Showing results by author "Melinda Leigh" in All Categories

Private investigator Lance Kruger was just a boy when his father vanished twenty-three years ago. Since then he's lived under the weight of that disappearance - until his father's car is finally dredged up from the bottom of Grey Lake. It should be a time for closure, except for the skeleton found in the trunk. A missing person case gone cold has become one of murder, and Lance and attorney Morgan Dane must face the deadly past that's risen to the surface.

Deputy Tessa Black gave up her career as a detective with the Seattle PD and returned to the Pacific Northwest island she calls home to care for her ailing mother. Tessa thinks her mother’s illness is the worst thing she’ll face - until she responds to a routine call in the state park and discovers a local man harpooned to a sign. As the murder investigation unfolds, it becomes clear that the victim harbored secrets. Together with her FBI agent best friend, Cate, and park ranger Logan Wilde, Tessa must connect the pieces before the murderer strikes again.

Haley Powell wakes up covered in blood, with no memory of the night before. When she sees a man lying in the backyard, stabbed to death, she has only one terrified thought: What have I done? Agreeing to take the case as a favor to her PI friend Lincoln Sharp, Morgan must scale a mountain of damning circumstantial and forensic evidence to prove her client innocent.

When a mysterious package lands on Louisa Hancock's doorstep, the Philadelphia museum curator can hardly anticipate the nightmare that's about to envelop her. The package is addressed to her father—an expert in Viking culture—and inside is a ninth-century sword, a chilling thank-you note, and photos of two dead bodies in a tableau evoking a Nordic funeral. The gruesome images match a recent crime scene.

A teenager returns home from work and finds her parents shot to death in their bed. Responding to the call, Sheriff Bree Taggert realizes the crime wasn’t a burglary gone wrong. The couple was executed. The sole survivor: their traumatized teenage daughter, Claire Mason. Bree teams up with investigator Matt Flynn to work the case, but together they uncover more questions than answers. When Claire is stalked at the park, it’s clear the killer isn’t finished—and she’s the next target.

When a terrible accident abruptly ends her riding career, Rachel Parker returns to Pennsylvania to rebuild her family’s horse farm. But her welcome home is anything but warm. Her sister’s abusive husband and a violent vandal threaten Rachel’s new business and her life. Someone is systematically trying to destroy her. Someone who knows private things about her. Someone who’s been watching her.

In one moment, high school teacher and single mother Brooke Davenport interrupts a vicious assault, saves a young woman’s life, and attracts the attention of a serial killer. Sixteen years ago, Brooke lost her roommate to a brutal murder. Now she teaches women’s self-defense, still trying to heal from the guilt and grief that plague her.

When a retired sheriff’s deputy is shot to death in his home, his troubled teenage stepson, Evan, becomes the prime suspect. Even more incriminating, the boy disappeared from the scene of the crime. Desperate to find her son, Evan’s mother begs PI Lance Kruger for help. She knows her son is innocent. Kruger and defense attorney Morgan Dane want to believe that too, but the evidence against the boy is damning. Just as the trail goes cold, another deputy vanishes.

When she believes a teen is falsely accused of drug dealing, social worker Carly Taylor takes on a high-risk case and her estranged husband - the detective in charge of the investigation - to prove the boy innocent. A deadly new designer drug has taken hold of her small rural hometown of Solitude, Oregon, and Carly is determined to find the real dealer and clear the teen’s name. But the deeper she digs into the case, the more danger she unearths, until someone decides it’s time for Carly to move on… permanently.

The sleepy town of Solitude, Oregon, has turned into ground zero for a turf war between the manufacturers and distributors of a lethal new drug. When a teenage witness disappears, social worker Carly Taylor must find him before he's silenced permanently.

When a body washes up on the state park beach, Deputy Tessa Black’s experience as a former Seattle detective tells her that the death was not an accident. All evidence points to another murder on the remote island. The victim is a local contractor with a shockingly long list of enemies. The more locals Tessa interviews, the more people she suspects - from the bitter ex-wife and estranged current wife to disgruntled former clients and employees. They all have different reasons to want him dead.

All communities have their secrets...but on Widow’s Island, there’s a skeleton in every closet, as Deputy Tessa Black knows all too well. When Tessa stumbles upon a half-buried body in the woods, a peaceful morning hike suddenly turns into a race to catch a killer. Tessa identifies the skeletal corpse as Aurora Franklin, a young college student and aspiring actor. She’d come to Widow’s Island for a summer job, only to be strangled and discarded. Aurora has been dead for over a month - and not a single islander has reported her missing.

Curator Dr. Louisa Hancock left behind Maine and her troubled past for Philadelphia and a job at a prominent museum. Just when it seems that Louisa’s new life is safe from her dark secrets, the body of a museum intern is found - the victim of a brutal and baffling murder. Louisa realizes this is no random crime. And when another intern goes missing, the abduction is linked to the only man who has ever tempted Louisa’s heart - Conor Sullivan, the owner of a Philly sports bar.

Deputy Tessa Black spots a man disturbing a grave in the local cemetery and gives chase. But when Tessa catches him, she learns that the ghoulish trespasser wasn’t robbing graves; he was burying a box of bones. With the help of her fiancé, park ranger Logan Wilde, Tessa discovers that the remains belong to a missing teenager from a nearby island. After the girl disappeared nine months ago, police labeled her a runaway. Now, though, it’s clear the teenager was murdered.

On Widow’s Island, the secrets are dark...and everybody has one. So when Deputy Tessa Black responds to a call about an explosion in a quiet neighborhood, she gets more than she bargained for: the body of a teen who went missing weeks ago. Until recently, Gavin was living in a reputable foster home. But now that he is found dead - Tessa can’t help but wonder if sinister forces are at play. Who would want to hurt him, and why?

When security expert Sean Wilson takes his wife, Amanda, along on a business trip to an isolated bed and breakfast, he's hoping to combine work and pleasure. But when four armed men storm the inn and take the staff and his wife hostage, the romantic getaway is over. A former army Ranger, Sean will do anything to save his wife, and when he finds the seven-year-old granddaughter of the innkeeper in the snowy woods, the situation becomes more dire.

When Detective Seth Harding responds to shots being fired, he faces a familiar sight: a double homicide. However, he is shocked to find a young boy chained in the basement. The terrified child refuses to speak, but Seth knows he is the key to something sinister. Reluctantly, Seth calls the only social worker he trusts with the traumatized boy - his wife. Carly is recovering from her own trauma suffered on the job, but she can't turn away from this case, not from another child in trouble.

County investigator Seth Harding intends to spend the holidays with his newly reconciled family, but a few days before Christmas, a homicide thwarts his plan. Seth arrives at the scene and makes a painful discovery: the victim is his brother-in-law's girlfriend. Her apartment has been ransacked and her toddler left motherless. To make matters worse, Seth's brother-in-law, Bruce, is missing. With Solitude locked in a rare, deadly deep freeze and the temperature plummeting, the residents launch a desperate search.

Twelve years ago, Cristan’s wife was murdered. He was forced on the run to keep his infant daughter safe. They’ve finally settled in a small Pennsylvania town, but he can’t shake the feeling that they are being watched. Newly divorced, Sarah is ready to start over. As her ex becomes increasingly hostile, she appreciates help from a neighbor. But the violence she senses beneath Cristan’s polished manners makes her wary.

A recovering addict faces the ultimate test when an old friend puts him through a terrifying ordeal. Two brave souls spend the night in a haunted house, only to emerge forever changed. And a cursed photographer goes to horrific lengths when their vision slowly decays.... Scare Street is proud to present a new collection of diabolical delights. Twelve nightmarish tales of terror lurk within this sinister tome. Each one is a treat for shivers and shrieks. And the only tricks you’ll find are the ones your mind plays on you as you feverishly listen to another minute.