Harper Adams Mystery

With a friend's child missing, and the police failing, disgraced ex-detective Harper enlists the aid of a former crime boss to untangle a mystery that strikes too close to home. Disgraced, ex-detective Harper Adams is perfectly content wallowing at rock bottom. She's lost her job, house, and reputation, and it only gets worse when she's forced to move back home to Jackson Creek, Arkansas, the one place she swore she'd never return. But everything changes when she gets chilling news. A childhood friend's daughter is missing...and it's eerily reminiscent of Harper's sister's kidnapping and murder two decades ago. Not her business. Except with the police fumbling the case at every turn, Harper realizes she might be the only one who can save the girl. And she might need the help of James Malcolm, a former crime boss, to do it.

Welcome to Lone County, Arkansas, where every corner holds a secret, and the past is never really buried. Disgraced ex-detective Harper Adams has traded her badge for a desk job at her father's law firm, a move as dull as the small town she's returned to. But things take a turn when a local woman wants to declare her missing husband dead, five years after his mysterious disappearance. With her father's firm representing the missing man's wife, Harper seizes the opportunity to delve back into her investigative roots. Her search leads her back to James Malcolm, a former crime boss turned tavern owner, who has his finger on the pulse of every shadowed corner. His offer to help with her investigation catches her by surprise. Why would a former criminal offer his help unless he has something to gain?

She quit drinking the day her mother died. Now she has to stay sober long enough to prove it wasn't an accident. Former detective Harper Adams is only days into sobriety when she realizes her mother's car accident wasn't an accident at all. The faded skid marks on the bridge. The drugs in her tox screen. The packed suitcase in the trunk, for a trip her homebody mother never mentioned. Something sinister happened, and Harper is determined to uncover the truth. To do that, she accepts the assistance of the last man she should trust: James Malcolm, a crime boss with a shadowy past. He insists he's only trying to help. Harper isn't sure whether his offer is about justice or something else entirely, but she decides it's safer to work with the devil you know. Malcolm gets results, and results are what she needs. As Harper digs deeper, she unearths secrets powerful people want to keep buried. And the closer she gets to the truth, the more dangerous it becomes.

Former detective Harper Adams knows three things for certain: Her mother's death was no accident. The evidence she's uncovered could destroy one of Arkansas's most powerful crime families. And the dangerously attractive man she's hiding with is the only person she can trust. On the run with James Malcolm-a man with his own dark secrets and a concussion that's slowing them down-Harper is hunted by Gerald Knox and his ruthless organization. Every safe house brings them closer to discovery. Every day gives Knox more time to bury the truth. And somewhere in Little Rock, girls are being trafficked while the clock runs out. Harper spent years following the rules. It cost her everything-her badge, her reputation, nearly her life. Now, with James at her side and vengeance in her heart, she's done playing by anyone's rules but her own. The Knoxes killed her mother and built an empire on stolen lives. Harper's going to burn it all down. But destroying a criminal dynasty means crossing lines she swore she'd never cross. And when the man she's falling for has his own agenda, Harper faces an impossible choice: justice or vengeance? In the dark, survival is the only rule. The fourth book in the Harper Adams Mystery series.