Town Mystery

Joan Didion's electrifying first novel is a haunting portrait of a marriage whose wrong turns and betrayals are at once absolutely idiosyncratic and a razor-sharp commentary on the history of California. Everett McClellan and his wife, Lily, are the great-grandchildren of pioneers, and what happens to them is a tragic epilogue to the pioneer experience, a story of murder and betrayal that only Didion could tell with such nuance, sympathy, and suspense.

It's 1997. Scarclaw Fell. The body of teenager Tom Jeffries is found at an outward bound centre. Verdict? Misadventure. But not everyone is convinced. And the truth of what happened in the beautiful but eerie fell is locked in the memories of the tight-knit group of friends who took that fateful trip and the flimsy testimony of those living nearby.

In this atmospheric and profoundly moving debut, Cathy and Daniel live with their father, John, in the remote woods of Yorkshire, in a house the three of them built themselves. John is a gentle brute of a man, a former enforcer who fights for money when he has to, but who otherwise just wants to be left alone to raise his children. When a local landowner shows up on their doorstep, their precarious existence is threatened, and a series of actions is set in motion that can only end in violence.

Mutée disciplinairement à New York, Colorado, un petit village raciste du fin fond de l'Amérique, sans couverture mobile et où il ne se passe jamais rien, la lieutenant de police de couleur noire, à forte corpulence, Agatha Crispies a trouvé un échappatoire à son désœuvrement dans l'animation d'un club de lecture au sein du commissariat. Mais alors qu'elle désespérait de pouvoir un jour enquêter à nouveau sur un meurtre autre que celui d'un écureuil, une série d'effroyables assassinats et disparitions viennent (enfin) troubler la tranquillité des lieux.

In the second of the Hometown trilogy, ex-Afghanistan vet paramedic Frankie McGill and resident deputy Gabe Zantos are caught up in a case of arson. A house at the end of a country road has stood vacant for years; it's occupants mice and the stray raccoon or two. When the derelict house catches fire, the only reason the Hawkesford Fire Department responds is because of the danger to the dry wheat fields surrounding it. But then not only a gunshot victim, but a charred body is found inside the house, along with evidence of a meth cooking operation. Accident, or murder?

Newly divorced Lily Kimura returns to her hometown to start fresh with her daughter and her recently retired parents. She’s committed to rebuilding her life, starting with a new job at the town theater. The Starlight Cove Playhouse has been closed for years, ever since a tragic fire took the life of the lead actress. Now, thanks to an anonymous donor, the town is finally ready for a revival. So is Lily, who wholeheartedly dives into her new duties as theater manager, including an unexpected connection with the visiting movie star playing the lead.

The second standalone thriller from the award-winning author of The Nowhere Child, Christian White. Set against the backdrop of an eerie island town in the dead of winter, The Wife and The Widow is an unsettling thriller told from two perspectives: Kate, a widow whose grief is compounded by what...

Two women fight for their lives against an enigmatic killer in this electrifying novel from a New York Times bestselling author and "master" of thriller writing (Stephen King). Tara Beckley is a senior at idyllic Hammel College in Maine. As she drives to deliver a visiting professor to a...

When novelist Taylor Madison discovers a mysterious letter among her late mother's effects, she heads for West Texas in search of her father's identity. But small, sleepy towns don't appreciate rude awakenings and Taylor soon finds herself up to her neck in rattlesnakes and long-kept secrets—a deadly combination.

A Goodreads Most Anticipated Horror Novel Four unlikely allies in a small town investigate a local teen's disappearance, and what they discover festering at the core of their community is far more sinister and ancient than they could’ve ever imagined. For fans of She is a Haunting, True...

Antiques dealer by day, painter by night, Rory Flanagan arrives home to find a man, battered and bruised, sprawled out on her newly upholstered Victorian sofa. The brash, six-foot-four stranger takes an unusual interest in Rory's vintage gold pendant given to Rory by her mother the day she was killed. They say Christian Locke is a loner, an orphan, a mysterious cowboy the small-town gossips deem an outsider. They tell her to stay away. But Rory can't ignore the connection she feels to the mulish recluse, or the interest he has in the cursed necklace she wears around her neck.

Retired from his job at the synagogue in Barnard’s Crossing, Massachusetts, Rabbi Small now teaches Judaic studies at a Boston college. Finally able to enjoy theological contemplation without the annoyance of temple politics, the rabbi is shocked when one of his colleagues is found dead in his car—and the clues at the scene point to murder.

Aging Undersheriff Bill Gastner's vacation is interrupted by the dead body of a young woman, apparently thrown from a moving car. Other murders convince the Undersheriff to lend a hand.

Although she hadn’t known Leonard Mallett very well, nor liked him particularly, Carole Seddon feels duty bound to attend her fellow committee member’s funeral. As she suspected, the hymns, readings, and sermon are all very predictable - not unlike Leonard himself. What she couldn’t have predicted was that the deceased’s daughter would use the occasion to publicly accuse her stepmother of murder.

Former Posadas County Sheriff Bill Gastner, now a New Mexico Livestock Inspector, is enjoying a day on Herb Torrances. But Bill soon finds himself ferrying a broken cowpuncher in the back of his SUV, headed out to meet an ambulance.

Anna Pigeon moves from Mississippi to Colorado to assume her new post as district ranger at Rocky Mountain National Park, where three girls have disappeared during a religious retreat. Two of the children reappear a month later, clad only in filthy underwear and claiming to remember nothing of the intervening weeks. As Anna investigates, she finds herself caught up in the machinations of a paranoid religious sect bent on protecting their secrets.

After the sudden death of her husband, Cassie Alberta leaves city life behind and moves to the small town of Little Leaf Creek, looking for a new beginning. She’s immediately charmed by the quaint little town. Add in an unlikely friendship with her dessert-baking neighbor and a developing romance with a charming, handsome local, her new life is better than anything she expected. The only problem is that Little Leaf Creek has more than its fair share of murder mysteries, and Cassie's naturally curious nature kicks in. She can't resist lending a helping hand to get to the truth.

Retired army officer Tessa Treslow has settled in with her Aunt Edna in her hometown of New Oslo, Idaho. After the disasters of the previous fall, Tessa and her family are back on their feet as they start a new dream venture: a vehicle restoration business. Tessa and the enticing local math teacher Nick Hunt are also working together to organize a charity run during the New Oslo Pioneer Days festival. All seems to be going well . . . until Tessa finds a dead body in the town park!

All Parker Hayes wanted was a fresh start, serving up frothy lattes and decadent desserts at her charming new cafe, Catch You Latte. But just as she's perfecting her caramel drizzle, her grand opening takes a bitter turn when a face from her past turns up dead… right behind the cafe. Suddenly, Parker's at the center of town gossip—and the prime suspect. Dodging murder accusations was definitely not part of her business plan. Then an ominous text turns everything upside down, and the clues start pointing to one of Magnolia Grove's most upstanding citizens.

Posadas County, sitting along New Mexico's southern border, has enjoyed a surge in visitors, jobs, and prosperity since rancher Miles Waddell used much of his inherited half billion to create an internationally renowned astronomy complex atop Torrance Mesa. Passion, not profit, drives Waddell. Yet benefits include a narrow-gauge train linking the village of Posadas to NightZone. But a ripple of unease is felt across the county with the arrival of developer - no, speculator - Kyle Thompson.