Showing results by author "Mariah Stewart" in All Categories

Special agent Mia Shields thinks she's seen it all. But nothing prepares her for the terror that descends upon the idyllic bayside community of St. Dennis, Maryland, where a depraved killer has left a grisly surprise for Chief of Police Gabriel Beck: the body of an unidentified woman, naked and completely encased in plastic wrap, stretched across the back seat of Beck's car. Hidden in the wrapping is a tape recording of the victim's last, gasping words. Soon the body count begins to rise as more victims are found, all gruesomely cocooned, their final pleas also captured on tape.

News that the body of a recently murdered prostitute—stabbed repeatedly and dumped on Georgia's Shelter Island—has been identified as Shannon Randall stuns the FBI, particularly special agent Dorsey Collins. Twenty-four years ago, nineteen-year-old Eric Louis Beale was convicted and later executed for Shannon's murder—and the agent in charge of the case was Dorsey's father. Now Dorsey is determined to find out where her father's investigation went wrong, what part he played in the death of an innocent man, and where Shannon has been all this time.

A skilled compositor for the FBI, Kendra Smith has a way with witnesses, helping them to remember crucial details about their attackers they might otherwise have forgotten. She believes her work helps to provide closure for the victims and their families—closure that has eluded her for the eleven years since her brother was kidnapped, his body never found. Determined to put her painful past behind her, Kendra throws herself into every case one hundred percent. Now she is called in to sketch the face of a man the press is calling the Soccer Mom Killer.

Dina McDermott is on top of the world. Attractive and independent at 30, she runs her own business, funded by a generous inheritance. But an explosive chain of events will soon be set into motion—and her perfect life will spin out of control. A journalist with a fearless instinct, Simon Keller believes he’s struck gold when he unearths an unsettling story about former president Graham Hayward, one that started with a secret affair and ended in tragedy. The trail leads Simon to Dina McDermott’s front door—and threatens to expose a parentage that would rock the political world.

After 15 years of marriage and seven children, British singer-songwriter J. D. Borders and his American wife, Maggie, were an idyllic superstar couple. They were destined to be together, forever…until the morning Maggie walked into their London hotel suite and found J. D. with another woman. Now as they face one last public interview, J. D. must risk exposing their darkest secrets - on national television - in order to win Maggie back.

Georgia Enright has dedicated her life to dance. But at age 26, her hopes of becoming a lead dancer are dashed. So she ventures to Pumpkin Hill, an old farm owned by her newly found half sister, Laura Bishop, to contemplate her future. There, discovering an affinity for country life - and a barn just perfect for giving dance lessons - Georgia enjoys an oasis of peace…until Matthew Bishop arrives.

Twenty-eight, single, and struggling to keep her little shop of handicrafts afloat, Zoey Enright is pleasantly surprised when a knockout audition for a home-shopping network lands her an impressive job as an on-air saleswoman. Little does she know, Delaney O’Connor, the company’s CEO, is bringing his only grandson and the hero of Zoey’s childhood, Ben Pierce, home from Europe to run the network. Ben’s one true passion was Grand Prix racing - until he laid eyes on Zoey again, all grown up and more beautiful than ever. But he also must face his haunted past....

A fashion magazine features editor, Leah McDevitt is haunted by the memory of her cherished younger sister, Melissa, who vanished years ago. Missy, whose extraordinary eyes - one blue, one brown - may have lured her abductor to her. When Leah receives a letter from death-row inmate Raymond Lambert, she eagerly agrees to pay him the long-standing reward for information about Melissa - even if it means coming face-to-face with a notorious serial killer. But before Lambert can impart his secrets, he himself is killed.

Athena Moran is well known as the young widow of a police officer slain in the line of duty and as the daughter of a beloved former city councilman. But when she meets Quentin Forbes, a tough newspaper reporter, emotions that she believed died along with her husband start to stir again. Then she is asked to run for mayor, and the political contest that follows will test her newfound feelings to the breaking point, teaching her that things are not always as they appear and that much of what she has believed is more smoke than substance.

Architect Cassidy Logan has sworn off good-looking adventurers. Newly divorced, she's focused on building ecologically friendly, historically accurate homes on the Chesapeake Bay for her father's construction company. Traveling to Cannonball Island - where there has been no new construction in nearly 100 years - Cass is sensitive to the heritage of the island and has come up with plans so perfect she's determined to buy a home for herself.

As Dr. Daria McGowan readies an important project, she finds that many of the pieces her great-grandfather unearthed a century earlier have vanished. Panicked, she turns to the FBI. Connor Shields is more than happy to accept the assignment: he's had Daria on his mind for over two years. Daria and Connor soon discover a trail of bodies - collectors who have met brutal ends at the hands of a killer whose methods are based on the rituals of an ancient civilization.

Carly Summit grew up wealthy and privileged in a tiny Connecticut town, opened her own gallery in New York City, and is about to make art world history displaying previously unknown works by a prominent 20th-century painter. No wonder she possesses a can-do attitude that can't be soured. Ford Sinclair is another story. A military career in war-torn Africa, where he witnessed unspeakable violence and suffering, has left him haunted and deeply cynical. Now he's looking for a way to forget and a place to belong.

As the only child of a wealthy investment manager, Ellie Chapman has never known anything other than a life of perfect privilege. But her years of good fortune come to an abrupt end when her father is exposed for swindling billions of dollars from innocent investors in a massive Ponzi scheme. And just like that, Ellie loses everything: money, job, home - even her fiancé, who's jailed as her father's partner in crime. With no job prospects on the horizon, no cash, and her family name in tatters, Ellie has only one place to go.

Some of Lucy Sinclair's best days were those spent growing up in small town St. Dennis - working at the family inn and enjoying summers filled with swimming, sailing, tennis, and the company of Clay Madison, her best friend. But Lucy's darkest day, the one that shattered her innocence with violence and fear, also happened in St. Dennis. And the town she once loved became the place she gladly left behind-along with the terrible secret she's kept for 20 years

A beautiful co-ed mysteriously disappears from her sorority house, and the Mercy Street Foundation is summoned to find her -- the first investigation for a brilliant crime scene analyst and a first forensic psychologist.

Up-and-coming artist Lisbeth Parker finally has a chance to show the folks back home what it means to leave Cannonball Island and make something of yourself. As a native whose stubborn father forbade her from befriending townies, Lis always felt like an outsider in St. Dennis. So while her work is on display in the local art gallery, she records her ailing centenarian great-grandmother's stories of the island's rich history and spearheads a fight for its survival.

Jamie Valentine is the wildly successful author of self-help books advocating transparency in every relationship. But when her widowed mother passes away unexpectedly, Jamie discovers that her own life has been based on a lie. Angry and deeply betrayed, she sets out to find the truth - which may be in a small town on the Chesapeake Bay.

Dallas MacGregor is living the Hollywood dream. At thirtysomething, she's an award-winning actress beloved by the public and bound for even bigger success. But when her soon-to-be-ex-husband, producer Emilio Baird, is caught in a sex scandal, Dallas's charmed life turns tabloid nightmare. Determined to shield her young son, Cody, from the ugly uproar, Dallas seeks refuge in sleepy St. Dennis, Maryland-the Chesapeake Bay town where her happiest childhood days were spent.

When she was young, Steffie Wyler always knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life: 1. Make ice cream. 2. Marry the coolest boy in town. 3. Live happily ever after. These days, Steffie is the proud owner of One Scoop or Two, a wildly popular ice cream parlor. But the cool guy left town right after high school, before they could scratch the surface of their mutual attraction to see what, if anything, lay beneath.

Life was always just about perfect for Brooke Madison Bowers. She was the prettiest, most popular girl in small-town St. Dennis, Maryland. She was prom queen, a local pageant star, and the pride and joy of her loving parents. She even married the man of her dreams. But the promise of happily ever after fell to pieces when her husband was killed while serving in Iraq. Brokenhearted and longing for the solace of better days, she returns to the idyllic world of St. Dennis, and the familiar comfort of the family farm.