Stolen Family (Detective Josie Quinn #24)

A breath of warm air lifts the canvas opening of the tent to reveal a carpet of crimson petals within. Two bodies lie side by side. Mother and daughter are achingly beautiful in the glow of the twinkling fairy lights above, but their cold blue lips have whispered their last “I love you…”

As a heatwave chokes the small town of Denton, Maxine and Haven Barnes are discovered dead at a local festival, blood-red camellias pressed into their once-clammy skin. Detective Josie Quinn races through the crowds to attend the scene, horrified that something so disturbing could happen at a family event. Maxine was known to the police for issues with her abusive husband, but the trail ends there.

Hours later, a call rocks Josie to her core: another mother and teenage daughter are missing, with the same rare flowers left on their doorstep. And just when the stakes couldn’t get any higher, the missing women are linked to the most challenging member of Josie’s team, Detective Kyle Turner. He had a secret family he’s kept hidden from them all, and now their lives are in danger…

Clock ticking, it will take everything Josie has to break down the walls Turner put up to protect himself and the people he loves. But when tracing the flowers back to their origins has the killer within her grasp, a truth much closer to home reveals itself. And with it, more danger than anyone could have imagined. Can Josie bring this monster to justice before any more precious lives are taken?