Brian Freeman books in order

A taut thriller about two rural Minnesota towns locked in a deadly feud--and a teenage girl caught in the crossfire.

Linked by the Spirit River, the two towns couldn't be more different: in affluent Barron, a powerful and secretive scientific research corporation enriches its residents, while downriver in blue-collar St. Croix, victims of that company's carcinogenic waste struggle to survive.

The bad blood between the communities escalates into open warfare when the beautiful Ashlynn, daughter of the corporation's president, is found shot dead--and a St. Croix girl, Olivia Hawk, is accused of the crime. Reluctantly, Olivia's mother summons her estranged husband Christopher, a Minneapolis lawyer, to come defend his daughter.

As Christopher struggles to unravel the mystery of Ashlynn's murder and save his own daughter, he uncovers some ugly truths that endanger the residents of both towns. And looming over everything are the chilling, apocalyptic threats from a murderous psychopath known only as 'Aquarius.'

Lisa Power is a tortured ghost of her former self. The author of a bestselling thriller called Thief River Falls, named after her rural Minnesota hometown, Lisa is secluded in her remote house as she struggles with the loss of her entire family: a series of tragedies she calls the “Dark Star.”

Then a nameless runaway boy shows up at her door with a terrifying story: he’s just escaped death after witnessing a brutal murder―a crime the police want to cover up. Obsessed with the boy’s safety, Lisa resolves to expose this crime, but powerful men in Thief River Falls are desperate to get the boy back, and now they want her too.

Lisa and her young visitor have nowhere to go as the trap closes around them. Still under the strange, unforgiving threat of the Dark Star, Lisa must find a way to save them both, or they’ll become the victims of another shocking tragedy she can’t foresee.

One rainy night, the unthinkable happens: Dylan Moran’s car plunges off the road into a raging river, his beautiful wife drowning as he struggles to shore.

In the aftermath, through his grief, Dylan experiences sudden, strange visions: wherever he goes, he’s haunted by glimpses of himself. Dylan initially chalks it up to trauma, but that changes when he runs into a psychiatrist who claims he’s her patient. She says he has been undergoing a unique hypnotherapy treatment built on the idea that with every choice, he creates an infinite number of parallel universes.

Now those parallel universes are unlocked―and Dylan’s doppelgänger has staked a claim to his world. Can Dylan use these alternate realities to get a second chance at the life that was stolen from him? Or will he lose himself…to himself?

On the Fourth of July, Hallie Evers dies at a rooftop party in Las Vegas.

Hours later, she wakes up in the hospital, disoriented but alive. Why can’t she find the doctor who revived her? Why does her head feel crowded and loud? Why do her memories feel both foreign and familiar? Her self-doubt spirals into crippling paranoia.

Hallie knows that mental illness runs in her family―her mother suffered from delusions that led to an early death. But now even Hallie’s dreams are fraught with details that seem like more than imagination―vivid images of a city she remembers but has never visited in her life. As she embarks on a cross-country search for answers, Hallie catches glimpses of what feel like another person’s memories. It’s a dark, horrifying, tragic vision…of someone else’s murder.

But is any of it real?

Hilary and Mark Bradley are trapped in a web of suspicion. Last year, accusations of a torrid affair with a student cost Mark his teaching job and made the young couple into outcasts in their remote island town off the Lake Michigan coast. Now another teenage girl is found dead on a deserted beach...and once again, Mark faces a hostile town convinced of his guilt.

Hilary Bradley is determined to prove that Mark is innocent, but she’s on a lonely, dangerous quest. Even when she discovers that the murdered girl was witness to a horrific crime years earlier, the police are certain she’s throwing up a smoke screen to protect her husband. Only a quirky detective named Cab Bolton seems willing to believe Hilary’s story.

Hilary and Cab soon find that people in this community are willing to kill to keep their secrets hidden—and to make sure Mark doesn’t get away with murder. And with each shocking revelation, even Hilary begins to wonder whether her husband is truly innocent.

Attractive and popular politician Diane Fairmont is running for the Florida governorship, but a chill is cast over the campaign when she receives an anonymous note announcing the return of the assassin who killed her husband ten years earlier.

As Bolton struggles to penetrate the veil of secrecy surrounding the Fairmont campaign, he begins to realize that the death threat is not the only danger faced by the campaign staff.

A desperate race against the clock ensues as Bolton tries to unlock the secrets of a poisonous conspiracy before nature provides the perfect cover for a long-dormant killer to strike again.

Homicide detective Frost Easton doesn't like coincidences. When a series of bizarre deaths rock San Francisco―as seemingly random women suffer violent psychotic breaks―Frost looks for a connection that leads him to psychiatrist Francesca Stein. Frankie's controversial therapy helps people erase their most terrifying memories―and all the victims were her patients.

As Frost and Frankie carry out their own investigations, the case becomes increasingly personal―and dangerous. Long-submerged secrets surface as someone called the Night Bird taunts the pair with cryptic messages pertaining to the deaths. Soon Frankie is forced to confront strange gaps in her own memory, and Frost faces a killer who knows the detective's worst fears.

As the body count rises and the Night Bird circles ever closer, a dedicated cop and a brilliant doctor race to solve the puzzle before a cunning killer claims another victim.

Four years after serial killer Rudy Cutter was sent away for life, San Francisco homicide inspector Frost Easton uncovers a terrible lie: his closest friend planted false evidence to put Cutter behind bars. When he’s forced to reveal the truth, his sister’s killer is back on the streets.

Desperate to take Cutter down again, the detective finds a new ally in Eden Shay. She wrote a book about Cutter and knows more about him than anyone. And she’s terrified. Because for four years, Cutter has been nursing revenge day after stolen day.

Staying ahead of the game of a killer who’s determined to strike again is not going to be easy. Not when Frost is battling his own demons. Not when the game is becoming so personal. And not when the killer’s next move is unlike anything Frost expected.

San Francisco homicide detective Frost Easton hadn’t seen his estranged friend Denny in years. Not until he dies in Frost’s arms uttering a final inexplicable word: Lombard. Denny appears to be the latest victim in a string of murders linked by a distinctive clue: the painting of a spiraled snake near the crime scenes. Is it the work of a serial killer? Or is Denny’s death more twisted and personal?

To find the answer, Frost reaches into a nest of vipers―San Francisco’s shady elite―where the whispered name of Lombard is just one secret. Now, drawn into a cat-and-mouse game with an enemy who knows his every move, Frost finds there is no one he can trust. And somewhere down the crooked streets of the city, Frost’s cunning adversary is coiled and ready to strike again.

After the death of his lover in a mass shooting, secret agent Jason Bourne is convinced that there is more to her murder than it seems. Worse, he believes that Treadstone--the agency that made him who he is, that trained him, is behind the killing. Bourne goes rogue, leaving Treadstone behind and taking on a new mission to infiltrate and expose an anarchist group, Medusa.

But when a congresswoman is assassinated in New York, Bourne is framed for the crime, and he finds himself alone and on the run, hunted by both Treadstone and the tech cabal that had hired him. In his quest to stay one step ahead of his enemies, Bourne teams up with a journalist, Abbey Laurent, to figure out who was behind the frame-up, and to learn as much as he can about the ever-growing threat of the mysterious Medusa group.

As more and more enemies begin to hunt Bourne, it's a race against the clock to discover who led him into a trap...and what their next move may be.

Here is a complete list of the series:

1. The Bourne Identity (1980) by Robert Ludlum

2. The Bourne Supremacy (1986) by Robert Ludlum

3. The Bourne Ultimatum (1990) by Robert Ludlum

4. The Bourne Legacy (2004) by Eric Van Lustbader

5. The Bourne Betrayal (2007) by Eric Van Lustbader

6. The Bourne Sanction (2008) by Eric Van Lustbader

7. The Bourne Deception (2009) by Eric Van Lustbader

8. The Bourne Objective (2010) by Eric Van Lustbader

9. The Bourne Dominion (2011) by Eric Van Lustbader

10. The Bourne Imperative (2012) by Eric Van Lustbader

11. The Bourne Retribution (2013) by Eric Van Lustbader

12. The Bourne Ascendancy (2014) by Eric Van Lustbader

13. The Bourne Enigma (2016) by Eric Van Lustbader

14. The Bourne Initiative (2017) by Eric Van Lustbader

15. The Bourne Evolution (2020) by Brian Freeman

16. The Bourne Treachery (2021) by Brian Freeman

17. The Bourne Sacrifice (2022) by Brian Freeman

Three years ago, Jason Bourne embarked on a mission in Estonia with his partner and lover, a fiery Treadstone agent code-named Nova. Their job was to rescue a Russian double agent who’d been smuggled out of St. Petersburg in the midst of an FSB manhunt.

They failed. The Russian died at the hands of a shadowy assassin known only by the nickname Lennon.

Now everything has changed for Bourne. Nova is gone, killed in a mass shooting in Las Vegas. Bourne is a lone operative, working in the shadows for Treadstone, when he’s called in for a new mission in London—to prevent another assassination masterminded by Lennon.

But nothing about this mission is what it seems. As Bourne engages in a cat-and-mouse game with Lennon across the British countryside, he discovers that everything he thought he knew about the past was a lie. And with the body count rising, he comes to an inevitable conclusion: Some secrets should stay buried.

Here is a complete list of the series:

1. The Bourne Identity (1980) by Robert Ludlum

2. The Bourne Supremacy (1986) by Robert Ludlum

3. The Bourne Ultimatum (1990) by Robert Ludlum

4. The Bourne Legacy (2004) by Eric Van Lustbader

5. The Bourne Betrayal (2007) by Eric Van Lustbader

6. The Bourne Sanction (2008) by Eric Van Lustbader

7. The Bourne Deception (2009) by Eric Van Lustbader

8. The Bourne Objective (2010) by Eric Van Lustbader

9. The Bourne Dominion (2011) by Eric Van Lustbader

10. The Bourne Imperative (2012) by Eric Van Lustbader

11. The Bourne Retribution (2013) by Eric Van Lustbader

12. The Bourne Ascendancy (2014) by Eric Van Lustbader

13. The Bourne Enigma (2016) by Eric Van Lustbader

14. The Bourne Initiative (2017) by Eric Van Lustbader

15. The Bourne Evolution (2020) by Brian Freeman

16. The Bourne Treachery (2021) by Brian Freeman

17. The Bourne Sacrifice (2022) by Brian Freeman

Abby Laurent is an investigative reporter. The last time she worked with Jason Bourne she almost lost her life, but now she's deep into the biggest story of her career. If she can prove her case, she'll rock governments from DC to Europe.

Obviously with that much on the line there are a lot of people who are willing to take her off the board. She has only one option--find Bourne and convince him to help her.

Here is a complete list of the series:

1. The Bourne Identity (1980) by Robert Ludlum

2. The Bourne Supremacy (1986) by Robert Ludlum

3. The Bourne Ultimatum (1990) by Robert Ludlum

4. The Bourne Legacy (2004) by Eric Van Lustbader

5. The Bourne Betrayal (2007) by Eric Van Lustbader

6. The Bourne Sanction (2008) by Eric Van Lustbader

7. The Bourne Deception (2009) by Eric Van Lustbader

8. The Bourne Objective (2010) by Eric Van Lustbader

9. The Bourne Dominion (2011) by Eric Van Lustbader

10. The Bourne Imperative (2012) by Eric Van Lustbader

11. The Bourne Retribution (2013) by Eric Van Lustbader

12. The Bourne Ascendancy (2014) by Eric Van Lustbader

13. The Bourne Enigma (2016) by Eric Van Lustbader

14. The Bourne Initiative (2017) by Eric Van Lustbader

15. The Bourne Evolution (2020) by Brian Freeman

16. The Bourne Treachery (2021) by Brian Freeman

17. The Bourne Sacrifice (2022) by Brian Freeman

From the glacial waters of Alaska to a sexy nightclub in the Bahamas, Treadstone agents are being hunted down and murdered. Someone high up in the U.S. government will stop at nothing to cover up a secret Treadstone mission from the past known as Defiance.

With a team of killers hot on his trail, Jason Bourne chases the mystery of Defiance around the world. But as he closes in on the shocking truth, Bourne realizes that one man holds the key—his archenemy, the assassin known as Lennon. The Russian hitman has been at the heart of Defiance from the very beginning, and his next target will put Bourne —and the woman he loves—in the cross-hairs.

As Bourne races to stop the ruthless conspiracy behind Defiance, he must come face to face with Lennon one last time—and the stage is set for a final violent showdown.

Here is a complete list of the series:

1. The Bourne Identity (1980) by Robert Ludlum

2. The Bourne Supremacy (1986) by Robert Ludlum

3. The Bourne Ultimatum (1990) by Robert Ludlum

4. The Bourne Legacy (2004) by Eric Van Lustbader

5. The Bourne Betrayal (2007) by Eric Van Lustbader

6. The Bourne Sanction (2008) by Eric Van Lustbader

7. The Bourne Deception (2009) by Eric Van Lustbader

8. The Bourne Objective (2010) by Eric Van Lustbader

9. The Bourne Dominion (2011) by Eric Van Lustbader

10. The Bourne Imperative (2012) by Eric Van Lustbader

11. The Bourne Retribution (2013) by Eric Van Lustbader

12. The Bourne Ascendancy (2014) by Eric Van Lustbader

13. The Bourne Enigma (2016) by Eric Van Lustbader

14. The Bourne Initiative (2017) by Eric Van Lustbader

15. The Bourne Evolution (2020) by Brian Freeman

16. The Bourne Treachery (2021) by Brian Freeman

17. The Bourne Sacrifice (2022) by Brian Freeman

In Duluth, Minnesota, a young woman, Rachel Stoner, has gone missing. Cop Jonathan Stride, a sharply focused detective despite the stresses of his troubled personal life, is quick to suspect her stepfather of murder.

And yet, he has his doubts. Even for a man accustomed to power, the accused seems remarkably convinced he'll go free. Could he be telling the truth?

While Stride endeavors to make sense of the conflicting pieces of evidence, a young woman's body lies half-buried deep in the woods. But if it's not the body of Rachel, where is the missing girl? Is she dead, or is the terrible, unexpected fate that awaits Graeme Stoner one he does not deserve?

In this dark, involving mystery, nothing is as it seems, and readers will be gripped to the very last page as the shocking truth gradually emerges.

Everyone keeps secrets in Vegas. Especially about murder...

Elonda's seen most things working the streets. But it's a first when her client is shot dead in the act. Detective Jonathan Stride quickly establishes that the victim is M.J. Lane, son of a reclusive millionaire film producer. Any number of people might have wanted to kill M.J.

Another death is troubling the Vegas force - that of a little boy, killed in a hit-and-run incident involving a stolen car. Then the body of a woman is found in a remote farmhouse. Could the murders be linked?

It seems the killer wants to send a message about the brutal slaying decades earlier of a nightclub dancer. That case was wrapped up quickly. Too quickly? Someone certainly thinks so - and he's set on murderous revenge for the sins of the past.

Lieutenant Jonathan Stride knows his partner Maggie Bei is in trouble when she reports a deadly crime on a bitter winter night. She’s obviously hiding a terrible secret, and her silence only feeds suspicion.

Maggie isn’t the only one keeping secrets in Duluth. A seductive young woman has disappeared, leaving behind a stash of lurid fantasies and a cryptic message: I know who it is. Following a twisted trail, Stride uncovers a sordid web of violence and voyeurism that someone is willing to kill to keep hidden.

Stride isn’t alone. His lover Serena Dial – a homicide cop turned private investigator – is chasing a blackmailer who knows all the city’s dirty secrets. Even Maggie’s. But as Stride and Serena hunt for a killer, a predator with a vicious past is hunting them – with a terrifying plan for revenge.

Now every step they take to expose the truth brings them closer to a showdown amid the howling winds of a winter storm. Where survival in the blinding snow is measured in seconds. Where crimes can be buried forever.

Two young lovers. A sultry summer night. One brutal, cold-blooded murder.

It's the case that has haunted Stride for thirty years. During the summer after his junior year of high school, he fell in love with beautiful Cindy Starr, the girl who would become his wife. But on the Fourth of July, the same night that Jonny and Cindy cemented their love, Cindy's older sister Laura was savagely murdered. The police suspected a vagrant of committing the crime, but no one was ever arrested, and the case was closed.

Now, Laura's best friend Tish Verdure has returned to Duluth to write a book about Laura's death. Tish knows secrets that a lot of people would like to keep hidden, including information about Cindy that leave Stride questioning his entire past. When a young girl is found drowned in the St. Louis River and a witness to the original murder attempts suicide, Stride realizes that the violence of the past is spilling over into the present.

As he unearths the explosive events that led to Laura's murder, Stride discovers that the ripples of her death changed everyone's lives, including his own. Can Stride put to rest the ghosts of his past, or will they devour him whole?

NB: This book is also known as The Watcher.

Lieutenant Jonathan Stride is quietly recovering from injuries sustained on his latest case when a rich doctor's baby is kidnapped and his peace is shattered.

As suspicion builds that the doctor may have staged the baby's disappearance, the relationship between the doctor and his wife and neighbors begins to disintegrate. Stride and his lover and partner Serena find themselves on opposite sides of the case with Stride pursuing evidence that incriminates the doctor and Serena trying to prove that the baby really was abducted.

Meanwhile Stride's colleague Maggie and her headstrong young partner are tracking a man responsible for a violent crime wave in the rural areas of Duluth. There seems to be no connection between the cases - until a victim with ties to the doctor's case turns up murdered in the signature style of the Duluth killer.

As the threads of both investigations converge, the chase uncovers a series of revelations that may damn the doctor - or prove his innocence.

A third woman dead in two months.

And for the third time, Alison Malville isn't sure her husband was home all night.

When the killer sends the usual photo of his victim to the press, she sees an item of her clothing left with this body, too.

Could you believe your own husband was capable of murder? Would you turn him in?

Driving home to Minnesota one night after a long road trip, Duluth detective Jonathan Stride stops by the small Wisconsin town where his mother is buried to pay a visit to her grave.

As he walks through the cemetery, a local sheriff’s car pulls up and an officer steps out, pulls out his gun, and takes his own life before Stride even has time to react.

After giving his statement to the police, Stride is asked to unofficially investigate the reason behind the suicide by the officer’s young widow—a woman who several years earlier had become famous as the survivor of a horrific kidnapping—and to clear out of town as soon as possible by the sheriff, who is up for reelection.

Against his better instincts, Stride becomes enmeshed in a gruesome and suspenseful search for a local killer who knows things no one alive should know—and who may kill again to keep it that way.

Sixteen-year-old Catalina Mateo shows up unannounced one night in Detective Jonathan Stride’s home, dripping wet from a desperate plunge into the icy waters of Lake Superior. Her sodden clothes stained with blood, Cat spins a tale of a narrow escape from a shadowy pursuer.

Stride decides to trust this girl, but his judgment may be clouded by memories of Cat’s mother. Ten years earlier, Cat hid under the porch of her family home while her mother was brutally butchered by her ex-con father. Stride still blames himself for not preventing the slaughter.

But is Cat telling the truth? Stride’s police partner, Maggie Bei, doubts the homeless girl, who has been living rough on the streets of Duluth since her mother’s death—and now sleeps with a knife hidden under her pillow.

As Stride investigates Cat’s story, more violence trails in the teenager’s wake—and Maggie’s suspicions about her deepen. Now a single question haunts the void between them: Should Stride be afraid for—or of—this terribly damaged girl?

Detective Jonathan Stride's first wife, Cindy, died of cancer eight years ago, but her ghost hangs over Stride's relationship with current lover, and fellow detective, Serena Dial. When Serena witnesses a brutal murder outside a Duluth bar, she stumbles onto a case with roots that go all the way back to the last year of Cindy Stride's life.

At the time, Cindy and Stride were on opposite sides of a domestic murder investigation. Gorgeous, brilliant Janine Snow--a surgeon transplanted to Duluth from Texas--was the prime suspect in the shooting death of her husband.

Cindy believed her friend Janine was innocent, but Stride thought all the evidence pointed to the surgeon--even though the gun was never found. Despite Cindy's attempts to help Janine, the case led to a high-profile murder trial in which Janine was convicted and sent to prison.

During the current investigation, Serena finds a gun used in the murder of a woman connected to an organized crime syndicate--a gun that turns out to be the same weapon used to kill Janine Snow's husband. Two unrelated cases years apart suddenly have a mysterious connection.

As Stride investigates the possibility that human traffickers are targeting women in the Duluth port, he begins to question whether he made a terrible mistake eight years ago by putting an innocent woman in prison. And whether he will ever be able to make peace with the memory of his beloved wife and give his heart to Serena.

On a rainy June morning, tens of thousands of people line the streets of Duluth while exhausted runners push to reach the finish line at the city's biggest annual event. Then, in a terrifying echo of the Boston bombing, there is an explosion along the race course, leaving many people dead and injured.

Within minutes, Jonathan Stride, Serena Dial, and Maggie Bei are at work with the FBI to find the terrorists behind the tragedy. As social media feeds a flood of rumors and misinformation, one young man becomes the most wanted person in the city. And the manhunt is on.

But are the answers behind the Duluth bombing more complex than anyone realizes? And can Stride, Serena, and Maggie find the truth before more innocent people are killed?

When a freak auto accident kills a driver carrying false identification on the remote roads outside Duluth, Jonathan Stride is disturbed to find a gun in the trunk--and the gun has recently been fired.

The next day, a Duluth college student has also vanished, and Stride worries they're connected--but what would have put an ordinary young woman in the crosshairs of a man who has all the hallmarks of an assassin for hire?

Stride's investigation leads him to a film crew in Duluth, where a movie is being made based on a case in Stride's own past. The actor playing Stride is Hollywood royalty, an award-winning icon who has charmed his way to the top of the box office. But Stride soon hears whispers that his cinematic alter ego has a dark side...

You're safe, Stride. I found the body at the Deeps. I buried him.

Jonathan Stride's best friend, Steve Garske, makes a shocking deathbed confession: he protected Stride by covering up a murder. Hours later, the police dig up Steve's yard and find a body with a bullet hole in its skull.

Stride is pretty sure he knows who it is. Seven years ago, an out-of-town reporter disappeared while investigating anonymous allegations of rape against a prominent politician. Back then, the police believed that the reporter drowned at a dangerous swimming hole called the Deeps...but the discovery of the body changes everything. Now Stride's partner, Maggie Bei, is forced to ask Stride an uncomfortable question: Did you kill him?

Stride is obviously hiding things. He was the last person to see the reporter alive. And he admits lying to Maggie about that meeting, but won't tell her why. With suspicion in the murder pointing at him, Stride finds himself off the case and on leave from the Duluth Police.

His only ally in clearing his name is his wife, Serena, who retraces the reporter's investigation into the explosive allegations. The clues all point to a hot Duluth summer years earlier that everyone in town would prefer to forget.

Someone was willing to kill rather than let those long-ago secrets come out, and the suspect with the strongest motive ... is Stride.

A woman has been kidnapped.

Now Jonathan Stride must decide if her husband wants her back...dead or alive.

After nearly dying of a gunshot wound, Jonathan Stride has been on leave from the Duluth Police for more than a year. When his partner, Maggie Bei, gets called about a suspicious abduction involving a local lawyer, she tells Stride it's time for him to come back.

Attorney Gavin Webster says he paid $100,000 in ransom money to the men who kidnapped his wife. Now they've disappeared with the cash, and she's still missing. Gavin claims to be desperate to find her--but Stride discovers that the lawyer had plenty of motive to be the mastermind behind the crime.

Even as Stride digs for the truth about Gavin Webster and his wife, he must also deal with a crisis in his own marriage.

His wife, Serena, is struggling after the death of her mother, the abusive woman she hadn't seen in twenty-five years. When she loses control at a crime scene and draws her gun on a fellow cop, Serena finds herself kicked off the Webster case.

Alone at her desk, she begins hunting through old police files and starts to ask questions about a mother's death that was written off as suicide. That death haunts Serena like an echo of her own childhood--but her obsession with it takes a terrible toll.

As Serena shuts him out of her despair, and his own investigation grows increasingly tangled, Stride wonders whether going back to his detective work was the right decision. But all he can do is keep moving forward. Because Stride fears the Webster kidnapping may be only one part of a horrific murder conspiracy.

And it's not over yet.

The Souls of the Ships, narrated by Joe Barrett, is a stunningly beautiful Christmas short story that is perfect for the holidays and a great story to add to your audiobook collection.

The tale tells of lost love, beauty, and the magic of a foggy Christmas Eve night that leads to an unexpected event.

An earlier version of this story appeared about 20 years ago in Lake Superior Magazine. Since then it has only been published in Italian and German.

Deputy Shelby Lake was abandoned as a baby, saved by a stranger who found her in the freezing cold. Now, years later, a young boy is missing -- and Shelby is the one who must rescue a child.

The only evidence of what happened to ten-year-old Jeremiah Sloan is a bicycle left behind on a lonely road. After a desperate search fails to locate him, the close bonds of Shelby's hometown begin to fray under the weight of accusations and suspicion. Everyone around her is keeping secrets. Her adoptive father, her best friend, her best friend's young daughter -- they all have something to hide. Even Shelby is concealing a mistake that could jeopardize her career and her future.

Unearthing the lies of the people in Jeremiah's life doesn't get the police and the FBI any closer to finding him. As time passes and the case grows cold, Shelby worries that the mystery will stay buried forever under the deep, deep snow. But even the deepest snow melts in the spring.

When a tantalizing clue finally comes to light, Shelby must confront the darkest lie of all. Exposing the truth about Jeremiah will leave no one's life untouched -- including her own.

The mythical beast goes by many names. Bigfoot. Sasquatch. Yeti.

In Black Wolf County, he's called ... the Ursulina.

But to Deputy Rebecca Colder, the beast is no myth. A serial killer has taken on the identity of the monster--and with each body left behind, there's a chilling message written in blood. I am the Ursulina.