Women Sleuth Police

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".

When an attack leaves one of the members of the Women's Murder Club struggling for her life, the others fight to keep a madman behind bars before he hurts anyone else. And Lindsay Boxer and her new partner in the San Francisco police department try to stop a series of kidnappings: children and their nannies are being plucked off the streets.

The beautiful Isle of Anglesey has been rocked by the brutal murders of three female students at a local college. DI Laura Hart is called in to track down the murderer – who the papers have dubbed the Anglesey Ripper – before he strikes again. She quickly identifies a suspect but just as she is about to pounce, he slips through her fingers. Laura and the Beaumaris CID must pursue the serial killer across the island in an increasingly dangerous game of cat and mouse – but he’s always one step ahead of them. And soon, the hunters will become the hunted.

Ted Bundy. One of America's most notorious serial killers. For two women, he is the ultimate obsession. One is a cop whose sister may have been one of Bundy's victims. The other is a deranged groupie who corresponded with Bundy in prison - and raised her son to finish what Bundy started. To charm and seduce innocent girls. To kidnap and brutalize more women than any serial killer in history. And to lure one obsessed cop into a trap as sick and demented as Bundy himself....

Actor Nora Blake finds her dream job when she is cast in a murder-mystery troupe that performs in an imposing but captivating old castle. When she stumbles upon a real murder, things take a nightmarish turn in this first book in an exciting new series.

A murderer who drinks his victim’s blood? FBI profiler Zoe Bentley and Agent Tatum Gray thought they’d seen it all, but this young woman’s barbaric murder is especially hard to stomach. They didn’t expect to work this case. But vampirism aside, the murderer’s MO is identical to that of Rod Glover - the serial killer who’s been pursuing Zoe since childhood. Forensics reveals the murder to be his work, but not his alone; desperate to fulfill his sick purpose, he has taken on an equally depraved partner.

As a child, Abby Mullen escaped the insidious Wilcox cult when it literally went down in flames. Years later, she’s the NYPD’s best hostage negotiator and a mother. She thought the worst part of her life was behind her. Until now. Armed conspiracy theorists called the Watchers have attacked the local high school - and taken her daughter hostage. With the delusional Watchers holding her child at gunpoint, the unflappable Abby might be at her breaking point. But the clock is ticking on her daughter’s life.

FBI Special Agent Mackenzie White, six months pregnant, calls off her formal wedding with Ellington and they elope instead. On their honeymoon, they finally have some downtime together - when a call comes in for an urgent case: Women are being strangled at a rapid rate in the D.C. area by what appears to be a serial killer. Even more disturbing: This killer is so meticulous that he leaves absolutely no trace.

Former Seattle homicide cop J. P. Beaumont is learning to enjoy the new realities of retirement - doing morning crossword puzzles by a roaring fireplace; playing Frisbee with his new dog; having quiet lunches with his still-working wife. But then his past comes calling.

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.

For rookie detective constable Fiona Griffiths, her first major investigation promises to be a tough initiation. A young woman and her six-year-old daughter have been found brutally murdered in a squalid flat, the single clue a platinum credit card belonging to a millionaire businessman who died in a plane crash six months before. Fiona, however, has secrets of her own. She is still recovering from a crushing psychological breakdown, and the feelings that haunt her are constantly threatening to undermine the mask of normality she has learned to wear.

In the wake of Barbara’s husband’s death, her 18-year-old daughter Emily has developed a severe addiction to drugs, and Barbara is afraid her son Logan will pursue the same path. In desperation to save her daughter, Barbara enrolls Emily in a rehab program, complete with an intervention agent scheduled to securely escort Emily to the facility. Emily and the agent set off for Georgia, but when the interventionist is murdered in the parking garage of the Atlanta airport and Emily disappears into thin air, Emily becomes the prime suspect.

When small-town police officers discover the grave of a young boy, they’re quick to pin the crime on a convicted criminal who lives nearby. But when it comes to murder, Officer Susan Marlan never trusts a simple explanation, so she’s just getting started. Meanwhile, college professor Eric Evans hallucinates a young boy in overalls: a symptom of his schizophrenia - or so he thinks. But when more bodies turn up, Eric has more visions, and they mirror details of the murder case.

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.

Bella Caruso survived a nightmare of abuse and betrayal. Today, she has dedicated her life to saving other young women from the hell that almost killed her - first as an officer of the law, then by stepping outside the law and into the darkness where true evil dwells. Now, it appears that the darkness has taken her once again. JT Caruso often worries about his sister, given her line of work. This time, when he learns that Bella is working undercover to find a missing girl involved in a dangerous prostitution ring, JT asks FBI Special Agent Lucy Kincaid for help.

A brutal murder in the Lake District. A double assassination in a secret lab in London’s West End. Seemingly unconnected, unexpected links between the gruesome crimes emerge, and it’s up to DI Kelly Porter to follow the trail - all the way to the capital. Back among old colleagues and forced to work alongside her calculating ex, DCI Matt Carter, Kelly must untangle a web of deceit that stretches into the highest echelons of power - a place where secrets and lies are currency and no obstacle is insurmountable.

When a body is discovered, bled dry on a beach, the sleepy seaside town of Weston-super-Mare wakes up to a nightmare. For Detective Inspector Louise Blackwell, recently transferred to the town she last saw as a child, it’s her first case on the job. The victim - Veronica Lloyd, an elderly volunteer at a local church - has puncture wounds to her hands. When a priest is found killed in a nearby church in a similarly grisly condition, it becomes clear that Blackwell is dealing with a righteous and bloody murderer. But the victims aren’t random.

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.

Twenty-seven-year-old Kristi Bentz is lucky to be alive. Not many people her age have nearly died twice at the hands of a serial killer, and lived to tell about it. Her dad, New Orleans detective Rick Bentz, wants Kristi to stay in New Orleans and out of danger. But if anything, Kristi’s experiences have made her even more fascinated by the mind of the serial killer. She hasn’t given up her dream of being a true-crime writer - of exploring the darkest recesses of evil - and now she just may get her chance.

One look at the decomposed and decapitated corpse, stored neatly in plastic bags, tells Temperance Brennan she'll spend the weekend in the crime lab. Something about the crime scene is familiar to Tempe: the stashing of the body parts; the meticulous dismemberment. As a pattern continues to emerge, Tempe calls upon all her forensic skills, including bone, tooth/dental, and bite mark analysis and x-ray microflourescence to convince the police that the cases are related and to try to stop the killer before he strikes again.