Showing results by author "Carolyn Arnold" in All Categories

When champion figure skater Michaela Glover returns to her hometown of Woodbridge for a special performance, Detective Amanda Steele is part of the cheering crowds. But when Michaela is discovered dead in her dressing room after the show, Amanda is the first to investigate the shocking scene. There is no sign of foul play, and the room is overflowing with flowers from Michaela’s adoring fans. But Amanda’s heart stops at the sight of a few roses tied with black ribbon and a note that reads “You’ll be sorry”.

Called to a residential property after the discovery of a pregnant young woman in a shallow grave, Detective Madison Knight arrives to find a perplexing crime scene. It looks like suicide, but the dead don’t bury themselves. The victim is soon identified as Lacy Rose, and it appears she was working to turn her life around, but Madison thinks clues to her death may lie in the shadows of her dark past.

When a young man washes up on the shore of the Bradshaw River, Detective Madison Knight and her partner are called in to investigate. But the case takes a complicated turn when he’s identified as the son of local business tycoon Marcus Randall. As one of the wealthiest and most influential men in the city, he has a lot of connections, and one of them just happens to be the police chief. Stuck between the chief and one of the most powerful men in the city of Stiles isn’t the ideal place to be, but Madison has no choice but to risk it all - if justice is to be served.

When hikers find the body of a beautiful, young girl, on the banks of the Potomac River, Detective Amanda Steele is shaken and confused. What is the significance of the delicate flower resting on the girl’s torso? A sign of affection, or a twisted killer’s calling card? A long night hunting through cold cases gives her a possible lead: Twenty years ago, another local girl was murdered, with a red rose left on her body. Focused on the past, the last thing Amanda expects is the news that another girl has been found dead, another black orchid left behind.

When a dog walker in a local Virginia park finds the bodies of a mother and daughter, Detective Amanda Steele is first on the scene. Her own daughter has a toy just like the girl’s elephant and seeing the child like this is her worst nightmare come true. Heartbroken, she vows to get justice.

Her breath hitches, and her stomach lurches, tossing up bile into the back of her throat. The man holds the revolver to her head and says, “Let’s play a little game”. She closes her eyes with each pull of the trigger, almost praying for a bullet. They told her if the gun doesn’t kill her, they’d take their time...The recent murder of a defense attorney has Detective Madison Knight fueled to find justice for him and a lawyer who was killed eight years ago. She’d never solved that crime, but she’s always had a strong suspicion who was behind the murder.

It’s been five years since Detective Amanda Steele’s life was derailed by the tragic death of her young daughter. The small community of Dumfries, Virginia, may have moved on, but Amanda cannot. When the man who killed Lindsey is found murdered, she can’t keep away from the case.

When Detective Amanda Steele unexpectedly reconnects with an old boyfriend, the last thing she expects to see lying on his bed is the dead body of his wife, Claire, who walked out on him four years ago. Logan begs Amanda to believe he’s innocent. But she doesn’t miss the gun on a nearby table, and she’s torn when forensics reveal that not only was this the murder weapon, but Logan’s fingerprints are all over it.... Could he have been framed? Or is he using his connection to Amanda to get away with murder?

Detective Madison Knight is called to investigate the murder of a man who was stabbed multiple times and found in his home. Madison arrives on scene, but it isn’t the bloody mess that shakes her—it’s the victim’s identity. His name was Jimmy Bates, and he’s the man who killed her grandfather. When a woman—also connected with the mob—turns up murdered, a picture starts forming for Madison. If she’s right about why Jimmy and the woman were targeted, there’s something very dark and sinister going on in her city, and it puts Madison squarely in a killer’s crosshairs.

When firefighters discover the body of a teenage girl at an abandoned house, Detective Amanda Steele hurries to the scene. Dumfries, Virginia, is a small town, yet no one seems to have any idea who the dead girl is, until Amanda finds a dragonfly pin with the name Crystal engraved on it. Working tirelessly, Amanda traces the pin to Crystal Foster, a 13-year-old who disappeared three years ago from her wealthy parents’ home. Breaking the news to the distraught parents won’t be easy, but the loss of her own daughter still haunts Amanda, and she knows this will bring them closure.

She wakes surrounded by an inky black darkness and can barely breathe. A sack is covering her head, and her hands are tied behind her back. She desperately tries to struggle free as she hears footsteps walking toward her. She silently starts to cry as a chilling voice whispers “It’s time to pay for what you did…”

When beautiful wife and mother Alicia Gordon is found dead in a remote woodland cabin, Detective Amanda Steele is shocked to discover that she knows the husband. Amanda hasn’t spoken to Tony since she lost the love of her own life seven years ago, and seeing tragedy tearing her old friend’s family apart brings back so many painful memories. Alicia was alone when she died, but she was so young, and Amanda can’t help feeling suspicious. Then she discovers that Alicia’s sleep medication had been tampered with, slowly poisoning her over several days.

Detective Madison Knight thought a midnight drive through the countryside would help clear her mind, but she thought wrong. Her car runs out of gas, stranding her in the middle of nowhere in pitch darkness. When she gets out to stretch her legs, the beam of her phone’s flashlight lands on a suitcase in the ditch. After she opens it, she’s sorry she did.

Detective Madison Knight shows up at the local train station in the aftermath of a fatal shooting, and finds two women killed on scene. One was expecting her first child. The other was a wife and mother of two children and has Madison seeing a ghost from her past. She’s convinced the woman is her missing college friend, but why would she change her identity? And where has she been all this time?

When a 68-year-old woman is found dead outside the hospital in a wheelchair with an anti-abortion sign strapped to its back, Detective Madison Knight expects it to be an open-and-shut case. On the surface, there are no signs of foul play, but the deeper she digs, the suspicious death turns into a homicide. Just as the victim is identified as Faye Duncan, two more bodies turn up - Faye’s niece and a homeless man.

Joni Weir kissed her husband good-bye just that morning, but she never figured it would be the last time she’d see him alive. When the news hits that Officer Barry Weir was shot and killed in the line of duty, Detective Madison Knight and every cop in Stiles is itching for revenge. With evidence pointing to a drive-by shooting, the investigation takes Madison into the seedy underbelly of the city in the search for justice. But as she digs, the evidence only becomes more puzzling.

A woman is found strangled in her bed, and Detective Madison Knight doesn’t think it’s anything more than an isolated incident. But when another woman’s body is discovered in a park, killed with the same brand of neckties, she can’t ignore the similarities between the two murders. Still, it’s not until a third victim surfaces that Madison really starts to fear the worst: The city of Stiles just may have a serial killer.

When human remains are discovered behind a dumpster in Woodbridge, Virginia, Detective Amanda Steele rushes to the scene. Her heart drops when she arrives and is hit by the unmistakable stench of gasoline. Soon, her worst fear is confirmed: the victim was burned alive. With only an engraved gold wedding band surviving the blaze, Amanda knows it could be days before they have a confirmed ID. But when her partner Detective Trent Stenson arrives, he pales at the sight of the ring, recognizing it as belonging to his Aunt Gertrude’s husband, Don.

When Brandon Fisher joined the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit, he knew he’d come up against psychopaths, sociopaths, pathological liars, and more. But when his first case takes him and the team to Salt Lick, Kentucky, to hunt down a ritualistic serial killer, he learns what nightmares are truly made of. Beneath a residential property, local law enforcement discovered an underground bunker with circular graves that house the remains of 10 victims.

When the bodies of a local family are discovered on a quiet street in the small town of Dumfries, Virginia, Detective Amanda Steele takes charge of the case. Brett and Angela Parker were shot three times each, leaving no hope of survival, and their tidy suburban home has been ransacked. But there is no sign of their beloved six-year-old, Zoe.