a letter addressed to Lieutenant Eve Dallas, inviting her to play his game and unveil his identity. He signs it "Jack... -
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Cold Justice Series Box Set: Volume I: Books 1-3 by Toni Anderson
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsNow you can get the first three books of the Cold Justice Series in one bundle! Justice isn’t always black or white. Sometimes it’s cold and dark. A Cold Dark Place: Former CIA assassin Alex Parker works for The Gateway Project, a clandestine government organization hell-bent on taking out serial killers and pedophiles before they enter the justice system...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement suspense action-adventure adult anthologies audiobook contemporary -
Message in the Grave by Dawn Merriman
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA psychic suspense thriller The darker the secret, the harder it is to keep buried I’m finally accepting that my psychic talents serve a purpose, that I can use them to help people. But two mysteries plague me... -
Seduction in Death by J.D. Robb, Nora Roberts
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsLieutenant Eve Dallas is searching for a Casanova killer with a deadly appetite for seduction. Dante had been courting his victim in cyberspace for weeks before meeting her in person. A few sips of wine and a few hours later, she was dead. The murder weapon: a rare, usually undetectable date-rape drug with a street value of a quarter million dollars... -
A Killer's Kiss by Helen Harper
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA twisted killer is making his mark in London, leaving a trail of blood and devastation in his wake. It’s not only humans who are being targeted. Vampires, werewolves and pixies are in mortal danger too.I’ve been called in to help with the investigation but I can’t shake the feeling that there’s more to the murders. Someone is playing a very sick game - and it’s up to me to put a stop to it... -
Looking Glass by Andrew Mayne
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsProfessor Theo Cray caught one of the most prolific serial killers in history using revolutionary scientific methods. Cut off from university research because of the shroud of suspicion around him after the death of his former student and the aftermath of catching his quarry, Cray tries to rebuild his life but finds himself drawn into another unsolved case... -
Sycamore Gap by LJ Ross
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe past never stays buried for long... Detective Chief Inspector Ryan believes he has put his turbulent history behind him. Then, in the early hours of the summer solstice, the skeleton of a young woman is found inside the Roman Wall at Sycamore Gap. She has lain undiscovered for ten years and it is Ryan's job to piece together her past... -
The Night Thief by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen everyone is sleeping, he comes into their houses.He takes one thing. A photo of their child.A thief on a power trip or something even darker and more sinister?Detectives Jackman and Evans find themselves on the hunt for a highly unusual burglar who seemingly only steals photographs. But then, late one night, an elderly woman falls to her death after seeing someone in her home... -
A L'ombre Du Mal by Robert Crais, Hubert Tézenas
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsElvis Cole is Back--In a Desperate Fight to Clear his Name... It's fire season, and the hills of Los Angeles are burning. When police and fire department personnel rush door to door in a frenzied evacuation effort, they discover the week-old corpse of an apparent suicide... -
Jon's Crazy Head-Boppin' Mystery by A.J. Sherwood
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsI’m rather used to the crazy cases, because let’s face it, most cops can handle the run-of-the-mill with their eyes closed. I’m only called in when the situation is weird or they need to solve the case fast. This case is a little of both. Someone’s attacking women as they get off of work, hitting them in the back of the head. What started as a case of battery has steadily built up to homicide... -
When a Heart Stops by Lynette Eason
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSpunky and outgoing, nothing much bothers medical examiner Serena Hopkins--except for the thought of falling in love again. But when a serial killer is picking off her former classmates, Serena's life becomes intertwined with her old high school crush, FBI agent Dominic Allen... -
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Lost in Bliss by Sophie Oak
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratings[Siren Menage Everlasting: Erotic Cowboy Menage a Trois Romance, M/F/M] Laura Niles left her past behind. She fled Washington, DC, with her career in ruins and her love life decimated. In her desperate flight, she found a home in Bliss, Colorado. For five years, Rafe Kincaid and Cameron Briggs have searched for the only woman they've ever loved... -
The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly, Dick Hill
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsDetective Harry Bosch was sure he'd shot the serial killer responsible for a string of murders in LA . . . but now, a new crime makes him question his convictions.The Dollmaker was the name of the serial killer who had stalked Los Angeles ruthlessly, leaving grisly calling cards on the faces of his female victims... -
Dungeon Games by Lexi Blake
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsObsessed: Derek Brighton has become one of Dallas’s finest detectives through a combination of discipline and obsession. Once he has a target in his sights, nothing can stop him. When he isn’t solving homicides, he applies the same intensity to his playtime at Sanctum, a secretive BDSM club. Unfortunately, no amount of beautiful submissives can fill the hole that one woman left in his heart... -
Glory in Death by J.D. Robb
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 53 ratingsIt is 2058, New York City. In a world where technology can reveal the darkest of secrets, there's only one place to hide a crime of passion-in the heart. Even in the mid-twenty-first century, during a time when genetic testing usually weeds out any violent hereditary traits before they can take over, murder still happens. The first victim is found lying on a sidewalk in the rain... -
Dark is the Grave by T.G. Reid
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA dead cop. A damaged detective. A copycat killer on the loose.When the chief suspect in the notorious Peek-a-boo cop killer case blew himself up, almost taking lead investigator DCI Duncan Bone with him, the psychologically damaged detective thought his days on the force were over...Categorized as:
crime suspense law-enforcement mystery fiction contemporary police-procedural thriller -
Possession in Death by J.D. Robb
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratings“The devil killed my body. I cannot fight, I cannot find. I cannot free her. You must. You are the one. We speak to the dead... -
Gone by Lisa Gardner, Anna Fields
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsFrom New York Times bestseller Lisa Gardner, author of Alone and The Killing Hour, comes a thriller that goes from heartbreaking to heartstopping in the blink of an eye... -
Dark in Death by J.D. Robb
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsIt was a stab in the dark.On a chilly February night, during a screening of Psycho in midtown, someone sunk an ice pick into the back of Chanel Rylan’s neck, then disappeared quietly into the crowds of drunks and tourists in Times Square... -
The Narrows by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsFBI agent Rachel Walling finally gets the call she's dreaded for years, the one that tells her the Poet has surfaced. She has never forgotten the serial killer who wove lines of poetry in his hideous crimes--and apparently he has not forgotten her.Former LAPD detective Harry Bosch gets a call, too--from the widow of an old friend...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement suspense whodunit 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Neon Prey by John Sandford, Richard Ferrone
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsListening length: 11 hours and 17 minutesClayton Deese looks like a small-time criminal, muscle for hire when his loan shark boss needs to teach someone a lesson. Now, seven months after a job that went south and landed him in jail, Deese has skipped out on bail, and the U.S. Marshals come looking for him... -
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Leopard's Prey by Christine Feehan
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 30 ratings#1 New York Times bestselling author "Christine Feehan knows how to weave a tale of action, suspense and paranormal passion" (Romance Junkies). Now, she’s back -- and the New Orleans nights have never felt so torrid or so dangerous...From a tough stint in the armed forces to stalking the unknown as a bayou cop, leopard-shifter Remy Boudreux has been served well by his uncanny gifts... -
The Killing Game by Iris Johansen
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA MERCILESS KILLER ON THE HUNT ... AN INNOCENT CHILD IN HIS SIGHTS ... A WOMAN DRIVEN TO THE EDGE TO STOP HIMThe killer knows Eve Duncan all too well. He knows the pain she feels for her murdered daughter, Bonnie, whose body has never been found... -
Flight by Laura Griffin
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen former forensic photographer Miranda Rhoads moves to the seaside town of Lost Beach, she's decided to make her living as a wildlife photographer and put crime scenes behind her. But her plans are quickly upended when one morning, she comes across a couple sleeping in a canoe, entwined in an embrace. Looking closer, she realizes the man and woman aren't asleep—they’ve been murdered... -
Echo Park by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsMore than a decade ago, Harry Bosch worked on the case of Marie Gesto, a twenty-two-year-old who went missing but was never found. Now, with the Gesto file still on his desk, Bosch gets a call from the District Attorney: A serial killer has confessed. Did Harry miss a key clue? Or is something more going on here?In 1993 Marie Gesto disappeared after walking out of a supermarket...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement suspense whodunit 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Slip Out the Back Jack by Willow Rose
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThey take turns with the knife, cutting their thumbs open. A drop of blood lands on the dark wooden table. Eyes meet across the room. All four thumbs are pressed against each other one by one. Blood is shared, secrets buried. Years later a brutal madman sprays bullets into a crowd at a movie theater in Miami and sends a chill through the entire nation... -
Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsLAPD Detective Renée Ballard teams up with Harry Bosch in the new thriller from #1 NYT bestselling author Michael Connelly.Renée Ballard is working the night beat again, and returns to Hollywood Station in the early hours only to find a stranger rifling through old file cabinets. The intruder is retired detective Harry Bosch, working a cold case that has gotten under his skin...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement suspense whodunit 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Mastermind by Andrew Mayne
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsA mysterious electrical storm plunges Manhattan into darkness. As a strange, smothering fog rolls in, all communication crashes. In the blink of an eye, the island seems to vanish into a void.FBI special agent Jessica Blackwood and brilliant scientist Dr. Theo Cray know this isn’t a freak accident. It’s a sinister sleight of hand... -
Blood Sins by Kay Hooper, Joyce Bean
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsYoung, vulnerable, attractive, Tessa Gray made the perfect victim. Which was why Noah Bishop of the FBI’s Special Crimes Unit recruited her to play the role of grieving widow. As the supposed new owner of property coveted by the Church of the Everlasting Sin, she’d be irresistible bait for the reclusive and charismatic Reverend Samuel... -
The Shrine by L.J. Ross
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA murder for the history books…After a long and eventful winter, DCI Ryan and his team are looking forward to the joys of spring. But, when one of their colleagues is shot dead on her own doorstep and the brass think it’s an inside job, Ryan finds himself drafted in to investigate.He’s barely scratched the surface when reports flood in of a terror explosion at Durham Cathedral... -
In the Lawman's Protection by Janie Crouch
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAn agent will do anything to take down a terrorist.Even if that means using a woman as his weapon.To locate a terrorist, Ren McClement must find the criminal’s “dead” wife Natalie. His plan: use the innocent beauty as bait. But when his duplicity leads them into grave danger, Ren reveals his secret to Natalie...and his passion for her... -
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Whiplash by Catherine Coulter
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsYale professor Dr. Edward Kender’s father is undergoing chemotherapy when the supply of a critical accompanying drug, Culovort, suddenly runs out. Unwilling to accept the drug manufacturer’s disingenuous excuse of production line problems, Dr. Kender hires private investigator Erin Pulaski to prove that something more sinister is going on at Schiffer Hartwin... -
She Can Run by Melinda Leigh, Amy Rubinate
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsElizabeth was a young widow with two small children when she met Congressman Richard Baker. Handsome and wealthy, with a sparkling public image, Richard seemed like the perfect man to provide the security that Beth and her kids were craving. But when she uncovers a dangerous secret about her new husband, Beth realizes he will go to any lengths—even murder—to keep it... -
The Secrets of the Shadows by Helen Phifer
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSophie was afraid of the man in the shadows. He terrified her, but he would always disappear when someone else came. But one day in June 1984, she didn't escape. He took her. When a young woman is found draped over a gravestone in a chilling murder, police officer Annie Graham experiences a familiar sense of dread... -
Deadly Obsession by Maggie Shayne
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA cold-blooded killer with a burning obsession… Rachel de Luca has a bad feeling about the new woman in Detective Mason Brown's life, the nurse taking care of him after he's injured in the line of duty. She'd like to think it's just jealousy, but intuition tells her it's something more, maybe something dangerous... -
Defenseless by Tamsen Schultz
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA murdered woman, a powerful politician, and a witness who’s no longer willing to stay in the shadows. Eighteen years ago, Bela Houseman became a loose end. The powerful man who murdered her mother knows who she is and exactly what she saw that night. Giving up everything she’s ever known, including her own name, is the only way to protect herself... -
Cold Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsThe hunt for mass murderer Cara Lindstrom is over. FBI Special Agent Matthew Roarke has been working for this moment: the capture of a killer who savagely hunts the worst of humanity. But Roarke remains traumatized by his own near-death at the hands of the serial killer who slaughtered Cara’s family…and haunted by the enigmatic woman who saved his life...
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