Lie Still

In the tradition of Lisa Unger’s Beautiful Lies and Nancy Pickard’s The Scent of Rain and Lightning comes a twisting, riveting novel of shifting trust and shattered lives. Lie Still delves deep into the heart of an opulent Southern town, where gossip is currency and secrets kill.

When Emily Page and her husband move from Manhattan to the wealthy enclave of Clairmont, Texas, she hopes she can finally escape her haunted past—and outrun the nameless stalker who has been taunting her for years. Pregnant with her first child, Emily just wants to start over. But as she is drawn into a nest of secretive Texas women—and into the unnerving company of their queen, Caroline Warwick—Emily finds that acceptance is a very dangerous game.

It isn’t long before Caroline mysteriously disappears and Emily is facing a rash of anonymous threats. Are they linked to the missing Caroline? Or to Emily’s terrifying encounter in college, years earlier? As the dark truth about Caroline emerges, Emily realizes that some secrets are impossible to hide—and that whoever came for Caroline is now coming for her.

Advance praise for Lie Still

“Julia Heaberlin deceives the reader in the most deliciously chilling way in Lie Still: With gorgeous prose and sterling character work, she takes us on a deeply felt and wonderfully composed thrill ride. Layer after layer of secrets, longing, and deception is peeled away and we begin to dread the twisted kernel at the heart, never guessing what Heaberlin has in store for us.”—Sophie Littlefield, bestselling author of Garden of Stones

“Packed with larger-than-life characters, twisty and dangerous secrets, and a captivating heroine you can’t help but root for as the stakes skyrocket and her own terrifying past roars back to claim her.”—Carla Buckley, author of The Things That Keep Us Here

“Mix a pregnant New Yorker with a big secret, an aging Southern belle who collects secrets like recipes, an ex–pageant queen, several plastic surgery victims, and a maid with an eye for revenge. Set in an upscale Texas community, and leaven with just the right amount of humor. I thoroughly enjoyed the result: a page-turning Texas gothic.”—Lisa Brackmann, author of Getaway

Julia Heaberlin, the author of Playing Dead and Lie Still, is an award-winning journalist who has directed arts and lifestyle coverage at the Fort-Worth Star Telegram and The Detroit News. She lives with her family in Texas, where she is at work on her next novel of psychological suspense.