Book Title: SHADOWS OF THE MISSING (A Chris Matheson Cold Case Mystery #5) by Lauren Carr
Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 434 pages
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Acorn Book Services
Release date: May 5, 2026
Content Rating: PG-13 (Lauren Carr's books are murder mysteries, so there are murders involved. Occasionally, a murder will happen on stage. There is sexual content, but always behind closed doors. Some mild swearing (a hell or a damn few and far between). No F-bombs!
"The Geezer Squad. They might not be in their prime physically anymore, but their combined intellect and skills at deduction are phenomenal." - 5-Star Review by FUONLYKNEW
"Lauren Carr's Geezer Squad has brought sexy back to mature men and women, whose kickass attitude and smarts sizzle as they melt the clues to those cold cases!" - Laura Fabiani, Library of Clean Reads
In the shadows of the missing, the truth lies buried.
Helen Clarke-Matheson believed she had escaped the shadows of her past, building a new life with Chris. But the past has a way of resurfacing, and when her sister arrives with a DNA test, Helen’s world is once again turned upside down. Her sister shattered the family history Helen believed to be true. Her young father hadn’t abandoned his family, and her delusional mother didn’t wander away from her children.
Chris Matheson and the Geezer Squad, a quirky team of retired seasoned sleuths working under the guise of a book club, are drawn into a deeply personal investigation. They must wade through decades of buried secrets and conflicting accounts to uncover the truth behind the parents’ disappearances. As they peel back the layers of deception to unravel long-forgotten clues, they confront the lingering specter of murder and long-hidden crimes. Can they piece together the fragments of the past to bring closure to Helen and her siblings, or will the truth remain buried forever?
Enjoy These Other Geezer Squad Mysteries:
Book Title: CHRIS MATHESON COLD CASE MYSTERIES BOX SET (Book 1 thru 4) by Lauren Carr
Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 434 pages
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Acorn Book Services
Release date: Oct 5, 2025
Content Rating: PG-13 (Lauren Carr's books are murder mysteries, so there are murders involved. Occasionally, a murder will happen on stage. There is sexual content, but always behind closed doors. Some mild swearing (a hell or a damn few and far between). No F-bombs!
Book Description:
Dive into the thrilling Chris Matheson Cold Case Mysteries with this exclusive box set, featuring the first four books in Lauren Carr’s bestselling series! Join retired FBI agent Chris Matheson and his quirky “Geezer Squad” as they unravel chilling cold cases, blending razor-sharp suspense, laugh-out-loud humor, and small-town charm. Perfect for fans of cozy mysteries, detective thrillers, and gripping whodunits, this collection delivers over 1,000 pages of heart-pounding investigations.
What’s Inside:
- ICE: Chris Matheson’s first case pulls him into a web of betrayal and murder tied to a decades-old disappearance.
- Winter Frost: A chance encounter with his late wife, alive—years after the State Department declared her dead in a terrorist attack—shatters Chris’s world.
- The Last Thing She Said: A cryptic dying message sparks a race against time to catch a killer hiding in plain sight.
- Chris Crossed Murder: When a body clutching Chris Matheson’s federal agent badge is found dead in the snowy woods near an international airport, the Geezer Squad’s Christmas turns into a chilling whodunit.
- Compelling Characters: From Chris’s sharp detective mind to the Geezer Squad’s eccentric antics, every page brims with personality.
- Twist-Filled Plots: Expect jaw-dropping surprises and clever red herrings that keep you guessing until the end.
- Kindle Unlimited Ready: Binge-read this addictive series with your KU subscription or own it forever!
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Book Title: ICE (A Chris Matheson Cold Case Mystery #1) by Lauren Carr
Category: Adult fiction, 364 pages
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Acorn Book Services
Release date: February 26, 2018
Content Rating: PG-13 (Lauren Carr's books are murder mysteries, so there are murders involved. Occasionally, a murder will happen on stage. There is sexual content, but always behind closed doors. Some mild swearing (a hell or a damn few and far between). No F-bombs!
Book Description:
When Sandy Lipton and her unborn child disappeared, the court of public opinion found young Chris Matheson guilty. Decades later, the retired FBI agent returns home to discover that the cloud of suspicion cast over him and his family has never lifted.
With the help of a team of fellow retired law enforcement officers, each a specialist in their own field of investigation, Chris Matheson starts chipping away at the ice on this cold case to uncover what had happened to Sandy and her baby and the clues are getting hot!
Book Title: WinterFrost (A Chris Matheson Cold Case Mystery #2) by Lauren Carr
Category: Adult fiction, 332 pages
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Acorn Book Services
Release date: January 22, 2019
Content Rating: PG-13 (Lauren Carr's books are murder mysteries, so there are murders involved. Occasionally, a murder will happen on stage. There is sexual content, but always behind closed doors. Some mild swearing (a hell or a damn few and far between). No F-bombs!
"Winter Frost was an entertaining, at times humorous read with suspense, some surprises, and even cute animals in the mix." Reviewof Winter Frost by The iRead Review
It all started with a chance encounter in the city with Blair, his late wife.
Chris Matheson and the Geezer Squad, working under the guise of a book club, dig into the events surrounding his late wife’s supposed death halfway around the globe. A state department employee shoots himself in the back three times. A CIA operative goes missing. A woman is targeted by an international assassin three years after being declared dead in a terrorist attack overseas.
Nothing is as it seems.
In his most personal cold case, Chris fights to uncover why the state department told him that Blair, the mother of his children, had been killed when she was alive. What had she uncovered that has made her a target? Who terrified her so much that she had gone into hiding and why are they now after him?
Book Title: The Last Thing She Said (A Chris Matheson Cold Case Mystery #3) by Lauren Carr
Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 386 pages
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Acorn Book Services
Release date: July 22, 2019
Content Rating: PG-13 (Lauren Carr's books are murder mysteries, so there are murders involved. Occasionally, a murder will happen on stage. There is sexual content, but always behind closed doors. Some mild swearing (a hell or a damn few and far between). No F-bombs!
“I’m working on the greatest mystery ever,” was the last thing noted mystery novelist Mercedes Livingston said to seven-year-old Chris Matheson before walking out of Hill House Hotel never to be seen again.
For decades, the writer’s fate remained a puzzling mystery until an autographed novel and a letter put a grown-up Chris Matheson on the trail of a cunning killer. With the help of a team of fellow retired law enforcement officers, each a specialist in their own field of investigation, Chris puts a flame to this cold case to uncover what had really happened that night Mercedes Livingston walked out of Hill House Hotel. Watch out! The clues are getting hot!
Book Title: Chris Crossed Murder (A Chris Matheson Cold Case Mystery #4) by Lauren Carr
Category: Adult Fiction (18 +)
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Acorn Book Services
Release date: Feb 22, 2023
Content Rating: PG-13 (Lauren Carr's books are murder mysteries, so there are murders involved. Occasionally, a murder will happen on stage. There is sexual content, but always behind closed doors. Some mild swearing (a hell or a damn few and far between). No F-bombs!
"Lauren Carr is among my favorite mystery writers. She knows how to write a fun tale while keeping readers engaged. ...I would give Chris Crossed Murder one hundred stars if I could. I believe readers who enjoy reading well-written and clean cozy mysteries will most definitely want to read it. I have no doubt they will enjoy it as much as I did. The fifth installment from A Chris Matheson Cold Case Mystery series is on my radar for when it releases." - Review of CHRIS CROSSED MURDER (A Chris Matheson Cold Case Mystery, Book Four) by Amy Campbell, Locks Hooks and Books
It proves to be a Christmas to remember when the Matheson family receives the horrendous news that Chris Matheson’s body has been found in the woods near an international airport.
Everyone is stunned—especially Chris Matheson.
The mystery deepens when they discover the victim has Chris’s federal agent badge and appears to have been investigating one of his old cases.
The Geezer Squad’s latest case is not only a whodunit but who-got-dun. Is this a case of mistaken identity? Was Chris the intended victim? If not, then they must identify the murder victim to find his killer.
With Christmas days away, join the Chris Matheson and the Geezer Squad as they race to piece together the clues to their most puzzling case yet.
Lauren Carr is the author of over thirty acclaimed mystery novels, with more than half a million copies sold worldwide. Her fast-paced series—the Mac Faraday Mysteries, Chris Matheson Cold Case Mysteries, and more—blend twists, suspense, humor, and unforgettable characters (including clever German shepherds!).
It's Murder, My Son organically hit #1 in Mystery on Amazon, and her books consistently rank in the Top 20 Police Procedurals in the US and international markets.
A popular speaker and publishing consultant, Lauren lives on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV, with her husband and three spoiled rotten German shepherds.
Join the mystery at authorlaurencarr.com!
Interview:
1. What literary pilgrimages have you gone on?
I
used to do writers conferences, which are quite valuable. You meet other
writers and people “in the biz.” I learned very quickly to be very selective
about which ones are best for me. As a matter of fact, the very first writer’s
conference was so bad that it was well over a decade before I went to another.
The featured author who was contracted to encourage and help new authors was so
unbelievably rude and arrogant, I was turned off by the entire industry. But I
am a writer. It’s who I am. After dusty off my shoulders, I picked up my
keyboard and went back to ork, vowing to never be like that with fellow
writers.
I
did the Writers Police Academy once and I learned a wealth of information there
and highly recommend it for authors who write crime fiction.
2. Does writing energize or exhaust you?
Energize.
I actually get depressed if I am unable to write for a significant amount of
time. When I had my son, 28 years ago, I hung up my writing to be a full-time
mom. That lasted six months. Then I started writing A Small Case of Murder, my
first mystery novel. Shadows of the Missing is my thirty-third book.
3. Did you ever consider writing under a
pseudonym?
Yes,
and I do. Lauren Carr is my pen name. I’ve had Lauren Carr longer than I had my
real married name. Your next question is, “Why do you use a pen name?” Answer:
Because I have always hated my real name. That’s another story.
4. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or
are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
I
write a number of series, but every book is a standalone. I have no continuing
drama that makes you have to read all the previous books to know what is going
on. I really hate that. And don’t get me started on cliffhangers. I absolutely
hate it when a book ends in a cliffhanger. To me, a book with a cliffhanger is
not a full book. What if I get hit by a truck before the next book with the
ending comes out?
5. As a writer, what would you choose as your
mascot/avatar/spirit animal?
A
dog, of course! I have a dog in every book. It’s become a pattern that every new
dog in my family becomes a character in my book. Gnarly. Sterling. Both have
crossed the rainbow bridge.
Right
now, mentally, I am thinking about a plotline for my new muse, Gracie. She is a
German shepherd, of course. At sixty-five pounds, she is a small German
shepherd.
6. How many unpublished and half-finished books
do you have?
Two.
Best in Murder (A Mac Faraday Mystery #15)will be coming out this fall. Gnarly
judges a dog show at the Spencer Inn.
The
second book, It Came Upon a Midnight Murder will take longer. I was not pleased
with how the storyline was going. But I think I can fix it … eventually …
maybe. This might be the first book that I had to completely abandon … but I’m
not as quitter.
7. What did you edit out of this book?
Oh!
Why did you have to ask about that? I had an entire storyline that involved
Helen’s adopted father Red, babysitting the girls at the Matheson Farm while
the Geezer Squad was in Elkins, WV, working on her birth parents’ missing
persons case. It was a darling subplot. I felt like I had to include Red because
I introduced him in Chris Crossed Murder. But when I finished the book,I had to
admit that this subplot was one of those darlings that I just had to kill.
8. Do you hide any secrets in your books that
only a few people will find?
Ah,
do you mean Easter Eggs? Yes. Not a bunch, but some devoted readers of my other
books have been tickled to spot an egg or two. In Shadows of the Missing, some
noticed that Chris makes reference to The Spencer Inn in one scene. Readers of
the Mac Faraday Mysteries know that this if the 5-star resort that Mac Faraday
owns.
9. What is your favorite childhood book?
The
Bobbsey Twins. This series introduced me to mysteries. I’ve been hooked ever
since.
connect with the author: website ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ X/twitter ~ pinterest ~ goodreads
