Books like 'Deadly Desires'
Readers who enjoyed Deadly Desires by Rachel McLean also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary mystery serial killer action / adventure crime children law-enforcement lgbtq thriller female-mc
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Penshaw: A DCI Ryan Mystery by LJ Ross
Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFROM THE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF HOLY ISLAND When you sell your soul, the devil gives no refunds... When an old man is burned alive in a sleepy ex-mining village, Detective Chief Inspector Ryan is called in to investigate. He soon discovers that, beneath the facade of a close-knit community, the burn from decades-old betrayal still smoulders...Categorized as:
crime family female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural thriller action-adventure -
In Her Tracks by Robert Dugoni
Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAn Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling series.What family secrets are behind two disappearances? Seattle detective Tracy Crosswhite is determined to uncover the truth in the latest installment of New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni’s heart-stopping series...Categorized as:
children crime family female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural thriller action-adventure -
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...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult -
Desert Star by Michael Connelly
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsLAPD detective Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch team up to hunt the brutal killer who is Bosch’s “white whale”—a man responsible for the murder of an entire family. Discover more thrilling Bosch mysteries in the original Freevee series Bosch: Legacy. A year has passed since LAPD detective Renée Ballard quit the force in the face of misogyny, demoralization, and endless red tape...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural thriller 21st-century action-adventure adult -
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High Force by LJ Ross
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsHell has unleashed a demon – and he’s coming for you… Detective Chief Inspector Ryan’s worst nightmare has just become a reality. Notorious serial killer The Hacker has escaped prison and kidnapped one of his best detectives from her own home. His brutality is the stuff of legend – Ryan lost his sister and nearly his own life bringing the man to justice first time around...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult -
Cuthbert's Way: A DCI Ryan Mystery by L.J. Ross
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA SECRET KEPT FOR A THOUSAND YEARS...After the dramatic theft of a priceless artefact from Durham Cathedral, the rest of the world believes that DCI Ryan and his team were able to recover and return St. Cuthbert’s cross to its rightful home...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult -
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...Categorized as:
crime family female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural action-adventure adult -
A Merciful Fate by Kendra Elliot
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn the next book in the Wall Street Journal bestselling Mercy Kilpatrick series, there are no such things as little secrets…Raised by preppers, survivalist and FBI agent Mercy Kilpatrick has a deep-rooted need for a safe place. Her getaway in the Cascade Foothills is her secret...Categorized as:
crime family female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural thriller abuse action-adventure -
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...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural action-adventure adult book -
Hidden on the Fens by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA derelict cottage hidden in a copse of trees.A missing girl whose body was never found.Has her killer returned?Detective Joseph Easter’s daughter discovers a cottage hidden in some trees on a large fenland farm. Someone has been living there.The farm-owner’s wife has been receiving sinister pagan artefacts, including a witch’s knife...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement noir police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Blood Lines by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsHow do you catch a killer who leaves no trace?A victim killed with a single, precise stab to the heart appears at first glance to be a robbery gone wrong. A caring, upstanding social worker lost to a senseless act of violence. But for Detective Kim Stone, something doesn’t add up...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement noir police-procedural thriller abuse action-adventure -
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...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult -
Black Coral by Andrew Mayne
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFor a police diver in Florida, solving a cold-case mystery brings a serial killer out of hiding...Sloan McPherson and the Underwater Investigation Unit have discovered a van at the bottom of a murky Florida pond. Sealed inside the watery tomb are the bodies of four teenagers who disappeared thirty years ago after leaving a rock concert. To authorities, it looks like a tragic accident...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
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...Categorized as:
children crime family female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural abuse action-adventure -
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Fire on the Fens by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDetective Nikki Galena faces a cat-and-mouse battle with a killer arsonist.Someone is lighting fires on the fens. First they target property, but then a body is found at one of the crime scenes.More fires are lit. And at each one a single person dies. But the victims have led spotless lives and apparently there’s no connection between them...Categorized as:
crime family law-enforcement police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
In the Darkness by Mike Omer
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA forensic psychologist fights a mental war against two serial killers in this disturbing thriller from Mike Omer, Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestselling author of A Killer’s Mind.An online video of a girl clawing at the ceiling of her own grave could be the worst thing FBI forensic psychologist Zoe Bentley has ever seen...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Angel by LJ Ross
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsHe’ll make you his angel, but first you have to die... After a turbulent time, DCI Ryan’s life is finally beginning to return to normal and he’s looking forward to spending an uneventful Easter bank holiday weekend with his fiancée. Then, on Good Friday morning he is called out to a crime scene at one of the largest cemeteries in Newcastle...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult -
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...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural action-adventure adult audiobook book -
Beneath Blackwater River by Leslie Wolfe, Gwendolyn Druyor
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsListening 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...Categorized as:
crime family law-enforcement police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Her Final Breath by Robert Dugoni
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsHomicide detective Tracy Crosswhite has returned to the police force after the sensational retrial of her sister’s killer. Still scarred from that ordeal, Tracy is pulled into an investigation that threatens to end her career, if not her life.A serial killer known as the Cowboy is killing young women in cheap motels in North Seattle...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult alpha-mc -
Heartbreak Bay by Rachel Caine
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThey’re hunting a killer so silent, so invisible, that his unspeakable crimes are the only proof he exists.A car submerged in a remote pond. The bodies of two girls strapped into their seats. The mystery of their mother, vanished without a trace, leads Gwen Proctor and Kezia Claremont into dangerous territory...Categorized as:
crime family female-mc law-enforcement lgbtq police-procedural thriller action-adventure -
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...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult -
Captive on the Fens by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA YOUNG WOMAN’S BODY IS FOUND IN A REMOTE BARN ON THE FENS. BEFORE SHE WAS KILLED, ONE OF HER FINGERS HAD BEEN CUT OFF. WHO IS INFLICTING THIS VIOLENCE AND WHY? Can DI Nikki Galena stop them before anyone else suffers? The young woman in the barn had been kept captive for some time. And the case shows strong similarities to an unsolved murder in Derbyshire...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Dead Call by J.M. Dalgliesh
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time..Categorized as:
crime family law-enforcement literary-fiction noir police-procedural action-adventure adult -
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The Fifth To Die by J.D. Barker
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsAlternate cover art can be found hereIn the thrilling sequel to The Fourth Monkey, a new serial killer stalks the streets of Chicago, while Detective Porter delves deeper into the dark past of the Four Monkey Killer.Detective Porter and the team have been pulled from the hunt for Anson Bishop, the Four Monkey Killer, by the feds...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement noir police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Roubaud Connection by Estelle Ryan
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBrutal murders. An ancient treasure. A rogue state.A young acquaintance of nonverbal communications expert Doctor Genevieve Lenard begs her to look into the disappearance of his friend...Categorized as:
crime thriller law-enforcement police-procedural organized-crime mystery fiction social-commentary -
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...Categorized as:
crime family female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural action-adventure adult anthologies -
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...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult -
Hunted on the Fens by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA VICIOUS CRIMINAL IS TARGETING DI NIKKI GALENA AND HER TEAM. ONE BY ONE HE WILL HUNT THEM DOWN AND DESTROY THEIR LIVES, UNLESS SHE CAN STOP HIM FIRST DI Nikki Galena faces her toughest challenge yet...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
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...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural action-adventure adult audiobook -
Hide Away by Jason Pinter
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom 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...Categorized as:
crime family female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult -
The Ladykiller by Martina Cole
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsGeorge Markham has a nasty little hobby, one that erupts into an orgy of vicious sexual depravity.Patrick Kelly is a hard man. His one soft spot is his daughter, and when she falls victim to the Grantley Ripper, Kelly wants revenge.The DI in charge of the case is Kate Burrows. She feels for Kelly but her growing involvement with a known villain is putting her career at risk . .Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Darkness on the Fens by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA SERIAL KILLER ON A POISONOUS MISSION PUSHES NIKKI AND HER TEAM TO BREAKING POINTRevellers are flocking into Greenborough for the yearly Dark Greenborough Festival, a three-day event celebrating local folklore, superstition and the darker side of life...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult audiobook book -
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 female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural action-adventure adult anthologies audiobook -
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Shadow Over the Fens by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsTWO BRUTAL KILLERS ARE LOOSE ON THE FENS BUT WHO CAN DI NIKKI GALENA TRUST? Detective Nikki Galena’s friend and neighbour meets a tragic end but there’s more to his death than meets the eye . . . And someone terrible from DS Joseph Easter’s past is back . .Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Where The Dead Fall by M.J. Lee
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsOne chance encounter, one street side murder, will change everything… The extraordinary new Ridpath crime thrillerManchester has been at peace for twenty years. Not any more.DI Ridpath is in the process of getting his life back together when everything goes wrong...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement noir organized-crime police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult -
She Can Scream by Melinda Leigh
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn one moment, high school teacher and single mother Brooke Davenport interrupts a vicious assault, saves a young woman’s life, and attracts the attention of a serial killer. Sixteen years ago, Brooke lost her roommate to a brutal murder. Now she teaches women’s self-defense, still trying to heal from the guilt and grief that plague her...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural action-adventure adult alpha-mc audiobook -
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...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult -
Impostor by L.J. Ross
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFROM THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE DCI RYAN MYSTERIES There’s a killer inside all of us… After an elite criminal profiling unit is shut down amidst a storm of scandal and mismanagement, only one person emerges unscathed...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement literary-fiction police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult -
Cold Blood by Robert Bryndza
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsShe fell in love with a killer, now she’s one too.The suitcase was badly rusted, and took Erika several attempts, but it yielded and sagged open as she unzipped it. Nothing could prepare her for what she would find inside…When a battered suitcase containing the dismembered body of a young man washes up on the shore of the river Thames, Detective Erika Foster is shocked...Categorized as:
crime family female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural thriller 21st-century action-adventure -
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...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural thriller literary-fiction female-mc noir mystery -
Unbound Ties: When the past unravels, all that’s left is death ... by Liz Mistry
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen the past unravels, all that’s left is death.Lavender’s blue, dilly dilly,When DI Gus McGuire is called out to the murder of a pregnant woman, the crime scene tells him that this killer is not only taunting them … he’s also just getting started.Lavender’s green,With ritualistic precision, the killer has placed a series of clues beneath the victim’s feet...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural family thriller mystery suspense domestic-drama -
Cross Justice by James Patterson
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsFor Alex Cross, the toughest cases hit close to home-and in this deadly thrill ride, he's trying to solve the most personal mystery of his life.When his cousin is accused of a heinous crime, Alex Cross returns to his North Carolina hometown for the first time in over three decades...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult audiobook book -
Field of Prey by John Sandford
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe night after the fourth of July, Layton Carlson Jr., of Red Wing, Minnesota, finally got lucky. And unlucky. He’d picked the perfect spot to lose his virginity to his girlfriend, an abandoned farmyard in the middle of cornfields: nice, private, and quiet. The only problem was . . . something smelled bad—like, really bad...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult audiobook book -
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Their Lost Daughters by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsTWO GIRLS GO TO A PARTY, ONLY ONE RETURNS ALIVEToni, the surviving teenager, is found delirious, wandering the muddy fields. She has been drugged and it’s uncertain whether she’ll survive. She says she saw her friend Emily being dragged away from the party. But no one knows who Emily is or even if she’s still alive. . .Meanwhile the drowned body of another girl has been found on an isolated beach...Categorized as:
crime family female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult -
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...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement noir police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Gathering Prey by John Sandford
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThe extraordinary new Lucas Davenport thriller from #1 New York Times–bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize–winner John Sandford. They call them Travelers. They move from city to city, panhandling, committing no crimes—they just like to stay on the move. And now somebody is killing them...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult audiobook book -
Police by Jo Nesbø
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsWhen a police officer is found murdered at the scene of an old unsolved murder case that he was involved in investigating, it can hardly be a coincidence. When the same thing happens to two other officers in a matter of months the pattern is as clear as it is terrifying. None of the old cases were ever solved. The killings are extremely brutal and the police have no leads...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement noir police-procedural thriller 21st-century action-adventure adult -
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 law-enforcement police-procedural thriller mystery fiction contemporary suspense -
Where The Truth Lies by M.J. Lee
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA killer in total control. A detective on the edge. A mystery that HAS to be solved. DI Thomas Ridpath was on the up in the Manchester CID: a promising young detective whose first case involved capturing a notorious serial killer. But ten years later he’s recovering from a serious illness and on the brink of being forced out of the police...
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