Small Town Thriller

To the tourists and summer residents, Kentwater County is a picturesque community of small-town charm, fruitful farmland, and gorgeous freshwater beaches. To middle-aged widow Isabel Puddles, it's where she preserves pickles, bakes pies, works the counter at her cousin's hardware shop, and occasionally helps "fix up" the hair of corpses at the local funeral parlor. When Isabel discovers a two-inch nail embedded in the skull of Earl Jonasson, it seems the octogenarian may not have died of a stroke.

How could things have gone so wrong between Syl Jameson and Viola Harrison? Syl and Viola are like sisters growing up in the small, stifling town of Love Hill. Though they are as different as light and dark, they connect. And for Syl, Viola’s family is a warm refuge away from the unaffectionate place that Syl calls home. But the reality is Syl can get a little needy and jealous. Viola can get a little toxic. And, like everyone in Love Hill, they have secrets. Eventually their friendship is bound to snap.

Meri's family has been producing doctors for so many generations that no one remembers why, so when she flunks out of medical school, she runs as far from her parents as she can get. In the small mountain town of Canyon Mines, Colorado, she takes a job at the Inn at Hidden Run B&B. And waits. It's only a matter of time. What she doesn't count on is genealogist Jillian Parisi-Duffy and her father, Nolan, having her back when it takes everything she has not to bolt again but to stay and face the truth that only unfolding her family's history will reveal....

Minnesota, 1977. For the teens of one close-knit community, summer means late-night swimming parties at the quarry, the county fair, and venturing into the tunnels beneath the city. But for two best friends, it’s not all fun and games. Heather and Brenda have a secret. Something they saw in the dark. Something they can’t forget. They’ve decided to never tell a soul. But their vow is tested when their friend disappears—the second girl to vanish in a week. And yet the authorities are reluctant to investigate.

As Sheriff Clayton Burroughs tries to juggle fatherhood, his job, and his recovery from being shot in the confrontation that killed his two criminally inclined brothers last year, he’s doing all he can just to survive. Yet after years of carefully toeing the line between his life in law enforcement and his family, he finally has to make a choice. When a rival organization makes a first foray into Burroughs' territory, leaving a trail of bodies and a whiff of fear in its wake, Clayton is pulled back into the life he so desperately wants to leave behind.

Former United States Department of Defense contractor Charlie Owens resigned from his position with the government to live a life off-grid. After building a cabin on a small island in the Pacific Northwest, the detonation of an EMP sets into motion a series of events that will test Charlie and his family in ways he never imagined.

** A stand-alone novel in Peter R Stone's 'Girl' series ** After disappearing six months ago on the night her best friend was found strangled in the Darebin Creek hotel toilet block, Caitlyn Hughes - daughter of millionaire Brayden Hughes - is found dumped on the side of the road just outside town. Wearing a threadbare knee-length dress and with her badly-bruised ankles encased in leg irons, she's filthy, malnourished and covered in burn scars. She has no memory of how she got there, where she has been or even who she is. A doctor's examination reveals that her memory has been deliberately ...

She has ten days to live—and the dead aren’t the only ones hunting her. After a crushing defeat, martial artist Melissa Weller hits the road to escape her past, accompanied by her best friend: Magic, a talking yellow lab with secrets of his own. But when their detour lands them in the eerie town of Russelfield, Alabama, Melissa is ambushed and cursed by a vengeful spirit. With an ominous ritual looming closer, Melissa has ten days to solve a mystery—or die trying. Recruiting a reluctant local witch for help, Melissa must face sinister spirits, centuries-old Chinese folklore, and a ...

It is a cold January morning, and Shetland lies beneath a deep layer of snow. Trudging home, Fran Hunter's eye is drawn to a splash of color on the frozen ground, ravens circling above. It is the strangled body of her teenage neighbor, Catherine Ross. The locals on the quiet island stubbornly focus their gaze on one man - loner and simpleton Magnus Tait.

From the best-selling author of ADMIT TO MAYHEM of the Lillian Dove Mystery Series, comes this jaw-dropping, fun-filled thriller sent in the Pacific Northwest. Cookin' Up Murder by D.J. Adamson is a fast-paced, gripping mystery that will keep you turning the pages until the very end. When a high-profile baker is found dead under suspicious circumstances, private investigator Tuesday Welsh dives into a case that’s as complex as it is dangerous. As she uncovers a trail of secrets, lies, and hidden motives, Tuesday realizes the killer is closer than she thought—and could strike again at ...

Two lonely towns in Colorado: Hope and Despair. Between them, 12 miles of empty road. Jack Reacher never turns back. It's not in his nature. All he wants is a cup of coffee. What he gets is big trouble. So in Lee Child’s electrifying new novel, Reacher - a man with no fear, no illusions, and nothing to lose - goes to war against a town that not only wants him gone, it wants him dead. It wasn’t the welcome Reacher expected. He was just passing through, minding his own business. But within minutes of his arrival a deputy is in the hospital and Reacher is back in Hope.

Emma hasn't told her husband much about her past. He knows her parents are dead and she hasn't spoken to her sisters in years. Then they lose their apartment, her husband gets laid off, and Emma discovers she's pregnant—right as the bank account slips into the red. That's when Emma confesses that she has one more asset: her parents' house, which she owns jointly with her estranged sisters. They can't sell it, but they can live in it. But returning home means that Emma is forced to reveal her secrets to her husband.

Joe Talbert, Jr. has never once met his namesake. Now out of college, a cub reporter for the Associated Press in Minneapolis, he stumbles across a story describing the murder of a man named Joseph Talbert in a small town in southern Minnesota. Full of curiosity about whether this man might be his father, Joe is shocked to find that none of the town's residents have much to say about the dead man - other than that his death was long overdue....

Trust holds a small town together. When times are tough, you know you can lean on your neighbor for help. But when a political movement splits the town of Barta, North Dakota in half, and a young girl goes missing, the trust is broken. Who took Kaley Hayes?The body count in Baltimore is rising, and the weight of those lives rest on Homicide Detective Adila Cooper's shoulders. It's only a matter of time before the killer strikes again, and the sands of the hour glass have already started sifting away.

A haunting past. A town with secrets. A debt that refuses to die. When John Miller retreats to an isolated coastal town to escape the ghosts of his past, he never expects those ghosts to follow. Twenty years after a tragic accident, strange whispers fill his home, unsettling symbols appear, and shadows move where no one stands. As John digs deeper into the town’s dark history, he uncovers a chilling connection between his own guilt and an ancient curse that has haunted the cliffs for generations. But someone—or something—is determined to keep the past buried. And the more John learns,...

A clever canine. A vanished friend. A secret someone would kill to keep buried —and Alex Allin’s cozy life is about to come undone. When a centuries-old ornate box appears in Alex Allin’s Colorado shop, it carries more than curiosity—it reveals a mystery stretching across generations. A cryptic pattern tucked inside leads straight to Istanbul. Reluctant but determined, Alex follows the thread, never expecting the puzzle to turn deadly. When her best friend is abducted, the mystery becomes personal. With her snack-obsessed dog, Saedie, a flirtatious journalist, and the eccentric ...

She's the one I never knew I needed. And I'll raise hell to claim her. I'm cold, calculating, ruthless. My loyalty belongs to my brothers in the MC. I defend my club with bullets and blood. And then a woman in need turns my life upside down. Violet doesn't want to be mixed up in the MC life. She's a good woman with a troubled past looking to start over, All she wants is to run her bar in peace. But when she winds up in the cross hairs of another MC, I'm the only man dangerous enough to keep her safe. Protecting her could start a war. But I can't ignore the heat in her eyes when she looks to...

From the Author: Don’t read this if you can’t handle finishing a book in one sitting, horrific crime scenes, or questions that mess with your morals. BUT The Izard County Incubus is a rural mystery thriller packed with fast-paced action, brutally vivid crime scenes, and psychological mayhem dripping with vigilante justice. Beta Readers Say: “It’s not as weird as you think!” and “How do you come up with this stuff?” Synopsis: Detective Dakota Diaz and Hilrey Higgins are back to investigate a twisted crime wave in the Arkansas Ozarks. A family is butchered, and one girl survives...

Making amends for past mistakes can result in unintended consequences. Criminologist, Maeve Rosetti, returns to the small town where she grew up, aiding in the search for her missing fifteen-year-old niece while navigating a complicated relationship with the sister she left behind. Where is Jessica? The police believe she is holed up with a friend to punish her parents, but Maeve has serious questions. A couple of off-the-grid inhabitants raise suspicion. Could one of them have kidnapped Jessica? Murdered her? Then, her brother-in-law’s strange behaviour sows a seed of doubt. And there ...

My wedding started out as a nightmare. Now, it's turning into my darkest fantasy. My life isn't going at all like I planned. First, I give up my college dreams to care for my sick parents. Next, I agree to marry a monster to save my family from bankruptcy. And then, on my wedding day, it all goes from bad to a hell of a lot worse. I’m kidnapped. Oh, and it isn’t just any brawny biker that breaks into my dressing room and throws me over his shoulder. It’s the man I've had a crush on for years... My older brother's best friend. He says he just wants revenge on my fiance. Except I see ...