After escaping from a strict religious cult in Texas, Julie Amundson flees to San Francisco. There, she falls in love with the charismatic, charming Martin Heller. Their marriage seems like a blissful, welcome change from her punitive father's control. But gradually Martin reveals another side, becoming abusive and volatile. Julie discovers that not only is Martin involved with another woman, but he is also in financial trouble. One night she witnesses the murder of one of his firm's wealt...

When the Jarrett Creek Fire Department is called to douse a blaze on the outskirts of town, they discover a grisly scene: five black young people have been murdered. Newly elected Chief of Police Samuel Craddock, just back from a stint in the Air Force, finds himself an outsider in the investigation headed by the Texas Highway Patrol. He takes an immediate dislike to John Sutherland, a racist trooper Craddock’s fears are realized when Sutherland arrests Truly Bennett, a young black man who...

The chief of police of Jarrett Creek, Texas, doubles as the town drunk. So when Dora Lee Parjeter is murdered, her old friend and former police chief Samuel Craddock steps in. He discovers that a lot of people had it in for Dora Lee. The conniving rascals on the farm next door want her land for nefarious purposes; her estranged daughter could be seeking vengeance; her grandson wants money for art school; and then there's that stranger Dora Lee claimed was spying on her. Does Craddock still...

A FAVORITE SERIES CHARACTER FINDS HERSELF IN HARM'S WAY. After using an online dating site for senior citizens, town favorite Loretta Singletary--maker of cinnamon rolls and arbiter of town gossip--goes missing. Chief Samuel Craddock's old friend Loretta Singletary--a mainstay of the Jarrett Creek community--has undergone a transformation, with a new hairstyle and modern clothes. He thinks nothing of it until she disappears. Only then does he find out she has been meeting men through an on...

Someone is trying to kill Jenny Sandstone and she might know who it is. But how can Samuel Craddock protect her when she seems hell-bent on protecting the attempted killer's identity? Craddock has learned to accept that his neighbor and friend Jenny's personal life is strictly secret. But when her dying mother tells him that Jenny is in danger, Craddock is confronted with a dilemma. He wants to respect Jenny's privacy, but he is haunted by the urgency in the dying woman's voice. Then when ...

Nonie Blake is back home from a mental institution where she has spent the last twenty years, and people are worried. Maybe too worried, for within a week of her return, Nonie is murdered. Police Chief Samuel Craddock thinks the only possible suspects are members of her tight-lipped family. Ever since Nonie tried to kill her sister when she was fourteen and was sent away to the institution, the family has kept to itself. Clues are scarce and Craddock is stumped. So he checks with therapist...

The small town of Jarrett Creek is bankrupt. Samuel Craddock thought he was retired but now he's been asked to return as police chief. Gary Dellmore, heir apparent to the main bank, is dead, apparently murdered. Dellmore supposedly had a roving eye, although his wife says he was never serious about dallying. Still, Craddock wonders: Did the husbands and fathers of women he flirted with think he was harmless? What about his current lover, who insists that Dellmore was going to leave his wif...

Small town mystery and veteran's issues collide as retired police chief Samuel Craddock investigates a murder. Right before the outbreak of the Gulf War, two eighteen-year-old football stars and best friends from Jarrett Creek signed up for the army. Woody Patterson was rejected and stayed home to marry the girl they both loved, while Jack Harbin came back from the war badly damaged. The men haven't spoken since. Just as they are about to reconcile, Jack is brutally murdered. With the chie...

Acting Police Chief Samuel Craddock investigates the murder of a visiting physician, whose mangled body is found in the woods. When Lewis Wilkins, a physician with a vacation home in Jarrett Creek, is attacked by vicious dogs, and several pet dogs in the area around Jarrett Creek disappear, Police Chief Samuel Craddock suspects that a dog fighting ring is operating in his territory. He has to tread carefully in his investigation, since lawmen who meddle in dog fighting put their lives at r...

“The first cast of the day turned my dream vacation into a nightmare. . . .” After twenty-four years in the U.S. Marines, recently retired Mac McClellan is happy to be a civilian again. He is enjoying a leisurely fishing vacation in the Florida panhandle when he hooks a badly decomposed body. Then, when a bag of rare marijuana is discovered stashed aboard his rental boat, he realizes someone is setting him up to take the fall for murder and drug smuggling. Mac’s plans for a more laid-back ...

PEACE IS OUT. REVENGE IS ON.'Big treat in store for fans. And if you're not a fan yet, why not?' Val McDermid'An emotional intensity found only in the very best crime fiction' Sunday Times Crime Book of the YearNever forgottenTeenager Alexandra Tozer was murdered on her family's farm. Five years later, her sister Helen will return.Ne...

In this prequel to The Bookseller, former FBI profiler Hugo Marston has just become head of security at the US Embassy in London. He’s asked to protect a famous movie-star couple, Dayton Harper and Ginny Ferro, who, while filming a movie in rural England, killed a local man in a hit and run. The task turns from routine to disastrous almost immediately. Before Hugo even meets them, he finds out that Ferro has disappeared, and her body has been found hanging from an oak tree in a London ceme...