Diverse Authors Like Freida McFadden

Bailey Meadows is the writer-in-residence for thriller author Jack Beckham, who’s trying to get back to the bestseller list. She’s not really there for that though — she’s really there to find community leader Sam Morris, a woman who finds missing people. She was last seen in the canyon around Beckham’s property, and Meadows, who learns more and more about the dangers of the fire-prone forest, realizes she needs to find out what happened to the missing woman before she herself becomes one of the string of women who have gone missing in the area.

In New Mexico’s Navajo Nation, Rita Todacheene works as a supernaturally good forensic photographer. She’s able to capture details no one else does because the ghosts of crime victims point her to clues that would otherwise go unnoticed. Sometimes this ability is more of a curse than a gift, though, as it has ostracized her from her reservation and is just generally stressful. And now it may even get her killed — the latest crime victim’s ghost has latched herself on to Rita and wants revenge.

In Secret Identity, award-winning Segura takes us back to 1975, when the comic book industry was going through it. Despite the stress of it all, Carmen Valdez keeps keeping on. She’s a Triumph Comics assistant, and has just been asked by a Triumph writer to contribute to the imprint’s first female hero, named “The Lethal Lynx.” But then the writer she was working with is found dead, and no one knows that Carmen was working on the character, which is turning out to be popular. Then things get even more complicated — there’s a detective who seems to be a little too knowledgeable about some things, the many secrets of petty comic book writers get revealed, and an unexpected visitor upends things.

Paloma has had a nice life since being adopted from a Sri Lankan orphanage at 12 by philanthropists. Now 30, she’s cut off her parents and drinks too much. She also believes the same ghost that haunted her orphanage may be haunting her. On top of all that, she’s now found her roommate dead. She flees, but upon her return, she finds that he’s gone, along with every trace of his existence. Yikes. Jayatissa shows how the past can come back to bite in this thrilling debut.