The best novels with a protagonists that help the reader understand their rationale while solving the crime/mystery

Why am I passionate about this?

As a retired police officer, I believe that my insight into police procedures helps move my novels along. By creating a strong female protagonist, FBI Agent Jeannie Loomis, my readers get the best of both worlds. A somewhat flawed female main character who is still a dedicated law enforcement officer who believes, similarly to Lucas Davenport of the Prey Novel series, and Jack Reacher of the Reacher novels, that the ends, justify the means.


I wrote...

The Fourth Reich

By Gary J. Rose,

Book cover of The Fourth Reich

What is my book about?

On an uncharted island off the coast of Argentina, Dr. Wolfgang Hausser, a relative of the infamous Auschwitz doctor Joseph Mengele, has continued experiments in eugenics, with a desire to create the Fourth Reich. But Hausser’s decades-long experiments do not stop there.

After securing the remains of Adolf Hitler from the Russian secret police, he plans on using the Fuhrer’s DNA and clone the Nazi party leader and introduce him to the 21st century. Jeannie Loomis and her team are requested by Interpol agent Sean Delaney, whose agency is frustrated in their investigation of kidnapped females, similar in appearance, from both western Europe and the US. It's later determined that these unfortunate females are being used as surrogate mothers. This novel's screenplay is currently being considered for a major motion picture.

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Mortal Prey

Gary J. Rose Why did I love this book?

Great follow-up novel in Sanford’s Prey Series concerning a serial female killer. Sanford leaves the reader from a previous prey novel, where the female serial killer escapes.  This leaves his readers with a desire to learn more….a continuing storyline…and he more than satisfies that with her return in Mortal Prey.

By John Sandford,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Mortal Prey as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Years ago, Lucas Davenport almost died at the hands of Clara Rinker, a pleasant, soft-spoken, low-key Southerner, and the best hitwoman in the business. Now retired and living in Mexico, she nearly dies herself when a sniper kills her boyfriend, the son of a local druglord, and while the boy's father vows vengeance, Rinker knows something he doesn't: The boy wasn't the target-she was-and now she is going to have to disappear to find the killer herself. The FBI and DEA draft Davenport to help track her down, and with his fiancie deep in wedding preparations, he's really just as…


Book cover of The Dark Hours

Gary J. Rose Why did I love this book?

Another great Bosch novel, even though he is now retired from the force. He teams up with a female officer (Ballard) and solves a murder taking place on New Year's Eve. Harry Bosch has been on the streets most of his life and now, facing retirement, can’t stop the addictive nature of the job he held for so long.  Connelley advances his protagonists by allowing him to work with an active female LAPD officer so the story goes on.

By Michael Connelly,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Dark Hours as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Wall Street Journal and South Florida Sun-Sentinel Best Book of the Year

“A masterpiece”—LAPD detective Renée Ballard must join forces with Harry Bosch to find justice in a city scarred by fear and social unrest after a methodical killer strikes on New Year’s Eve (Publishers Weekly).

There’s chaos in Hollywood at the end of the New Year’s Eve countdown. Working her graveyard shift, LAPD detective Renée Ballard waits out the traditional rain of lead as hundreds of revelers shoot their guns into the air. Only minutes after midnight, Ballard is called to a scene where a hardworking auto shop…


Book cover of Ghost Train

Gary J. Rose Why did I love this book?

The author blends historical facts into a great fiction novel about Hitler’s Gold train. This remarkable book takes today’s headlines of a missing gold train hidden in a cave in Europe apparently being found. Turns out it was a false alarm, but rumors of hidden gold laden trains persist.

By Bill Thompson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ghost Train as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

HAS A NAZI GOLD TRAIN BEEN HIDDEN IN A MOUNTAIN TUNNEL
SINCE WORLD WAR II?

Paul Silver, an international businessman and amateur adventurer, arrives in Berlin looking for information about a fabled Nazi train full of priceless objects and gold. Along with answers he finds a deranged man who hated him in the past, a man who wants revenge more than life itself.

There have been rumors for decades about a train filled with so much wealth it could fund Hitler’s dream of a Fourth Reich. A Romanian family believes its patriarch, one of Hitler’s trusted officers, possesses a coded…


Book cover of Killing Floor

Gary J. Rose Why did I love this book?

As the author of the Jeannie Loomis novels, I know how hard it is to come up with fresh material for your serial protagonist. Lee Child, through his serial protagonist, Jack Reacher, not only comes up with fresh material, but I love the fast, pithy sentences he uses. The action, the descriptions, the small towns he ends up in, the danger the mystery, are always taken to the next level. That feeling like you've figured it out and then Child throws a curveball at you...it's just great.

By Lee Child,

Why should I read it?

12 authors picked Killing Floor as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Ex-military policeman Jack Reacher is a drifter. He's just passing through Margrave, Georgia, and in less than an hour, he's arrested for murder. Not much of a welcome. All Reacher knows is that he didn't kill anybody. At least not here. Not lately. But he doesn't stand a chance of convincing anyone. Not in Margrave, Georgia. Not a chance in hell.


Book cover of 1st to Die

Gary J. Rose Why did I love this book?

Who does not like James Patterson, whose style of writing I have tried to adopt myself? Short fact-moving chapters Great character development. In the introduction in this first of several Women's Murder Club, Patterson creates characters that are fun and surrounds them with murder cases that are compelling. Following each case, as it unfolds is an adventure. Witnessing the crime as it's being committed is a hair puller and then following each main character's role in making sense of the atrocity is a great study in crime solving. I also love that the stories are set in San Francisco and surrounding areas, in neighborhoods I know and love. Finally, his characters are believable and as a retired law enforcement officer, his police procedurals are generally spot on.

By James Patterson,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked 1st to Die as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

As the only woman homicide inspector in San Francisco, Lindsay Boxer has to be tough. But nothing she has seen prepares her for the horror of the honeymoon murders, when a brutal maniac begins viciously slaughtering newly wed couples on their wedding nights. Lindsay is sickened by the deaths, but her determination to bring the murderer to justice is threatened by her own personal tragedy. So she turns to Claire, a leading coroner, Cindy, a journalist and Jill, a top attorney, for help with both her crises, and the Women's Murder Club is born.


You might also like...

Ferry to Cooperation Island

By Carol Newman Cronin,

Book cover of Ferry to Cooperation Island

Carol Newman Cronin Author Of Ferry to Cooperation Island

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Sailor Olympian Editor New Englander Rum drinker

Carol's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

James Malloy is a ferry captain--or used to be, until he was unceremoniously fired and replaced by a "girl" named Courtney Farris. Now, instead of piloting Brenton Island’s daily lifeline to the glitzy docks of Newport, Rhode Island, James spends his days beached, bitter, and bored.

When he discovers a plan for a private golf course on wilderness sacred to his dying best friend, James is determined to stop such "improvements." But despite Brenton's nickname as "Cooperation Island," he's used to working solo. To keep historic trees and ocean shoreline open to all, he'll have to learn to cooperate with other islanders--including Captain Courtney, who might just morph from irritant to irresistible once James learns a secret that's been kept from him for years.

Ferry to Cooperation Island

By Carol Newman Cronin,

What is this book about?

Loner James Malloy is a ferry captain-or used to be, until he was unceremoniously fired and replaced by a girl named Courtney Farris. Now, instead of piloting Brenton Island's daily lifeline to the glitzy docks of Newport, Rhode Island, James spends his days beached, bitter, and bored.

When he discovers a private golf course staked out across wilderness sacred to his dying best friend, a Narragansett Indian, James is determined to stop such "improvements." But despite Brenton's nickname as "Cooperation Island," he's used to working solo. To keep rocky bluffs, historic trees, and ocean shoreline open to all, he'll have…


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