The best fearless female detective novels

Why am I passionate about this?

Haven’t we all seen things? Done things? Felt guilt or remorse over stuff that happened? I’m fascinated by the darkness within and I’m an eternal student of psychology. I was a musician first. I’ve played piano since age three and studied music at Berklee College of Music. Later, I found my artistic calling when I began to write. Those life experiences have added up and it’s not all roses. My characters have good hearts but they’re struggling with demons—like we all do. I hope my readers can relate and if not, maybe they see something true.


I wrote...

Book cover of Best Kept Secrets

What is my book about?

Morgan Jewell and Fay Ramsey are enjoying their last summer together before college. Fay is shy, with a controlling mother, and Morgan is the perfect, wild, loud-mouthed yang to Fay's yin. But when Fay is found dead, Morgan's entire world crumbles.

Years later, Morgan,  now a homicide detective, is still haunted by the abrupt end to her best friend's life. She knew Fay held a secret in those final days but the leads have run dry. Until she's called to the scene of a murder: a woman whose body is left mangled, too similar to Fay's to ignore. This is the case to set her back on the killer's trail. The closer she gets, the harder it forces her to confront the memories of herself and her best friend. 

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of My Sister's Grave

Tracey S. Phillips Why did I love this book?

New clues have surfaced surrounding a missing girl. Despite warnings from colleagues, Detective Tracy Crosswhite takes the investigation into her own hands. For years she’s been searching for answers to her sister’s disappearance. Tracy is determined, emotional, and driven to follow up on information that finally makes sense. Dugoni’s descriptive, fast-paced thriller is raw and unsweetened. He gives you the sense of urgency, the sweat, and the dirty truth. Tracy reminded me in many ways of Morgan Jewell in my book. She’s a smart, fierce woman. She’s the type of woman I love to read about, and the type I love to write. 

By Robert Dugoni,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked My Sister's Grave as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The first book in the series that has garnered millions of readers across the globe, from New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.

Tracy Crosswhite has spent twenty years questioning the facts surrounding her sister Sarah's disappearance and the murder trial that followed. She doesn't believe that Edmund House-a convicted rapist and the man condemned for Sarah's murder-is the guilty party. Motivated by the opportunity to obtain real justice, Tracy became a homicide detective with the Seattle PD and dedicated her life to tracking down killers.

When Sarah's remains are finally discovered near their hometown in the northern Cascade mountains…


Book cover of Bad Axe County

Tracey S. Phillips Why did I love this book?

Bad Axe County is placed in my home state, Wisconsin, during the spring. Galligan captures the crazy weather—from blizzard to melting and freezing runoff—using it as the backdrop to this fast-paced thriller. Police detective Heidi White has unanswered questions about her parent’s murder-suicide. But that’s in the past and everyone tells her to leave sleeping dogs alone. In this dark, twisted thriller, she must capture a monster to finally learn the truth. I loved Heidi’s fearless plunge into the dark.

By John Galligan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Bad Axe County as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Dennis Lehane meets Megan Miranda in this "dark beauty of a novel" (William Kent Krueger, New York Times bestselling author) about the first female sheriff in rural Bad Axe County, Wisconsin, as she searches for a missing girl, battles local drug dealers, and seeks the truth about the death of her parents twenty years ago-all as a winter storm rages in her embattled community.

Fifteen years ago, Heidi White's parents were shot to death on their Bad Axe County farm. The police declared it a murder-suicide and closed the case. But that night, Heidi found the one clue she knew…


Book cover of And Now She's Gone

Tracey S. Phillips Why did I love this book?

Grayson Sykes reminds me of so many friends. She is real, she has stuff in her purse that she’s been carrying around for too long. She’s a reluctant sleuth. And she has a tortured past like the characters in my book. Isabel Lincoln is missing. Or is she? I often wondered which woman was hunting and which was the hunted. Howzell Hall brings on the slow reveal with such cunning that I was blown away by the ending. Her clever descriptions made me devour this book. 

By Rachel Howzell Hall,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked And Now She's Gone as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Sharp, witty and perfectly paced, And Now She’s Gone is one hell of a read!” ―Wendy Walker, bestselling author of The Night Before

Isabel Lincoln is gone.

But is she missing?

It’s up to Grayson Sykes to find her. Although she is reluctant to track down a woman who may not want to be found, Gray’s search for Isabel Lincoln becomes more complicated and dangerous with every new revelation about the woman’s secrets and the truth she’s hidden from her friends and family.

Featuring two complicated women in a dangerous cat and mouse game, Rachel Howzell Hall's And Now She’s…


Book cover of Tracking Game

Tracey S. Phillips Why did I love this book?

The man who may have killed Detective Mattie Cobb’s father is found dead in his cell. A string of clues leads to deadly narcotics and a missing baby. Mattie and her K-9 partner Robo must journey into the mountains to find the infant’s killer. And Robo just became father to a litter of pups. What I love best about this series is Mattie’s relationship with Robo. To learn more about Mattie’s buried past, I recommend reading Mizushima’s books from the beginning. These characters –both human and K-9—will stay in your heart long after you’re through reading.

By Margaret Mizushima,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Tracking Game as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

November 2019 Top Pick, Library Reads

Two brutal murders, a menacing band of poachers, and a fearsome creature on the loose in the mountains plunge Mattie Cobb and her K-9 partner Robo into a sinister vortex.

An explosion outside a community dance sends Mattie Cobb and Cole Walker reeling into the night, where they discover a burning van and beside it the body of outfitter Nate Fletcher. But the explosion didn't kill Nate--it was two gunshots to the heart.

The investigation leads them to the home of rancher Doyle Redman, whose daughter is Nate's widow, and the object of one…


Book cover of The Silent Corner

Tracey S. Phillips Why did I love this book?

Jane Hawk is as fierce and fearless as they come. She’s a rogue FBI agent on a mission to learn why her well-adjusted husband suddenly committed suicide along with hundreds of others. This case has nothing to do with cults, or Kool-Aid. As she gets closer to the truth, Jane is hunted too. She’s lost so much, her one true love and the doting father of their boy, but Jane is driven to make the leader of this horrific tragedy pay. This book is laced with Koontz’s flair for description and his talent for pushing readers to the edge of their seats for a heart-pounding conclusion.

By Dean Koontz,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Silent Corner as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Book 1 in a gripping new thriller series featuring rogue FBI agent Jane Hawk, from the master of suspense and New York Times #1 bestselling author Dean Koontz.

When nowhere is safe...

'I very much need to be dead'

These are the chilling last words left by a man who had everything to live for but took his own life. In the void that remains stands his widow, FBI agent Jane Hawk, determined to do what all the grief and fury inside her demand: find the truth, no matter what.

People of talent, seemingly happy and sound of mind, have…


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Return to Hope Creek

By Alyssa J. Montgomery,

Book cover of Return to Hope Creek

Alyssa J. Montgomery Author Of A Spanish Seduction

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an Australian USA Today bestselling romance author who writes contemporary romance and uses the pen name Alyssa James to write medieval romance. I think the makeover trope resonates with me because although I’m no beauty queen now, I was definitely an ugly duckling in my teens. For reasons best known to him, my father insisted on close-cropped hair, and financial circumstances dictated out-of-style hand-me-down clothing. After university, I found my own style, but it wasn’t until I was accepted as an international flight attendant that I believed that I couldn’t be all that ugly if Qantas employed me!

Alyssa's book list on makeover romances

What is my book about?

Return to Hope Creek is a second-chance rural romance set in Australia.

Stella Simpson's career and engagement are over. She returns to the rural community of Hope Creek to heal, unaware her high school and college sweetheart, Mitchell Scott, has also moved back to town to do some healing of his own.

Mitchell, a former NFL quarterback, doesn't need the complication of encountering Stella again so long after the messy end to their relationship, but as each tries to build a new life, they are drawn together and find their chemistry is just as strong as ever.

Will their love be stronger the second time around?

Return to Hope Creek

By Alyssa J. Montgomery,

What is this book about?

When two old flames come back to their home town, sparks are bound to ignite. A rural romance from USA Today bestselling author Alyssa J. Montgomery.


A horrific car accident ended former world number-one Stella Simpson’s tennis career, and a betrayal ended her relationship with her fiancé/coach. When a family friend offers to sell her half of a property in the rural community where she grew up, it seems like the perfect place to escape, heal and begin the next phase of her life. Until she discovers that the man who broke her heart ten years ago has bought the…


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