THE LOBBY

Before the cabin. Before the quiet. Before East Texas started calling us back. David and I were detectives chasing murder through backroads, burned-out buildings, and lies that didn’t crack easy. Murder Doesn’t Clock Out: Before Quinlan is the prequel — seven cases that built our grit, tested our instincts, and taught us the hard way that justice doesn’t come clean. You want the truth? Start here. — Loretta

Harold Finch was found slumped over his garage workbench, throat slashed clean. A six-inch wooden doll, dressed in miniature overalls, mirrored the wound exactly. The next day, Albert Keyes was discovered in his study, wrist lacerated, with another doll—cardigan and glasses—standing upright on the desk. Each scene was staged with obsessive precision. The killer didn’t just leave evidence. They left a performance.

In 1885, Austin was gripped by terror. A phantom killer crept through the fog, dragging victims from their beds and leaving them mutilated in moonlit yards. No footprints. No witnesses. Just blood and silence. They called him the Servant Girl Annihilator—but no one ever saw his face. The murders stopped as suddenly as they began, but the dread remains. Walk past Pecan and Sabine after midnight, and you might hear him still.

Bragg Road in Saratoga, Texas is home to one of the state’s most chilling legends: the Headless Railroad Worker. Said to have been decapitated in a tragic rail accident in the early 1900s, his ghost still roams the abandoned line, swinging a lantern in search of his missing head. Visitors report seeing a glowing light drifting through the Big Thicket—silent, eerie, and impossible to explain. Some searches never end. 👻

Before Lake Tawakoni was a reservoir, it was a valley thick with pine and secrets. They say one tree still grows beneath the water—upside down, feeding on broken promises. And from it crawls the Splinter Man: a bark-bodied figure with hollow eyes and creaking limbs. He doesn’t kill. He scatters. So if you hear wood groan near the eastern shore, don’t speak. Don’t lie. And whatever you do… don’t look into the water.

The Dollmaker of Point is officially on Audible as an audiobook, voiced by the incomparable Jess Wright. Her narration brings every eerie whisper and bloodstained secret to life. And don’t forget—Teardrops of Lake Tawakoni is available on Audible now, also narrated by Jess. If you love Southern noir, forensic intrigue, and emotionally charged suspense, these audiobooks will pull you deep into the heart of Texas darkness.

Teardrops of Lake Tawakoni – The Eras Remix: In My Gen Z Era is dropping FREE on Kindle from October 13–17. This isn’t the OG—it’s the emotionally feral reboot. Rewritten for readers who binge thrillers like cursed playlists and annotate in trauma-coded emojis. If you missed the original, now’s your chance to spiral for $0. The lake’s not calm—it’s petty. And it’s carving teardrops into bodies like it’s a vibe check.

The lake’s watching—and the cover just dropped. Teardrops of Lake Tawakoni – The Eras Remix: In My Gen Z Era is giving haunted soft launch, forensic dread, and emotionally feral chaos. Loretta and David Smitty are chasing bodies, trauma-coded symbols, and small-town silence. TikTok-style chapters like POV: The Lake’s Got Beef and Unsent = Unsolved make this a bingeable thriller for anyone who spirals at 2AM and screenshots before they cry.