Women Police Mystery

Blood Orchid is the third adventure of one of Stuart Woods' most engaging characters, Chief of Police Holly Barker. This time out, Holly is trying to get her life back together after the shattering loss of her fiancé. With the help of her wily Doberman, Daisy, and her father, Ham, she throws herself back into the job with a vengeance. At a local restaurant, Holly and Ham meet a gentleman new to the area, rich and dapper developer Ed Shine, who has found an evocative name for both his favorite flower and his latest real-estate venture: the "Blood Orchid".

Christine Morris has been sent to Edinburgh to attend a conference on the latest in police methodology. There she is tracked down by the Northern Constabulary, Stornoway, Outer Hebrides, who inform her that her estranged mother has been involved in a vehicular homicide and has gone missing. Reluctantly, Christine agrees to fly up to Stornoway, where her mother was last seen. Her arrival is followed by the suspicious death of one of the islanders.

Fifty-five-year-old empty nester - and freshly retired FBI agent - Kate Wise finds herself drawn out of her quiet suburban life when her friend’s daughter is murdered in a home invasion - and she is implored to help. As Kate hunts the killer, she soon finds herself at the forefront of a manhunt as more bodies turn up - all suburban moms in perfect marriages - and it becomes apparent there is a serial killer stalking this quiet town.

Kinsey Millhone's latest client is Malek Construction, a $40 million company still in family hands. It doesn't take an accountant to see that the four Malek brothers stand to inherit a fortune. But one of the brothers has been missing for 18 years, and Kinsey's assignment is to find him.

On a crisp autumn day in Painters Mill, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder responds to a call only to discover an Amish man who has been violently killed with a crossbow, his body abandoned on a dirt road. Aden Karn was just twenty years old, well liked, and from an upstanding Amish family. Who would commit such a heinous crime against a young man whose life was just beginning? The more Kate gets to know his devastated family and the people—both English and Amish—who loved him, the more determined she becomes to solve the case.

Ruth Lennox, housewife and mother of three, is found dead in a pool of her own blood. Detective Chief Inspector Karlsson can’t piece together a motive and calls in Frieda, hoping her talents will offer a new angle on the case. When it emerges that the mother was hiding a scandalous secret, her family closes ranks. Frieda herself is distracted, still reeling from an attempt on her life, and struggling with her own rare feelings of vulnerability. Then a patient’s chance remark sends Frieda down a dangerous path that seems to lead to a serial killer who’s long escaped detection.

When Abby, an American archaeologist, arrives in St. Denis on the heels of her divorce, she hopes to make a new life for herself as a specialist guide for visiting tourists. So when a local British couple discover a grave from World War II on their property, Abby is able to put her training to good use. As it turns out, in the grave are the remains of two German women and an Italian submarine office who had a big secret to hide: the women are suspected of having had links to the German garrison in Bordeaux during the war.

After a brutal snowstorm in the Cascade Mountains, Chris Jacobs discovers two things he never expected to see: the charred shell of a cabin, and Gianna Trask and her sixteen-year-old daughter huddled in an SUV, having barely escaped from their burning vacation rental. Still scarred from a childhood ordeal, Chris knows there’s something sinister about the scene - it’s the stench of burned flesh.

Priests are turning up dead, their bodies found crucified against church doors throughout Washington, DC. Could this be some sort of act of revenge? Could it be a member of their order? Or a serial killer, hunting priests with a far more diabolical motive? The FBI turns to special agent Mackenzie White, as the case bears a resemblance to the religious overtones of her first case, The Scarecrow Killer. Plunged into the subculture of the priesthood, Mackenzie struggles to learn more about the rituals, about ancient scripture, to try enter the killer’s mind.

On leave from Canada's Community Policing department, Esa Khattak is traveling in Iran, reconnecting with his cultural heritage and seeking peace in the country's beautiful mosques and gardens. But Khattak's supposed break from work is cut short when he's approached by a Canadian government agent in Iran, asking him to look into the death of renowned Canadian-Iranian filmmaker Zahra Sobhani.

Detective Tracy Crosswhite has agreed to look into the disappearance of investigative reporter Lisa Childress. Solving the cold case is an obsession for Lisa’s daughter, Anita. So is clearing the name of her father, a prime suspect who became a pariah. After twenty-five years, all Anita wants is the truth—no matter where it leads.

Hillsborough, North Carolina is a town with a dark history, one that was hidden until investigative journalist Laura Chambers pulled it into the light. Nearly a year has passed since her deadly encounter with a serial killer’s twisted progeny, a brutal confrontation that left her physically and emotionally scarred. She’s ready to put the past behind her, but the past has other plans.

Rumspringa is the time when Amish teens are allowed to experience life without the rules. It's an exciting time of personal discovery and growth before committing to the church. But when a young teen disappears without a trace, the carefree fun comes to an abrupt and sinister end, and fear spreads through the community like a contagion. A missing child is a nightmare to all parents, and never more so than in the Amish community, where family ties run deep. When the search for the presumed runaway turns up a dead body, the case quickly becomes a murder investigation.

FBI Special Agent Ella Dark has studied serial killers from the time she could read, devastated by the murder of her own sister, and has gained an encyclopedic knowledge of murderers. A serial killer is leaving clues around the city, using Ella’s knowledge of historical murders to taunt her. Can Ella dig deep into her encyclopedic mind and crack the case? Or will this killer finally outsmart her?

When Holly's wedding festivities are shattered by a brutal robbery, she vows to find the culprits. With nothing to go on but the inexplicable killing of an innocent bystander, Holly discovers evidence that leads her into the midst of a clan whose members are as mysterious as they are zealous. Holly's father, Ham, a retired army master sergeant, is her ticket into their strange world.

Twelve cold cases. Twelve kidnapped women. One diabolical serial killer. In this riveting suspense thriller, a brilliant FBI agent faces a deadly challenge: decipher the mystery before each one is murdered. Will Maya end up sucked too deep into this killer’s twisted cat-and-mouse game to notice that she, herself, is the prey?

Forensic psychologist and single mother Ann Bailey has joined forces with Montana Highway Patrol officer Bryce McCabe. An expert in untangling the motives of depraved minds, Ann is tasked to help solve the mystery of two murdered women doused with gasoline and set aflame. It’s not hard for Ann to be reminded of the charismatic Elijah Weston, who served a decade in prison for arson - a crime that nearly cost Ann her life. Elijah may have been exonerated, but the connection to these rage killings is impossible for Ann to ignore.

With her recent work a big success, the FBI and the Marshals have decided to make their joint task force permanent. Alexa, reeling from her own traumatic past and her PTSD of hunting serial killers, has no choice: She will now have to work with an FBI partner she dislikes and hunt down serial killers whose jurisdiction intertwines with that of the US Marshals. Alexa finds herself forced to confront the thing she dreads the most: entering a killer’s mind.

FBI Special Agent Maya Gray, 39, has seen it all. She’s one of BAU’s rising stars and the go-to agent for hard-to-crack serial cases. When she receives a handwritten postcard promising to release 12 kidnapped women if she will solve 12 cold cases, she assumes it’s a hoax. Until the note mentions that, among the captives, is her missing sister.

When another 50-year-old woman is found dead in her home in a wealthy suburb - the second such victim in just two months - the FBI is stumped. They must turn to their most brilliant mind - retired FBI agent Kate Wise, 55 - to come back to the line of duty and solve it. What do these two empty nesters have in common? Were they targeted? How long until this serial killer strikes again? And is Kate, though past her prime, still able to solve cases that no one else can?