The House by the Cemetery, The Grave Diggers By Lisa Childs

In Lisa Childs’ latest thriller, the gothic atmosphere of Gold Creek marries the dark family dynamics of Six Feet Under with the cutthroat intrigue of Succession. When Gregory Gold, the patriarch of the wealthy Gold Funeral Home empire in Gold Creek, Michigan, is found dead under suspicious circumstances, his estranged daughter, River Gold, is pulled back into the nightmarish world she had fled.

River left Gold Creek at seventeen, determined never to return to the oppressive environment of the Gold Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens, where she was mocked as part of the “Ghoul” family and neglected by her father, who was more interested in exploiting tragedies than being a true parent. Now, at her mother Fiona’s insistence, River reluctantly returns for Gregory’s funeral, only to find the mourning disrupted by a shocking revelation: Gregory was poisoned, and Fiona, his third wife and the funeral home's cosmetologist, is arrested for the crime.

River is convinced that Fiona is being framed and resolves to clear her mother’s name. Working alongside the sheriff—her old high school rival—River dives into a web of deceit involving Gregory’s first two wives, their children, and grandchildren. As River unravels the tangled family secrets, the situation escalates when teenagers start disappearing from the cemetery, suggesting that the danger may be even closer to home than she feared.

With a fortune at stake and her family’s dark legacy looming large, River must navigate a treacherous landscape of lies and danger to protect her loved ones and uncover the truth behind the deadly conspiracy.