Mystery Cults

John Alexander Dowie (1847-1907) was a Scottish evangelist and “faith healer” who migrated to the United States from Australia in the late 1800s. Dowie was referred to by critics of his time as a “confidence man”, a person who appealed to the confidence of victims using deception to convince or persuade them out of money or into submission. In the case of Dowie’s Christian Catholic Church cult following, commonly referred to as “Zionites” or “Dowieites”, both money and power were gained.

Reverend Annabelle Dixon has pulled out all the stops to earn the affection of the handsome Inspector Nicholls. She’s even done the unthinkable, and sworn off sweets…for a bit. But when all her efforts come to naught, Annabelle seeks comfort and distraction in the affairs of her parish. When she hears of strangers moving into a house on the edge of the village, Annabelle decides to pay these new residents a visit. What she finds is a quirky cult and a ritual that sends her fleeing into the woods…where she promptly trips over a dead body!

When twenty-eight-year-old Nadine Singh escaped the clutches of the insidious Spiritology, she abandoned the lies, manipulation, and darkness that had tried her patience and perverted her faith. But breaking free from the cult’s physical hold didn’t mean escaping its grip entirely. Haunted by the lives she couldn’t save, Nadine is determined to bring the organization and its charismatic, tyrannical leader, David Markowitz crashing down.

Thanks to Sofia, cult-leader Franz Oswald is now in custody awaiting trial for the horrific things that took place on Fog Island. With the help of a fashionable lawyer, Franz is spinning a web of revenge that stretches far outside his prison walls. When Sofia determines to speak out about the sect, her life once again turns into a living nightmare. No matter where she runs, Oswald’s network seems to reach her. And in the wake of his final revenge, Sophia must ask herself the crucial question—can one ever be free from a cult?

With plans for a new performing arts center at Wynter Castle taking up all her time, baker Merry Wynter has been all but unaware of the fringe group compound near her small town - until a street preacher accosts her with taunts of doom and damnation. Worried that some of her close friends may have been lured in by the group and its charismatic leader, Merry begins digging into the ministry - and soon suspects they may have ties to the recent death of a young woman and the disappearance of many others.

Lucien has everything he needs: a loving mama, a library full of books, and House of Earth, a private school nestled safely in the woods of upstate New York. It’s where Lucien is taught the importance of living in harmony with nature and building a peaceful and sustainable future. But when his youthful curiosity draws him into town and to Gabrielle, a public-school student living a life wholly different from his own, Lucien’s inquisitiveness about life beyond the commune and questions regarding the events of 9/11 threaten to unbalance everything he thought he knew.

Homeless couple Isaac Newton and his girlfriend both harbor secrets. When Marsha tells Isaac that she is pregnant, Isaac, the half-breed angel shares with her that he has wings when he pulls them out inside the cardboard box they inhabit. When a mysterious video of him goes viral, Isaac, unbeknownst to himself, becomes the target of a man whose job it is to hunt down half-breeds.

Having just graduated from college, Jason and Eddie are ready to let loose and embark on a cross-country road trip. After some killer partying at a rock music festival in Nevada, they head out into the desert with girls and adventure on their minds. Their situation takes a dark turn, however, when they lose direction and find themselves at the entrance of a ghost town in the bowels of the sprawling desert. The residents turn out to be . . . a little off.

Walter Rothschild is an American Egyptologist living in London and charged by the British Museum with the task of unlocking the riddle of the Stela of Paser, a centuries-old funerary stone. In the final hours of his quest, with six days left before his contract is up with the British Museum, Walter meets a young woman who expresses an interest in him and his work.

Susan Rogers Cooper has received rave reviews for her Sheriff Milt Kovak mystery series from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews. In Lying Wonders, Milt deals with some unfriendly faces from his past. As sheriff of Prophesy County, Milt must come to his ex-girlfriend's aid when her son, Trent, goes missing at the Seven Trumpets religious retreat. To make matters worse, when Milt arrives at the retreat, he finds the dead body of Trent's girlfriend.

Africa may have given rise to the first human beings, and Egypt probably gave rise to the first great civilizations, which continue to fascinate modern societies across the globe nearly 5,000 years later. From the Library and Lighthouse of Alexandria to the Great Pyramid at Giza, the Ancient Egyptians produced several wonders of the world, revolutionized architecture and construction, created some of the world’s first systems of mathematics and medicine, and established language and art that spread across the known world.

A religious cult, militia conspirators, and an FBI standoff. Can a nine-year-old girl survive them all? Sophia’s mom has been promised Zion after meeting and marrying a fanatic religious cult member. Sophia is left to protect her younger sister while facing severe punishments, strange rules, and meetings meant to indoctrinate them.

In 1944, in the outer-Melbourne suburb of Nunawading, the brutal deaths of a family herald the return of a long-forgotten cult. A man named Anthony Prescott has declared himself the Messiah, and has promised his followers immortality. There are those who believe him—and who are ready to kill in his name. Inspector Titus Lambert of the Melbourne Homicide unit, whose detectives are over-stretched, requests the discreet assistance of Helen Lord and Joe Sable, once members of his unit, now private inquiry agents.

The mass suicide of a cult known as The Flock sent shockwaves through the small rural town of Iola, Michigan. Led by the charismatic Dominic Bragg, The Flock camped at an abandoned bird sanctuary before their sudden and shocking demise. The deaths came just weeks after one of their members, Laurel Tai, a local pageant queen, was abducted. The town turned its blame and fear onto the sole survivor, Claire Kettler—Laurel’s best friend. Burdened by grief and unanswered questions about her friend’s murder and her fellow cult members’ deaths, Claire can’t help but wonder what really happened.

'Queen of the chilling thriller' - Veronica Henry, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Impulse Purchase 'A breathtaking thriller with an evocative setting and some excellent twists - Ruth Kelly at her best' – Catherine Cooper, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Chalet From bestselling...

In a cave near Weston, potholers discover what they think are human remains. The bones are identified as belonging to Hugo Latchford, a boy who went missing a decade ago, and whose parents belonged to a quasi-religious cult masquerading as environmental activists. It’s not long before rumours that he was sacrificed in a midsummer ritual resurface. Returning to duty from maternity leave, DI Louise Blackwell finds herself leading the investigation, soon discovering that Hugo’s parents are still alive and the cult very much still active.

After elementary school teacher Nichole Miller discovers the woman's body, she makes two phone calls: first to the police, who call Beverly's death a slip and fall, and second to her best friend, journalist Jenny Martin. Jenny is attempting to revive her flailing marriage and her all-but-DOA career, and she knows foul play when she sees it. The two women enlist the help of Beverly’s daughter-in-law, Robin, who’s eager to expose the truth.

Looking for clues about her sister’s death amid the crumbling decay of a derelict and near-deserted London neighbourhood, urban explorer Connie Darke makes a terrifying discovery: William Stark, the estate’s architect and long-time resident, is hanging from the church’s vaulted ceiling. For DI Lew Kirby, there’s no doubt that Stark was lured to his death—but who wanted him dead, and why? As Connie begins a covert investigation, desperate to find a connection to her sister, Kirby soon discovers that the remaining residents have something to hide.

When contract killer Cooper Franklin makes a deathbed confession, his revelations upend the lives of two strangers, setting them on an intersecting and ruinous path that imperils them both. Widow and single mom Tamara Foster must reckon with the mystery of her late husband’s death and the secrets he left behind. As she digs deeper into his past to discover that she never truly knew him at all, her carefully reconstructed world begins to crumble all over again.

A street preacher decked out in denim robes and running shoes, Julius is a source of inspiration for a community that knows nothing of his scandalous origins. But when a nearby mental hospital releases its patients to run amok in his neighborhood, his trusted if bedraggled flock turns expectantly to Julius to find out what's going on.