Forensic Mystery Fiction

Rick Hayden's brother, Keith, a prominent zoologist at NYU, walks out of his office one day and disappears. The only clue they have are his brother's book, which mentions "the God Gene". A million or so years ago, a gene designated hsa-mir-3998 appeared as if by magic from the junk DNA of the hominids who eventually evolved into Homo sapiens. It became a key player in brain development - specifically creativity - and laymen started calling it "the God Gene".

Tranquility, Maine seems like the perfect place for Dr. Claire Elliot to shelter her adolescent son from the distractions of the big city - until a deadly epidemic threatens to destroy everyone she loves.

It was to be the most important case of Morton Farrier’s career in forensic genealogy so far. A case that had eluded him for many years: Finding his own father. Harley "Jack" Jacklin disappeared just six days after a fatal fire at his Cape Cod home on Christmas Eve in 1976, leaving no trace behind. Now his son, Morton must travel to the East Coast of America to unravel the family’s dark secrets in order to discover what happened to him. This is the sixth book in the Morton Farrier genealogical crime mystery series, although it can be enjoyed as a stand-alone story.

La vida del doctor Ricky Starks está marcada por una oscuridad persistente. Quince años han pasado desde que sufriera el primer ataque de una familia de psicópatas. En dos ocasiones, Starks ha logrado escapar de las garras mortales de esta familia, incluso presenciando la muerte de uno de ellos. Sin embargo, la sombra de la tragedia se cierne de nuevo sobre él cuando un detective lo contacta para informarle que uno de sus pacientes se ha suicidado.

A tipsy young woman seeking aid on a desolate highway disappears into the inky black night. A retired schoolteacher is stabbed to death in broad daylight. Two women are butchered after closing time in a small-town beauty parlor. The ultimate whodunits, these crimes demand the attention of LAPD detective Milo Sturgis and his collaborator on the crime beat, psychologist Alex Delaware.

She’s broken free. But danger is in hot pursuit. And rescue is nowhere in sight.... Eve Duncan is on the run. Kidnapped by Jim Doane, a mysterious man who wants her to complete a sinister forensic sculpture, she now has no time to savor the victory of escaping from him. He’s back on her trail and closing in fast. At the mercy of the Colorado wilderness, she struggles to outwit and outrun him, but the odds are stacked high in his favor.

"Been a while since I had me a nice little whodunit," homicide detective Milo Sturgis tells Alex Delaware. But there's definitely nothing nice about the brutal tableau behind the yellow crime-scene tape. On a lonely lover's lane in the hills of Los Angeles, a young couple lies murdered in a car. Each bears a single gunshot wound to the head.

April Lavery has vanished. A junior doctor at a local hospital, she is something of a trail-blazer in the deeply conservative and highly patriarchal society of 1950s Dublin. Though her family is one of the most respected in the city, she is known for being independent-minded; her taste in men, for instance, is decidedly unconventional, as evidenced by her current boyfriend, a handsome and charismatic medical student from Nigeria.

Tanya Bigelow was a solemn little girl when Dr. Alex Delaware successfully treated her obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Now, at 19, Patty Bigelow, Tanya's aunt and adoptive mother, has made a deathbed confession of murder and urged the young woman to seek Delaware's help.

New York City medical examiners Laurie Montgomery and Jack Stapleton return in this stunning novel from the “master of the medical thriller” (New York Times)—a ripped-from-the-headlines tale of an innovative doctor’s dangerous downward spiral.

A man is murdered in a back alley. Renowned forensic detective Lincoln Rhyme and his partner, Amelia Sachs, are left with a veritable mountain of evidence collected from the trash-filled alley, and their only lead is a young eyewitness: the man's eight-year-old son, who was riding along on his father's delivery route.

Seventeen-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord's daughter, with a life of wealth and privilege stretched out before her. But between the social teas and silk dress fittings, she leads a forbidden secret life. Against her stern father's wishes and society's expectations, Audrey often slips away to her uncle's laboratory to study the gruesome practice of forensic medicine. When her work on a string of savagely killed corpses drags Audrey into the investigation of a serial murderer, her search for answers brings her close to her own sheltered world.

It's been 10 years since Dr. Bill Brockton created the Body Farm - the world's first postmortem research facility dedicated to advancing the frontiers of forensic science - and the researcher is at the pinnacle of his career. Under his leadership, the University of Tennessee's forensic anthropology program has become the most prominent in the world, and Brockton's skills and knowledge are in high demand among top law enforcement.

Something odd in the deceased's mouth sets Alexa and the team on a new track—to find Quinn's murderer. As they work to narrow the suspect field, a second homicide—and a stolen cache of weapons from a locked room in the bunker—ramp up the investigation and the risk to Alexa's life. Will she be able to solve this particular riddle before she becomes victim #3?

When forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod is brought in to analyse a shallow grave on Scotland’s west coast, she is disturbed by a bundle of twigs crafted into a stickman and left in the victim’s mouth. Then, when a young woman is reported missing from a nearby campsite with another sinister figurine left in her van, it seems that someone is targeting wild campers. An idyllic coastline known for providing peace and serenity, now the area is a hunting ground.

In near-future Baltimore, scientific breakthroughs in genetic engineering promise to cure the incurable. But these new technologies are not without a dark side. Powerful criminal organizations thrive on peddling illicit genetic wares, waging an underground war unlike any the city has ever seen.

For the Sisterhood, there's a special satisfaction that comes with helping a friend in need, especially when its someone as dear as Charlotte Hansen. Myra Rutledge's childhood friend has spent tens of thousands of dollars on remedies to boost longevity. But far from improving her health, the medications seem to be destroying it. Myra becomes suspicious of the trio of doctors in charge of the program, especially once the Sisterhood's investigations reveal that one patient has died and another lapsed into a coma.

Forensic geologists Cassie Oldfield and Walter Shaws investigate one way: trouble on the canyon's Colorado River. Stranded raft. Life vests unused. Rafters missing. The only clue to the fate of the rafters is a bag of pebbles caught in the bowline. Following that clue, the geologists uncover a hellish scheme. Not only are the rafters in peril, but the river itself is under attack. The race to stop it takes Cassie and Walter deep into the canyon, and onto the mighty river, putting their own survival at stake.

He's the psychiatrist that the cops call when the case gets too weird. He specializes in unexplained mysteries of the mind. When the clues stop making sense and children's lives are at risk, he's the outside expert the Baltimore City Police have on speed dial. Gordon isn't afraid to dive headfirst into the paranormal world of the human brain, but sometimes, he needs a little help to pull himself back out again.

When human remains are found in a fisherman's crab pot, Detective Alana Mack faces her toughest case yet. As she unravels a complex web of genetic links, Alana becomes the target of a seemingly random attack, leaving her injured and reliant on her ex-husband for help.