Cold Ridge

by Carla Neggers

Overview

From New York Times bestselling author Carla Neggers

When a murderous plan is put in motion, one woman will do whatever it takes to get the perfect shot.

Award-winning photographer Carine Winter accepts the job of photographing a historic Boston home knowing she's taking a risk—she could run into Tyler North, the pararescuer who all but left her at the altar a year ago. Then Carine finds a body in the house—and the prime suspect in the murder is Tyler North's best friend. 

When Tyler hears about the murder, he rushes to see his friend Manny, expecting him to ask for help. Instead, Manny urges Tyler to protect Carine, to take her back to Cold Ridge and away from the temptation to meddle in a murder investigation.

Carine is at the center of a deadly game. And the only person she can trust is the person she vowed never to trust again: Tyler. But they're running out of time—because a killer has followed them to Cold Ridge…

Previously Published.

Read the Cold Ridge Series by Carla Neggers:
Book One: Cold Ridge
Book Two: Night’s Landing
Book Three: The Rapids
Book Four: Dark Sky
Book Five: Breakwater
Book Six: Abandon
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780369719720
Publisher:	MIRA Books
Publication date:	10/11/2021
Series:	Cold Ridge , #1
Sold by:	HARLEQUIN
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	35,285
File size:	603 KB

About the Author

Carla Neggers is the New York Times bestselling author of more than 60 novels of contemporary romance and romantic suspense, including her popular Sharpe & Donovan and Swift River Valley series. Her books have been translated into 24 languages and sold in over 30 countries. Carla is always plotting her next adventure--whether in life or for one of her novels. A frequent traveler to Ireland, she lives with her family in New England.

Read an Excerpt

Cold Ridge

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By Carla Neggers

Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.

Copyright © 2003 Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.
All right reserved.
ISBN: 1551666847

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Chapter One

Carine Winter loaded her day pack with hiking essentials and her new digital camera and headed into the woods, a rolling tract of land northeast of town that had once been dairy farms. She didn't go up the ridge. It was a bright, clear November day in the valley with little wind and highs in the fifties, but on Cold Ridge, the temperature had dipped below freezing, wind gusts were up to fifty miles an hour and its exposed, knife-edged granite backbone was already covered in snow and ice.

Her parents had hiked Cold Ridge in November and died up there when she was three. Thirty years ago that week, but Carine still remembered.

Gus, her uncle, had been a member of the search party that found his older brother and sister-in-law. He was just twenty himself, not a year home from Vietnam, but he'd taken on the responsibility of raising Carine and her older brother and sister. Antonia was just five at the time, Nate seven.

Yes, Carine thought as she climbed over a stone wall, she remembered so much of those terrible days, although she had been too young to really understand what had happened. Gus had taken her and her brother and sister up the ridge the spring after the tragedy. Cold Ridge loomed over their northern New Hampshire valley and their small hometown of the same name. Gus said they couldn't be afraid of it. His brother had been a firefighter, his sister-in-law a biology teacher, both avid hikers. They weren't reckless or inexperienced. People in the valley still talked about their deaths. Never mind that weather reports were now more accurate, hiking clothes and equipment more high-tech - if Cold Ridge could kill Harry and Jill Winter, it could kill anyone.

Carine waited until she was deep into the woods before she took out her digital camera. She wasn't yet sure she liked it. But she wouldn't be able to concentrate on any serious photography today. Her mind kept drifting back to fleeting memories, half-formed images of her parents, anything she could grasp.

Gus, who'd become one of the most respected outfitters and guides in the White Mountains, would object to her hiking alone. It was the one risk she allowed herself to take, the one safety rule she allowed herself to break.

She'd climbed all forty-eight peaks in the White Mountains over four thousand feet. Seven were over five thousand feet: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Monroe, Madison, Lafayette and Lincoln. At 6288 feet, Mt. Washington was the highest, and the most famous, notorious for its extreme conditions, some of the worst in the world. At any time of the year, hikers could find themselves facing hurricane-force winds on its bald granite summit - Carine had herself. Because of the conditions the treeline was lower in the White Mountains than out west, generally at around 4500 feet.

It was said the Abenakis considered the tall peaks sacred and never climbed them. Carine didn't know if that was true, but she could believe it.

Most of the main Cold Ridge trail was above four thousand feet, exposing hikers to above-treeline conditions for a longer period than if they just went up and down a single peak.

But today, Carine was content with her mixed hardwood forest of former farmland. Gus had warned her to stay away from Bobby Poulet, a survivalist who had a homestead on a few acres on the northeast edge of the woods. He was a legendary crank who'd threatened to shoot anyone who stepped foot on his property.

She took pictures of rocks and burgundy-colored oak leaves, water trickling over rocks in a narrow stream, a hemlock, a fallen, rotting elm and an abandoned hunting shack with a crooked metal chimney. The land was owned by a lumber company that, fortunately, had a laissez-faire attitude toward hikers.

She almost missed the owl.

It was a huge barred owl, as still as a stone sculpture, its neutral coloring blending in with the mostly gray November landscape as it perched on a branch high in a naked beech tree.

Before Carine could raise her camera, the owl swooped off its branch and flapped up over the low ridge above her, out of sight.

She sighed. She'd won awards for her photography of raptors - she'd have loved to have had a good shot of the owl. On the other hand, she wasn't sure her digital camera was up to the task.

A loud boom shattered the silence of the isolated ravine.

Carine dropped flat to the ground, facedown, before she could absorb what the sound was.

A gunshot.

Her camera had flown out of her hand and landed in the dried leaves two feet above her outstretched arm. Her day pack ground into her back. And her heart was pounding, her throat tight.

Damn, she thought. How close was that?

It had to be hunters. Not responsible hunters. Insane hunters - yahoos who didn't know what they were doing. Shooting that close to her. What were they thinking? Didn't they see her? She'd slipped a bright-orange vest over her fleece jacket. She knew it was deer-hunting season, but this was the first time a hunter had fired anywhere near her.

"Hey!" She lifted her head to yell but otherwise remained prone on the damp ground, in the decaying fallen leaves. "Knock it off! There's someone up here!"

As if in answer, three quick, earsplitting shots cracked over her head, whirring, almost whistling. One hit the oak tree a few yards to her right.

Were these guys total idiots?

She should have hiked in the White Mountain National Forest or one of the state parks where hunting was prohibited.

Just two yards to her left was a six-foot freestanding boulder. If these guys weren't going to stop shooting, she needed to take cover. Staying low, she picked up her camera then scrambled behind the boulder, ducking down, her back against the jagged granite. The ground was wetter here, and her knees and seat were already damp. Cold, wet conditions killed. More hikers in the White Mountains died of hypothermia than any other cause. It was what had killed her parents thirty years ago. They were caught in unexpected freezing rain and poor visibility. They fell. Injured, unable to move, unable to stay warm - they didn't stand a chance.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Cold Ridge by Carla Neggers Copyright © 2003 by Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

"The unforgettable characters make Neggers' story extraordinarily memorable." -RT Book Reviews, Top Pick, on Keeper's Reach

"Neggers delivers another spellbinding, chilling, complex page-turner in this latest Sharpe & Donovan novel." -RT Book Reviews, Top Pick, on Harbor Island

"Neggers' Sharpe & Donovan series has developed a wide following, and her books maintain a potent combination of suspense and romance." -Kirkus Reviews

"Well-plotted, intriguing and set mostly in the lushly described Irish countryside, the novel is smart and satisfying, and the paths of three couples growing even more devoted to each other are deftly woven into the suspenseful story line." -Kirkus Reviews on Declan's Cross

"Neggers' beautifully flowing and skillfully narrated novel is rich with dialogue that emphasizes the sights, sounds, culture and panoramic views of Ireland. Emma and Colin are as unforgettable as ever." -RT Book Reviews, Top Pick, on Declan's Cross

"Heron's Cove gives romantic suspense fans what they want...complex mystery with a bit of romance. Neggers skillfully created a compelling puzzle, refusing to reveal all the pieces until the very end." -RT Book Reviews, Top Pick

"Saint's Gate is the best book yet from a writer at the absolute top of her craft." -Providence Journal

"With a great plot and excellent character development, Neggers' thriller Saint's Gate, the first in a new series, is a fast-paced, action-packed tale of romantic suspense that will appeal to fans of Lisa Jackson and Lisa Gardner." -Library Journal

From the Publisher