Nora Watts

The brilliant, fearless, deeply flawed Nora Watts-introduced in the "utterly compelling" (Jeffery Deaver) atmospheric thriller The Lost Ones-finds deadly trouble as she searches for the truth about her late father in this immersive thriller that moves from the hazy Canadian Pacific Northwest to the gritty, hollowed streets of Detroit. Growing up, Nora Watts only knew one parent-her father. When he killed himself, she denied her grief and carried on with her life. Then a chance encounter with a veteran who knew him raises disturbing questions Nora can't ignore-and dark emotions she can't control. To make her peace with the past, she has to confront it. Finding the truth about her father's life and his violent death takes her from Vancouver to Detroit where Sam Watts grew up, far away from his people and the place of his birth. Thanks to a disastrous government policy starting in the 1950s, thousands of Canadian native children like Sam were adopted by American families. In the Motor City, Nora discovers that the circumstances surrounding Sam's suicide are more unsettling than she'd imagined. Yet no matter how far away Nora gets from Vancouver, she can't shake trouble. Back in the Pacific Northwest, former police detective turned private investigator Jon Brazuca is looking into the overdose death of a billionaire's mistress. His search uncovers a ruthless opiate ring and a startling connection to Nora, the infuriatingly distant woman he'd once tried to befriend. He has no way to warn or protect her, because she's become a ghost, vanishing completely off the grid. Focused on the mysterious events of her father's past and the clues they provide to her own fractured identity and that of her estranged daughter, Nora may not be able to see the danger heading her way until it's too late. But it's not her father's old ties that could get her killed-it's her own.

On a surveillance assignment for a child custody case, PI-in-training Nora Watts finds herself ensconced in a small farming community on a beautiful hippie island in the Pacific Northwest, a place with a reputation for being welcoming to outsiders. But when she arrives there, she discovers her welcome quickly wears thin. Perhaps too quickly.  Salt Spring Island, with a history as a refuge for African Americans fleeing the bonds of slavery, is not a place of refuge for her-and, she suspects, may not be for the people who live there, either.  As she investigates, nothing about this remote community seems to add up. It gets personal as Nora confronts her own complicated feelings toward her estranged daughter and becomes increasingly concerned about the child she's been tasked to surveil. She discovers that small, idyllic communities can hide very big secrets.  Included with this short story is a sneak peek at the next Nora Watts novel from Sheena Kamal, It All Falls Down

A People Magazine Best New Book Pick Named a Most Anticipated Book of the Year by CrimeReads, LitHub, and Book Riot!  "If you're looking for a dark, moody, complex thriller with a complex woman protagonist this is your series. I love love love these books."--Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of Hunger From Strand Critics Award winner Sheena Kamal, comes the third novel featuring the brilliant, fearless, deeply flawed Nora Watts whose vendetta against a triad enforcer escalates when he places a target on her daughter's back. Find your enemy. Before he finds you. Nora Watts has a talent for seeing what lies beneath strangers' surfaces, and for knowing what they're working hard to keep hidden. Somehow, it's the people closest to her she has trouble truly connecting with. In the case of Bonnie, the teenage daughter Nora gave up for adoption, she has to keep trying. For Bonnie has a target on her back-and it's all because of Nora. Two years ago, Bonnie was kidnapped by the wealthy Zhang family. Though Nora rescued her, she made a powerful enemy in Dao, a mysterious triad enforcer and former head of the Zhangs' private security. Now Dao is out for revenge, and she needs to track him down in order to keep herself-and Bonnie-safe. On Dao's trail, Nora forms an unlikely partnership with Bernard Lam, an eccentric playboy billionaire with his own mysterious grudge to bear, and reunites with Jon Brazuca, ex-cop turned private investigator and Nora's occasional ally. From Canada to southeast Asia they pursue Dao, uncovering a shadowy criminal cabal. But soon, the trail will lead full circle to Vancouver, the only home Nora's ever known, and right to the heart of her brutal past.