Book 2

Cold Wind

by Paige Shelton

Published 3 December 2020
Beth Rivers is still in Alaska. The unidentified man who kidnapped her in her home of St. Louis hasn’t been found yet, so she’s not ready to go back.

However, as October comes to a close, Benedict is feeling more and more like her new home. Beth has been working on herself: She’s managed to get back to writing, and she’s enjoying these beautiful months between summer and winter in Alaska.

But everything in Benedict changes after a mudslide exposes a world that had been hidden for years. Suddenly, two mud-covered and silent girls appear, and a secret trapper’s house is found in the woods. The biggest surprise, though, is a dead and frozen woman’s body in the trapper’s shed. No one knows who she is, but the man who runs the mercantile, Randy, seems to be in the middle of all the mysteries.

Unable to escape her journalistic roots, Beth is determined to answer the questions that arrive: Are the mysterious girls and the frozen body connected? Can Randy possibly be involved? And - most importantly - can she answer these questions before the cold wind sweeping over the town and the townspeople descends for good?

Book 5

Lost Hours

by Paige Shelton

Published 5 December 2023
A year after arriving in Benedict, Beth Rivers is feeling very at home in Alaska, even as outsiders are starting to return to enjoy the brief summer perfection. Beth feels like she’s finally let go of most of her demons. She’s even found her father, Eddy Rivers - or, rather, he found her - and she's trying to find the middle ground between anger and forgiveness.

One sunny July day, Beth boards a tourist ship to see the glaciers, the main reason visitors venture to the area, and something Beth hasn’t attempted until now. But when the captain has to navigate to an island, a bloodied woman is found standing on the shore, waving for help. When she’s brought aboard, she claims she was kidnapped from her home in Juneau three days earlier, and that a bear on the island killed her captor. She, however, is unharmed.

The woman, Sadie, finds a sympathetic ear in Beth. She tells her that she’s been in Juneau under witness protection, and that the Juneau police don’t like her. When another kidnapping occurs, Beth and police chief Gril can’t help but think the two cases are interwoven, though the clues to solving them will be harder to unravel.

Dark Night

by Paige Shelton

Published 7 December 2021
Winter is falling in the remote town of Benedict, Alaska, and with the cold comes a mysterious guest. The dreaded "census man," seemingly innocuous, is an unwelcome presence to those members of this secretive community who would prefer to keep their business to themselves. Meanwhile, thriller writer Beth Rivers has received her own unexpected company: her mother. The last Beth heard, Mill Rivers had gone underground in the lower forty-eight, in search of Beth's kidnapper, and Beth can't help but be a little alarmed at her appearance: If Mill was able to track down her daughter, who knows who else might be able to?

Beth doesn't have time to ponder this for long, after a battered woman stumbles into the town bar one night, and her husband is found dead the next morning. Suspicions immediately turn to the census man, but when he, too, goes missing, everyone in Benedict-including the police chief-is suspected, and Beth and Mill must work to uncover the truth.

Winter's End

by Paige Shelton

Published 6 December 2022
It’s springtime in Benedict, Alaska, and with it the warmer weather comes an unseasonably somber local tradition... the annual Death March. At the end of each brutal winter, citizens gather downtown and then break into groups to search the community for those who might have somehow gotten stuck at home. Beth Rivers sets off with her friend Orin and dog Gus, toward the cabin of an elderly resident, intending to check on him.

As Beth and company make their way, Orin mentions he’s concerned about two men who showed up for the March. Neither he nor the police chief, Gril, recognised the men.

When they reach the cabin, the old man is alive, but not in the best shape. Beth stays with him while Orin hurries to town for help, but it’s not Orin who returns. Gril comes back with the shocking news that one of the mystery men was just found dead in town and the other is missing. And now, Gril can’t find Orin. Beth and Gril are both concerned, especially considering how cryptic Orin has been of late. When they discover that Orin has been doing some top-secret research, they start to worry he’s been exposed, or worse.

Meanwhile, Beth continues on her own search, for her father, who allegedly is alive in Mexico, but won't return her calls. Still, she's making progress in healing from her own trauma, though can't quite shake the feeling she's being followed...

Perfect Storm

by Paige Shelton

Published 3 December 2024
Beth Rivers needs to disappear. Her one-time kidnapper, Travis, is on his way to her town in Alaska, and she's losing time to get out quickly.

The perfect spot for Beth and her boyfriend, Tex, to hide, presents itself in a camp in the woods, away from Benedict. But when their trip takes them by Blue Mine, a small community that has seen tragedy over the last couple months, plans get diverted. Beth and Tex bring the widow of a recently murdered man back to Benedict, for Police Chief Gril to investigate, only to find that nothing is quite what it seems. When the woman vanishes, Beth must be on the alert for further danger. Who knows what further unwelcome disappearances - or appearances - might be lurking in the unforgiving Alaska storms.