The Family at No. 12 by Anita Waller

The Family at No. 12 by Anita Waller

When Janette answers the door to a potential customer looking to board his dog, she never imagines he has nefarious plans. But minutes later he’s dead and in her cellar. Weeks later she realises she’s pregnant. And so she becomes Mother and the baby Child, and a hidden life begins. But all secrets come out eventually . .

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape & pregnancy from rape
  • Murder

My Little Brother by Diane Saxon

My Little Brother by Diane Saxon

Two siblings, both missing for 20 years turn up within one day of each other. One dead. One alive. It was an ordinary school day, the day I lost my little brother.
One moment he was on the roundabout and then was gone. Gone. Missing. They all blamed me. I was in charge. Even though I was only ten years old. They sent me away. The hurt, the shame, the questions. The not knowing. I tried to move on. It’s been nineteen years in exile and now somebody wants me back. Someone with a dark secret. They hold the keys, they know the truth. So, I need to return to my childhood village to find out who, because I have a secret, too… I did something bad.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Familial estrangement
  • Parental infidelity recounted
  • Filicide of an autistic son
  • Murder of a partner
  • Death of a brother
  • Disappearance of a sibling recounted

The Waitress by Nina Manning

The Waitress by Nina Manning

Nameless. Faceless. Deadly? Waitress Kit Lowman knows that people look down on her and the job she does. But being anonymous offers Kit safety and security and allows her own terrible secrets to remain hidden. And then Kit’s luck changes, and she suddenly faces a terrible dilemma: reveal her true identity and accept that life will never be the same. Or stay in the shadows…where she hopes she’ll be safe? But secrets can’t stay hidden forever. And the more Kit tries to hide away, the more someone makes it clear that they are going to make her pay for what she did.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Depression
  • Animal cruelty
  • Animal death (dog)

The Widow by Valerie Keogh

The Widow by Valerie Keogh

Grieving or guilty? When Allison’s wealthy and charming husband Peter is found dead, she appears distraught, devastated… delighted? Because despite an apparently picture-perfect marriage, Allison knows it was all built on a bed of lies. And as the truth regarding Peter’s life and death are revealed, Alison must try to keep her own dark past buried. Because if Peter was keeping secrets, then his widow is too…

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a husband

One Little Lie by Sam Carrington

One Little Lie by Sam Carrington

Deborah’s son was killed four years ago. Alice’s son is in prison for committing that crime. Deborah would give anything to have her boy back, and Alice would do anything to right her son’s wrongs. Driven by guilt and the need for redemption, Alice has started a support group for parents with troubled children. But as the network begins to grow, she soon finds out just how easy it is for one little lie to spiral out of control. They call it mother’s intuition, but can you ever really know your own child?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a son by murder recounted
  • Filicide by suffocation
  • Imprisonment

The Room in the Attic by Louise Douglas

The Room in the Attic by Louise Douglas

In 1903, fishermen find a wrecked boat containing a woman, who has been badly beaten, and a young girl. An ambulance is sent for, and the two survivors are taken to All Hallows, the imposing asylum, hidden deep on Dartmoor. The woman remains in a coma, but the little girl, who the staff name Harriet, awakens and is taken to an attic room, far away from the noise of the asylum, and is put in the care of Nurse Emma Everdeen. In 1993, All Hallows is now a boarding school. Following his mother’s death and his father’s hasty remarriage, Lewis Tyler is banished to Dartmoor… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Psychiatric hospitalisation including unethical treatment of patients involving being tied down and drugged
  • Physical injuries & illness
  • Parent in a coma
  • Death of a mother recounted
  • Fire

The Happy Family by Jackie Kabler

The Happy Family by Jackie Kabler

When Beth was 10 years old, her beautiful, wild mother Alice walked out and never came back. Beth’s life since hasn’t always been smooth sailing, but now she is happy and settled, with a successful career, a loving family and a beautiful home. Then one day there’s a knock at the door. Alice has returned. Overjoyed to have the chance to rebuild their relationship, Beth invites her mother to move in. At first, everything seems wonderful. But then Beth’s friends begin to drift away, strange things start to happen at home, and rumours begin to circle about her past… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Divorce
  • Alcohol consumption

The Serial Killer’s Girl by LH Stacey

The Serial Killer’s Girl by L.H. Stacey

Lexi Jakes thought she could run from her past. But when her biological mother is found dead, strangled with a red silk scarf and holding a chess piece, Lexi knows that her worst nightmare has come true. Because the murder has all the hallmarks of her own serial killer father, renown strangler Peter Graves. Now with her own precious daughter’s life in danger, Lexi will do anything to keep her child safe…she is her father’s daughter after all.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Murder of a mother by strangulation
  • Imprisonment of a parent for serial murders
  • Animal abuse

There Are No Saints by Sophie Lark

There Are No Saints by Sophie Lark

I loathe Alastor Shaw. The city of San Francisco thinks we’re rival artists. In truth, we’re predators battling for hunting ground. We never chased the same prey. Until the night we both laid eyes on Mara Eldritch. Shaw wants to use her as a pawn in his twisted game. I’m fixated on her for a different reason… She makes me feel things I never thought I could feel. Want things I never wanted. Only she can make me lose control. I don’t know if I should protect her at all cost or destroy her before she ruins me. Mara knows I’m no saint. But she has no idea she’s dancing with the devil…

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse mentioned
  • Self-harm mentioned
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping
  • Stalking

Shutter by Ramona Emerson

Shutter by Ramona Emerson

Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque police force. Her excellent photography skills have cracked many cases—she is almost supernaturally good at capturing details. In fact, Rita has been hiding a secret: she sees the ghosts of crime victims who point her toward the clues that other investigators overlook. As a lone portal back to the living for traumatized spirits, Rita is terrorized by nagging ghosts who won’t let her sleep and who sabotage her personal life. Her taboo and psychologically harrowing ability was.… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Drug use
  • Pregnancy
  • Murder