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Madeline Martin has built a life for herself as the young owner of a thriving business, The Next Chapter Bookshop, despite her tragic childhood and now needing to care for her infirm father. When Harley Granger, a failed novelist turned true crime podcaster, drifts into her shop in the days before Christmas, he seems intent on digging up events that Madeline would much rather forget. She's the only surviving victim of Evan Handy, the man who was convicted of murdering her best friend Steph, and is suspected in the disappearance of two sisters, also good friends of Madeline's, who have been missing for nearly a decade. It's an investigation that has obsessed her father Sheriff James Martin right up until his stroke took his faculties. Harley Granger has a gift for seeing things that others miss. He wasn't much of a novelist, but his work as a true crime author and podcaster has earned him fame and wealth—and some serious criticism for his various unethical practices. Still, visiting Little Valley to be closer to his dying father has caused him to look into a case that many people think is closed—and some want reopened. And he has a lot of questions about the night Stephanie Cramer was killed, Ainsley and Sam Wallace disappeared, and Madeline Martin was left for dead, bleeding out on a riverbank. Since Evan Handy went to jail, three other young women have gone missing, most recently a young college dropout named Lolly. Five young women missing in the same area in a decade. Are they connected? Was Evan Handy innocent after all? Or was there some else there that night? Someone who is still satisfying his dark appetites? As Christmas approaches and a blizzard bears down, Madeline and her childhood friend Badger return to a past they both hoped was dead—to find the missing Lolly and to answer questions that have haunted them both, discovering that the truth is more terrible and much closer to home than they think.
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Dawn Schiff is strange. At least, everyone thinks so at Vixed, the nutritional supplement company where Dawn works as an accountant. She never says the right thing. She has no friends. And she is always at her desk at precisely 8:45 a.m. So when Dawn doesn't show up to the office one morning, her coworker Natalie Farrell―beautiful, popular, top sales rep five years running―is surprised. Then she receives an unsettling, anonymous phone call that changes everything... It turns out Dawn wasn't just an awkward outsider―she was being targeted by someone close. And now Natalie is irrevocably tied to Dawn as she finds herself caught in a twisted game of cat and mouse that leaves her wondering: who's the real victim? But one thing is incredibly clear: somebody hated Dawn Schiff. Enough to kill.
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When a shriveled body turns up in an old silver mine, failed detective Syl Dixon gets pulled into the investigation. But the strange case is even more sinister than she imagined. And the dying town of Pate, Idaho is full of secrets that don't want to be uncovered. People go missing all the time. Strange howls echo from the woods. Eerie portraits hang like shrines outside homes. But nobody-including the local sheriff-seems to care. The deeper Syl digs, the more she realizes she's facing a malicious darkness that has plagued Pate for over a century. Can Syl rid the town of this evil before it swallows everything in its path, including her?
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Twenty-two-year-old Olivia has been missing for one day...and counting. She was last seen on CCTV, entering a dead-end alley. And not coming back out again. Julia, the detective heading up the search for Olivia, thinks she knows what to expect. A desperate family, a ticking clock, and long hours away from her husband and daughter. But in this twisty police procedural, she has no idea just how close to home this case is going to get. Because the criminal at the heart of the disappearance has something she never expected. His weapon isn't a gun, or a knife: it's a secret. Her worst one. And her family's safety depends on one thing: Julia must NOT find out what happened to Olivia - and must frame somebody else for her murder.
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William Wooler is a family man, on the surface. But he's been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road. So when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter, Avery, unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper. Hours later, Avery's family declares her missing. Suddenly Stanhope doesn't feel so safe. And William isn't the only one on his street who's hiding a lie. As witnesses come forward with information that may or may not be true, Avery's neighbors become increasingly unhinged. Who took Avery Wooler?
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#2 in the DC Morgan Series
Stranded in the Welsh mountains, seven reality show contestants have no idea what they've signed up for. Each of these strangers has a secret. If another player can guess the truth, they won't just be eliminated - they'll be exposed live on air. The stakes are higher than they'd ever imagined, and they're trapped. The disappearance of a contestant wasn't supposed to be part of the drama. Detective Ffion Morgan has to put aside what she's watched on screen, and find out who these people really are - knowing she can't trust any of them. And when a murderer strikes, Ffion knows every one of her suspects has an alibi . . . and a secret worth killing for.
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Actress Nora Kemp loves two men. One is Hugh Iverson, a philanthropic movie star who gives Nora security and respectability. The other is Hugh's twin brother, Trent, a Hollywood bad boy who brings out Nora's wild side. When Trent and an unidentified woman are found dead on the Iversons' Beverly Hills property, more than Nora's and Hugh's reputations are at stake. An investigation suggests murder-suicide. But there's more to the crime than first meets the eye: suspicions of a serial killer with a bizarre motive, Hugh's unnerved and cautious staff, and a missing mother and son. As two LA detectives sift through the deceptions of the innocent and the guilty—some living and some dead—solving the case becomes a cunning cat-and-mouse game. Because in a city of illusions, the truth—no matter how dangerous—is so easy to hide.
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Grace Holloway keeps to herself. Since narrowly escaping death at the hands of the man who kidnapped her, she's thrown herself into the small inn she runs in Rock Harbor, Maine. It's quiet, quaint and, in the off-season, completely isolated—the perfect place for Grace to keep her own secrets. But Grace isn't the only one with something to hide, and Rock Harbor isn't just a sleepy vacation town. Someone is taking young women—girls who look an awful lot like Grace did when she was kidnapped so many years ago. When a surge of disappearances brings the investigation to her door, Grace finds herself unwillingly at the center of it all and doing everything she can to keep her distance. Because Grace knows something...something that could change everything. And when the truth comes to light, getting justice for the vanished might be more than Grace can handle alone...
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#9 in the Taylor Jackson Series
When a murderer stalks Music Row, and a contract killer steps out of the shadows, Taylor Jackson is caught in the middle. And if the newly minted captain of Nashville's homicide department wasn't already chafing under the pressure, her latest investigation goes sideways. A rising country star and her ex-boyfriend are found shot dead near a hiking trail. Now, the college student who reported the gunfire is missing, and more bodies are unearthed near the crime scene. Everything points to the city's pulsing music industry. But is it celebrity gossip or something more sinister? The new case stirs up old ones too. Soon, Taylor's got more than a potential serial killer on her radar: An international assassin may prove to be more friend than foe. Their mission weaves through an intricate web of crimes and cover-ups, pushing the seasoned detective to question her black-and-white morality. Taylor's always known where to draw the line. It's time to decide when to cross it.
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This camping trip is Chris's last chance to repair his relationship with his daughters, Kayla and Emma. Nothing's been the same since they lost their mom. But things go wrong as soon as they get to the mountains. When they make camp, nine-year-old Emma runs off into the woods. By the time they find her, there's a snowstorm rolling in. And Emma's leg is badly broken. They need to find shelter, fast. They think they're safe when they come across an old farmstead. The woman inside welcomes them in from the howling blizzard and straps up Emma's leg. They settle down for the night, but when Chris wakes at dawn and looks over . . . Emma is gone. And this family's nightmare is only just beginning.
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Your dad's not a good person. Your dad killed people, son. These are some of the last words Jack Givins' father spoke to him before he was whisked away by witness protection, leaving Jack and his mother to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives as best they could. Years later, Jack is a grown man with problems of his own. He's a talented but struggling author, barely scraping by on the royalties from his moderately successful first book. So when the U.S. Marshals approach him with a lucrative opportunity, he's in no position to turn them down. They're recruiting writers like Jack to create false histories for people in witness protection—people like Jack's father. The coincidence is astonishing to Jack at first, but he soon realizes this may be a chance to find his dad. Only there's one problem—Jack's father hasn't made contact with his handlers recently, and they have no idea where he is. He could be in serious danger, and Jack may be the only one who can find him. But how will he find a man he's never truly known? A man who has done terrible things in his lifetime and made some deadly enemies in the process—enemies who wouldn't think twice about using his own son against him.
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Your two little girls jump on the train ahead of you. As you try to join them, the doors slide shut and the train moves away, leaving you behind. It's only when you reach the next stop that you truly begin to panic. Because there aren't two children waiting for you on the platform. There's only one. Has your other daughter got lost? Been taken by a passing stranger? Or perhaps the culprit is closer to home than you think...
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Medical student Amy Brenner is spending the night on a locked psychiatric ward. Amy has been dreading her evening working on Ward D, the hospital's inpatient mental health unit. There are very specific reasons why she never wanted to do this required overnight rotation. Reasons nobody can ever find out. And as the hours tick by, Amy grows increasingly convinced something terrible is happening within these tightly secured walls. When patients and staff start to vanish without a trace, it becomes clear that everyone on the unit is in grave danger. Amy's worst nightmare was spending the night on Ward D. And now she might never escape.
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A decade ago, two vans filled with high school seniors on a school service trip crashed into a Tennessee ravine—a tragedy that claimed the lives of multiple classmates and teachers. The nine students who managed to escape the river that night were irrevocably changed. A year later, after one of the survivors dies by suicide on the anniversary of the crash, the rest of them make a pact: to come together each year to commemorate that terrible night. To keep one another safe. To hold one another accountable. Or both. Their annual meeting place, a house on the Outer Banks, has long been a refuge. But by the tenth anniversary, Cassidy Bent has worked to distance herself from the tragedy and from the other survivors. She's changed her mobile number. She's blocked the others' email addresses. This year, she is determined to finally break ties once and for all. But on the day of the reunion, she receives a text with an obituary attached: another survivor is gone. Now they are seven—and Cassidy finds herself hurling back toward the group, wild with grief—and suspicion. Almost immediately, something feels off this year. Cassidy is the first to notice when Amaya, the annual organizer, slips away, overwhelmed. This wouldn't raise alarm except for the impending storm. Suddenly, they're facing the threat of closed roads and surging waters...again. Then Amaya stops responding to her phone. After all they've been through, she wouldn't willfully make them worry. Would she? And—as they promised long ago—each survivor will do whatever he or she can do to save one another. Won't they?
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Alex Armstrong has changed everything about herself—her name, her appearance, her backstory. She's no longer the terrified teenager a rapt audience saw on television, emerging in handcuffs from the quiet suburban home the night her family was massacred. That girl, Alexandra Quinlan, nicknamed Empty Eyes by the media, was accused of the killings, fought to clear her name, and later took the stand during her highly publicized defamation lawsuit that captured the attention of the nation. It's been ten years since, and Alex hasn't stopped searching for answers about the night her family was killed, even as she continues to hide her real identity from true crime fanatics and grasping reporters still desperate to locate her. As a legal investigator, she works tirelessly to secure justice for others, too. People like Matthew Claymore, who's under suspicion in the disappearance of his girlfriend, a student journalist named Laura McAllister. Laura was about to break a major story about rape and cover-ups on her college campus. Alex believes Matthew is innocent, and unearths stunning revelations about the university's faculty, fraternity members, and powerful parents willing to do anything to protect their children. Most shocking of all—as Alex digs into Laura's disappearance, she realizes there are unexpected connections to the murder of her own family. For as different as the crimes may seem, they each hinge on one sinister truth: no one is quite who they seem to be . . .
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Following their daughter's mysterious disappearance, Ryan and Elsie Delaney have taken the LAPD forensic lab hostage, and have given law enforcement an ultimatum: Find their daughter, Tilly, or they will destroy all the evidence they can find to other cold cases. Detective Charlie Hoskins has been undercover in a deadly motorcycle gang for five years. With his cover blown, he has no choice but to find Tilly himself, or lose everything he's worked for as the lab burns. Lynette Lamb was a police officer -- until yesterday, when she was fired before her first beat. Figuring out what happened to Tilly is her one and only chance at rejoining the career she's prepared her whole life for. Hoskins and Lamb will have to team up to solve this cold case, and will have to move fast -- before the situation explodes.
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Twenty five years ago, Jenna, Donnie, and Nico were the best of friends, having forged a bond through the abuse and neglect they endured as residents of Savior House, a group home for parentless teens. When the home was shut down—after the disappearance of several kids—the three were split up. Though the trauma of their childhood has never left them, each went on to live accomplished—if troubled—lives. They haven't seen one another since they were teens but now are reunited for a single haunting reason: someone is trying to kill them. To survive, the group will have to revisit the nightmares of their childhoods and confront their shared past—a past that holds the secret to why someone wants them dead. It's a reunion none of them asked for . . . or wanted. But it may be the only way to save all their lives.
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One year ago, Isabelle Drake's life changed forever: her toddler son, Mason, was taken out of his crib in the middle of the night while she and her husband were asleep in the next room. With little evidence and few leads for the police to chase, the case quickly went cold. However, Isabelle cannot rest until Mason is returned to her—literally. Except for the occasional catnap or small blackout where she loses track of time, she hasn't slept in a year. Isabelle's entire existence now revolves around finding him, but she knows she can't go on this way forever. In hopes of jarring loose a new witness or buried clue, she agrees to be interviewed by a true-crime podcaster—but his interest in Isabelle's past makes her nervous. His incessant questioning paired with her severe insomnia has brought up uncomfortable memories from her own childhood, making Isabelle start to doubt her recollection of the night of Mason's disappearance, as well as second-guess who she can trust... including herself. But she is determined to figure out the truth no matter where it leads.
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Jake Hayes is missing. This much is certain. At first, his wife, Nina, thinks he is blowing off steam at a friend's house after their heated fight the night before. But then a day goes by. Two days. Five. And Jake is still nowhere to be found. Lily Scott, Nina's friend and coworker, thinks she may have been the last to see Jake before he went missing. After Lily confesses everything to her husband, Christian, the two decide that nobody can find out what happened leading up to Jake's disappearance, especially not Nina. But Nina is out there looking for her husband, and she won't stop until the truth is discovered.
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Therapist turned stay-at-home mom Jules Hart's idyllic suburban life shatters when she crashes her car into an icy lake. Her son and another teenage boy plunge into the water with her, but Jules can only manage to save one—the wrong one. Reeling from the death of her son, Jules spirals into a violent and unstable mental state. Ten months after the accident, she's still trying to reckon with the fact that she rescued Isaac Greer, another woman's child, when Isaac suddenly vanishes. Jules finds herself at the center of a massive police investigation. While she harbors her own dangerous secrets, Jules is adamant that she didn't take Isaac. But then who did? Is Isaac the victim of a dangerous killer who's been targeting boys in the Midwest? Or is someone else pulling the strings in this deadly game?
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#17 in the Private Series
Private Beijing is ripped apart after an attack leaves three agents dead and the head of the team missing. With the Beijing branch in turmoil, Private's owner and global head, Jack Morgan, immediately gets on a plane from LA. Soon after Jack lands in China, another Private office is attacked. It's clear that the entire organisation is under threat. As Jack launches a global investigation from unfamiliar territory, he will need the loyalty of his team now more than ever.
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What could be more restful than a weekend getaway with family and friends? An isolated luxury cabin in the woods, spectacular views, a hot tub and a personal chef. Hannah's generous brother found the listing online. The reviews are stellar. It'll be three couples on this trip with good food, good company and lots of R & R. But the dreamy weekend is about to turn into a nightmare. A deadly storm is brewing. The rental host seems just a little too present. The personal chef reveals that their beautiful house has a spine-tingling history. And the friends have their own complicated past, with secrets that run blood deep. How well does Hannah know her brother, her own husband? Can she trust her best friend? Meanwhile, someone is determined to ruin the weekend, looking to exact a payback for deeds long buried. Who is the stranger among them?
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#4 in the Detective Max Rupert Series
Max Rupert has left his position as a Minneapolis homicide detective to live in solitude. Mourning the tragic death of his wife, he's also racked by guilt—he alone knows what happened to her killer. But then the former local sheriff, Lyle Voight, arrives with a desperate plea: Lyle's daughter Sandy and his six-year-old grandson Pip have disappeared. Lyle's certain Sandy's ex-husband Reed is behind it, but the new sheriff is refusing to investigate. When Max reluctantly looks into their disappearance, he too becomes convinced something has gone very wrong. But the closer Max and Lyle get to finding proof, the more slippery Reed becomes, until he makes a break for the beautiful but formidable Boundary Waters wilderness with vulnerable Pip in tow. Racing after the most dangerous kind of criminal—a desperate father—and with the ghosts of their own pasts never far behind, Max and Lyle go on the hunt within a treacherous landscape, determined to bring an evil man to justice, and to bring a terrified child home alive.
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Newlyweds Tricia and Ethan are searching for the house of their dreams. But when they visit the remote manor that once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who vanished without a trace four years earlier, a violent winter storm traps them at the estate... with no chance of escape until the blizzard comes to an end. In search of a book to keep her entertained until the snow abates, Tricia happens upon a secret room. One that contains audio transcripts from every single patient Dr. Hale has ever interviewed. As Tricia listens to the cassette tapes, she learns about the terrifying chain of events leading up to Dr. Hale's mysterious disappearance. Tricia plays the tapes one by one, late into the night. With each one, another shocking piece of the puzzle falls into place, and Dr. Adrienne Hale's web of lies slowly unravels. And then Tricia reaches the final cassette. The one that reveals the entire horrifying truth.
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In a rural Wilshire town lies the Devil's Corridor—a haunted road which has witnessed eerie happenings, from unexplained deaths to the sounds of a child crying in the night. In this bucolic stretch of Southwest England famous for its otherworldly sites, nothing is more puzzling than the Olivia Rutherford case. Four girls were driving home. After their car crashed only one—Olivia—was found. What happened to the girls who disappeared? On the twentieth anniversary of the tragedy, journalist Jenna Halliday has arrived in Wiltshire to cover the case. The locals aren't happy with this outsider determined to dig into the past. Least of all Olivia. Soon, Jenna starts receiving menacing notes. The locals have made it clear she's not welcome. But someone is going to make her leave one way or another. Jenna's been warned: she must get out of this town before she suffers a dark fate . . . and becomes another mystery attached to this place.
