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Wendy Corsi Staub

Biography

Wendy Corsi Staub

New York Times bestseller Wendy Corsi Staub is the award-winning author of more than 90 novels, best known for the single title psychological suspense novels she writes under her own name. Those books and the women’s fiction written under the pseudonym Wendy Markham have also appeared on the USA Today, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Bookscan bestseller lists.

Her current stand-alone suspense novel, THE OTHER FAMILY, is about a picture-perfect family that that moves into a picture-perfect house. But not everything is as it seems, and the page-turner concludes “with a wallop of a twist,” according to #1 New York Times bestselling author Harlan Coben.

Her critically acclaimed Lily Dale traditional mystery series centers around a widowed single mom --- and skeptic --- who moves to a town populated by spiritualists who talk to the dead. Titles include NINE LIVES; SOMETHING BURIED, SOMETHING BLUE; DEAD OF WINTER; and PROSE AND CONS, with a fifth book under contract.

Wendy has written five suspense trilogies for HarperCollins/William Morrow. The most recent, The Foundlings (LITTLE GIRL LOST, DEAD SILENCE and THE BUTCHER’S DAUGHTER), spans 50 years in the life of a woman left as a newborn in a Harlem church, now an investigative genealogist helping others uncover their biological roots while still searching for her own.

Written as Wendy Markham, Wendy’s novel HELLO, IT’S ME was a recent Hallmark television movie starring Kellie Martin. Her short story “Cat Got Your Tongue” appeared in R.L. Stine’s MWA middle grade anthology SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN, and her short story “The Elephant in the Room” is included in the Anthony Award-nominated inaugural anthology SHATTERING GLASS.

A three-time finalist for the Simon and Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award, she’s won an RWA Rita Award, an RT Award for Career Achievement in Suspense, the 2007 RWA-NYC Golden Apple Award for Lifetime Achievement, and five WLA Washington Irving Prizes for Fiction.

She previously published a dozen adult suspense novels with Kensington Books and the critically acclaimed young adult paranormal series Lily Dale (Walker/Bloomsbury). Earlier in her career, she published a broad range of genres under her own name and pseudonyms, and was a co-author/ghostwriter for several celebrities.

Raised in Dunkirk, NY, Wendy graduated from SUNY Fredonia and launched a publishing career in New York City. She was Associate Editor at Silhouette Books before selling her first novel in 1992. Married with two sons, she lives in the NYC suburbs. An active supporter of the American Cancer Society, she was a featured speaker at Northern Westchester’s 2015 Relay for Life and 2012 National Spokesperson for the Sandy Rollman Ovarian Cancer Foundation. She has fostered for various animal rescue organizations.

Books by Wendy Corsi Staub

by Wendy Corsi Staub - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

On prom night, Caroline Winterfield walked away from the ruins of an abandoned mansion called Haven Cliff and into the woods…never to be seen again. Only her three best friends know what really happened. But a secret is a secret, and a promise is a promise. On the twenty-fifth anniversary of that night, Midge, Kelly and Talia reunite at Haven Cliff, now a gleaming architectural jewel. But they aren’t alone. Someone is watching. Someone who knows what really happened to Caroline --- and to the man who now lies dead a stone’s throw from where she was last seen. Police detective Midge knows she’s dealing with a murder the moment she sees the item clutched in his lifeless hand. That means Kelly and Talia are either involved or in danger, because Caroline is long gone…or is she?

by Wendy Corsi Staub - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

When three former roommates reunite for a birthday weekend in Las Vegas, the lottery ticket they buy on a whim has the winning numbers --- giving them a billion-dollar windfall. They turn to Shea Daniels, a “sudden wealth manager,” who promises to guide them through the pitfalls of having more money than they’d ever imagined. The trio travels to a secluded California mansion, where Shea and her staff cater to their every whim. The house is purportedly cursed, the last place a missing movie star was seen alive. Their weekend turns to terror when they discover they are trapped. And when history repeats itself and one of them disappears --- the one who’s holding the billion-dollar ticket --- the others must face the fact that either their friend has betrayed them…or a predator is lurking.

by Wendy Corsi Staub - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Suspense

As California transplants making a fresh start in Brooklyn, the Howells are expected to live in a shoebox, but the brownstone has a huge kitchen, lots of light and a backyard. The catch: its previous residents were victims of a grisly triple homicide that remains unsolved. Soon, peculiar things begin happening. Nora unearths a long-hidden rusty box in the flowerbed. Oldest daughter Stacey, obsessed with the family murdered in their house, pokes into the bloody past and becomes convinced that a stranger is watching the house. She’s right. But one of the Howells will recognize his face. Because one of them has a secret that will blindside the others with a truth that lies shockingly close to home --- and to this one’s terrifying history.

by Wendy Corsi Staub - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

Investigative genealogist Amelia Crenshaw solves clients’ genetic puzzles, while hers remains shrouded in mystery. Now she suspects that the key to her birth parents’ identities lies in an unexpected connection to a stranger who’s hired her to find his long-lost daughter. Bracing herself for a shocking truth, Amelia is blindsided by a deadly one. NYPD Detective Stockton Barnes had walked away from his only child for her own good. He’ll lay down his life to protect her if he and Amelia can find out where --- and who --- she is. But someone has beat them to it, and she has a lethal score to settle. Amelia and Stockton’s entangled roots have unearthed a femme fatale whose family tree holds one of history’s most notorious killers.

by Wendy Corsi Staub - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

Investigative genealogist Amelia Crenshaw Haines vows to help a silent little boy who is unable --- or unwilling --- to communicate his past. Though her own roots remain shrouded in mystery, she relies on tangible DNA evidence to help fellow foundlings uncover theirs…until a remarkable twist of fate presents a stranger bearing an eerily familiar childhood souvenir. NYPD Missing Persons Detective Stockton Barnes has spent his career searching for other people’s lost loved ones and outrunning a youthful misstep. Now a chance encounter with a key player from that fateful night leads him on a desperate quest to locate the one woman he’s ever regretted leaving --- unless a savage killer finds her first.

by Wendy Corsi Staub - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

May 1968: In Harlem, a church janitor finds an innocent newborn in a basket. Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, an elusive serial killer prowls slumbering families, leaving a trail of blood and a twisted calling card. October 1987: Amelia Crenshaw embarks on a search to discover the truth about the birth mother who abandoned her, never suspecting she’s on a collision course with a killer. Detective Stockton Barnes, a brash young NYPD detective, trails a missing millionaire whose disappearance is rooted in a nightmare that began 20 years ago. The past returns with a brutal vengeance as a masked predator picks off victims whose fates intertwine with a notorious murder spree solved back in ’68. Or was it?

by Wendy Corsi Staub - Fiction, Mystery

Just as a murderer dumps his corpse into the lake across Valley View in Lily Dale, Bella Jordan happens to be at her window. Unbeknownst to her, the killer spots her silhouette and prowls straight to her door. That is, until he’s interrupted by a black cat. A superstitious gambler, he takes off but vows to return. Jiffy Arden, a neighborhood kid looking for the black cat and stumbling across the killer, begins to have premonitions of being kidnapped during the season’s first snowstorm. Sure enough, when it strikes, he vanishes, never arriving home from the bus stop. While her son, Max, believes Jiffy has been kidnapped, Bella is convinced he has just wandered off as he typically does…until a body shows up in the lake.

by Wendy Corsi Staub - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

“We shall never tell.” Spurred by the cryptic phrase in a centuries-old letter, Emerson Mundy travels to her ancestral hometown to trace her past. In Mundy’s Landing, she connects with long-lost relatives --- and a closet full of skeletons going back centuries. In the year since former NYPD Detective Sullivan Leary solved the historic Sleeping Beauty Murders, she --- like the village itself --- has made a fresh start. But someone has unearthed blood-drenched secrets in a disembodied skull, and is hacking away at the Mundy family tree, branch by branch.

by Wendy Corsi Staub - Fiction, Mystery

After agreeing to stay in Lily Dale through the winter as caretakers of the Valley View Guesthouse and its feline residents, widowed mom Bella Jordan and her son Max are looking forward to the peaceful off-season after a hectic summer. That is until the medium next door, Odelia Lauder, recruits Bella to host a destination wedding for the world’s most petulant bride, Johneen Maynard, a friend of Odelia’s granddaughter. Things take an even more stressful turn as the wedding day looms amidst an October blizzard, when suddenly the Spirits start giving Odelia a major heads up that the bride might be fated for death.

by Wendy Corsi Staub - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

A century ago, the Sleeping Beauty Murders terrified picturesque Mundy’s Landing. The victims, like the killer, were never identified. Now, on the 100th anniversary, the Historical Society’s annual “Mundypalooza” offers a hefty reward for solving the notorious case. Annabelle Bingham, living in one of the three Murder Houses, can’t escape the feeling that her family is being watched --- and not just by news crews and amateur sleuths. Having unearthed the startling truth behind the horrific crimes, a copycat killer is about to reenact them --- beneath the mansard roof of Annabelle’s dream home.

by Wendy Corsi Staub - Fiction, Mystery

When reluctant road trippers Bella Jordan and her son, Max, detour to Lily Dale, New York, they're planning to deliver a lost cat to its home and then move on, searching for one of their own. But the footloose feline's owner, Leona Gatto, has unexpectedly passed away, leaving behind a pregnant pet without a mistress, a busy inn without a keeper --- and a lovable circle of neighbors who chat with dead people. It's up to Bella to solve the case so that she and Max can leave town, but their new home --- like Leona's killer --- might just lurk where she least expects it.

by Wendy Corsi Staub - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Nestled in New York's Hudson Valley, Mundy's Landing is famous for its picturesque setting --- and for a century-old string of gruesome unsolved murders. Rowan returned to her hometown years ago, fleeing a momentary mistake that could have destroyed her family. Life is good here until an anonymous gift brings Rowan's fears to life again. The town's violent history was just the beginning. Soon everyone in Mundy's Landing will know that the past cannot be forgotten or forgiven --- not until every sin has been paid for, in blood.

by Wendy Corsi Staub - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Newly divorced Gaby Duran isn't really expecting to find her soul mate on a dating site like InTune. She just needs a distraction from pining over her ex-husband, Ben, and the happy marriage they once had. And she's wise enough to know that online, the truth doesn't always match the profile. But Gaby quickly discovers there is much more at stake than her lonely heart. Local singles are going missing after making online connections. And a predator is searching again for the perfect match.

by Wendy Corsi Staub - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

During the darkest period of her life, Landry Wells found solace in a group of bloggers who had been in her shoes and lived to tell the tale. She has shared things with her online friends that even her husband and children didn't know. One of the bloggers is dead, the victim of a random crime. Or was it? At the funeral, Landry is about to come face to face at last with the others. These women are her closest confidantes in the world --- and one of them might be a cold-blooded killer.

by Wendy Corsi Staub - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

The relentless bullying Jen Archer's older daughter, Carly, has been taking at school has taken a toll on the entire family. When Carly's friend suddenly commits suicide, Jen's fears reach an all-time high. Carly turns to Internet message boards for help, finding a kindred spirit in "Angel." But as she shares more and more, is she truly confiding in a friend...or risking her life at the hands of a dangerous madman?

by Wendy Corsi Staub - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Nestled in the warm, domestic cocoon of a loving husband and family, Allison finally feels safe --- unaware that a stranger's brutal murder on a Caribbean island is the first step in an intricate plan to destroy everything in her life. For seasoned NYPD Detective Rocky Manzillo, the signs are clear that something terrible has emerged from the shadows: a murder victim left without a face and a faded photograph that yields a startling connection.

by Wendy Corsi Staub - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Allison has moved on with her life 10 years after barely escaping death at the hands of New York’s Nightwatcher serial killer, who recently committed suicide in his prison cell. But now her husband, Mack, has started sleepwalking, with no recollection of where his nighttime excursions are taking him. And north of the city, more women are being savagely murdered, their bodies bearing the Nightwatcher’s unmistakable signature.

by Wendy Corsi Staub - Thriller

As the city sleeps in the early hours of September 10, 2001, the killer waits and watches, unaware of the cataclysm to come. Even the nightmare of 9/11 will not postpone his private reign of terror.

Allison Taylor adores her adopted city, New York, loving every minute of the invigorating urban hustle. But on a bright and clear September morning, the familiar landscape around her is savagely altered—and in the midst of widespread chaos and fear, a woman living upstairs from her is found, brutally slaughtered and mutilated.

by Wendy Corsi Staub - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Survivors of a serial killer who invaded their childhood, Lucy and Jeremy are married now, replacing nightmares of their terrifying past with joyful dreams of the upcoming birth of their first child. Fiercely determined to protect the fragile balance of their lives, Lucy doesn’t know that her new husband guards a deadly secret.

by Wendy Corsi Staub

In a remote, heavily wooded area near the Berkshires of Massachusetts, Rachel Lorant died on her birthday. That night, her four sorority sisters made a solemn, trembling pledge. They would never reveal what happened in those woods --- ever. But now, 10 years later, their terrible secret is coming back to haunt them.