Can a Wealthy Family Buy Their Alibi? Books Focused on Opulent Wealth, Family Secrets & Suspense by Georgina Cross

 

For readers, novels about the uber wealthy can be an enticing foray into another world, a sneak peek into how “the other half” lives, complete with glamour and over-the-top situations. It’s a fascinating exploration of a person’s flamboyant behavior and entitled notions about their money buying them everything—including a way to bury their secrets.

In my novel, Nanny Needed readers are cast into the mesmerizing world of the Bird family who live in an extraordinary penthouse in the Upper West Side, New York City. Despite the family’s unusual way for hiring nannies and the fact Sarah has zero nannying experience, Sarah takes the job. She agrees to the family’s strict instructions, including that ominous detail she chooses to ignore: Special conditions apply. While dealing with the mother Collette’s tragic behavior and the child in their care, Sarah finds herself going against the powerful family who employs her and the lengths they will take to make sure no one talks—especially the nanny. Until now, the Bird family may have gotten away with a few too many tragedies, but with Sarah, their secrets are about to rise to the surface. 

Other books about families with wealth and secrets: 

Good Rich People by Eliza Jane Brazier

Speaking of opulent wealth, the title says it all. As one of my personal, most anticipated reads for the upcoming year, Eliza Jane Brazier’s sophomore book Good Rich People takes us into the lives of a wealthy couple living in L.A. and the twisted games they will unleash on the people they invite to stay in the guesthouse of their Hollywood Hills mansion. Lyla and Graham have it all, and yet, they can’t stand the idea of someone else having a self-made success story. Enter Demi, a destitute woman who jumps at the chance to take over another person’s identity and deceives her way into living in their guesthouse. But little does she know what Lyla and Graham are planning, and how far they will go to win at their wicked games. Because after all, doesn’t having a lot of money mean you always come out on top and you’re the winner? But Lyla and Graham may have sorely underestimated the latest player living under their roof and she has a few tricks up her sleeve too. Good Rich People is a wild, witty, suspenseful and wholly original story.

Nanny Dearest by Flora Collins 

With Nanny Needed soon to be published, I am definitely plugging another nanny book. Nanny Dearest is Flora Collins’ debut with her novel already gaining quite the buzz as an intense, psychological thriller. When Sue Keller is in her mid-twenties, her father dies, and she finds herself reconnecting with the nanny who cared for her as a child. Annie looked after Sue and lived with the family in their enormous house upstate. She loved Sue as her own. But while the two women rekindle their bond, Sue begins to ask questions and she discovers several tragedies that may have occurred around the time Annie lived with them. A slick thriller, Nanny Dearest shows the dark side of a family and the nanny who promised to care for everyone in the home.

When She Disappeared by Nicole Mabry and Steph Mullin

Writing duo Nicole Mabry and Steph Mullin are back at it again with another suspenseful read. When She Disappeared focuses on the discovery of a teenage girl’s body, the same girl who disappeared fifteen years earlier, and the lengths one family will go to so their only son doesn’t become the main suspect. When Margo returns to her hometown, she works with a documentary crew to investigate the case about the discovery of her high school best friend’s body. But the Abbott family will use their stature to convince everyone—and anyone—to turn the spotlight away from their son. But as Margo uncovers shocking secrets, it appears the Abbotts aren’t the only ones who didn’t want Jessie’s body to be found. 

A Mother Never Lies by Sarah Clarke (Out now)

In A Mother Never Lies, a young woman had the perfect life: a nice house, a loving husband, and a gorgeous little boy. But in one horrific night, everything she knows to be good and pure is taken away from her. Fourteen years later, she’s finally ready to face the past—and she will take her son back. She will bring him home, even if that means going up against her husband’s wealthy and incredibly powerful family who remain intent on brushing their past traumas beneath the carpet. But this mother is no longer going to take no for an answer.

Nanny Needed by Georgina Cross (HarperCollins)

When Sarah Larsen answers the Bird family's advertisement, her life changes overnight.  The job seems like a dream come true: nannying in a glamorous penthouse apartment with a salary that adds several zeroes to her income. Sarah signs the contract binding her to complete secrecy without a second thought. These are important people, after all - they can't be too careful about who they let into their home. All is well until events in Sarah's life begin to take a sinister turn and the trail leads back to the Birds. She soon realises there's something very strange about the family. But by then, is it too late for her?

Georgina Cross is the bestselling suspense author of The Stepdaughter and the author of The Missing Woman published by Bookouture, as well as Nanny Needed with Bantam, Penguin Random House. Two more books are set for publication in 2022. Georgina is a member of Mystery Writers of America and also the Founder & President of Susie's Wish Inc. which sends patients with life-threatening illnesses to the beach. Married to David, they spend their weekends filled with kids' basketball tournaments, scary movies, and trying new restaurants with their combined family of four sons.

More info on Georgina and her books: Instagram: @georginacrossauthor, Twitter: @gcrossauthor, Facebook: @GeorginaCrossAuthor, and georginacrossauthor.com

Cold Cases in Fiction by Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry

Get ready to cozy up with page-turning thrillers that solve old cold cases. There’s little more satisfying than when a character solves a mystery that’s haunted them and their town for years, putting together clues and turning lies on their head. In our second thriller, When She Disappeared, we explore the case of popular high school senior, Jessie Germaine, who has been missing for 15 years, only for her body to then be discovered at the bottom of a local swimming hole. Our protagonist Margo, Jessie’s childhood best friend, teams up with a documentary crew that comes to their small mountain town hoping to shine a light on the dark mystery. We loved exploring the idea of this big secret going unsolved for so long in a town where everyone knows everyone, yet they all have something to hide.

Here are five other thrillers that explore cold cases coming back to life after years of the unknown.

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead is a psychological thrill ride that combines fascinating relationship dynamics with a haunting murder on a college campus. Now, those whose lives were turned upside down by the murder are back on campus for their class reunion, haunted by old ghosts everywhere they turn. Alternating between multiple timelines to carefully unravel the web of lies each character has left behind in a group of so-called best friends, Winstead delivers mesmerizing pacing in this exciting “whodunnit” that leaves you second guessing motives every step of the way. Even after the mystery is finally solved…the satisfying conclusion will leave you breathless.

The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor explores not just one, but three cold cases: the murder of a high school girl, the poisoning of a dog, and the brutal attack on a pastor that leaves him catatonic. The story goes back and forth in time from the 80’s with a group of childhood friends who use a secret code, scrawling stickmen in different colors to pass hidden messages to one another, to present day, where they reconnect after they’ve each received a disturbing note with a scrawled stickman. When one of them dies mysteriously, only our main character, Eddie, believes it was murder. In trying to figure out who’s leaving the notes, Eddie must delve back into the original crimes and uncover the culprit from so long ago. This stunning psychological debut is a must read for solving cold cases.

The Mentor by Lee Matthew Goldberg may need a trigger warning for graphic violence but is well worth the read. This incredible plot follows Ryan, a rising star at a big publishing house, and alternates with his aging college mentor, William. When the two reconnect after many years, William asks Ryan to consider publishing his novel, his magnum opus. While Ryan is ecstatic to give a break to the man who did so much for him, the minute he dives into the manuscript he realizes the book is the most depraved thing he’s ever read. Under pressure from his girlfriend and William to give the book a chance, Ryan reluctantly agrees to finish the book. But by midway through, it’s clear William’s book is outlining the kidnapping and murder of Ryan’s former girlfriend who disappeared in college. Goldberg expertly creates a disturbing psychological tale of murder and revenge to satisfy even the savviest mystery readers.

The Dead Season by Tessa Wegart is the second in her Shana Merchant detective series but could be read as a standalone. After Shana survives being kidnapped by the serial killer, Blake Bram, The Dead Season picks up when Shana is days away from her psych evaluation to rejoin the police force. Just getting her life back together, Shana is shocked when the body of her uncle, who disappeared when Shana was 13 years old, is discovered. Everyone believed he was a deadbeat dad who’d abandoned his family. But the truth was, he never made it out of town. When a young boy is kidnapped, Bram reappears to manipulate Shana into investigating her uncle’s murder, or else the blood of the missing child is on her hands. Stepping back in time to relive old family dramas, Shana must race against the clock to find out what happened to her uncle so many years ago.

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell is a moving family drama that simultaneously pulls at your heartstrings and sends a chill down your spine. After 15-year-old Ellie Mack, the golden child of her family, disappears, they are left to pick up the pieces. Through the darkness and the eventual discovery of Ellie’s remains, they create new relationships and try to mend the deep hole in their hearts from their loss. Navigating these new relationships 10 years after Ellie’s disappearance, her mother, Laurel, meets a new man and his own daughter…who looks exactly like Ellie as a child. Forging connections and asking uncomfortable questions, Laurel is determined to uncover the truth of what happened to her daughter.

When She Disappeared by Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry. (HarperCollins) Out Now

'On May 26, 2004, Jessie Germaine rode her bike into the forest and disappeared...into thin air.' Margo hasn't been back to Lake Moss since her friend went missing. But as she returns, the news breaks. Her hometown's swimming hole has been Jessie's grave for fifteen years. Digging out her old diary, and steeling herself to face unfriendly ghosts from her past, Margo sets out to help a documentary crew as they return to investigate the infamous case the police bungled. In a town where everyone knows everyone, the killer is certain to be close to home. But the question is: How close?

More information about both authors can be found on their website. You can also find them on Facebook. You can also find them both on Twitter @Steph_Mullin and @NicoleAMabry

Books to Look Forward to from Avon (HarperCollins)

 June 2021

The Family Tree is by Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry. The DNA results are back. And there's a serial killer in her family tree... Liz Catalano is shocked when an ancestry kit reveals she's adopted. But she could never have imagined connecting with her unknown family would plunge her into an FBI investigation of a notorious serial killer... The Tri-State Killer has been abducting pairs of women for forty years, leaving no clues behind - only bodies. Can Liz figure out who the killer in her new family is? And can she save his newest victims before it's too late? 

July 2021

It was meant to be the perfect escape... Newly-weds Liam and Laura are spending their honeymoon in paradise: just the two of them on a remote island off the coast of Scotland. But they soon discover that all is not as it seems, and the island has a tragic past. And they can't shake the feeling of being watched... When one morning, they wake to find a message scratched into the window, their worst fears are confirmed. They aren't alone on the island. And this stranger wants them dead. ...but it became the perfect nightmare. The Stalker is by Sarah Alderson.

Ask No Questions is by Claire Allan. Twenty-five years ago, on Halloween night, eight-year-old Kelly Doherty went missing while out trick or treating with friends. Her body was found three days later, floating face down, on the banks of the Creggan Reservoir by two of her young classmates. It was a crime that rocked Derry to the core. Journalist Ingrid Devlin is investigating - but someone doesn't want her to know the truth. As she digs further, Ingrid starts to realise that the Doherty family are not as they seem. But will she expose what really happened that night before it's too late?

August 2021

Stolen is by Tess Stimston. You thought she was safe. You were wrong...Alex knows her daughter would never wander off in a strange place. So when her three-year-old vanishes from an idyllic beach wedding, Alex immediately believes the worst. The hunt for Lottie quickly becomes a world-wide search, but it's not long before suspicion falls on her mother. Why wasn't she watching Lottie? Alex knows she's not perfect, but she loves her child. And with all eyes on her, Alex fears they'll never uncover the truth unless she takes matters into her own hands. Who took Lottie Martini? And will she ever come home?

She had a perfect marriage until her mother-in-law moved in. Saffron vowed to love Miles no matter what life threw at them both. But when her mother-in-law moves into their happy family home, Saffron's shiny life begins to tarnish. Even as Caprice's barbed comments turn to something more sinister, Saffron hopes the new nanny's arrival will shield her from the worst of it. She's starting to feel paranoid in her own home. Little does she realise that Caprice longs for a new daughter-in-law - and she'll do anything to make that happen... The Unwelcome Guest is by Amanda Robson.

'They're dead. They're all dead. It's my fault. I killed them.' Those are the words of Iona Gardener, who stands bloodied and staring as she confesses to the murder of four people in a run-down cottage outside of Belfast. Outside the cottage, five old dolls are hanging from a tree. Inside the cottage, the words "WHO TOOK EDEN MULLIGAN?" are graffitied on the wall, connecting the murder scene with the famous cold case of Eden Mulligan, a mother-of-five who went missing during The Troubles. But this case is different. Right from the start. Because no one in the community is willing to tell the truth, and the only thing DI Danny Stowe and forensic psychologist Rose Lainey can be certain of is that Iona Gardener's confession is false.... Who Took Eden Mulligan is by Sharon Dempsey.

September 2021

How well do you know the woman next door? When Stina and Jack move to an old rural cottage, they're hoping for a fresh start. Their new home is run-down compared to their neighbour's, but generous Mrs Barley quickly becomes a friend. Until Stina sees a mysterious figure in the widow's garden, and her happy new life begins to unravel. And when she hears strange noises in the night, she is forced to question if Mrs Barley is what she seems. Why do the other villagers whisper about her? Why is she so eager to help the couple? And what is she hiding in her picture-perfect home? Whisper Cottage is by Anne Wyn Clark.

Stranded is by Sarah Goodwin. Eight strangers. One island. A secret you'd kill to keep.When eight people arrive on the beautiful but remote Buidseach Island, they are ready for the challenge of a lifetime: to live alone for one year. Eighteen months later, a woman is found in an isolated fishing village. She's desperate to explain what happened to her: how the group fractured and friends became enemies; how they did what they must to survive until the boat came to collect them; how things turned deadly when the boat didn't come... But first Maddy must come to terms with the devastating secret that left them stranded, and her own role in the events that saw eight arrive and only three leave.

October 2021

Trick or Treat is by Katerina Diamond. A stranger. A child. A liar who will stop at nothing... When six-year-old Marcus is taken from outside his house on Halloween, there is only one witness: a frightened teen determined to keep himself hidden. After an anonymous tip off, Detective Imogen Grey is called out to an expensive Exeter street, caught up in the buzz of the holiday. But when the police visit Marcus's house, his parents claim everything is fine. Imogen is sure there is more to the family than meets the eye. But just how much more, she could never have imagined... What has happened to little Marcus? And will he ever come home?

The first fall of snow can be fatal...A year has passed since DI James Walker cracked his biggest case yet, and he's hoping for peace and quiet this festive season. But across the fells, a local farmer returns home on Christmas Eve to find footsteps in the fresh snow that lead down to his unused basement - and no footsteps leading away. Days later, his body is found, alongside those of his wife and daughter. Without a neighbour for miles, there are no witnesses and little evidence. And the crime scene has strange echoes of another terrible murder committed at the farmhouse, twenty years earlier... James knows that to catch this killer, he needs to solve a case that has long since gone cold... The Killer in The Snow is by Alex Pine.

Hidden is by Nell Pattison. Seven friends. One killer. You can run, but you can't hide... The Boxing Day hike is meant to bring their nature group together. Emily, the sister who never lets her hearing loss hold her back. Lauren, the sister who always feels a step behind. Morna, who doesn't get on with Lauren. Ben, whose feelings for Emily border on obsession. Dan, the quiet newcomer to the group. Kai, who isn't just on the hike to enjoy the wildlife. And Alec, the one who knows all their secrets. As the sun sets, a gunshot rings out on the nature reserve. One of the seven is dead. And one of their number killed them..