Jessica Lourey | Reed and Steinbeck Thrillers

Catch Her in a Lie

Two agents on the trail of a serial killer. A mother and daughter on the trip of a lifetime. Fates converge in paradise in a chilling short story by an Amazon Charts bestselling author.

Cold case expert Evangeline Reed and forensics legend Harry Steinbeck are on their way from Minneapolis to Costa Rica. They’ve been ordered to keep close watch on a protective mother and her daughter, both of whom have troubling connections to a Minnesota serial killer. Are they on holiday? In hiding? Or on the run? It’s time for Van and Harry to close in on the truth. And there’s more at risk than anyone can imagine.

"Catch Her in a Lie" is part of Getaway, a collection of six stories about dream escapes that take unimaginable, even sinister, turns. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single sitting.

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The Taken Ones

A Reed and Steinbeck Thriller

Two girls vanished. A woman buried alive. Between two crimes lie decades of secrets yet to be unearthed in a pulse-pounding novel by the Edgar Award–nominated author of Unspeakable Things.

Summer 1980: Despite the local superstition that the Bendy Man haunts the woods, three girls go into a Minnesota forest. Only one comes out, dead silent, her memory gone. The mystery of the Taken Ones captures the nation.

Summer 2022: Cold case detective Van Reed and forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck are assigned a disturbing homicide—a woman buried alive, clutching a heart charm necklace belonging to one of the vanished girls. Van follows her gut. Harry trusts in facts. They’re both desperate to catch a killer before he kills again. They have something else in common: each has ties to the original case in ways they’re reluctant to share.

As Van and Harry connect the crimes of the past and the present, Van struggles with memories of her own nightmarish childhood—and the fear that uncovering the truth of the Taken Ones will lead her down a path from which she, too, may never return.

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“A master of building tension while maintaining a riveting pace, Lourey is a hell of a writer on all fronts, but her greatest talent may be her characters. Agent Evangeline Reed, an agent with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, is a woman with a devastating past and the haunting ability to know the darkest crimes happening around her. She is also exactly the kind of character I would happily follow through a dozen books. This is a 2023 must read.” —Danielle Girard, USA Today & Amazon #1 Bestselling author of Up Close

"Setting the standard for top-notch thrillers, The Taken Ones is smart, compelling and filled with utterly real characters. Lourey brings her formidable storytelling talent to the game, and, on top of that, wows us with a deft stylistic touch. This is a one-sitting read!" —Jeffery Deaver, author of The Bone Collector and The Watchmaker’s Hand

The Taken Ones has Jess Lourey’s trademark of suspense all the way. A damaged and brave heroine, an equally damaged evildoer, and missing girls from long ago all combine to keep the reader rushing through to the explosive ending.” —New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris

The Reaping

Out September 3, 2024

By-the-book forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck and rogue BCA agent Van Reed must catch a cold-case killer who’s returned to abduct a small town’s children one by one in this heart-stopping novel from the Edgar Award–nominated author of The Taken Ones.

In 1998 an Alku, Minnesota, family of five was brutally murdered in their sleep. The event shook the insulated community but, without any solid leads, was relegated to the cold case files, where it moldered for twenty-five years. Until today.

Agent Harry Steinbeck hoped never to return to the northland, a place that holds terrible memories of his sister’s abduction. But when a recent homicide is connected to Alku’s unsolved mass murder, he and cold case agent Evangeline Reed have no choice but to investigate.

The case grows impossibly darker as, one by one, the children of Alku begin disappearing. And Harry and Van can’t shake the sensation that someone is watching every move they make.

As an elusive killer’s trail leads to a truth more sinister than either imagined, Harry knows there’s only one way to crack this case: he must finally face the secrets of his own past—even if doing so will cost him everything.

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“A gruesome murder. A bizarre town. And one of fiction’s best new detective pairings. Jess Lourey weaves together an incredibly unique story, taut with suspense and filled with odd characters you’ll find creepy, fall in love with, and suspect—all at the same time. I tore through this book.” —John McMahon, Edgar Award Finalist, The Good Detective

“In The Reaping, Jess Lourey, a master at digging into the dark underbelly of Minnesota Nice, has created a riveting, intense, and disturbing tale with nightmarish killers and deeply relatable detectives. This twisty, heart-filled masterpiece set in an isolated town will haunt you long after you turn the last page.” —Kristi Belcamino, USA Today bestselling author

“Jess Lourey cements herself as the master of creepy small towns with The Reaping, a twisted and twisty tale through Alku, MN, an insulated community where secrets govern everything.” —Tony Wirt, bestselling author of Just Stay Away

Reed and Steinbeck Thrillers

A by-the-book forensic scientist and a rogue BCA agent are forced to work together to crack infamous cold cases.

Catch Her in a Lie

The Taken Ones

The Reaping