The bestselling series hailed as “gripping” (magazine) and “compelling” () returns with Police Chief Kate Burkholder called to the scene of a horrific tragedy on a peaceful Amish farm.The Slabaugh family are model Amish farmers, prosperous and hardworking, with four children and a happy extended family. When the parents and an uncle are found dead in their barn, it appears to be a gruesome accident: methane gas asphyxiation caused by a poorly ventilated cesspit. But in the course of a routine autopsy, the coroner discovers that one of the victims suffered a head wound before death—clearly, foul ...
After nine years as one of Chicago 's finest, Erin McNeal had come to sleepy Logan Falls for a second chance, not to be watched over by a man as infuriatingly overprotective-and disarmingly attractive-as Nick Ryan. She was no damsel in distress, but someone wanted her dead, and Nick knew better than to entrust a guilt-driven daredevil with her own safety. It was his duty to protect her-whether she liked it or not. It seemed the only thing the chief of police and his newest deputy could agree on was the one thing they couldn't resist-each other. Could the cautious single father and the reckless beauty be cops…and lovers?
Becca slogged through a deep drift and stumbled toward the front of the shanty. A padlock hung from the hasp, but it wasn't engaged. Shaking with cold, she shoved open the door. The interior was dark and hushed. The air smelled of kerosene and fish. Out of the wind, it was so quiet she could hear the ice creaking beneath her feet. Her breath puffing out in clouds of white vapour, she pulled out the candle and matches she'd brought from home and lit the wick. The light revealed a small interior with plywood walls and a shelf covered ...
The sound of a scream in the early morning dawn leads to a case that will change Kate Burkholder's life irrevocably ...When the police arrive at the Amish farmstead in Painters Mill they can't imagine the horror that awaits them. An entire family slaughtered: the men shot, the young women tortured and killed. The Amish are peace-loving, gentle folk and the town is shocked by what appears to be a particularly brutal - and random killing. But is it random? Every family has its secrets. Kate knows that better than anyone. And as she and Agent John Tomasetti dig deeper into the victims' lives they discover a young woman who was living a lie. A girl who had to live in silence. With her own past resonating - Kate knows she has to maintain some distance. From the case, and from Tomasetti. She knows what could happen if she gets too close. But when she puts herself in the line of fire - she realizes that, this time, there may be no going back.
Some secrets are too terrible to reveal . . .Some crimes are too unspeakable to solve . . . In the sleepy rural town of Painters Mill, Ohio, the Amish and “English” residents have lived side by side for two centuries. But sixteen years ago, a series of brutal murders shattered the peaceful farming community. In the aftermath of the violence, the town was left with a sense of fragility, a loss of innocence. Kate Burkholder, a young Amish girl, survived the terror of the Slaughterhouse Killer but came away from its brutality with the realization that she no longer belonged with ...