The #1 New York Times and Amazon Charts bestselling author Gregg Olsen solves a murder among the Amish and reveals the conspiracy to keep it a secret in a heartbreaking and horrifying true-crime story. In 1977, in an Ohio Amish community, pregnant wife and mother Ida Stutzman perished during a barn fire. The coroner’s report: natural causes. Ida’s husband, Eli, was never considered a suspect. But when he eventually rejected the faith and took his son, Danny, with him, murder followed. What really happened to Ida? The dubious circumstances of the tragic blaze were willfully ignored and Eli’s shifting narratives disregarded. Could Eli’s subsequent cross-country journey of death—including that of his own son—have been prevented if just one person came forward with what they knew about the real Eli Stutzman? The questions haunted Gregg Olsen and Ida’s brother Daniel Gingerich for decades. At Daniel’s urging, Olsen now returns to Amish Country and to Eli’s crimes first exposed in Olsen’s Abandoned Prayers, one of which has remained a mystery until now. With the help of aging witnesses and shocking long-buried letters, Olsen finally uncovers the disturbing truth—about Ida’s murder and the conspiracy of silence and secrets that kept it hidden for forty-five years.

The #1 New York Times and Amazon Charts bestselling author Gregg Olsen solves a murder among the Amish and reveals the conspiracy to keep it a secret in a heartbreaking and horrifying true-crime story. In 1977, in an Ohio Amish community, pregnant wife and mother Ida Stutzman perished during a barn fire. The coroner’s report: natural causes. Ida’s husband, Eli, was never considered a suspect. But when he eventually rejected the faith and took his son, Danny, with him, murder followed. What really happened to Ida? The dubious circumstances of the tragic blaze were willfully ignored and Eli’s shifting narratives disregarded. Could Eli’s subsequent cross-country journey of death—including that of his own son—have been prevented if just one person came forward with what they knew about the real Eli Stutzman? The questions haunted Gregg Olsen and Ida’s brother Daniel Gingerich for decades. At Daniel’s urging, Olsen now returns to Amish Country and to Eli’s crimes first exposed in Olsen’s Abandoned Prayers, one of which has remained a mystery until now. With the help of aging witnesses and shocking long-buried letters, Olsen finally uncovers the disturbing truth—about Ida’s murder and the conspiracy of silence and secrets that kept it hidden for forty-five years.

Revenge, justice, or closure? Family crimes can't be hidden forever in this provocative novel of suspense by #1 New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen. Violet knows that time is a futile healer. When she thinks of her happily married grandfather-a predator lovingly referred to as Papa-the feelings of rage and betrayal still swell. Her younger sister, Lily, just discovered the numbing truth about him. Their mother, Rose? She can't believe it. Not Papa. Leave it alone, Violet. Focus on the now. When Papa suffers a sudden, and suspicious, fatal heart attack at Violet's wedding, she can barely conceal her joy. Maybe the fellow survivor at her support group is right: moving on is possible only when monsters are removed from society permanently. Violet is focusing on the now. Even if doing so calls for extremes. For herself, and for the sake of other victims like her, Violet is reclaiming the power stolen from her as a child. Predator by predator, she's coming for them. It's intoxicating. It's liberating. But the secrets she now keeps, and the lies she must tell, come with a price.

A #1 Wall Street Journal, Amazon Charts, USA Today, and Washington Post bestseller. #1 New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen's shocking and empowering true-crime story of three sisters determined to survive their mother's house of horrors. After more than a decade, when sisters Nikki, Sami, and Tori Knotek hear the word mom, it claws like an eagle's talons, triggering memories that have been their secret since childhood. Until now. For years, behind the closed doors of their farmhouse in Raymond, Washington, their sadistic mother, Shelly, subjected her girls to unimaginable abuse, degradation, torture, and psychic terrors. Through it all, Nikki, Sami, and Tori developed a defiant bond that made them far less vulnerable than Shelly imagined. Even as others were drawn into their mother's dark and perverse web, the sisters found the strength and courage to escape an escalating nightmare that culminated in multiple murders. Harrowing and heartrending, If You Tell is a survivor's story of absolute evil-and the freedom and justice that Nikki, Sami, and Tori risked their lives to fight for. Sisters forever, victims no more, they found a light in the darkness that made them the resilient women they are today-loving, loved, and moving on.

A #1 Wall Street Journal, Amazon Charts, USA Today, and Washington Post bestseller. #1 New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen's shocking and empowering true-crime story of three sisters determined to survive their mother's house of horrors. After more than a decade, when sisters Nikki, Sami, and Tori Knotek hear the word mom, it claws like an eagle's talons, triggering memories that have been their secret since childhood. Until now. For years, behind the closed doors of their farmhouse in Raymond, Washington, their sadistic mother, Shelly, subjected her girls to unimaginable abuse, degradation, torture, and psychic terrors. Through it all, Nikki, Sami, and Tori developed a defiant bond that made them far less vulnerable than Shelly imagined. Even as others were drawn into their mother's dark and perverse web, the sisters found the strength and courage to escape an escalating nightmare that culminated in multiple murders. Harrowing and heartrending, If You Tell is a survivor's story of absolute evil-and the freedom and justice that Nikki, Sami, and Tori risked their lives to fight for. Sisters forever, victims no more, they found a light in the darkness that made them the resilient women they are today-loving, loved, and moving on.

No matter what you see, no matter what you've heard, assume nothing. Adam and Sophie Warner and their three-year-old daughter are vacationing in Washington State's Hood Canal for Memorial Day weekend. It's the perfect getaway to unplug-and to calm an uneasy marriage. But on Adam's first day out on the water, he sees Sophie abducted by a stranger. A hundred yards from shore, Adam can't save her. And Sophie disappears. In a nearby cabin is another couple, Kristen and Connor Moss. Unfortunately, beyond what they've heard in the news, they're in the dark when it comes to Sophie's disappearance. For Adam, at least there's comfort in knowing that Mason County detective Lee Husemann is an old friend of his. She'll do everything she can to help. She must. But as Adam's paranoia about his missing wife escalates, Lee puts together the pieces of a puzzle. The lives of the two couples are converging in unpredictable ways, and the picture is unsettling. Lee suspects that not everyone is telling the truth about what they know-or they have yet to reveal all the lies they've hidden from the strangers they married.

From the Amazon Charts and #1 New York Times bestselling author comes a psychological thriller exploring the things we dare to do when no one is looking . . . The community along Oregon's Deschutes River is one of successful careers and perfect families. For years, up-and-comers Liz and Owen have admired their good friends and neighbors, Carole and David. They appear to have it all-security, happiness, and a beautiful young son, Charlie. Then Charlie vanishes without a trace, and all that seemed safe is shattered by a tragedy that is incomprehensible-except to Liz. It took one fleeting moment for her to change the lives of everyone she loves-a heartrending accident that can't be undone. Neither can the second-worst mistake of her life: concealing it. As two marriages crack and buckle in grief and fear, Liz retreats into her own dark place of guilt, escalating paranoia-and betrayals even she can't imagine. Because there's another good neighbor who has his own secrets, his own pain, and his own reasons for watching Liz's every move. And only he knows that the mystery of the missing boy on the Deschutes River is far from over.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of If You Tell comes the absolutely unputdownable and chilling true-crime story of Stella Nickell-a mother and wife who did the unthinkable... and the unforgivable. At 5.02 pm on June 5, 1986, an emergency call came into the local sheriff's office in the small town of Auburn, Washington State. A distressed housewife, Stella Nickell, said her husband Bruce was having a seizure. Officers rushed to the Nickell's mobile home, to find Stella standing frozen at the door... Bruce was on the floor fighting for his life. As Stella became the beneficiary of over $175,000 in a life insurance pay-out, forensics discovered that Bruce had consumed painkillers laced with cyanide. A week later, fifteen-year-old Hayley was getting ready for another school day. Her mom, Sue, called out 'I love you' before heading into the bathroom and moments later collapsed on the floor. Sue never regained consciousness, and the autopsy revealed she had been poisoned by cyanide-tainted headache pills. Just like Bruce. While a daughter grieved the sudden and devastating loss of her mother, a young woman, Cindy, was thinking about her own mom Stella. She thought about the years of neglect and abuse, the tangled web of secrets Stella had shared with her, and Cindy contemplated turning her mom into the FBI... Gripping and heart-breaking, Gregg Olsen uncovers the shocking true story of a troubled family. He delves into a complex mother-daughter relationship rooted in mistrust and deception, and the journey of the sweet curly-haired little girl from Oregon whose fierce ambition to live the American Dream led her to make the ultimate betrayal. A sensational real-life mystery, American Mother will hook those fascinated by The Staircase and Making of a Murderer. This book was originally published as Bitter Almonds. Read what everyone is saying about Gregg Olsen: "A riveting, taut, real-life psychological suspense thrill ride... All at once compelling and original, Gregg Olsen's If You Tell is an instant true-crime classic." -M. William Phelps, New York Times bestselling author "Classic true crime in the tradition of In Cold Blood and The Stranger Beside Me." -James Renner, author of True Crime Addict "Bristling with tension, gripping from the first pages, Gregg Olsen's masterful portrait of children caught in the web of a coldly calculating killer fascinates. A read so compelling it kept me up late into the night, If You Tell exposes incredible evil that lived quietly in small-town America. That the book is fact, not fiction, terrifies." -Kathryn Casey, bestselling author of In Plain Sight "This riveting account will leave readers questioning every odd relative they've known." -Publishers Weekly (starred review) "An unsettling stunner about sibling love, courage, and resilience." -People Magazine (book of the week) "A compelling portrait of terror and a powerfully honest, yet still sensitive, look at survival." -Bookreporter "A true-crime tour de force." -Steve Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of No Stone Unturned "Olsen has done it again, giving readers a glimpse into a murderous duo that's so chilling, it will have your head spinning. I could not put this book down!" -Aphrodite Jones, New York Times bestselling author "A suspenseful, horrific, and yet fascinating character study of an incredibly dysfunctional and dangerous family by Gregg Olsen, one of today's true-crime masters." -Caitlin Rother, New York Times bestselling author

The tragic story of Susan Powell and her murdered boys, Charlie and Braden, is the only case that rivals the John Benet Ramsey saga in the annals of true crime. When a pretty, blonde Utah mother went missing in December of 2009 the media was swept up in the story. Susan's husband, Josh, said he had no idea what happened to his young wife, and that he and the boys had been camping. Over the next three years bombshell by bombshell, the story would reveal more shocking secrets, Josh's father, Steve, who was sexually obsessed with Susan, would ultimately be convicted of unspeakable perversion. Josh's brother, Michael, would commit suicide. And in the most stunning event of them all, Josh Powell would murder his two little boys and kill himself with brutality beyond belief.

Former homicide detective Nicole Foster has hit rock bottom. Driven off the force by her treacherous partner and lover, she's flat broke and struggling with a gambling addiction. All Nicole has left is the dream of a warm bed at a homeless shelter and the haunting memories of three-year-old Kelsey Chase-whose murder case ended her career. As Nicole obsesses over the old facts, she realizes everything about that case felt off: a disinterested mom, a suicidal pedophile, and too many questions left unanswered. When the little girl's grieving father begs Nicole for help, she's drawn back into the investigation...and given one shot at redemption. But the deeper Nicole digs, the more evil she uncovers, including betrayals that hit painfully close to home. Will a shocking discovery be the key to finally getting justice for Kelsey and resurrecting her own life?

All that was left of Doctor Linda Hazzard's sanitorium was the foundation and the masonry incinerator that swelled from the ground like a huge grave marker. A perfect row of old firs and pines lined up like sentinels along the road. Every one of the trees marked the spot where the doctor had buried each of her victims. In 1911 two wealthy British heiresses, Claire, and Dora Williamson, arrived at an unfinished sanitorium in the forests of Olalla, Washington to undergo the revolutionary "fasting treatment" of Doctor Linda Burfield Hazzard. It was supposed to be a holiday for the two sisters, but within a month of arriving at what the locals called 'Starvation Heights', the women underwent brutal, evasive procedures and became emaciated shadows of their former selves. How did Hazzard persuade the sisters to undergo such monstrous treatments? And why, on Claire's deathbed, did Dora, near to death herself, still hold such an extreme belief in Hazzard's methods? In this chilling true story of deception and murder, Gregg Olsen brings us inside the disturbing world of Hazzard who would stop at nothing to achieve her dream of creating the most renowned sanatorium in the world - but ended up a convicted serial killer. A gripping and fascinating account of the most unusual and disturbing criminal cases in American history that will hook fans of The Five and The Devil in the White City. What readers are saying about Starvation Heights: "A fascinating turn-of-the-century story of medical malpractice and murder. If you liked The Alienist, you'll find Starvation Heights all the more gripping because this story is true." Michael Connelly "An engrossing and compelling look at a shocking crime in another era. Olsen's deft touch takes us back to the early 1900s so cleverly that reading Starvation Heights is akin to stepping into a time machine." Ann Rule "Even the most devoted true-crime reader will be shocked by the maddening and mind-boggling acts of horror that Gregg Olsen chronicles in this book. Olsen has done it again, giving readers a glimpse into a murderous duo that's so chilling, it will have your head spinning. I could not put this book down!" Aphrodite Jones, New York Times bestselling author "One of today's true-crime masters." Caitlin Rother, New York Times bestselling author "An account of real-life villainy that outdoes anything a novelist might concoct." Les Standiford, author of Meet You in Hell

WITH PHOTOS Three complete short stories by Investigation Discovery's Dark Minds show host M. Williams with an introduction to the collection by New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen. DANCE WITH THE DEVIL In August 1982, a 30-year-old woman, Jane Goodwin, was found murdered in her Newark, New Jersey apartment. Her killer had strangled Jane until she passed out. Then, reportedly, he ripped open her blouse, posed her with her breasts exposed, and repeatedly stabbed Jane in the chest. He left no fingerprints or DNA-just a shattered, grieving family. Over the next 19 years, three other women were attacked in a similar fashion. Two of them, Karen Osman (at Rutgers University in Newark) and Carmen Rodriquez (in Hartford, Connecticut) died at this monster's hand. Police eventually caught their assailant, Edwin "Ned" Snelgrove, a promising college grad with an uncontrollable desire to hurt women. Ned was jailed. Yet while serving a 20-year sentence, he developed a twisted obsession with one very sick hero-infamous serial murderer Ted Bundy, a man he wrote about extensively in his prison letters to a friend. Ned studied the notorious killer, looked up to him. And as Ned festered in prison, waiting for the day he was to be cut loose, he decided he would be better than Bundy when he got out and started killing once again. Author M. William Phelps takes readers to some very dark places here, so hang on. EASTBOUND STRANGLER Here, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Phelps takes readers and fans of the series deep into his personal life and a dark connection to the Eastbound Strangler case, how he feels about several suspects named by law enforcement, and shares an exclusive interview he conducted with a woman who claims she was with the Eastbound Strangler and his final victim, Kim Raffo, on the night before Kim's body was found. In November 2006, the bodies of four women were discovered in a drainage ditch behind a row of hotels, on the fringes of Atlantic City, New Jersey. After years of intense investigation, law enforcement remains baffled by the fact the victims' shoes were missing, and their heads were all pointing east. Three of the women were known prostitutes who worked "The Track," a wasteland of broken dreams behind the casinos, on the dark side of Atlantic City's famous boardwalk. NOTHING THIS EVIL EVER DIES Did Son of Sam have an intimate, homosexual relationship with a fellow (serial killer) inmate while in prison? Was Sam's real name Richard Falco? Has Son of Sam-who claimed in 2011 that he does not want to seek parole because he has been "freed" by Jesus Christ-been perpetrating a fraud with his supposed "salvation"? In quoted excerpts from these exclusive letters written by Son of Sam to serial killer Gary Evans, a deeper, more interesting and eccentric psychopath emerges. For the first time, author Phelps explores how Son and Sam and serial killer Gary Evans (from Phelps's bestseller Every Move You Make) became best friends while doing time together in a New York state prison. If you thought you knew Son of Sam, think again. THE SERIAL KILLERS DOWN THE ROAD In this introductory essay, author Gregg Olsen recounts the serial killers who've crossed his path in Washington State - Ted Bundy, Gary Ridgway, Linda Burfield Hazzard, and Robert Yates.