Jewel Austin is a foster mother to dozens, but forms a special bond with five foster girls she welcomed under her roof long ago. Through handwritten letters, Jewel keeps in touch with these women she nurtured to adulthood. Now in her eighties, Jewel's time is short, and her last letter spells out an unusual request. The five women have never met but Jewel's last wish is for them to return to Lavender Valley Farm together, back to the refuge where they once found the love and support they craved.

Amid a fierce snowstorm sweeping across rural Minnesota, an isolated cabin goes up in flames, leaving a critically injured high school drug dealer and a missing girl in its wake. The disappearance propels Sheriff Red Hammergren into action to find the troubled young girl, Missy Klein, the daughter of Junior Klein—the victim of an unsolved cold case years prior.

We had it all—a lake house, two kids, and twenty years of marriage. Except, our marriage was no longer exciting. We scheduled intimacy, ate meals in silence, and became strangers. Our kids went off to college, and we were now empty-nesters, trying to reconnect. But my husband, a psychology professor and thriller novelist, had other plans. Perhaps writing a fictional novel had him living in a false reality? Perhaps he was having a mid-life crisis? He didn't want to reconnect with me; he just wanted to replace me. Worst of all, the girl he was having an affair with was our son's girlfriend.

Eden Mercer, a determined young officer in the fog-shrouded, tight-knit town of Nightfall, Oregon, is haunted by her past in a fundamentalist cult. With her loyal K-9 partner, Shadow, by her side, she’s eager to prove herself in a department dominated by machismo. When a couple stumbles upon a woman’s body in a ritualistic burial deep within the dense, misty forests, Eden is thrust into a chilling mystery. As she delves deeper, disturbing clues and unsettling secrets tied to a local cult emerge.

A lifeless girl slips into the river, cold and crumpled. Her body washes away with the rain. Her killer remains a mystery. Sheriff Elven Hallie has been longing for a new case that would add some excitement to his small-town life. But a dead girl wasn’t what he expected. On the last murder case he worked, he was just a deputy with an experienced Sheriff to guide him and they were looking for an outsider. This time, he’s in charge, and the killer is part of their community.