Bøger af Lauren Carr

Two murders with one common denominator. Both victims betrayed Bryce Greyson. How could she not be the prime suspect? Four years after Bryce's cheating husband is gunned down, her boyfriend-stealing former roommate's remains are found buried under a statue at her alma mater.Declared the prime suspect by both detectives and the media, Bryce has no choice but to hire someone to clear her name.Enter Sam MacKade, private eye.To solve two murders, the former police K-9 officer and his canine partners must sift through the clues and the lies to reveal the true prime suspect.

AUTHOR'S REVISED EDITION! A Small Case of Murder is set in the quaint West Virginia town of Chester, where everyone knows everyone, and there is never a secret that someone doesn't know. In such an intimate town, how many suspicious deaths can be left unquestioned? Following his wife's death, Joshua Thornton leaves a promising career in the U. S. Navy's JAG division to move across country with his five children into his ancestral home. While clearing out the attic they find a letter written to their grandmother postmarked 34 years ago. In the letter Lulu Jefferson wrote "...Remember that dead body we found in the Bosley barn?...I saw him today...I went to talk to the reverend and there was his picture on the wall." What dead body? His interest piqued, Joshua asks about Lulu and finds that in 1970 she died on the same day that she penned the letter implicating the pastor in an unreported murder. There is much more to this story than a 34-year-old letter. It's a 34-year-old mystery! Today, a double murder has the whole town under a microscope. The state attorney general appoints Joshua special prosecutor to solve the crimes. In a small town where gossip flies as swiftly as a spring breeze it is impossible to know who to trust. Asking simple questions about events long ago could prove to be deadly for Joshua and his family. Read this Author Revised Edition of Lauren Carr's debut mystery novel. It's the same GRAND mystery, revised and edited for re-release by the author herself!

"For the whodunit mystery buff who loves ever-increasing suspense and danger, Lauren Carr's newest series offers up a big dose of both." - 5-Star Review of ICE (a Chris Matheson Cold Case Mystery / Book 1) at Blooming with Books It proves to be a Christmas to remember when Chris Matheson's body is discovered in the woods near an international airport. Everyone is stunned-especially Chris Matheson. The mystery deepens when they discover the victim has Chris's federal agent badge and appears to have been investigating one of his old cases. The Geezer Squad's latest case is not only a whodunit but who-got-dun. Is this a case of mistaken identity? Was Chris the intended victim? If not, then they must identify the murder victim to find his killer. With Christmas days away, join the Chris Matheson and the Geezer Squad as they race to piece together the clues to their most puzzling case yet.

After months of marital bliss, Jessica Faraday and Murphy Thornton are still discovering and adjusting to their life together. Settled in their new home, everything appears to be perfect ... except in the middle of the night when, in darkest shadows of her subconscious, a deep secret from Jessica's past creeps to the surface to make her strike out at Murphy. When investigative journalist Dallas Walker tells the couple about her latest case, known as the Pine Bridge Massacre, they realize Jessica may have witnessed the murder of a family living near a winery owned by distant relatives she was visiting and suppressed the memory. Determined to uncover the truth and find justice for the murder victims, Jessica and Murphy return to the scene of the crime with Dallas Walker, a spunky bull-headed Texan. Can this family reunion bring closure for a community touched by tragedy or will this prickly get-together bring an end to the Thorny Rose couple?

It's a bittersweet reunion for Mac Faraday when members of his former homicide squad arrive at the Spencer Inn. While it is sweet to attend the wedding of the daughter of a former colleague, it is a bitter reminder that the mother of the bride had been the victim of a double homicide on her own wedding night.The brutal slaying weighing heavy on his mind, Mac is anxious to explore every possibility for a break in the cold case-even a suggestion from disgraced former detective Louis Gannon that one of their former colleagues was the killer. When the investigator is brutally slain, Mac Faraday rips open the cold case with a ruthless determination to reveal which of his friends was a cold-blooded murderer.

In this fourth mystery on Deep Creek Lake; Mac Faraday finds himself up to his eyeballs with mobsters and federal agents. After an attempted hit ends badly with two of his men dead, mobster Tommy Cruze arrives in Spencer, Maryland, to personally supervise the execution of the witness responsible for putting him behind bars-Archie Monday! Mac Faraday believes he has his work cut out for him in protecting his lady love from one of the most dangerous leaders in organized crime; but when bodies start dropping in his lakeshore resort town, things may be hotter than even he can handle.

Dead on Ice is the first installment of Lauren Carr's new series (Lovers in Crime) featuring Hancock County Prosecuting Attorney Joshua Thornton and Pennsylvania State Police homicide detective Cameron Gates. Spunky Cameron Gates is tasked with solving the murder of Cherry Pickens, a legendary star of pornographic films, whose body turns up in an abandoned freezer. The case has a personal connection to her lover, Joshua Thornton, because the freezer was located in his cousin's basement. It doesn't take long for their investigation to reveal that the risqué star's roots were buried in their rural Ohio Valley community, something that Cherry had kept off her show business bio. She should have kept her hometown off her road map, too-because when this starlet came running home from the mob, it proved to be a fatal homecoming.

Question: What do you get the man with everything? Answer: When that man is the heir of the late mystery writer Robin Spencer, retired homicide detective Mac Faraday, you get him cold case to solve. In Shades of Murder, Mac Faraday is once again the heir to an unbelievable fortune. This time the benefactor is a stolen art collector. But this isn't just any stolen work-of-art-it's a masterpiece with a murder attached to it. Ilysa Ramsay was in the midst of taking the art world by storm with her artistic genius. Hours after unveiling her latest masterpiece-she is found dead in her Deep Creek Lake studio-and her painting is nowhere to be found. Almost a decade later, the long lost Ilysa Ramsay masterpiece has found its way into Mac Faraday's hands and he can't resist the urge to delve into the case. A world away, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; former JAG lawyer Joshua Thornton agrees to do a favor for the last person he would ever expect to do a favor-a convicted serial killer. The Favor: Solve the one murder wrongly attributed to him. Joshua finds an unexpected ally in Cameron Gates, a spunky detective who has reason to believe the young woman known to the media only as Jane Doe, Victim Number Four, was the victim of a copycat. Together, Joshua and Cameron set out to light a flame under the cold case only to find that someone behind the scenes wants the case to remain cold, and is willing to kill to keep it that way. Little do these detectives know that the paths of their respective cases are on a collision course when they follow the clues to bring them together in a showdown with a killer who's got a talent for murder!

It's a Summer of Love & Murder!The Thorntons expect it to be a summer of change and change it does!Joshua's eldest son, Joshua Thornton Jr. (J.J.) has graduated at the top of his class from law school and returns home to spend the summer studying for the bar exam. However, to Joshua's and Cameron's shock and dismay, J.J. moves into the main house at Russell Ridge Farm and Orchards, the largest dairy farm in the Ohio Valley, in order to rekindle a romance with Suellen Russell, the one-time leader of a rock who is twice his age. Quickly, they learn that she has a deep dark secret.The move brings long buried tensions between the father and son to the surface-not the least of which being J.J.'s inexplicable dislike for his stepmother Cameron. But when a brutal killer strikes, the Lovers in Crime must set all differences with Joshua's son aside to solve the crime before J.J. ends up in the cross-hairs of a murderer.

Twofer murder? What's a twofer murder? Twofer Murder is a treat for fans of best-selling author Lauren Carr's fast-paced mysteries! Lauren's latest novel contains the main characters from her three successful series: Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose mysteries. The guys go away for a fishing weekend only to get caught up in the murder of a journalist investigating fraud at a timber company. Meanwhile, the ladies are spending the weekend in the presidential suite at a posh resort where Jessica Faraday is to accept a lifetime achievement award for her late grandmother at a murder mystery writers conference. But before they have time to get their facials, they get wrapped up in their own real mystery when an up and coming author ends up dead!

It all started with a chance encounter in the city with Blair, his late wife.Chris Matheson and the Geezer Squad, working under the guise of a book club, dig into the events surrounding his late wife's supposed death halfway around the globe. A state department employee commits suicide via three bullets to the back. A CIA operative goes missing. A woman is targeted by an international assassin three years after being declared dead in a terrorist attack overseas. Nothing is as it seems. In his most personal cold case, Chris fights to uncover why the state department told him that Blair, the mother of his children, had been killed when she was alive. What had she uncovered in Switzerland that has made her a target? Who terrified her so much that she had gone into hiding and why are they now after him?

When Mac Faraday decides to do something, there's no stopping him ... even murder! Not wanting to wait until their big day to start their life of wedded bliss, Mac Faraday and his lady love, Archie Monday, decide to elope to the little church where his ancestors had all married-along the tranquil shore of Deep Creek Lake. However, before they can say, "I do," the sanctuary erupts into chaos when Gnarly finds a dead body in the church office. As they dive into the investigation, Mac and his team discover more questions than answers. What kind of person walks into a church and shoots a man for no apparent reason? Who would want to kill the quiet, mild-mannered church volunteer? How do you solve the murder of a man who has no enemies in the world? And then, there is the all-important question, how long do Mac Faraday and his lady love have to wait to get married? SPECIAL BONUS FEATURE: THE GNARLY REHABILITATION PROGRAM (A Gnarly Mystery Short): Dognappers Bert and Ernie learn the hard way that crime does not pay when they snatch Gnarly.

Three years ago, the nation gasped in horror when the President of the United States barely escaped an assassination attempt that left two dead-the vice president's wife and the attempted assassin. Even after numerous investigations proved otherwise, conspiracy theorists argue that the assassin was acting on orders from the CIA, FBI, and every federal agency within a hundred miles of the capital. Aspiring Author Dean Conway is the last person Lieutenant Commander Murphy Thornton wants to spend his Saturday afternoon when they end up at the same wedding reception table. While their wives tend to bridesmaid duties, Murphy is trapped listening to Dean's latest work-in-project-completing the manuscript of an investigative journalist who'd disappeared months earlier. "She was number twelve," Dean says. "Twelve?" Murphy asks."Twelve witnesses connected to or investigating The Nutcracker shooting have died either in an accident or suicide." Two days later, Dean dies suddenly―but not before sending a text message to Murphy: "13"

"I'm working on the greatest mystery ever," was the last thing noted mystery novelist Mercedes Livingston said to seven-year-old Chris Matheson before walking out of Hill House Hotel never to be seen again. For decades, the writer's fate remained a puzzling mystery until an autographed novel and a letter put a grown-up Chris Matheson on the trail of a cunning killer. With the help of a team of fellow retired law enforcement officers, each a specialist in their own field of investigation, Chris puts a flame to this cold case to uncover what had really happened that night Mercedes Livingston walked out of Hill House Hotel. Watch out! The clues are getting hot!

In this latest Mac Faraday Mystery from best-selling mystery author Lauren Carr, readers will embark on a rollercoaster adventure with old friends (including the Lovers in Crime team of Prosecutor Joshua Thornton and Homicide Detective Cameron Gates), but also meet new ones as Mac Faraday's daughter Jessica Faraday and Joshua Thornton's son Murphy Thornton join the team in the race to get the love birds to the altar! With three days left to the year, Deep Creek Lake is hopping with holiday vacationers and wedding guests pouring into the Spencer Inn for Mac Faraday and Archie Monday's huge wedding ceremony which is being touted as the social event of the year.But droopy flowers and guests who failed to RSVP are the least of Mac and Archie's problems when a professional hit squad hits Spencer Manor to send the groom, Joshua Thornton, Archie's mother, and Gnarly running for their lives.With time running out to the big day, Mac Faraday and Spencer's small police force have to sort through the clues to figure out not only who has been targeted for assassination, but also who is determined to stop everything ... FOREVER!

"Lauren Carr is a master storyteller who combines the humor of Janet Evanovich and the investigative skills of Patricia Cornwell. She is always at the top of my reading list." Reviewer: Sherry Fundin, Fundinmental, As Eye See It"Lauren Carr could give Agatha Christie a run for her money!" Reviewer: Charlene Mabie-Gamble, Literary R&R"Lauren Carr's books are never boring, that's for sure. They entertain, give us a good mystery to dig into, keep the reader guessing, give us a few good laughs and make us eager for the next book. Warning: Lauren Carr's series are addictive, so be ready to read more than just one book!" Reviewer: Laura Fabiani, Library of Clean Reads"She is an amazing author that draws you into the story, makes you fall in love with the characters (they feel like family!) and keeps you guessing right to the very end." Reviewer: The Working Mommy Journal"Lauren Carr does a good job of moving the quirky storyline along nicely with an abundance of witty dialogue. And you have no idea who the good guys are and who the bad guys are until the end." Reviewer: Every Free Chance Book ReviewsIn today's hectic world, many whodunit fans don't have time to get their mystery fix diving into a whole novel. Lauren Carr's SPRING THAW AND OTHER MYSTERY SHORT STORIES is for these fans-but that doesn't mean whodunit fans who do have time can't dive in as well.A novella, Spring Thaw features retired federal agent Chris Matheson from Lauren Carr's newest bestselling cold case series. When his late father's former friend is indicted for the seven year old murder of a church bishop, Chris renews old broken friendships to thaw out the cold case.Featuring Mac Faraday from Lauren Carr's popular Mac Faraday Mysteries, an estate auction turns into a deadly affair after Gnarly's antics cause Mac to purchase a gem of a dress, which isn't his color in Killing Bid. (Previously published in Lauren Carr's BEAUTY TO DIE FOR.)Beauty to Die For features the Lovers in Crime, Joshua Thornton and Cameron Gates in a race against the Angel of Death to clear the name of a dying woman's son, who was framed for murdering Miss Pennsylvania. (Previously published in BEAUTY TO DIE FOR.)Countdown to Murder returns to the Lovers in Crime where Cameron and Joshua try to solve the murder of a young pregnant widow before it happens. (Previously published in BEAUTY TO DIE FOR.)Mystery fans will see that every dog has his day, especially if that dog is Gnarly. In Lucky Dog, Gnarly helps Mac Faraday to solve the murder of a wealthy society girl. (Previously published in BEAUTY TO DIE FOR.)Dog Loving Mystery Fans will get a special treat when they read The Gnarly Rehabilitation Program. In this Gnarly Mystery Short, Bert and Ernie learn the hard way that crime does not pay when they dognap Gnarly. (Previously published as a bonus feature with A WEDDING AND A KILLING.)Gnarly, the rambunctious German shepherd, is also featured in Lauren Carr's Christmas short, A Gnarly Christmas. It is Christmas day and Gnarly has been up to his old tricks again. Now he's in the doghouse--or rather the boathouse--after stealing the Christmas feast! Moments after Archie and Mac leave Spencer Manor, Gnarly hears a call for help from Rocky, the Maltese down the street. Four assassins for hire have invaded the home of Rocky's elderly owners. While the home invaders wait for instructions from a mysterious caller, Gnarly must plot to stop them. Can Gnarly save Christmas with only the help of an 8-pound Maltese dressed in an elf suit? (Previously published as a single short story by the same name.)

In A Reunion to Die For, author Lauren Carr continues to follow Joshua Thornton while he brings justice to the small West Virginia town of his youth that he returned to with his five children after the death of his wife. Chester is a quaint, but far from quiet, town. Here, everyone knows everyone and nearly everyone has a secret. Some are dying, while others are killing to keep their secrets undercover. As a naïve teenager, Joshua Thornton had no reason to question the authorities who had concluded that his dear friend Tricia Wheeler, after breaking up with her boyfriend, had committed suicide. However, 21 years later, as Hancock County's Prosecuting Attorney, Joshua is forced to examine the closed case when former schoolmate and current adversary, Gail Reynolds, returns to town to pen an investigative book on Tricia's "murder". Joshua reluctantly agrees that the pieces of Tricia's suicide don't add up, and an investigation is warranted. When Grace Henderson, another seemingly innocent teenage girl, is murdered by a close gun shot to the chest, it is impossible for Joshua to ignore the similarities the girls and their deaths share. Surely the murders of two teenage cheerleaders 21 years apart couldn't be any more than coincidental... could they? As the investigations into the two deaths unfold, Joshua finds more questions than answers, more enemies than friends, and more victims than clues. Thornton must use every ounce of his integrity, ingenuity, and tight circle of close friends while he scrambles to solve the two murders that has nearly everyone around him becoming either suspect or victim... including himself!

The clues for a close-to-the-heart missing person's case heat up when Chris Matheson starts chipping away at the ice on the cold case.When Sandy Lipton and her unborn child disappear, the court of public opinion finds young Chris Matheson guilty. Decades later, the retired FBI agent returns home to discover that the cloud of suspicion cast over him and his family has never lifted. With the help of a team of fellow retired law enforcement officers, each a specialist in their own field of investigation, Chris Matheson starts chipping away at the ice on this cold case to uncover what had happened to Sandy and her baby and the clues are getting hot!

Fame comes at a price. Some pay with their privacy. Others pay with their pride. Khloe Everest paid with her life. Determined to get her pretty face in front of the cameras, Khloe Everest fakes an abduction only to make a grand entrance in the midst of a press conference held by Spencer's Police Chief David O'Callaghan. Three years later, after failing to catapult her notoriety into a long-lasting celebrity, Khloe Everest returns to Spencer after her mother's sudden death and seemingly finds another weapon to propel her into the spotlight. This time, someone kills her before she can make an entrance. In Lauren Carr's sixth Mac Faraday Mystery, Mac and his friends come up against reality stars, politicians, has-beens, and wannabes. Mac also finds himself face-to-face with an old foe from his past who had managed to escape arrest during their last encounter. Now, Mac sees that his adversary has only become more powerful, and dangerous, with the passage of time. Intent to not let this killer escape again, Mac and his friends need to put all of their talents together to put a stop to a cold blooded lady killer.

"Nikki's an intense individual who makes the perfect investigative journalist. She wants answers yesterday and she is willing to dig in to get them. She might get it wrong at the beginning but with the help of her family and close friends, she'll get the answers she wants and needs." - review by Blooming with Books Nikki Bryant's Next Case Takes Her to the Wrong Side of Murder One spring morning, Jodi Gibbons got up and went to school as she did every day. Her young life went sideways though when the police found that her mother had been brutally killed during the night. Twenty years later, many in Pine Grove believe Jodi got away with murder. After all, how could she have possibly slept through her mother's violent death in the very next room? After decades of silence, Jodi accepts investigative journalist Nikki Bryant's invitation to tell her side of the story. However, before the interview can take place, someone silences Jodi permanently. Now it is up to Nikki Bryant and her friends to uncover the secret that Jodi Gibbons has been protecting-a secret someone believes it is worth killing to keep from being revealed.

Two people are brutally murdered in their summer place on Deep Creek Lake. Suspected of the murders, former child star and one-time teenybopper idol Lenny Frost takes innocent bystanders hostage in a local pub and demands that Mac Faraday find the killer. Can Mac save the hostages and himself from the wrath of the enraged has-been by piecing together the clues in less than twelve hours, or will it be a fatal last call at the stroke of midnight?

Beware! Perfection has a dark side! Frustrated with their busy schedules, Murphy Thornton and Jessica Faraday attempt to find togetherness by scheduling a weekly date night. The last thing Jessica expected for her date night was a couple's gourmet cooking course at the Stepford Kitchen Studio, owned by Chef Natalie Stepford--the embodiment of feminine perfection. When Natalie ends up dead and Murphy goes missing, the Thorny Rose detectives must peel back the layers of Natalie Stepford's flawless life to discover that perfection has a very sinister dark side.

"It's not a real murder." When Homicide Detective Cameron Gates befriends Dolly, the little old lady who lives across the street, she is warned not to get lured into helping the elderly woman by investigating the unsolved murder of one of her girls. "She's senile," Cameron is warned. "It's not a real murder." Such is not the case. After Dolly is brutally murdered, Cameron discovers that the sweet blue-haired lady's "girl" was a call girl, who had been killed in a mysterious double homicide.. Meanwhile, Prosecuting Attorney Joshua Thornton is looking for answers to the murder of a childhood friend, a sheriff's deputy whose cruiser is found at the bottom of a lake. The sheriff deputy had disappeared almost twenty years ago while privately investigating the murder of a local prostitute.It doesn't take long for the Lovers in Crime to put their cases together to reveal a long-kept secret that some believe it's worth killing to keep undercover.

Never tell Mac Faraday not to do something.Spencer's police chief, David O'Callaghan, learns this lesson the hard way when he orders Mac Faraday to stay away from the south end of Spencer's mountaintop-even though he owns the property. It doesn't take long for Mac to find out what lies on the other side of the stone wall and locked gate, on which hangs a sign warning visitors to Keep Out!Topping the list of the ten most haunted places in America, Astaire Castle is associated with two suicides, three mysterious disappearances, and four murders since it was built almost a century ago-and Mac Faraday owns it! In spite of David's warning, Mac can't resist unlocking the gate to see the castle that supposedly hasn't seen a living soul since his late mother had ordered it closed up after the double homicide and disappearance of Damian Wagner, a world-famous master of horror novels. What starts out as a quick tour of a dusty old castle turns into another Mac Faraday adventure when Astaire Castle becomes the scene of even more murders. Mac is going to need to put all of his investigative talents to work to sort out this case that involves the strangest characters he has run into yet-including a wolf man. No, we're not talking about Gnarly.

"Robin? It's me, Ashton.">In this latest Mac Faraday Mystery, Lauren Carr once again brings murder to the Spencer Inn, Mac Faraday's five-star resort located at the top of Spencer Mountain. "I have to confess," the author says, "personally I would wonder how the Spencer Inn hangs on to their five-star rating with all the murders that happen there." The high society guests in her book aren't worried about the Spencer Inn's mortality rate because they're dying to attend the Diablo Ball, which is hosted by Mac Faraday's new bride, Archie Monday. An annual charitable event to benefit the Humane Society, the Diablo Ball used to be hosted by Robin Spencer, Mac's late mother, and would kick-off Deep Creek Lake's summer season. As readers have come to expect from every Lauren Carr mystery, Open Season for Murder delivers a punch even before the party invitations are put in the mail when uninvited guests begin RSVP'ing. Intrigued by a mysterious phone call, retired homicide detective Mac Faraday can't resist diving into the cold case of Ashton Piedmont, a young woman who had disappeared into the moonlit waters of Deep Creek Lake five years earlier. Mac quickly discovers that not only is the Diablo Ball drawing in A-listers from across the country, but someone is going to a lot of trouble to gather together suspects and witnesses connected to Ashton Piedmont and each one seems to have their own agenda for coming to Spencer. When murder strikes, it is up to Mac Faraday and his friends to find the killer ... or is it killers? When it comes to murder in Deep Creek Lake, you never know. But readers do know this, if it's happening at the Spencer Inn, you know it's an event to die for!

It's election time in Spencer, Maryland, and the race for mayor is not a pretty one. In recent years, the small resort town has become divided between the year-round residents who enjoy their rural way of life and the city dwellers who are moving into mansions, taking over the town council, and proceeding to turn Deep Creek Lake into a closed-gate community-complete with a host of regulations for everything from speed limits to clotheslines.When the political parties force-feed two unsavory mayoral nominees to the town's residents, David O'Callaghan, the chief of police, decides to make a statement-by nominating Gnarly, Mac Faraday's German shepherd, to run for mayor of Spencer! What starts out as a joke turns into a disaster when overnight, Gnarly becomes the front-runner, and his political opponents proceed to dig into the canine's past. When one of the mayoral candidates ends up dead, it becomes apparent that slinging mud is not enough for someone with a stake in this election.With murder on the ballot, Mac Faraday and the gang-including old friends from past cases-dive in to clear Gnarly's name, catch a killer, and save Spencer!

Police Chief David O'Callaghan and Chelsea Adams's wedding day is fast approaching. Unfortunately, at the last minute, David discovers that there is one small problem to be taken care of before he can walk down the aisle-he has to divorce his first wife! Lauren Carr takes fans of the Mac Faraday mysteries to the Big Apple in this nail-biting adventure. In Cancelled Vows, David, Mac, and Gnarly, too rush to New York City to dissolve David's marriage to an old girlfriend-and he's got five days to get it done. When murder throws up a roadblock, it is up to David's best man, Mac Faraday, and Gnarly, his K9-in-waiting, to sort through the clues to get David to the church in time!

Five women with seemingly nothing in common are found brutally murdered in a townhome outside Washington, DC. Among the many questions surrounding the massacre is what had brought these apparent strangers together only to be killed. Taking on his first official murder case, Lieutenant Murphy Thornton, USN, believes that if he can uncover the thread connecting the victims, then he can find their murderer. The case takes an unexpected turn when Murphy discovers that one of the victims has a connection to his stepmother, Homicide Detective Cameron Gates. One wintry night, over a dozen years before, her first husband, a Pennsylvania State trooper, had been run down while working a night shift on the turnpike. In this first installment of the Thorny Rose Mysteries, the Lovers in Crime join newlyweds Murphy Thornton and Jessica Faraday to sift through a web of lies and cover-ups. Together, can the detectives of the Thorny Rose uncover the truth without falling victim to a cunning killer?

Homicide Detective Cameron Gates learned long ago that there is no such thing as a typical murder case. Each mystery is special in its own right-especially for the family of the victim. The homicide of a successful executive, husband, and father seems open and shut when the murder weapon is found in his estranged son-in-law's possession. The circumstantial evidence is so damning that when her step-son, J.J. Thornton, agrees to act as the defendant's public defender, he assumes his first murder case will be a loss. Only the report of a missing husband proves that this case is not as open and shut as it seems. Strap on your seat belts for a wild ride in this mystery rooted in decades of deception that sprouts into murder.