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.

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

There’s nothing like a harvest party, a book ban, and a shocking murder to keep a plucky librarian distracted in this funny and suspenseful mystery by Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey. Mira James has had it up to here with Battle Lake, Minnesota. After her latest romantic prospects...

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...

The discovery of a frozen stiff reveals old buried secrets in a witty and invigorating mystery from Amazon Charts bestselling and Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey. It may be six below zero, but an ice-skating jaunt gets even more chilling for private investigator in training Mira James...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Two agents on the trail of a serial killer. A mother and daughter on the trip of a lifetime. Fates converge in paradise in a chilling short story by an Amazon Charts bestselling author. Cold case expert Evangeline Reed and forensics legend Harry Steinbeck are on their way from Minneapolis to...

Two disappearances and a murder. The mystery couldn’t be more personal in a witty and twisty rom-com caper from Amazon Charts bestselling and Edgar Award–nominated author Jess Lourey. After a year in Battle Lake, Minnesota, aspiring PI Mira James would kill not to stumble over another dead...

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 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...

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...