Serial Killer Mystery Fiction

“Il Coccodrillo” lo chiamano i giornali: perché, come il coccodrillo quando divora i propri figli, piange. E come il coccodrillo è una perfetta macchina di morte: si apposta, osserva, aspetta. E colpisce. Tre giovani, di età e provenienza sociale diverse, vengono trovati morti in tre differenti quartieri, freddati dal colpo di un’unica pistola. L’ispettore Giuseppe Lojacono è l’unico che non si ferma alle apparenze, e riuscirà a trovare il collegamento, apparentemente inesistente, tra i delitti.

In 1993, Marie Gesto disappeared after walking out of a supermarket in Hollywood. Harry Bosch worked the case but couldn't crack it, and the 22-year-old woman never turned up, dead or alive. Now Bosch is in the Open-Unsolved Unit, where he still keeps the Gesto file on his desk, when he gets a call from the DA. A man accused of two heinous killings is willing to come clean about other murders, including the killing of Marie Gesto.

Four-year-old Ellen is snatched by a stranger in the dead of night. Her devastated mother, Nicole, receives four identical phials and a threatening note in a familiar scrawl that chills her to the bone. But she always knew this would happen. She’s been expecting it for years. According to the note, one of the phials is poisoned. Nicole is given a deadly challenge: If she drinks one, the sadistic kidnapper will notify the police of Ellen’s location. The sender claims to be Luka Volkov, but Luka is supposed to be dead, killed long ago in a fire that haunts all those involved.

When a cold, naked body is discovered by a couple on a jog through the lush woodlands of Pine Valley, California, new recruit Detective Katie Scott is stunned to discover the victim is Amanda Payton - a much-loved local nurse and the woman at the heart of an unsolved case she’s been investigating whilst getting a grip on her crippling PTSD. Weeks earlier, Amanda had run, battered and bruised, out into the headlights of a passing patrol car. She claimed to have just escaped a kidnapping, but with no strong evidence, the case went cold. The Pine Valley police made a fatal mistake....

L'inspecteur Pendergast est désemparé. Sa pupille Constance Greene est parvenue à retourner dans le New York des années 1880 pour sauver sa sœur avant qu'elle serve de cobaye au sinistre Dr Leng, l'ancêtre de Pendergast devenu son pire ennemi.

Steven dropped to his knees next to the paramedic. "Jenna." Her eyes opened and in them he saw shock and tears and guilt. "I'm so sorry, Steven. I should have listened to you." Steven noticed the smears of blood on her worn Duke T-shirt. "Any other wounds?" he asked the paramedic. "Only her throat. The blood on her shirt appears to be her own." "We found bloody handprints on the carpet where she crawled from the bedroom," said Uniform Two.

Writing scrawled on the wall of Sheriff Jenna Alton’s office leads her, and her deputy, David Kane, to a secluded house on the outskirts of town. Inside, Jenna is devastated to find a much-loved local resident with stab wounds covering her lifeless body. As the small town grieves, Jenna discovers the wreck of a car with another dead woman inside. And, before she can make her next move, one of her own team is found unconscious, covered in the blood of a third female victim - a knife inches away from his hand. The clock ticks to uncover a dark secret that connects all three victims.

After a long run as a respected journalist, Edward “Fitz” Fitzhugh is on his way out when he stumbles across the story of a lifetime. The Gravedigger is a serial kidnapper who taunts the police with riddles. The other puzzle is his motive, which Fitz is determined to piece together. When an eyewitness to the latest abduction leads Fitz closer to the facts, he realizes that the last great story of his career is not at all what it appears to be.

When five Texas women disappear without trace, each on Saturday nights, the local authorities call in the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit. The newest member of this elite group of criminal profilers, Caitlin Hendrix, is all too familiar with hunting society's most depraved and twisted criminals. She suspects that the women were taken by a highly confident killer who convinces victims to lower their guard so he can gain power over them. But there's no evidence that any of the victims are dead - until a dog drags home a bloody strip of fabric torn from a white baby doll nightgown.

Fall in Philadelphia. A man's corpse is found in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods. It's unmistakably the work of a killer. But to homicide detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano, it feels familiar. Eight years ago another body was found in the same place, in the same position...killed in the same manner. Even the crime-scene photos are identical. That case was never closed. And now more copycat murders are happening. Someone is recreating the city's most infamous unsolved killings, victim by victim - with more clues for Byrne and Balzano to unravel.

Vampires may not walk among us, but FBI agents Della Hamilton and Mason Carter know real monsters exist. They’ve witnessed firsthand the worst humankind has to offer. They’re still catching their breaths after the apprehension of two such monstrous killers when they’re met with horrific news: Stephan Dante, the self-proclaimed king of the vampires, has escaped from prison, followed only by a trail of blood. All too familiar with Dante’s cruelty, Della and Mason know the clock is ticking. But as Dante claims more victims, a chilling message arrives.

Kennedy Farmer, an experienced athlete, never returns after leaving for her usual running route through the dusty mountain trails of New Mexico. While the search for Kennedy begins, Detective Alyssa Wyatt and her squad face a terrifying new case when the body of a young woman, Rheagan Pembroke, is discovered in the desert terrain surrounding Albuquerque. Her wounds horrify even the hardened squad of the Albuquerque P.D.—and the case takes an even darker turn when they discover a polaroid stuffed into the victim's mouth, showing the body of Gunner Galveston, a murder victim from years ago.

I’m a dreamer. I'm a warrior. Dr. Penelope Hase, a brilliant and alluring FBI profiler, faces the toughest case of her career, The Kabuki Killer. The killer taunts Philadelphia law enforcement with bizarre Japanese kabuki scenes. Hase joins Special Agent Eli Schiele, a conceited hothead—he’s a challenge. Just as Hase closes in on the killer, strange happenings force her to rethink her own role in The Kabuki Killer’s plan. A fast-paced journey into the abyss, with a reveal so shocking it leaves even the genius Penelope Hase speechless.

In Cause to Save, serial killer Howard Randall has escaped, and the entire city of Boston is on edge. Women are turning up gruesomely murdered, and everyone suspects Howard is at it again. When Boston’s most brilliant and controversial homicide detective - Avery Black - is herself stalked - and when people close to her are brutally killed, one by one - it seems the city’s worst fears are confirmed. But Avery is not so sure.

It was supposed to be a simple case: a young man arrested for armed assault. But it was just the beginning. As Rodney Middleton awaits trial, Detective Jack Warr is warned by his mentor DCI Ridley that they have only scratched the surface of the man's crimes. Then DCI Ridley is suddenly removed from his post. No one is to contact him - and no one will say why.

The rain had been falling for weeks when Black Rock Falls Sheriff Jenna Alton receives a panicked phone call from a local forest ranger. The lifeless body of a woman has washed up on the banks of a swollen river. Rushing to the scene, Jenna and her deputy, David Kane, find the young girl laying face up in the dirt, her long brown hair spilling out around her, her perfect pale skin showing no signs of struggle. Leaning in for a closer look, she finds a jack of hearts playing card tucked into the girl’s underwear. This was no accident—someone killed this innocent soul.

DI George Wiley is calling in a favor. As head of a new unit tackling cold and unusual cases, he presents Gill McArdle with a bag of human teeth. His evaluation – a serial killer has been operating undetected in Scotland for decades. With no leads in the case, Wiley wants Gill to leverage his contacts. But Gill McArdle feels under no obligation as he has a puzzle of his own to solve. Roadworks in the Scottish Highlands have uncovered an old battlefield site, and now the race is on to complete an archaeological dig before the site is buried under tarmac.

On a frigid December night, Karen sits at the edge of Philadelphia's Schuylkill River, dressed in a flowing gown, like a visitor from the distant past. A beautiful and shining young woman, she gazes up at a bone-white winter moon like a fairytale princess. At first glance, one might not even notice that she is dead, coated in a patina of ice. Homicide cops Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano take the lead on the case, uncovering a plethora of eerie clues, each more warped and spine-chilling than the last.

A young woman falls from a vehicle speeding down a quiet road. Battered and bruised, she turns her head to the person who comes to her aid. ‘Help her’, she whispers before her eyes close. Days later, the body of another young girl is found in a shallow grave just a few miles away. The similarities between the two girls are startling, same age, same frail body, same shocking red hair.

The first time was easy. No one ever suspected the victim had been murdered. The crime long buried, the dark passions guiding the killer's hand are still alive. But the need for revenge cannot be denied. Only one person can stop the killing. Only one person can identify the killer. Only one person knows the face of death is as close as the face in the mirror....