First published 2022
Shea Collins runs a true crime website by night while working as a receptionist by day. Her fascination with cold cases stems from her own childhood trauma when she barely escaped an attempted abduction. When she encounters Beth Greer by chance, Shea sees an opportunity she cannot pass up. Beth was acquitted of the Lady Killer Murders that terrorized Claire Lake, Oregon in 1977. Two men died from the same gun, strange notes left at each scene, and witnesses saw the wealthy twenty-three-year-old fleeing one crime. Now, forty years later, Beth agrees to tell her story. Their interviews take place at Beth's isolated mansion, where Shea notices objects shifting when she looks away and glimpses a girl at the windows. Beth proves intelligent and magnetic, drawing Shea deeper into the mystery. But as their relationship develops, Shea begins questioning whether she sits across from a clever killer or if other threats hide within the Greer house walls. The search for truth becomes a test of survival.
Genres: mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Claire Lake, Oregon
Period: 1977, 2017
344 pages · Hardcover · Berkley
Content warnings: anxiety, mental-illness