#1 — SHADOW MAN BY CODY MCFADYEN

I picked this book because honestly I do not think there has ever been such a thrilling crime book I have ever read than this one. Smoky Barrett is such a dynamic and unique main character. She is tragic, pitiful, sad, bad-ass, clever, and so easy for us to relate with all wrapped into one tiny FBI agent. Mcfadyen didn’t just create a perfect main character but the ultimate villain, Jack the Ripper himself! More accurately the crazy madman thinks he is the descent of that infamous serial killer. He leads Smoky and her team on the most intense game of Russian Roulette ever played.  Who will win? I will leave that for you to discover!

Synopsis:

Once, Special Agent Smoky Barrett hunted serial killers for the FBI. She was one of the best until a madman terrorized her family, killed her husband and daughter, and left her face scarred and her soul brutalized. Turning the tables on the killer, Smoky shot him dead but her life was shattered forever.

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#2 — 1ST TO DIE BY JAMES PATTERSON

This is book number one in a series titled Women’s Murder Club by James Patterson and what is not to like? A bunch of murderous women embarking on fatal pastimes?… Just Kidding! The women’s murder club surrounds itself around a detective, a medical examiner, and various women in law enforcement of some sort. It is quite an attention grabbing series in its own unique way. I highly recommend reading the series especially if you enjoy Patterson’s Alex Cross books. They have the same feel but very different!

Synopsis:

Each one holds a piece of the puzzle: Lindsay Boxer is a homicide inspector in the San Francisco Police Department, Claire Washburn is a medical examiner, Jill Bernhardt is an assistant D.A., and Cindy Thomas just started working the crime desk of the San Francisco Chronicle.

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#3 — WHITE OLEANDER BY JANET FITCH 

This book was particularly difficult to add to my Murder Monday list simply because it is not exactly like the others. Janet Fitch weaves the tale of what happens to a young girl after her mother poisons an ex-boyfriend in a crime of passion. The girl faces tragedy, hardship, upheaval, and disappointment at a consistent rate while her mother is imprisoned rightly so for her crimes. I picked it to add to my list because it is one of my favorite books that show the burdens carried and lives affected by the choices of their loved ones. Children of murderers are all too often an overlooked victim of the horrible deeds committed by their parents.

Synopsis:

White Oleander tells the unforgettable story of Ingrid, a brilliant poet imprisoned for murder, and her daughter, Astrid, whose odyssey through a series of Los Angeles foster homes-each its own universe, with its own laws, its own dangers, its own hard lessons to be learned-becomes a redeeming and surprising journey of self-discovery.

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#4 – IF YOU REALLY LOVED ME BY ANNE RULE  

This was one of the first books I thought of when I decided to write this post. It is so very cruel and twisted but at the same time really expresses a realism I have never seen in a book before.  It shows everything truly dark in the human soul.  It captures how greed and lust are very much a deadly sin. The book had my attention from the first sentence and I do not believe I put it down until the end. The story plays and acts upon every emotion a human could possibly have. It is at the very top of my recommend list for those who love a good crime detective story.  This will not be the first nor the last Anne Rule book readers will find me suggesting here on the blog. She is truly an under appreciated but vastly talented author!

Synopsis:

David Brown was the consummate entrepreneur: a computer wizard and millionaire by age thirty-two. When his beautiful young wife was shot to death as she slept, Brown’s fourteen-year-old daughter, Cinnamon, confessed to killing her stepmother. The California courts sentenced her harshly: twenty-four years to life. But in the wake of Cinnamon’s murder conviction, thanks in part to two determined lawmen, the twisted private world of David Brown himself unfolded with astonishing clarity — revealing a trail of perverse love, twisted secrets, and evil mind games.

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