New York Times-Bestselling Author: A feud between two competitive moms may have turned fatal in the “engaging cozy series” set in small-town Maine (Publishers Weekly). Two of her four kids may be out of the nest, but Lucy Stone knows only too well that mothering is a lifetime commitment. At least she gets to kick back and enjoy a fancy Mother's Day brunch with her brood—that is, before the festivities are interrupted by a nasty scene courtesy of Barbara Hume and Tina Nowak. Opposites in every way, these mean moms have only one thing in common: the need to best each other at every turn, using their teenage daughters as pawns in elaborate games of one-upmanship. But even after witnessing the women’s claw-sharpening rituals, Lucy never expects to see actual blood spilled—until Tina is shot dead on the public tennis court… “As charming and enjoyable as ever.”—Romantic Times “Lucy Stone is an endearing sleuth.”—Dorothy Cannell

The true story of Theresa Knorr, the twisted child abuser who murdered her daughters—with the help of her sons—told by a former New York Times reporter. In June 1985, Theresa Cross Knorr dumped her daughter Sheila’s body in California’s desolate High Sierra. She had beaten Sheila unconscious in their Sacramento apartment days earlier, then locked her in a closet to die. But this wasn’t the first horrific crime she’d committed against her own children. The previous summer, Knorr had shot Sheila’s sister Suesan, then ordered her son to dig the bullet out of the girl’s back with a knife to hide the evidence. The infection that resulted led to delirium—at which point Knorr and her two sons drove Suesan into the mountains, doused her with gasoline, and set her on fire. It would be almost a decade before her youngest daughter, Terry Knorr Graves, revealed her mother’s history of unfathomable violence. At first, she was met with disbelief by law enforcement and even her own therapist. But eventually, the truth about her monstrous abuse emerged—and here, an award-winning journalist details the jealousy, rage, and domineering behavior that escalated into homicide and shattered a family. A former reporter for the New York Times and Los AngelesTimes and the author of true-crime classics including Angel of Darkness, about serial killer Randy Kroft, and Blood Cold, about Robert Blake and Bonny Lee Bakley, Dennis McDougal reveals the shocking depths of depravity behind a case that made headlines across the nation.

Waynesville, Indiana, a small suburb of Columbus, Indiana, was the scene of four gruesome murders on May 11, 2013. The 911 call came in a little after 10:30 p.m. "There's blood everywhere," Daniel told the 911 operator. "I just walked in and there's two, I have two bodies here, and I think they have both been shot. There's blood everywhere." Daniel gave the 911 operator his location. He explained to him, "There might be three, because I can't find my mom either." He told the operator that the house looked like it had been ransacked. "There was a fight here." Daniel said. Katheryn Burton was shot and stabbed four times. Each of the other victims: Aaron Cross, Tommy Smith and Shawn Burton were shot at least twice. Samuel Sallee has been convicted and sentenced to 4 consecutive life sentences for the brutal murders that changed one young man's life forever. The next day was Mother's Day! "That guy killed my whole family," said Daniel Burton, the son of Katheryn Burton. "I think I've earned a front-row seat to watch him die. I'd lump him together with Hitler, because I can't think of anyone else who is that evil." Daniel Burton: "The Trial was my family's story. This is mine."

Lauri Taylor was just your average suburban PTA mom and marketing exec. Then tragedy struck. When her mother is found dead in Mexico, Lauri finds herself embarking on a journey to uncover the identity of her mother’s murderer—but what she finds isn’t what she was expecting. With the help of famed FBI profiler Candice DeLong, Lauri works to unearth the secrets buried in her mother’s death. Key evidence comes to light—and a shocking revelation unfolds. Lauri Taylor’s memoir The Accidental Truth: What My Mother’s Murder Investigation Taught Me About Life is a profound narrative of true crime, family bonds, and the grief of sudden death. Achingly intimate, The Accidental Truth chronicles Lauri’s personal journey as she empowers herself with truth, finds the courage and compassion to forgive herself and her mother, and eventually learns to let go.

A Mother's Day trip to the Netherlands turns deadly when a guest plummets from a windmill. Was it an accident or a murder? For Lana Hansen, the answer will mean freedom or imprisonment for someone close to her... Wanderlust Tours guide Lana Hansen and her mother, Gillian, haven't seen eye to eye in over a decade, ever since Lana was wrongly fired from her job as an investigative reporter. So when Lana's boss invites Gillian to join her upcoming Mother's Day tour to the Netherlands, Lana is less than pleased. What could be worse than spending ten days with her estranged mother? Lana is about to find out... The tour begins on a high note when the majority of guests bond during their visit to the Keukenhof flower gardens and a cruise around the picturesque canals of Amsterdam. Despite her initial reservations, Lana thinks this might be the best group she had ever led. Until she discovers one of her guests - a recent retiree named Priscilla - is the person who destroyed her career in journalism. All Lana can see is red. But circumstances dictate that she figure out a way to lead the tour, make peace with her mother, and not murder her guest. She doesn't know whether she can handle the pressure. Lana needn't worry. Shortly after their fight, Priscilla falls off the balcony of a historic windmill at Zaanse Schans. Was she pushed or simply careless? The investigating officers suspect murder - and topping their suspect list is Lana's mom! Can Lana save Gillian? Or will her mother end up spending the rest of her days in a Dutch prison?

When Debra Moerke and her husband decided to become foster parents, they never imagined how their lives would change. Debra became especially close to one little girl: four-year-old Hannah. She loved her and did everything she could to help Hannah learn to trust and teach her to feel safe. But when Hannah went back to her birth mother, Karen, it wasn't long before one of Debra's worst fears came true. Overwhelmed with horror and grief, Debra didn't think she could take anymore, but then she received a phone call from prison. Karen, facing a life sentence, was pregnant, and she had a shocking question to ask ...

Carolyn Wheat, Nancy Pickard, Linda Grant, and others balance motherhood with murder. Apple recipes make the anthology all the sweeter.

A fierce memoir of a mother's murder, a daughter's coming-of-age in the wake of immense loss, and her mission to know the woman who gave her life

Loretta Bowersock and her daughter, Terri, ran a multimillion-dollar furniture store based in Tempe, Arizona, where they were well-known and admired by many. Together, these two women seemed to be living the American Dream...until one man decided to take it all away. Over the course of two decades, Taw Benderly worked his way into Loretta's heart, home, and business. Though the couple appeared to be happy, their lives behind closed doors told another story. Terri had always known that the handsome, charming, and usually unemployed Taw was manipulating her mother—but she did not know the extent of the abuse or how far he would go to defraud her. Then, just before Christmas in 2004, Loretta went missing. It would be more than a year before Terri learned the shocking truth: That, before killing himself, Taw murdered the 69-year-old Loretta and left her. Bones in the Desert is the shocking story of a devoted mother and daughter, a successful business, and the man who would do everything to destroy it all ...

An Instant New York Times Bestseller A New York Times Notable Book One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2020 Named One of the Best Books of the Year by: The Washington Post, NPR, Shelf Awareness, Esquire, Electric Literature, Slate, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and InStyle A chillingly personal and exquisitely wrought memoir of a daughter reckoning with the brutal murder of her mother at the hands of her former stepfather, and the moving, intimate story of a poet coming into her own in the wake of a tragedy At age nineteen, Natasha Trethewey had her world turned upside down when her former stepfather shot and killed her mother. Grieving and still new to adulthood, she confronted the twin pulls of life and death in the aftermath of unimaginable trauma and now explores the way this experience lastingly shaped the artist she became. With penetrating insight and a searing voice that moves from the wrenching to the elegiac, Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Natasha Trethewey explores this profound experience of pain, loss, and grief as an entry point into understanding the tragic course of her mother’s life and the way her own life has been shaped by a legacy of fierce love and resilience. Moving through her mother’s history in the deeply segregated South and through her own girlhood as a “child of miscegenation” in Mississippi, Trethewey plumbs her sense of dislocation and displacement in the lead-up to the harrowing crime that took place on Memorial Drive in Atlanta in 1985. Memorial Drive is a compelling and searching look at a shared human experience of sudden loss and absence but also a piercing glimpse at the enduring ripple effects of white racism and domestic abuse. Animated by unforgettable prose and inflected by a poet’s attention to language, this is a luminous, urgent, and visceral memoir from one of our most important contemporary writers and thinkers.