Maggie faces her most confusing case yet when she finds a treasured beaded knife–in someone's back! Can she figure out what happened before anyone else ends up dead? And when her buddy, movie star Reese Stevens, tries to make a fresh start after falling off the wagon, can Maggie keep him from going off-track? Maggie McJasper is starting over in a little California beach town. She has a bead shop, a nice circle of friends, and a handsome movie star who keeps flirting with her. Life would be pretty great if she could just stop stumbling over dead bodies…. Do you like dogs, crafts, quirky friends, a slow-building romance between grownups who genuinely like each other, and a twisty little mystery with red herrings galore? Then this is for you. The Maggie & Jasper Capers are fun and flirty cozies, with no swearing or love scenes, and no gruesome violence to keep you up at night.
Social scientist, victim advocate, and the mother of a murder victim - Deborah Spungen is well acquainted with all facets of what she defines as "the blackest hell accompanied by a pain so intense that even breathing becomes an unendurable labor." In Homicide: The Hidden Victims, Spungen illustrates just how and why family members become co-victims when a loved one is murdered, and she poignantly addresses the emotional, physical, spiritual, and psychological effects of such traumatic events. The timely information and innovative modalities discussed in this book make it ideal for mental health and criminal justice professionals, pastoral counselors, social workers, and victim advocates.
An ambitious female reporter tracks a deadly threat in Austin, Texas, in the newest riveting thriller by New York Times bestselling author Laura Griffin. When a woman is found brutally murdered on Austin’s lakeside hike-and-bike trail, investigative reporter Bailey Rhoads turns up on the scene demanding access and answers. She tries to pry information out of the lead detective, Jacob Merritt. But this case is unlike any he’s ever seen, and nothing adds up. With the pressure building, Jacob knows the last thing he needs is a romantic entanglement, but he can’t convince himself to stay away from Bailey. Bailey has a hunch that the victim wasn’t who she claimed to be and believes this mugging-turned-murder could have been a targeted hit. When she digs deeper, the trail leads her to a high-tech fortress on the outskirts of Austin, where researchers are pushing the boundaries of a cutting-edge technology that could be deadly in the wrong hands. As a ruthless hit man’s mission becomes clear, Bailey and Jacob join together in a desperate search to locate the next target before the clock ticks down in this lethal game of hide-and-seek.
In the summer of 1937, with the Depression deep and World War II looming, a California triple murder stunned an already grim nation. After a frantic week-long manhunt for the killer, a suspect emerged, and his sensational trial captivated audiences from coast to coast. Justice was swift, and the condemned man was buried away with the horrifying story. But decades later, Pamela Everett, a lawyer and former journalist, starts digging, following up a cryptic comment her father once made about a tragedy in their past. Her journey is uniquely personal as she uncovers her family's secret history, but the investigation quickly takes unexpected turns into her professional wheelhouse. Everett unearths a truly historic legal case that included one of the earliest criminal profiles in the United States, the genesis of modern sex offender laws, and the last man sentenced to hang in California. Digging deeper and drawing on her experience with wrongful convictions, Everett then raises detailed and haunting questions about whether the authorities got the right man. Having revived the case to its rightful place in history, she leaves us with enduring concerns about the death penalty then and now. A journey chronicled through the mind of a lawyer and from the heart of a daughter, Little Shoes is both a captivating true crime story and a profoundly personal account of one family's struggle to cope with tragedy through the generations.
In the immersive English murder mystery, "Hidden Murder," Zoe longs for the simple joys of friendship, but a haunting past has kept her locked in a world of loneliness. As a newfound confidence begins to emerge, she is faced with a relentless campaign of fear and intimidation that threatens not only her, but also the newly formed bonds of friendship she cherishes. Haunted by a malevolent force determined to drive her away, Zoe is left with a critical decision to make—should she flee from the sinister spectres that lurk in the shadows, or summon the courage to confront her fears and fight back? With each scare, the net closes around her, tightening its grip on her newfound sense of belonging. Tragedy strikes when a chilling incident culminates in a death that Zoe firmly believes is murder, though the police remain indifferent to her claims. The authorities don't trust her, and her friends begin to question their allegiance to her as the pressure mounts. As the walls close in on Zoe, she becomes determined to unearth the truth, no matter the cost. Turning to a recently released serial criminal for assistance, she embarks on a perilous journey to reveal the sinister forces at play and unravel the mysteries that threaten to consume her life. In "Hidden Murder," Zoe's quest for justice intertwines with the complexities of trust and deception. Will she manage to convince the police of the murder, or will her relentless pursuit of truth lead her into an even greater danger? Join Zoe as she navigates a labyrinth of secrets and lies, where friendships are tested, alliances are forged, and the truth remains hidden beneath layers of deception.
An introduction summarizes the social theories of homicide and the methodological issues in the study of homicide. This accessible volume then focuses on specific types of homicides including: mass and serial murders, homicides by youth, gang homicides, domestic homicides, homicides by female offenders, and alcohol/drug related homicides.
“Methamphetamine was a huge part of this case . . . It was a horrible murder driven by drugs.” — Prosecutor Cal Rerucha, who convicted Matthew Shepard's killers On the night of October 6, 1998, twenty-one-year-old Matthew Shepard left a bar with two alleged “strangers,” Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. Eighteen hours later, Matthew was found tied to a log fence on the outskirts of town, unconscious and barely alive. Overnight, a politically expedient myth took the place of important facts. By the time Matthew died a few days later, his name was synonymous with anti-gay hate. The Book of Matt, first published in 2013, demonstrated that the truth was in fact far more complicated – and daunting. Stephen Jimenez’s account revealed primary documents that had been under seal, and gave voice to many with firsthand knowledge of the case who had not been heard from, including members of law enforcement. In his Introduction to this updated edition, journalist Andrew Sullivan writes: “No one wanted Steve Jimenez to report this story, let alone go back and back to Laramie, Wyoming, asking awkward questions, puzzling over strange discrepancies, re-interviewing sources, seeking a deeper, more complex truth about the ghastly killing than America, it turned out, was prepared to hear. It was worse than that, actually. Not only did no one want to hear more about it, but many were incensed that the case was being re-examined at all.” As a gay man Jimenez felt an added moral imperative to tell the story of Matthew’s murder honestly, and his reporting has been thoroughly corroborated. “I urge you to read [The Book of Matt] carefully and skeptically,” Sullivan writes, “and to see better how life rarely fits into the neat boxes we want it to inhabit. That Matthew Shepard was a meth dealer and meth user says nothing that bad about him, and in no way mitigates the hideous brutality of the crime that killed him; instead it shows how vulnerable so many are to the drug’s escapist lure and its astonishing capacity to heighten sexual pleasure so that it’s the only thing you want to live for. Shepard was a victim twice over: of meth and of a fellow meth user.”
James Patterson returns to the genre that made him famous with a #1 New York Times bestselling teen detective novel about the mysterious Angel family . . . and the dark secrets they're keeping from one another. On the night Malcolm and Maud Angel are murdered, Tandy Angel knows just three things: 1) She was the last person to see her parents alive. 2) The police have no suspects besides Tandy and her three siblings. 3) She can't trust anyone-maybe not even herself. As Tandy sets out to clear the family name, she begins to recall flashes of experiences long buried in her vulnerable psyche. These memories shed light on her family's dark secrets, and digging deeper into her powerful parents' affairs proves to be a disturbing and dangerous game. Who knows what any of the Angels are truly capable of?
Heartwarming books with characters you'll love: have you been to Pajaro Bay? Camilla Stewart desperately needs to start over. Her ex-fiance ripped her off and disappeared, leaving behind his eight-year-old son. She soon finds herself out of gas in a tiny beach town with the lost boy in tow and the key to an abandoned cottage in her pocket. But there's more to the village of Pajaro Bay than meets the eye, including a handsome local cop poking into her business, a bunch of quirky neighbors determined to pull her out of her shell, and, oh yeah, a killer on the loose who is somehow linked to her, the young boy, and the darling little house known as the Honeymoon Cottage. Get away to the little California beach town where the cottages are cute, the neighbors are nosy, and it's always possible to find your personal Happily Ever After. The Pajaro Bay novels can be read in any order.
Heartwarming books with characters you'll love: have you been to Pajaro Bay? Sheltered heiress Lori York runs away to the isolated island lighthouse at Pajaro Bay. But when a mysterious man washes ashore during a winter storm, she has to figure out just what he's hiding before they both end up as shark bait. Matt DiPietro is the hometown boy gone bad. He's brought shame to his family, and his childhood friends know he can't be trusted. Now he's returned to Pajaro Bay, and as always, disaster follows in his wake. But when the new girl in town finds out the truth about him, will she give up on him like everyone else, or can she possibly help him find his way back home at last? Get away to the little California beach town where the cottages are cute, the neighbors are nosy, and it's always possible to find your personal Happily Ever After. The Pajaro Bay novels can be read in any order.
