Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

A standalone Magnolia Steele/Darling Investigations crossover novel.

Months after unmasking a serial killer, Magnolia Steele is still piecing her life back together. When she unexpectedly inherits her mother’s childhood farm in Sweet Briar, Alabama, she’s stunned—and confused. Why did Lila Brewster Steele leave the farm behind after high school and never return? And why was the property kept a secret all these years? Eager to untangle her family’s past, Magnolia convinces her sister-in-law, Belinda, to join her on a road trip to Sweet Briar. With no leads of their own, they turn to private investigator and reality TV star Summer Butler...

A standalone Magnolia Steele/Darling Investigations crossover novel.

Months after unmasking a serial killer, Magnolia Steele is still piecing her life back together. When she unexpectedly inherits her mother’s childhood farm in Sweet Briar, Alabama, she’s stunned—and confused. Why did Lila Brewster Steele leave the farm behind after high school and never return? And why was the property kept a secret all these years? Eager to untangle her family’s past, Magnolia convinces her sister-in-law, Belinda, to join her on a road trip to Sweet Briar. With no leads of their own, they turn to private investigator and reality TV star Summer Butler for help. Between planning the new season of Darling Investigations and navigating her own family drama, Summer can’t resist the pull of an old Southern mystery. What begins as a search for answers uncovers far more than Magnolia ever expected: a tangled web of broken friendships, a decades-old betrayal, and a secret that could destroy someone’s reputation—and their life as they know it. But some truths are harder to face than others, and Magnolia must decide how far she’s willing to go to uncover the past.