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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In 1911 two wealthy British heiresses, Claire and Dora Williamson, came to a sanitorium in the forests of the Pacific Northwest to undergo the revolutionary "fasting treatment" of Dr. 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 were emaciated shadows of their former selves, waiting for death. They were not the first victims of Linda Hazzard, a quack doctor of extraordinary evil and greed who would stop at nothing short of murder to achieve her ambitions. As their jewelry disappeared and forged bank drafts began transferring their wealth to Hazzard's accounts, Dora Williamson sent a last desperate plea to a friend in Australia, begging her to save them from the brutal treatments and lonely isolation of Starvation Heights.
In this true story--a haunting saga of medical murder set in an era of steamships and gaslights--Gregg Olsen reveals one of the most unusual and disturbing criminal cases in American history.

A heart-pounding novel of unspeakable crimes and unforgivable sins from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sound of Rain. Homicide detective Nicole Foster has finally balanced an unsteady life and is anxious for a second chance. There's no better place to start over than at the beginning-back at her childhood home on the Washington coast, where's she raising her niece and keeping an eye on her increasingly fragile father. But Nicole's past is never truly behind her-not when a disturbing new case stirs dark memories of the haunting investigation that shattered her career. In the middle of the hottest August in a century, a toddler is found dead inside a parked car. Her father says he forgot her. It's an unthinkable crime. And for Nicole, it's made all the more unbearable by her own suffocating secrets-those shared by an old rival who has reappeared from the shadows and is pushing Nicole to the edge once again. Now, wherever the truth lies, solving this case and avenging an unforgivable death is the most important move in Nicole's career. But to see it through to the end, how far is she willing to go? And what is she prepared to risk this time?

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?

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 Pacific Northwest is home to the world's most famous serial killers, as well as more than its share of parents who kill their children, teenagers who kill their parents, women who marry for money, naughty teachers, America's first female serial killer, and even a few who are wrongly imprisoned. New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen ("If Loving You Is Wrong," "Starvation Heights") and veteran journalist Rebecca Morris ("Ted and Ann - The Mystery of a Missing Child and Her Neighbor Ted Bundy"), take a new look at the Northwest's most notorious crimes. Many of them made history. Two - Ted Bundy's killings and Mary Kay Letourneau's teacher sex scandal - made Time magazine's list of the top crimes of the 20th century. Some are lesser known or have taken on new importance, such as one of the country's first school shootings, in Moses Lake, Washington. Cases include: Washington Barry Loukaitis - Before Sandy Hook and Columbine, there was Frontier Middle School in Moses Lake, Washington. Rosalina Misina Mendoza Dugeno Manthie Edmondson - She had many last names as she married and killed one husband after another. Ruth Neslund - Her husband thought captaining a huge freighter right into the West Seattle Bridge was the worst that could happen to him. It wasn't. Mary Kay LeTourneau - She said they were "soul mates." He made a bet with another student that he would sleep with her. Ted Bundy - There's only one "Ted" and he remains a part of our lives. Now we've learned more about his. Kenneth Bianchi - Los Angeles' most terrifying murders were finally solved 1,200 miles north in Bellingham, Washington. With a bonus essay by Washington native Gregg Olsen on growing up in the shadow of serial killers Ted Bundy, Gary Ridgway, and Robert Lee Yates, Jr. Oregon Angela McAnulty - The mother tortured her teenage daughter until it was too late to save her. Kyron Horman - The boy with the toothy grin disappeared June 4, 2010. Why hasn't his step-mother been charged? Jeannace Freeman and Gertrude Jackson - Central Oregon was as shocked by their lesbian affair as it was by the murder of Jackson's two children. Christian Longo - He failed in his own life, so he killed his family and assumed someone else's. With two bonus essays, one by Rebecca Morris about coming of age in Oregon as serial killers trolled I-5, and one about Gregg Olsen's "date" with Oregon's most notorious murderer, Diane Downs. Idaho Shasta Groene - the brave little girl was the only survivor of a random murder and kidnapping in Coeur d'Alene. Jeralee Underwood - the eleven-year-old had the bad luck to meet a ruthless killer as she performed her favorite task of the day, delivering newspapers to her Pocatello neighborhood. Robin Row - the only woman on Idaho's Death Row, she set fires that killed her children soon after buying life insurance on them. Angie Dodge - Carol Dodge grieved her daughter's murder for years, until she became convinced the police had coerced a confession and convicted the wrong man. Now she's working for Christopher Tapp's release. Lyda Trueblood - America's first female serial killer liked to bake apple pies. She sprinkled in a secret ingredient - arsenic. Sarah Johnson - The teenager with the blonde ponytail shot her parents with a rifle, then hid her blood-spattered pink bathrobe in the family garbage. With a bonus essay from Olsen, author of the 2005 Idaho Book of the Year, The Deep Dark - Disaster and Redemption in America's Richest Silver Mine.

"Wonderfully researched...Searing and brilliant...A must-read "-- Ann Rule, the undisputed queen of True Crime The first case -- the one that launched an epidemic of teacher/student abuse cases -- written by New York Times bestselling author, Gregg Olsen. You know how the story ended...but do you know how it all started? Within hours of giving birth to her sixth child, Mary Kay Letourneau had her baby daughter whisked from her arms. She was then shackled and returned to her jail cell. Just years ago, the pretty, personable Seattle schoolteacher was living a life many would envy-- she had a handsome husband, four beautiful children, and a beloved following of students. Then she was accused of child rape, and her whole world turned upside down. Rapist Or Victim? How did a 34-year-old married teacher fall in love with one of her sixth-grade students? Was it a complete lapse of judgment, or-- as she contends-- the meeting of two soulmates? Were the two planning to run away together-- before police caught them in a parked car? Did the couple have illicit sex in every room of the Letourneau house, as the teenager told the tabloids? Read about the case that shocked the world and rocked the headlines-- about the lonely life of Mary Kay Letourneau and the young object of her obsession, the boy who fathered two of her children. You may think you know the story of Mary Kay Letourneau-- but you don't know the whole story until you've read...If Loving You Is Wrong. Includes interviews with Mary Kay Letourneau. Amazon.com Review: The tale seems ripe for tabloid exploitation: the fresh-faced blond elementary schoolteacher and mother of four just couldn't keep her hands off that 13-year-old boy. Worse yet, Mary Kay Letourneau had become obsessed with the slight, Samoan teenager while he was still a student in her sixth-grade class--and he fathered two babies with her. Yet in the hands of true crime writer Gregg Olsen, If Loving You Is Wrong becomes a poignant profile of an emotionally stunted young woman tightly wound up in a web of lies too fragile to sustain the weight of her own compulsions. The facade the Letourneaus presented to the world was that of a devoted, upwardly mobile young couple. In reality Steve and Mary Kay were on the verge of financial and emotional bankruptcy. They married because she'd become pregnant and appearances were everything to Mary Kay's parents, ultra-conservative, family-values-promoting politician John Schmitz and his icy wife, Mary. Olsen, whose previous books include Abandoned Prayers and Black Widow, does a superior job with the story, interviewing Letourneau herself as well as friends and neighbors, researching and assembling the facts behind the lurid headlines in a nonjudgmental manner that allows readers to draw their own conclusions about the bigger issues at stake. Was Mary Kay Letourneau a pedophile, a child rapist, a female Humbert Humbert? Or was she, as she claims, a woman who'd found a soul mate and a true love that defied America's puritanical norms? Read If Loving You Is Wrong and decide for yourself. -- Patrizia DiLucchio Review The Tucson Citizen called Olsen "One of America's favorite crime writers."