Books by Annelise Ryan

When social worker Hildy Schneider commits to an after-hours side job, she finds herself drawn into the darker side of small-town Sorenson, Wisconsin—and the twisted mind of an unnamed killer . . .   Strange things have been happening since Hildy started moonlighting with local police, but a desperate late-night call involving a former patient from Sorenson General Hospital tops the list. Although Danny Hildebrand has been tormented by hallucinations for years, he swears he’s being haunted for real by the victim of a grisly murder . . .   The rambling ghost story seems like another delusion. But after a body turns up in a neglected farmhouse crawling with secrets, Hildy and the magnetic Detective Bob Richmond rush to explain Danny’s knowledge of the incident. As the crime-solving partners unwittingly grow closer while examining a series of eerie leads, they realize that surviving past sunrise means shedding light on a criminal willing to do whatever it takes to stay in the shadows . . .   Praise for Annelise Ryan and her Mattie Winston series “The funniest deputy coroner to cut up a corpse since, well, ever!” —Laura Levine, author of Killer Cruise “The forensic details will interest Patricia Cornwell readers . . . while the often slapstick humor and the blossoming romance between Mattie and Hurley will draw Evanovich fans.” —Booklist    “Has it all: suspense, laughter, a spicy dash of romance.” —New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen   “[Ryan] smoothly blends humor, distinctive characters, and authentic forensic detail.” —Publishers Weekly

A new murder victim with an old M.O. puts Mattie Winston on the trail of a killer who gives a grim new meaning to flower power . . . Spring is beginning to brighten Sorenson, Wisconsin, for Mattie and Steve Hurley and their family. While their son Matthew may be in his terrible twos and Steve's daughter Emily a moody teenager, the kids bring light to their lives when their work is dark by its nature-Steve is a homicide detective and Mattie is a medicolegal death investigator, aka medical examiner. They deal in corpses. The latest corpse, a Jane Doe, was clearly an addict, but drugs didn't kill her, at least not directly. She's been stabbed multiple times in a pattern that is disturbingly familiar to Mattie. When she discovers flower petals from yellow carnations stuffed into the stab wounds, she recognizes a very specific M.O.-belonging to a convicted serial killer who's currently serving a life sentence. The details of the flower petals were never made public in the last case, so it can't be a copycat crime. It looks like the wrong man is in prison, and the murderer is still at large. Now it's up to Mattie and Steve to get the case reopened-and catch the real carnation killer . . .