Showing results for "Mother" in Crime Fiction

I've taken your daughter as punishment for what you did.... Prepare to be gripped by the heart-stopping new thriller from the author of The Madam. South London detective Sarah Mason is a single mother. It's a tough life, but Sarah gets by. She and her ex-husband, fellow detective Adam Boyd, adore their 15-month-old daughter, Molly. Until Sarah's world falls apart when she receives a devastating threat: her daughter has been taken, and the abductor plans to raise Molly as their own, as punishment for something Sarah did.

There's Bella, stay-at-home mum of Teddy. She suffered postpartum psychosis after Teddy's birth. There's Chrissy, divorce lawyer, married to Russell. They're having some problems with their sex life. There's Electra, mother to twins, who is struggling with her son's behaviour. There's Skye, a single mother, who used a sperm donor to have her baby. Then there's Jen. She was supposed to be a mother, but it hasn't worked out like she expected.

Sarah Westfield is unhappily married to perfect husband Nick. Handsome, devoted and kind, he should be the ideal man for her, but Sarah knows their marriage is the biggest mistake she’s ever made…and she wants out. But then Nick offers her one last chance to make their marriage work – a baby. Sarah is horrified – a baby would tie herself to this man forever…wouldn’t it? Or could it be exactly what she needs?

When Sienna Walker is nearly fired from the NYPD, the last thing she expects is a second chance in the one place she vowed never to return to. But she can’t afford to turn down the job offer, even if a painful familial past and a broken engagement hardly make Reno, Nevada, home sweet home. It’s made even less sweet by Sienna’s first case—a serial killer with a curious fixation on her. Along with his victims, the killer leaves perplexing clues and chilling journal entries addressed to Sienna detailing the murders he claims his mother committed.

""Impossible to put down. . . . Who, in the end, needs to talk about Kevin? Maybe we all do.” — Boston Globe Acclaimed author Lionel Shriver's gripping international bestseller about motherhood gone awry Shriver’s resonant story of a mother’s unsettling quest to understand her teenage...

Being head of a family is what she knows best. A decade ago, Cara Fraser, wife to one of Glasgow’s most notorious gangsters, was left a widow after Kyle Fraser was slain on the city streets. The intervening years haven’t been easy – not least as Kyle’s murder left her to bring up little Ryan and Sean alone. Now, Ryan and Sean are adults, and honouring their father’s memory by rising up to become the top gangsters on the dark streets of Glasgow.

When a local father is convicted of the possession and distribution of child pornography, the tight-knit, middle-class community is quick to unravel. He is granted permanent name suppression, and soon friend turns on friend, neighbour delivers up neighbour, and hysteria rapidly engulfs them all. Who among them was capable of such moral trespass?

Kate and her husband are expecting their first child. Even though it was a surprise, Kate is thrilled and so is her mother, Helen. Kate just needs Helen’s anxieties to ease and for Dan to be on board. Dan is struggling – he loves Kate, but he is not ready to be a father. With relations between them feeling hostile, the attractive lead singer in Dan’s band offers him a tantalizing escape.

A notorious serial killer is back An edgy female police detective. An ambitious FBI special agent. Together they are at the heart of the ticking-clock investigation into a psychopathic murderer. The bond they forge in this crucible sets the stage for high-stakes suspense. Detective Kara Quinn is...

Erica Wright lives a quiet, lonely life in her two-bed end of terrace. Her front door hasn't been graffitied in more than a year, but that's soon about to change - her son, Craig, is being released from prison. Local journalist Luke Harding is determined to warn the public. As the person who covered the arrest and trial all those years ago, he knows the kind of predator Craig really is. When Luke's worst fears are realised after a woman is attacked days after Craig's release, he becomes obsessed with trying to prove that Craig was behind it.

Nobody in Barbara Marsden’s family knows about her past, least of all her daughter Helen. But someone wants the truth to come out. When Helen discovers a sinister note at Barbara’s house, she can’t understand who would want to threaten her mother. She’s determined to find out who sent it, but soon realises her search might hurt her own family and put Barbara at risk… What really happened all those years ago? And who is going to end up paying the price?

Florence, Ex-Partygirl, wählt stets den leichtesten Weg. Nach dem Ende ihrer Girlband-Karriere lebt sie stets pleite und alleinerziehend in London. Der einzige Lichtblick: ihr Sohn Dylan, ein sensibler Zehnjähriger an einer versnobten Eliteschule – und ihr einziger Grund, morgens überhaupt aufzustehen. Doch als Alfie, Dylans Mobber und Erbe eines Tiefkühlimperiums, während eines Schulausflugs spurlos verschwindet, gerät Dylan unter Verdacht.

Helena has always prided herself on being a good mother, a constant for her daughters, Vanessa the responsible one, and Rachel—fragile and sensitive. But as her daughters navigate adulthood, a chilling question begins to fester: has her devotion been a delusion? Now, Rachel walks the city streets, lost to addiction, while Vanessa's endless nights at work leave her children vulnerable in Helena's care—proof of their fractured family.

SHORTLISTED - 2025 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel Gutsy new PI Lou Alcott takes charge in this brilliantly crafted, gritty thriller. Perfect for readers of Sarah Bailey and Jane Caro's The Mother. SHORTLISTED - NZ Booklovers Awards 2025 She's the one to turn to when you need saving. But first...

When Dennis finds a vulnerable woman by the roadside, recently beaten and robbed, he brings her back to his new home: the basement of a house in which he is the caretaker. But Dennis is a peculiar man. With an ineffectual father and a domineering mother, what he craves is a girlfriend to love. Rosie awakens to find herself held captive by this strange and disturbing man, who returns to his family home every evening to spend time with Mother. What twisted power does Mother hold over her son? Will Mother ensure that Rosie's fate is sealed? Or is Dennis the real threat?

""Cults and childhood trauma lead to real suspense...Fans of Freida McFadden and Jeneva Rose will enjoy."" —Library Journal The beloved, award-winning author of Do I Know You? and We Love To Entertain returns with an electrifying novel of psychological suspense that explores the way our pasts...

Paul Doherty's 22nd medieval mystery featuring Sir Hugh Corbett is a gripping and gruesome tale of murder and mayhem sure to appeal to fans of C. J. Sansom and Bernard Cornwell. 1312. Sir Hugh Corbett, Keeper of the Secret Seal, has returned from the West Country to find Westminster in chaos. Edward II has fled in an attempt to protect his favourite from the wrath of his noblemen, and a royal clerk has been found dead, poisoned in a locked chamber.

Imogen Brown is a normal 16-year-old girl. She's obsessed with beach volleyball, she occasionally enjoys the company of her younger sister, Jemima, she's saving for her first car...and she feels like she doesn't belong. She thinks that her parents, Kat and Dylan, are hypocrites, playing the perfect family when she knows they really argue all the time. One Friday evening, Kat and Dylan have their biggest fight yet - the next day, Imogen is missing.

Melissa Slade had it all: beauty, money, a successful husband and beautiful twin babies. But, in the blink of an eye, her perfect life became a nightmare - when she found herself on trial for the murder of her little girls. Jonathan Hunt covered the original Slade Babies case for the local newspaper. Now that new evidence has come to light, Jon's boss wants him back on the story to uncover the truth. With Melissa's appeal date looming, time is running out. And, as Jon gets drawn deeper into a case he’d wanted to forget, he starts to question Melissa's guilt.

The day Louisa and James bring their newborn son home from the hospital marks a new beginning for all of them. To hold their child in their arms makes all the stress and trauma of fertility treatment worth it. Little Cory is theirs and theirs alone. Or so they think.... After her mother’s suicide when she was a child, Louisa’s life took an even darker turn. But meeting James changed everything. She can trust him to protect her and to never leave her. Even if deep down she worries that she has never told him the full truth about her past - or the truth about their baby.