Caroline Crane Books In Order

Summer Girl

Fourteen might seem a little young for a full-time mother’s helper, but Mary Shelburne wasn’t worried. Prim and responsible Cinni was the best girl Mary interviewed. With two small children and another on the way, Mary needed help that summer at their rented beach house on the tip of Long Island. Her husband Gavin could join them only on weekends.

By the time summer arrives, Cinni has changed. Gone are the owlish glas*ses and the dumpy figure. Cinni is indeed mature, but not in a way Mary would have suspected. At first Mary doubts her own sanity. Who would believe that such a polite, quiet girl could be a threat-until it’s too late? Eaten by envy, Cinni is determined to take over Mary’s life and will stop at nothing, even murder. By the time Mary understands this, Cinni has the upper hand. The whole Shelburne family is pulled into a web of vicious terror.

The Girls Are Missing

Before her marriage to Carl Gilwood, life for Joyce, a widow, was filled with hardship. Now she can make a new beginning for herself and her young daughter Gail. Now Gail will have a chance to grow up safe in the surburbs…

Until two girls are reported missing. Until Gail and her friend, playing one summer afternoon in the woods, make a grisly discovery. Then another missing girl is found murdered.

The crimes are hideous, the work of a maniac, an irrational killer. His victims could be anybody. So could he. Is he the local wino, or some neighbor hiding behind a fa?ade of respectability? Panic rages. The heat is on Police Chief Frank D Amico to find the killer before another girl dies. The murders go on. With Carl at work all day, Joyce is left to cope alone. And to wonder. Her life is falling apart. Her family is in danger from more than just the murders. Then Gail and her playmate disappear…

Coast of Fear

Jessica Hayden’s best friend, a lovely French girl, is killed by a mugger on an American College campus. Now Jessica has traveled to the Riviera, where the slain girl lived, to pay a sympathy call on her family. But someone doesn t want her there. She is stalked by a man whom she recognizes as one of the last to visit her friend. Her hotel room is searched, and acts of violence follow. By now it is clear that her friend s death was much more than a senseless mugging. Whatever the reason, Jessica is involved, but she does not know how or why. With Jessica s life in danger, two men one a charming American, the other a dazzling Frenchman both claim they want to help her, but who can she trust? Who is the shadowy enemy that wants her dead, and why? It s up to Jessica to save herself, and when she thinks the terror is finally over, she discovers it s only beginning. Here, set on the beautiful French Riviera, is a compelling story of romance and terror that twists and turns to a surprising climax.

Wife Found Slain

A woman wakes in a hospital bed, helpless after a near fatal accident. With her jaw wired shut, she can t scream when a masked man creeps into her room. She doesn t know who he is. She doesn t even know who she is. The man flees, but he will be back. Her shattered mind knows that much. Someone wants her dead. Gradually her memory begins to return. She remembers the teenage Lyn Garrity applying for a job and falling in love with her married boss. Owen’s marriage was on the rocks and he returned her love. She remembers the glamorous dates, the night drives under city lights, the trysts in an elegant apartment overlooking Central Park. Trying to right the wrong of her illicit romance, Lyn ended their affair, but she could not forget Owen. Then tragedy struck Owen s family, bringing horror in its wake, and finally happiness. Lyn remembers everything now or does she? Leaving the hospital, she returns to her husband and children. But something is wrong. Things are not what they seem, or what they should be. And the man who tried to kill her still watches and waits. He will come again. Very soon.

The Foretelling

Drafted into telling fortunes at a fund raising carnival, Angela Dawn prepares herself by studying a book on palmistry, never dreaming that lives will be changed by her predictions. On carnival night, Angela sees thngs she does not want to see. For two people, she forecasts an early death. One receives her warning; the other does not. For her best friend she predicts a head injury and possible suicide. When an accident makes the first part come true, the prophecy threatens to become self fulfilling. Will the rest happen, too? The most glowing future goes to wealthy Glen Fabian. Glen is too sophisticated to believe in fortune telling, until the fulfillment of a tragic prophecy makes it all seem possible. But there will be a high price to pay for his success. Angela stands by helplessly as lives are shattered all because her predictions are taken seriously. No one believes her when she tries to convince them it was only in fun. As for herself, which will be her fate the happy marriage or the early death? Here is a chilling story of terror triggered by an innocent game, with few winners and many losers.

The Third Passenger

The terror begins with a phone call in the night. A little boy has been injured, hit by a car. Hundreds of miles away his frantic mother, Diane Hastings, tries to reach him by the earliest flight. It is a holiday weekend and no seats are available. In desperation she turns to her former lover, Travis, an amateur pilot. That same night, shots ring out in the city. A teen age girl falls dead, victim of a restaurant holdup. The bandit, fleeing on foot, disappears. The next morning, when Diane, Travis, and his young daughter Shelley embark on their trip upstate, they are joined by a stranger who begs for a ride to reach his sick wife in Montreal. Over the frozen Adirondack wilderness, the plane is forced down. Diane and Travis, both injured in the crash, are left for dead. Shelley is taken hostage by the stranger. The temperature plummets and a snowstorm begins, making rescue impossible. With Travis in danger of dying from his injuries, Diane must do something. But what? The stranger, armed and vicious, is out there in the snow, ready to strike at any moment.

Trick or Treat

Life has been good for the three Lonergans, until one tragic Halloween when young Patty dies from poisoned candy. Her grieving father, Brian, swears he will find the murderer. He starts with the Freaney family across the street, in whose house his daughter died. Then more deaths occur. The culprit wasnt candy but ordinary sugar tainted with a powerful poison. The police do their best, but Brian wont let go. He is obsessed with tracking down the killer. His wife, Theresa, shrinking from more violence, tries to stop him. She does not tell him her terrible secret. She is haunted by a man named Michael, a man she never sees but only hears. Is he real? A hallucination? Who is he? Then there are the hours that vanish from her days. What does she do and where does she go in those times she cant remember? Her life may depend on finding the answers. Their neighbor, Leonard Freaney, holds a piece of the puzzle, a piece that could shatter Theresa forever. This psychological thriller rushes toward a startling climax as Theresa, having discovered Michaels identity, fights for her life, and Brian learns the truth of his daughters death.

Woman Vanishes

To save herself and her small daughter, Pauline must disappear. During the night, her husband Jarvis packed a bag and silently drove away. In a farewell note he begged her, for her own safety, not to look for him. That evening, two strange men arrive to inform her that Jarvis owes them $40,000. To save his failing business, Jarvis tried to get a bank loan. When the bank refused, he went to loan sharks, these men who now tell Pauline that she is responsible for her husband’s debt and the $2,000 weekly interest. If she doesn’t pay, her little daughter Kirby might become the victim of an ‘accident.’ The police will not protect her without solid evidence. Her friends in the affluent suburb do not want to be involved. She will have to take Kirby and go into hiding, lose herself in teeming New York City. But she has no money and few connections there. Where will she stay? How will she live? Here is an engrossing story of a woman whose frantic

Something Evil

A teenager has been kidnapped. The ransom was paid, but Amy is still missing. Detective Mike Tarasco turns to his friend Solomon Thayer, a professional psychic, for help. Solomon sees the girl in an underground vault. He sees that there have been others victimized by the same person. As Solomon searches for the girl, his feelings about the kidnapper grow stronger. He senses something terrible, Something Evil. But hampered by personal problems, he is unable to concentrate. His young wife, rebelling against an unsatisfying marriage, has been seeing another man, but she does not want to hurt Solomon. Because he is psychic, she must block her thoughts. Aware that something is happening, he struggles to penetrate her mental wall as she struggles to protect it. Meanwhile, a man is caught with some of the ransom money. He confesses to the kidnapping, but cannot tell the police where Amy is. They think they have their perpetrator. Solomon disagrees, but no one listens. He is losing his wife and his credibility. Then the killer strikes again. And again. The story races toward a startling climax as Solomon engages in a life and death struggle for everything that he and others hold precious.

Someone at the Door

Gwen Faris has a handsome husband, a three year old autistic son, and an attractive home in suburban Long Island. And she has a new baby on the way. Why then, after phoning her sister Cathleen that the baby was coming, did she disappear?When Cathleen arrives to care for little Derek, she finds the front door open and Derek alone. And Gwen, who had said she was in labor, has not called her doctor nor checked into a hospital. The search for her leads nowhere. Even the police are unconvinced that Gwen did not simply walk away. The only clue they have are Gwens last words to Cathleen: Theres Someone at the Door. Who was that someone? The only person in the house at the time was little Derek. But he is mute, locked in a world of his own. Here is a story about a terrifying secret, a tense novel that builds to a shocking climax.

Circus Day

Kate Armstrong pays little attention to the news about a fatal holdup in a local bank. Her mind is on Ted’s trip to Chicago with a beautiful co worker. She can t know how soon the crime will affect her. Kate and her children are just leaving a Circus Day gala at the shopping mall when they are taken prisoner by two desperate fugitives. Forced to drive all night in the rain, Kate knows that her only use is to provide transportation. Once the desperadoes reach safety, she and the children will be killed. Their absence is noticed only when Ted returns home to an empty house. While detectives search in vain for a witness or a clue, Kate struggles alone against the horrors of captivity, the constant threat of death. In only a matter of time, her children, and then she, will be eliminated. But she is helpless against the bandits and their guns, their muscle power, and the strange psychological tie that binds a victim to her captor. This is a story of suspense and detection, of ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances, of a mother confronted with a terrible choice.

Man in the Shadows

Denise can feel someone watching her. She sees a pair of headlights blaze as she says goodnight to her friend, attorney Harlan Reyes. Then the phone calls begin. ‘You’re alone now, Mrs. Burns. Are you sure your children are safe?’She is very much alone. Divorced fashion model Denise Burns lives for her two young children and her coming remarriage. But her fiance is out of town and the caller knows it. He knows everything about her, even the moment she turns out her light. The next day she learns Harlan Reyes was shot to death soon after they parted. A reporter pursues her with questions. Denise was among the last to see him alive. When one of her children nearly dies, she flees with them to the farm where her married sister lives. Too late, she discovers flight is impossible. The watching eyes have followed her. The family is cut off from any help or escape as the shadowy menace closes in. One man can save themif he can find them in time. But Denise, who could not hide from the watcher, has hidden all too successfully from the man who loves her. The man she could not trust.

The People Next Door

Debra Gillis was always a worrier. But now, in her familys new home by the seashore, Debra has good reason to be afraid. A rash of break ins strikes the area. A child is found dead on the beach with his neck broken. Then there are The People Next Door, Frank and Enid Maul, who own the house the Gillises have rented. Not long ago the Mauls suffered a terrible tragedy that took place in the baseme*nt of that same housea tragedy that, for Enid, never ends. A desperate suicide attempt by her only son has left him brain damaged and mute. Debra, mother of baby Drew and stepmother to teenage Gigi, tries to befriend her neighbor. But Enid is filled with hate, embittered over the fate of her strange, silent boy, and begrudges Debra her own healthy children. Theres danger in the air. Is it from Enid? From her crippled son? And what secrets is the headstrong Gigi keeping? Debra knows the girl is in trouble, but her husband, Kurt, wont listen. Debra has always been a worrier. Then Gigi and Drew disappear