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List: 2025 Book Bingo: Eerie Events
And Then She Fell
"From the bestselling author of A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, a fierce, gripping novel about Native life, motherhood and mental health that follows a young Mohawk woman who discovers that the picture-perfect life she always hoped for may have horrifying consequences. On the surface, Alice is exactly where she should be in life: she's just given birth to a beautiful baby girl, Dawn; her ever-charming husband Steve--a white academic whose area of study is conveniently her own Mohawk culture--is nothing but supportive; and they've just moved into a new home in a wealthy neighbourhood in Toronto, a generous gift from her in-laws. But Alice could not feel like more of an imposter. She isn't connecting with Dawn, a struggle made even more difficult by the recent loss of her own mother, and every waking moment is spent hiding her despair from Steve and their picture-perfect neighbours, amongst whom she's the sole Indigenous resident. Even when she does have a moment to herself, her perpetual self-doubt hinders the one vestige of her old life she has left: her goal of writing a modern retelling of the Haudenosaunee creation story. At first, Alice is convinced her discomfort is of her own making. She has gotten everything she always dreamed of, after all. But then strange things start happening. She finds herself losing bits of time, hearing voices she can't explain, and speaking with things that should not be talking back to her, all while her neighbours' passive aggression begins to morph into something far more threatening. Though Steve urges her this is all in her head, Alice cannot fight the feeling that something is very, very wrong, and that in her creation story lies the key to her, and Dawn's, survival. . . . She just has to finish it before it's too late. Told in Alice's raw and darkly funny voice, And Then She Fell is an urgent and unflinching look at inherited trauma, womanhood, denial and false allyship, that speeds to an unpredictable--and unforgettable--climax"-- Provided by publisher.
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The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco
"The granddaughter of a serial killer shows readers another side of the beloved city. The chill of a San Francisco summer can be deadly. No one knows this better than Capri Sanzio, who makes her living giving serial killer tours of the city. Capri has been interested in the topic since she was a kid, when she discovered she's the granddaughter of serial killer, William 'Overkill Bill' Sanzio. She's always believed in his innocence, though she's never taken the leap to fully dive into the case. But now an Overkill Bill copycat has struck in San Francisco. And Capri's former mother-in-law, Sylvia, just cut off Capri's daughter's tuition payments. Needing cash, Capri wonders if this is the time to exonerate her grandfather. The case is back in the news and the police will be looking to understand the past to catch a present-day killer. Capri could finally uncover the truth about Overkill Bill--documenting the process with a podcast and a book--and hopefully earn some money. Before Capri can get very far, the cops discover the copycat's latest victim: Sylvia. Capri soon finds herself at the heart of the police's investigation for an entirely different reason. She and her daughter are prime suspects"-- Provided by publisher.
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Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees
"This is small-town serial killer, upstanding citizen, and adorable brown bear Samantha Strong's cardinal rule. After all, there's a sea of perfectly ripe potential victims in the big city just beyond the forest, and when you've worked as hard as Sam to build a cozy life and a thriving business in a community surrounded by friendly fellow animal folk, warm decor, and the aroma of cedar trees and freshly baked apple pie... the last thing you want is to disturb the peace. So you can imagine her indignation when one of Woodbrook's own meets a grisly, mysterious demise--and you wouldn't blame her for doing anything it takes to hunt down her rival before the town self-destructs and Sheriff Patterson starts (literally) barking up the wrong tree. Cute critters aren't immune to crime in this original graphic novel debut by writer-artist Patrick Horvath"-- Provided by publisher.
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The Bog Wife
"Since time immemorial, the Haddesley family has tended the cranberry bog. In exchange, the bog sustains them. The staunch seasons of their lives are governed by a strict covenant that is renewed each generation with the ritual sacrifice of their patriarch, and in return, the bog produces a "bog-wife." Brought to life from vegetation, this woman is meant to carry on the family line. But when the bog fails--or refuses--to honor the bargain, the Haddesleys, a group of discordant siblings still grieving the mother who mysteriously disappeared years earlier, face an unknown future. Middle child Wenna, summoned back to the dilapidated family manor just as her marriage is collapsing, believes the Haddesleys must abandon their patrimony. Her siblings are not so easily persuaded. Eldest daughter Eda, de facto head of the household, seeks to salvage the compact by desecrating it. Younger son Percy retreats into the wilderness in a dangerous bid to summon his own bog-wife. And as youngest daughter Nora takes desperate measures to keep her warring siblings together, fledgling patriarch Charlie uncovers a disturbing secret that casts doubt over everything the family has ever believed about itself"-- Provided by publisher.
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Bright Young Women
"The book opens on a Saturday night in 1978, hours before a soon-to-be-infamous murderer descends upon a Florida sorority house with deadly results. The lives of those who survive, including sorority president and key witness, Pamela Schumacher, are forever changed. Across the country, Tina Cannon is convinced her missing friend was targeted by the man papers refer to as the All-American Sex Killer--and that he's struck again. Determined to find justice, the two join forces as their search for answers leads to a final, shocking confrontation"-- Provided by publisher.
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Bury Your Gays
"Misha knows that chasing success in Hollywood can be hell. But finally, after years of trying to make it, his big moment is here: an Oscar nomination. And the executives at the studio for his long-running streaming series know just the thing to kick his career to the next level: kill off the gay characters, 'for the algorithm,' in the upcoming season finale. He refuses but soon realizes that he's just put a target on his back. And what's worse, monsters from his horror movie days are stalking him and his friends through the hills above Los Angeles. Haunted by his past, Misha must risk his entire future--before the silver screen horrors find a way to bury him for good"-- Provided by publisher.
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Deadly Animals
"Fourteen-year-old Ava Bonney is unlike other children. She has an obsessive interest in the rate at which dead animals decompose. The motorway she lives by regularly offers up roadkill, and in the dead of night, Ava likes nothing more than to pull her latest discovery into her roadside den and record her findings. One night, she stumbles across the body of her classmate Mickey Grant, and fearing that her secret ritual could be revealed, she makes an anonymous call to the police. When Detective Seth Delahaye is given the case, Ava won't step back - not when teenagers in her sleepy South Birmingham town are going missing. How hard can it be to track a killer? Marie Tierney's debut, Deadly Animals, is a beautiful novel about a small community's descent into devastation and desperation - and the bravery of youth in the face of darkness"-- Provided by publisher.
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Diavola
Anna has two rules for the annual Pace family destination vacations: Tread lightly and survive. It isn't easy when she's the only one in the family who doesn't quite fit in. Her twin brother, Benny, goes with the flow so much he's practically dissolved, and her older sister, Nicole, is so used to everyone--including her blandly docile husband and two kids--falling in line that Anna often ends up in trouble for simply asking a question. Mom seizes every opportunity to question her life choices, and Dad, when not reminding everyone who paid for this vacation, just wants some peace and quiet. The gorgeous, remote villa in tiny Monteperso seems like a perfect place to endure so much family togetherness, until things start going off the rails--the strange noises at night, the unsettling warnings from the local villagers, and the dark, violent past of the villa itself. (Warning: May invoke feelings of irritation, dread, and despair that come with large family gatherings.)
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The Forever Witness
"After 30 years, Detective Jim Scharf arrested a teenage couple's murderer--and exposed a looming battle between the pursuit of justice and the right to privacy ... When Detective Jim Scharf decided to send the cold case's decades-old DNA to Parabon NanoLabs, he hoped he would bring closure to the Van Cuylenborg and Cook families. He didn't know that he and Moore would make history. Anyone can submit a saliva sample to learn about their ancestry. But what happens after the results of these tests are uploaded to the internet? As lawyers, policymakers, and police officers fight over questions of consent and privacy, the implications of Scharf's case become ever clearer. Approximately 250,000 murders in the United States remain unsolved today. We have the tools to catch many of these killers--but what is the cost?"-- Provided by publisher.
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A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer
"Kathy Valence is forty-two, mid-divorce, and pregnant with her ex's baby. She's also a modern-day grim reaper employed by S.C.Y.T.H.E. (Secure Collection, Yielding, and Transportation of Human Essences) but frankly that's the easiest part of her life right now. Or at least it was, until one of her clients' souls went missing. When she finally tracks down seventeen-year-old Conner Ortiz, he angrily denies he died of natural causes, despite what his file says. He's certain that someone at S.C.Y.T.H.E. took his life instead of his soul, and he pressures Kathy to find out who and why. With only forty-five days to figure out what happened to Conner and help him move on, Kathy is forced to rely on the help of her retired mentor, her almost ex-husband, and even Conner himself before the boy's soul becomes stuck on Earth as a ghost forever. But one wrong move could cost Kathy her job, not to mention her life"-- Provided by publisher.
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Haunt Sweet Home
"When aimless twentysomething Mara lands a job as the night-shift production assistant on her cousin's ghost-hunting/home-makeover reality TV show Haunt Sweet Home, she quickly determines her new role will require a healthy attitude toward duplicity. But as she hides fog machines in the woods and improvises scares to spook new homeowners, a series of unnerving incidents on set and a creepy new coworker force Mara to confront whether the person she's truly been deceiving and hiding from all along...is herself. Eerie and empathetic, Haunt Sweet Home is a multifaceted, supernatural exploration of finding your own way into adulthood, and into yourself"-- Dust jacket flap.
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The Hitchcock Hotel
"Alfred Smettle is not your average Hitchcock fan. He is the founder, owner, and manager of the Hitchcock Hotel, a sprawling Victorian house in the White Mountains dedicated to the Master of Suspense. There, Alfred offers his guests round-the-clock film screenings, movie props and memorabilia in every room, plus an aviary with fifty crows. To celebrate the hotel's first anniversary, he invites his former best friends from his college film club for a reunion. He hasn't spoken to any of them in sixteen years, not after what happened. But who better than they to appreciate Alfred's creation? And to help him finish it. After all, no Hitchcock set is complete without a body"-- Dust jacket flap.
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How to Sell a Haunted House
"Louise's parents have passed away, and she's returning to the small Southern town where she grew up to get their house ready to sell. It means she'll have to spend time with her younger brother--and their old grudges make that a terrifying prospect. But childhood hurts pale in comparison to the dangers posed by what still lives inside the house"-- Provided by publisher.
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Indian Burial Ground
"A man lunges in front of a car. An elderly woman silently drowns herself. A corpse sits up in its coffin and speaks. On this reservation, not all is what it seems ... All Noemi Broussard wanted was a fresh start. With a new boyfriend who actually treats her right and a plan to move from the reservation she grew up on--just like her beloved Uncle Louie before her--things are finally looking up for Noemi. Until the news of her boyfriend's apparent suicide brings her world crumbling down. But the facts about Roddy's death just don't add up, and Noemi isn't the only one who suspects that something menacing might be lurking within their tribal lands. After over a decade away, Uncle Louie has returned to the reservation, bringing with him a past full of secrets, horror, and what might be the key to determining Roddy's true cause of death. Together, Noemi and Louie set out to find answers...but as they get closer to the truth, Noemi begins to wonder whether it might be best for some secrets to remain buried"-- Provided by publisher.
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Lone Women
"Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It's locked at all times. Because when the trunk is opened, people around her start to disappear... The year is 1914, and Adelaide is in trouble. Her secret sin killed her parents, and forced her to flee her hometown of Redondo, California, in a hellfire rush, ready to make her way to Montana as a homesteader. Dragging the trunk with her at every stop, she will be one of the "lone women" taking advantage of the government's offer of free land for those who can cultivate it-except that Adelaide isn't alone. And the secret she's tried so desperately to lock away might be the only thing keeping her alive"-- Provided by publisher.
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Model Home
"The Maxwell siblings return to their childhood home in the Dallas suburbs after the shocking news of their parents' death. They return to find the house, and the family itself, haunted by strange, inexplicable terrors"-- Provided by publisher.
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Murder Road
"July 1995. April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They're looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to be a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the woman gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them. When the hitchhiker dies at the local hospital, April and Eddie find themselves in the crosshairs of the Coldlake Falls police. Unexplained murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years, and the cops finally have two witnesses who easily become their only suspects. As April and Eddie start to dig into the history of the town--and that horrible stretch of road--to clear their names, they soon learn that there is something supernatural at work, something that could not only tear the town and its dark secrets apart, but take April and Eddie down with it all"-- Dust jacket flap.
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The Night Guest
"Hildur Knútsdóttir's The Night Guest is an eerie and ensnaring story set in contemporary Reykjavík that's sure to keep you awake at night. Iðunn is in yet another doctor's office. She knows her constant fatigue is a sign that something's not right, but practitioners dismiss her symptoms and blood tests haven't revealed any cause. When she talks to friends and family about it, the refrain is the same--have you tried eating better? Exercising more? Establishing a nighttime routine? She tries to follow their advice, buying everything from vitamins to sleeping pills to a step-counting watch. Nothing helps. Until one night Iðunn falls asleep with the watch on, and wakes up to find she's walked over 40,000 steps in the night ... What is happening when she's asleep? Why is she waking up with increasingly disturbing injuries? And why won't anyone believe her?"-- Provided by publisher.
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Nightwatching
"A razor-sharp thriller about a mother forced to the breaking point when her life and the lives of her children are threatened by a stranger"-- Provided by publisher.
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Rabbit Hole
"Ten years ago, Theodora "Teddy" Angstrom's older sister, Angie, disappeared. Her case remains unsolved. Now - on the anniversary of Angie's disappearance - Teddy's father, Mark, has killed himself. Unbeknownst to Mark's family, he had been actively investigating conspiracy theories sourced from a Reddit community of true crime fans fixated on Angie, and Teddy soon finds herself falling down that same rabbit hole. After all, if hope dies last, Angie could still be alive. Teddy's burgeoning investigation quickly gets her in hot water with everyone from her frustrated colleagues at the pretentious high school where she teaches English to her middle-aged gun nut boyfriend and her long-lost half-brother. Further complicating matters is Teddy's growing obsession with Mickey, a charming amateur sleuth from Reddit who is eerily keen on helping Teddy solve the case. Bewitched by Mickey, Teddy begins losing her grip on morality. As she struggles to reconcile new information with old memories, her erratic behavior reaches a fever pitch, but she won't stop until she finds Angie--or destroys herself in the process"-- Provided by publisher.
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The Reformatory
In the Jim Crow South, twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., who can see ghosts, is sent to The Reformatory where boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, while his sister Gloria rallies everyone in Florida to get him out before it's too late.
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Searching for Savanna
"In the summer of 2017, twenty-two-year-old Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind vanished. A week after she disappeared, police arrested the white couple who lived upstairs from Savanna and emerged from their apartment carrying an infant girl. The baby was Savanna's, but Savanna's body would not be found for days. The horrifying crime sent shock waves far beyond Fargo, North Dakota, where it occurred, and helped expose the sexual and physical violence Native American women and girls have endured since the country's colonization. With pathos and compassion, Searching for Savanna confronts this history of dehumanization toward Indigenous women and the government's complicity in the crisis. Featuring in-depth interviews, personal accounts, and trial analysis, Searching for Savanna investigates these injustices and the decades-long struggle by Native American advocates for meaningful change"-- Amazon.com.
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The September House
"You can survive anything. That's what Margaret tells herself when the walls of her house start to drip blood every September. She's learned how to live with it... and the other terrifying apparitions that have made the sprawling Victorian house she and her husband bought four years ago turn from a dream home into a living nightmare. But she can outlast all of it. Hal felt differently, though. Her husband couldn't take the hauntings anymore, and he left. But now he's not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine arrives, intent on looking for her missing father, convinced something grim has happened to him. With every desperate attempt Katherine makes at finding Hal, the hauntings at the September House grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep"-- Provided by publisher.
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Someone You Can Build a Nest In
"Shesheshen has made a mistake fatal to all monsters: she's fallen in love. Shesheshen is a shapeshifter who happily resides as an amorphous lump in the swamp of a ruined manor. When her rest is interrupted by impolite monster hunters, she constructs a body fit for devouring by reabsorbing the remains of past meals: a metal chain for a backbone, borrowed bones for limbs, and a bear trap as an extra mouth. After one incident goes badly, Shesheshen's nursed back to health by Homily, a warm-hearted human, who has mistaken Shesheshen for a fellow human. Homily would make an excellent co-parent: an ideal place to lay Shesheshen's eggs so their young could devour Homily from the inside out. But as they grow close, she realizes humans don't think about love that way. Shesheshen is about to confes her identity when Homily reveals that she's hunting a shapeshifting monster who supposedly cursed her family. Eating her girlfriend isn't an option. Shesheshen didn't curse anyone, but to give herself and Homily a chance at happiness, she must discover why Homily's twisted family thinks she did. And the bigger challenge remains: surviving her toxic in-laws long enough to learn to build a life with, rather than in, the love of her life"-- Dust jacket flap.
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Somna
"Set amidst the terrifying backdrop of the witch hunts in a quiet 1600s English village, SOMNA follows one woman's descent into an erotic escape from the confines of her puritanical world. Ingrid is unhappily married to Roland, the town's bailiff and chief witch hunter, who is on a single-minded quest to purge the 'heretics' in their midst. After a prominent town leader is found murdered, accusations fly and no one is above reproach from Roland's deadly crusade. Ingrid has her suspicions about who the real murderer is, but even as she pursues the truth, she's pursued herself by a shadowy figure. Ingrid finds that she's drawn to the foreboding phantom in ways she can't resist- does this dark and tempting stranger hold the key to the mystery...or will he damn Ingrid's soul to the blackest circle of Hell? From the masterful minds of Becky Cloonan (BY CHANCE OR PROVIDENCE, Wonder Woman) and Tula Lotay (BARNSTORMERS) comes an intoxicating blend of history, eroticism, and the supernatural in SOMNA--an evocative masterpiece that draws inspiration from cinematic folk-horror gems like Midsommar and The Witch--and will transport readers to a world where passion and spirits intertwine, enrapturing your senses and leave you craving more. For fans of The Witch and Midsommar"--Back cover.
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Such a Bad Influence
"Hazel Davis is drifting: she's stalled in her career, living in a city she hates, and less successful than her younger sister @evelyn, a lifestyle influencer. Evie came of age on the family YouTube channel after a viral video when she was five. Ten years older and spotlight-averse, Hazel managed to dodge the family business--so although she can barely afford her apartment, at least she made her own way. Evie is eighteen now, with a multimillion-dollar career, but Hazel is still protective of her little sister and skeptical of the way everyone seems to want a piece of her: Evie's followers, her YouTuber boyfriend and influencer frenemies, and their opportunistic mother. So when Evie disappears one day during an unsettling live stream that cuts out midsentence, Hazel is horrified to have her worst instincts proven right. As theories about Evie's disappearance tear through the internet, inspiring hashtags, Reddit threads, and podcast episodes, Hazel throws herself into the darkest parts of her sister's world to untangle the truth. After all, Hazel knows Evie better than anyone else...doesn't she?"
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This Cursed House
"In this Southern gothic horror debut, a young Black woman abandons her life in 1960s Chicago for a position with a mysterious family in New Orleans, only to discover the dark truth: They're under a curse, and they think she can break it. In the fall of 1962, twenty-seven-year-old Jemma Barker is desperate to escape her life in Chicago-and the spirits she has always been able to see. When she receives an unexpected job offer from the Duchon family in New Orleans, she accepts, thinking it is her chance to start over. But Jemma discovers that the Duchon family isn't what it seems. Light enough to pass as white, the Black family members look down on brown-skinned Jemma. Their tenuous hold on reality extends to all the members of their eccentric clan, from haughty grandmother Honorine to beautiful yet inscrutable cousin Fosette. And soon the shocking truth comes out: The Duchons are under a curse. And they think Jemma has the power to break it. As Jemma wrestles with the gift she's run from all her life, she unravels deeper and more disturbing secrets about the mysterious Duchons. Secrets that stretch back over a century. Secrets that bind her to their fate if she fails"-- Provided by publisher.
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This Girl's a Killer
"Cordelia Black loves exactly three things: her chosen family, her hairdresser (worth every penny plus tip), and killing bad men. By day, she's an ambitious pharma rep with a flawless reputation and designer wardrobe. By night, she culls South Louisiana of unscrupulous men--monsters who think they've evaded justice, until they meet her. Sure, the evening news may have started throwing around phrases like 'serial killer,' but Cordelia knows that's absurd. She's not a killer; she is simply karma. And being karma requires complete and utter control. But when Cordelia discovers a flaw in her perfectly designed system for eliminating monsters, pressure heightens. And it only intensifies when her best friend starts dating a man Cordelia isn't sure is a good person. Someone who might just unravel everything she has worked for. Soon enough, Cordelia has to come face to face with the choices she's made. The good, the bad, and the murderous. Both her family and her freedom depend on it"-- Provided by publisher.
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We Used to Live Here
"As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can't believe the killer deal they've just got on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. As they're working on renovations one day, there's a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived here years before and asking if it would be all right if he showed his kids around. People pleaser to a fault, Eve lets them in. As soon as the strangers enter the home, uncanny and inexplicable things start happening, including the family's youngest child going missing and a ghostly presence materializing in the basement. Even weirder: the family can't seem to take the hint that their visit should be over. And when Charlie suddenly vanishes, Eve slowly loses her grip on reality. Something is terribly wrong with the house and with the visiting family--or is Eve just imagining things?"--Dust jacket flap.
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When We Were Silent
"Louise Manson is the newest student at Highfield Manor, Dublin's most exclusive private school. Behind its granite walls are high-arched alcoves, an oak-lined library...and the dark secret Lou has come to expose. Lou's working-class background marks her as an outsider, until she is befriended by some of her beautiful and wealthy classmates. But her attempts to reveal the truth about Highfield are met with disaster--and a dead body. Thirty years later, Lou gets a shocking phone call. A high-profile lawyer is bringing a lawsuit against the school, and he needs Lou to testify. Lou will have to confront her past and discover, once and for all, what really happened at Highfield"--Dust jacket flap.
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Where the Dead Brides Gather
"Bata, a young girl tormented by nightmares, wakes up one night to find herself standing sentinel before her cousin's door. Her cousin is to get married the next morning, but only if she can escape the murderous attack of a ghost-bride, who used to be engaged to her groom. A supernatural possession helps Bata battle and vanquish the vengeful ghost-bride, and following a botched exorcism, she is transported to Ibaja-La, the realm of dead brides. There, she receives secret powers to fight malevolent ghost-brides before being sent back to the human realm, where she must learn to harness her new abilities as she strives to protect those whom she loves"--Page 4 of cover.
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You Shouldn't Have Come Here
Overworked city gal Grace Evans is ready for a relaxing getaway on a Wyoming ranch, where the owner is handsome Calvin Wells. But when she hears of a missing woman, things soon change for the worse.
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Lay Them to Rest
"For Laurah Norton, true crime was always more of a passion than anything else. But after learning about a mishandled 1990s cold case involving the missing Millbrook twins, she spurred to action, created a massively popular podcast, and built a platform that helped bring widespread attention and resources to the case. And she didn't stop there ... [A]fter she stumbled across the case of 'Ina Jane Doe'--an unidentified woman whose decapitated head was found tucked in the brush of an Illinois park in 1993--Laurah has been more determined than ever to help this victim reclaim her identity so she can finally be laid to rest. In [this book], Laurah teams up with forensic anthropologist Dr. Amy Michael and an eclectic group of experts to unearth the identity of 'Ina Jane Doe' in real time. Along the way, she dives deep into the methodology and explores the wide array of innovative techniques that experts use to solve these once-unsolvable cases ... [S]he also examines why some of the most heartbreaking cases--the 'missing missing,' the sex workers, the undocumented victims--are still unsolved, especially when these cases desperately need our attention and so rarely get it"--Dust jacket flap.
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