After tangling with killers (NO SUBSTITUTE FOR MURDER) and a deranged drug dealer (NO SUBSTITUTE FOR MONEY), substitute teacher Barbara Reed craves routine, relaxation, and quality time with drug cop Dave Martin. Moving in together seems like the way to achieve that. But Dave's teenage daughter is part of the package-a package filled with drama, conflict, stress, and shirked responsibility. And Allison's issues are only the tip of a looming iceberg. Thanks to Mrs. Ballantine, Cheese Puff's obedience level falls to new lows. Meanwhile, Barb's smarmy ex-husband lands a job at her condo complex,...

(Sequel to HEMLOCK LAKE and THROUGH A YELLOW WOOD) The Catskill Mountains are rich in folklore, legends, and tales of the supernatural. Once guided by ghosts, Dan Stone doesn't disbelieve what can't be explained. And there's no logical reason for the patch of blighted ground beside a boulder near Hemlock Lake. Known as the Devil's Tombstone, the rock marks the spot where, two centuries earlier, a man murdered his young wife and then disappeared. As a part-time investigator assigned to cold cases, Dan is troubled by more recent deaths and disappearances. Reviewing files dating back two...

Is Bigfoot prowling around Reckless River, Washington? Has Sasquatch come to the city? Barbara Reed doesn't know if she believes the legendary creature exists, but evidence is stacking up. Something big is scavenging for food in city parks. Something tall and heavy left footprints across a dirt parking lot. And something huge and hairy careened into her one night on the riverfront trail. Did that same creature kill a man and drag his body into a swamp? Or was the killer human? Will justice be undermined by media frenzy, a tide of tourism, and hundreds of hunters? With help from the usual...

While Barbara Reed's drug-cop boyfriend is away, her life spins out of control. Dave's daughter shifts to drama-queen overdrive, Cheese Puff hits new levels of canine entitlement, and Barb's overbearing sister demands help with a mid-life makeover. To complicate matters, things go missing from the high school, and a plot surfaces to close the city pool. Then things get worse-Barb's neighbor is accused of killing a retired mobster known as Big Shiny. When she was Las Vegas showgirl royalty, Muriel Ballantine steered clear of the vicious thug. She insists she didn't recognize him when she...