Melinda Leigh

"After the devastating loss of her husband in Iraq, Morgan Dane returns to Scarlet Falls, seeking the comfort of her hometown. Now, surrounded by family, she's finally found peace and a promising career opportunityuntil her babysitter is killed and her neighbor asks her to defend his son, Nick, who stands accused of the murder. Tessa was the ultimate girl next door, and the community is outraged by her death. But Morgan has known Nick for years and can't believe he's guilty, despite the damning evidence stacked against him. She asks her friend Lance Kruger, an ex-cop turned private eye, for help. Taking on the town, the police, and a zealous DA, Morgan and Lance plunge into the investigation, determined to find the real killer. But as they uncover secrets that rock the community, they become targets for the madman hiding in plain sight."

Say you're sorry

For more than twenty-five years, Philadelphia homicide detective Bree Taggert has tucked away the nightmarish childhood memories of her parents' murder-suicide . . . Until her younger sister, Erin, is killed in a crime that echoes that tragic night: innocent witnesses and a stormy marriage that ended in gunfire. There's just one chilling difference. Erin's husband, Justin, has vanished.

Cross Her Heart

Sheriff Bree Taggert is both hunter and hunted in #1 Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh's blood-freezing thriller of murder, rage, and revenge. New sheriff Bree Taggert is called to a shooting in a campground shuttered for the winter. But she arrives to find a perplexing crime. There is no shooter, no victim, and no blood. No one but Bree believes the sole witness, Alyssa, a homeless teenager who insists she saw her friend shot. Bree calls in former deputy Matt Flynn and his K-9 to track the killer and search for Alyssa's friend. They discover the battered corpse of a missing university student under the ice in Grey Lake--but it's not the victim they were looking for. When two more students go missing and additional bodies turn up, Bree must find the link between the victims. She knows only one thing for certain: the murders are fueled by rage. When Alyssa disappears, Bree must race against time to find her before her witness becomes another victim.

See Her Die

Shocking evidence hits close to home for attorney Morgan Dane and PI Lance Kruger as Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh's acclaimed series continues. Private investigator Lance Kruger was just a boy when his father vanished twenty-three years ago. Since then he's lived under the weight of that disappearance--until his father's car is finally dredged up from the bottom of Grey Lake. It should be a time for closure, except for the skeleton found in the trunk. A missing person case gone cold has become one of murder, and Lance and attorney Morgan Dane must face the deadly past that's risen to the surface. For Lance, the investigation yields troubling questions about a man he thought he knew. But memories can play dirty tricks. For Morgan, uncovering each new lie comes with a disquieting fear that someone is out there watching, because someone is killing every witness tied to this decades-old crime. Morgan and Lance follow in the shadows of a relentless killer and walk right into the cross fire.

Bones Don't Lie

Young mother Chelsea Clark leaves the house for a girls' night out--and vanishes. Her family knows she would never voluntarily leave her two small children. Her desperate husband--the prime suspect--hires Morgan Dane to find his wife and prove his innocence. As a single mother, Morgan sympathizes with Chelsea's family. She wants to track down the criminal--unaware she's his next target.

Her Last Goodbye

Morgan Dane's new client has blood on her hands--and no recollection of what happened--as the #1 Amazon Charts bestselling series continues. Haley Powell wakes up covered in blood, with no memory of the night before. When she sees a man lying in the backyard, stabbed to death, she has only one terrified thought: What have I done? Agreeing to take the case as a favor to her PI friend Lincoln Sharp, Morgan must scale a mountain of damning circumstantial and forensic evidence to prove her client innocent. Haley couldn't appear more guilty: her bloodstained fingerprints are on the murder weapon, and she has no alibi. But Morgan can't shake the feeling that this shocked young woman has been framed. Someone out there is hell-bent on sabotaging her defense, targeting Morgan, her partner, and especially Haley. Someone who will stop at nothing--and whose next move will be deadly.

What I've Done

The #1 Amazon Charts bestselling series continues as Morgan Dane and PI Lance Kruger fight for the innocence of a young murder suspect--if only they could find him. When a retired sheriff's deputy is shot to death in his home, his troubled teenage stepson, Evan, becomes the prime suspect. Even more incriminating, the boy disappeared from the scene of the crime. Desperate to find her son, Evan's mother begs PI Lance Kruger for help. She knows her son is innocent. Kruger and defense attorney Morgan Dane want to believe that too, but the evidence against the boy is damning. Just as the trail goes cold, another deputy vanishes. His shocking connection to Evan's stepfather throws the investigation into chaos as Lance and Morgan fear the worst...that Evan is the killer's new target. With so many secrets to unravel, will Lance and Morgan find him before it's too late?

Secrets Never Die

Deputy Tessa Black gave up her career as a detective with the Seattle PD and returned to the Pacific Northwest island she calls home to care for her ailing mother. Tessa thinks her mother’s illness is the worst thing she’ll face—until she responds to a routine call in the state park and discovers a local man harpooned to a sign.

As the murder investigation unfolds, it becomes clear that the victim harbored secrets. Together with her FBI agent best friend, Cate, and park ranger Logan Wilde, Tessa must connect the pieces before the murderer strikes again. But the closer she gets to the truth, the more she finds herself—and the ones she loves—in harm’s way.

Pressure mounts as Tessa attempts to juggle the current case with her search for the truth behind her childhood friend Samantha’s disappearance twenty years ago. Can Tessa find the murderer and uncover answers about Samantha without jeopardizing everything she holds dear?

A Bone to Pick (Widow's Island #2)

The discovery of human remains unearths another nightmare from Sheriff Bree Taggert's past in a bone-chilling thriller by #1 Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh. Twenty-seven years ago, Sheriff Bree Taggert's father killed her mother, then himself. Now Bree and her younger brother, Adam, find human bones on the grounds of their abandoned family farm. The remains are those of a man and a woman, both murdered in the same horrible way. When the investigation determines the murders occurred thirty years ago, Bree's dead father becomes a suspect, forcing Bree to revisit the brutal night she's spent most of her life trying to forget. The only other suspect is an unlikely squatter on the Taggert farm who claims to know secrets about Bree's past. When he mysteriously disappears and Bree's niece is kidnapped, the cold case heats up. Bree has stoked the rage of a murderer who'll do anything to keep his identity--and motives--a secret. To protect everyone she loves, Bree must confront a killer.

Right Behind Her

A Wall Street Journal bestseller. Sheriff Bree Taggert is blindsided by a killer's devious plan in number one Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh's novel of escalating shock and suspense. When Sheriff Bree Taggert discovers the body of a young woman floating near the bank of the Scarlet River, a note in her abandoned car suggests suicide. The autopsy reveals a different story. Holly Thorpe was dead long before she dropped off the bridge and hit the water. As Bree and her investigator Matt Flynn delve into the case, secrets in Holly's personal life complicate their efforts to solve the murder. Holly left behind a volatile marriage, an equally divisive relationship with her sister, and an employer whose intimate involvement with Holly was no secret. Each one has a motive for murder. When Holly's sister is terrorized by a stalker's sick prank, and the prime suspect turns up dead, everything Bree was sure of is upended and her case goes off the rails. When the killer strikes close to home, Bree and Matt must race to solve the murders before one of their own becomes the next victim.

Drown Her Sorrows

While fighting in Afghanistan, Major Grant Barrett receives devastating news: his brother and sister-in-law have been murdered in Scarlet Falls, the sleepy suburb of Grant's youth. Emotionally scarred from war, the career soldier returns home on emergency leave to temporarily care for his orphaned nephew and niece. But when someone tries to kidnap the kids and their teenage babysitter, Grant knows it's not a random act...and neither were the murders. Already devastated by her neighbors' violent deaths, Ellie Ross is shattered by the attempted abduction of her teenage daughter so she desperately turns to Grant for help. As they navigate a deadly search for the truth, they struggle with growing feelings for each other and Grant's impending return to deployment. But time is running out. The killer is growing bolder by the hour, and Ellie and Grant must find him before the children become his next victims. Bestselling author Melinda Leigh delivers another gritty mystery simmering with spine-tingling passion in this first Scarlet Falls novel.

Hour of Need

The #1 Amazon Charts bestselling series continues as Morgan Dane and PI Lance Kruger investigate the mysterious disappearance of a true-crime writer. When true-crime writer Olivia Cruz disappears with no signs of foul play, her new boyfriend, Lincoln Sharp, suspects the worst. He knows she didn't leave willingly and turns to attorney Morgan Dane and PI Lance Kruger to find her before it's too late. As they dig through Olivia's life, they are shocked to discover a connection between her current book research on two cold murder cases and the suicide of one of Morgan's prospective clients. As Morgan and Lance investigate, the number of suspects grows, but time is running out to find Olivia alive. When danger comes knocking at their door, Morgan and Lance realize that they may be the killer's next targets.

Save Your Breath

Lie to Her

Sheriff Bree Taggert’s downfall is part of a killer’s cunning design in #1 Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh’s novel of murder, lies, and revenge.

Called to an isolated farm to check on an elderly widow, Sheriff Bree Taggert finds a brutal double homicide. One of the victims is Eugene Oscar, the bitter and corrupt former deputy she recently forced out of the department.

Working with criminal investigator Matt Flynn, Bree discovers that she isn’t the only one who had a troubling history with Eugene. But someone doesn’t want Bree digging up the past. She becomes the target of a stranger’s sick and devious campaign calculated to destroy her reputation, career, family, and new relationship with Matt. To make matters worse, she’s the prime suspect in Eugene’s murder.

When her chief deputy goes missing while investigating the case, Bree refuses to back down. She won’t let him become the next victim. His life and her future depend on finding a killer nursing a vengeful rage.

Bree Taggert #5

Dead Against Her

After corporate attorney Hannah Barrett tries—and fails—to stop a kidnapping in Vegas, she can't shake the haunting image of the terrified young girl she couldn't save. She tells herself that a visit to her hometown in Scarlet Falls could be a welcome distraction. But soon, Hannah realizes the kidnappers have all the info they need to track her every move. And when chilling e-mails about the victim appear in her inbox, it's frighteningly clear what happened in Vegas has followed her home. Eight months after a terrible family tragedy, Hannah turns to Detective Brody McNamara once again. Brody is eager to help, though he's embroiled in the investigation of a brutal murder. But the closer they work together, the stronger their feelings grow…and the more they stand to lose when two seemingly unrelated, but equally deadly, cases collide. Minutes to Kill is the pulse-racing second novel in bestselling author Melinda Leigh's Scarlet Falls series.

Minutes to Kill

Midnight Exposure

In hiding with her kids from an abusive husband with a deadly secret, Elizabeth's hopes for refuge in a remote Pennsylvania home take a surprising turn when the owner mysterously dies and his nephew, Jack O'Malley, takes over.

She Can Run

Her Second Death

The mysterious death of a local teen leads to a hunt for a killer in the sixth Widow’s Island novella by #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh.

On Widow’s Island, the secrets are dark…and everybody has one. So when Deputy Tessa Black responds to a call about an explosion in a quiet neighborhood, she gets more than she bargained for: the body of a teen who went missing weeks ago.

Until recently, Gavin was living in a reputable foster home. But now that he is found dead—Tessa can’t help but wonder if sinister forces are at play. Who would want to hurt him, and why?

With the help of her partner, Park Ranger Logan Wilde, Tessa tries desperately to decipher what happened to Gavin before another life is cut short. Someone on Widow’s Island knows the explosive truth. Will Tessa find the answers she needs before someone else turns up dead?

A Broken Bone (Widow's Island #6)

A college student’s murder shines light on community secrets left in the dark in the seventh Widow’s Island novella by #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh.

All communities have their secrets…but on Widow’s Island, there’s a skeleton in every closet, as Deputy Tessa Black knows all too well. When Tessa stumbles upon a half-buried body in the woods, a peaceful morning hike suddenly turns into a race to catch a killer.

Tessa identifies the skeletal corpse as Aurora Franklin, a young college student and aspiring actor. She’d come to Widow’s Island for a summer job, only to be strangled and discarded. Aurora has been dead for over a month—and not a single islander has reported her missing.

The investigation reveals a dangerous predator hiding in the Widow’s Island community. With her fiancé, park ranger Logan Wilde, by her side, Tessa must find Aurora’s murderer before they strike again.

Melinda Leigh

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