Southern Family Mystery

By late 1936, the worst years of the Great Depression are over. Wealth has created new opportunities for Minnie: a beautiful home in California, a luxury car, the yearning desire by a handsome lieutenant, and the family’s summer retreat, which draws her like a magnet. Secrets abound. A hidden bohemian community of writers, poets, artists, and escapists is scattered across the shifting coastal dunes near the cottage.

In 1913, on a summer's day at Half Moon Lake, Louisiana, four-year-old Sonny Davenport walks into the woods and never returns. The boy's mysterious disappearance from the family's lake house makes front-page news in their home town of Opelousas. John Henry and Mary Davenport are wealthy and influential, and will do anything to find their son. For two years, the Davenports search across the South, offer increasingly large rewards, and struggle not to give in to despair.

Tragedy, secrets, and heartache. It’s been the story of her life for years. Abigail knew that she should be afraid of him…but she wasn’t. Not even when he told her who he was…and why he was there.She’d taken a job on the cruise ship years ago with the thought that if she was never in any one place for very long she would be safe. No one would ever think to look for her here. At least that’s what she believed. Gabe had suspected for a couple of days that something wasn’t quite right. He’d taken this particular job thinking it would be a simple deal and tied up quickly and ...

Thirteen years ago, Jori Trahan’s boyfriend vanished without a trace. Now, after moving back home to Alabama to care for her ailing grandmother and autistic brother, she comes face-to-face with the deadly mystery behind his disappearance. Jori has a rare form of synesthesia, meaning she can “hear” colors; to her, tones of voice are as unique as fingerprints. With the help of this ability and a sympathetic cop, Jori comes dangerously close to uncovering the truth. But those responsible will go to any length - including murder - to keep their dark secrets buried.

Follow the continuing saga of the residents of the beautiful historic town of Shady Hollow, North Carolina, located on Waxhaw Creek. After living in Shady Hollow for several years, Lucy Lapp fell in love with a charming old house located in the center of town that dated back to the late 1800s. Not knowing it had a dark evil history surrounding it, she purchased it. Prior to Lucy acquiring the house, someone else had restored it to its former glory, but never moved into it. The original owners of the property in 1893 were questionable people. He was a doctor and set up his practice in the ...

When Bick and Beck Kidd find a hidden trove of pirate treasure, it includes a map with clues to an even bigger score: the lost Incan city of Paititi. But treasure hunting is never easy - and when the map is stolen, the Kidds must rely on Storm's picture-perfect memory to navigate the dangerous Amazon jungle. Watch out for that nest of poisonous snakes!

Family meant everything to Ayden Stratton. It always had even when he didn’t always allow it to show. Because of that, he understood the fury in Tobias Blaise’s eyes when they learned that his sister had been dragged out the backdoor of her restaurant despite every effort to stop her from being kidnapped. Fury didn’t begin to describe what he saw in his brother’s face. Cassidy Blaise might be Tobias’s sister, but she was Benjamin’s entire world. Tobias Blaise never expected to find any woman he wanted to spend his life with, let alone one who looked at him the way Ellis did, ...

Sharyn McCrumb is the New York Times best-selling author of the Ballad novels, which celebrate the rich history of Appalachia. An elegant saga set against the American Revolution, King' s Mountain features John Sevier and his legendary Carolina Overmountain Men, who find themselves defending their families and farms against the troops of a haughty British major.

When he believed there was little time left, there were only two people he wanted to talk to while he still could. One was the only woman he’d ever loved. And always would. Rendon was seriously wounded…in searing pain, and up until the last hour, exposed as he’d never been before. Getting himself to the little known and forgotten small town in the middle of nowhere had been a risky choice, and taken the last of his quickly dwindling strength. It was the last place anyone would think to look. He never expected to survive. After a brazen rescue, Rendon is determined to be part of the ...

A story of family, friends, and strangers who are drawn together by forces over which they have no control.The small town of Clare Harbor has always been home for Sara Merryn even though in recent years her visits have been few and far between because of her busy schedule. Now she’s returning for another reason. There is a storm coming and she has to somehow convince her grandparents to leave their home just outside the small southern city of Clare Harbor. That seemingly simple task is made more difficult by her grandmother’s disabling fears. Sara is determined that between the two of ...

Death at South Hills is a gripping English murder mystery set in the picturesque coastal town of Lynden Sands during the 1920s. Immerse yourself in a tale of intrigue, deception, and family secrets that will keep you guessing until the very end. When Mark Northbridge and his sister Stephanie arrive at the newly opened hotel in Lynden Sands, they are unaware of the dark mysteries that lie ahead. Their family estate, South Hills, stands at the center of unresolved tensions and a haunting disappearance. Garrett, their nephew, has been missing since the war, leaving a void filled with ...

Bad reviews can kill a business. This one killed the critic. When popular TV show "Taste of the Grove" chooses Sweet Springs Bakery for a special feature, cousins Savannah and Holly Stanton are thrilled for the exposure. But their excitement turns bitter when host Blake Harrison's charming on-camera personality proves to be a carefully crafted facade. After he publicly humiliates Holly and threatens to destroy the bakery's reputation, tensions rise faster than perfectly proofed dough. When Blake is found face-down in Holly's award-winning tiramisu, the bakery becomes the center of a murder ...

The vengeful spirit of Eva Rollings has risen from her foul grave and set her sights on a new host. Will Rayland be able to resist the entity’s influence? Dream catcher and ghost hunter Carrie Jo and Ashland Stuart want to believe they can set her free, but could it be too late? In life—and in death, Louis Beaumont, Ashland’s ancestor is Eva’s fated target. If she can’t have Louis, will she set her dark heart on Ashland and his son AJ? The mysteries at Magnolia Trace mount up as Leda Grimes disappears and the house comes to life at strange and unexpected times. Each time it ...

The dark-eyed woman in the long, black gown was first seen in the 1970s, standing near a fireplace. She was sad and translucent, present and absent at once. Strange things began to happen in the Santa Fe hotel where she was seen. Gas fireplaces turned off and on without anyone touching a switch. Glasses flew off shelves. And in one second-floor suite with a canopy bed and arched windows looking out to the mountains, guests reported alarming events.

Step beneath the Spanish moss and enter the humid, secret-laden world of Hawthorn House, rebranded as Beaufort Botanical Retreat. Saffron returns after twelve years, drawn back by the impending death of her godmother, the formidable matriarch Delaphina Duval. But the house, with its aged stucco and grand columns, is not merely a place of fading life; it echoes with the "sting of her mother's last harrowing screams" and is thick with unspoken truths. Saffron finds Delaphina frail but still commanding, surrounded by those vying for position or protecting their own interests. There's Jolie ...

Chad Butner and his parents moved from the city and made their new home in the mountains of North Carolina. They now lived in a little valley called Deep Gap. Chad had to keep the reason of their move a secret from everyone in the valley. He soon discovered he was not the only one hiding secrets. This included a young mountain girl that quickly won his heart. Why did the Ghost of Deep Gap walk the mountains in the dark of night? Why did the people of Deep Gap whisper of a crazy woman that placed her dead baby in a moonshine jar? Was the baby the Ghost of Deep Gap that roamed the hills ...

When a music festival rolls through the sleepy town of Hesterville, Georgia, the Dixon family’s lives are forever changed. On the final night, a storm muffles the sound of the blaring music, and Rachel tucks her baby into bed before falling into a deep sleep. So deep, she doesn’t hear the kitchen door opening. When she and her husband wake up in the morning, the crib is empty. Emily is gone. Vicki Robart is one of the thousands at the festival, but she’s not feeling the music. She’s feeling the emptiness over the loss of her own baby several months before.

The year is 1994, and South Africa is in political turmoil as its first democratic election looms. Against a backdrop of apartheid and racial violence, traumatized artist Yolanda Petersen returns from the Appalachian foothills to the land of her youth at the behest of her mother. While there Yolanda longs to reconnect with her estranged daughter, Ingrid, the product of an illegal mixed-race affair with a white man. But Ingrid is missing, and as Yolanda quickly discovers, she isn’t the only woman in Cape Town desperate to protect her own.

A Dash of Deception plunges readers back into the quirky cozy mystery world of Kick-a-me-Su, where Beth Anne Tucker’s inheritance of her Aunt Dolly's bakery comes with more than recipes—it's laced with secrets. A cryptic recipe hints at a hidden past, spectral gamblers linger with unfinished business, and a mysterious glowing bag raises more questions than answers. As Beth Anne navigates small-town quirks and uncanny encounters, this newly minted amateur sleuth discovers that baking isn't the only thing heating up. With danger looming and her aunt's past unraveling, Beth Anne must rely ...

In No Road Home, Sam Grodin emerges from ten years in a brutal South American prison, alone, lost, and forced to start over. Wrongfully convicted and abandoned in a foreign land his only comfort the fading memory of his Mary, and the hope that she still waits for him but, every day without her deepens his longing. Beyond the prison walls hides its dangers, where every step forward pulls Sam deeper into a labyrinth of betrayal, haunting memories, and powerful forces that will stop at nothing to protect their secrets. Sam must face terrifying truths to survive. Drawn to a beautiful, ...