Part 1
When Emma was in college, her mother was killed during a home invasion, and the case was never solved. To this day, Emma carries around a lot of guilt for not having been home on that fateful night. When her own home is broken into, a world of old emotions erupts and Emma can’t rid herself of the anxiety that has surfaced—and so she hires Duke Investigations to finally figure out who killed her mother all those years ago.
Private Investigator Sean Murphy is just about as hardened as they come. He drinks. He smokes. He curses. And he’s never let himself be distracted by a relationship—which isn’t to say he hasn’t seduced at least half of the female population in Waterville Valley. But when new client Emma Sorkin walks into his office, he soon discovers that she has a way of softening his heart.
Part 2
Kind and intelligent, Hayley Mills struggles to keep her bookstore afloat while managing her autistic brother’s highly regimented schedule. If anything is amiss with him, his emotions turn turbulent and he can easily spiral out of control. Even so, he is her best friend.
But when Hayley’s neighbor is found dead, the residents quickly suspect her autistic brother, and the dark cloud that this casts over her family is enough to motivate Hayley to hire Duke Investigations.
Part 3
Athletic and daring, Megan Freeman works as a ski instructor at the nearby resort by day and spends time with her twin sister at night, who lives in the cabin neighboring her own. The two are identical except for one major difference: Megan’s twin is blind—and not because of natural causes.
Four years ago, when the twins were camping together over a long weekend and Megan’s twin left for the campsite restrooms, Megan was attacked by a predatory man. Her sister made it back just in time to fight the attacker off of Megan, but that wasn’t all. When the man ran off through the thick forest, Megan’s twin sprinted off after him. But instead of catching him, she was struck badly in the eyes by a spiky tree branch, which damaged her vision beyond repair.
One day while giving a ski lesson, Megan can’t tell if her eyes are playing tricks on her. Is her attacker back in Waterville Valley? She doesn’t feel safe, and so she immediately hires Duke Investigations to look into the man who has the hairs on the back of her neck pricking up.
Part 4
Brilliant and highly introverted, Dawn Stevens has dedicated her life to working at the Wildlife Conservation Center as a biologist. Of course, the peace of spending her days outside with nature is nothing like the war unfolding at home. Months ago, out of the goodness of her heart, Dawn decided to take in her drug-addicted cousin, who at the time promised to get himself help.
When her cousin is arrested for killing someone in a robbery gone wrong, he insists he didn’t do it. The man whom he and his addict friends robbed was alive when they left him. Is Dawn’s cousin lying to her or telling the truth? She’s at a complete loss for figuring it out, which is why she hires Duke Investigations.
Part 5
Bubbly and upbeat, Kendra Cavanaugh loves her managerial position—she started at the golf course as a high schooler and truly worked her way up—but life on the whole hasn’t been easy as of late. A murder investigation extremely close to Kendra’s heart just went from active to cold.
It happened one year ago; Kendra’s lifelong friends, married couple Mindy and Carl, were killed, leaving their twelve-year-old daughter to Kendra since she is the girl’s godmother. Now caring for her goddaughter, who lives with cerebral palsy, Kendra is thoroughly devastated that justice will not be served. How will she explain this to the young girl? Instead of letting her goddaughter down, she attempts one last-ditch effort to try to find out who killed Mindy and Carl by hiring Duke Investigations.
