From the critically acclaimed author of the best-selling Ryan DeMarco Mystery series comes this collection of crime novellas and stories, Randall Silvis’s first collection since his The Luckiest Man in the World was awarded the 1984 Drue Heinz Literature Prize by Joyce Carol Oates. These six short stories and the title novella—a Ryan DeMarco series prequel—brilliantly showcase the author’s compelling storytelling coupled with the deep characterization and exquisite prose for which he is known. Murderers, grifters, and other unsavory characters people these stories, but so too do those struggling to make the world a kinder and less dangerous place. Praised by the New York Times Book Review as “a masterful storyteller,” Silvis once again demonstrates that he can write short fiction as hypnotic as his novels, and with a distinctive and versatile voice that marks him as one of the best writers at work today.

The perfect family. The perfect house. The perfect life. All gone now. What could cause a man, when all the stars of fortune are shining upon him, to suddenly snap and destroy everything he has built? This is the question that haunts Sergeant Ryan DeMarco after the wife and children of beloved college professor and bestselling author Thomas Huston are found slaughtered in their home. Huston himself has disappeared and so is immediately cast as the prime suspect. DeMarco knows—or thinks he knows—that Huston couldn't have been capable of murdering his family. But if Huston is innocent, why is he on the run? And does the half-finished manuscript he left behind contain clues to the mystery of his family's killer? A masterful new thriller by acclaimed author Randall Silvis, Two Days Gone is a taut, suspenseful story that will break your heart as much as it will haunt your dreams.

When long-buried secrets come back to the surface... The bones of seven young girls, picked clean and carefully preserved, discovered years ago... that's all Sergeant Ryan DeMarco knows about the unsolved crime he has unwittingly been roped into investigating during what is supposed to be a healing road trip with his new love, Jayme. DeMarco is still reeling from the case that led to death of his best friend months ago and wants nothing more than to lay low. Unfortunately, the small southern town of Jayme's idyllic youth is not exactly a place that lets strangers go unnoticed—especially strangers who have a history of solving violent crimes. And if there's anything DeMarco knows, it's that a killer always leaves clues behind, just waiting for the right person to come along and put all the pieces together... Walking the Bones is a story about things buried—memories, regrets, secrets, and bodies. Acclaimed author Randall Silvis delivers another heart-stopping investigation as DeMarco finds himself once again drawn into a case that will demand more of himself than he may be willing to give.

The third book in the acclaimed Ryan DeMarco mystery series finds DeMarco returning to Erie, Pennsylvania after his estranged wife attempts suicide and beginning an investigation into three recent murders in a nearby Ohio town that may be related to a cold case dating back to DeMarco's high school days.

There are good reasons to fear the dark... Former Sergeant Ryan DeMarco's life has been spent in defiancé—he's defied death, loneliness, and betrayal all while fighting the worst parts of humanity. He's earned a break, and following the devastation of their last case, DeMarco and his girlfriend Jayme want nothing more than to live quietly in each other's company. To forget the horrors they've experienced and work on making each other whole again. But dreams of a peaceful life together are shattered when two bodies are discovered in a smoldering car in the woods, and another is found brutally mutilated nearby. Much as he'd like to leave the case to his former colleagues, dark forces are at play and DeMarco cannot escape the vortex of lies, betrayal, and desperation. He and Jayme are dragged back into the fray, where they must confront the shady dealings of a close-knit rural community. In the highly-anticipated fourth installment in his critically-acclaimed series, Randall Silvis returns with a case that might break Ryan DeMarco for good.

A new mystery from Randall Silvis, critically acclaimed master of crime fiction When powerful men pull strings to get what they want... someone almost always ends up dead There's not much that would convince retired police sergeant Ryan DeMarco to take on another private investigation case, but he can't refuse a nine-year-old Michigan girl begging for help finding her biological father. The road trip to the Upper Peninsula promises DeMarco and his partner, Jayme, a chance to heal from their last case, which ended in a traumatic brush with death for DeMarco. But things aren't as they first appear in the woods of Michigan, and the seemingly simple paternity investigation soon morphs into something deadly. The deeper DeMarco, Jayme, and the rest of their team dig, the more ugly truths they reveal, all while doing their best to keep one member of their team, from falling prey to her own kind of darkness. This investigation just might be the most emotionally troubling one DeMarco and Jayme have yet encountered, for there are plenty of people who will do whatever it takes to shut them down before the truth comes to light.