The McKenna Mystery Series
A missing teacher from the eighties, a ghostly gothic teen, and a sullen young boy from decades before. These are some of the many images that Detective Grace McKenna sees when she looks into a criminal’s eyes. Follow Grace as she untangles secrets in the small town of Bridgeton, Massachusetts, alongside a quirky cast of characters in the plot-twisting series.
The Gift | Book 1
AMAZON BEST SELLER
One look in a criminal’s eyes and she witnesses their crimes.
Grace McKenna is not your average police officer.
She is haunted by the unsettling images she sees when she locks eyes with a criminal, her vision flooded with clues that force her to solve cases on her own.
A sullen boy, a tormented woman, a breathless man, a thousand pieces of shattered green glass.
On a missing persons case in a small Massachusetts town, Grace comes face to face with an unlikely criminal. Armed with only a handful of clues, she sets out to unravel a local family’s deathly secret.
Sharing the streets with someone only she knows to be a killer is unsettling to say the least, but when her off-the-books investigation generates more questions than answers, the list of people she can trust grows dangerously short.
It’s a race to solve the mystery before the trail goes cold and a killer walks free.
Join the hunt for an elusive killer who’s primed to strike again.
★★★★★ "Extremely intriguing from the preface forward!" - Reader Review
Buried Secrets | Book 2
AMAZON BEST SELLER
One look in a criminal’s eyes and she witnesses their crimes.
Grace McKenna is not your average police officer.
She is haunted by the unsettling images she sees when she locks eyes with a criminal, her vision flooded with clues that force her to solve cases on her own.
A sullen boy, a tormented woman, a breathless man, a thousand pieces of shattered green glass.
On a missing persons case in a small Massachusetts town, Grace comes face to face with an unlikely criminal. Armed with only a handful of clues, she sets out to unravel a local family’s deathly secret.
Sharing the streets with someone only she knows to be a killer is unsettling to say the least, but when her off-the-books investigation generates more questions than answers, the list of people she can trust grows dangerously short.
It’s a race to solve the mystery before the trail goes cold and a killer walks free.
Join the hunt for an elusive killer who’s primed to strike again.
★★★★★ "Extremely intriguing from the preface forward!" - Reader Review
Never Tell | Book 3
★★★★★"Never Tell is a compelling, engrossing mystery brilliantly written by Kate Anslinger, a writer in the same league as mystery writer Lisa Scottoline." —Peter Tanous, author of The Secret of Fatima
Detective Grace McKenna has a gift. When she looks into the eyes of criminals, she is inundated with glimpses of their crimes.
In book three of the McKenna Mystery Series, Grace finds herself face to face with a school principal holding on to a haunting past. When Grace makes eye contact with Principal Jack Whittaker on a routine visit to an elementary school, she is confronted with visions of a disturbed woman who is struggling to convey a message. In Never Tell, flashes of a heavily made-up face, a red rope that seems to lead to nowhere, and a rainy night in a familiar field, take Grace to places outside of Bridgeton to solve a crime that she hopes will help heal the town. Armed with the few clues that she has from a missing person case in the eighties, Grace untangles the mystery alongside a questionable witness.
Family Photos | Book 4
★★★★★ "Grace McKenna knows what you've done. She can see it in your eyes." —Author of Chasing Vega, Terry Shepherd
★★★★★ "Anslinger's attention to detail is incredible." — Amazon Reader
Detective Grace McKenna has a gift. When she looks into the eyes of criminals, she is inundated with glimpses of their crimes. In book four of the McKenna Mystery Series, Grace’s gift takes her back to the 1950s, when Bridgeton, Massachusetts was run by high society families. When Grace and boyfriend, Mark Connolly, sign the paperwork on their newly purchased home, Grace learns things she’d rather not know about the seller and the family that formerly lived there.
A gunshot wound, old family photos with a mysterious woman, and a thousand pieces of shattered green glass, flash before Grace when she meets the seller, John Walsh. Recruiting the help of Mark, Barb, and a few other newly casted characters, Grace picks apart old family photos and gets tangled up in Bridgeton’s past. Meanwhile, she is faced with living in a home that was the setting for chilling town secrets.
In Family Photos, Grace dissects a crime that is close to home, provoking the truth so the dust can finally settle.
Chasing Ghosts | Book 5
Are there always two sides to every one person?
In Chasing Ghosts, Grace has to step away from Bridgeton for the first time, to expose a ruthless criminal.
In book five of the McKenna Mystery series, Grace finds herself in a tangle of one woman’s lies.
When a gothic, angsty teen girl shows up in her visions, she’s forced to dissect the past of Amy Brooks, do-gooder and doctor’s wife who runs a non-profit for pregnant and grief-stricken women. One of those women happens to be a newcomer to Bridgeton, by the name of Charlotte Anderson.
It doesn’t take Grace long to discover a rare bond between Amy and Charlotte, but as she digs deeper into their southern past, she uncovers all that has been left unsaid. Grace’s own impending pregnancy is gripping her deadline tighter than ever before, as she works restlessly to solve the crime and stop Amy before someone else gets hurt.
from the readers…
"Thriller fans will enjoy the story's darker turns; but the author also offers some welcome lighter moments, which give texture to the setting and characters. An offbeat page-turner about an empathetic detective." -Kirkus Reviews
“Unputdownable”
“Riveting”
“Well written crime story”
“Enticing!”
“Extremely intriguing from the preface forward”
“This was one of the books my wife purchased, without me in mind. I had just finished another book and just started this without any thought about it. I liked the way the author was so descriptive about everything that was taking place in this work. I really appreciated the twist in the last few sentences of the story, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read.” —Amazon Customer