Frank Carlson Library

Investigating the brutal murders of two vacationing families in sunny Virginia Beach, FBI agents Ryan Sinclair and Buzz Crane suspect the work of a notorious serial killer and tap the skills of preeminent clinical expert Charlotte Stone, who is also the culprit's only known survivor.

"When New York Times bestselling author Karen Robards brought her irresistible brand of hot passion and chilling suspense to the paranormal romance scene with The Last Victim, it was just the beginning. Now her all-new series cranks up the deadly danger and intense desire to the next level, as sexy serial killer hunter Charlotte Stone returns to action in her thrilling second adventure. THE LAST KISS GOODBYE Dr. Charlotte "Charlie" Stone has dedicated...

"When D.C. crime scene analyst Dr. Ellie Carr is called to investigate the heartrending case of a missing baby, she's shocked to discover that the child's mother is her own cousin. Close during their impoverished childhoods, Ellie and Rebecca eventually drifted apart. Rebecca is now half of a Washington power couple, and she and her wealthy lobbyist husband, Hunter, have been living a charmed life in an opulent mansion -- until their infant son is...

"Frances Glessner Lee, born a socialite to a wealthy and influential Chicago family in the 1870s, was never meant to have a career, let alone one steeped in death and depravity. Yet she developed a fascination with the investigation of violent crimes and made it her life's work. Best known for creating the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, a series of dioramas that appear charming-until you notice the macabre little details: an overturned chair,...

The New York Times bestselling author of The Stone Monkey is back with a brilliant thriller that pits forensic criminologist Lincoln Rhyme and his partner Amelia Sachs against an unstoppable killer with one final, horrific trick up his sleve. It begins at the prestigious music school in New York City. A killer flees the scene of a homicide and locks himself in a classroom. Within minutes, the police have him surrounded. When the scream rings out,...

The crime scene is unlike any that Detective Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles have ever before encountered. The woman lies in apparently peaceful repose on her bed, and Maura finds no apparent cause of death, but there is no doubt the woman is indeed dead. The victim's eyes have been removed and placed in the palm of her hand, a gesture that echoes the terrifying films she produces. Is a crazed movie fan reenacting scenes from those disturbing...

"A businessman snatched from an Upper East Side street in broad daylight. A miniature hangman's noose left at the scene. A nine-year-old girl, the only witness to the crime. With a crime scene this puzzling, forensic expertise of the highest order is absolutely essential. Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are called in to investigate. Soon the case takes a stranger turn: a recording surfaces of the victim being slowly hanged, his desperate gasps the...

"From the acclaimed author of Death in the Air ("Not since Devil in the White City has a book told such a harrowing tale"--Douglas Preston) comes the riveting story of the birth of criminal investigation in the twentieth century"-- Berkeley, California, 1933. In a lab filled with beakers, microscopes, and hundreds upon hundreds of books sat Edward Oscar Heinrich, America's first forensic scientists. Working in a time when the turmoil of Prohibition...

The scene of the crime is lavish but gruesome. In a luxurious mansion on the outskirts of Cleveland, a woman's body lies gutted in a pool of blood on the marble floor. The victim is Joanna Moorehouse, founder of Sterling Financial. The killer could be any one of her associates. Only Maggie recognizes the blood-soaked handiwork of a killer who has committed the most heinous of crimes--and will continue killing until he is stopped. Burdened with unbearable...

Forensic expert Maggie Gardiner continues her uneasy partnership with vigilante homicide detective Jack Renner to investigate the murder of a newspaper copy editor. A copy editor at the Cleveland Herald is found hanging above the grinding wheels of the newspaper assembly line. Forensic investigator Maggie Gardiner has her suspicions about this apparent suicide, and when the evidence suggests murder, Maggie has no choice but to place her trust in...