Psychological Mystery Thriller Suspense

Holly never thought she'd move back to her hometown, but then something terrible happened. She doesn't know if she can recover. But she knows she can never tell another soul. People say her neighbour, David, is 'different'. He doesn't go out much, and never after dark. But in David, Holly finds just what she needs: a friend. Someone who's always there. No-one knows Holly's secret or where she lives. She has left the past behind. So why does she feel as though she's in terrible danger?

A murderer who drinks his victim’s blood? FBI profiler Zoe Bentley and Agent Tatum Gray thought they’d seen it all, but this young woman’s barbaric murder is especially hard to stomach. They didn’t expect to work this case. But vampirism aside, the murderer’s MO is identical to that of Rod Glover - the serial killer who’s been pursuing Zoe since childhood. Forensics reveals the murder to be his work, but not his alone; desperate to fulfill his sick purpose, he has taken on an equally depraved partner.

Ashley Bowers is shocked by the sudden death of her sister, whom she hasn't seen or heard from in years. Grieving for the bond they once shared and wallowing in the knowledge that any chance of reconciliation is gone forever is one thing. Welcoming her sister's thirteen-year-old daughter—a girl Ashley has never even met—into the home she shares with her husband and two children is another.

When Agent Mercedes Ramirez finds an abused young boy on her porch, covered in blood and clutching a teddy bear, she has no idea that this is just the beginning. He tells her a chilling tale: an angel killed his parents and then brought him here so Mercedes could keep him safe. His parents weren’t just murdered. It was a slaughter - a rage kill like no one on the Crimes Against Children team had seen before. But they’re going to see it again. An avenging angel is meting out savage justice, and she’s far from through.

Kat remembers the days when her only daughter Amy wouldn't leave her side. But now Amy is grown up and gone - to university in a town several hours away. Kat's house - which once felt too full, too noisy, too busy - is deathly quiet, and Kat awaits the daily phone call to tell her that her beloved daughter is thriving and happy. But one day Amy doesn’t call. Kat’s husband and friends think she is being paranoid. But Kat knows right away that something is very wrong.

Gemma Ballantine is getting ready for work one morning when her eldest child comes running down the stairs saying the words every mother dreads. The front door is open. And her six-year-old daughter has disappeared. Frantic with fear, Gemma starts a nail-biting search for her little girl. After what feels like forever, her mother-in-law, Diane, finds Katie wandering lost a few streets away. Relieved to have her youngest child back in her arms, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair, Gemma thinks the nightmare is over. But then her perfect family starts to fall apart....

Two-and-a-half-year-old Holly is playing happily in a pink, plastic playhouse, while her mother Rachel sips coffee and chats with a friend nearby. It should be an ordinary day for all of them. But, in the blink of an eye, it turns into every family’s worst nightmare. Holly is taken by a stranger and never found. Nine years later, Rachel is living a quiet life in Dorset. She’s tried to keep things together since the traumatic day when she lost her eldest daughter.

Detective Reuben "Diego" Montoya is back in New Orleans. Thanks to years of working with the dark side of society, his youthful swagger is gone, replaced by straightforward determination. He'll need it, because a serial killer is turning The Big Easy into his personal playground. The victims are killed in pairs - no connection, no apparent motive, no real clues. Somebody's playing a sick game, and Montoya intends to beat him at it.

What do you do when the unthinkable happens? August 8, 2000: A carefree birthday party goes horribly wrong. The children scatter to play hide and seek. But one little girl never returns. Three-year-old Grace has vanished without a trace. Fourteen years later: With the case long since gone cold, Grace's family has done its best to move on. But her sister, Elise, has never given up hope. And now Elise thinks she may have found her.... Is Elise going crazy? Could Grace really have returned? And if she has, where was she taken?

They each had their own demons to face, and none of them had much to live for. Malcolm was alone in the world, Darren might as well have been, and Eddie...well, Eddie wished he was. Crime wasn't a way out for them; it was just a way to survive. But the clinic was a job too far, a risk that didn't justify the reward.

Everyone has secrets, and Rachel Holloway is no exception. She’s worked hard to keep the past where it belongs: dead and buried. And so far, she’s been very successful. But now the small newspaper where she works wants to produce a podcast on a cold case: the disappearance 12 years ago of young Molly Forster. Some secrets should never see the light of day, and, as far as Rachel is concerned, whatever happened to little Molly is one of them.

Two cousins, devastated by a childhood prank, reunite 20 years later to renovate a castle in Eastern Europe. The fortress has a bloody history that stretches back hundreds of years. Amid extreme paranoia and eerie silence, the men reenact the signal event of their youth, with even more catastrophic results.

Seduction. Mind control. Murder. These are the weapons that have made Brenda Nevins one of the most wanted - and feared - criminals in the world. Now the notorious serial killer has escaped from prison and is plotting her revenge. Using innocent young women as bait, she will lure her unsuspecting victims into her trap. This time, sheriff's detective Kendall Stark and forensic pathologist Birdy Waterman won't be able to stop her. The killing will be filmed. The feed will be live. And the blood will be streaming....

Even behind bars, serial killer Harvey Lee Smith exudes menace. Psychologist Jolene Granger has agreed to hear his dying confession, vowing not to let the monster inside her head. And Harvey has secrets to share - about bodies that were never found, and about the apprentice who is continuing his grisly work....

Twenty years ago, five teenage campers disappeared. Two eventually turned up, bound and left for dead on the Columbia River’s rocky shore. Only Devin Bonner miraculously survived, but with no memories of what happened in the Oregon forest. After decades, the cold case generates heat for FBI Special Agent Mercy Kilpatrick and her husband, Police Chief Truman Daly. They’re investigating the murder of a true-crime podcaster found at the river’s edge in the same location, and with the exact same manner of death.

Nuit noire et pluvieuse dans le New Hampshire. Au détour d’une route, une voiture fait une violente embardée. Nicole, qui conduisait, ne se souvient de rien, sauf d’une chose : sa fille, qui était avec elle, a disparu. Si les recherches de la police confirment la présence d’une autre personne lors de l’accident, le mari de Nicole prétend que l’enfant n’a jamais existé... Qui croire ? Que s’est-il réellement passé cette nuit-là ?

Paige always knew something was off about her mom. Now she knows the truth. Her mom wasn’t who she said she was. A truth Paige never wanted to admit, but knew deep in her heart. She knew because she covered her mom’s tracks to stay one step ahead of the authorities. As her truth unravels around her, Paige discovers her mom isn’t the only one who is hiding her true identity. When people from her mother’s past start showing up, Paige must discern who she can trust before it’s too late. Will Paige unveil the secrets before she suffers the same fate as her mother?

On the Fourth of July, Hallie Evers dies at a rooftop party in Las Vegas. Hours later, she wakes up in the hospital, disoriented but alive. Why can’t she find the doctor who revived her? Why does her head feel crowded and loud? Why do her memories feel both foreign and familiar? Her self-doubt spirals into crippling paranoia.

In a snow-covered manor with views of the icy loch, the Weyman family gather for Christmas. A fire is roaring, presents are wrapped and carols play on the radio. And the Weyman brothers each have a fake smile on their faces. Because George, Ken, and Ralph are united by a terrible secret. And they are all desperate to know why their grandmother has summoned them. Playing happy families at Christmas has never been a Weyman tradition…especially after what happened twenty years ago.

In nine short stories, seven of which have never previously been available in print, and one brand-new, never-before-seen Sherlock Holmes mystery - available together for the first time - Laurie R. King blends her long-running brand of crime fiction with historical treats and narrative sleight of hand.