Books like 'The First Victim'
Readers who enjoyed The First Victim by J.B. Lynn also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary romance mystery serial killer suspense crime in-uniform family
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The Keeper of Bees by Gregory Ashe
Rated: 4.70 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsEmery Hazard has pretty much everything under control. He and his fiancé, John-Henry Somerset, are more in love than ever, despite the stress of wedding preparations hanging over them. His business as a private investigator is growing. He’s even enjoying time with his growing circle of friends... -
Into the Dark by Karen Rose
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author Karen Rose returns to the chilling Cincinnati series, and this time, the stakes are higher than ever. Former army ranger Diesel Kennedy considers himself a dead man walking. To help cope with his PTSD, he coaches youth-league soccer, during which he notices two brothers, Joshua and Caleb, who seem to have a troubled home life... -
Tickle His Fancy by Samantha A. Cole
Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAll around him, Brody ‘Egghead’ Evans’ Trident Security teammates have fallen in love and gotten their happily ever after. Ironically, they had always thought the charismatic Dominant would be the first one to fall—not the last... -
In the Waning Light by Loreth Anne White
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTwo decades after her sister’s brutal attack and murder, Meg Brogan has finally found happiness…or so it appears. A bestselling true-crime writer, Meg has money, fame, and a wealthy fiancé. But when a television-show host presses her to tackle the one story everyone claims she cannot write—the story of her own family’s destruction—her perfect life shatters... -
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Forever Mine by Linsey Lanier
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAn old friend. A bad smell. A body stuffed into a wall. You'll never escape. After she left her abusive husband thirteen years ago, Miranda Steele became a fighter. Over the years, she picked up martial arts and street fighting tactics, and now that she works for the Parker Investigative Agency, she can handle a weapon. But the battle with her inner demons? Not so easy... -
Thin Ice by Linsey Lanier
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsTake what matters most to her," said the voice. And he knew he would. He had to. Thirteen years ago, Miranda Steele’s abusive husband stole her baby and gave it up for adoption. Then he kicked Miranda out of his house. So she remade herself. Thirteen years later, the feisty, stubborn skeptic came to Atlanta hoping to find her daughter... -
Buried by Kendra Elliot
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsReporter Michael Brody is used to getting answers. The one that’s eluded him, though, for twenty long years is learning what happened to his brother Daniel the day his school bus disappeared. When the remains of the other children are discovered—and Daniel’s aren’t among them—a desperate Michael calls upon the sole survivor of the tragedy, Chris Jacobs, hoping he will finally break his silence... -
Hostile Intent by Lynette Eason
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAva Jackson entered the military shortly after high school, but her mother's illness has forced her to request an early discharge. She already lost her father while deployed, and there's no way she's going to let her mother die alone. But after a visit to the nursing facility where her mother lives, Ava is attacked walking back to her car... -
A Merciful Secret by Kendra Elliot
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsIn this Wall Street Journal bestseller, a pair of ritual murders could expose Mercy Kilpatrick to something terrifying: her own past…Raised off the grid by survivalists, Mercy Kilpatrick believed in no greater safeguard than the backwoods of Oregon. Unforgiven by her father for abandoning the fold for the FBI, Mercy still holds to her past convictions. They’re in her blood... -
Cold Hearted by Toni Anderson
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsHunting For A Killer...Who Doesn't Play By The Rules. Detective Erin Donovan expects life to quiet down after the arrest and conviction of a serial rapist who terrified her university town last summer. Then two young women are brutally slain and the murders bear all the hallmarks of the campus rapist... -
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... -
Vulnerable by Mary Burton
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Smallest Mistake Three went in; one came out. For five years, no trace has been found of two high-school friends who went hiking in the woods near Nashville. The third teen, Amber Ryder, was discovered at the bottom of a ravine with a broken arm, head trauma--and zero memory of the horror that put her there... -
Dirty Hearts by Kenya Wright
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDarkly intense and deeply erotic, we return to the Lion and Mouse. The war has ended. Kazimir hopes to spend quiet time with Emily, but there are more enemies creeping within the shadows. New dangers that threaten the couple’s happiness... -
The Grave Between Us by Tal Bauer
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIt was just one moment.It was just one mistake.For years, men have been disappearing. A father in North Carolina. A boater in California. A hiker in Arkansas. And more, scattered across the United States. The FBI knows who’s responsible: a serial killer they caught, a man they sent young profiler Cole Kennedy to interrogate... -
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Forgotten Legacy by Robin Perini
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsForgotten secrets. Forgotten lies. A family legacy…A determined killer. On the outskirts of Singing River, Wyoming, a couple dies in a fire that ravages their remote mountain home. Everyone believes it’s a tragic accident—except FBI profiler Riley Lambert. She isn’t convinced, and neither is her fiancé, ex–Navy SEAL turned sheriff Thayne Blackwood... -
The Devil's Spare Change by Samantha A. Cole
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFBI agent Sean Malone put in a transfer to return home to North Carolina in order to be closer to his expanding family. What he didn’t expect was a pleasant surprise from his youth. Little Gracie Whitman is all grown up now and drop-dead gorgeous, and he finds himself thinking about her in ways he’d never done before... -
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 Murder Between Us by Tal Bauer
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsIt was just one night. It was just one mistake. FBI Agent Noah Downing had questions about his sexuality that a single night in Vegas should have answered. But dawn finds him on a plane back to Iowa, back on the trail of a vicious serial killer who disappeared six years ago and has suddenly resurfaced. There's nothing like a murder investigation to escape an existential crisis... -
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... -
Deep Spiral by Cole McCade
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsABOUT THIS EPISODE A deadly, unstable shooter. A trap Malcolm and Seong-Jae can't escape. And more than one life on the line as they find themselves facing down one of the Golden Ratio Killer's proxies in a high-stakes hostage situation that could ramp up the serial murderer's mathematical body counts exponentially. And if Malcolm and Seong-Jae aren't careful, they'll be among the tally... -
Vile by Debra Webb
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDeputy Chief Jess Harris knows her time is running out. Somehow she must protect the people she loves and any more innocent victims from the serial killer obsessed with her... -
Vicious by Debra Webb
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBook 7 in the Faces of Evil series. Serial killer Eric Spears is far from done. He has chosen his next victim and Deputy Chief Jess Harris knows it's only a matter of time until he comes for her. The murders are vicious, the killer relentless... -
Heinous by Debra Webb
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe body count is rising. The serial killer obsessed with Birmingham’s Deputy Chief Jess Harris is getting closer, and he knows Jess’s secret. Can she protect the child she carries and the people she loves from Eric Spears and his followers? The body farm discovered in a small Alabama town has many buried secrets... -
Legacy Of Hunters Ridge by Sarah Barrie
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsShe dazzled with Secrets of Whitewater Creek, now Sarah Barrie kicks off a brand-new trilogy about small towns, secrets, and the love that saves lives. Successful horse trainer Alissa Morgan-Jones has the world at her feet, until a tragic fire destroys everything. Widowed, in debt and under suspicion for arson, Alissa’s life is in tatters... -
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Six Degrees of Separation by Taylor V. Donovan
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsNote from the author:By Degrees is an ensemble serial with continuing story lines. Six Degrees of Separation is the second installment, and it must be read after Six Degrees of Lust. Thanks.In the sequel to Six Degrees of Lust, F.B.I. team leader Samuel Shaughnessy and bar manager Machlan O’Bannon are exploring a new phase in their non-relationship... -
Dead End by Nancy Mehl
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhen a body is discovered in a field in Iowa, the police uncover fourteen additional corpses ranging from 20 years old to recent. The remains point to a serial killer with an MO the authorities have seen before--Ed Oliphant, a man who has been in prison for over 20 years . . . and is Special Agent Kaely Quinn's father... -
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... -
A Stranger in the Family by Jane Casey
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe gripping new thriller featuring DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent from the Top Ten Sunday Times bestselling authorEvery mother's worst nightmare . . .When nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall vanished from her bed one summer night, her disappearance tore her family apart.Now, sixteen years later, her mother Helena is found dead, her husband by her side... -
Scream For Me: A Novel of the Night Hunter by Cynthia Eden
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNothing 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... -
Senseless by Mary Burton
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsEvery Serial Killer Knows. . . The vicious burns scarring the victims' flesh reveal the agony of their last moments. Each woman was branded with a star, then stabbed through the heart. With every death, a vengeful killer finds a brief, blissful moment of calm. But soon it's time for the bloodshed to start again. . . The Perfect Time. . -
No Escape by Mary Burton
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsHe Was Taught How To Kill Even behind bars, serial killer Harvey Day Smith exudes menace. Psychologist Jolene Granger has agreed to hear his dying confession, vowing not to let the monster inside her head... -
Silent Scream by Karen Rose
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen a teenage girl dies in a suspicious fire, Detective Olivia Sutherland is assigned to track down the arsonist. Then she discovers something more sinister: a vicious blackmailer who preys on young people and murders without hesitation. Making her work even harder is sexy firefighter David Hunter... -
Did You Miss Me? by Karen Rose
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBest be nimble, best be quick, I'm right here and you're my pick... The last thing Ford Elkhart remembers is walking his girlfriend back to her university dormitory. Now he's lying tied and gagged on a cold, dark floor, with only one chance to escape before he ends up like the bones surrounding him.. -
Trajectory by Cole McCade
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRising tensions between Malcolm, Seong-Jae, and Aanga Joshi reach a tipping point — and send our devilish duo on a rogue mission. Mal and Seong-Jae are off the radar, off the rails, and determined to track down the connection between Sila and the Golden Ratio Killer, no matter who stands in their way.One way or another, they'll put a name and a face to the nightmare.One way or another.. -
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Fractal Recursion by Cole McCade
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt's first blood drawn as the white rabbit dangles the lives of innocents in the balance, forcing Malcolm to choose between his parents and a missing FBI agent. Yet Malcolm's attempts to stall for time and find a better solution open a doorway into the Golden Ratio Killer's thoughts, his secrets...and the truth of the past that made him who he is today... -
White Rabbit, Part II by Cole McCade
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe white rabbit crashes storytime with Sila, Malcolm, and Seong-Jae — a little too literally, leaving our intrepid detectives battered but not broken. Yet what they find with the white rabbit's arrival could destroy even the strongest man: a diabolical game with over two dozen lives at stake, turning their final showdown into a macabre stage play with the white rabbit as its star... -
Profile of Terror by Alexa Grace
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA missing coed named Abby Reece. Two clever thrill killers are committing the most brutal, public, and horrifying abductions and murders in the county’s history. The killers, known as the Gamers, have done this before, and are now upping their evil game to a new level. The question is — can they be stopped before they kill again? Things get complicated... -
Hard Angle by Cole McCade
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsUnsettled tensions from the last case come to a head as Seong-Jae reveals his secrets — but will it be enough to repair the fractures in his relationship with Malcolm?Especially when their only promising lead on the Golden Ratio Killer's identity falls apart, along with any hope of returning home to Baltimore and to their life together.When their primary suspect turns up dead..... -
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... -
Stolen: A Cassidy & Spenser Thriller by Carey Baldwin
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIs she missing…or a murderer? When Laura Chaucer, daughter of a U.S. senator, vanishes from her college campus, celebrated FBI profilers Special Agent Atticus Spenser and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Caitlin Cassidy are called in. Thirteen years ago, Laura and her nanny disappeared from her family’s Denver home. Laura was found alive, but her nanny wasn’t so lucky… and the killer was never caught... -
Cold Calculation by Cole McCade
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsABOUT THIS EPISODE How do you profile a serial killer who keeps changing his pattern? A body encased in ice and a cryptic message make Malcolm, Seong-Jae, and Aanga Joshi question everything they thought they'd learned about the Golden Ratio Killer. If their suspect can change his methods and alter his patterns, he could easily disappear... .. -
In Sequence by Cole McCade
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsABOUT THIS EPISODE The Golden Ratio killer resurfaces in California to target a former victim, and this time the case takes Malcolm and Seong-Jae hunting deep into his past, searching for connections between victim and killer that may reveal his identity... -
The Murder Game by Beverly Barton
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNew Game The game is simple--he is the Hunter. They are the Prey. He gives them a chance to escape. To run. To hide. To outsmart him. But eventually, he catches them. And that's when the game gets really terrifying... New RulesPrivate investigator Griffin Powell and FBI agent Nicole Baxter know a lot about serial killers--they took one down together... -
Breaking Cover by Kaje Harper
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFor homicide detective Mac, it's been a good year. Having Tony to go home to makes him a better cop and a better person. For Tony, it's been hard being in love with a man he can't touch in public. Evasions and outright lying to friends and family take a little of the shine off his relationship with Mac, but Tony is determined to make it work... -
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Haven of Swans by Colleen Coble
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA beautiful woman stands by the side of the road, barefoot and bleeding, a child in her arms. Someone just tried to kill her, but she wouldn't recognize him if she saw his face. She doesn't even remember her own name. A suburban cop surveys a kitchen in disarray—a woman and child missing, a chilling note. This crime scene is unlike any he has ever seen... -
Serial Love: Saints Protection & Investigation by Maryann Jordan, Andrea Michelle
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsJack Bryant left the Special Forces to begin his private investigation business. Pulling together like-minded men from the CIA, FBI, ATF, DEA, Border Patrol, SEALs, and police, they were devoted to the missions that no one else wanted or could solve. When the Campus Killer strikes again, Jack’s team is tasked by the Governor to find the killer, using whatever means they can... -
I'll Never Let You Go by Mary Burton
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsLOVE HURTS He promised to kill her. One night four years ago, Leah Carson’s husband almost succeeded. Philip stabbed her twenty-three times before fleeing. The police are sure he’s dead. But fear won’t let Leah believe it. AND SOMETIMES It starts with little things. Missing keys. A flat tire. Mysterious flowers. All easily explained away if the pattern wasn’t so terrifyingly familiar... -
Hot Pursuit by Suzanne Brockmann
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAlyssa Locke is no stranger to dealing with danger. As team leader of the nation's number one personal security company, Troubleshooters Inc., she's seen more than her share of action, survived plenty of close calls, and holds her own with the best of them-and against the worst of them. Guarding lives is her game, and no one plays it better... -
The Kill by Allison Brennan
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHer worst nightmare brought back to life, she risks everything for a second shot at justice. For thirty years, FBI scientist Olivia St. Martin has lived with guilt and one abiding certainty–that while she wasn’t able to save her sister’s life, she did testify and helped to convict the rapist and killer... -
Cover Your Eyes by Mary Burton
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNow stunningly repackaged and reissued, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Mary Burton unleashes her trademark hard-edged suspense in the first Morgans of Nashville book, as a public defender must seek justice for a murder from the past to prevent new killings in the horrifying present...DON'T LOOKAt first, they struggle to escape...
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