Mary Dixie Carter

Mary Dixie Carter's The Photographer is a slyly observed, suspenseful story of envy and obsession, told in the mesmerizing, irresistible voice of a character who will make you doubt that seeing is ever believing. Delta Dawn comes from humble beginnings, but in her work as a photographer for the children’s parties of New York’s elite she is used to moving, unnoticed, through their luxurious homes. As she observes their seemingly perfect lives, she adds to this veneer by transforming the images of their crying children, stiff hugs and unsmiling faces—editing the images to make sure the parents see the party they want. The party they may later, looking at the pictures, believe really happened that way. When Delta is hired to take pictures of Natalie Straub’s 11th birthday, she finds herself wishing she wasn’t behind the lens. She would fit so well in the pictures with the Straub family, wouldn’t she, in their gorgeous home, their elegant life? This time editing the pictures isn’t enough. Delta begins by babysitting for Natalie, befriending her mother Amelia, finding chances to listen to her father Fritz; soon she’s bathing in the master bathtub, drinking their expensive wine, and eyeing the beautifully finished—and currently occupied—garden apartment in their townhouse. It seems like she can never get close enough. Until Delta discovers the one thing Amelia Straub wants most is also the perfect way for Delta to become permanently a part of the picture.

A Novel

The Photographer

Brian Klingborg

Ragnar Jonasson

Ashley Weaver

Joanna Schaffhausen

New Books to Make Your Heart Race

Minotaur Sampler, Volume 2

Alex Finlay

Camilla Sten

Stacy Willingham

Olivia Worley

Kelsey Cox

Looking for a new book that will make your heart race? The fifteenth edition of The Minotaur Sampler compiles the beginnings of six can't-miss standalone novels publishing Spring/Summer 2025 for free and easy sampling. Alex Finlay's Parent's Weekend follows five families after their kids go missing during Parents Weekend in this action-packed thriller. Mary Dixie Carter's Marguerite by the Lake is a tense novel about the death of a glamorous garden designer, a widower trying to keep his secrets buried, and the young gardener entangled in their lives. Olivia Worley's So Happy Together follows a young woman determined to win her ex back when she makes a shocking discovering, ensaring them in a complicated web of lies, secret, and murder. Camilla Sten's page-turning thriller The Bachelorette Party follows a washed up podcaster who's determined to solve a cold case that's haunted her while at her best friend's bachelorette party. In Kelsey Cox's pulse-pounding Party of Liars, a sweet sixteen party turns deadly when a body falls from a balcony onto the dance floor before the birthday candles are blown out. Stacy Willingham's Forget Me Not is a twisty thriller about a woman whose older sister disappeared years ago and who goes back to the scene of her disappearance to confront the past, blowing it all up again.

The Minotaur Sampler, Volume 15

Mary Dixie Carter

Books

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