Serial Killer Thrillers Fiction

When Detective Erika Foster receives a tip-off that key evidence for a major narcotics case was stashed in a disused quarry on the outskirts of London, she orders for it to be searched. From the thick sludge the drugs are recovered, but so is the skeleton of a young child. The remains are quickly identified as seven-year-old Jessica Collins. The missing girl who made headline news 26 years ago.

Austin homicide detective Jordan Poe is hunting a serial killer she fears is the same man who assaulted her sister, Avery, two years ago. The details line up: the victims are the same age, same type, dead by the same grim MO. Luckily Avery survived. But the terrible memories linger, making Jordan more determined than ever to stop this monster in his tracks.

It's been 17 months since the Bloodsmith butchered his first victim, and Operation Maypole is still no nearer catching him. The media is whipping up a storm, and the top brass are demanding results, but the investigation is sinking fast. Now isn't the time to get distracted with other cases, but Detective Sergeant Lucy McVeigh doesn't have much choice. When Benedict Strachan was just 11, he hunted down and killed a homeless man. No one's ever figured out why Benedict did it, but now, after 16 years, he's back on the streets again.

A victim killed with a single, precise stab to the heart appears at first glance to be a robbery gone wrong. A caring, upstanding social worker lost to a senseless act of violence. But for Detective Kim Stone, something doesn't add up. When a local drug addict is found murdered with an identical wound, Kim knows instinctively that she is dealing with the same killer. But with nothing to link the two victims except the cold, calculated nature of their death, this could be her most difficult case yet.

Gwen Turner has made a bloody mess of her life. She recently broke up with the best man she’s ever known for reasons even she can’t admit to herself and quit a lucrative job to open her own coffee shop. To top it all off, her best friend is getting married and leaving her behind in singlehood.

Reverend Willie Maxwell was a rural preacher accused of murdering five of his family members for insurance money in the 1970s. With the help of a savvy lawyer, he escaped justice for years until a relative shot him dead at the funeral of his last victim. Despite hundreds of witnesses, Maxwell's murderer was acquitted—thanks to the same attorney who had previously defended the reverend. Casey Cep brings this story to life, from the shocking murders to the courtroom drama to the racial politics of the Deep South.

The people of Penrith are delighted when local businessman Hal Mulberry succeeds in his childhood dream of buying the world famous painting, Buttermere at Dawn. And he’s determined not to keep it to himself, but to bring it back to the Lake District where it belongs and put it on show. Hal has a plan to turn Penrith Village Hall into a cultural hotspot – with the painting at its heart. But not everyone is pleased.

Sue Grafton's X: Perhaps her darkest and most chilling novel, it features a remorseless serial killer who leaves no trace of his crimes. Once again breaking the rules and establishing new paths, Grafton wastes little time identifying this sociopath. The test is whether Kinsey can prove her case against him before she becomes his next victim.

When DCI Matilda Darke receives a mysterious telephone call, she immediately dismisses the threat. After all, the Homicide and Major Enquiries team are a regular target for prank calls. But ignoring this warning might soon be the biggest regret of Matilda Darke’s life. A lone gunman is on a deadly rampage around Sheffield, leaving a bloody trail in his wake. Taking his shots with a sickening precision, he’s about to leave his mark on the world and change Matilda and her team’s lives forever.

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.

Southend-on-Sea, Essex: Detective Sergeant Tomek Bowen — driven, dogged, and haunted by the death of his brother — is called to one of the most shocking crime scenes he has ever seen. A man has been ritualistically murdered and dumped in an allotment near the local airport. Early investigations indicate this was a man with a past. A past that earned him many enemies. But when another victim is found murdered under similar circumstances, it becomes clear that Bowen is on the trail of a serial offender.

When new victims of the still-at-large serial killer known as the Red Reaper start to appear in London, DCI Declan Walsh and his team are placed back on the case—but everything isn't what it seems. For a start, the deaths are different, and the calling card is new. It could be a copycat, apart from one thing... They know what Declan did to the real Red Reaper a year earlier. Something only Declan and the closest members of his team keep secret. Is this the real Reaper, back to gain revenge on Declan and his family—or is this a protégé, staking his own claim to the serial killer name?

The discovery of a corpse (artfully displayed as a sunbather relaxing on a Miami beach chair) naturally piques Dexter's curiosity and Miami’s finest realize they’ve got a terrifying new serial killer on the loose. And Dexter, of course, is back in business.

The conclusion to the groundbreaking Level 26 trilogy, a series of edgy, unconventional thrillers about an FBI operative tasked with the ultimate search-and-destroy mission: to take down the world's most dangerous serial killers. Anthony E. Zuiker's Level 26 novels have blazed a highly successful interactive trail, with a groundbreaking cross-platform combination of novel, website, and hi-def video: There are more than 100,000 registered users on Level26.com, all of them eager to see what happens next.

Back in her natural habitat, Dr Nell Ward heads to a woodland pond to survey local newt populations. She's shocked to discover a car submerged in the water - with the driver dead behind the wheel. Nell recognises the dead man as professional racing driver, and tabloid love rat, Jack Rafferty, whose performance on (and off) Finchmere's racetrack had earned him enemies. Suspecting this isn't the tragic accident it appears DI James Clark calls upon Nell and her ecological skills to help find the murderer.

Nine months ago, DCI Matilda Darke survived a bullet to the head. The brutal attack claimed dozens of lives, including those she loved most, and the nightmares still plague her every waking thought. Now, she’s ready to get back on the job. But a new terror awaits. A woman is found murdered and her wounds look eerily similar to several cold cases. Desperate to find a lead, DCI Darke and her team must face a terrifying truth: a serial killer is on the loose in Sheffield.

Ayana won’t stop until her sisters and father are dead once and for all. With the help of Rachel, Black Ice’s first baby mother, and her mother Tiffany, she kidnapped Yana, but soon realized it was a deadly mistake, as Macy hunts them down as if she’s a wild animal out for blood.

Leela’s enemies are dying. They appear to be unrelated suicides, but she refuses to believe in mere coincidence. Someone is targeting these victims. But why? A single clue emerges, leading her to believe these deaths are linked to a cover-up job she did when she worked PR for the tech goliath Jolvix. It involves a high-tech novelty weapon, shrouded in secrecy, one she’s legally forbidden from discussing with anyone—including the hungry writer publishing an exposé on Jolvix who’s itching to get the full scoop.

Insurance investigator Charlie Novak doesn't investigate murders. He commits them. But he didn't commit this one. The victim? Like all his previous victims, she was married to his partner. And insured by him. It's all part of their ongoing black widower scheme. Charlie stages fatal accidents nobody looks at twice. But this one has homicide cops crawling all over it. Charlie monitors the case for the insurance company, hoping to steer it away from the husband with the million dollar motive.

Seduction. Mind control. Murder. These are the weapons that have made Brenda Nevins one of the most wanted - and feared - criminals in the world. Now the notorious serial killer has escaped from prison and is plotting her revenge. Using innocent young women as bait, she will lure her unsuspecting victims into her trap. This time, sheriff's detective Kendall Stark and forensic pathologist Birdy Waterman won't be able to stop her. The killing will be filmed. The feed will be live. And the blood will be streaming....