A woman is haunted by a heartwrenching decision she made as a teenager in this darkly atmospheric, deeply emotional thriller from #1 internationally bestselling global superstar Sara Blaedel.
Detective Louise Rick is on a beach in Thailand when the panicked call from her father comes through. Louise′s beloved brother, Mikkel, has attempted suicide. His wife, Trine, left him days earlier, walking out the door one day with no warning and leaving Mikkel devastated.
Louise rushes home to Osted, the small, insular Danish town where she grew up and where Mikkel still lives. But the more Louise learns about Trine-a devoted wife and the mother of two young children-and her state of mind in the days before she left Mikkel, the more Louise begins to wonder whether Trine really meant to leave him. Or whether something much darker may have taken place.
As the local police begin to suspect that Mikkel may have had a hand in Trine's disappearance, Louise struggles to clear his name but is forced to confront some hard truths: Small towns always hide secrets. The past always comes back to haunt you. And lies are never harmless.
Already widowed by the age of forty, Ilka Nichols Jensen, a school portrait photographer, leads a modest, regimented, and uneventful life in Copenhagen. Until unexpected news rocks her quiet existence: Her father-who walked out suddenly and inexplicably on the family more than three decades ago-has died. And he's left her something in his will: his funeral home. In Racine, Wisconsin.
Clinging to this last shred of communication from the father she hasn't heard from since childhood, Ilka makes an uncharacteristically rash decision and jumps on a plane to Wisconsin. Desperate for a connection to the parent she never really knew, she plans to visit the funeral home and go through her father's things-hoping for some insight into his new life in America-before preparing the business for a quick sale.
But when she stumbles on an unsolved murder, and a killer who seems to still be very much alive, the undertaker's daughter realizes she might be in over her head . .
Detective Louise Rick returns in Sara Blaedel's #1 internationally bestselling series! Louise gets a call from her son, Jonas. A school party has ended in terrifying chaos after a group of violent teenagers forced their way into the building in search of alcohol and valuables. Arriving at the scene, Louise discovers that one of the girls, 12 year-old Signe, attempted to run for help, but was struck and killed by a car. Signe's grief-stricken mother finds that her will to live instantly evaporates with the crushing loss of her only child-and she'll do anything to make those who harmed her child pay. After a carefully planned act of arson renders the already deeply disturbing case a top priority, Louise finds the evidence pulling her in several different directions at once. It is not until she receives an unexpected tip from her dear friend, investigative journalist Camilla Lind, that Louise realizes not everyone involved is telling the whole truth...
Detective Louise Rick returns in Sara Blaedel's #1 internationally bestselling series! When the granddaughter of the wealthy Sachs-Smith family is kidnapped, Louise's skills as a trained negotiator are put to work. She is tasked with helping the desperate mother negotiate what soon turns into a life-or-death situation. The kidnappers will only exchange the deathly ill little girl for an infamous glass figure-known as the Angel of Death--that has been in the family for generations. But there's a problem... the Angel, worth millions, was recently stolen from the family home. As Louise's search for the missing girl continues, it will take her to the depths of human depravity and the ultimate perversion of art and human dignity. Will she be able to find the little girl before her time runs out?
Detective Louise Rick returns in Sara Blaedel's #1 internationally bestselling series! A journey to a new life or a prison of despair and death? A shocking murder on Copenhagen's idyllic streets and an abandoned child reveal a perverse criminal underworld that crosses international borders. A young woman's body is found on the street with her throat slit, and the media is clamoring for the grisly details. Detective Louise Rick is investigating the gruesome murder when her friend Camilla Lind calls. Louise assumes it is because Camilla, a crime reporter, wants to be the first to hear of any juicy new developments. Instead, her distraught friend reveals that her ten year-old son found an abandoned baby on his way to school. As Louise digs deeper into the murder and the mysterious foundling, every clue uncovered points to organized human trafficking from Eastern Europe, run by ruthless gangsters who won't hesitate to kill anyone who gets in their way...
Following the incredible success of Sara Blaedel's #1 international bestsellers The Forgotten Girls and The Killing Forest, Louise Rick-head of the police department's elite Special Search Agency charged with missing persons cases-returns in Sara's latest twist-filled suspense novel...
THE LOST WOMAN
A housewife is the target of a shocking, methodical killing. Shot with a hunting rifle through her kitchen window, the woman is dead before she hits the ground.
Though murdered in England, it turns out that the woman, Sofie Parker, is actually a Danish citizen who's been on the Missing Persons list for almost two decades-so Louise Rick is called on to the case. Then, in an unexpected twist, the police discover that Sofie had been reported missing eighteen years ago by none other than Eik, Louise Rick's police colleague and lover.
Impulsive as ever, Eik rushes to England, and ends up in jail on suspicion of Sofie's murder. Completely blindsided by Eik's connection to the case, Louise is thoroughly unsettled and sick with worry, yet she must set aside her own emotional turmoil if she hopes to find the killer in what will become her most controversial case yet...
Sara Blaedel, author of the #1 international bestseller The Forgotten Girls--which was roundly praised as "gripping" with "uncompromising realism" (Washington Post) and "tautly suspenseful" (BookPage)--returns with the thrilling next book in her series featuring police investigator Louise Rick.
THE KILLING FOREST
Following an extended leave, Louise Rick returns to work at the Special Search Agency, an elite unit of the National Police Department. She's assigned a case involving a fifteen-year-old who vanished a week earlier. When Louise realizes that the missing teenager is the son of a butcher from Hvalsoe, she seizes the opportunity to combine the search for the teen with her personal investigation of her boyfriend's long-ago death . . .
Louise's investigation takes her on a journey back through time. She reconnects with figures from her past, including Kim, the principal investigator at the Holbaek Police Department, her former in-laws, fanatic ancient religion believers, and her longtime close friend, journalist Camilla Lind. As she moves through the small town's cramped network of deadly connections, Louise unearths toxic truths left unspoken and dangerous secrets.
Sara Blaedel--Denmark's "Queen of Crime"--brings her #1 bestseller THE FORGOTTEN GIRLS to North America.
THE FORGOTTEN GIRLS
Four days later, Louise Rick still had no answers.
The body of an unidentified woman was discovered in a local forest. A large, unique scar on one side of her face should have made the identification easy, but nobody has reported her missing. As the new commander of the Missing Persons Department, Louise risks involving the media by releasing a photo of the victim, hoping to find someone who knew her.
Louise's gamble pays off: an older woman phones to say that she recognizes the woman as Lisemette, a child she once cared for in the state mental institution many years ago. Lisemette, like the other children in the institution, was abandoned by her family and branded a "forgotten girl." But Louise soon discovers something more disturbing: Lisemette had a twin, and both girls were issued death certificates more than thirty years ago.
Aided by her friend journalist Camilla Lind, Louise finds that the investigation takes a surprising and unsettling turn when it brings her closer to her childhood home. And as she uncovers more crimes that were committed--and hidden--in the forest, she is forced to confront a terrible link to her own past that has been carefully concealed.
It was clearly no ordinary drowning. Inspector Louise Rick is immediately called out to Holbraek Fjord when a young immigrant girl is found in the watery depths, a piece of concrete tied around her waist and two mysterious circular patches on the back of her neck. Her name was Samra, and Louise soon learns that her short life was a sad story. Her father had already been charged once with assaulting her and her mother, Sada, who makes it clear that her husband would indeed be capable of killing Samra if she brought dishonor to the family. But she maintains that Samra hadn't done anything dishonorable. Then why was she supposed to be sent back to Jordan? Samra's best friend Dicte thinks it was an honor killing. A few days later Dicte is discovered, bludgeoned to death, and Samra's younger sister has gone missing. Navigating the complex web of family and community ties in Copenhagen's tightly knit ethnic communities, Louise must find this remorseless predator, or predators, before it is too late.
