Stolen identities, a cult, a kidnapping, an attempted murder, and a budding romance . . . Join Private Investigator Liz Adams, and her lie-detecting Labrador, Duke, in the scenic town of Carmel By-the-Sea, as the pair investigate the mystery of stolen identities. Complications arise when Liz becomes romantically entangled with her hot new client, Brad. Enter Apollo, a charismatic cult leader, whose mission to save the homeless has a dark twist. Why does he continue to trespass on Liz’s property? She’s compelled to uncover the answer. Tensions mount, as the stakes become a matter of life and death. Will Liz and Duke solve both mysteries before the damage is irreparable?
Liz Adams never imagined when she moved to Charleston with her truth-sniffing Labrador retriever, Duke, that she would use her skills as a private investigator to avoid winding up on Death Row. “Methodical and surprising, Stacy Wilder’s debut cozy mystery Charleston Conundrum shows enormous potential for a long, successful run.” Carpe Diem Chronicles Her best friend, Peg, murdered, shot by Liz’s gun. At the insistence of Peg’s father, Private Investigator Liz Adams, and her Labrador, Duke, rush to solve the case. Tensions flare between Liz and the cops as she rises to the top of their suspect list. Riding a roller coaster of emotions, Liz discovers many secrets Peg kept from her despite the two being best friends. As the investigation unfolds, a cast of suspects emerges,. . . the ex-husband, the boyfriend, a coworker, neighbors, even a few family members. Charleston Conundrum travels from Charleston, South Carolina, to Paris and back in the emotional unraveling of Peg’s life and death to a killer ending.
** THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ** ** CRIMECON'S "BOOK OF THE YEAR" (2024) ** ** AN AMAZON "BEST BOOKS OF THE MONTH" FOR AUGUST 2023 (Biographies & Memoirs) ** From an award-winning former law enforcement park ranger and investigator, this female-driven true crime adventure follows the author’s quest to find missing hikers along the Pacific Crest Trail by pairing up with an eclectic group of unlikely allies. As a park ranger with the National Park Service's law enforcement team, Andrea Lankford led search and rescue missions in some of the most beautiful (and dangerous) landscapes across America, from Yosemite to the Grand Canyon. But though she had the support of the agency, Andrea grew frustrated with the service's bureaucratic idiosyncrasies, and left the force after twelve years. Two decades later, however, she stumbles across a mystery that pulls her right back where she left off: three young men have vanished from the Pacific Crest Trail, the 2,650-mile trek made famous by Cheryl Strayed's Wild, and no one has been able to find them. It’s bugging the hell out of her. Andrea’s concern soon leads her to a wild environment unlike any she’s ever encountered: missing person Facebook groups. Andrea launches an investigation, joining forces with an eclectic team of amateurs who are determined to solve the cases by land and by screen: a mother of the missing, a retired pharmacy manager, and a mapmaker who monitors terrorist activity for the government. Together, they track the activities of kidnappers and murderers, investigate a cult, rescue a psychic in peril, cross paths with an unconventional scientist, and reunite an international fugitive with his family. Searching for the missing is a brutal psychological and physical test with the highest stakes, but eventually their hardships begin to bear strange fruits—ones that lead them to places and people they never saw coming. Beautifully written, heartfelt, and at times harrowing, TRAIL OF THE LOST paints a vivid picture of hiker culture and its complicated relationship with the ever-expanding online realm, all while exploring the power and limits of determination, generosity, and hope. It also offers a deep awe of the natural world, even as it unearths just how vast and treacherous it can be. On the TRAIL OF THE LOST, you may not find what you are looking for, but you will certainly find more than you seek.
“[Evaristo’s] chef d’oeuvre; a masterful dissection of the life of a 74 year-old, British-Caribbean gay man.” —The Huffington Post * Winner of the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT Fiction * A Top Ten Favorite of the American Library Association’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table’s 2015 Over the Rainbow List Barrington Jedidiah Walker is seventy-four and leads a double life. Born and bred in Antigua, he’s lived in Hackney, London, for years. A flamboyant, wisecracking character with a dapper taste in retro suits, and a fondness for Shakespeare, Barrington is a husband, father, grandfather—and also secretly gay lovers with his childhood friend, Morris. His deeply religious and disappointed wife, Carmel, thinks he sleeps with other women. When their marriage goes into meltdown, Barrington wants to divorce Carmel and live with Morris, but after a lifetime of fear and deception, will he manage to break away? With an abundance of laugh-out-loud humor and wit, Mr. Loverman explodes cultural myths and shows the extent of what can happen when people fear the consequences of being true to themselves. “Evaristo’s confident control of the language, her vibrant use of humor, rhythm and poetry, and the realistic mix of Caribbean patois with both street and the Queen’s English . . . fix characters in the reader’s mind.” —The New York Times Book Review “The novel proves to be revolutionary in its honest portrayal of gay men . . . and Evaristo’s writing is both intelligible and compelling.” —Library Journal “Evaristo crafts a colorful look at a unique character confronting social normativity with a well-tuned voice and a resonant humanity.” —Publishers Weekly
John Thorne, who coached the Tigers of Wheaton Warrenville South/Wheaton Central High School for 22 years once said, "Football is so much like life: you get knocked down, you suffer devastating losses, you make huge mistakes, but you have to get right back up. You have no choice." Thorne's Tigers followed that script for many years before emerging as one of Illinois' preeminent high school football programs in the 1990s ultimately producing more than 80 Division I college athletes, as well as nearly 90 Division II and Division III athletes and a handful of All-Americans and NFL players along the way – not to mention seven state championships. The Ghosts of Wheaton is the story of how champions are made. With play-by-play detail, author Thom Wilder chronicles not only the games but the players, their struggles, their strengths, and their leadership in their quest to rekindle the gridiron greatness of Red Grange.
A murdered conservation officer and a multi-million-dollar poaching business—how are they connected to Sam Rivers’ childhood friend? Holden Riggins is an expert outdoorsman and a known poacher. He’s made a small fortune by exploiting nature’s bounty. So it’s no surprise when two conservation officers (COs) from the Department of Natural Resources come upon Holden’s fishing boat, anchored beside an illegal walleye net. What is a surprise, though, is Holden’s condition: nearly frozen to death on the bottom of his boat. That’s not the COs’ most shocking discovery. Twisted and tangled within the twines of another nearby net is the dead body of their missing colleague. After the COs save Holden from the icy grip of hypothermia, the suspected murderer refuses to answer questions. The only person he’ll speak with is Sam Rivers, a man he last saw when they were 12 years old. Since then, Holden has become a known scofflaw and ex-con, using wilderness and everything in it for his ill-gotten gains. Sam has become a special agent for the US Fish & Wildlife Service, hunting, capturing, and incarcerating criminals—like his childhood friend. Throughout the state’s finest walleye lakes, the population of Minnesota’s most prized game fish has been unaccountably dropping. Holden’s net might explain why. Has he resurrected his illegal netting ring, cashing in on the state’s $25-million walleye industry? Did he commit murder to evade the law? One thing is certain: Sam will follow the facts wherever they lead—but is he the one reeling in suspects, or is he just the bait? Natural history writer Cary J. Griffith brings back Sam Rivers for his fourth outdoors-themed mystery—a suspenseful novel filled with fast-paced action.
