Showing results by publisher "Hachette UK - Bookouture" in Crime Thrillers

When the body of Leann Truitt is found in a secluded cove in Mystery Bay, Detective Megan Carpenter is one of the first on the scene. The victim has telltale marks on her wrists, ankles, and neck where she has been bound. But that’s not all. Next to Leann’s body lies a puzzling clue - an unusual symbol scratched into a rock. With rookie Deputy Ronnie Marsh under her wing and the investigation underway, Megan starts to receive disturbing messages. Someone knows about her traumatic past. They know what she did.

Twelve years ago, Jessie Tucker was attacked as she made her way home from an outdoor concert. She still walks with a limp from that night, and every day since has been a struggle to rebuild her life. The police told her she was unlucky - that she was safe after they charged a local man for the crime. But Jessie has never managed to shake the feeling that there was someone else in the park that night...someone she knew. But then, Margaret Kincaid’s murder file lands across her desk, and Jessie knows she can’t keep silent any longer.

It’s a crisp spring morning when the small-town community around Briar Ridge Elementary School is shattered by devastating news. Bright and shy five-year-old Nicole has disappeared at recess. Nicole’s mother, Gia, is lost in her grief. On the same day her baby girl vanished, Gia found out she was pregnant with the sister Nicole had begged for. Gia is also devastated that her best friend, Karen, was supervising the playground when Nicole was taken. And when Nicole’s body is discovered, Gia can’t help but ask: Why didn’t Karen protect her little girl?

The rain had been falling for weeks when Black Rock Falls Sheriff Jenna Alton receives a panicked phone call from a local forest ranger. The lifeless body of a woman has washed up on the banks of a swollen river. Rushing to the scene, Jenna and her deputy, David Kane, find the young girl laying face up in the dirt, her long brown hair spilling out around her, her perfect pale skin showing no signs of struggle. Leaning in for a closer look, she finds a jack of hearts playing card tucked into the girl’s underwear. This was no accident—someone killed this innocent soul.

When Detective Amanda Steele unexpectedly reconnects with an old boyfriend, the last thing she expects to see lying on his bed is the dead body of his wife, Claire, who walked out on him four years ago. Logan begs Amanda to believe he’s innocent. But she doesn’t miss the gun on a nearby table, and she’s torn when forensics reveal that not only was this the murder weapon, but Logan’s fingerprints are all over it.... Could he have been framed? Or is he using his connection to Amanda to get away with murder?

When Sandra Ashville is found murdered in a sleepy town near Oakhurst, Detective Jo Fournier is first at the scene. Jo is shaken by the similarities between herself and the dead assistant district attorney, a dedicated woman with a heart for justice. And as she examines Sandra’s body, Jo discovers something that chills her to the bone: The bullet hole is covered by an intact blindfold. Why was Sandra only blindfolded after her death?

On a hot summer’s day, the sleepy town of Mount Chester is thrown into turmoil when 17-year-old local girl Jenna goes missing. Within hours, the case takes an agonizing turn when her body is discovered in the isolated mountains. Detective Kay Sharp rushes to the scene, hiking for miles to the base of Wildfire Ridge. From the markings on Jenna’s body, it’s clear that she was brutally murdered. Near the victim, Kay finds a butterfly-shaped hair clip with a set of fingerprints that could be a vital clue. In the hunt for the truth, Kay turns the small town upside down.

Port Gamble, Washington: When the body of English exchange student Olivia Grant is found at the palatial home of local schoolgirl, Brianna Connors, the town assumes that it’s a Halloween prank gone wrong. But when Brianna and her boyfriend Drew are spotted casually shopping the next day, people start to talk: how could they be so unaffected by Olivia’s death?

Schoolteacher Rachel Logan is living an ordinary life in a small community at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. As a single mother still reeling from the sudden death of her husband, she refuses to allow her life to be shaken by whispers of a local thief called the Collector. But when a little boy and girl are taken, everything changes.

When Samantha Claymore doesn’t return home after an afternoon bicycle ride on Martha’s Vineyard, Detective Abby Pearce acts immediately. She knows from experience how quickly a lost girl can become a tragedy. Back on the island for the first time since she ran away as a teenager, Abby hopes solving Samantha’s case will make up for her past mistakes....

When a car belonging to Black Rock Falls’ much-loved bartender Maisy Jones is found abandoned on an ice-covered road outside of town, Sheriff Jenna Alton and her deputy David Kane are called in. The exhaust has been tampered with, which can only mean one thing: someone wanted Maisy stranded on that isolated road….

On a crisp autumn day in the small town of Mount Chester, Detective Kay Sharp comes face-to-face with the past she has spent the last decade running from. Her ex-husband, Brian, has been accused of murder.

Detective Inspector Eleanor Raven arrives at the derelict power station briefed on the murder scene inside. A beautiful young woman has been found, her body posed and a cherry-red lipstick painted across her mouth. But when she catches sight of the engagement ring crusted with blood on her delicate finger, Eleanor pushes back on the grief it provokes. Lydia Greystein had so much to live for. The only way Eleanor can help now is to find the killer responsible, and she and her team immediately set to work.

When Detective Jackie Cooke is called out to the scene, she’s expecting a routine check. The bottle of pills on the kitchen table, next to the note with the single word SORRY written in a shaky hand, make it seem obvious what’s happened. But Jackie is shocked when she recognises her old schoolfriend Claire--and she is convinced Claire would never take her own life.

When a member of Detective Casey White’s team turns up at her door begging for help, Casey races to find the broken body of 20-year-old Charlie Robson abandoned in a sunflower field. Yellow petals and broken stalks scatter the ground—and Casey immediately recognizes the red markings all over Charlie’s body as arrow wounds. Heartbroken, Casey vows to find the monster who would hunt Charlie down like this.

When the remains of a young woman are discovered on the edge of picturesque Saranac Lake, Detective Harlow Durant races to the scene. The victim is identified as 26-year-old Ellie Gordon - a seemingly normal girl, with no known enemies. Then, another body is discovered. The only connection, a man they used to date. With a small community reeling in shock, Harlow knows time is running out to piece together the only lead she has, before another woman loses her life. But soon, she is confronted by a woman who brings her face-to-face with the secret she's spent her life running from.

When the body of a woman is found in the frozen Neponset River, just where it meets the sea, Jessie Novak and her partner Detective Sam Dallas rush to the scene. When Jessie sees a flash of a familiar silk scarf, she’s shocked to realize the girl in the ice is Sheila Logan, who she worked closely with for years at Boston City Hospital. Jessie desperately wants to find out how this young and talented nurse ended up an innocent victim. But who would want to kill her?

When Detective Amanda Steele’s niece, Ava, begs her to look for a missing schoolfriend, she immediately agrees to take on the case. Eighteen-year-old Reese left home three nights ago after fighting with her mother and hasn’t been seen since. But when the teenager’s body is discovered brutally murdered, poised dramatically at the prom venue, Amanda is devastated she didn’t save the girl in time.

In the ashes of the Fox family’s seafront vacation home, Olivia Rockwell can barely hold back her tears as she wonders who in the close-knit town of Fog Harbor could destroy such a warm, loving family. Then she spots a little green toy soldier in the sand and follows a set of small footprints along the beach to an abandoned lifeguard hut. Inside, she finds the youngest Fox child, Thomas. The only survivor...

The beautiful young woman on the stretcher could be on her honeymoon. Chestnut hair tumbles around a pretty face, rose petals tangled in the loose strands. But the bandage around her forehead tells a different tale, as emergency room nurse Jessie Novak desperately battles to keep her alive. Jessie’s thoughts are racing - who shot this beautiful young woman and, more importantly, why? Ann Hart’s life hangs by a thread, and Jessie cannot bear to see this beautiful young woman die without justice being done.