Jess Lourey

A woman’s secret. A small town with a dark past. A serial killer bent on revenge. Lies kill in a shocking true crime–inspired thriller by the Edgar-nominated author of The Quarry Girls.

Two girls vanished. A woman buried alive. Between two crimes lie decades of secrets yet to be unearthed in a pulse-pounding novel by the Edgar Award–nominated author of Unspeakable Things. Summer 1980: Despite the local superstition that the Bendy Man haunts the woods, three girls go into a...

Inspired by a terrifying true story, a heart-pounding novel of suspense about a small Minnesota town where nothing is as quiet - or as safe - as it seems. Cassie McDowell’s life in 1980s Minnesota seems perfectly wholesome. She lives on a farm, loves school, and has a crush on the nicest boy...

Killers hiding in plain sight. Small-town secrets. A girl who knows too much. From the Amazon Charts bestselling author of Unspeakable Things and Bloodline comes a nerve-twisting novel inspired by a shocking true crime. Minnesota, 1977. For the teens of one close-knit community, summer means...

A brilliant code breaker shatters a centuries-old conspiracy and unravels her own family secrets in an addictive and heart-pounding thriller by Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey. Salem Wiley is a genius cryptanalyst. She’s also a loner who prefers a safe and familiar path. Until her...

A summertime treasure hunt in rural Minnesota leads to murder in this delightful gem of a rom-com mystery by Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey. Summer in Battle Lake kicks off with fireworks and festivities, but it’s a local treasure hunt that’s amping up the tourist trade. It...

Independence Day comes with fireworks, a budding romance, and hometown murder in this sharp and witty mystery by Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey. When Fourth of July weekend coincides with Wenonga Days—the annual celebration of a locally famous Ojibwe leader—the town of Battle...

The Amazon Charts bestselling author of Unspeakable Things and Bloodline explores the darkness at the heart of the rural Midwest in a novel inspired by a chilling true crime. In the summer of ’84, fourteen-year-old Frankie Jubilee is shuttled off to Litani, Minnesota, to live with her...

A confectioner’s talent works in wondrous ways in a bewitching short story about secrets, sisterhood, and the transformative power of magic by the Edgar Award–nominated author of The Taken Ones. The Blackthorn women have always possessed magic. For Helena, working at her candy store in the...

What’s October without a festive mood, a chill in the air, and a dead body? There’s big trouble brewing in little Battle Lake in this Lefty-nominated mystery from Amazon Charts bestselling author Jess Lourey. Cue the accordions: Battle Lake, Minnesota, is kicking off October Fest with polka...

A terrible family curse threatens four generations of women in a spellbinding novel of haunting secrets, magic, and healing by the Edgar Award–nominated author of The Taken Ones. After her husband’s infidelity, devastated Katrine Blackthorn reluctantly returns to Faith Falls, Minnesota, to...

An ITW Thriller Award and Anthony Award winner. Perfect town. Perfect homes. Perfect families. It’s enough to drive some women mad… In a tale inspired by real events, pregnant journalist Joan Harken is cautiously excited to follow her fiancé back to his Minnesota hometown. After spending a...

A festive fairground becomes an unexpected backdrop for a grade A murder in a deliciously funny mystery by Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey. The Minnesota State Fair wows again with 4-H exhibits, rides, a Neil Diamond concert, and deep-fried everything on a stick. Covering it is a...

By-the-book forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck and rogue BCA agent Van Reed must catch a cold-case killer who’s returned to abduct a small town’s children one by one in this heart-stopping novel from the Edgar Award–nominated author of Unspeakable Things. In 1998 an Alku, Minnesota, family...

Going home for the holidays can be murder in a bracing mystery by Amazon Charts bestselling and Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey. After more than a decade away, Mira James isn’t keen on returning to her Minnesota hometown for the holidays. Her childhood memories aren’t particularly...

Two murder investigations, decades apart, threaten to expose a cold case agent’s darkest secrets in a pulse-pounding thriller by the Edgar Award-nominated author of The Taken Ones. The bodies of three teenage girls are found in central Minnesota—each with her mouth fixed in a ghoulish grin...

A genius FBI code breaker unravels the mysteries of one of history’s most monumental puzzles in a propulsive thriller by Jess Lourey, the Edgar Award–nominated author of Salem’s Cipher. Working for the FBI, cryptanalyst and agoraphobe Salem Wiley vows never to return to the conspiratorial...

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "The deft prose is enlivened by action sequences, as well, which are sure to draw readers into the central mystery."—Kirkus Reviews Fans of The Hunger Games, The Grace Year, and The Maze Runner will devour The Verdant Cage―a chilling dystopian thriller...

Everybody’s got to have a hobby. But some pastimes hide murder in a delightfully crafty rom-com mystery by Amazon Charts bestselling and Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey. A charitable senior finds her calling making creepily authentic life-size dolls. Call it recreation. But when...

A waitress turned librarian just wants a new life. What she ends up with is a killer change of pace in a funny, snappy, and suspenseful mystery by Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey. With a cheating boyfriend, a thankless career in waitressing, and her BA in English going to waste, Mira...