Mostly Murders

Griz’s voice echoed in my head, the law enforcement mantra: After the first two days, you’re looking for a body.

Ad/PR/Patrocinado. Many thanks to Scott Eubanks and BookSirens for this ARC of Ghosts in the Pines by Scott Eubanks, expected publication date Oct 20, 2026.

Mira Hawkshaw has hit rock bottom. Tough, wounded and vulnerable, and in the middle of a divorce from the local Chief of Police, she is trying to dull the pain with alcohol and one might stands, and failing miserably. Then her older sister Sarah goes missing, an elk head is mounted on the fence, and a car has been crashed straight into the living room. A car that looks just like the car Mira and Sarah’s dad had when he left the town decades ago.

Who took Sarah and why? Did Mira and Sarah’s dad return to Cedarpoint, Idaho after all this time? And if he did, why would he want to hurt Sarah? The more Mira digs, the more she realises that her father’s disappearance isn’t as simple as she first thought, and that whoever took Sarah is someone close to Mira.

But Mira isn’t just a bereaved sister. She’s the daughter of a man who taught his kids survival by leaving them alone in the wilderness, forcing them to either hone their hunting skills or die. As the snow falls and the clues are uncovered, Mira gets ready for one final hunt to uncover the truth about her dad and sister, once and for all. Will Mira be able to find redemption and finally leave her troubled past behind, or will this hunt turn out to be her last?

Raw and gritty, Ghosts in the Pines is full of suspense, fast-paced action and gruelling soul-searching as Mira battles her own demons as well as whoever took her sister. It’s a tough fight, both metaphorically and literally, as Mira takes punch after punch, to the gut, to her face and to her psyche as unresolved traumas resurface and someone determined to kill begins to target her.

If you enjoy dark, action-packed thrillers with flawed but fierce main characters who are pushed to the very brink of their survival and fight against the odds, you’ll want to check out Ghosts in the Pines. It’s tough and cold, just like the Idaho landscape it’s set in, but offers a glimmer of hope at the end of the road, and a chance for Mira to settle the score and leave the past behind once and for all.

Thriller