Books published by Crooked Lane Books

Murder rocks a wedding celebration at an idyllic lakeside home-and librarian-turned-sleuth Greer Hogan could be next on the killer's guest list in this second exciting installment, perfect for fans of Louise Penny.Librarian Greer Hogan is on hand to celebrate her old friend Sarah Whitaker's nuptials at the Whitaker summer home on beautiful Mirror Lake, just outside the upstate New York village of Lake Placid. But Greer has an ulterior motive-to gather information that could reopen the investigation into her husband's murder, a crime for which she believes an innocent man went to prison. Her plans come to a shuddering halt when a wedding guest goes missing and turns up dead in the lake. The guest, Brittany Miles, was an employee of the Whitaker family whom Sarah had long suspected was up to no good at work. The police have no leads, but Greer-an avid reader of crime fiction who possesses an uncanny knack for deduction-begins her own investigation. She learns that the victim was seen with a mystery man right before she disappeared. Then the autopsy reveals that she didn't drown in the lake after all, but in the reflecting pool in the Whitaker garden. The suspect list is as long as the guest list itself, with no apparent motive. Now, Greer must rely on the wisdom of her favorite fictional detectives to tease out truth from lies-and keep herself out of the killer's sights.

A hot-button legal case fuels a community's smoldering hostility--but the dark secret at its heart could set the town ablaze. Public defender Julia Geary moves through life in simmering resentment--at her husband, a soldier killed in Iraq, leaving her a single mother; at her low-paying job; and at her overbearing mother-in law, whose home she shares. She longs for a breakout case, and it arrives when members of the high school soccer team report seeing a teammate--Iraqi refugee Sami Mohammed--assaulting a girl in the locker room.In a town where animosity against refugees has already reached a fever pitch, Julia throws all her energy into Sami's defense. She finds an ally in high school principal Dom Parrish, who believes Sami is innocent, and the case suddenly turns red hot.Then she begins receiving vicious threats against her family, and a senseless act of violence leaves Sami in a coma. And finally, a crop of new evidence emerges that points to the town's most prominent citizens and pits Julia against powerful forces set on burying the truth once and for all.If Sami survives and Julia can prove him innocent, it will be the case of a lifetime. But now it's her life that's on the line.