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Collection of Two: Panic | Departed by Nick Stephenson
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Already Gone (A Detective McDaniel Thriller Book 4)
Axel Blackwell - 2021
It's a tense arrangement not helped by Jayda’s drug use and her new boyfriend’s frequent visits. One Friday night, an argument turns physical and the tensions boil over into bloodshed.The following morning, a neighbor finds the front door ajar, the house trashed, and a puddle of blood soaking into the bedroom carpet. Detective Darren McDaniel and his partner, Brent Vanderwyk, quickly determine it’s a case of domestic violence turned deadly. But both Levi and Jayda are missing – as is the little girl.As the detectives plunge into the hunt for a suspect, a body and a missing toddler, the case becomes increasingly bizarre. The couple have ties to money laundering, drug trafficking, organized crime, and even darker secrets. As much as Levi and Jayda hated each other, plenty of other people had reason to want either or both of them dead.With their suspect list steadily growing, and the missing toddler’s time slipping away, McDaniel and Vanderwyk race against the clock, piecing the puzzle together, hoping to save little Cami before her time runs out.
Eagle Security
Kenna Coulby - 2018
To this day, her brothers, Jason and Brandon, and two cousins, Zach and Tyler have never stopped looking. The Fierce Four, as the town’s residence have come to call them, went so far as to open their own private security firm—Eagle—in the name of figuring out what happened to Annabelle. It’s a good thing, too, because ever since the girl’s disappearance, Mystic Springs has been plagued with cases of kidnapping, missing persons, and stalking—it would seem this town is in high need of protection. JASON When a woman by the name of Rebecca Sauder spills into private security agent, Jason Braun’s office with grave concerns for her life—she’s being stalked but can’t prove it, the threats in the air feel like cold hands tightening around her throat, but the police won’t help—everything Jason thought he knew about Mystic Springs—and falling in love—is quickly turned on its head. Not only is Rebecca being stalked to a life-threatening extent, but her aggressor holds the key that will unlock the first clue as to what happened to Annabelle Braun all those years ago. BRANDON When a brand-new client, a quiet mysterious woman by the name of Molly Jaspers hires Eagle Security—and Brandon specifically—he soon realizes he might not want to be a loner forever. Molly is far too enchanting, and the reason she’s come to his private security firm, too intriguing. Her sister was killed in a car crash that Molly knows was no accident. And the twist that keeps her up at night? It was Molly’s own car that her sister was driving. ZACH Agent Zach Winter spent his senior year of high school in love with the girl next door—stunning, French transfer student, Sophia Rothschild. It was never more than that, admiration from afar, despite their mutual attraction. Sophia chose the captain of the football team instead and got married quickly after graduation, but she never left Zach’s thoughts. When Sophia shows up at his private security firm, having been framed for the murder of her late husband, Zach finds the old flame that used to burn in his heart for her is reignited. TYLER Brittany Masterson comes with a dark past, one she’s working hard to forget. Beautiful and slender, with an edge of sorrow radiating from her alluring blue eyes, she’s built her life around her precious daughter, Ella, and is determined to find happiness in Mystic Springs. The bedrock of her effort is a promise she made to herself to never again become involved with a man. But that promise is quickly shattered when she has no choice but to accept the help of the very sexy bodyguard Tyler after young Ella goes missing. JESSICA Adam Walsh has big dreams. Born and raised in the backwoods of Alaska, he’s held his long-term goal of opening a cabin building company in the forefront of his mind. But money has never been easy to come by. Scrimping and saving, for the past three years he’s been moonlighting as an exotic dancer in Anchorage’s premiere male strip club. He’s got the body and the moves, but does he have what it takes to win the heart of a woman like Jessica when he hires her for protection against a stalker who has been targeting a number of the Beefcake dancers?
Murder Goes to Church
C.D. Jarmola - 2011
Kool-Aid and kids. Will the stains on the carpet ever come out? Is it contagious? But the most desperate thought churning through Chrissy Chronister’s mind was a hysterical mantra of “Please, don’t die. Please, don’t die. Please, don’t die.” But she did anyway.When Chrissy Chronister agrees to help in her small community church’s vacation Bible school she knows that it will be a hectic week of making crafts, telling stories and singing songs. However, she never expects it to land her in the middle of a murder investigation with her friends, fellow church members and possibly even herself being the prime suspects.Chrissy is a spunky, petite blonde (all adjectives she hates) mother of eleven-month-old, Lukas, along with her husband, Luke, living in south Georgia.As the newest church member Chrissy is stuck with the team teacher from hell, Ramona Snyder, a self-centered thorn in the flesh at United Community Church. However, she also is the richest woman around and her tithe is all that keeps the church solvent.The theme for the week is “God’s Beautiful World,” emphasizing saving our ecology. Thus, everyone has his/her own labeled eco-cup to be used each day during snack time. Day one Chrissy is already hearing Ramona making threats that she will be withholding her money from family members and causes if things do not change to her specifications.By the end of the second day Chrissy is holding a dying Ramona in her arms.The evidence shows that Ramona’s eco-cup has been poisoned. The only people with access are fellow members of UCC including Bro. Michael, the pastor accused of embezzling, his wife Melanie, John, whose farm Ramona foreclosed on, his pregnant teenage daughter Peggy, who Ramona disdained, Scott the youth minister, who Ramona had accused of having inappropriate relations, Emilie Anne the church secretary, Deacon Melvin, Ramona’s own children, Suzanne and Rick, and her husband Max.Chrissy is unwillingly drawn into the investigation. She tries to distance herself, but motherhood forces her back where she unintentionally finds clues through the help of her mischievous son. Due to Lukas’ baby monitor, blankie, tipping over trash cans, getting into ladies’ purses, crawling places he shouldn’t and destroying the story of Abraham and Isaac from his storybook, Chrissy finds skeletons that her fellow parishioners thought were deeply buried.Will Chrissy and baby Lukas solve the crime before the uncovered secrets tear their little church apart?