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Darkness on the Edge of Town (Laura Cardinal Series Book 1) Kindle Edition
J. Carson Black (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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Used to be kids played outdoors until time for dinner, now social media’s the new game in town. These days, they play on their smartphones. But with more freedom comes greater danger. Mobile devices are a conduit into a child’s life, not just for friends but for those who intend harm. This is the message of J. Carson Black’s Daphne du Maurier Award-nominated thriller, DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN.
When Laura investigates the murder of a fourteen-year-old girl found in a town’s park bandshell, she knows immediately what she’s up against: a cunning sexual predator. But why is she plagued by the abduction of a schoolmate eighteen years earlier?
In a runaway case that propels Laura from a lavish Tucson estate to the secretive heart of a northern Florida town, she must confront the ghosts of her own past. Then another child goes missing—and Laura must race the clock to find her.
“A superb debut…Welcome to a strong new voice in American Crime Fiction”
— T. Jefferson Parker, Edgar Award winner and author of California Girl
“A complex, multi-layered, nail-biting Superthriller”
— Michael Prescott, New York Times and Amazon bestselling author of Dangerous Games
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateDecember 8, 2013
- File size3071 KB
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B003TFETK0
- Publisher : Breakaway Media (December 8, 2013)
- Publication date : December 8, 2013
- Language : English
- File size : 3071 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 437 pages
- Lending : Enabled
- Best Sellers Rank: #879,246 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #11,317 in Police Procedurals (Kindle Store)
- #15,729 in Crime Thrillers (Kindle Store)
- #20,621 in Police Procedurals (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Hailed by bestselling author T. Jefferson Parker as "a strong new voice in American crime fiction," J. Carson Black has written fifteen novels. Her thriller, THE SHOP, reached #1 on the Kindle Bestseller list, and her crime thriller series featuring homicide detective Laura Cardinal became a New York Times and USA Today bestseller. Although Black earned a master's degree in operatic voice, she was inspired to write a horror novel after reading The Shining. She lives in Tucson, Arizona.
Customer reviews
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Laura Cardinal is a Tucson-based detective investigating the murder of a teenage girl. Laura has a lot going on in her life and, unfortunately, the author doesn't always do the best job of making it clear what exactly is going on. I am not a reader who usually needs a lot of handholding, but I spent far too long in this book wondering exactly what was going on or trying to remember who certain characters were.
The plot develops slowly -- Laura's investigation involves a lot of waiting. When things do begin to move faster, it's hard to take it seriously because it's so far-fetched.
The only things I didn't love about the book were that there were a lot of extra characters and I had trouble keeping up with all of them, but that may be just me. Also, the constant use of the term 'mesquite tree' was distracting. Perhaps because I've never lived anywhere that had them as far as I've been aware, but every time they were mentioned, and that was quite a bit, it jumped out at me. Also, there were random spots all over the book where the font changed to italics for no apparent reason. As a published author on Amazon, I know that can be an issue, weird font things, but hopefully it can get corrected.
Darkness on The Edge Of Town was a good character study, not only of the 'bad guy(s)" but also of Laura Cardinal. She's well written for a main character...she is strong rather than the typical "gritty" we see so many times in detective novels. I like her. She also has side issues in her life, but doesn't get side-tracked. She knows when to back off, when to press out on her own, when to say 'the heck with it' and go it alone. I can see a bright future for her.
I enjoyed this book enough to give another one of J Carson Black's other books a try at just .99 cents.
It was a book that you just didn't want to put down. The main character, Laura, was smart, gutsy and a great detective. You also were fed bits of what was going on in the killer(s) head. There were times when I was pretty sure who was in on the killings and I was right BUT it was not obvious at all and I am sure many of you won't know until the end of the story. Not because I am so smart I just have something in my brain that I just pick up on who it is. Keep in mind that there are enough characters that you can suspect and you probably will suspect them for various reasons.
I also loved the way this author described things - you felt like you were really there with Laura. I am not too crazy when some authors do this but this was really really well done. It didn't feel like a bunch of filler or ridiculous descriptions like some authors just throw in.
I love books that make you think and are written in a way that doesn't make you feel it is written for people who really just want a light read and don't want to think. I don't mean this in a bad way because sometimes I want to read something light that I don't have to think too much about. However, most of the times I want to read a book like this.
All in all I can't imagine anyone who loves detective mystery thrillers that would not like this book. It was not too short nor too long it was just perfect. I didn't feel like there was anything left out and you were satisfied with everything at the end.
I look forward to reading other books by this author!
I found the read interesting. I have read all the Cyril Landry books and want to read more and so I thought I would try this author's other books. My favorites are the Cyril Landry books though.
8-31-17. Terri Davis. Oklahoma City, Ok
Top reviews from other countries


Loved it. Highly recommended reading.

Just a little disappointed with the predictable ending (once you've been told whodunit...) which left me a bit disappointed...
Well worth the sale price at present...
A good little read!

