Showing results by author "Mary Stone" in All Categories

Less than twenty-four hours after yet another near-death experience, forensic and criminal psychologist Dr. Autumn Trent should be resting and recovering, not back at work. But she has no choice. Her best friend, Special Agent Winter Black, is missing. So is Winter’s baby brother, Justin...a brutal serial killer.

Twelve hours earlier, Interim Sheriff Rebecca West was enjoying a casual lunchtime burger. Now she’s preparing for a hurricane headed straight for Shadow Island. While hauling sandbags and calming town officials, the last thing she needs is a stunned man stumbling into the sheriff’s department. Covered in blood.

The late Sheriff Alden Wallace has barely been laid to rest when another body is found on Shadow Island. Once again, former FBI agent turned interim sheriff Rebecca West’s vacation plans will have to wait. This time, the victim is the son of one of Shadow Island’s privileged elite. Found gruesomely posed at a picnic table in the park—suffocated, choked, and shot, with a cryptic note shoved in his pants—his death is as personal as it is disturbing.

Former FBI agent Rebecca West came to Shadow Island to relax and clear her head, not step into a dead sheriff’s long worn shoes. Here she is, though, Interim Sheriff over a small department grieving for their boss and friend. But not for long. Before she can resign from the unwanted position, a little girl goes missing. On vacation with her parents, the eight-year-old was last seen outside her family’s vacation rental drawing on the sidewalk with a box of chalk.

Several weeks after being set up for a crime she didn't commit and almost being killed by a fellow FBI agent in the process, Amelia Storm is ready for a new assignment. But nothing could have prepared her for what lies ahead—a spate of brutal killings so unusual the Organized Crime agent and her partner have no choice but to team up with members of Violent Crimes.

U.S. Senator Stan Young has more skeletons in his closet than a centuries-old graveyard...and more power than a nuclear blast. When Ben Storey, the city councilman running against the incumbent senator, uncovers damning evidence against Young, he decides to take the information to the only person with the resources to pursue it—Amelia Storm.

Moore County Nightlife and Live Music Scene. Co-Hosts Mary Stone and Matthew Battise interview musicians, bar owners and people involved in the Southern Pines and Pinehurst area bar and music scene.

When the corpse of a drug dealer turned federal informant is fished out of Lake Michigan, Special Agent Amelia Storm knows it’s more than just a drug deal gone bad. Not only is the body hideously mutilated and the blood drained, but a number has been carved into the victim’s chest. And he isn’t the only one.

Ein Strafgefangener, der in der Nacht, als der Preacher gestellt wurde, an einem Massaker in einer Mall beteiligt war, wird von einer gut gezielten Kugel aus fast einer Meile Entfernung getötet. Als mehrere mutmaßliche Vergewaltiger und Mörder tot aufgefunden werden, wird das Tatmuster erkennbar: Der Killer handelt als Richter, Jury und Henker in solchen Fällen, die die Polizei unter den Teppich kehrt. Winter weiß genau, wo die Trennlinie zu ziehen ist – das hat sie in der Nacht gelernt, als ihre Eltern abgeschlachtet wurden und ihr kleiner Bruder verschwand.

Seven months ago, one of the FBI’s own went missing without a trace. The forensic analyst was smart and beautiful, and she had been dating Joseph Larson...the same man who’d been working with the Chicago PD to investigate the young woman’s missing persons case. The same man who’d just been forced to resign from the Bureau. Something’s terribly wrong, FBI Special Agent Amelia Storm knows it in her gut. But knowing and proving are two very different things.

The man who’s been stalking Private Investigator Winter Black is dead, but he wasn’t working alone. Threats linger in the shadows, and she can’t shake the chilling feeling that she’s being watched. It’s about to get personal…again. A flyer advertising her business—Black Investigations—was found on the tenth-floor balcony of a woman who apparently jumped to her death. Except Winter has never seen the brochure before. Stranger still, her two newest clients received the same fake flyer, along with a blackmail letter.

Private detective Winter Black finally knows the identity of the puppeteer behind the recent string of murders she’s been entangled in investigating—the same man who’s been stalking and tormenting her for weeks. But when he leaves recent photographs he took of her and Noah, her husband’s eyes scratched out, his vendetta becomes frighteningly real. And terrifyingly personal. Because Noah is missing. The nightmare becomes disturbingly real when Noah’s wedding band is placed on Winter’s doorstep, accompanied by a taunting note written in cryptic, video game jargon.

For twelve years, I’ve buried my secrets, trying to live the perfect life. I’m married to a wonderful man, and I have a rewarding career at Camp Wildfire—a sanctuary for troubled teens nestled on the edge of a sprawling forest. Life looks good on the surface, but one crack and it could all fall apart. Turns out, that crack has a name. Amanda. Her arrival rips open old wounds, forcing me to confront the past I’ve kept hidden from everyone, including my husband. The secrets I’ve buried are threatening to destroy me—and I’ve recently learned that I’m not the only one hiding something big.

Sexual harassment isn’t the type of case Private Investigator Winter Black usually takes. But it’s a distraction from whoever’s been sending creepy texts to her phone and set up cameras to spy on her home and office. And after her new client reveals that one of her female coworkers hanged herself after fending off their boss’s sexual advances, Winter suspects there’s more to the story. When another woman disappears, she’s certain. Posing as an employee, Winter sets her sights on uncovering the truth, starting with the powerful and well-connected boss who seems intent on showing her the ropes.

In the aftermath of another harrowing case, FBI agent turned private investigator Winter Black is battling personal demons: guilt, her grandmother’s failing health, a strained alliance with a key detective, and the eerie knowledge that someone has been spying on her family. Amid these trials, Winter’s newest case emerges as a rare glimpse of normalcy, offering a seemingly simple investigation far removed from the deadly threats that have marked her recent past. Until her new client turns up dead, a knife through his heart.

Haunted by dreams of the boy whose life she shattered and burdened by dark family secrets she's only just begun to understand, Private Investigator Winter Black is trying to keep her life from falling apart. With her husband on a yearlong break from the FBI, the bills are piling up, and Winter has no choice but to take on even the most mundane cases. Serving a summons should be easy. Until the man she served is found dead the next day. His wife too.

Ein Strafgefangener, der in der Nacht, als der Preacher gestellt wurde, an einem Massaker in einer Mall beteiligt war, wird von einer gut gezielten Kugel aus fast einer Meile Entfernung getötet. Als mehrere mutmaßliche Vergewaltiger und Mörder tot aufgefunden werden, wird das Tatmuster erkennbar: Der Killer handelt als Richter, Jury und Henker in solchen Fällen, die die Polizei unter den Teppich kehrt. Dann aber gerät ein FBI-Mitarbeiter in Verdacht.

In this series of linked stories, the child narrator Veve cannot fathom all the mysteries of her family’s life together, but by watching and listening, she pieces together a painful past. Played out against the backdrop of rural hardship and deprivation on the family’s Kansas farm, the secret in her father’s previous life eventually explains his harsh treatment of the three older children and her mother’s bitterness over his countless misunderstandings and slights.

Join columnist and garden designer Mary Stone in sharing Dilemmas, Delights, & Discoveries in the Garden of Life.

The Gifted Therapy Podcast is a place where we discuss methods that have changed my life. Looking into the unknown to search for answers on how to heal and grow. Some of the topics discussed include spirit guides, past lives, reincarnation, chakra energy points, Akashic records, and much more.