Valerie Geary

Lucy Durant was only fourteen-years-old when she lost her older brother. First to his paranoid delusions as he became increasingly obsessed with UFOs and government conspiracies. Then, permanently, when he walked into the desert outside Bishop, California, and never returned. Now on the tenth anniversary of Nolan’s mysterious disappearance, Lucy is still struggling with guilt and confusion—her memories from that period are blurry and obscured by time, distance, and alcohol. Now an adult, she’s stuck in a holding pattern, hiding out at her father’s house, avoiding people, and doing whatever she can to keep herself from thinking about Nolan. But when a series of unsettling events leads Lucy back to Bishop, she is forced to reconcile with her estranged mother and come to terms with the tangled memories of her past to discover what really happened to her brother all those years ago. Told in Lucy and Nolan's alternating voices, The Dark Beyond is a psychological mystery exploring family, beliefs, obsessions, the nature of memory, and fear of the unknown—a haunting, compelling story that will resonate with readers long after the last page is turned.

A Novel

Everything We Lost

With the inventiveness and emotional power of Promise Not to Tell, The Death of Bees, and After Her, a powerful literary debut about family and friendship, good and evil, grief and forgiveness. He is not evil. I am not good. We are the same: broken and put back together again. Still grieving the sudden death of their mother, Sam and her younger sister Ollie McAlister move from the comforts of Eugene to rural Oregon to live in a meadow in a teepee under the stars with Bear, their beekeeper father. But soon after they arrive, a young woman is found dead floating in Crooked River, and the police arrest their eccentric father for the murder. Fifteen-year-old Sam knows that Bear is not a killer, even though the evidence points to his guilt. Unwilling to accept that her father could have hurt anyone, Sam embarks on a desperate hunt to save him and keep her damaged family together. I see things no one else does. I see them there and wish I didn’t. I want to tell and can’t. Ollie, too, knows that Bear is innocent. The Shimmering have told her so. One followed her home from her mom’s funeral and refuses to leave. Now, another is following Sam. Both spirits warn Ollie: the real killer is out there, closer and more dangerous than either girl can imagine. Told in Sam and Ollie’s vibrant voices, Crooked River is a family story, a coming of age story, a ghost story, and a psychological mystery that will touch reader’s hearts and keep them gripped until the final thrilling page.

Crooked River

Someone in this town is keeping a deadly secret. Brett Buchanan never imagined herself returning to Crestwood, Washington where her sister was murdered twenty years ago. But when she’s offered a detective position with the local police department, she decides to take the job. Between figuring out how to fit in as the squad’s first female detective and caring for her grandmother who is showing signs of dementia, Brett doesn’t have much time to think about her sister’s cold case. Then she receives a message from a man claiming to have information about the decades-old murder. Before she has a chance to talk with him, his body washes up on a local beach. Truth always comes at a price, but Brett won’t stop searching. Not until her sister’s killer is finally brought to justice. On A Dark Tide is the first book in a gripping new detective series for fans of Robert Dugoni, Emily Littlejohn, and Susie Steiner. “Geary’s characters are so real and engaging, they make you wonder what your own neighbors might be up to. Part West Coast Anne Tyler, part Tana French … packed with crystalline observations about the human condition, carried on a driving current of small town intrigue that sweeps you breathless to the last rending sentence.” – Carrie La Seur, author of The Home Place “A tender, dark and atmospheric tale of small town intrigue and tightly held secrets. The characters are deftly created with empathy and an observant eye, which gives this robust slow-burn thriller a huge heart.” – Poppy Gee, author of Vanishing Falls

On A Dark Tide

Someone in this town is keeping a deadly secret. Brett Buchanan never imagined herself returning to Crestwood, Washington where her sister was murdered twenty years ago. But when she's offered a detective position with the local police department, she decides to take the job. Between figuring out how to fit in as the squad's first female detective and caring for her grandmother who is showing signs of dementia, Brett doesn't have much time to think about her sister's cold case. Then she receives a message from a man claiming to have information about the decade's-old murder. Before she has a chance to talk with him, his body washes up on a local beach. Truth always comes at a price, but Brett won't stop searching. Not until her sister's killer is finally brought to justice.

Valerie Geary

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