Tag Archives: Murder & Attempted Murder

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of murder and attempted murder.

See also Genocide and mass murder, and War themes & military violence.

Dr Grant by Catharina Maura

Dr Grant by Catharina Maura

Dr. Noah Grant’s dream job came with three rules: Don’t sleep with the students, don’t sleep with a patient, and stay away from Harold Astor’s granddaughter. Seems easy, right? It was. Right until Amara Astor walks into his office with one of her own inventions – an adult toy – stuck inside her. She’s a patient, a PhD student, and she’s Harold Astor’s granddaughter. She’s entirely off-limits. Getting involved with her puts his promising future at risk, yet he can’t turn her away. Not when doing so means she’ll find someone else to test her crazy inventions with.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Doctor-patient relationship
  • Murder of both parents recounted

Blood Song by Anthony Ryan

Blood Song by Anthony Ryan

Vaelin Al Sorna is the Sixth Order’s newest recruit. Under their brutal training regime, he learns how to forge a blade, survive the wilds and kill a man quickly and quietly – all in the name of protecting the Realm and the Faith. Now his skills will be put to the test. War is coming. Vaelin must draw upon the very essence of his strength and cunning if he is to survive the coming conflict. Yet as the world teeters on the edge of chaos, Vaelin will learn that the truth can cut deeper than any sword.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse & abandonment
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Death of a child
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • War themes

Deep Dark Secrets by Keri Beevis

Deep Dark Secrets by Keri Beevis

Lizzie Kent wasn’t supposed to babysit the night she was murdered. She was covering for her best friend, Nell. Nell has lived with the guilt ever since. Eighteen years later Nell returns to the area, desperate to escape a bad relationship after inheriting her aunt’s rundown guesthouse. But her return isn’t welcomed by everyone – in particular Sam Kent, who blames Nell for his sister’s death. And after a few unsettling incidents, it becomes apparent that someone is trying to scare her. Is Sam responsible or has Nell’s abusive ex-boyfriend managed to track her down? Or is someone else, with a more sinister agenda, responsible?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Abusive relationship recounted
  • Murder of a friend in a home invasion recounted

My Little Brother by Diane Saxon

My Little Brother by Diane Saxon

Two siblings, both missing for 20 years turn up within one day of each other. One dead. One alive. It was an ordinary school day, the day I lost my little brother.
One moment he was on the roundabout and then was gone. Gone. Missing. They all blamed me. I was in charge. Even though I was only ten years old. They sent me away. The hurt, the shame, the questions. The not knowing. I tried to move on. It’s been nineteen years in exile and now somebody wants me back. Someone with a dark secret. They hold the keys, they know the truth. So, I need to return to my childhood village to find out who, because I have a secret, too… I did something bad.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Familial estrangement
  • Parental infidelity recounted
  • Filicide of an autistic son
  • Murder of a partner
  • Death of a brother
  • Disappearance of a sibling recounted

One Little Lie by Sam Carrington

One Little Lie by Sam Carrington

Deborah’s son was killed four years ago. Alice’s son is in prison for committing that crime. Deborah would give anything to have her boy back, and Alice would do anything to right her son’s wrongs. Driven by guilt and the need for redemption, Alice has started a support group for parents with troubled children. But as the network begins to grow, she soon finds out just how easy it is for one little lie to spiral out of control. They call it mother’s intuition, but can you ever really know your own child?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a son by murder recounted
  • Filicide by suffocation
  • Imprisonment

The Serial Killer’s Girl by LH Stacey

The Serial Killer’s Girl by L.H. Stacey

Lexi Jakes thought she could run from her past. But when her biological mother is found dead, strangled with a red silk scarf and holding a chess piece, Lexi knows that her worst nightmare has come true. Because the murder has all the hallmarks of her own serial killer father, renown strangler Peter Graves. Now with her own precious daughter’s life in danger, Lexi will do anything to keep her child safe…she is her father’s daughter after all.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Murder of a mother by strangulation
  • Imprisonment of a parent for serial murders
  • Animal abuse

There Are No Saints by Sophie Lark

There Are No Saints by Sophie Lark

I loathe Alastor Shaw. The city of San Francisco thinks we’re rival artists. In truth, we’re predators battling for hunting ground. We never chased the same prey. Until the night we both laid eyes on Mara Eldritch. Shaw wants to use her as a pawn in his twisted game. I’m fixated on her for a different reason… She makes me feel things I never thought I could feel. Want things I never wanted. Only she can make me lose control. I don’t know if I should protect her at all cost or destroy her before she ruins me. Mara knows I’m no saint. But she has no idea she’s dancing with the devil…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse mentioned
  • Self-harm mentioned
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping
  • Stalking

Shutter by Ramona Emerson

Shutter by Ramona Emerson

Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque police force. Her excellent photography skills have cracked many cases—she is almost supernaturally good at capturing details. In fact, Rita has been hiding a secret: she sees the ghosts of crime victims who point her toward the clues that other investigators overlook. As a lone portal back to the living for traumatized spirits, Rita is terrorized by nagging ghosts who won’t let her sleep and who sabotage her personal life. Her taboo and psychologically harrowing ability was.… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Drug use
  • Pregnancy
  • Murder

Sweet Like a Psycho by Ivy Smoak

Sweet Like a Psycho by Ivy Smoak

To most people, suburbia is synonymous with good school districts, manicured lawns, and friendly neighbours. But you can never really tell what’s hiding behind those white picket fences and smiling faces. I mean, we all have secrets. The kid down the street steals lawn gnomes. The woman on the corner is having an affair. And me? I’m a murderer. At least…that’s what everyone thinks. Because that’s the other thing about the suburbs. Rumours spread like wildfire. Handsome detectives start poking around. Houses explode. You know…the usual. Yes, I have secrets. But… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Murder
  • Bullying

Queen of Myth and Monsters by Scarlett St Clair

Queen of Myth and Monsters by Scarlett St. Clair

Isolde, newly coronated queen, has finally found a king worthy of her in the vampire Adrian. But their love for each other has cost Isolde her father and her homeland. With two opposing goddesses playing mortals and vampires like chess pieces against one another, Isolde is uncertain who her allies are in the vampire stronghold of Revekka. Now, as politics in the Red Palace grow more underhanded and a deadly blood mist threatens all of Cordova, Isolde must trust in the bond she’s formed with Adrian, even as she learns troubling information about his complicated past.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape recounted, off-page (sc)
  • Blood drinking
  • Murder
  • War themes