Warren Haskell is behind bars. Marco has proposed. Spring has arrived in Elk Creek. Everything should finally feel like enough.

When a social media influencer with 2.3 million followers disappears on the Colorado Trail, Gemma and a visibly aging Kira are called to search the same high country that started it all. But what looks like a missing hiker becomes something far more sinister, the influencer had a follower who wasn’t content to just watch, who had been tracking her route across the state for months, who saw her public posts as an invitation.

The Jade Brown case forces Gemma to understand how predators use visibility against their targets, and how a woman can do everything right and still be found by someone who was always planning to find her.

Meanwhile, Elk Creek is learning to live with what the Haskell case revealed. Old alliances are being rebuilt or abandoned. Vera Hartley-Price is experiencing something she hasn’t felt in twenty-five years: peace. And Gemma, standing at the overlook where she once found a body and everything began, says yes.

The Long Thaw is the book where everything shifts, the cold case resolved, the romance decided, and the future of Gemma and Kira’s partnership about to change in ways neither of them is ready for.

Perfect for fans of Nevada Barr, Margaret Mizushima, and Robert Crais. Don’t miss the book that changes everything.

Book 6 of 14. Arc One concludes. Marco proposes. The series enters its next chapter. Start with Book 1: Trail Gone Dark.