The Killing Woods (The Sidney Becker Mysteries Book 1)

(Formerly published as Girl with the Origami Butterfly)

Homicide Detective Sidney Becker is burned out. After years of investigations in a big city, she’s haunted by grisly crime scenes. Fleeing the stress of the job and a failed relationship, she accepts the position of police chief in her hometown—a peaceful mountain community in Oregon.

Life is good. Beautiful scenery. Low crime. Close to family.

Then a woman is found brutally murdered in the woods. The staging of the body is chilling, and resembles a victim found in the same area years earlier. The case went cold.

Now the killer has come out of hiding.

The case instantly becomes intensely personal for Sidney. Garnerville is a small community. Folks know each other. It’s unnerving to imagine that a neighbor could be a murderer, hiding in plain sight.

As she conducts her investigation with her small force of three officers, Sidney finds she is pitted against a killer more cunning than any she has faced before. The man is ruthless, and plans each murder to the smallest detail. The only clue found at the crime scene is an origami butterfly planted on the victim. Inside is a handwritten verse.

Sidney must decode his cryptic message and lure him into the open—before he strikes again.