Category Archives: Mystery & Thriller

Last Seen by J.T. Ellison

Halley James knows her marriage is over. But she’s not prepared for the rest of her life to fall apart too. She just lost her job at the forensics lab. Her dad needs emergency surgery. But the biggest blow comes back home in Marchburg, Virginia, where she discovers her mother didn’t actually die in a car crash. Her mom was murdered—and her father lied about it all these years. Since she was six years old, it’s been Halley and her dad. Now, she doesn’t know what to believe. Desperate for the truth, Halley chases down a lead in Brockville, Tennessee. But all there is not as it seems… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping & captivity

Lie to Me by J.T. Ellison

Sutton and Ethan Montclair’s idyllic life is not as it appears. They seem made for each other, but the truth is ugly. Consumed by professional and personal betrayals and financial woes, the two both love and hate each other. As tensions mount, Sutton disappears, leaving behind a note saying not to look for her. Ethan finds himself the target of vicious gossip as friends, family and the media speculate on what really happened to Sutton Montclair. As the police investigate, the lies the couple have been spinning for years quickly unravel. Is Ethan a killer? Is he being set… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Suicide
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use
  • Abortion
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a son from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

It’s One of Us by J.T. Ellison

Olivia Bender designs exquisite home interiors that satisfy the most demanding clients. But her own deepest desire can’t be fulfilled by marble counters or the perfect rug. She desperately wants to be a mother. Fertility treatments and IVF keep failing. And just when she feels she’s at her lowest point, the police deliver shocking news to Olivia and her husband, Park. DNA results show that the prime suspect in a murder investigation is Park’s son. Olivia is relieved, knowing this is a mistake. Despite their desire, the Benders don’t have any children. Then comes the confession. Many years ago, Park donated sperm to a clinic… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape mentioned
  • Infidelity
  • Infertility & miscarriage (theme, on-page)
  • Kidnapping
  • Home invasion & stalking

A Very Bad Thing by J.T. Ellison

A great writer knows when to deliver a juicy plot twist. But for one author, the biggest twist of all is her own murder. With a number of hit titles and a highly anticipated movie tie-in, celebrated novelist Columbia Jones is at the top of her game. Fans around the world adore her. But on the final night of her latest book tour, one face in the crowd makes the author collapse. And by the next morning, she’s lying dead in a pool of blood. Columbia’s death shocks the world and leaves Darian, her daughter and publicist, reeling. The police have nothing to go on–at first, but then details… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape mentioned
  • Domestic violence
  • Pregnancy
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Home invasion mentioned
  • Hostage situation
  • Blackmail & stalking

Tear Me Apart by J.T. Ellison

Competitive skier Mindy Wright is a superstar in the making until a spectacular downhill crash threatens not just her racing career but her life. During surgery, doctors discover she’s suffering from a severe form of leukemia, and a stem cell transplant is her only hope. But when her parents are tested, a frightening truth emerges. Mindy is not their daughter. Who knows the answers? The race to save Mindy’s life means unraveling years of lies. Was she accidentally switched at birth or is there something more sinister at play? The search for the truth will tear a family apart… and someone is going to deadly extremes to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Self-harm & suicide
  • Miscarriage
  • Physical injury sustained during a skiing accident
  • Cancer (leukemia, protagonist)

A Deeper Darkness by J.T. Ellison

As a medical examiner, Samantha Owens knows her job is to make a certain sense of death with crisp methodology and precision instruments. But the day the Tennessee floods took her husband and children, the light vanished from Sam’s life. She has been pulled into a suffocating grief no amount of workaholic ardor can penetrate;until she receives a peculiar call from Washington, D.C. On the other end of the line is an old boyfriend’s mother, asking Sam to do a second autopsy on her son. Eddie Donovan is officially the victim of a vicious carjacking, but under Sam’s sharp eye the forensics tell a darker story. The ex-Rang… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Death of a husband & children by drowning
  • Murder

Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison

Perched atop a hill in the tiny town of Marchburg, Virginia, The Goode School is a prestigious prep school known as a Silent Ivy. The boarding school of choice for daughters of the rich and influential, it accepts only the best and the brightest. Its elite status, long-held traditions and honor code are ideal for preparing exceptional young women for brilliant futures at Ivy League universities and beyond. But a stranger has come to Goode, and this ivy has turned poisonous. In a world where appearances are everything, as long as students pretend to follow the rules, no one questions the cruelties of the secret societies or… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Suicide
  • Abortion
  • Graphic murder
  • Hanging
  • Hazing

Bad in the Blood by Matteo L. Cerilli

In the city of Puck’s Port, where motorized vehicles fill the streets and new technological marvels abound, something rotten is lurking under the surface. A violent murder at the docks seems to point to a fey killer, igniting a powder keg of distrust between the city’s humans and its fey inhabitants — folks who wield wonderful but often uncontrollable magical power. Gristle Senan Maxim Junior finds himself caught in the middle. Forced into the reluctant role of private investigator, like his late father, he’s working to solve the mystery of this fiery murder… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Psychiatric hospisalition, including unethical electroshock therapy
  • Police brutality

A Tangle of Gold by Jaclyn Moriarty

His visit turned out to be ridiculously brief. Madeleine and Elliot barely talked before word came that he and his father would be bundled back to Cello. On the train platform, Elliot didn’t snap out of the distant fog he seemed to be in. And Madeleine’s nose bled—again!—just as she tried to say good-bye. Now she’s mortified, heartbroken, lost—and completely cut off from Cello. Cello, meanwhile, is in crisis. Princess Ko’s deception of her people has emerged and the Kingdom is outraged. Authorities have placed the Princess under arrest and ordered her execution. Color storms are… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parent with alcoholism & drug addiction
  • Amnesia
  • Heart attack
  • Death of a child
  • Kidnapping

The Cracks in the Kingdom by Jaclyn Moriarty

Princess Ko’s been bluffing about the mysterious absence of her father, desperately trying to keep the government running on her own. But if she can’t get him back in a matter of weeks, the consequence may be a devastating war. So under the guise of a publicity stunt she gathers a group of teens — each with a special ability — from across the kingdom to crack the unsolvable case of the missing royals of Cello. Chief among these is farm-boy heartthrob Elliot Baranski, more determined than ever to find… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child neglect
  • Amnesia
  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Murder & kidnapping