Books like 'Dark Purpose'
Readers who enjoyed Dark Purpose by Mary Stone also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
mystery action / adventure serial killer crime suspense law-enforcement legal female-mc police-procedural thriller
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The Hermitage by L.J. Ross
Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFROM THE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF HOLY ISLAND AND SEVEN BRIDGES He thought he was invincible, but he was wrong… When an old man is found dead inside the ancient hermitage at Warkworth Castle, Northumbria CID are called in to investigate...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
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 police-procedural suspense 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 legal police-procedural suspense thriller 21st-century -
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 police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
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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 police-procedural suspense 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 police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Dead Souls by Angela Marsons
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe truth was dead and buried…until now. When a collection of human bones is unearthed during a routine archaeological dig, a Black Country field suddenly becomes a complex crime scene for Detective Kim Stone. As the bones are sorted, it becomes clear that the grave contains more than one victim. The bodies hint at unimaginable horror, bearing the markings of bullet holes and animal traps...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
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 police-procedural suspense 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 suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
The House in the Woods by Mark Dawson
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFour murders. Two detectives. One mystifying crime. On Christmas Eve, DCI Mackenzie Jones is called to a shooting at a remote farmhouse. Ralph Mallender believes his father lies dead inside. When three more bodies are discovered, it’s clear a festive family gathering has turned into a gruesome tragedy...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Stalker on the Fens by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDETECTIVE NIKKI GALENA’S FRIEND THINKS SHE HAS A DEADLY STALKERDI Nikki Galena’s friend Helen Brook is involved in a serious accident where she is trapped in a collapsed cellar. After her hard-won recovery, Helen is still getting flashbacks to a man she says was down there with her and who confessed to a murder. But no trace of this man can be found...Categorized as:
crime female-mc 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 suspense 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 suspense 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 suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
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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 police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Winter's Redemption by Mary Stone
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Preacher is killing again...The serial killer who slaughtered Winter’s parents has come out of retirement, leaving bloody victims in his wake. Special Agent Winter Black has spent her entire life preparing for this moment, and she intends to end the man who took everything from her and solve the disappearance of her little brother—no matter the cost... -
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 -
Signature by Jeff Carson
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsChief Detective Wolf and Special Agent Kristen Luke are back — and they’re going up against a sadistic killer whose signature works span the Four Corners region of Colorado and are now spilling into Rocky Points. Signature is the latest pulse-thumping thriller in Jeff Carson’s popular David Wolf mystery-thriller series...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Fear on the Fens by Joy Ellis
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNow.In the beautiful gardens of Shelley House a shocking discovery is made. A blackened hand dangles over the side of a wheelbarrow. The horrific scent of burnt flesh lingers in the air.Detective Nikki Galena and Joseph Easter are called in to investigate.Twenty years ago.A family destroyed by tragic secrets. The scientist father who killed their gardener, before being murdered himself...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
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 police-procedural suspense 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 suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
A Killer's Wife by Victor Methos
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsFrom the bestselling author of The Neon Lawyer comes a gripping thriller about a prosecutor confronted with the darkest part of her past and the worst fears for her future…Fourteen years ago, prosecutor Jessica Yardley’s husband went to prison for a series of brutal murders. She’s finally created a life with her daughter and is a well-respected attorney. She’s moving on...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement legal police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure -
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 police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult book -
Dawn Girl by Leslie Wolfe
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA GRIPPING SERIAL KILLER THRILLERHer blue eyes wide open, glossed over. A few specks of sand clung to her long, dark lashes. Her beautiful face, immobile, covered in sparkling flecks of sand. Her lips slightly parted as if to let a last breath escape...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult book -
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Crimson Lake Road by Victor Methos
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBestselling author Victor Methos’s acclaimed series continues as prosecutor Jessica Yardley races to catch an art-obsessed serial killer before she becomes his next masterpiece.Retiring prosecutor Jessica Yardley can’t turn down one last investigation. This time, it’s a set of murders inspired by a series of grisly paintings called The Night Things...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement legal police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Criss Cross by James Patterson
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA killer with all the skills of a master detective has made Alex Cross the subject of his deranged "investigation." In a Virginia penitentiary, Alex Cross and his partner, John Sampson, witness the execution of a killer they helped convict. Hours later, they are called to the scene of a copycat crime. A note signed "M" rests on the corpse. "You messed up big time, Dr. Cross...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure audiobook book -
The Girl in the Sand by L.T. Vargus, Tim McBain
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsShallow graves scar the desert landscape. A cemetery in the sand. Some of the lost are never found. Thousands of girls go missing every year in Las Vegas. Taken. Bought and sold. Or worse. And now the dead are calling. These lost girls summon FBI Profiler Violet Darger to Sin City -- a new case...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense 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 suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Cold Lake by Jeff Carson
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe truth emerges one piece at a time. When a fisherman reels in a plastic bag containing a severed human head from the depths of Cold Lake, Colorado, Sheriff David Wolf and his deputies scramble to the scene, and quickly realize there are more surprises to be found below...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult book -
No Safe Place by Patricia Gibney
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsListening Length: 12 hours and 4 minutesThere's nothing more dangerous than a familiar face...As funeral mourners stand in silence at Ragmullin cemetery, a deafening cry cuts through the air. Lying crumpled at the bottom of an open grave is the bloodied body of a young woman, and Detective Lottie Parker is called in to investigate...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
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 suspense action-adventure adult anthologies -
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 suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Spiraled by Kendra Elliot, Nick Podehl
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFBI Special Agent Ava McLane solves crimes; she doesn’t witness them. When she’s trapped in a mall without her weapon as a shooter picks off victims, she hides with a wounded teen and prays for her survival.But that’s only the beginning…An epidemic of mass shootings has has swept across Oregon. The young shooters terrify the public, committing random murders before taking their own lives...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense action-adventure adult audiobook -
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 suspense action-adventure adult alpha-mc -
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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 police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
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 suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
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 suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Chosen Prey by John Sandford
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA New York Times bestseller! Lucas Davenport returns in the most harrowing and unexpected Prey novel yet—the story of a congenial man, and his most uncongenial obsession...An art history professor and writer and cheerful pervert, James Qatar had a hobby: he took secret photographs of women and turned them into highly sexual drawings. One day, he took the hobby a step further and..Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Winter Prey by John Sandford
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 31 ratings"Winter Prey" is a John Sandford suspense masterpiece! Following the international success of "Shadow Prey" and "Silent Prey," he creates another heart-pounding chapter in the career of Lucas Davenport, the brilliant, hard-bitten detective from the Twin Cities.The Iceman is Lucas Davenport's most determined foe - a serial killer driven to cover his brutal tracks with blood...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
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 legal police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
Shattered by Allison Brennan
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsOver a span of twenty years, four boys have been kidnapped from their bedrooms, suffocated, and buried nearby in a shallow grave. Serial killer or coincidence?That’s the question investigative reporter Maxine Revere sets out to answer when an old friend begs her to help exonerate his wife, who has been charged with their son’s recent murder. But Max can do little to help because the police and D... -
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 suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Watson Girl by Leslie Wolfe
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAn entire family is murdered and, by a quirk, a young girl is left unharmed. For fifteen years, she believed the killer had been caught, and he’s now on death row, awaiting execution. While trying to be content with her adoptive family, she’s living in relentless uncertainty and the fear of remembering what really happened that night when she was five years old. She’s The Watson Girl...Categorized as:
crime female-mc law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult -
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 law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
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Tell Nobody by Patricia Gibney
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe boy’s body was so white it was almost transparent. But that’s not what caused the nausea to rise up her throat. He was so young. His body was unmarked, surrounded by a halo of plucked wildflowers.One hot summer evening, eleven-year-old Mikey Driscoll is on the way home from playing with friends. Two days later, his body is discovered on a bed of wildflowers by some local teenagers...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
Her Last Breath by Charlie Gallagher
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDiscover a crime thriller which will have you gripped from the explosive start to one of the most shocking endings of the year. DETECTIVE GEORGE ELMS THOUGHT HE’D SEEN IT ALL, UNTIL HE COMES UP AGAINST SERIAL KILLER HENRY ‘THE BULL’ ROBERTS. Henry Roberts had a type — young, blonde, attractive women. He is three years into a life sentence. Two of his victims were never found...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult book -
Broken Souls by Patricia Gibney
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratings‘She shivered, though the kitchen was warm. Icicles of foreboding trickled down her spine. With trembling hands she whipped back her hair at the nape of her neck. As she turned away from the window, she missed the shadow passing by.’One dark winter’s morning, bride-to-be Cara Dunne is found hanging in her home, dressed in her wedding dress, with a lock of hair removed...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook -
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 -
Dark is the Grave by T.G. Reid
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA dead cop. A damaged detective. A copycat killer on the loose.When the chief suspect in the notorious Peek-a-boo cop killer case blew himself up, almost taking lead investigator DCI Duncan Bone with him, the psychologically damaged detective thought his days on the force were over...Categorized as:
crime suspense law-enforcement police-procedural thriller mystery fiction contemporary -
Buried Prey by John Sandford
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsA house demolition provides an unpleasant surprise for Minneapolis-the bodies of two girls, wrapped in plastic. It looks like they've been there a long time. Lucas Davenport knows exactly how long. In 1985, Davenport was a young cop with a reputation for recklessness, and the girls' disappearance was a big deal. His bosses ultimately declared the case closed, but he never agreed with that...Categorized as:
crime law-enforcement police-procedural suspense thriller action-adventure adult audiobook
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