Books like 'Missing Pieces'

Readers who enjoyed Missing Pieces by Heather Gudenkauf also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

contemporary  mystery  psychological  small town  thriller  north-america  usa  iowa  suspense  crime 

  • What I've Done by Melinda Leigh

    What I've Done by Melinda Leigh

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    A Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Amazon Charts bestseller.In the fourth book of the multimillion-copy bestselling series, Morgan Dane’s new client has blood on her hands—and no recollection of what happened.Haley Powell wakes up covered in blood, with no memory of the night before...
  • A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny

    A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny

    Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars
    · 33 ratings
    "Hearts are broken," Lillian Dyson carefully underlined in a book. "Sweet relationships are dead."But now Lillian herself is dead. Found among the bleeding hearts and lilacs of Clara Morrow's garden in Three Pines, shattering the celebrations of Clara's solo show at the famed Musée in Montréal...
  • A Cold Trail by Robert Dugoni

    A Cold Trail by Robert Dugoni

    Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    In New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni’s riveting series, Seattle homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite returns home to a brutal murder and her haunted past. The last time homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite was in Cedar Grove, it was to see her sister’s killer put behind bars...
  • Beneath Blackwater River by Leslie Wolfe, Gwendolyn Druyor

    Beneath Blackwater River by Leslie Wolfe, Gwendolyn Druyor

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    Listening Length 13 hours and 4 minutesShe looked alive, her hair drifting freely in the water, her red lips gently parted, as if to let her final breath escape. A small locket floated by her face, attached to her neck with a silver chain…When Detective Kay Sharp first left Mount Chester—population 3,823—in her rear-view mirror, she promised never to look back...
  • The Killer's Girl by Helen Phifer

    The Killer's Girl by Helen Phifer

    Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    ‘Mama, wake up.’ The little girl reached for her mother’s face with one pudgy hand. But the eyes stayed closed, and the blood continued to trickle across the floor. When the body of a young woman is found, tied to her bed and the victim of a brutal attack in her own home, Detective Morgan Brookes is sickened by what she finds as she searches the house...
  • Hide Away by Jason Pinter

    Hide Away by Jason Pinter

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    From the bestselling author of the Henry Parker series comes a page-turning thriller about a vigilante who’s desperate to protect her secrets—and bring a killer to justice.On the surface, Rachel Marin is an ordinary single mother; on the inside, she’s a fierce, brilliant vigilante...
  • Cross Her Heart by Melinda Leigh

    Cross Her Heart by Melinda Leigh

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    A homicide detective’s violent family history repeats itself in #1 Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh’s novel of murder, secrets, and retribution...
  • Track Her Down by Melinda Leigh

    Track Her Down by Melinda Leigh

    Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    For Sheriff Bree Taggert, a gruesome double murder exposes the secrets of the dead in a shocking novel of suspense by #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh.A teenager returns home from work and finds her parents shot to death in their bed. Responding to the call, Sheriff Bree Taggert realizes the crime wasn’t a burglary gone wrong. The couple was executed...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  crime  family  female-mc  drama  romance  mystery  audiobook
  • The Obsession by Nora Roberts

    The Obsession by Nora Roberts

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 34 ratings
    The riveting new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts“She stood in the deep, dark woods, breath shallow and cold prickling over her skin despite the hot, heavy air. She took a step back, then two, as the urge to run fell over her.” Naomi Bowes lost her innocence the night she followed her father into the woods...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  female-mc  realistic  suspense  abuse
  • Beneath Devil's Bridge by Loreth Anne White

    Beneath Devil's Bridge by Loreth Anne White

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    11 hours, 42 minutes A true crime podcast yields new revelations about a shocking murder in a riveting novel of suspense by Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestselling author Loreth Anne White. True crime podcaster Trinity Scott is chasing breakout success, and her brand-new serial may get her there. Her subject is Clayton Jay Pelley...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  female-mc  suspense  thriller  abuse
  • When You See Me by Lisa Gardner

    When You See Me by Lisa Gardner

    Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    Bestselling author Lisa Gardner unites three of her most loved characters -Detective D.D. Warren, Flora Dane, and Kimberly Quincy - in a twisty new thriller, as they investigate a mysterious murder from the past that points to a dangerous and chilling present-day crime...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  female-mc  secrets  suspense  thriller  abuse
  • The Witness by Nora Roberts

    The Witness by Nora Roberts

    Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars
    · 37 ratings
    Daughter of a controlling mother, Elizabeth finally let loose one night, drinking at a nightclub and allowing a strange man's seductive Russian accent lure her to a house on Lake Shore Drive. The events that followed changed her life forever. Twelve years later, the woman known as Abigail Lowery lives on the outskirts of a small town in the Ozarks...
  • The Silent Dolls by Rita Herron

    The Silent Dolls by Rita Herron

    Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    Silent tears trickle down her cheeks as she curls inside the tiny cave-like space. She lies on her side, darkness all around her, rubbing her fingers over the little wooden doll he’d carved. He told her to be quiet, not to cry or scream. Not to be a baby. Her throat was raw, her eyes swollen shut. She wanted her mommy and daddy. She wanted to go home...
  • Killman Creek by Rachel Caine

    Killman Creek by Rachel Caine

    Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars
    · 34 ratings
    Every time Gwen closed her eyes, she saw him in her nightmares. Now her eyes are open, and he’s not going away.Gwen Proctor won the battle to save her kids from her ex-husband, serial killer Melvin Royal, and his league of psychotic accomplices. But the war isn’t over. Not since Melvin broke out of prison. Not since she received a chilling text…You’re not safe anywhere now...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  female-mc  suspense  thriller  abuse
  • Vanishing Girls by Lisa Regan

    Vanishing Girls by Lisa Regan

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    She was close enough to see that the girl had written a word on the wall in bright, warm red blood. Not a word, actually. A name… Everyone in the small American town of Denton is searching for Isabelle Coleman, a missing seventeen-year-old girl. All they’ve found so far is her phone and another girl they didn’t even know was missing...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  female-mc  suspense  thriller  abuse  adult
  • A Gathering of Secrets by Linda Castillo

    A Gathering of Secrets by Linda Castillo

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    A deadly fire exposes the dark side of Amish life in this harrowing new thriller in the New York Times bestselling series.When a historic barn burns to the ground in the middle of the night, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is called in to investigate. At first, it looks like an accident, but when the body of eighteen-year-old Daniel Gingerich is found inside—burned alive—Kate suspects murder...
    Categorized as:
    crime  drama  family  female-mc  suspense  thriller  adult  audiobook
  • The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny

    The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny

    Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars
    · 45 ratings
    Hardly a day goes by when nine-year-old Laurent Lepage doesn't cry wolf. From alien invasions, to walking trees, to winged beasts in the woods, to dinosaurs spotted in the village of Three Pines, his tales are so extraordinary no one can possibly believe him. But when the boy disappears, the villagers are faced with the possibility that one of his tall tales might have been true...
  • Indelible by Karin Slaughter

    Indelible by Karin Slaughter

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 31 ratings
    Gillian Flynn says, "Karin Slaughter is simply one of the best thriller writers working today."Two armed men enter the police station in tiny Heartsdale, Georgia, and open fire. When the shooting stops, an officer is dead, Police Chief Jeffrey Tolliver is seriously wounded, and the survivors—including a class of grade-school children and medical examiner Sara Linton—are held hostage...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  suspense  thriller  abuse  action-adventure  adult
  • Broken by Karin Slaughter

    Broken by Karin Slaughter

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 31 ratings
    When Special Agent Will Trent arrives in Grant County, he finds a police department determined to protect its own and far too many unanswered questions about a prisoner's death. He doesn't understand why Officer Lena Adams is hiding secrets from him. He doesn't understand her role in the death of Grant County's popular police chief. He doesn't understand why that man's widow, Dr...
  • Scream For Me: A Novel of the Night Hunter by Cynthia Eden

    Scream For Me: A Novel of the Night Hunter by Cynthia Eden

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    Nothing is deeper than the desire they can’t fight—or deadlier than the evil they can’t escape. They were only supposed to have a professional relationship, but FBI agent Kyle McKenzie has been fantasizing about his sexy partner, Cadence Hollow, from the moment they first moment. It takes the darkest case of their careers to finally bring their hidden desire bubbling to the surface...
  • The Next Grave by Kendra Elliot

    The Next Grave by Kendra Elliot

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    A Wall Street Journal bestselling series.Following a murder and a woman’s sudden disappearance, investigations into old crimes and new collide in an alarming novel of suspense by a Wall Street Journal and Amazon Charts bestselling author.Detective Evan Bolton is gutted by his latest investigation...
    Categorized as:
    north-america  usa  crime  suspense  drama  female-mc  oregon  romance
  • In the Barren Ground by Loreth Anne White

    In the Barren Ground by Loreth Anne White

    Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    In the Barrens, a vast wilderness in northern Canada bordering the Arctic Circle, night consumes every hour of the winter. Humans are scarce; ferocious predators roam freely. Locals say spirits do, too. Rookie cop Tana Larsson doesn’t mind the dark and quiet. Five months pregnant and hoping to escape the mistakes of her past, she takes a post in Twin Rivers, population 320...
  • Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah

    Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 39 ratings
    Dr. Julia Cates was one of the country's preeminent child psychiatrists until a shocking tragedy ruined her career. Retreating to her small western Washington hometown, Julia meets an extraordinary six-year-old girl who has inexplicably emerged from the deep woods nearby—a child locked in a world of unimaginable fear and isolation...
  • Forgotten Secrets by Robin Perini

    Forgotten Secrets by Robin Perini

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    At age ten, Riley Lambert watched helplessly as her sister was abducted from her bedroom. Fifteen years later, she’s channeled the pain of her past into a career as an FBI profiler. Riley devotes her life to bringing violent criminals to justice…and secretly uses government resources to search for her sister, who was never found...
  • On Her Watch by Melinda Leigh

    On Her Watch by Melinda Leigh

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Sheriff Bree Taggert becomes a target when she follows the twisting trail of a serial killer in a bone-chilling novel of suspense by #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh.A pair of hikers find a tarp-wrapped body in a clearing in the woods. When a search in the surrounding area yields two more, Sheriff Bree Taggert knows they’ve stumbled onto a serial killer’s dumping ground...
  • Say You're Sorry by Michael Robotham

    Say You're Sorry by Michael Robotham

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    TWO MISSING GIRLS. TWO BRUTAL MURDERS. ALL CONNECTED TO ONE FARM HOUSE. WHO IS TO BLAME?When pretty and popular teenagers Piper Hadley and Tash McBain disappear one Sunday morning, the investigation captivates a nation but the girls are never found.Three years later, during the worst blizzard in a century, a husband and wife are brutally killed in the farmhouse where Tash McBain once lived...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  family  suspense  thriller  adult  audiobook  book
  • Down a Dark Road by Linda Castillo, Kathleen McInerney

    Down a Dark Road by Linda Castillo, Kathleen McInerney

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    This program is read by series narrator Kathleen McInerney. In this electrifying new thriller in the New York Times bestselling series, a convicted murderer is on the run and Chief of Police Kate Burkholder must catch him before he strikes again."Murder in Amish country has a certain added frisson, and Castillos the master of the genre. People magazine[An] incisive and affecting series . .
  • Broken Bayou by Jennifer Moorhead

    Broken Bayou by Jennifer Moorhead

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    In this debut thriller, a troubled child psychologist returns to a small Louisiana town to protect her secrets but winds up having to protect her life.Dr. Willa Watters is a prominent child psychologist at the height of her career...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  crime  thriller  mystery  fiction  murder  killer  small-town
  • The Third Victim by Lisa Gardner

    The Third Victim by Lisa Gardner

    Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    The past isn't over....An unspeakable act has ripped apart the idyllic town of Bakersville, Oregon, and its once-peaceful residents are demanding quick justice. But though a boy has confessed to the horrific crime, evidence shows he may not be guilty. Officer Rainie Conner, leading her first homicide investigation, stands at the center of the controversy...
  • A Merciful Death by Kendra Elliot

    A Merciful Death by Kendra Elliot

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    FBI special agent Mercy Kilpatrick has been waiting her whole life for disaster to strike. A prepper since childhood, Mercy grew up living off the land—and off the grid—in rural Eagle’s Nest, Oregon. Until a shocking tragedy tore her family apart and forced her to leave home...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  female-mc  north-america  suspense  usa
  • Beyond Reach by Karin Slaughter

    Beyond Reach by Karin Slaughter

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    Sara Linton--resident medical examiner/pediatrician in Grant County, Georgia, --has plenty of hardship to deal with, including defending herself in a heartbreaking malpractice suit. So when her husband, Police chief Jeffery Tolliver, learns that his friend and coworker detective Lena Adams has been arrested for murder and needs Sara's help, she is not sure she can handle the pressure of it all...
  • Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine

    Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine

    Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars
    · 43 ratings
    Gina Royal is the definition of average—a shy Midwestern housewife with a happy marriage and two adorable children. But when a car accident reveals her husband’s secret life as a serial killer, she must remake herself as Gwen Proctor—the ultimate warrior mom.With her ex now in prison, Gwen has finally found refuge in a new home on remote Stillhouse Lake...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  female-mc  north-america  suspense  usa
  • Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

    Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

    Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars
    · 74 ratings
    In the latest thriller from New York Times bestseller Riley Sager, a woman returns to the house made famous by her father’s bestselling horror memoir. Is the place really haunted by evil forces, as her father claimed? Or are there more earthbound—and dangerous—secrets hidden within its walls?What was it like? Living in that house.Maggie Holt is used to such questions...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  female-mc  secrets  suspense  thriller
  • The Lies I Told by Mary Burton

    The Lies I Told by Mary Burton

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    For a woman obsessed and a killer in her shadow, remembering the past becomes a mind game in a novel of psychological suspense by New York Times bestselling author Mary Burton.Twin sisters Marisa and Clare Stockton were sixteen when Clare’s body was found in Virginia’s James River. No arrests were made...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  crime  drama  family  secrets  romance  mystery  fiction
  • Buried by C.J. Carmichael

    Buried by C.J. Carmichael

    Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    An alternate cover edition can be found here.Justice is overdue in the coastal town of Twisted Cedars where two unsolved mysteries lay buried in the past.Over thirty years ago a series of murders targeting Oregon librarians was never solved. Now someone with inside knowledge is feeding clues to true crime writer Dougal Lachlan, promising him the best story of his career...
  • Her Last Breath by Linda Castillo

    Her Last Breath by Linda Castillo

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    An extraordinarily beautiful Amish woman, a dangerous femme fatale, is the central figure in a story that reveals a dark side of Painters Mill and its seemingly perfect Amish worldA rainy night, an Amish father returning home with his three children, a speeding car hurtling toward them out of nowhere...
  • The Dark Bones by Loreth Anne White

    The Dark Bones by Loreth Anne White

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    She’s come back to solve the mystery of her father’s death and confront her own dark past. When Detective Rebecca North left her rural hometown, she vowed never to return. Her father’s apparent suicide has changed that. The official report is that retired cop Noah North shot himself, knocked over a lantern, and set his isolated cabin ablaze. But Rebecca cannot believe he killed himself...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  female-mc  secrets  suspense  thriller
  • Shamed by Linda Castillo

    Shamed by Linda Castillo

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    In this gripping thriller from New York Times bestselling author Linda Castillo, a devastating murder exposes an Amish family’s tortured past.The peaceful town of Painters Mill is shattered when an Amish grandmother is brutally murdered on an abandoned farm...
    Categorized as:
    crime  drama  family  female-mc  north-america  suspense  usa  thriller
  • Wolfhunter River by Rachel Caine

    Wolfhunter River by Rachel Caine

    Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    A Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller.She can’t ignore a cry for help. But in this remote hunting town, it’s open season.Gwen Proctor escaped her serial-killer husband and saved her family. What she can’t seem to outrun is his notoriety. Or the sick internet vigilantes still seeking to avenge his crimes. For Gwen, hiding isn’t an option...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  female-mc  realistic  suspense  thriller
  • Wall of Silence by Tracy Buchanan

    Wall of Silence by Tracy Buchanan

    Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    Her children have a deadly secret. Can she uncover it before the police do?Melissa Byatt’s life in Forest Grove seems as perfect as can be: a doting husband, three loving children and a beautiful house in a close-knit community. But appearances can be deceiving...
  • Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter

    Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter

    Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars
    · 37 ratings
    A small Georgia town erupts in panic when a young college professor is found brutally mutilated in the local diner. But it's only when town pediatrician and coroner Sara Linton does the autopsy that the full extent of the killer's twisted work becomes clear...
  • The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter

    The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter

    Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars
    · 42 ratings
    Two girls are forced into the woods at gunpoint. One runs for her life. One is left behind.Twenty-eight years ago, Charlotte and Samantha Quinn's happy small-town family life was torn apart by a terrifying attack on their family home. It left their mother dead. It left their father—Pikeville's notorious defense attorney—devastated...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  north-america  realistic  suspense  usa
  • Riverstar by Tess Thompson

    Riverstar by Tess Thompson

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    After ending an affair with a married movie producer, feisty Hollywood makeup artist Bella Webber finds herself back in the quaint Oregon town of River Valley, the location of a famous director’s latest film...
    Categorized as:
    crime  family  female-mc  suspense  adult  book  contemporary  fiction
  • Dead Against Her by Melinda Leigh

    Dead Against Her by Melinda Leigh

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Sheriff Bree Taggert’s downfall is part of a killer’s cunning design in #1 Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh’s novel of murder, lies, and revenge.Called to an isolated farm to check on an elderly widow, Sheriff Bree Taggert finds a brutal double homicide. One of the victims is Eugene Oscar, the bitter and corrupt former deputy she recently fired...
  • The Night Killer by Beverly Connor

    The Night Killer by Beverly Connor

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Forensic investigator Diane Fallon fights for her life in her eighth mystery. Diane is driving through a downpour on a windy mountain road after picking up a set of rare Indian artifacts when a tree suddenly slams across the hood of her car, revealing a human skeleton in its hollow trunk. As she starts to investigate, she's ambushed by a stranger and forced to run for her life...
    Categorized as:
    crime  female-mc  suspense  thriller  adult  book  contemporary  cozy
  • Sweet Solitude by Sav R. Miller

    Sweet Solitude by Sav R. Miller

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    From international bestselling author Sav R. Miller comes a steamy and twisted love story between two humans haunted by their pasts.In the wake of her father’s death, lonely Juliet Harrison struggles with the guilt over her loss. She deals with it the way she deals with everything: by burying her feelings beneath impulsive decisions and desecrating the local graveyard...
  • Heartsong Cottage by Emily March

    Heartsong Cottage by Emily March

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Daniel Garrett is no stranger to heartache or tragedy. Once a successful detective, his world fell apart with his son's murder and his wife's suicide. Leaving the police force, Daniel devotes his life to finding missing children, but when a case goes sour on the anniversary of his personal tragedy, he returns to Eternity Springs hoping for some of the town's fabled healing...
  • Worth Dying For by Rita Herron

    Worth Dying For by Rita Herron

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    One man wants to kill her the other will die to protect her. Just when the residents of Slaughter Creek think they're safe, a sadistic serial killer strikes. Someone they're calling The Dissector. Someone who keeps his victims' body parts as gruesome trophies. Special Agent Liz Lucas has been on leave, recovering from the trauma of her last case...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  female-mc  suspense  adult  audiobook  book
  • A Stranger in Town by Kelley Armstrong

    A Stranger in Town by Kelley Armstrong

    Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    Detective Casey Duncan has noticed fewer and fewer residents coming in to the hidden town of Rockton, and no extensions being granted. Her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, presumes it’s the natural flux of things, but Casey’s not so sure. Something bigger is happening in the small town they call home...
  • Don't Tell A Soul by D.K. Hood

    Don't Tell A Soul by D.K. Hood

    Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    The floor was stone cold on her bare skin. Her heart pounded in her chest. ‘Not a soul knows where I am,’ she thought as she took in the darkness around her. And then she heard his footsteps…When a body is found stuffed into a barrel at a garbage dump, covered in long red lacerations, Detective Jenna Alton and her new deputy, David Kane, rush to the scene...
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