She didn’t notice the corn stalks shiver a few feet to her right. By the time she looked up, the man towered above her. In a single movement he wrapped one thick hand around her waist, the other he clamped over her mouth, muffling her screams. Detective Clara Jefferies has spent years running from her childhood in Alber, Utah. But when she hears that her baby sister Delilah has disappeared, she knows that the peaceful community will be shattered, her family vulnerable, and that that she must face up to her past and go home.

Profiler Sarah Armstrong knows what it's like to be in a sticky situation. As a single mother and one of the few female Rangers in Texas history, she has had to work twice as hard to rank among the best cops in the Lone Star State. But when mega-wealthy businessman Edward Lucas III is found murdered along with his mistress, their bodies posed in grotesque ways, Sara quickly senses that this will be the deadliest case of her career. While others focus the investigation on Lucas's estranged wife, Sarah disagrees.

In the remote forests of Stillwater, Minnesota, you can scream for days and no one will hear you. So when the bodies of two 15-year-old girls are discovered frozen in the snow, Special Agent Nikki Hunt is sure the killer is local: Someone knew where to hide the girls and thought they would never be found. Though Nikki hasn’t been home in 20 years, she knows she must take over the case.

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.

At first, Linda Bergstrom's marriage to her husband James was idyllic. They were young and in love; he was about to enter the Navy and she was eager to start a family. But it wasn't long before the dream exploded. James became abusive and violent, prone to sudden bursts of anger, long silences, and unexplained disappearances. But Linda vowed to hold on, despite the pain and fear...and her disturbing suspicions about her husband's secret life.

To his parishioners, minister Matt Baker seemed a pious and good man. To his wife, Kari, he was a devoted husband and caring father. Always sunny and vivacious, Kari never questioned their frequent relocations from one small Texas Baptist church to another. Even when tragedy struck, Kari remained strong - until one day, inexplicably, she took her own life.

When she was just 12 years old, Mackenzie Price came home to find her father bleeding to death on the kitchen floor. She will never forget that night, nor what her mother asked her to do.... Twenty years later, Detective "Mack" Price is back in Lakemore, despite vowing never to return. Determined to atone for the sins of the past, she is unstoppable in her quest for justice.

When Detective Madison Harper arrives at a remote summer camp in Shadow Falls, Northern California, her heart breaks for Jenny, the sweet little girl last seen splashing in the lake with her friends before she vanished. Peering into the silent cabins filled with rows of neatly made beds, Madison knows this idyllic place is hiding a terrible secret.

Trophy wife Celeste Beard wasn't satisfied with a luxurious lifestyle and her rich Austin media mogul husband's devotion--so she took his life! The wife: She wanted everything, but her husband stood in the way. The lesbian lover: a lovestruck, middle-aged woman with a history of mental illness. She would do anything to set Celeste free. The beauty salon receptionist: Celeste hired her to tie up the loose ends...in a second conspiracy to commit murder.

An eight-year-old girl, Chelsea Compton, is missing in Pine Valley, California, and for Detective Katie Scott it’s a cruel reminder of the friend who disappeared from summer camp 20 years ago. Unable to shake the memories, Katie vows she won’t rest until she discovers what happened to Chelsea. But as Katie starts to investigate, the case reveals itself to be much bigger and more shocking than she feared. Hidden deep in the forest she unearths a makeshift cemetery: a row of graves, each with a brightly colored teddy bear.

The beautiful young woman is perfectly still, curled up in the trunk of the car, her long dark hair hiding her face. Her cotton blouse has ridden up a little, revealing two small dots an inch apart on her back. Just like the others. Guilt has kept FBI Agent Tori Hunter away from her home in Manchester Bay, Minnesota for 20 years, ever since her twin sister disappeared on the Fourth of July, when the girls should have been together. But when she receives an anonymous newspaper clipping about another missing girl, Genevieve, Tori is dragged back to the past.

When secretary Annie Parkes is snatched from the street outside of her workplace, David Kane is tasked with finding her. Strong, highly skilled, and secretive, he’s a loner and an outsider; the only man the military trust to find Annie before her kidnappers make good on their promise to kill her. But as Kane pulls Annie from a derelict building, gunshots ringing through the deserted streets around them, he realizes rescuing her is just the beginning. He needs to keep her close to find out who is behind her capture, and to keep her safe.

When Detective Casey White discovers the body of a beautiful teenage girl in a white nightgown near the shoreline in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, a familiar fear floods through her. Could this be Hannah, her sweet, blue-eyed daughter snatched from home 14 years ago? But it only takes one look to confirm that the girl with dark bruising around her throat is another family’s tragedy. Putting her own grief aside, Casey digs into unsolved missing child cases in the area. The victim is Cheryl Parry, one of two little girls taken during a family beach vacation nine years ago.

When the body of a woman is found hanging from a tree in her front garden, rookie Detective Morgan Brookes is first on the scene. But Olivia Potter is past saving. And when her husband and daughters cannot be traced, Morgan knows there is more to this tragedy. And then she finds them. Lying huddled together in the dark basement, each of their faces covered with a small cotton cloth, their bodies cold to the touch. But as Morgan kneels beside the family, she realizes that one of the girls is still breathing.

Wanted: A picturesque new town, a fresh start, and a much-needed escape from the constant reminder that the world is still full of bad guys. For FBI agent Olivia Knight, that perfect place is Belle Grove, a charming small town in Northern Virginia, a place hidden by lush greenery and away from the big city. But when Olivia finds a young girl malnourished and disheveled outside her home, she is thrown into a disturbing case. In order to catch the culprit and find the missing children in her new hometown, Olivia must dive deep into the twisted mind of a deranged serial kidnapper.

She didn’t notice the corn stalks shiver a few feet to her right. By the time she looked up, the man towered above her. In a single movement he wrapped one thick hand around her waist, the other he clamped over her mouth, muffling her screams. Detective Clara Jefferies has spent years running from her childhood in Alber, Utah. But when she hears that her baby sister Delilah has disappeared, she knows that the peaceful community will be shattered, her family vulnerable, and that that she must face up to her past and go home.

In Creekstone, Texas, a small, quiet suburb of Houston, football was king and David Temple was a prince. A former high school and college gridiron-star-turned-coach, he had a fairy-tale marriage to bright, vivacious Belinda Lucas, a teacher at the local high school who was so warm and popular her colleagues called her "The Sunshine Girl". The fairy tale ended savagely on January 11, 1999, when Belinda's lifeless body was discovered in a closet. Her skull had been shattered by a shotgun blast at close range. She was eight months pregnant.

Over a three-decade span, more than 20 women - many teenagers - died mysteriously in the small towns bordering Interstate 45, a 50-mile stretch of highway running from Houston to Galveston. The victims were strangled, shot, or savagely beaten.

Trophy wife Celeste Beard wasn't satisfied with a luxurious lifestyle and her rich Austin media mogul husband's devotion--so she took his life! The wife: She wanted everything, but her husband stood in the way. The lesbian lover: a lovestruck, middle-aged woman with a history of mental illness. She would do anything to set Celeste free. The beauty salon receptionist: Celeste hired her to tie up the loose ends...in a second conspiracy to commit murder.

Problems had always followed Susan White, but when she remarried and moved to Houston's posh suburbs, she thought the past was behind her—until she met a deputy sheriff named Kent McGowen who would soon become her worst nightmare.

The jungle, 1949: Everyone said it was impossible, dangerous, and unwise. Three expeditions mounted by men had failed. How could one led by a woman succeed? “Don’t be a fool. You’ll die out there,” a friend whispered to Ruth. But a siren haunted her dreams, calling to her. She had no choice but to follow it into the deepest, darkest jungle in the world, a decision that would change her life forever.

At first, Linda Bergstrom's marriage to her husband James was idyllic. They were young and in love; he was about to enter the Navy and she was eager to start a family. But it wasn't long before the dream exploded. James became abusive and violent, prone to sudden bursts of anger, long silences, and unexplained disappearances. But Linda vowed to hold on, despite the pain and fear...and her disturbing suspicions about her husband's secret life.

Bright, attractive, and both from good families, University of Texas college student Colton Pitonyak and vibrant redhead Jennifer Cave had the world at their beckoning. Cave, an ex-cheerleader, had just landed an exciting new job, while a big-money scholarship to UT's prestigious business school lured Pitonyak to Austin. Yet the former altar boy had a dark, unpredictable streak. When Jennifer failed to show up for work on August 18, 2005, her mother became frightened. Sharon Cave's search led to Colton's West Campus apartment, where Jennifer's family discovered a scene worthy of the grisliest horror movie.

To his parishioners, minister Matt Baker seemed a pious and good man. To his wife, Kari, he was a devoted husband and caring father. Always sunny and vivacious, Kari never questioned their frequent relocations from one small Texas Baptist church to another. Even when tragedy struck, Kari remained strong - until one day, inexplicably, she took her own life.

A small town, East Texas love triangle ends in a brutal execution. A teenage girl guns down her loving mother. A drag queen falls in love with a beautiful young woman, resulting in a horrific murder. A woman left for dead by a serial killer refuses to be a victim. These are just four of the cases explored in Murder, I Write, an exciting new anthology by critically acclaimed true crime author Kathryn Casey.