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Thrillers and Suspense March 2026
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All the Little Houses
by May Cobb
Adults can behave badly too. It's the mid-1980s in the tiny town of Longview, Texas. Nellie Anderson, the beautiful daughter of the Anderson family dynasty, has burst onto the scene. She always gets what she wants. What she can't get for herself… well, that's what her mother is for. Because Charleigh Andersen, blond, beautiful, and ruthlessly cunning, remembers all too well having to claw her way to the top. When she was coming of age on the poor side of East Texas, she was a loser, an outcast, humiliated, and shunned by the in-crowd, whose approval she'd so desperately thirsted for. When a prairie-kissed family moves to town, all trad wife, woodworking dad, wholesome daughter vibes, Charleigh's entire self-made social empire threatens to crumble. Who will be left standing when the dust settles?
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A Box Full of Darkness
by Simone St James
Strange things happen in Fell, New York. A mysterious drowning at the town’s roadside motel. The unexplained death of a young girl whose body is left by the railroad tracks. For the Esmie siblings, Violet, Vail, and Dodie, the final straw was the shocking disappearance of their little brother. It started as a normal game of hide-and-seek. The three closed their eyes and counted to ten while Ben went to hide. But this time, they never found their brother, he was gone and the ongoing search efforts turned up no clues. As their parents grew increasingly distant, Violet, Vail, and Dodie were each haunted by visions and frightening events that made them leave town and never look back. Violet still sees dead people, spirits who remind her of Sister, the menacing presence that terrorized her for years. And now after two decades running from their past, it’s time for a homecoming. Because Ben is back, and he’s ready to lead them to the answers they’ve longed for and long feared. If the ghosts of Fell don’t get to them first.
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It's Not Her
by Mary Kubica
A stunning discovery. Courtney Gray's tranquil family vacation is shattered when she hears a blood-curdling scream from the lakeside cottage next door. There she finds the lifeless bodies of her brother and sister-in-law. Her teenage niece Reese is nowhere to be found, while her nephew Wyatt lies asleep upstairs, unharmed. A shocking investigation. As the police descend on the quiet resort town, disturbing secrets about Courtney's family start to emerge. When she learns that the town has secrets of its own, it makes her wonder if Reese is another victim in a brutal crime or if she's the killer. A truth no one could have imagined. As Courtney begins to unravel the terrible mystery, she realizes that everyone around her has something to hide. And the closer she gets to the truth, the harder it is to see.
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The Method
by Matthew Quirk
A silent war. An unlikely spy. She’s done playing by their rules. Actress Anna Vaughn is fearless, on screen, at least. She tends to play doomed brunettes with a badass streak, and has put in countless hours training for parts and learning how to fight, shoot, and drive like a pro. She likes to believe she is as tough as her characters, but off-camera she leads a far quieter life: trying to keep her acting career alive so she can take care of her younger sister. When her best friend Natalie, her rock, disappears after a night out with a mysterious new man, the signs point to foul play and a circle of spies operating in Manhattan. Anna must use all the tricks she’s learned for her roles to hunt for her missing friend. She quickly learns the dangers are all too real. She crosses paths with Kevin Matthews, an FBI agent on the same trail, tracking a string of killings and disappearances and a powerful clique of oligarchs. With Matthews as her handler, she has only days to prepare for the greatest performance of her life, going undercover. She will follow in her friend’s footsteps through the gilded mansions, yachts, and secret clubs of New York to infiltrate the conspiracy and bring Natalie home. As the killers close in, her only chance for survival is to become as lethal as the characters she once played. No camera. No script. Just instinct.
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The Storm
by Rachel Hawkins
Hurricane season can be murder. St. Medard’s Bay, Alabama is famous for three things: the deadly hurricanes that regularly sweep into town, the Rosalie Inn, a century-old hotel that’s survived every one of those storms, and Lo Bailey, the local girl infamously accused of the murder of her lover, political scion Landon Fitzroy, during Hurricane Marie in 1984. When Geneva Corliss, the current owner of the Rosalie Inn, hears a writer is coming to town to research the crime that put St. Medard’s Bay on the map, she’s less interested in solving a whodunnit than in how a successful true crime book might help the struggling inn’s bottom line. But to her surprise, August Fletcher doesn’t come to St. Medard’s Bay alone. With him is none other than Lo Bailey herself. Lo says she’s returned to her hometown to clear her name once and for all, but the closer Geneva gets to both Lo and August, the more she wonders if Lo is actually back to settle old scores. As the summer heats up and another monster storm begins twisting its way towards St. Medard’s Bay, Geneva learns that some people can be just as destructive, and as deadly, as any hurricane, and that the truth of what happened to Landon Fitzroy may not be the only secret Lo is keeping.
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| Such a Perfect Family by Nalini SinghA woman buried. A woman broken. A woman crashed. A woman burned. And the man who knew them all. Love at first sight, a whirlwind Vegas wedding, a fairy-tale romance. For seventy-nine days, Tavish Advani has been the happiest man in the world-until his new life turns to ash, his wealthy in-laws' house going up in a fiery explosion. His badly injured wife lies in a coma, her family all but annihilated. Tavish thought he left the sins of his Los Angeles life behind, but it's not so easy to leave behind an investigation into the deaths of several high-profile women-all of whom he professed to love. Tragedy and death follow him no matter where he goes, but this time, he knows he's innocent. Desperately trying to clear his name as the authorities zero in, he begins his own investigation into the fire-and learns that his wife's picture-perfect family may have been nothing but a meticulously constructed mirage. The truth is much darker than anything Tavish could've imagined. |
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The Place Where They Buried Your Heart
by Christina Henry
On an otherwise ordinary street in Chicago, there is a house. An abandoned house where, once upon a time, terrible things happened. The children who live on this block are told by their parents to stay away from that house. But of course, children don't listen. Children think it's fun to be scared, to dare each other to go inside. Jessie Campanelli did what many older sisters do and dared her little brother Paul. But unlike all the other kids who went inside that abandoned house, Paul didn't return. His two friends, Jake and Richie, said that the house ate Paul. Of course adults didn't believe that. Adults never believe what kids say. They thought someone kidnapped Paul, or otherwise hurt him. They thought Paul had disappeared in a way that was ordinary, explainable. The disappearance of her little brother broke Jessie's family apart in ways that would never be repaired. Jessie grew up, had a child of her own, kept living on the same street where the house that ate her brother sat, crouched and waiting. And darkness seemed to spread out from that house, a darkness that was alive, alive and hungry.
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| Blade by Wendy WalkerAna Robbins was an Olympic star in the making, until tragedy forced her to leave that world behind. At the age of sixteen, she gave up her dream and never looked back. Fourteen years later, she’s a successful defense attorney, revered for her work with minors. But when her former coach turns up dead, Ana lands right back where it all began, and abruptly ended: The Palace, a world-renowned skating facility nestled high in the mountains of Colorado. Ana returns to The Palace to defend the young skater accused of the brutal crime, Grace Montgomery. Despite her claims of innocence, all evidence points squarely at Grace’s guilt, and she’s days away from facing charges of first-degree murder. But Ana’s investigation dredges up childhood memories of her own, triggering the fear that permeates this place where she once lived and trained far from home as an ‘Orphan.’ With a blizzard raging outside, and time running out for Grace, Ana is determined to uncover the truth, even if it means exposing her own secrets that she buried here long ago. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Albert Lea Public Library 211 E Clark St. Albert Lea, Minnesota 56007 (507) 377-4350alplonline.org |
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