Showing results by author "Rita Herron" in All Categories

Josie DuKane is on shaky ground. Having narrowly escaped the notorious Bride Killer, she penned a tell-all memoir that dug up a town's dark past. Now the book is being made into a movie, and Josie must visit the very place that will trigger an avalanche of unwanted memories - Graveyard Falls. On the heels of her arrival, she receives a gruesome photograph of a dead woman with talon marks carved into her face. And worse, Josie just might be the next victim.

The remote town of Crooked Creek has barely recovered from its most recent tragedy when wildfires tear through the mountains. Detective Ellie Reeves is grappling with her own heartbreak - she has just discovered she was adopted and that her childhood was a lie. Under the scorching summer sun, Ellie is called to a river where a body has been found. She spots a lone woman’s shoe caught in a nearby tangle of vines, and a pearl necklace scattered by the water’s edge. Was the victim - whoever she was - caught in the fire, or is something more sinister at play? 

When Penny Matthews, a seven-year-old girl with blonde curls and a gap-toothed smile, goes missing in the Appalachian mountains, Detective Ellie Reeves is called straight to the scene. According to Penny’s parents, their daughter vanished after a picnic by the creek. All that’s left behind is a pink friendship bracelet etched with “Penny”. 

Tinsley Jensen survived the torturous clutches of an elusive masked killer dubbed the Skull, only to be held hostage by her nightmares. She’s terrified of leaving her cottage on Seahawk Island, knowing that the madman is still out there. FBI special agent Wyatt Camden knows it too. He may have rescued Tinsley, but her captor got away. Now he’s driven by guilt, the need for vengeance, and the desire to protect - at any cost - the woman he’s come to love. 

Amelia Nettleton has struggled to overcome her childhood trauma and finally has a chance to lead a normal life - a life with a husband and a family. But a recurring nightmare haunts her: She dreams of a baby crying for its mother… a baby that may be hers, and was stolen from her. Six years ago, special agent John Strong woke up in a hospital with no memories - but with a strong feeling that he committed terrible acts.

The sadistic experiments conducted in Slaughter Creek have left the town mired in mystery. As Special Agent Rafe Hood works to tie up the loose ends, the discovery of a grisly murder reveals there’s a new killer at work. Someone they’re calling "The Dissector". Someone who keeps his victims' body parts as gruesome trophies…

Sadie Nettleton fled Slaughter Creek ten years ago, leaving behind the only home she’d ever known - and the only man she ever loved. Unable to cope with her sister's madness, or the terrible secret she and her sister share, Sadie swore never to return. But when her grandfather is murdered, and her sister charged with the crime, Sadie has no choice but to come back and face the ghosts of the past... For Sheriff Jake Blackwood, time has not dimmed the love he felt for Sadie Nettleton - or the pain of her leaving.

When a violent storm hits Graveyard Falls, it unearths the unimaginable: skeletons of teenage girls, each dressed in white and holding a candle. It's clear to FBI agent Beth Fields that this is the work of a long-standing killer - but could it be the one she escaped years ago? She has no memory of the man who held her captive and murdered her friend. But even though someone was jailed for the crime, she's always feared that the real killer is still out there...waiting and watching.

A young woman lies dead at the bottom of a waterfall, dressed in a wedding gown with a rose stem jammed down her throat. And in the small town of Graveyard Falls, the horrifying vision stirs a long-ago nightmare back to life.... FBI Special Agent Cal Coulter gets called in to investigate the murder, which bears a terrifying resemblance to a series of killings committed thirty years ago: three teenage girls were found dead at the waterfall's base, all bearing rose stems in their throats.

For years, Brenda Banks was haunted by nightmares hinting at the true identity of her birth mother. That hunger for the truth inspired her to become a reporter, and Brenda refuses to back down when a serial killer targeting Slaughter Creek chooses her to publicize the gruesome crimes. It's a twisted game, one she's certain to lose without the help of FBI Special Agent Nick Blackwood, the man she's loved since high school—and whose tormented past holds the key to catching a killer.

Still haunted by his wife's murder - and stained by the blood of avenging it - FBI special agent Hatcher McGee can't believe he's being teamed up with rookie agent Korine Davenport. She is his most guilty secret - the one-night stand who almost cost him everything. Korine has her own demons. As a child, she witnessed her father's murder, and she's spent her life waiting for the killer's return. She and Hatcher are both looking for closure, but the disturbing case that draws them together could be their last.

If there's a naughty list, Izzy Sassafras is on it - but she's ready to make a new start this Christmas. Especially after leaving her lying, cheating, no-good husband and fleeing to her old hometown of Matrimony, Georgia. Izzy's made herself a promise: No more men. All she wants to do is get her wedding business up and running - and mend fences with her estranged sisters. But Izzy knows she's in trouble when her very first client, a smooth-talking Texan, makes her light up like a Christmas tree.

On the hottest day of the year, as a heatwave takes hold of the Appalachian Mountains, a five-year-old girl goes missing. Just as the sun is setting, a family vacation becomes a worst nightmare—Betsy, with her green eyes, ponytail, and rainbow T-shirt—disappears in the woods by Widow Lake. Detective Ellie Reeves is straight on the scene, promising Betsy’s heartbroken parents that she will stop at nothing to find their precious daughter.

As a snowstorm wreaks havoc in the mountain town of Crooked Creek, a woman is found buried in ice. Detective Ellie Reeves is first on the scene. Examining the body, she finds frozen blonde hair, pink nail polish, and a silver heart necklace engraved with Mine Forever. Ellie has firsthand experience of the monsters that lurk in the mountains - her childhood is testament to that. She vows to catch this one, but she’s up against the brutal weather, with snow covering footprints and making forensics impossible.