Books like 'The Pier'
Readers who enjoyed The Pier by Matt Brolly also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
mystery serial killer crime law-enforcement cozy female-mc noir police-procedural thriller hard-boiled
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Six Graves by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.75 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIt’s a typical teenage bedroom with posters covering the walls and clothes littering the floor. But the girl lying on her bed, wearing a delicate chain around her neck, is lifeless. A circle of red stains her white vest top and Kim feels a sharp stab of sadness... -
![Twisted Lies by Angela Marsons]()
Twisted Lies by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHer stomach lurches as she sits in the windowless room. He throws her phone to the ground, grinds it against the floor with the heel of his shoe and brings his face closer to hers. There was no turning back now, her life as she knew it was gone... -
![Deadly Fate by Angela Marsons]()
Deadly Fate by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe woman’s bright blonde hair floats in the breeze. She almost looks like she could be resting on the soft green grass. But her brown eyes stare unblinking up at the sky, and the final cut across her mouth is dark with blood... -
![Stolen Angels by Rita Herron]()
Stolen Angels by Rita Herron
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsTwisting her hands together, she bites back a sob. She only turned her back for a second, and then her daughter was gone. Every mother in town would be hugging their children tighter tonight.Lara is baking cupcakes when her daughter Ava runs to catch the school bus just one block away. Chasing after her, Lara sees the bus tumbling past, and waves. But Ava never turns up at school... -
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![The Killing Code by J.D. Kirk]()
The Killing Code by J.D. Kirk
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsWhat would you do if there weren't any consequences?After twenty years on the force, Detective Chief Inspector Jack Logan thinks he has seen it all.He is wrong.When a nurse is murdered on her way home from nightshift, Jack and his team go on the hunt for her killer... -
![The Girl and the Secret Society by A.J. Rivers]()
The Girl and the Secret Society by A.J. Rivers
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsEvil has many faces. This one you will never see coming.This is the bizarre and shocking case of Lakyn Monroe.In the midst of filming her show, Lakyn vanished without a trace.Four months have passed, and the unusual disappearance of the internet celebrity has garnered nationwide attention... -
![The Blossom Twins by Carol Wyer]()
The Blossom Twins by Carol Wyer
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsTheir parents thought they were hiding… One beautiful summer’s evening, thirteen-year-old twins Ivy and Erin Westmore snuggle down in a tent in their back garden, giggling and sharing secrets. When their mother goes to wake the girls the next morning, their tent is empty. The alarm is raised and Detective Natalie Ward is put onto the case... -
![Missing Angel by Roger Stelljes]()
Missing Angel by Roger Stelljes
Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIsabella pedals her bright red bike on the familiar route home, admiring her charm bracelet catching the light. But half an hour later, she is nowhere to be seen. All her frantic parents find is an angel-shaped charm discarded on the sidewalk…When twelve-year-old Isabella Farner disappears, Agent Tori Hunter races to the scene... -
![Fatal Promise by Angela Marsons]()
Fatal Promise by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsEeeny meeny, miney, moe. Who lives, who dies only I know. When the body of a doctor is discovered brutally murdered in local woodland, Detective Kim Stone is shocked to discover the victim is Gordon Cordell – a man linked to a previous case she worked on involving the death of a young school girl... -
![Dead Memories by Angela Marsons]()
Dead Memories by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsShe ruined their lives. Now they’re going to destroy hers. ‘Someone is recreating every traumatic point in your life. They are doing this to make you suffer, to make you hurt and the only possible end game can be death. Your death.’ On the fourth floor of Chaucer House, two teenagers are found chained to a radiator. The boy is dead but the girl is alive... -
![Child's Play by Angela Marsons]()
Child's Play by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFinally we’re playing a game. A game that I have chosen. I give one last push of the roundabout and stand back. 'You really should have played with me,’ I tell her again although I know she can no longer hear... -
![Deadly Cry by Angela Marsons]()
Deadly Cry by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsYou have to stop me from hurting anyone else. I don’t want to do these horrible things. Help me before I’m forced to do it again. And I will do it again because I have no choice. I’ve never had a choice.In a busy shopping centre, a little girl clutches a teddy bear, clinging to it in the absence of her mother, Katrina. Hours later, Katrina’s body is discovered in an abandoned building... -
![Whip Crack by Alex Smith]()
Whip Crack by Alex Smith
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsEvery time you hear his voice, another child will die.DCI Robert Kett’s family may be whole again, but he is a broken man.Suspended from duty, he takes his girls out of the city for a much-needed holiday on the Norfolk Coast.Instead of the peace he desperately needs, however, Kett finds a community in chaos. Four teenagers are missing, and time is running out before they meet a horrific fate... -
![Broken Bones by Angela Marsons]()
Broken Bones by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThey thought they were safe. They were wrong. The murder of a young prostitute and a baby found abandoned on the same winter night signals the start of a disturbing investigation for Detective Kim Stone – one which brings her face to face with someone from her own horrific childhood... -
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![Fatal Witness by Robert Bryndza]()
Fatal Witness by Robert Bryndza
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsDetective Erika Foster is back in FATAL WITNESS – with a chilling new serial killer case in Robert Bryndza's multi-million bestselling crime thriller series!How do you find a killer who has destroyed all the evidence?Detective Erika Foster is on a late-night walk near her new house in Blackheath when she stumbles upon the brutal murder of Vicky Clarke, a true-crime podcaster... -
![Frozen Souls by Rita Herron]()
Frozen Souls by Rita Herron
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsShe looked like an angel. She lay perfectly still, silky blonde hair falling to her pale shoulders. Icicles clung to her eyelashes as snowflakes fluttered to the frozen ground, burying her body.As a snowstorm wreaks havoc in the mountain town of Crooked Creek, a woman is found buried in ice. Detective Ellie Reeves is first on the scene... -
![The Killing House by Claire McGowan]()
The Killing House by Claire McGowan
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsLong-buried secrets are being unearthed. And they're very close to home...Forensic psychologist Paula Maguire returns yet again to her hometown to investigate a spine-chilling case in THE KILLING HOUSE, the sixth novel in Claire McGowan's series. The Paula Maguire series is the perfect read for fans of Michael Connelly and Peter May... -
![Dead Ground by M.W. Craven]()
Dead Ground by M.W. Craven
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsDetective Sergeant Washington Poe is in court, fighting eviction from his beloved and isolated croft, when he is summoned to a backstreet brothel in Carlisle where a man has been beaten to death with a baseball bat...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller adult audiobook -
![The Silent Wife by Andy Maslen]()
The Silent Wife by Andy Maslen
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsHer career on the line and an innocent woman charged with murder. Can she save them both?As bogus corruption charges loom over her, DS Kat Ballantyne finds herself deskbound and stuck with cold cases. Her hated boss, DI Carver, has given her just one week to explain how £50,000 found its way into her bank account. If she can’t, she’ll be lucky to have a desk at all...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller female-mc audiobook mystery -
![Guilty Mothers by Angela Marsons]()
Guilty Mothers by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsShe lies on the floor, her blue eyes wide and unseeing, arms outstretched as if begging for help. Kneeling next to her, wearing a purple sequinned ballgown and holding a knife in shaking hands, is her daughter… In a quiet kitchen, where two mugs wait by the kettle to be filled, Sheryl Hawne lies in a pool of blood... -
![Cold Heart Creek by Lisa Regan]()
Cold Heart Creek by Lisa Regan
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAs the sun rises, the last glow of the campfire is just visible through the mist and the trees... -
![Her Dying Secret by Lisa Regan]()
Her Dying Secret by Lisa Regan
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsShe gently opens the woman’s tightly clenched fist, uncurling each finger to reveal a square of folded paper hidden in her palm... -
![Silenced Girls: An absolutely addictive mystery thriller by Roger Stelljes]()
Silenced Girls: An absolutely addictive mystery thriller by Roger Stelljes
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsShe moved far away to try and forget her past. A past that would seep back in when she least expected it and crushed her soul over and over. She tried to keep the evidence packed away in boxes high up on a closet shelf like carefully packing away a tragic part of her life. As if sealing the boxes, was sealing away a time in her life she desperately wanted to go back and change... -
![Her Broken Wings by D.K. Hood]()
Her Broken Wings by D.K. Hood
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe sound that wakes her from sleep is unmistakable—someone is in their house...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement noir police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
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![The Secret Admirer by Carol Wyer]()
The Secret Admirer by Carol Wyer
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratings‘I tried to talk to you today but you snubbed me and walked away. It wasn’t wise to give me the brush-off, Gemma. I can be a truly good friend but I also make the perfect enemy.’ Sasha’s eighteen-year-old daughter Gemma was all she had in the world. Sasha fell pregnant with Gemma when she was still at school, and the two are as close as sisters... -
![Shadow's Siege by Mary Stone]()
Shadow's Siege by Mary Stone
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsShadow Island is under siege.Just a few short months ago, Sheriff Rebecca West thought her toughest battles were behind her. But nothing could have prepared her for the turmoil she’s faced since coming to Shadow Island. Attempts on her life. Heartbreak. Betrayal. And that’s just the beginning.The worst is yet to come...Categorized as:
female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural crime mystery murder serial-killers fiction -
![Aberration by Lisa Regan]()
Aberration by Lisa Regan
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFBI analyst Kassidy Bishop is assigned to the “For You” killer’s task force after a series of sadistic murders bearing the same signature arise in different parts of the country.The homicides are both calculated and savage, occurring in different states, but bearing the same signature: the words “for you” scribbled at each crime scene... -
![Five Days Post Mortem by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain]()
Five Days Post Mortem by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHer body floats. A bloated thing half atop the river. Naked. Pale. Mouth and eyes open wide. When two fishermen discover a corpse floating in the Clackamas river, profiler Violet Darger heads to rural Oregon to hunt another serial killer. What she discovers in the woods might change the course of her life... -
![The Recipient by Audrey J. Cole]()
The Recipient by Audrey J. Cole
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSergeant Wade McKinnon knows who killed Samantha the moment he arrives at her crime scene. Problem is, he watched her killer die a year ago.A year after serial killer Michael Rhodes is executed and allowed to donate part of his brain as an organ transplant, Wade gets called to a murder scene that shares uncanny similarities to those of the late Michael Rhodes... -
![Dark Water by Caro Ramsay]()
Dark Water by Caro Ramsay
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA bitterly cold February in Glasgow. In the attic of a deserted tenement, the body of a man is found hanging, his face disfigured beyond recognition.Around his neck is a sign that reads: I Am Stephen Whyte.Investigating officers DI Anderson and DS Costello believe the dead man was the prime suspect in a decade-old unsolved case.Ten years ago, a young woman was brutally attacked and left for dead... -
![Once Lost by Blake Pierce]()
Once Lost by Blake Pierce
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsStill reeling from her former partner Lucy’s death and from her partner Bill’s PTSD, FBI Special Agent Riley Paige does her best to try to keep herself stable and to patch together her family life. She has to decide what to about April’s boyfriend, recovering from his abusive father, and about Blaine, who is ready for their relationship to move ahead... -
![Mad Jack by Stacy M. Jones]()
Mad Jack by Stacy M. Jones
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSomething sinister lurks behind the perfect homes and well-manicured lawns of Mulberry Grove. Wealthy tech investor Jack Harlow, known to the FBI as Mad Jack, has been running a personal development program for the past ten years. Locals call it a cult. Few leave, and those who try, end up dead under mysterious circumstances. Six couples in all over the last five years... -
![The Sleepover by Carol Wyer]()
The Sleepover by Carol Wyer
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsRoxy had a secret. Now she’s gone. When fourteen-year-old Roxy says she’s going for a sleepover at her best friend Ellie’s house, Cathy sees no reason to check her daughter’s story. The two families are neighbours, and the girls are in and out of each other’s homes every day. It is a decision she will regret... -
![No Way Back by Rick Mofina, Christian Rummel]()
No Way Back by Rick Mofina, Christian Rummel
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSan Francisco crime reporter Tom Reed is burned out. On the day he decides to finally quit the news business, a sensational story breaks. A heart-stopping robbery-homicide at a jewelry store. The suspects have shot and killed a police officer before fleeing with a female hostage. Reed rushes to the scene, his passion resurrected for one last big story...Categorized as:
crime hard-boiled law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
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![The Hunter of the Dark by Donato Carrisi]()
The Hunter of the Dark by Donato Carrisi
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA brutal killer is on the streets of Rome. He leaves no trace. And shows no mercy.A series of gruesome murders leaves the police force in Rome reeling, with no real clues or hard evidence to follow. Assigned to the case is Sandra Vega, a brilliant forensic analyst, struggling to come to terms with the crimes and her own past... -
![In the Cold Dark Ground by Stuart MacBride]()
In the Cold Dark Ground by Stuart MacBride
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSergeant Logan McRae is in trouble…His missing-persons investigation has just turned up a body in the woods – naked, hands tied behind its back, and a bin bag duct-taped over its head. The Major Investigation Team charges up from Aberdeen, under the beady eye of Logan’s ex-boss Detective Chief Inspector Steel. And, as usual, she wants him to do her job for her... -
![Taker of Lives by Leslie Wolfe]()
Taker of Lives by Leslie Wolfe
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA GRIPPING CRIME THRILLER How can you outrun a killer you won’t see coming?They are the most violent, blood-thirsty, and vicious of criminals. While hunting for them, FBI profilers call these monsters UNSUBS, short for unknown subjects of ongoing investigations...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
![Love You Dead by Peter James]()
Love You Dead by Peter James
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsAn ugly duckling as a child, Jodie Bentley had two dreams in life—to be beautiful and rich. She's achieved the first, with a little help from a plastic surgeon, and now she's working hard on the second. Her philosophy about money is simple. You can either earn it or marry it. Marrying is easy, it's getting rid of the husband afterwards that's harder, that takes real skill... -
![You Are Dead by Peter James, Daniel Weyman]()
You Are Dead by Peter James, Daniel Weyman
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsYou are Dead is the eleventh thrilling crime novel in Peter James' Roy Grace series, read aloud by Daniel Weyman.They were marked for deathThe last words Jamie Ball hears from his fiancée, Logan Somerville, are in a terrified mobile phone call. She has just driven into the underground car park beneath the block of flats where they live in Brighton. Then she screams and the phone goes dead... -
![Blessing of the Lost Girls by J.A. Jance]()
Blessing of the Lost Girls by J.A. Jance
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsReturning to her southwest roots, New York Times bestselling author J. A. Jance presents a riveting new Walker Family suspense novel in which human remains found in Cochise County have federal investigator Dan Pardee, Brandon Walker's son-in-law, stepping into Sheriff Joanna Brady's jurisdiction...Categorized as:
suspense law-enforcement police-procedural female-mc hard-boiled mystery fiction audiobook -
![Hell to Pay by Rachel Amphlett]()
Hell to Pay by Rachel Amphlett
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhen a road traffic accident on a dark autumn night uncovers a disturbing conspiracy, Detective Sergeant Kay Hunter’s investigation exposes a ruthless serial killer exploiting vulnerable young women.With her enemies unmasked and her career spiralling out of control, Kay’s determination to seek vengeance for the victims brings her dangerously close to those who want to silence her...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement suspense female-mc police-procedural thriller hard-boiled noir -
![Unsolved by James Patterson]()
Unsolved by James Patterson
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAvid fans of million-copy bestselling author Robert Bryndza's serial killer thrillers following the cases of Detective Erika Foster will be thrilled by the prospect of Unsolved, which also features a determined female lead as she pieces together clues to bring down an elusive serial...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
![Girl Next Door by Willow Rose]()
Girl Next Door by Willow Rose
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratings“We serial killers are your sons, we are your husbands, we are everywhere”-Ted BundyInspired by a true story.He came in the morning when they were still making lunches and getting ready for school and work. He killed them all. Mother, father, children. Brutally slaughtered them in the comfort of their own home.They called him the Monday Morning Killer... -
![The Silent Children by Carol Wyer]()
The Silent Children by Carol Wyer
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe boy studied the bruise turning yellow at the base of his neck. With quick fingers his mother tightened his tie, and pulled his collar high above it. Her eyes alone said, We will not speak of this... Years later, a man is found shot dead in a local park. On his phone is a draft text: I can’t keep this secret any longer. The recipient is unnamed... -
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![Before Evil by Alex Kava]()
Before Evil by Alex Kava
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSpecial Agent Maggie O'Dell doesn't need to set foot at a crime scene to catch a serial killer. From her small Quantico office, she's profiled criminals using just Polaroids and faxed copies of evidence from homicide detectives across the country.Then comes Albert Stucky . . . and nothing will ever be the same... -
![Rush to Judgement by John Carson]()
Rush to Judgement by John Carson
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA woman is found hanging in the woods in a small Highland town.A hearse crashes into an old church and is abandoned. The police find a coffin inside but the body isn't a recent death. It's the badly decomposed body of a girl who went missing thirty years ago.DCI Harry McNeil is sent north to co-ordinate the hunt for a killer, along with colleagues from Glasgow... -
![Once Cold by Blake Pierce]()
Once Cold by Blake Pierce
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThere is one cold case that has plagued Special Agent Riley Paige for her entire career, dwelling at the corners of her consciousness, forcing her to return to it again and again. The only case she has never solved, she has finally put it out of her mind. Until she gets a call from the murdered victim’s mother... -
![Once Stalked by Blake Pierce]()
Once Stalked by Blake Pierce
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen two soldiers are found dead on a huge military base in California, apparently killed by gunshot, military investigators are stumped. Who is killing its soldiers, inside the secure confines of its own base?And why?The FBI is called in, and Riley Paige is summoned to take the lead... -
![Once Forsaken by Blake Pierce]()
Once Forsaken by Blake Pierce
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen Special Agent Riley Paige finally decides to take a well-needed rest from the FBI, a request for help comes from the most unlikely source: her own daughter. April’s best friend is devastated by the death of her sister, a freshman at Georgetown. Worse, she is convinced that the suicide was staged, and that her sister was murdered at the hands of a serial killer... -
![The Creek Killer by Dominika Best]()
The Creek Killer by Dominika Best
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsHow would you prove you weren’t dead? Jane Smith has been running from danger her whole life. That danger followed her everywhere, leaving a trail of death in its wake. When the mummified bodies of six girls are discovered in the wetlands of Los Angeles, Jane is surprised to learn one of the dead girls bears her name—the name she abandoned twenty-five years ago to go into hiding...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement thriller police-procedural female-mc mystery fiction contemporary
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