Sailing Thrillers

USA Today best-selling and award-winning author Barbara Freethy writes wonderfully entertaining contemporary novels. Summer Secrets is the compelling story of three sisters and the burden of the terrible secret they share.

Crispin is a mosaicist, a layer of bright tiles. Still grieving for the family he lost to the plaque, he lives only for his arcane craft. But an imperial summons from Valerius the Trakesian to Sarantium, the most magnificent place in the world, is difficult to resist. In a world half-wild and tangled with magic, a journey to Sarantium means a walk into destiny. Bearing with him a deadly secret and a Queen's seductive promise, guarded only by his own wits and a talisman from an alchemist's treasury, Crispin sets out for the fabled city. Along the way he will encounter a great beast.

They're out there, under the salt - the bodies of German seamen who used to lie in wait at the mouth of the Mississippi for unescorted American tankers sailing from the oil refineries of Baton Rouge out into the Gulf of Mexico. As a child, Dave Robicheaux had been haunted by the sailors' images. Years later, Robicheaux, a detective with the New Iberia sheriff's office, finds himself and his family at serious risk, stalked for his knowledge of a watery burial ground by a mysterious man named Will Buchalter - a man who believes that the Holocaust was one big hoax.

Finn is retired after a 20-odd-year career with an unnamed government agency, but he still handles a contract job for them once in a while. The series begins in Puerto Rico with Assassins and Liars, when Finn meets Mary.

Years ago, Beth Lathrop and her sister Kate suffered what they thought would be the worst tragedy of their lives the night both the famous painting Moonlight and their mother were taken. The detective assigned to the case, Conor Reid, swore to protect the sisters from then on. Beth moved on, throwing herself fully into the art world, running the family gallery, and raising a beautiful daughter with her husband Pete. Kate, instead, retreated into herself and took to the skies as a pilot, always on the run.

With the summer season on Sandhamn comes an unsettling mystery for Detective Inspector Thomas Andreasson. A bullied young boy has vanished from a sailing camp on neighboring Lökholmen Island. Has the terrorized eleven-year-old run away? Or, in this isolated vacation spot where strangers lurk, is it something more ominous?

When an English tycoon dies mysteriously, he leaves a note naming six people who might have wanted him dead. Daisy Kean and PI Harry Montana team up to take the suspects - and also six red herrings - on a Mediterranean cruise, culminating at his beautiful villa on Capri, where his will is to be read and the killer unmasked. With the beautiful seaside settings plus the beginnings of a romance between loner Montana and wary Daisy, passions flare and the mystery deepens.

Trapped on a storm-damaged yacht, a grieving woman must conquer her worst fears and fight for her life, in a story described as The Shining on a yacht. Dr. Dagny Steele is on the verge of fulfilling her lifelong calling to become a pediatric surgeon, when the sudden death of her daughter sends her into a crushing depression.

They're out there, under the salt: the bodies of German seamen who used to lie in wait at the mouth of the Mississippi for unescorted American tankers sailing from the oil refineries of Baton Rouge out into the Gulf of Mexico. As a child, Dave Robicheaux had been haunted by the sailors' images. Years later, Robicheaux, a detective with the New Iberia sheriff's office, finds himself and his family at serious risk, stalked for his knowledge of a watery burial ground by a mysterious man.

The night Kara Wesley fell into a coma, her future had looked bright. Straight-A student, perfect college entrance exams, record-holding athlete and team captain, good friend, caring daughter, sincere, kind, and attractive, Kara shined. Sadly for Kara and her friends and family, her tumble from grace opens a door to a past she never wanted opened, and the revelation brings a darkening sky over everyone’s future. As Kara struggles to regain her physical and mental powers from before her coma, she shows her grit and determination haven’t lessened. But that same fighting spirit brings out ...

After a whirlwind romance, a young woman returns to the opulent, secluded Long Island mansion of her new fiancé, Max Winter - a wealthy politician and recent widower - and a life of luxury she’s never known. But all is not as it appears at the Asherley estate. The house is steeped in the memory of Max’s beautiful first wife, Rebekah, who haunts the young woman’s imagination and feeds her uncertainties, while his very alive teenage daughter, Dani, makes her life a living hell.

Personal betrayal, political intrigue, and international conflict. Phorcys is under attack. The black ops group which employs Finn and Mary as assassins is in disarray. Mary's gone underground without letting her partner Finn know. Fearing Mary's betrayal, Phorcys sends Finn to find Mary and terminate her. While Finn is tracking down Mary, someone tries to assassinate the founders of Phorcys. Is Mary involved? Has her allegiance shifted? Because of their romantic relationship, Finn doubts Mary's guilt. As he learns more about her recent activities, he begins to question her innocence.

Alexandria's father walked out of her and her mother's lives five years ago. Now Alexandria has been murdered. Her killer is dead; case closed. Does her father deserve to be told of his daughter's death even though he abandoned his family? According to Alexandria's aunt, yes. First, he must be found, and who better to find him than Private Investigator CJ Washburn? After all, wasn't it because of CJ that she wound up dead in the first place, targeted by a deranged killer?

After a 20 year career as an assassin for an unnamed government agency, Finn joined Phorcys, a private contractor providing permanent solutions when disreputable people cause problems for our government.

It was a family escape from the high-stress world of high-tech. A family - a mother, a father, and a son - sailing across the Meditteranean, stopping in a small port city on the island of Malta. After a night of drinking, something joins them on board. The father wakes with a hangover so powerful it seems supernatural. The family sets sail for Venice. Their small boat bobs in the sea. They are not alone. As they traverse the wine-dark sea, their trouble grows and madness engulfs the little yacht. Rage, history, and fear combine to create a horror thriller in the tradition of The Ruins and ...

A Serial Killer, Sex Traffickers, and Mercenaries in the Caribbean A serial killer is roaming from Florida to the Eastern Caribbean. His victims are women who hitchhike on his sailing yacht. Picking up Dani Berger was his first mistake. After he leaves her for dead, Dani is found by human traffickers, who have their own plans for her. Hitchhiking on sailing yachts in the islands is dangerous, but not as dangerous as the people sent to rescue Dani. J.-P. Berger, her father, is a French arms dealer from Martinique. Two of his friends leave a trail of mayhem in their wake as they track down ...

“Daddy, why isn’t that man swimming?” Stand-Alone story of a wealthy private equity investor and a greedy CEO's quest to maximize profit at any cost. The body floating near the family’s sailboat triggers a request for Steve Wilson to complete the dead man's due diligence assignment. Join Steve as he navigates a path between power-driven executives to uncover the truth about the accountant's body in Boothbay Harbor. Why are Steve’s requests for financial data stonewalled at every turn? Is it just arrogance and greed, or an attempt to hide something deeper? Can he trust the woman ...

In the shadows of betrayal and vengeance, the Russian bear awakens, targeting the architects of operations and their defecting fugitives in a deadly game of cat and mouse. The Russians, driven by a burning desire for revenge after their failures, set their sights on those they believe have wronged them inside and outside Russia. The UK's security services and the architects of the Enez operation find themselves in the crosshairs. The Russians dispatch teams to execute their deadly plans.

Offshore and Offshore Islands. Cassie Lisstick's first command of the sail training vessel Lady Bea turns to disaster. Yevgeny Meinzac, the man she most fears, has taken her hostage on her own ship. Can the sailor in the night, the man who has seen only a glimpse of her, rescue Cassie from the insane love of Yevgeny? Or will she alone have to face the demon in her life on the open, empty seas, sailing further and further from home? This volume contains both books in the Offshore series: Offshore and Offshore Islands.

Despite the declared end of the pandemic, there are still threats to the UK, particularly from Russia. Friends from across the Atlantic who like to meddle continue to track and follow the shadowy financing team supporting the UK’s security services. They assured the UK they would not, but disparate agencies in the USA have different agendas.