Other books by Kerry Wilkinson

TAG, YOU’RE IT

Out: 30 January 2026

It’s just a game… that someone would kill for.

When Jessie enters Tag, You’re It, she thinks she knows what she’s getting into. A sprawling, isolated mansion in beautiful countryside. Twenty contestants, all supposedly strangers. The rules seem simple…

Each day, one of you is ‘It’.
The person who is ‘It’ must complete a secret task to tag someone else.
Whoever ends the day as ‘It’ is out… and loses the chance to win millions.

But most importantly… Don’t. Trust. Anybody.

Jessie is certain friendships are key to getting through, even fake ones. Some people would do anything to win that money. But nobody knows that Jessie has her own secret reasons for playing the game…

Then one of the players is found dead. When the police arrive to ask their questions, how far will Jessie go to hide the truth about her past – and the real reason she’s there?

And in the end, is this game really worth killing for?

THE TAPES

‘If you’re listening to this, I’ve been murdered.’

Eve is clearing her father’s house when she finds an old cassette player and a box of tapes. Though grieving, she smiles at the spark of nostalgia.

One tape is labelled ‘Eve’ – in her mother, Angela’s, scrawled handwriting. She disappeared for good more than ten years ago.

The tape whirrs. A voice crackles. ‘My name is Angela’. Tears fill Eve’s eyes at the familiar voice; at the thought this message is just for her. But the next words make her heart pound.

‘If they say I’m missing, I’m not. If you’re listening to this, I’ve been murdered.’

Desperate for answers, Eve has no one left to ask – only a box of tapes that could lead to the truth. But the more she listens, the more she realises she can never go to the police…

Because Eve’s mother had her own secrets. But what if her killer is still out there? And what if Eve is next?

YOUR HUSBAND’S FAULT

A girl went missing. Was it your husband’s fault?

Emma is so happy to have moved from the city to her husband’s small hometown. James was strangely reluctant at first – but she convinced him their little cottage is the perfect place to settle down. The perfect place to give their six-year-old son a new life.

But then a woman at the school gates asks Emma if she is really married to ‘that man’. ‘Which man?’ Emma asks. The woman replies…

‘Don’t you know what your husband did?’

Because Emma and James moving back has caused old wounds to surface. James’ best friend, Lucy, went missing 20 years ago. Everyone thinks he was responsible.

Emma is reeling. Why did James never tell her about Lucy? What really happened to the missing girl?

And can Emma ever trust the man she married again?

MY SON’S GIRLFRIEND

‘Is that you, darling?’ A second of silence before her son replies. ‘It wasn’t me’. Her heart breaks at the pain in his voice – he sounds like a little boy again. Thirty minutes later, the police knock at the door. ‘Your son’s girlfriend is dead.’ And Dan has disappeared.

It’s almost midnight when Jennifer sees her son’s name flash up on her phone. Away at university, she’s normally so happy when he calls. But something is terribly wrong…

Jennifer is devastated for poor Ella’s family – losing their precious girl, so young. She knows her sweet son, just twenty years old, would never, ever harm anyone. But the police are looking for him. And if Dan is innocent, why has he run?

When Jennifer hears how Ella died, her blood runs cold. Because Jennifer’s best friend was murdered twenty years ago the same way. In the same place. Jennifer hasn’t been back since… but now, she has no choice.

She would do anything for her son. Any mother would. But how far will she have to go – what secrets in her own past will she have to confront – to prove Dan is innocent?

And what if the truth is worse than she ever imagined?

HOME IS WHERE THE LIES LIVE

Even the most perfect home can hide shocking secrets. But on this peaceful street, is one of them dangerous enough to kill for?

Young married couple Heidi and Freddie just moved to Huntington Grove. All the neighbours see they are friendly and polite but why is one door in their house always locked?

Across the street, Willow tries not to argue with her teenage daughter – even as her marriage is falling apart. And where does her husband really go each night, leaving the bed beside her cold?

Feeling lonely, she always waves hello to single dad Dylan next door. His wife died in a tragic murder. The culprit was never found. It’s no surprise there are rumours he was involved…

On a beautiful sunny day, it’s time for the whole street to gather for a summer party. Everyone plasters on a fake smile. But soon the picnic tables will be overturned, sirens will blare – and one of the residents will be marched away in police handcuffs.

Everyone at the party will be questioned. But everyone will lie… And with every household hiding something, who has a secret big enough to kill for?

THE MISSING BODY

I ran to get help. But her body disappeared. Will anyone believe me?

Megan is unpacking in the spare room of her sister’s house when she hears the scream.

Racing to the nearby woods, she is shocked to see a young woman’s unconscious body: her pink top bright against the earth, her long, dark hair wet from a nearby stream. But when desperate Megan returns with the police, all they find is empty woodland.

She’s been through so much, her sister whispers, welcoming her home with a kind smile. You can’t blame her for seeing things.

But Megan knows what she saw – and her past shouldn’t come into it. Was the young woman dead, or dying? How can a body just disappear?

Megan left home for a good reason. Now, confronting the past could be the only way to find the truth. But what if Megan is in danger, too? And what price will she have to pay, to find the girl from the woods?

THE CALL

Nominated: BEST CRIME NOVEL SET IN CANADA 2025

Your fiancé calls. ‘A little girl needs help.’ Then they both disappear…

Melody gazes across the rippling lake to the trees on the shore, waiting for her fiancé Evan to arrive so their family holiday can begin. Here in this cabin in a small Canadian island town, there’s so much space for their son to play. It’s going to be perfect – just like the first time Melody visited as a child. But then a call from Evan shatters her world.

‘There’s someone in the road. I think it’s a little girl. She’s covered in mud. Or… is it blood?’ His voice becomes distant. ‘Are you OK? What’s your name?’ Then there’s a thud.

Evan never arrives to the holiday cabin. Melody, and her son, are terrified and desperate for answers. But with miles of endless, empty forest, and no reports of a missing girl, what hope is there of finding Evan?

The more questions Melody asks of the locals, the more she fears a terrible secret hides just out of sight. And the closer she gets to the truth, the more danger she is in…

THE NIGHT OF THE SLEEPOVER

Four girls close their eyes. Only one wakes up.

Leah and her three best friends get changed into their pyjamas, eat pizza and argue about what film to watch. They laugh together until the early hours.

But the next morning, Leah blinks open her eyes and sees three empty sleeping bags. The other girls are gone.

Twenty years later. In her small hometown, still-haunted Leah has never been able to shake off the rumours and whispers. How could she have slept through it all? She must know what happened.

Now, a documentary is being made about the night Leah’s best friends disappeared.

Is the truth about to come out?

Then an anonymous email arrives in Leah’s inbox. ‘Stop them’.

Somebody out there knows what happened the night of the sleepover. Is Leah in terrible danger? And will she ever find her missing friends – or are some secrets meant to be kept forever?

AFTER THE SLEEPOVER

A sequel to THE NIGHT OF THE SLEEPOVER

“Gone. They’re gone.” Dylan’s wide-eyed mother bites her nails in desperation. “All three kids. They wanted to sleep outside. But I went to check this morning and… the tents are empty. They’re gone.”

Twenty-five years ago: teenage Leah had a sleepover with her three best friends. By morning, the other girls were missing. This small town has been searching for answers ever since. Now it’s happened again…

Three boys decide to camp in a field next to one of their homes. When dawn comes, dew glistens on their empty tents.

Overgrown farmland is searched. Three distraught families are desperate for news. A mother herself now, Leah’s heart breaks as terrible memories flood back…

Leah thought she knew what happened at the sleepover years ago but now another three children are missing. What if she was wrong? And how far will Leah have to go, to finally discover the truth, before it’s too late?

TRULY, MADLY, AMY

We all remember that one magical summer that changed our lives.

For Joe, it’s 1999. School is over, and with zero idea of what he’s meant to do for the rest of his life, he’s reluctantly accepted a job at the local summer camp. Anything to drown out the sharp grief of missing his dad and move on from what school calls his ‘anger problems’. But getting screamed at by hyperactive ten-year-olds is almost enough to make him quit on day one.

Almost.

Then he sees Amy Ashworth for the very first time, her black hair shining in the sun – and learns that nothing hits harder than first love.

She’s the only person he knows who reads for fun, or who’s seen Titanic fourteen times. But there’s another side to Amy. Soon, she’s the only person he’s ever been to a wild house party with, or kissed under the twinkling stars. It’s the happiest Joe has ever been… until the terrible day when what’s left of his family fractures into a million pieces.

Caught up in Amy’s whirlwind, Joe can’t bring himself to tell the truth about his life. Would his dad have wanted him to fight for the girl he loves, or protect his family, no matter what?

Only one thing is certain: this is the summer Joe will grow up. But when he looks back decades later, will he be ashamed of his choices? And will Amy still be by his side?

THE BOYFRIEND

Jodie was a teenager when her boyfriend went missing.

She was the last person to see Ben as they walked home from the cinema.

Ben was never found – and Jodie couldn’t quite escape those sideways looks from some who thought she knew more than she said.

Twenty years on, her father has died suddenly and Jodie is clearing his house.

She’s in the attic when she finds the cardboard box with ‘KEEP’ written on the side.

And there, buried inside, is the distinctive green top that Ben was wearing when he went missing…

THE PARTY AT NO.12

Hannah smiles at her guests. In this grand house rented specially for the evening, everyone admires the sparkling chandelier and raises a glass to say goodbye before Hannah moves away from this little town for good. But the next day, one of them lies cold and lifeless in their bed…

The day of her leaving party, Hannah Ford is nervous. With so many secrets and lies over the years between her friends, and arguments between her sisters, is it really a good idea to gather everyone together? But her mother insists that, after Hannah’s divorce and job struggles, she deserves a send-off to remember. So they all plaster on fake smiles and put aside their rifts for an evening of celebrations.

In the morning, one of the guests is found dead.

Hannah is desperate to tell the police. But every single guest has something to hide, or someone to protect. The group insists: they will deal with this themselves. After all, it must have been an accident. Perhaps too much wine, on a night where emotions were running high.

But what if it wasn’t?

And what if this was just the first victim?

THE PERFECT DAUGHTER

When Jennifer tries to confront the mother of a bully, she is told to mind her own business.

One day later and Jennifer is driving to pick up her daughter from football practice. It’s a dark December night and the rain is thumping down.

It’s only a second, a ding of a phone, and, in the moment Jennifer turns away, she hits a woman who is walking on the road.

It’s an awful lapse of judgement but there, down in the verge below, lies the unconscious and battered body of the woman with whom she was arguing.

The area is clear, her car undamaged. Jennifer knows she should stop and call the emergency services…but what will happen to her if she does?

Hours later, Jennifer has fled the scene and is riddled with guilt. Then a text message arrives that can only make things worse: ’I know what you did’.

THE CHILD IN THE PHOTO

The envelope is waiting on the mat when Hope gets home from a weekly big shop. Her name is written on the front in neat capital letters but there’s no stamp and no postmark.

The only thing inside is a newspaper cutting from thirty-four years before. It’s a story is about an infant named Jane, who was snatched from the back seat of a car.

Hope almost dismisses it – except that there’s something about the photo of the stolen girl. Jane is missing a part of her left ear…in the exact same place that Hope is missing a part of hers.

The longer Hope stares at the photo, the more a horrible possibility swirls into view, leaving her to ask herself the barely comprehensible question.
Is this stolen child…me?

THE BLAME

Harry, Richard and Paige were inseparable as teenagers; bonded by friendship, living next door to each other – and, eventually, a terrible, unforgettable discovery.

Almost twenty years on and they have gone their own ways in the world.

It’s a cold, winter morning when Harry’s phone rings. Paige’s name is on the screen, a reminder that they haven’t spoken in a long time.

Richard, now a quiet, unassuming accountant, has been arrested for murdering one of their old teachers. They were seen arguing in the hours before the death.

Paige asks if Harry can come home – because, with Richard suspected of one murder, people are now wondering if that their terrible, unforgettable discovery of the past was quite so coincidental after all…

WHAT MY HUSBAND DID

A girl has been left for dead – and now my husband is missing.

‘I can give you a lift home,’ the man says. Little Alice tightens the zip of her big red coat. She’s unsure, but the walk will be cold and dark. ‘I’m not supposed to get in a stranger’s car.’ He forces a smile. ‘I’m not a proper stranger, am I?’

I return home on a chilly winter evening expecting to find my husband, Richard, waiting for me. Marrying him and moving to such a beautiful house in this cosy village is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

He usually comes straight back from work. But, tonight, our antique clock ticks on through the wintry evening, with no sign of him.

Then a knock at the door changes everything.

A 12-year-old-girl, Alice from the village, has been left for dead in the field near our house. They say she was last seen getting into Richard’s car.

As Alice fights for her life in hospital, villagers don’t bother to hire their whispering. There’s always been gossip about our age gap – plus the death of his first wife years ago. Now there’s this.

Is everyone right?
Have they always been?
Is my husband on the run?

And then there’s me, with that long-buried secret which, if the police look hard enough, might finally come back to haunt me.

THE CHILD ACROSS THE STREET

Wheeling my suitcase down the familiar, hedge-lined street, I smile at the sound of children playing in the park nearby. Suddenly, there’s a screech of car brakes. I rush over to see a bent bike wheel sticking out of the ditch, and underneath, a little boy…

As I turn the rusty key in the lock of the house I grew up in, memories flood back. None of them happy. I never told anyone why I left home twenty years ago, and all I want is to sort out Dad’s funeral as quickly as possible.

Now I’m trapped here, the only witness to a terrible incident that has left an eight-year-old boy fighting for his life. But after a lifetime trying to forget my past, I don’t know if I can trust my memory, or be totally sure of what I saw today.

Sorting through Dad’s things one night – shopping lists in his curly handwriting, piles of old newspapers, dusty sports trophies – I think I hear the back door handle rattle. I tiptoe downstairs, past an open window I’m sure I locked. And a figure darts across the overgrown garden.

Someone is watching me. Someone who knows I’m the only one who saw what happened to little Ethan… or could they know the real reason why I left? Either way, I’m certain that coming back was my biggest mistake. I can’t leave, but the longer I stay, the more danger I’m in…

AFTER THE ACCIDENT

The ultimate he said/she said thriller about a perfect family trip gone terribly wrong.

After the accident which tore apart her family, Emma is shocked to be invited away to a beautiful Mediterranean island – but when her mother calls her out of the blue, wanting to make amends, she can’t say no.

Julius hasn’t seen his sister Emma in years. Although he can’t ever trust her again after what she did, he’s willing to put their differences aside for the sake of their elderly parents.

Despite what happened in the past, everything is going surprisingly well – days spent sipping sangria by the pool, evenings spent forcing smiles at the dinner table – until the night Julius and Emma’s father is attacked on the beach and left for dead on the sand.

She says: Nobody would benefit from our father’s death more than Julius.
He says: We all know what Emma’s capable of. And no-one knows where she was that night.
She says: He’s always been a liar.
He says: She looked me in the eye and told me she wanted our father dead.

Everyone is lying about what happened on the beach that hot summer night. And when the truth is revealed, it will be more shocking than either of them ever imagined.

CLOSE TO YOU

* INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS’ EBOOK NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2020 *

I pinch the screen to zoom until I’m staring at the face of a ghost. A man with very short hair, staring directly at the camera with piercing brown eyes.

He is as he was when I last saw him: wrinkles around the corners of the eyes and a knowing smirk. That’s the expression I see when I can’t sleep.

My body tenses. It can’t be him. It’s not my ex-husband. It’s not David.

I know that better than anyone because he didn’t walk out on me.

He didn’t disappear two years ago and he’s not a missing person.

I know that for a fact because I’m the one who killed him.

A FACE IN THE CROWD

Lucy gets the same bus every day.

She hopes to get a seat to herself, tries to avoid eye contact, and, if she’s really lucky, reads a chapter of her book.

But it’s a Friday – and the bus is always crammed at the end of the week. Personal space doesn’t exist. She keeps her elbows close and clings to a pole at every juddering stop.

When she gets off, something feels different. An envelope stuffed with thousands of pounds is in her bag.

Is it the answer to her prayers, or the beginning of a nightmare?

Because, in the end, everything has a price.

THE WIFE’S SECRET

Charley Willis was thirteen years old when her parents were killed in their family home and she was found hiding in a cupboard upstairs.

Fifteen years later, Charley is marrying Seth Chambers. It should be the happiest day of their lives, a chance for Charley to put her past behind her, but just hours after the ceremony, she is missing.

No one saw her leave. No one knows where she is.

One thing is for certain…Seth is about to discover he doesn’t really know the woman he just married. And his nightmare is only just beginning.

THE DEATH AND LIFE OF ELEANOR PARKER

Seventeen-year-old Eleanor Parker wakes up cold and alone in the river that twists through her quiet village. She has no memory of how she got there. But she does know that another girl was drowned in the same river the summer before, held under the water by an unknown killer…

Eleanor is a normal, every day teenager. She argues with her mum, spends her days with her best friend, and is looking forward to a carefree summer of sunshine and music. Who would want to hurt her?

Determined to unlock the mystery of what really happened to her, Eleanor can’t escape the feeling that something awful links her to the previous summer’s murder. But will she find out the truth before it’s too late?

A gripping and extraordinary coming of age novel that will make you question everything and keep you guessing until the very end. Perfect for fans of We Were Liars, Looking for Alaska by John Green and hit TV show Riverdale.

LAST NIGHT

It’s the early hours of the morning and Rose Denton wakes up behind the steering wheel of her car. She’s off the road, through a hedge and in a field. There’s blood on the windscreen and bonnet – but it’s not hers and there’s no sign of anything or anyone she might have hit. She was in a hotel on a business trip but now she’s miles away.

Back home and her daughter’s boyfriend is missing. The last thing he did was argue with Rose over money. He left no note, no text, no anything.

The police have questions – and so does Rose’s family. But those are little compared to the ones she has for herself.

What happened last night? And, perhaps more importantly, does she really want to know the answer?

THE GIRL WHO CAME BACK

Thirteen years ago Olivia Adams went missing. Now she’s back… or is she?

When six-year-old Olivia Adams disappeared from her back garden, the small community of Stoneridge was thrown into turmoil. How could a child vanish in the middle of a cosy English village?

Thirteen years on and Olivia is back. Her mother is convinced it’s her but not everyone is sure. If this is the missing girl, then where has she been – and what happened to her on that sunny afternoon?

If she’s an imposter, then who would be bold enough to try to fool a child’s own mother – and why?

Then there are those who would rather Olivia stayed missing. The past is the past and some secrets must remain buried.

10BTWO SISTERS

They told us he had been missing for nearly two days, that he probably drowned. They told us a lie.

Megan was ten years old when her older brother, Zac, went missing among the cliffs, caves and beaches that surround the small seaside town of Whitecliff.

A decade later and a car crash has claimed the lives of her parents.

Megan and her younger sister Chloe return to Whitecliff one summer for the first time since their brother’s disappearance. Megan says it’s to get her parents’ affairs in order. There are boxes to pack, junk to clear, a rundown cottage to sell. But that’s not the real reason.

Megan has come to confront her family’s past after receiving a postcard on the day of her parents’ funeral. It had a photo of Whitecliff on the front and a single letter on the back.

‘Z’ is all it read.

Z for Zac.

10BTEN BIRTHDAYS

* RNA YOUNG ADULT ROMANTIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2018 *

‘There will be so many things I wish I could’ve told you in person. I won’t get the chance, so perhaps this is my only way…’

It’s Poppy Kinsey’s birthday.

She should be blowing out candles and opening presents – but hers falls on the type of heart-wrenching, agonising anniversary she would far rather forget.

The worst day of them all. The day her mother died.

But this year is special because the person she misses most in the world has left her a set of letters, one for each of her next ten birthdays.

As Poppy opens them year by year, she discovers that no matter how tough life gets, her mum will always be by her side, guiding her along the way.

NPLHNO PLACE LIKE HOME

When he was a teenager, Craig Macklin’s headteacher told him he was heading to either prison or the grave. Instead, Craig left the north of England, saying goodbye to his friends and family to start a new life.

Thirteen years on, redundant and separated from his wife, he returns for the first time.

It’s Christmas: markets in full swing, lights twinkling, shoppers shopping, revellers revelling.

Amid the season, there are secrets from which he cannot escape and, when debt-collectors attack his parents’ house, Craig realises the teenage hell-raiser he left behind might not be so buried after all.

DATDMDOWN AMONG THE DEAD MEN

‘I’m going to do you a favour: I’m going to tell you my name and then I’m going to give you thirty seconds to turn and run. If any of you are still here after those thirty seconds, then we’re going to have a problem.’

Jason Green’s life is changed for good after he is saved from a mugging by crime boss Harry Irwell. From there, he is drawn into Manchester’s underworld, where stomping into a newsagents and smashing the place up is as normal as making a cup of tea.

But Jason isn’t a casual thug. Fast cars and flash clothes don’t appeal – he’s biding his time and saving his money, waiting for the perfect moment to make a move.

That is until a woman walks into his life offering one thing that money can’t buy – salvation.

WATCHED: WHEN ROAD RAGE FOLLOWS YOU HOME
AN AMAZON EXCLUSIVE

Dougie Jamieson is a pillar of the community. He’s won awards for his work with children, his brother is a chief inspector and he runs the neighbourhood watch scheme.

But Esther Pooley sees him differently.

After a road rage incident, she’s convinced he’s the person terrorising her and husband Charlie at their suburban dream home.

As the stakes begin to rise, they must decide if bricks and mortar are worth more than their relationship, with Charlie left with the toughest of all dilemmas. How far will he go to protect his wife?

* THERE IS A NOTE ABOUT THE ENDING OF WATCHED HERE *