Young women are being murdered and posed like marionettes in London’s busiest tourist hotspots—Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square, places where thousands pass daily. Yet somehow the killer deposits bodies in plain sight without a single witness seeing him come or go. It’s as if he’s invisible, a ghost who can manipulate reality itself. The case should go to a seasoned detective with decades of serial murder experience, someone with the gravitas and connections to command resources and respect. 🎭

Instead, it lands on the desk of newbie DCI Elsie Mabey, who’s barely settled into her promotion before facing the kind of career-defining case that veterans dream about and rookies dread. She brings with her a ragtag team of misfits and rejects—the officers other departments didn’t want, the “not quite fired” of London policing who’ve been sidelined for various infractions or inconveniences. They’re brilliant in unconventional ways, but they’re also damaged, difficult, and decidedly not the Met’s finest. 👮

Elsie faces an impossible task that would challenge even experienced investigators: finding an invisible killer who leaves no forensic evidence, no witnesses, no mistakes. The public staging suggests someone craving attention, but the complete absence of witnesses suggests meticulous planning and possibly inside knowledge of surveillance blind spots. As the body count rises and media pressure intensifies, Elsie must prove she deserves the promotion everyone assumes she didn’t earn. 🔍

Complicating everything is Elsie’s own invisible illness—a condition she’s hiding from her team and superiors, knowing that any sign of weakness could be used to justify removing her from the case or the job entirely. She’s fighting on two fronts: against a killer who seems unstoppable and against her own body that threatens to betray her at the worst possible moment. 💊

Why this hooks you: Ali Gunn delivers a fresh take on police procedurals by giving the high-profile serial killer case to the least likely detective and surrounding her with a team of beautiful disasters who must prove their worth. The dual struggle—solving impossible murders while managing chronic illness—adds layers of tension beyond typical whodunit mechanics. For fans of Tana French’s damaged detectives or Ruth Rendell’s psychological complexity, this series starter promises both compelling mystery and character depth that will carry through multiple books. 📚

Faye Baker is renovating her new home when she makes a discovery that turns her dream house into a nightmare—a fragile child’s skull hidden behind the walls, small enough to cradle in her hands. Detective Lottie Parker arrives to investigate what should be a straightforward historical case, except the house has been owned for years by the family of Faye’s boyfriend Jeff. When Jeff starts acting suspiciously, avoiding questions and disappearing at odd hours, Lottie wonders what secrets this family has been literally walling up. 💀

Before Lottie can dig deeper into the house’s dark history, eleven-year-old Gavin makes another horrifying discovery while playing near railway tracks—a child’s bones, scattered and weathered. The bones don’t match the small skull from behind Faye’s walls, which means there are at least two dead children and possibly more. Someone out there must be missing their loved ones, and it’s up to Lottie to put right a terrible wrong that’s been hidden for years, possibly decades. 🚂

Unable to shake a feeling of foreboding, Lottie goes to speak with Faye about the investigation’s progress and discovers that she hasn’t turned up for work. When Faye’s body is found stuffed in the back of her car—clearly murdered and hastily concealed—the case transforms from historical mystery to urgent homicide. Faye discovered something behind those walls that someone was willing to kill to keep hidden, and now Lottie must figure out who wanted her silenced before they claim another victim. 🚗

The investigation forces Lottie to unravel decades of family secrets, lies, and cover-ups in a close-knit community where everyone protects their own. The buried children are connected to living people with reputations to protect and secrets worth killing for, and Faye’s murder proves that the past isn’t safely buried—it’s still dangerous, still claiming victims, still demanding justice that someone powerful doesn’t want delivered. ⚖️

What makes this compelling: Patricia Gibney delivers the eighth installment in her Detective Lottie Parker series with a case that combines historical mystery with present-day murder, creating layers of secrets that span generations. The discovery of multiple children’s remains adds heartbreaking stakes, while Faye’s murder provides urgency. For readers who love British police procedurals with damaged but determined detectives, family secrets that refuse to stay buried, and the satisfying unraveling of long-hidden crimes, this offers exactly the kind of addictive mystery that makes you cancel plans to keep reading. 🎯

For Cat Nichols, someday has finally arrived. Going away to college means a fresh start for the girl who’s spent years locked in a prison of insecurities, hiding behind walls she built to protect herself from judgment and rejection. She’s ready to reinvent herself, to experience new things and meet new people without the baggage of her past defining her. College is her chance to become who she’s always wanted to be rather than who her fears told her she was. But she wasn’t ready for him. 🎓

Jace Butler carries demons that lie dormant beneath the skin of his rippling body and devastatingly sexy smile. He’s encountered things no one person should have to endure, trauma that’s shaped him in ways he’s still trying to understand. Living in the present while haunted by his past is a constant struggle—every day requires conscious effort to keep the darkness at bay, to maintain the facade that everything’s fine even when it’s not. When Cat walks into his world, though, something shifts. She represents possibility, a chance for a better life that he thought he’d lost the right to claim. 💪

After finding each other, Cat and Jace realize that both their past and present issues are actively trying to ruin their chance at happiness. Cat’s insecurities haven’t disappeared just because she changed locations—they’ve followed her to college, whispering that she’s not good enough for someone like Jace. His demons are louder, more dangerous, threatening to destroy not just his own life but hers as well if he can’t keep them controlled. The connection between them is undeniable, but so are the obstacles threatening to tear them apart. 💔

They’ll have to deal with their issues—once and for all—if they want any hope of a future together. But the question is whether they face those demons together, drawing strength from their connection, or apart, letting fear and trauma win. Sometimes healing requires another person’s belief in you, and sometimes that belief is the most terrifying gift you can receive because it means you might actually have to try. ✨

Why this resonates: Melanie Shawn delivers a new adult romance that tackles serious trauma and mental health issues while maintaining hope and heat. The dual-POV allows readers to understand both Cat’s journey from insecurity to confidence and Jace’s battle with demons he can’t always control. For fans of Colleen Hoover’s emotional intensity or Jamie McGuire’s damaged-but-devoted heroes, this series starter promises the kind of relationship that heals as much as it challenges, where two broken people discover that sometimes the best person to save you is someone who needs saving too. 💕

When thirty-six-year-old Tash and her younger brother Jamie discover their late Grandad’s homemade time machine in his workshop, they don’t expect it to actually work. It’s a ramshackle contraption that looks more likely to electrocute them than transport them anywhere. But when they activate it for a laugh, they’re flung back to October 1984, arriving on the exact day that Bob Geldof saw the BBC news report about famine in Ethiopia—the report that inspired the historic charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” and sparked the global humanitarian movement that followed. 🎸

Except now Bob never sees the report. Because Tash and Jamie accidentally prevent it from airing. Suddenly, the timeline is broken in ways that ripple through history: no Band Aid charity single, no USA for Africa answering with “We Are the World,” no Live Aid concert that united the world. The entire charitable movement that defined a generation simply never happens, erased by their careless interference. 📺

Jamie wants to find Bob Geldof and fix the future they’ve broken, to somehow recreate the circumstances that led to one of the most important cultural moments of the 1980s. Tash wants to get home to her five-month-old baby waiting for her in 2020—she’s a new mother trapped in the past, desperate with worry about a child she can’t reach, who might not even exist if they’ve changed history too drastically. The siblings are pulled in different directions by competing urgencies, arguing about what matters most while trying to navigate 1980s London with no money, no plan, and rapidly depleting time. 👶

As they attempt to repair the timeline, they discover that fixing history is far more complicated than breaking it. Do they need Bob to see that exact broadcast, or will any catalyst work? Can they recreate the moment without butterfly-effecting something else crucial? And how do you convince a rock star that he needs to organize a charity supergroup when he has no reason to care about a crisis he hasn’t seen? ⏰

What makes this charming: James Crookes delivers a heartwarming time-travel comedy that uses real history as its framework, exploring what happens when ordinary people accidentally erase an extraordinary moment of global compassion. The 1980s nostalgia is rich and authentic, while the stakes (both fixing history and getting back to a baby) create genuine tension beneath the humor. With over 60,000 copies sold, this British Christmas novel offers the perfect blend of laughs, heart, and “what if” speculation for readers who love time-travel adventures with soul. 🌟

They are the light against the darkness, the steel against the necromancy of the Druj, the King’s elite Water Dogs who use demons to hunt demons. Nazafareen lives for revenge, consumed by it since the day monsters killed her sister. A girl of the isolated Four-Legs Clan, all she knows about the Water Dogs is their reputation and their strange power—they leash wicked creatures called daevas to protect the empire from the Undead. When scouts arrive seeking young people with the gift, she leaps at the chance to join, to finally have the tools to hunt the creatures that destroyed her family. ⚔️

Scarred by grief, Nazafareen is willing to pay any price for revenge, even linking with a daeva named Darius. He’s human in body but possessed of terrifying power that she controls through golden cuffs that bind them together. The cuffs give her command over his abilities, but they have an unwanted side effect—each experiences the other’s emotions, creating an intimacy neither asked for. Human and daeva start to grow dangerously close as they pursue a deadly foe across the arid waste of the Great Salt Plain to the glittering capital of Persepolae. 🔗

As they hunt their quarry and unearth secrets of Darius’s forgotten past, Nazafareen is forced to question everything she’s been taught. The empire she serves isn’t as righteous as she believed, and Darius’s slavery—which she’s been enforcing through those golden cuffs—becomes increasingly difficult to justify. He’s not the monster she was told daevas were; he’s a person with hopes and fears and a past that was stolen from him. But with an ancient evil stirring in the north and a young conqueror sweeping in from the west, personal questions about morality must wait. 🌍

The fate of an entire civilization hangs in the balance, and Nazafareen must decide where her loyalty truly lies—with the empire that armed her for revenge, or with the daeva she’s come to care for despite every reason she shouldn’t. This complete trilogy delivers epic adventure, slow-burn romance, and betrayal that leads to undiscovered magical realms and a final confrontation with a demon queen bent on destroying them all. ⚡

Why this captivates: Kat Ross delivers a complete epic fantasy trilogy inspired by Persian mythology, featuring a fierce heroine whose quest for revenge evolves into something far more complex. The bonded-pair dynamic between Nazafareen and Darius creates both power and vulnerability, while the empire-building scope takes readers from desert wastes to magical kingdoms. For fans of Sabaa Tahir’s “An Ember in the Ashes” or anyone who loves fantasy that explores the cost of vengeance and the complications of freedom, this complete trilogy offers everything you need for a satisfying binge-read. 📚

After losing her aunt and mother in quick succession, young Riley Mays fled Chicago for her cousins’ Wisconsin farm, finding solace in caring for her extraordinary adoptive brother, exploring wild nature, and gazing at the mystical moon—a private refuge where she hides from her most painful memories. Ten years later at twenty-one, Riley feels trapped by the protective walls she’s built. She’s safe, but she’s also suffocating, unable to move forward while still imprisoned by the past she refuses to examine. 🌙

When bestselling novelist Vaughn Orr, suffering from writer’s block, takes to the country roads and stumbles upon the Mays family farm, he’s captivated by their eccentric warmth—and especially by Riley’s quiet tenacity. He recognizes in her the same desperate need to keep heartbreaking secrets buried, the same walls he’s constructed around his own trauma. They circle each other carefully, two wounded souls who understand that breaking down defenses means risking everything. 📚

As their connection deepens, the worst moments of their lives threaten to surface. Riley must confront why she really left Chicago and what she’s been running from all these years. Vaughn must face the writer’s block that’s really grief in disguise. With Riley’s supportive family, a dash of everyday magic, and the healing power of Wisconsin’s wild beauty, they begin the terrifying work of letting go of the troubled pasts they’ve clung to for protection. ✨

The question becomes whether they can find the courage to be vulnerable—with each other and themselves—or whether fear will win again. Sometimes healing requires witnessing someone else’s pain and allowing them to witness yours, trusting that shared darkness becomes lighter when you stop carrying it alone. 🦋

What makes this beautiful: Glendy Vanderah, author of “Where the Forest Meets the Stars,” delivers a tender coming-of-age story about two people learning that the walls protecting you from pain also prevent healing and connection. The Wisconsin farm setting provides both grounding and magic, while the found-family dynamic creates safety for exploring trauma. For readers who love Heather Gudenkauf’s emotional depth or Barbara O’Neal’s healing-through-nature themes, this offers quiet hope and the promise that it’s never too late to stop running from yourself. 🌟

“This is Reaper speaking.” The anonymous letter published in a Utah newspaper after a young couple’s vicious murder sends ice through Tooele County sheriff Elizabeth Gray’s veins. The double homicide is eerily reminiscent of brutal killings from years ago—a case everyone thought was closed. When the letter leads detectives to another body, Gray knows she needs help from someone who understands the twisted psychology of serial killers. 📰

She calls on Solomon Shepard, a former prosecutor still recovering from the deadly courtroom attack that ended his career and nearly ended his life. He’s been keeping safe distance from danger, teaching criminology seminars about serial murders and psychopathology rather than confronting actual killers. Gray’s request pulls him back into the world he’s been avoiding, but the Reaper case proves impossible to resist. 🎓

As bodies pile up following a deranged pattern, Shepard and Gray race to unravel the copycat killer’s design. The original Reaper is dead or imprisoned—they’re sure of it—but someone is recreating those murders with disturbing accuracy, adding their own signature flourishes. Each crime scene provides clues, but the clues lead them in circles, almost as if the killer is playing a game with investigators who should know better. 🔍

They find themselves in a face-off with an enemy they never saw coming—someone who knows how they think, who anticipates their moves, who’s been watching them far longer than they’ve been hunting. The worst realization? The Reaper isn’t copying old murders. He’s finishing something the original killer started, and Shepard and Gray are part of the plan. ⚖️

Why this hooks you: Victor Methos launches a propulsive legal thriller series featuring a damaged prosecutor and a determined sheriff facing a copycat killer who’s playing a deeper game than anyone realizes. The Utah setting provides isolation and terrain that amplifies danger, while Shepard’s traumatic past creates both vulnerability and insight. For fans of Michael Connelly’s Lincoln Lawyer series or anyone who loves legal thrillers where courtroom skills translate to criminal investigation, this delivers twisty plotting and characters worth following through a series. 🎯

When multiple women go missing in Tennessee, Agent Melina Shepard of the TBI makes an impulsive decision that could end her career—she goes undercover as a prostitute to draw out the killer. Working the street, she narrowly avoids becoming his latest victim, saved only by luck and instinct. The close call proves what she’s been denying: she needs backup, even if admitting it galls her. 🚨

Enter FBI agent Jerrod Ramsey, a lone wolf who works better solo but understands that some cases require partnership. Together they investigate a scene where a little girl has been found abandoned in a crashed vehicle. When they open the trunk, they discover a horror show that changes everything—they’re not dealing with one serial killer but two, with very different MOs operating in the same area. 🔍

The whole situation brings back memories for Melina, triggering recognition she can’t quite place. Why does this particular case feel so connected to her painful past? As they dig deeper, patterns emerge that suggest these killers aren’t working independently—there’s a connection, and Melina is starting to suspect she’s part of it in ways she doesn’t want to examine. ⚠️

Before time runs out, Melina must catch not one but two serial killers, both ready to claim another victim—and both with their sights set squarely on her. The case has become personal in the most dangerous way possible, and the closer she gets to the truth, the more she realizes her past and this investigation are on a collision course. 💔

Why this grips from page one: Mary Burton delivers a taut thriller that raises the stakes by doubling the threat—two serial killers with different methods but a shared target creates relentless tension. Melina’s connection to the case adds emotional weight beyond procedural investigation, while her partnership with Ramsey provides both professional chemistry and personal friction. For fans of Lisa Gardner or Karin Slaughter who love damaged heroines fighting personal demons while hunting killers, Burton delivers exactly the kind of dark, propulsive suspense that demands binge-reading. 📚

Fourteen years ago, Kaitlin Roe survived being shot in the head and left for dead. Her best friend, Gina, wasn’t so lucky—her body was never found. Kaitlin has spent more than a decade trying to remember that night, but trauma has locked away the memories that could identify the killer. Now working as a consultant on cold cases, she’s built a career out of her obsession with finding answers for other victims’ families, even if she can’t find them for her own. 🔫

Texas Ranger Kyle Austin has never forgotten the Roe case—it was his first major investigation, and the one that got away. When new evidence surfaces suggesting the killer is active again, Kyle and Kaitlin are forced to work together, circling the trauma that has defined both their lives. As they investigate, Kaitlin’s buried memories begin surfacing in fragments—painful flashes that don’t quite make sense but point toward an impossible truth. 👮

The killer has been watching Kaitlin all these years, waiting for the right moment to finish what he started. He knows she’s the only person who can identify him, and he’s grown obsessed with the woman who escaped him. Each new murder is a message to Kaitlin, a taunt that says he remembers even if she doesn’t. The closer she gets to remembering, the more danger she’s in. 💀

Kaitlin must unlock the memories her mind has been protecting her from, even though she knows what she’ll find will shatter everything she’s believed about that night. And Kyle must decide how far he’ll go to protect a woman who might be walking straight into a trap set fourteen years ago. ⚖️

What makes this essential: Mary Burton crafts a gripping thriller about recovered memory and the cost of survival, featuring a heroine whose trauma is both her greatest vulnerability and her most powerful weapon. The cold-case framework allows Burton to build tension across two timelines while exploring how violence reverberates through years. For readers who love Tess Gerritsen’s forensic detail or Laura Griffin’s romantic suspense, this delivers both pulse-pounding investigation and the emotional stakes of a survivor facing her demons. 🎯

Medical examiner Faith McIntyre has seen countless trauma victims, but the unconscious woman clinging to life after a hit-and-run is different—FBI agent Macy Crow is Faith’s mirror image, the identical twin sister she never knew existed. Faith knew she was adopted, but discovering she has a twin raises unsettling questions about why they were separated and what else her childhood concealed. 👯

Following clues Macy left behind before the attack, Faith and Texas Ranger Mitchell Hayden make a shocking discovery on an isolated ranch—a burial ground for three women who disappeared thirty years ago. The remains suggest a killer who’s been operating for decades, and Faith realizes with growing horror that her own origin story is somehow connected to these murders. She and Macy weren’t just separated; they were hidden. 🏜️

As missing pieces of their dark past snap into place, Faith discovers that she and Macy weren’t the killer’s only victims—they were meant to be. Someone has been searching for the twins for three decades, and Macy’s investigation brought her close enough to become a target. Now that Faith has surfaced, working openly with law enforcement to solve this case, she’s made herself visible to a predator who thought he’d lost his chance. 💀

Faith must save her sister and herself from a past that’s been hunting them since before they have memories. The question is whether she can uncover the truth fast enough, or whether the killer who’s waited thirty years for this moment will finally claim the victims who got away. ⚖️

Why this compels: Mary Burton delivers a twisty thriller that combines the shock of discovering a twin with the horror of learning why you were separated—and that the danger never ended. The dual mystery (what happened thirty years ago and what’s happening now) creates layers of suspense, while Faith’s medical examiner expertise gives her unique tools for solving her own origin story. For fans of Karin Slaughter’s family-secret thrillers or Lisa Scottoline’s identity mysteries, this offers that same devastating revelation that your entire life has been shaped by violence you didn’t know existed. 📚