Suicide or the perfect cover-up? Kenzi Brannon loves the single life in California. She hasn't looked back since the day she walked away from her painful past. Everything comes crashing down when Kenzi gets a call about her estranged sister's suicide. If that news isn't shocking enough, she also learns that she is now guardian to Ember, a niece she doesn’t even know. Kenzi heads up north and finds herself in her family’s long-abandoned house. Neighbors whisper rumors of hauntings, but Kenzi has a more serious concern—mounting evidence points to her sister’s death not being self-inflicted. When things in the house move seemingly on their own, Ember thinks it’s ghosts. But Kenzi fears something far more sinister. Could the person who killed her sister now be after her and her niece?

Some questions are better left unasked. Like whose blood is on the knife upstairs. Kenzi Brannon’s life was turned upside down when she moved into her family’s abandoned home to raise her niece. Problems compound when her aging mother starts to remember things. And clues the police find regarding the knife don’t match anything Kenzi knows about her family. Things go from bad to worse when she and her niece discover something horrifying in their house. But not even that compares to the strange ways her mom is acting. Can they get to the bottom of it all, or will their house—a local legend that goes bump in the night—and the family secrets destroy them all? Family Secrets is the second standalone in the Brannon House series, an exciting and hair-raising domestic thriller by USA Today bestselling author Stacy Claflin. To get the most enjoyment from the series, the books are best read in order. You can start with The Perfect Death if you haven't read that yet. Or start here, if you prefer.

How many secrets can one house hide? Kenzi Brannon has always dreaded going down to the dark basement of the old Brannon house she grew up in. Now an adult, she’s returned home to find her apprehension has intensified. She avoids that locked door and the secrets beyond in hope that ignoring the problem will keep long-forgotten horrors buried. A neighbor’s obsession with her house and history has rekindled Kenzi’s old fears. And reconnecting with someone from her past may force her to face what she’s been running from her entire life. And that might not be the worst of it. The garden her family is restoring could conceal something far more terrifying than anything inside the house. Something that could rip her newly found family apart. Some people say the truth will set you free. Kenzi can’t help but feel that it will destroy everything.

Most family ties are silken threads. Others are literally handcuffs. Kenzi Brannon thinks most of her problems are behind her until she gets a call from the local jail. Her mother, a proven killer, is being released due to overcrowding. Blood takes care of blood, so there is no turning Regina away. She returns to live at Brannon House. A haunted house. A house reputedly so cursed, some neighbors want it razed to the ground. But her niece’s friends and the rest of the town would love to explore. And Halloween seems like the perfect time to open their doors to the community. Despite Regina promising to be on her best behavior, Kenzi has concerns her mother might do something to ruin the evening. It turns out far worse than she feared. With innocent lives on the line, Kenzi must put a stop to her mother’s maniacal actions—but first, she’ll have to find her.

The Brannon House stands as a deceptive facade, its past horrors refusing to dissipate into the shadows. Ember Brannon is inexplicably drawn to an old gravestone bearing her own name, its forgotten presence casting an unsettling pall over her family's ancestral home. As she becomes fixated on the stone and the long-forgotten life it represents, Ember's reality begins to unravel. Vivid dreams transport her to a time shrouded in mystery, the tragic demise of her namesake becomes an obsession she won’t release. Obsessions have their price. Ember awakens with muddy feet, evidence of nocturnal wanderings she can't remember. The discovery of a hidden diary, chronicling the life of the other Ember, triggers a relentless spiral into fascination and compulsion. Her loved ones try to stop her, but she pushes everyone away. Within the opulent halls of the Brannon House, Ember hurtles toward an impending breaking point. Is she fated to echo the tragedies that haunt her lineage, becoming another ghost within the estate's dark history? Or will she find the strength to confront the enigma she's become, and the danger that now stalks her every move? In this psychological thriller, the legacy of the Brannon House tightens its grip, pushing Ember to the brink of sanity. As her world teeters on the edge of collapse, she must navigate the thin line between legacy and lunacy.