The Botanist

Alex knows one thing for sure: Something creepy happened on that abandoned stretch of desert highway. When Alex Thompson is pulled over by a squad car in the middle of nowhere, the police officer acts downright bizarre. She's positive something’s not right about the whole situation.

Years later, a mass grave is discovered in that same area, and she knows she came close to being one of the victims. So why did the killer let her go?

Cody Oliver is a small-town detective. His department can’t handle a case this huge. When a mysterious woman, Alex, appears from the past, it stirs something in him. Could a chance encounter a million years ago have been that important? Could a short, random meeting he’d dismissed as soon as it ended be the key to stopping a serial killer?

Give me a “hell yeah” and pick up this book with one click, because if Cody and Alex can’t unravel this demented mystery, the desert will continue to fill up with bodies.

"The mystery was gruesome and chilling but so good.”—JBronder Book Reviews

"…the creepiest murderer you'll ever know.”—www.seemlessreader.blogspot.com

"I blame L.K. Hill for my sleepless nights…I LOVED this book!"—R.K. Grow, Author

Author Interview:
How did you get into crime fiction?

Let’s face it: everyone loves a good mystery. I’m no exception. I have early childhood memories of reading The Boxcar Children. As I got older, I graduated to Nancy Drew, then Mary Higgins-Clark and other adult authors. Not to mention watching tons of police procedurals on T.V., and having a bit of a fascination with serial killers. It was really only a matter of time before I started writing it myself.

How did you come up with the story?

I’m from Utah, and several of my siblings worked a few summers at a dude ranch in southern Utah. A place called Antimony. (No, you wouldn’t have heard of it. Its other names are Back Country, Hickville and Where?) I often did drop-offs, pick-ups, or just visited, which meant I did a lot of desert traveling those years. It was about a five-hour drive of mostly uncultivated desert and tumbleweeds. My dark and twisty mind started coming up with creepy scenarios, and The Botanist was born!

You’ve written stories about both urban and rural crime. Do you have a preference?

No, I don’t think I prefer one over the other. Being something of a country girl myself, writing about a killer in a small desert town held an interest all its own. But the urban setting of the inner city can definitely prove grittier. They present us with two different feels to the same kind of darkness. I personally find both tremendously compelling.

Who would enjoy this story?

Unlike most crime fiction, this is a small-town mystery. So, anyone curious about the killer-in-the-desert situation, anyone who likes badass heroines, honest cops with plenty of skeletons in their closets, and serial killer stories. I’m warning you now: there are some dark and creepy aspects.

Read The Botanist for FREE with your Kindle Unlimited subscription and look for it under Crime Fiction, Serial Killers, and Murder.