Tracy Clark and Barbara Nickless "Echo" and "Drowning Game" launch, in conversation with Lori Rader Day

Come celebrate the launch of Echo and The Drowning Game at the Book Cellar with authors Tracy Clark and Barbara Nickless, in conversation with fellow crime writer Lori Rader Day.

ABOUT THE BOOKS:

From the award-winning author of Hide and Fall comes Echo, the third book in the Detective Harriet Foster thriller series, a taut tale of renegade justice with a heart-stopping finale.

Hardwicke House, home to Belverton College’s exclusive Minotaur Society, is no stranger to tragedy. And when a body turns up in the field next to the mansion, the scene looks chillingly familiar. Chicago PD sends hard-nosed Detective Harriet “Harri” Foster to investigate. The victim is Brice Collier, a wealthy Belverton student, whose billionaire father, Sebastian, owns Hardwicke and ranks as a major school benefactor. Sebastian also has ties to the mansion’s notorious past, when thirty years ago, hazing led to a student’s death in the very same field.

Could the deaths be connected? With no suspects or leads, Harri and her partner, Detective Vera Li, will have to dig deep to find answers. No charges were ever filed in the first case, and this time, Harri’s determined the killer must pay. But still grieving her former partner’s death, Harri must also contend with a shadowy figure called the voice—and their dangerous game of cat and mouse could threaten everything.

A woman's investigation into her sister's death exposes the dark side of a secret life in The Drowning Game, a gripping novel of power, money, and murder.

Sisters Nadia and Cass Brenner are heirs to Ocean House, a decades-old empire that builds superyachts for the rich and powerful: emirs, oligarchs, and titans of industry throughout America and Europe. They're a next-generation success with the design of their soon-to-be-commissioned megayacht for a Chinese billionaire. But the sisters' entrée into the coveted Asian market is tragically cut short when Cass falls from a fortieth-floor hotel balcony.

A Singapore detective rules suicide. Nadia's been in the yacht business too long not to be suspicious. Especially when she discovers Cass's involvement in dangerously illicit activities. Pulled into the same web of betrayal, lies, and secrets that trapped her sister, Nadia is on the most perilous mission of her life. Because uncovering the truth behind her sister's death could tear the Brenner family apart--and it just might get her killed.

From Seattle to Austria to the South China Sea, Nadia must hold on to the one thing that can keep her safe. It's the Brenner family motto: Trust no one.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Tracy Clark is the acclaimed author of the Cass Raines Chicago Mystery series and the Detective Harriet Foster series. Clark received Anthony Award and Lefty Award nominations for series debut Broken Places, which was shortlisted for the American Library Association's RUSA Reading List and named a CrimeReads Best New PI Book of 2018, a Midwest Connections Pick, and a Library Journal Best Book of the Year. A Chicago native, Clark is a member of Crime Writers of Color, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime and sits on the boards of Bouchercon National and the Midwest Mystery Conference.

Barbara Nickless is the Wall Street Journal and Amazon Charts bestselling author of Play of Shadows, Dark of Night, and At First Light in the Dr. Evan Wilding series, as well as the Sydney Rose Parnell series, which includes Blood on the Tracks, a Suspense Magazine Best of 2016 selection and winner of the Colorado Book Award and the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence; Dead Stop, winner of the Colorado Book Award and nominee for the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence; Ambush; and Gone to Darkness. Her essays and short stories have appeared in Writer’s Digest and on Criminal Element, among other markets. She lives in Colorado, where she loves to cave, snowshoe, hike, and drink single malt Scotch—usually not at the same time. Connect with her at www.barbaranickless.com.

Lori Rader-Day is the Edgar® Award-nominated and Agatha, Anthony, and Mary Higgins Clark award-winning author of The Death of Us, Death at Greenway, The Lucky One, Under a Dark Sky, The Day I Died, Little Pretty Things, and The Black Hour. She lives in Chicago, where she is co-chair of the mystery readers’ festival Midwest Mystery Conference and served as 2019-2020 national president of Sisters in Crime. She teaches creative writing for Northwestern University’s School of Professional Studies. Her next book, Wreck Your Heart, is out from Minotaur Books in early 2026.

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