It’s 4 a.m. when her mom shakes her awake. “Get up baby, we’re going to play hide and seek.” The little girl presses back into the dark space, holding her breath as she hears the shots ring out. She knows she’s next…

When the bodies of a local family are discovered on a quiet street in the small town of Dumfries, Virginia, Detective Amanda Steele takes charge of the case. Brett and Angela Parker were shot three times each, leaving no hope of survival, and their tidy suburban home has been ransacked. But there is no sign of their beloved six-year-old, Zoe.

Zoe is the same age as Amanda’s daughter was when she died, and Amanda can’t bear the thought of another little girl in danger. She’s organizing a search for the child, when she notices something strange about the ottoman at the foot of the Parkers’ bed. She opens it to find Zoe, mute and traumatized, but alive.

With Zoe completely uncommunicative, Amanda must find another way to untangle what destroyed this seemingly perfect family. It’s clear that the killer is searching for something the Parkers had, and until she has this monster behind bars, Amanda fears that he may return for Zoe. When she learns that Brett Parker cut short the family’s recent lakeside vacation, she wonders why. What happened at that lake house, and did it ultimately get them killed?

Amanda heads out to Lake Chesdin on the feeling it might be key to the case, and when she finds a cell phone in the murky waters next to the Parker cabin, she knows she’s made a breakthrough. But then terrible news reaches her from Dumfries; Zoe has been taken from her school playground.

Someone wants to silence the Parker family for good, can Amanda catch them before the little girl she’s desperate to protect pays the price?

Here’s a mini interview I originally did with The Big Thrill magazine about The Silent Witness:

BT: What do you hope readers will take away from this book?

CA: I hope readers take away that even in the shadow of extreme darkness, there is light. It may show through a crack at first, but it’s so important to grasp on to hope and optimism.

BT: What attracts you to this book’s genre?

CA: I love the mystery and intrigue but also the complexity of the plots. This genre makes a person think.

BT: Was there anything new you discovered, or that surprised you, as you wrote this book?

CA: This is the third book in the Amanda Steele series, and I’m starting to sense a little more than platonic feelings between my two main characters. A romance between them was never planned or intended, but it may happen yet.

Click the links below to buy The Silent Witness in the format you prefer.

e-book
Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble | Apple | Kobo | Google Play | Amazon Universal

Audiobook
Amazon | Audible | Apple

Paperback – 5.06 x 7.81 inches
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | Indie Bound | AbeBooks | Book Depository

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This interview first appeared on The Big Thrill here.