Shallow graves scar the desert landscape. A cemetery in the sand. Some of the lost are never found.Thousands of girls go missing every year in Las Vegas. Taken. Bought and sold. Or worse.And now the dead are calling.These lost girls summon FBI Profiler Violet Darger to Sin City — a new case. There are fresh dead to sort through — two bodies burned beyond recognition in the trunk of a sedan — … beyond recognition in the trunk of a sedan — and there’s reason to believe that there are missing girls waiting to be saved.
Rumors swirl that a legendary killer is responsible for these crimes. An escaped prisoner with a personal grudge against Darger — one who wants her and her partner dead. One who disappeared for 20 years.
But the desert is full of deadly secrets — horrors waiting beneath the sand.
If Darger finds the killer in time, the girls will live. If not…
This pulse-pounding thriller will have you holding your breath until the final page. Fans of John Sandford, Karin Slaughter, Gillian Flynn, and Lisa Gardner should check out the Violet Darger series.
The books in the series can be read in any order, so grab The Girl in the Sand and get started today.
Praise for the Violet Darger series:
“Un-put-downable! I cannot wait for this series to grow. If you love Sandford, Slaughter, Kava, Stelljes and Deaver, you’ll LOVE Vargus & McBain!” — Melody M
“The Violet Darger books are honestly the best detective novels I’ve ever read.” — Devin
“Vargus and McBain have, in Violet Darger, created a character that absolutely stands up with some of the greats — Phillip Marlowe, Dave Robicheaux, Elvis Cole, Charlie Parker, August Dupin, Jack Reacher, Harry Bosch, etc.” — Lucinda E. Snyder
“Wow, just wow! If you like scare-you-half-to-death mystery books this is the one for you. It starts with a bang and just doesn’t stop.” — Ada Lavin
“This series is full of suspense, action, and lots of murder.” — EllenAn
“Violet Darger is a unique, incredible character, and I immensely enjoyed taking this journey with her.” — Cat
“A rush of excitement, twists and turns.” — C. Munger
“Insightful, bloody. Page turner about the corruption of morality and warped thinking patterns.” — Bella from Readingnstuff.com
“Refuses to let go until you have read the last sentence.” — Bloodymummer
“I found myself completely invested in every character, from the authorities to the killer to the victims themselves.” — eden Hudson, author of Revenge of the Bloodslinger
“It’s not a glimpse…it’s a good long look inside the mind of a killer. It’s fast paced, it’s scary, and it’s satisfying.” — Rain
“If you are a fan of Silence of the Lambs, this book is a spiritual successor.” — Amazon customer
“Vargus and McBain spin a fine tale with characters I want to climb inside — but not in a weird way.” — Jeanne Tarrantsmore
Creepy but a good rezd
I couldn’t put this novel down Fascinating, scary, interesting.
I liked it but not my favorite.
FBI agents Violet Darger and her male partner Loshak arrive in Las Vegas at a crime scene near the desert in which there is a burned car with two burned females locked in the trunk. Before they arrive at the scene, they find out that many girls were reported missing in Las Vegas over an extended period of time. Although this MO appears to be the work of Leonard Stump, a serial killer who had disappeared twenty years ago, the local Las Vegas police do not believe them and do not want their help. The tourist board does not want Las Vegas to be associated with a serial killer. After the police find many more skeletons buried in the desert near the burned car, they ask Darger and Loshak for their help and acknowledge that this is probably the work of Leonard Stump who killed and burned pairs of women, most of them prostitutes. Loshak interviews Claire, the only one who had ever escaped from Stump. Darger, working with Nicole, a prostitute, hides in Stump’s truck after he abducts Nicole. Although she has no gun, she knows that she has to save Nicole and Emily, the prostitute who was reported missing a short time before Nicole. The book has many graphic descriptions of what Stump does to the girls he abducts and what goes on in the minds of the girls who expect to be killed. Readers who are faint of heart may not be able to get through the whole book. I recommend the book for other readers who like the nitty gritty of crimes and do not mind the gore.