N.M. Brown

Three hard-hitting crime thrillers in one volume featuring "a protagonist that the reader really gets behind and cares about" (By the Letter Book Reviews).

This collection of mysteries following the career of California cop Leighton Jones includes:

The Girl on the Bus: Emotionally isolated Vicki Reiner craves the fleeting happiness she experienced prior to her college graduation. To recapture this, she invites an old friend for a break at her deserted beachside home. But despite booking a bus ticket, her friend never shows up. The police dismiss her concerns—but newly retired detective Leighton Jones, haunted by his own devastating loss, finds it hard not to be drawn into Vicki's search for the truth, and a quest that will take them across the dusty highways of North America . . .

Carpenter Road: After traffic officer Leighton Jones is called to an altercation in a used car lot, he is confronted by a prostitute rambling on about a girl who stole her coat. He thinks nothing off it. That is until the body of a Jane Doe shows up, matching the prostitute's description . . .

Toys in the Dust: Two little girls, Tina and Suzy, are playing when a stranger appears and strikes up a conversation. He is sad that he doesn't have a doll to play with like the girls do, so Suzy hurries home to fetch one. When she returns, Suzy discovers both Tina and the stranger have vanished. Later, Leighton Jones sees a young girl race out in front of his car and vanish into the countryside, but his superiors, increasingly concerned about Leighton's mental health, doubt the child exists. Meanwhile, in the California countryside, a killer is relentlessly searching for the one who got away . . .

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