AN IRRESISTIBLE TREAT FOR FANS OF JOHN GRISHAM

Move over, Jake Brigance. No-nonsense, world-weary Minneapolis lawyer Marc Kadella shines through gritty, street-wise narrative in Dennis Carstens’ action-packed legal thriller series, sure to please fans of courtroom drama and classic noir alike.

Marc takes the proverbial road less traveled, going from life as a frustratingly floundering defense attorney to that of a celebrated criminal lawyer, while representing a handful of colorful clients running the gauntlet from vigilante to psychopath. And Marc deftly adapts to each of them. But the hero’s journey is only part of the fun. You can almost see the men sporting fedoras, and the babes would stop traffic even without the cleavage Carstens makes their standard attire. And there’s a contemporary angle sure to please fans of both sexes—the toughest guy in the series is gorgeous investigator Maddy Rivers.

BOOK ONE – THE KEY TO JUSTICE

Financially embarrassed, getting a divorce, living in a shabby apartment, and distinctly short of clients, Marc Kadella’s beginning to question why he ever went into the law when a friend brings him the case all Minneapolis is watching--defending an accused serial killer. If he wins, it could turn his life around— if he blows it, he better go into sales.

BOOK TWO – DESPERATE JUSTICE

After winning the case of a lifetime, Minneapolis criminal defense lawyer Marc Kadella welcomes the infusion of energy his career is receiving. Another lawyer asks him to represent the co-defendant in a murder trial resulting from a petty crime that spiraled out of control—the somewhat “accidental” murder of the nephew of Vivian Corwin, grande dame of the influential Corwin family.

BOOK THREE – MEDIA JUSTICE

An adorable—and photogenic—two-year-old girl is kidnapped, and, when her remains are found, her twenty-two-year-old widowed mother Brittany is charged with her murder. But before she can even be charged she’s been tried and convicted by the media—with tragic consequences.

BOOK FOUR – CERTAIN JUSTICE

Marc was torn about representing oft-assumed psychopath Howie Traynor—his first homicide case—but even he was relieved when Howie was put away for forty years… Until, a decade later, his case is re-opened. And now not only Howie, but a handful of wrongfully-accused felons are back out on the streets.

BOOK FIVE – PERSONAL JUSTICE

In Dennis Carstens’ fifth hard-boiled legal thriller, we meet the classic black widow. All of Mackenzie Sutherland’s late husbands were millionaires. Each died suddenly and quite mysteriously of massive heart attacks (in spite of no history of heart trouble). And each left their children with nothing—and their young, beautiful bride (of about a year or so) with millions.

No one can resist Mackenzie’s charm. Not her current family attorney, not even sharp, successful lawyer Marc Kadella.

BOOK SIX – DELAYED JUSTICE

Maddy’s new beau, investment analyst Rob Judd, is found brutally murdered in his home—with an unconscious Maddy at the gruesome scene of the crime, clutching the murder weapon. Convinced she was framed, Marc decides to take on the case in spite of his close connections to the client. He finds he must delve deep into the complex money laundering schemes of Rob’s employer to save Maddy from false imprisonment. Or worse.

Carstens’ realistic take on the law as a nuts-and-bolts, often rickety way to make a living blends nicely with his worldly-wise portrayal of backroom deals, crooked cops, and conniving judges and politicians. Now bundled as a page-turning box set in an offer legal drama fans can’t refuse!

"Dead men do tell tales--the kind that'll kill you."

If you like "unputdownable" reads, then you'll love this clean, gripping "mystery-within-a-thriller" full of suspense, secrets--stunning twists and turns--a 2017 Amazon international writing competition winner. Some readers (see below) say it's just as good as a John Grisham novel. Some say it's better. Others compare it favorably to books by Lee Child, Michael Connelly, or David Baldacci. Readers of Scott Pratt and Robert Dugoni also enjoy Killdeer. Here's the story line:

It could happen to anyone. You're in the wrong place at the wrong time. You become a suspect in a friend's murder because the law has nobody else to pin it on. Then when that friend is linked to a possible terror plot, the law thinks you're a terrorist too. What would you do?

David Thompson is a burned-out lawyer and family man just trying to make ends meet when he stumbles into the crosshairs of the law. He's in a race with the clock to find his friend's killer before he's thrown in jail and railroaded all the way to the lethal injection table.

Thompson must desert his family and seek out a secret society of bird-watchers in a desperate search for the truth behind the killing. Who really was his murdered friend? What family secrets was he hiding? Did he lead a double life?

But when Thompson gets too close to the truth, the real killer goes on the hunt. It seems everyone wants a piece of Thompson. His family just wants him back home.

Thrust on a riveting thrill ride through the oil fields of North Dakota, Thompson's quest to save his own skin suddenly explodes into a race to save both his family and the nation from a deadly tidal wave of terror. But he may be too late . . .

**Get a copy instantly and join the thrill ride now.**

**The paperback version with its awesome cover makes a great gift!**

***The standalone prequel to The Killdeer Connection is Saving Babe Ruth. Check it out!***

Here's what readers are saying about Killdeer: 

"I never saw the end coming. The book was hard to put down to go to sleep the night I started it. It's as good as any Grisham novel I've ever read." - Mountain Mom

"Unputdownable. This book absolutely draws you in and makes you feel as if you're there. Lee Child meets John Grisham."- Robann

"This is a new legal writer who deserves to be viewed with Grisham and Baldacci. From page one word you are drawn in until the last word on the last page." - Ken

Nothing can keep the doctor away...

Each man kills the thing he loves…

Edward Marsham is admitted to the Royal Infirmary having hung himself in his prison cell.

As predicted, he dies.

In the wake of several unexpected deaths at the hospital, however, Dr. Claire Woodforde suspects there is a killer amongst the staff. As Detective Chief Inspector Beverley Wharton and her new sergeant Tom Bayes begin to investigate Marsham’s death, they too start to wonder if it was natural or whether someone…

helped him along.

But as they start to make headway on the case, something much more sinister comes to light.

A body is found in an empty house.

A body without its limbs. And head.

Dr. John Eisenmenger is tasked with examining the torso to uncover clues which will lead to its identity and cause of death; a grisly job even for the most hardened of pathologists.

But as the investigation unfolds, the team discovers that there is much, much worse to come, and in addition, there is growing suspicion that there is a link between the two cases.

This not-for-the-faint-hearted crime thriller shines a light into the darkest recesses of the human soul.

Fans of Patricia Cornwell, Tami Hoag and Tess Gerritsen will be hooked on A Kiss Before Killing.
 

Praise for A Kiss Before Killing

‘Pacey, well-written medical thriller ... the suspense built so that I had to finish it in a sitting’ – Andrew Puckett, bestselling author of Sisters of Mercy

‘Dark and disturbing. Sharp and deliciously violent. A must read’ – Robert White, bestselling author of Breaking Bones

We forgive murderers, not pedophiles.

Not since Lionel Shriver brought us We Need to Talk About Kevin has a writer delved into the complexities of a disturbed mother/son relationship. Until now.

Meet Noah—an A-honor roll student, award-winning swimmer, and small-town star destined for greatness. There weren’t any signs that something was wrong until the day he confesses to molesting little girls during swim team practice. He’s sentenced to eighteen months in a juvenile sexual rehabilitation center.

His mother, Adrianne, refuses to turn her back on him despite his horrific crimes, but her husband won’t allow Noah back into their home. In a series of shocking and shattering revelations, Adrianne is forced to make the hardest decision of her life. Just how far will she go to protect her son?

Saving Noah challenges everything you think you know about teenage sexual offenders. It will keep you up at night long after you've read the last page, questioning beliefs you once thought were true.
 

After thirty-one years, Riley Fisher-Wolf is finally out on her own. For the first time in her life, she’s without her overbearing mother, extroverted roommates, and most recently, her controlling husband Evan. After a lifetime of damaging relationships, she’s finally found the courage to begin her own life.

But then came the hand-scrawled note under her door.

We’re never really alone.

Suddenly, Riley finds her peaceful independence turning upside down. Items go missing in her home. Mysterious figures follow her in the shadows. And just like that, Riley realizes she’s being watched.

But by whom?

Evan is the obvious culprit but Riley can’t rule out her paranoid, overprotective mother. There’s also the handsome new stranger who works in her building who knows more about Riley than she’s ever told, and her soon-to-be newlywed clients whose image of perfection is crumbling into something dark and toxic right before Riley’s eyes.

There are far too many suspects in Riley’s new life of independence, and at this point, she has no idea who she can trust.

All she knows is that somewhere out there, someone doesn’t want her to be alone…

On an ordinary morning, Maria Colson takes her baby son Dylan to the corner store. She turns her back for only a few seconds. When she looks again, she sees his empty stroller, as Dylan is being abducted into a waiting van. Maria climbs into the van, but is violently thrown to the road where she is left for dead as the vehicle vanishes without a trace.

As Maria fights for her life and her anguished young husband keeps a beside vigil, the FBI and police across metro Sea-Tac and Washington State search for Dylan.
Seattle Mirror reporter Jason Wade is under pressure to bring in a big story, and the Colson kidnapping could be it. It’s certainly a bizarre case with pieces that just don’t add up: The Colsons are a hard-working couple. Former high school sweethearts. No problems. No enemies.

Then Jason and his dad, a private detective haunted by his former life as a cop, discover a grisly murder of a young woman that is somehow connected to the Colsons.

Now, in a dark Seattle underground of desperate dreamers and ex-convicts, Jason embarks on an investigation that parallels one led by Homicide Detective Grace Garner.

They're both hunting for the one piece of the puzzle that connects the baby’s disappearance with a spine-tingling case of revenge. And time is running out, because whoever took little Dylan Colson is more dangerous than anyone could ever imagine.

With Every Fear, Rick Mofina takes suspense to a whole new level in a heart-pounding story that moves like a true crime case torn from today's headlines.

Rick Mofina is a former journalist who has interviewed murderers on death row, flown over L.A. with the LAPD and patrolled with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police near the Arctic. He's also reported from the Caribbean, Africa and Kuwait's border with Iraq. His books have been published in nearly 30 countries, including an illegal translation produced in Iran.

His work has been praised by James Patterson, Dean Koontz, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen, Jeffery Deaver, Sandra Brown, James Rollins, Brad Thor, Nick Stone, David Morrell, Allison Brennan, Heather Graham, Linwood Barclay, Peter Robinson, Håkan Nesser and Kay Hooper.

The Crime Writers of Canada, The International Thriller Writers and The Private Eye Writers of America have listed his titles among the best in crime fiction. As a two-time winner of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award, a three-time Thriller Award finalist and a two-time Shamus Award finalist, the Library Journal calls him, “One of the best thriller writers in the business."

A family brutally slaughtered. A daughter disappeared into thin air...

Still recovering from the murder attempt that nearly took her life, tough-as-nails New York homicide detective Jasmine Steele is slowly coming to grips with a world that's seemingly gone mad. She has every reason to fear death: her parents are both long gone, and she watched her brother bleed out following a drunk driving accident that left his wife dead and his son an orphan. Now Chase lives with his Aunt Jasmine--Jazz for short--and life was readjusting for them both until a serial killer gunning for Jazz almost resulted in the murders of both Chase and Jazz's longtime actress friend Hadley. And there are still loose ends she’s desperate to tie up…

Jazz's bleary obsession with her past is interrupted when she's assigned to a horrifying case: the entire Johnson family's been viciously murdered. Hard-boiled alert:  author Kimberly Amato pulls no punches. The mother's throat was slit while trying to call for help and the father was shot in the chest, then gruesomely sliced up while still alive, like a scene from a horror film. Also found, the body of their young son, about Chase's age, left in the closet with a snapped neck. When ever-adept Jazz finds a business card in the father's wallet reading "Garrison Developments," she's suddenly on high alert. This is a link to her horrendous losses.

But it's the remaining clues to a missing fourth victim--a teenage daughter named Kaley--that leave her reeling.

Kaley's seemingly disappeared without a trace. But something about the crime scene just doesn't seem right... Looking to psychologist Frankie for help (her own life partner and Kaley's child psychologist), Jazz discovers that the Johnson family had plenty of disturbing skeletons in its closet. Skeletons possibly warranting hiring a hit man on the Internet. And then there's that business card. And that photo of, the Garrison clan patriarch shaking hands with the principal of Kaley's private school--a school that couldn't seem to care less whether Kaley is dead or alive.

With the help of trusted coroner and best pal Victor, as well as her new partner, Detective Will Everts (a father of daughters who's about to learn more about the teenage girl psyche than he'd like to), ever-fearless Jazz jumps head-first into the opaque abyss of corrupt New York finance and down the dangerous and secretive rabbit hole of the Deep Web. Can she manage to trace a cold-blooded killer, using only the most untraceable technology known to man?

This one’s for fans of hard-boiled police procedurals, lesbian mysteries, and badass female sleuths. Definitely not for the squeamish! But those who can't get enough of the exciting new wave of hard-boiled women sleuths, created by writers like Megan Abbott, Laura Lippmann, Lisa Lutz, and Vicki Hendricks will be attracted to the author’s take-no-prisoners style, and her unflinching attention to harrowing detail.

Yet lovers of traditional mysteries will appreciate the web of fierce loyalty tempered with fearful caution that links Jazz’s tiny but hardy support system—Victor, Frankie, Will, and their actress friend Hadley, not to mention Chase himself. Somehow or other, Amato manages to mix all the excitement of an action thriller with the swirling emotions of a mainstream psychological novel.

It should have been a simple job. All archaeology student Jane Barnaby had to do was pick up a box her professor needed and deliver it to him at his dig site, along with his new car. Yes, his office was in Oxfordshire, and his dig site was in Spain, a trip of 1,400 miles across three countries and two bodies of water. Still, it should have been simple.

And it was, until Jane discovered she picked up the wrong box by mistake. Not the one with boring pottery samples, but instead the one with priceless ancient Egyptian artifacts. The one that a team of international art thieves is after.

Now she’s chasing – and being chased by – the thieves. And she’s picked up a pair of passengers who claim they can help her outwit them, get her professor’s pottery back and return the artifacts to their rightful owner. If only she could figure out which one of them is working with the thieves and which one she can trust in this high-stakes game of finders keepers.

How far would you go to protect a friend?

Rhona Hasen says she didn't kill her husband. The police say otherwise.

Still, Sheriff's Deputy Suzie Jensen wants to believe her. Yet her efforts to investigate the murder go awry when Ro skips bail and GracedeHaviland--Columbus, Ohio's top bounty hunter and Suzie's best friend--takes the case.

Now pitted against her best friend in a race against time and with a deadly street gang out for blood, can Grace unravel the mystery of Rhona's husband's death in time to stop more murders--like Suzie Jensen's and her own.

WINNER OF THE 2015 BEST INDIE BOOK AWARD in Mystery/Suspense/Thriller

"Grace deHaviland is one tough cookie." - SUSPENSE MAGAZINE
"A fascinating point of view character." - KRISTINE KATHRYN RUSCH

Dance with the Enemy is the action-packed and gripping first chapter in the highly-acclaimed and bestselling Enemy series of espionage thrillers featuring Carl Logan.

Book Description:

Carl Logan was the perfect agent. A loner. No real friends or family. Trained to deal with any situation with cold efficiency, devoid of emotion. But Logan isn’t the man he used to be, or the asset he once was. Five months ago his life changed forever when he was captured, tortured and left for dead by Youssef Selim, one of the world’s most violent terrorists. When Selim mysteriously reappears in Paris, linked to the kidnapping of America’s Attorney General, Logan smells his chance for revenge. Pursuing his man relentlessly, oblivious to the growing trail of destruction that he leaves in his wake, Logan delves increasingly deep into the web of lies and deceit surrounding the kidnapping. Finally, he comes to learn just what it means to Dance with the Enemy.

If you like Lee Child, Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, Tom Wood, Scott Mariani, CJ Box, JB Turner, Mark Greaney, Mark Dawson, Stephen Leather, then you will be gripped by this exciting new thriller series.

Sheldon Horowitz—widowed, impatient, impertinent—has grudgingly agreed to leave New York and move in with his granddaughter, Rhea, and her new husband, Lars, in Norway—a country of blue and ice with one thousand Jews, not one of them a former Marine sniper in the Korean War turned watch repairman. Not until now, anyway.

Home alone one morning, Sheldon witnesses a dispute between the woman who lives upstairs and an aggressive stranger. When events turn dire, Sheldon seizes and shields the neighbor’s young son from the violence, and they flee the scene. As Sheldon and the boy look for a safe haven in an alien world, past and present weave together, forcing them ever forward to a wrenching moment of truth.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes a psychological thriller exploring the things we dare to do when no one is looking . . .

The community along Oregon’s Deschutes River is one of successful careers and perfect families. For years, up-and-comers Liz and Owen have admired their good friends and neighbors, Carole and David. They appear to have it all—security, happiness, and a beautiful young son, Charlie.

Then Charlie vanishes without a trace, and all that seemed safe is shattered by a tragedy that is incomprehensible—except to Liz.

It took one fleeting moment for her to change the lives of everyone she loves—a heartrending accident that can’t be undone. Neither can the second-worst mistake of her life: concealing it. As two marriages crack and buckle in grief and fear, Liz retreats into her own dark place of guilt, escalating paranoia—and betrayals even she can’t imagine. Because there’s another good neighbor who has his own secrets, his own pain, and his own reasons for watching Liz’s every move.

And only he knows that the mystery of the missing boy on the Deschutes River is far from over.

England, 1941. And the battleship Bismarck is about to set sail.

Undercover agent Xanthe Schneider has returned to England, following her mission in Berlin, with vital information… and a baby growing inside her.

In the months that lead up to the birth, Xanthe occupies herself with work and regular visits to Bletchley Park, but this does little to take her mind off her sense of isolation, caused by a father who doesn’t respond to her letters, a lover who turned out to be a traitor and being five thousand miles from her home in Cincinnati.

Following the birth, she decides that her duty as a mother must take priority. The baby needs her, and nothing will make her return to the field.

But the British military has other ideas…

It is not long before Xanthe finds herself on another mission, one which, if successful, will use Enigma code to pinpoint the missing battleship and save many lives.

This story offers an insight into the German invasions of Greece, and the desperate struggle to find and destroy the Bismarck. It is the sequel to bestselling The Berlin Affair but can be read as an page-turning stand-alone.

A must-read for fans of Robert Harris, David Downing and Alan Furst.

This is the second book in the Xanthe Schneider trilogy

Nobody cuts deeper than family...

Dr. Noah Alderman, a widower and single father, has remarried a wonderful woman, Maggie Ippolitti, and for the first time in a long time, he and his young son are happy. Despite her longing for the daughter she hasn’t seen since she was a baby, Maggie is happy too, and she’s even more overjoyed when she unexpectedly gets another chance to be a mother to the child she thought she'd lost forever, her only daughter Anna.

Maggie and Noah know that having Anna around will change their lives, but they would never have guessed that everything would go wrong, and so quickly. Anna turns out to be a gorgeous seventeen-year-old who balks at living under their rules, though Maggie, ecstatic to have her daughter back, ignores the red flags that hint at the trouble brewing in a once-perfect marriage and home.

Events take a heartbreaking turn when Anna is murdered and Noah is accused and tried for the heinous crime. Maggie must face not only the devastation of losing her daughter, but the realization that Anna's murder may have been at the hands of a husband she loves. In the wake of this tragedy, new information drives Maggie to search for the truth, leading her to discover something darker than she could have ever imagined.

Riveting and disquieting, After Anna is a groundbreaking domestic thriller, as well as a novel of emotional justice and legal intrigue. And New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline will keep readers on their toes until the final shocking page

Praise for Lisa Scottoline:

"Scottoline keeps the pace relentless as she drops a looming threat into the heart of an idyllic suburban community, causing readers to hold their breath in anticipation." —Booklist on One Perfect Lie

"Readers can be assured that the author nails the high school milieu, from athletic rivalries to sexting...they're in for one thrilling ride." —Kirkus on One Perfect Lie

"Entertaining...This fast-paced read culminates in a daring chase that would play well on the big screen." —Publishers Weekly

I never intended to get married...or pregnant!

I was in the club trying to think how I could create a life milestone. 
He was there celebrating a business milestone. 
And the next thing I know...
I wake up in his bed, 
With a ring on my finger! 

My logical reaction - I run.
I run away from him, from Vegas. 
Without realizing that I'm carrying a part of him with me - his baby! 
That's why they say what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas. 

Fast forward three months, and I receive divorce papers.
That's what I've been waiting for, right? 
That's what he wants too. 

Until...
He looks at my swollen pregnancy feet and the 'oh so cute' baby bump. 

This is an 80k word standalone romance with plenty of steam and a very satisfying HEA. Bonus stories included for your reading pleasure. 

FROM USA TODAY BEST-SELLING AUTHOR JOHN ELLSWORTH

Michael Gresham is a criminal attorney with a client accused of murdering a judge's wife. As the story progresses, the judge whose wife was murdered suddenly tries to hire Michael Gresham for himself. New revelations have the judge backed into a corner in this legal and financial thriller. Can an attorney battle the system and win the notorious case other lawyers turned down? Can Michael Gresham turn the tables on those who would see him dead? And who is going to pay for the injury and disfigurement they left him with?

A legal financial thriller that introduces the first in a five-book series about Michael Gresham, the Chicago lawyer who defends hopeless cases everyday. Watch from your front row seat as Michael walks into this courtroom drama a huge underdog. Cheer him on as he uses all his wit and cunning to defend the indefensible.

Other Books in the Michael Gresham Series of Legal and Financial Thrillers
The Lawyer is part of the Attorney Michael Gresham Mystery Thriller Series which has more than 1,000+ five-star reviews and a million readers and counting. If you love a page-turning thriller with mystery, clandestine plotting and a dash of romance, pick up Sakharov the Bear today.

This stand-alone novel features leading man Michael Gresham. Look for other mystery and legal and financial thriller books featuring Michael Gresham including The Lawyer, Secrets Girls Keep, The Law Partners, Carlos the Ant, and now Sakharov the Bear. They can be read in any order.

Read These Books Free in Kindle Unlimited
Enjoy this Lawyer Mystery Thriller Series FREE as part of your Kindle Unlimited subscription. You can read these Kindle Unlimited books online via your Amazon Kindle Fire or on any smartphone or tablet with the free Amazon Books Kindle reading app.

John Ellsworth's books are renowned for their twists and turns and the surprise ending in this one is equally brilliant. One courtroom financial thriller that curls around and surprises even the most keen readers...the thriller series that made John Ellsworth a household name!

More than 99 percent of the evidence proves the Shroud of Turin is the authentic burial cloth of Jesus Christ. Only one test says otherwise—the carbon date performed in 1988.

A serial killer with a fetish for fire targets the faithful of Tucson, Arizona. Homicide detective, Pete Johnston, works to catch the killer before more clergy are killed, before more churches are burned.

His daughter, Amari, is a criminal justice major at the University of Arizona. When the Shroud is carbon dated at her university, the results reveal that the relic is a medieval forgery. Amari investigates this ancient cold case file for a class project and makes a shocking discovery that could alter the fate of Christianity.

She teams up with Dr. Kevin Brenner, a brilliant young experimental physicist, and together they gather evidence so they can plead their case to the Vatican—unless the killer can stop them first. Her father desperately tries to protect her and catch the killer before she becomes his next victim.

When marine engineer and very part-time spook Tom Dugan becomes collateral damage in the War on Terror, he's not about to take it lying down.

Falsely implicated in a hijacking, he's offered a chance to clear himself by helping the CIA snare their real prey, Dugan's best friend, London ship owner Alex Kairouz. Reluctantly, Dugan agrees to go undercover in Alex's company, despite doubts about his friend's guilt. Once undercover, Dugan's steadfast refusal to accept Alex's guilt puts him at odds not only with his CIA superiors, but also with a beautiful British agent with whom he's romantically involved.

When a tanker is found adrift near Singapore with a dead crew, and another explodes in Panama as Alex lies near death after a suspicious suicide attempt, Dugan is framed for the attacks. Out of options, and convinced the attacks are prelude to an even more devastating assault, Dugan eludes capture to follow his last lead to Russia, only to be shanghaied as an 'advisor' to a Russian Spetsnaz unit on a suicide mission.

 

Near an isolated mansion lies a beautiful garden.

In this garden grow luscious flowers, shady trees…and a collection of precious “butterflies”—young women who have been kidnapped and intricately tattooed to resemble their namesakes. Overseeing it all is the Gardener, a brutal, twisted man obsessed with capturing and preserving his lovely specimens.

When the garden is discovered, a survivor is brought in for questioning. FBI agents Victor Hanoverian and Brandon Eddison are tasked with piecing together one of the most stomach-churning cases of their careers. But the girl, known only as Maya, proves to be a puzzle herself.

As her story twists and turns, slowly shedding light on life in the Butterfly Garden, Maya reveals old grudges, new saviors, and horrific tales of a man who’d go to any length to hold beauty captive. But the more she shares, the more the agents have to wonder what she’s still hiding…

#1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts presents a seductively suspenseful tale of one woman’s shattered innocence, the terrifying search for truth and a heart’s journey toward healing…
 
Olivia’s parents were among Hollywood’s golden couples—until the night a monster came and took her mother away forever. A monster with the face of her father...
 
Sheltered from the truth, an older Olivia only dimly recalls her night of terror—but her recurring nightmares make her realize she must piece together the real story. Now, assisted by Noah Brady, the son of the police detective who found her cowering in her closet so many years before, she may have her chance. Noah wants to reconstruct the night that has become an infamous part of Hollywood history. He also wants to help Olivia and heal the longing in her lonely heart. But once the door to her past is opened, there’s no telling what’s waiting on the other side. For somewhere, not too far away, the monster walks again...