Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Cause to Kill (An Avery Black Mystery—Book 1)
    Cause to Kill (An Avery Black Mystery—Book 1)
    Cause to Kill (An Avery Black Mystery—Book 1)
    Audiobook7 hours

    Cause to Kill (An Avery Black Mystery—Book 1)

    Written by Blake Pierce

    Narrated by Elaine Wise

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    From #1 bestselling mystery author Blake Pierce comes a new masterpiece of psychological suspense.

    Homicide Detective Avery Black has been through hell. Once a top criminal defense attorney, she fell from grace when she managed to get a brilliant Harvard professor off—only to watch him kill again. She lost her husband and her daughter, and her life fell apart around her.

    Trying to redeem herself, Avery has turned to the other side of the law. Working her way up the ranks, she has reached Homicide Detective, to the scorn of her fellow officers, who still remember what she did, and who will always hate her.

    Yet even they cannot deny Avery’s brilliant mind, and when a disturbing serial killer strikes fear into the heart of Boston, killing girls from elite colleges, it is Avery that they turn to. It is Avery’s chance to prove herself, to finally find the redemption she craves. And yet, as she is soon to find out, Avery has come up against a killer as brilliant and daring as she.

    In this game of psychological cat and mouse, women are dying with mysterious clues, and the stakes could not be higher. A frantic race against time leads Avery through a series of shocking and unexpected twists—culminating in climax that even Avery could not imagine.

    A dark psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense, CAUSE TO KILL marks the debut of a riveting new series—and a beloved new character—that will leave you turning pages late into the night.

    Book #2 in the Avery Black series is also available.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLukeman Literary Management
    Release dateOct 15, 2018
    ISBN9781640295063
    Author

    Blake Pierce

    Blake Pierce is author of the #1 bestselling RILEY PAGE mystery series, which include the mystery suspense thrillers ONCE GONE (book #1), ONCE TAKEN (book #2) and ONCE CRAVED (#3). An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Blake loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.blakepierceauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.

    More audiobooks from Blake Pierce

    Related to Cause to Kill (An Avery Black Mystery—Book 1)

    Titles in the series (11)

    View More
    View More

    Related audiobooks

    Mystery For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Zoe Caldwell

      Jan 7, 2021

      Zoe Caldwell
      3 min read

    • Article

      It’s Showtime!

      May 10, 2020

      It’s Showtime!
      2 min read

    • Article

      It’s Showtime!

      May 3, 2020

      It’s Showtime!
      2 min read

    • Article

      Murder, He Wrote

      Dec 12, 2021

      I love a good cosy mystery, so jumped on the first of the Thursday Murder Club books earlier in the year. It was a lot of fun and the characters were brilliant, however as the dead bodies and red herrings piled up, I lost track. Whodunit? By the end,

      1 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Apr 16, 2021

      Books
      4 min read

    • Article

      February’s BOOK CLUB

      Jan 5, 2023

      River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer (£18.99, HB, Headline) It’s Barbados 1834 and slavery has been abolished, but former slaves must work for another six years – for free! In an act of resistance, Rachel heads off through the Caribbean and South A

      4 min read

    • Article

      Double Binds: On Morgan Jerkins’s ‘This Will Be My Undoing’

      Jan 30, 2018

      1. “When I was ten,” Morgan Jerkins writes in the essay that opens This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female and Feminist in (White) America, “the only thing I wanted to be was a white cheerleader.”  She has trained for thi

      7 min read

    • Article

      What To Read

      Jul 29, 2022

      By HAYLEY SCRIVENOR Pan Macmillan Twelve-year-old best friends Esther and Ronnie leave school together one Friday in their small Australian town, but after they part ways only one of them reaches her home. Sydney missing-person police experts Sarah

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Cure For Life

      Sep 26, 2021

      The Cure For Life
      3 min read

    • Article

      Meet The Team

      Aug 31, 2023

      MARISA Maahra Hill If there’s anyone who can get into Mercer’s head—and heart—it’s his ex-wife, an FBI agent who always seems to be the one to help with cases and his lingering PTSD. “We knew we needed someone who had real chemistry with Jesse,” says

      1 min read

    • Article

      Vampire Or Victim

      Oct 6, 2019

      An ominous chill hung over Brisbane in the early hours of October 21, 1989, when self-proclaimed vampire Tracey Wigginton trawled the empty streets under cover of darkness, hunting for human blood. Shunning daylight and mirrors, the former grammar sc

      7 min read

    • Article

      Roller-coaster Ride

      Feb 3, 2023

      By JANE HARPER Macmillan A new book from Australian crime-thriller writer Harper is always something to be excited about. In this, her fifth novel, she brings back Melbourne investigator Aaron Falk introduced in her amazing first novel, The Dry. Aar

      3 min read

    • Article

      University Challenge

      Aug 7, 2022

      Everybody must have met someone like April Clarke-Cliveden. A golden girl, beautiful and bright, hard to resist but also difficult to like at times. She is the It Girl of the title and Hannah Jones first meets her when they both arrive to study at Ox

      1 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Lansky, Oates, and More

      Jun 9, 2020

      Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from the likes of Sam Lansky, Joyce Carol Oates, and more—that are publishing this week. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Lansky, Oates, and More appeared first on The Millions.

      4 min read

    • Article

      Soul Searching

      Oct 24, 2021

      Soul Searching
      5 min read

    • Article

      Shelf Life

      Oct 5, 2023

      Shelf Life
      4 min read

    • Article

      Sleepy Hollow

      Jun 3, 2023

      Sleepy Hollow
      2 min read

    • Article

      Reading CORNER

      Apr 9, 2023

      A true-crime writer is on the case of an evil Angel People are either going to love or hate the format of this novel. It’s a smart and original read, but I found it demanded more of me than other fiction, and I never got completely swept up in the st

      2 min read

    • Article

      Theatre

      Jul 17, 2023

      Harold Shipman was one of the most prolific serial killers in modern history, with an estimated 250 victims. Actor and writer Edwin Flay’s grandmother was one of the people Shipman killed. Flay explains why he decided to bring this deeply personal st

      3 min read

    • Article

      5 minutes with… ASHLEY KALAGIAN BLUNT

      Feb 26, 2023

      Our Books Editor Wade Sellers gives us his fave picks for the Week! Exclusive interview! Tell us a little bit about Ashley… I’m originally from Canada, and lived and worked in South Korea, Peru and Mexico before moving to Australia in 2011. I fell in

      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Cause to Kill (An Avery Black Mystery—Book 1)

    4/5

    300 ratings21 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 1/5
      Could t listen to it - a hard boiled Boston detective story narrated with an incredibly thick Australian accent? Sorry, just doesn’t work

      6 people found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Engaging story, however, the extreme UK accent of the narrator was very distracting given the story was set in Boston. Unfortunately, I would read the next novel rather than listen if this narrator is the same. She's lovely, don't get me wrong - just not appropriate for this particular book.

      6 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Great book! It is strange that the voice is British when it's based in Boston and all the characters are American but I liked the narrator so I didn't mind.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Annoying lady cop. I kept hoping she would die in the end.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Cause to Kill - I liked it. Except for all of the yelling.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I listened to the whole story in one day, very suspenseful. Unfortunately, the narrator accent was very distracting so I wont be listening to anymore of this series since she narrates them all.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      This got stranger and stranger. The main character was described as a victim of successfully defending a serial killer who continued his killing on release. It certainly would anger people but she leaves her profession to become a cop as ‘penance’. The her inner dialogue as well as the new killer is bizarre. She continues to break rules and freelance resulting in troubling ways endangering her and others. I had enjoyed another book from this author but I won’t be looking for another.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      I have been listening to this book for awhile and expecting something but all I got was a lot of stupid an annoying male characters except one who is a serial killer. The only remotely reasonable person (and not totally too) is the female lead. Not the best of books...

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      The book was fine, great typical story.. But the narrator drove me insane. Would have been nice to have someone with a Boston Accent, not some old time British accent, that made it sound like an episode of Dowton Abbey

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I really loved this book, well put together, great characterizations
      !! You are amazing putting together books, looking forward to more.
      I even like the electronic reading,clear and easy to understand.

    • 5/5
      Marvelous is all I can say! Not the ending I expected!
    • 1/5
      Why is the narrator British?? It’s set in Boston and Avery is apparently from Oklahoma. Wtf???
    • 5/5
      Really good ?? Well worth the read can’t wait for the next one
    • 5/5
      I like the story line. It's not too slow but also doesn't go so fast that I feel like, "that was it?" Good ending with full closure. Can't wait to listen or read book 2.
    • 1/5
      British reader for a Boston book is a problem, but tolerable. SPOILER the lead detective allowing a person with child porn on their computer to slide by is ridiculous and fearing a person how is protecting the child porn protector was enough to get me to not finish the book.
    • 1/5
      An anger fest with almost all characters yelling, cursing out their people and an inappropriate Captain character in charge to fuel the authors view. Over the top melodrama, like some of her other books. Would have been a good ending with Avery's death in the line of duty to prevent more of her moronic policing.
    • 5/5
      The blurb pretty much says it all. Avery Black is a homicide detective trying to make it in a very hostile environment. None of her colleagues want to work with her and they quite blatantly treat her with disdain. In her former life as a defense attorney, she was responsible for getting a serial killer acquitted, only to have him kill again right away. The man then turned himself in, covered in his victim's blood, while shouting to the world he did it as a favor to Avery.

      Knowing she was responsible for a woman's death caused Avery to quit her job, give up her lavish lifestyle, and join the police force. Doing so wouldn't bring the dead woman back but at least she could do her best to see something like this never happened again. It was her way of redeeming herself so to speak.

      When a series of murders takes place Avery is given the assignment of tracking the killer down. She has a brilliant record when it comes to solving difficult cases so it's a no brainer for her superior to want her to handle things. Given the nature of the crimes, he wants his best detective taking the lead. He also assigns Daniel Ramirez to work with her.

      At first, things are pretty awkward between them. Avery's new partner makes no attempt to hide his feelings towards her. However, given her skills, it isn't long before he's changing his tune. He finds himself actually admiring her work, rather in awe as she manages to get them their first big break in the case.

      I really liked the characters in this one and couldn't help but feel bad for Avery. She really had turned her life around. Unfortunately, her colleagues only saw what they wanted to see - the woman responsible for setting a guilty man free. A man who'd already taken several lives. A man she put back on the street only to have him repeat his heinous acts. This case went a long way toward changing things for her even though she knew some people would never accept the fact she was different. It took a lot of guts on her part to stay amidst all the criticism and tough treatment by her fellow officers. She had to quickly develop a thick skin when they were around. She was also trying to mend fences with her daughter, Rose. Avery was well aware of the fact she hadn't been a good mother to her only child. She'd thrown herself into her work while her marriage, and Rose, got left behind. Rose currently wants little to do with Avery. She's grown up and is finding it difficult to get past the fact Avery was never there for her. Its Avery's tenacity and bulldog determination that will finally earn her a chance at having a real relationship with Rose.

      This was a very good thriller with a really creepy killer. The story kept me eagerly turning the pages to see what happened next. Look forward to continuing the series.
    • 5/5
      It was great read and kept me interested to the end
    • 2/5
      Such a weird story and not weird in a good way. The main character just needed to get over herself. The whole "tormented guilty" persona was just too much to deal with. Not impressed with the mystery part either.... don't waste your time with the book.
    • 4/5
      Very fast paced. Don’t know where things r heading and always a surprise when u get there. Surprise ending. Would recommend.
    • 3/5
      Not bad, but the author needs to learn more about firearms if he or she is going to write stories about cops. I do like that cops are shown in their true light as tribal assholes who want to pin crimes on the first person they come across.