Cold Heart Creek by Lisa Regan

As the sun rises, the last glow of the campfire is just visible through the mist and the trees. The young couple are laid out on their backs beside the small blue tent, their hands clasped between them, their eyes open, their hearts cold…

When a park ranger stumbles across the bodies of newlyweds Valerie and Tyler Yates by a creek in the small town of Denton, Detective Josie Quinn is first on the scene. Still reeling from the news that her abusive mother is dying, Josie suspects this is more than just accidental poisoning, and she’s right: someone jammed a crudely carved pendant necklace down Valerie’s throat before she died.

Combing the area, Josie’s team discover a third sleeping bag indicating there could have been an extra guest around the fire that night. A lucky escape? A missing victim? Or a suspect on the run? Finding this person is the key to the entire investigation…

The trail leads Josie to the gates of a farmhouse hidden deep within the forest – a special place where people go to escape, and to hide. There is a young girl there with frightened eyes and bandaged wrists who knows more than she is saying, but the next day she’s found dead, choked with a matching necklace…

With her mother’s life hanging by a thread, Josie has an impossible decision to make as she races to find the meaning of the pendant and catch this twisted killer before another innocent life is taken – but is she already too late?