Police Small Town Mystery

He came out of the woods at the back of the rural bank in upstate New York. He was wearing a baseball hat, sunglasses, and a balaclava. Nothing of his face was visible. He was also wearing nylon basketball warm-up pants with snaps to allow for easy removal while standing and a loose-fitting nylon top. He went around the side of the small stand-alone building, avoiding the drive-through window on the other side. No customers were in the bank. The manager and her assistant were at the two teller windows.

A hit-and-run or something else? The district attorney does not like what she sees, and the police report is not conclusive. She assigns her part-time investigator Brad Petronella to look into the case. The case quickly expands into much more than just a possible road accident. Ranging over a number of upstate NY counties, a major drug network is uncovered.

In a small town in rural America, murders of little girls have been going on for a long time. Can the FBI stop him before he kills again?

Brett Buchanan never imagined herself returning to Crestwood, Washington, where her sister was murdered 20 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.

Oxford historian Daniel Kind and his partner Miranda both want to escape to a new life. On impulse they buy a cottage in Brackdale, an idyllic valley in the Lake District. But though they hope to live the dream, the past soon catches up with them. Tarn Cottage was once home to Barrie Gilpin, suspected of a savage murder. A young woman's body was found on the Sacrifice Stone, an ancient pagan site up on the fell, but Barrie died before he could be arrested. Daniel has personal reasons for becoming fascinated by the case and for believing in Barrie's innocence.