Dead Stop

Description

The search for a missing child leads a courageous railway cop down a twisted trail of murder. It's been five months since Special Agent Sydney Parnell survived a violent confrontation with a gang of brutal thugs, an encounter that left her physically and emotionally scarred. Deep down, Sydney fears she isn't ready for another investigation. But when a woman is murdered on the train tracks and a child goes missing, she knows she's the only one who can lead the hunt for the killer. While Denver police and the FBI chase down blind alleys, Sydney focuses on a single cryptic clue left behind at the crime scene-one that will send her down a path of greed, violence, and long-ago love. With Denver beset by a series of monsoonlike thunderstorms that threaten to flood the city, Sydney and her K9 partner, Clyde, must wade through a murky trail of murder that stretches back thirty years-all to rescue a child...and catch a killer with a long memory and an insatiable appetite for destruction.

Barbara Nickless lives in Colorado, where she loves to snowshoe, hike, and drink single-malt Scotch-usually not at the same time. Her first novel, Blood on the Tracks, won the Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence and was a Suspense Magazine Best of 2016 selection. Barbara is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers. Her essays and short stories have appeared in Writer's Digest and Criminal Element, among other markets. Connect with her at www.barbaranickless.com.

"The twists and turns...are first-rate. Barbara Nickless has brought forth a worthy heroine in Sydney Parnell." -BVS Reviews "Nothing less than epic...A fast-paced, action-packed, thriller-diller of a novel featuring two of the most endearing and toughest ex-jarheads you'll ever meet." -Mysterious Book Report "A story with the pace of a runaway train." -Bruce Most, award-winning author of Murder on the Tracks "Want a great read, here you go!" -Books Minority "Nickless is on my favorite writers list now." -Writing.com "...Riveting suspense. Nickless writes with the soul of a poet. Dead Stop is a dark and memorable book." -Gayle Lynds, New York Times bestselling author of The Assassins "A deliciously twisted plot that winds through the dark corners of the past into the present where nothing-and nobody-is as they seem. Dead Stop is a first-rate, can't-put-down mystery with a momentum that never slows. I am eager to see what Barbara Nickless comes up with next-she is definitely a mystery writer to watch." -Margaret Coel, New York Times bestselling author of the Wind River Mystery series