BLOOD IN THE CRADLE
Official Blurb:
It’s a case every detective dreads—the one that forces them to confront their traumatic past.
When decorated detective Chloe Van Belle receives a call about a severed limb in a fountain, she dreads returning to Encounters, a renowned angel-worshipping church tied to her dark childhood wounds. She’s further shocked to learn six-year-old Lillian vanished [from the congregation] without being reported.
Chloe’s half-sister Rosie, a devout believer engaged to the reverend’s son, remains unwavering that everything unfolds according to divine will, refusing to see the evil in front of her.
An eerie search leads to Lillian’s body tucked in a cradle with a vintage watch, linking the crime to a similar murder twenty years ago. The gruesome scene triggers Chloe’s morbid fascination with death, making her visual-gustatory synesthesia, which gives murder a literal sweet taste, harder to hide. With Chloe’s nightmares and half-memories resurfacing, she engages in a macabre game of cat and mouse with the killer.
As casualties grow and evidence points to the highest levels of the church leadership, Chloe must protect Rosie and her team—but is it from a monster or herself?
A must-read for fans of Alex Marwood’s The Poison Garden and Tana French’s In the Woods!
SINS IN THE DARK
Official Blurb:
Homicide detective Chloe Van Belle is still haunted by her previous case, when she’s called to a brutal crime scene…
A grandmother is slaughtered, her daughter shot and clinging to life, and twin toddlers have vanished into the winter night.
The first twenty-four hours are critical to finding the toddlers alive, but Chloe is second-guessed and undermined by her new sergeant, Adriana Ladera, who doesn’t trust or respect her, doesn’t know the community, and discourages work camaraderie.
As Chloe chases leads, the twins’ mother becomes her prime suspect until Chloe discovers a link to the Encounters cult-like church and whispers of a decades-old adoption ring rooted in Halpin River. Chloe struggles to separate her past with the church and her tangled family ties from the case.
Navigating serpentine twists, Chloe won’t rest until she finds the missing children—no matter how deadly it becomes.
Sins in the Dark is a gripping detective thriller filled with shocking twists, chilling cult secrets, and a relentless hunt for justice.
Content Warnings
Full list of Content/Trigger warnings found in The Halpin River Homicides.
