Trouble might be her only name... From an elite Charleston, South Carolina family, Officer Ellie Kline is the black sheep in the family. Her parents have always tried to protect her, especially since she was kidnapped at the tender age of fifteen. But with her eye on being promoted to Charleston PD detective, it’s her mission to protect and serve the people of her beloved, dignified city. And protect she does. She can’t help it if she goes overboard sometimes, losing partners and getting suspended. Instincts honed from the evil that once tried to possess her, Officer Kline can spot a crime in progress almost before it happens. So when a little girl is behaving oddly, Ellie will do everything in her power to make sure she doesn’t suffer the same fate she did at the hands of a monster.

Say the words... In a dark basement, a cold-blooded killer pits friend against friend, torturing one until the other says the horrible words that will end their friend’s suffering. He’s gotten away with murder for years. Until now... Ellie Kline can’t remember most of her kidnapping when she was fifteen, but that night has shaped her life. Instead of cowering, that horrible night made her strong. Determined to prove herself as a cop despite being heir to the Kline fortune, she never backs down, and she never takes no for an answer. When the daring takedown of a suspect catapults her into the spotlight, it earns her a promotion...and the admiration of a killer. Now a detective assigned to the Cold Case Unit, Ellie is drawn into the mysterious murder of a young, unidentified college-age woman with no missing persons’ report, no leads, and no evidence. Even more shocking is that, while she was tortured extensively, her death was quick. But as Ellie delves deeper, she discovers a startling connection between the woman found dismembered in a park and another Jane Doe case. Is there more? As hazy memories of her own past begin to surface, it’s not only her family and the brass at Charleston PD who are watching her every move. Someone lurks in the shadows, ready to kill if Ellie’s journey into history gets too close to the cold truth.

Hunt or be hunted... On a farm in the backwoods of Charleston, South Carolina, a hunter stalks prey—the two legged kind. And it’s not the first time. New players have emerged in the underground human trafficking ring lurking in the shadows of the dignified city, ramping up the stakes. Coming off the high of solving her first case as a Charleston PD detective, Ellie Kline has linked several Cold Cases together, leading her to the chilling discovery that a serial killer has been watching her for years. Details from the night she was kidnapped when she was fifteen are surfacing, but not fast enough. The man whose voice she still hears in her head is a brutal killer, one responsible for countless murders of women. She has to find him, stop him. Assigned to a new John Doe cold case, Ellie is surprised to also find evidence of a missing woman. Suspicions that her beloved city of Southern charm is the center of an ever swirling circle of human trafficking become all too real. When a lead takes her into the darkest parts of the internet, she’s one step closer to solving her own abduction. Ellie’s case will take her on a cold and dangerous hunt that leads her to a truth no one could have predicted.

Monsters hide in the dark until it’s time to feed. Puppets. Toys. That’s all his captives are to him. He’s the master, the one in complete control, and he’s planning on recreating the night he kidnapped Ellie when she was fifteen. Ellie Kline’s life has never been the same since that night thirteen years ago. Now a detective in the Cold Case Division of Charleston Police Department, she’s compiled a mountain of evidence against a dirty detective, revealing betrayal within the department. Determined to reveal the truth, Ellie enlists the help of her best friend, CPD file clerk Jillian Reed, to help her prove she’s not just paranoid. But as the anniversary of the day she escaped a serial killer nears, the murderous villain is coming to finish what he started. She beat him once before, and when he takes someone close to her, she has to hope she can outplay him again. This time, she’s not a child. And the master is only a man.

Sometimes the prey eats the predator... The only way to take his power from women is to kill. Lucky’s playground is America’s cold highways, and in twenty years he’s never been caught. Only perfected his skills, leaving countless victims in his dust. Dr. Kingsley, the man who kidnapped Detective Ellie Kline when she was fifteen, is in the wind. But if he’s incapacitated and on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, has someone taken his place? Partnered with Special Agent Clay Lockwood to crack open a case as horrifying as the human trafficking ring Ellie and the Charleston PD broke open, all signs point to a new master, or mistress, of a terror that went under with the master. But Ellie is determined more than ever to bring this ring of terror down, and she’s now got Special Agent Clay Lockwood at her side. When someone very close to Ellie is taken, the hunt turns personal once again.

Evil doesn’t always stay in its grave... With The Master and his mistress hiding in the shadows, Charleston PD Detective Ellie Kline resumes the investigation of the dozen bodies found on Tucker Penland’s property. The man who hunted his prey has left behind a horrific mystery that affects the whole police department. Every death tied to Tucker Penland raises more questions than answers, and Ellie must piece together clues to help identify each victim. Their families need closure. So does she. But she can’t escape the feeling that Dr. Kingsley, the man who kidnapped her when she was fifteen, is still out there, waiting to strike. But what can she do? Her kidnapping case was taken out of her hands, and the new detective wastes no time pointing fingers in her direction. Worse, her colleagues believe she’s obsessed with a ghost. When a threatening package arrives on her doorstep, a call to Agent Clay Lockwood leads to a startling revelation. No one is safe. Not even one of their own.

The deadliest monsters live outside the shadows... Katarina, The Master’s protégé, is making a comeback one mark at a time, but she’s slowly losing her razor-sharp edge. Seeking revenge, she’s making bloody mistakes that just might cost her the one true desire of her heart. When The Master—aka Dr. Kingsley, the monster who kidnapped Cold Case Detective Ellie Kline as a teen—surfaces, Ellie and Special Agent Clay Lockwood track him to Florida. Each new horrifying clue adds a new whirl to the circle of evil that’s growing wider and wider. Now, it’s circling back on itself. When Ellie was a beat cop, she saved a child from Katarina’s clutches. Little Harmony is missing again. This time, a secret is being exposed one terrible illegal adoption at a time. The circle’s evil fingers are wrapping tighter aroun

Revenge is a dish best served cold... Since she was fifteen years old, one man has hovered in the background of Charleston Cold Case Detective Ellie Kline’s life, like a sinister ghost watching from the shadows. She nearly caught him once. Instead, she maimed him. Badly. As a result, Dr. Lawrence Kingsley retreated underground to lick his wounds and transform into a new façade of evil. Ellie always knew that, sooner or later, the murderous psychiatrist would reappear. That time has come. When his former assistant goes missing from federal protection, Ellie races to Oregon in a desperate attempt to locate Kingsley before the killer can spill more blood. Will Ellie track him down in time, or will The Master once again declare victory in his game of life and death?

The cold trail offers no place to hide... On New Year’s Eve, Charleston Cold Case Detective Ellie Kline vows this will be the year she finally brings Dr. Lawrence Kingsley to justice. Not only did the elusive serial killer force her to play his twisted games as a teen, but his reign of terror has killed countless other victims and traumatized the few who survived. When her boss hands her the files containing dozens of trafficked children, she’s instructed to close as many as possible. Drawn by the case of a twelve-year-old boy who disappeared sixteen years ago, Ellie decides that Kingsley—who also vanished without a trace—will have to wait. Before long, the autistic boy isn’t the only missing person Ellie must follow the clues to find. One by one, those who once escaped Kingsley’s snare begin to disappear. It’s only a matter of time before Ellie’s next. Each shocking twist and turn of Cold Trail, the eighth book of Mary Stone and Donna Berdel’s Ellie Kline series, leads to a wild goose chase where the hunter becomes the hunted in a thriller that will convince you of one thing...safety is only an illusion.

Kill or be killed... Despite her blossoming relationship with Clay Lockwood, Charleston police detective Ellie Kline will never find her happily ever after until Dr. Lawrence Kingsley is locked away for good...or dead. Not only did the sociopathic psychiatrist kidnap Ellie when she was fifteen, the serial killer has murdered or traumatized everyone Ellie has sworn to protect. She's no longer looking for justice...she’s looking for vengeance. Now, with Kingsley’s protégé in a psych ward, it’s up to Ellie to find Katerina’s young daughter, Bethany, the latest victim of Kingsley’s monstrous machinations, before he kills again. But there’s nothing Kingsley loves more than a game of cat and mouse, with Ellie as his unwilling opponent. Before long, Ellie is drawn into the doctor’s twisted game as he leaves her clues that lead her on a dangerous hunt—one that could finally put an end to Kingsley...or to Ellie and everyone she loves. Lock your doors, steel yourself, and hold on tight for Cold Death, the bone-chillingly nerve-racking and thrilling conclusion to the Ellie Kline Series.

Cross my heart and hope to die... With the death of the serial killer who kidnapped and tortured her as a child, Charleston Police Detective Ellie Kline is finally free. But with a traumatized girl to care for and a new lead detective who questions both her mental health and her investigation techniques, Ellie’s problems are far from over. When the body of a young man is found outside a downtown bar, Ellie is pulled off the cold case files and assigned to investigate the homicide. This isn’t a typical murder scene, but it’s one that’s chillingly familiar. The removal of the victim’s heart and the letters C and K written in the victim’s blood indicate the work of a serial killer who chooses one victim per year...on Valentine’s Day. But as the body count grows, it seems their killer has gotten hungrier for hearts. Now, it’s up to Ellie to find him before he claims his next Valentine.

It’s judgment day... Charleston police detective Ellie Kline has been skating on thin ice since she overrode protocol to stop the Cupid Killer. But when a former drug dealer turned family man is knifed to death, her new boss pulls her in on the case. The new lead detective is convinced it’s just another gang-related murder. But this was intimate. Savage. Personal. And exactly like the homicide of another low-level gang member who’d recently been released from prison. There’s a vigilante out there, and he’s not finished crossing names off his list. Ellie is determined to find the connection between the two victims before the case gets shoved to the backburner and a possible serial killer roams free. But as her own emotional state spirals out of control, Ellie must face her own demons before she loses everything—and everyone—she loves. The stakes have never been higher than they are in Cold Judgment, the eleventh book in Mary Stone’s bestselling Ellie Kline Series. Justice will be served...one way or another.

With their relationship going through a rough patch, FBI Special Agent Clay Lockwood decides to take some time away and head to Goose Creek, a small suburb of Charleston where his sister and her boyfriend are living in a group home. Homicide Detective Ellie Kline, still suspended by the Charleston PD, accompanies him. But life is never peaceful for the two of them, as they arrive just in time for a grisly murder to be revealed. When the overmatched local sheriff doesn’t seem to have the resources to solve the crime, Clay and Ellie decide to help—whether the sheriff likes it or not. Scroll up to pre-order your copy today!

On a crash course with death. Ellie Kline’s return to the world of crime investigation is heralded by two unexpected texts. The first bears unsettling news from her mother...a family friend has been found dead under mysterious circumstances. Was it an accident, suicide, or foul play? Before Ellie can process this family tragedy, the second text arrives, jolting her back into professional mode. The Charleston Police Department, grappling with a case that could shake the city’s upper crust, lifts Ellie’s suspension but pairs her with a partner to investigate the case. A lone ranger at heart, Ellie isn’t pleased. But as a scion of a respected family, Ellie’s deep roots in Charleston’s elite circles make her the perfect choice to untangle the web surrounding one of their own’s tragic end. Embarking on a journey through the labyrinth of high society, Ellie’s search for the truth yields more questions than answers. Each interview leads to frustrating dead ends. And more dead bodies. With the line between ally and enemy blurring, Ellie’s quest for the truth turns into a race against a killer determined to keep the past buried. A killer’s vendetta turns eerily personal in Cold Crash, the thirteenth book of Mary Stone’s best-selling Ellie Kline series, thrusting Ellie into a deadly game where skeletons don’t just lurk in closets—they lie in wait.

Dig up the past, and you might end up buried with it. Charleston Police Detective Ellie Kline prefers to work alone, especially after her last partner killed a suspect just as he was about to reveal details of a sprawling human trafficking conspiracy infiltrating the city's elite. When Ellie is called to a new crime scene—featuring the corpse of a senator’s bodyguard—she plans to handle it alone. Unfortunately, her new boss has other ideas. Once again saddled with the detective who derailed her previous case, Ellie investigates the murder of the ex-cop turned bodyguard, found shot at point-blank range with a chilling note pinned to his shirt: Just the beginning. Tell Senator Stevens to watch his back. Is the senator truly the target, or is it a coverup for something far more sinister? When another former cop from the same precinct dies under strange circumstances, the coincidences become impossible to ignore. Especially amidst rumors of bribes and corruption within the department that her partner refuses to take seriously. Three things become starkly clear. Ellie can’t trust anyone. The victims harbored secrets worth killing for. And the killer will strike again unless she can stop him first. The body count keeps rising in Cold Theory, the fourteenth book of Mary Stone’s bestselling Ellie Kline series. Because when you dig up the past, the skeletons might want you dead.

One murder is chance. Two is coincidence. Three is death. Life can change in the blink of an eye. One moment, Charleston Homicide Detective Ellie Kline is staring at the man of her dreams, her heart ready to say yes to the biggest question of her life. The next, she’s staring at the blood-soaked crime scene where her martial arts instructor was murdered—and her father stands accused. Love is patient. Murder isn’t. Ellie knows her father isn’t capable of murder. He’s a fixture in Charleston, renowned for his philanthropy. He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time covered in the wrong man’s blood. So why was he meeting the Krav Maga dojo, a man he claims to barely know? Unfortunately, no one’s talking. Her mother’s dodging questions. Her father is silent. Her mentor is dead. And every one of them is lying. As Ellie scrambles to understand it all, she’s summoned to investigate the execution-style murder of a CFO. But she soon suspects the two murders—and her father—are somehow connected. Ellie’s parents are hiding something. Something worth killing for. And unless Ellie can figure out what, her father is next on the killer’s list. Unfinished business is getting wrapped up in Cold Finish, the fifteenth book of Mary Stone’s bestselling Ellie Kline series. Because dead men can’t tell secrets.