BIO

Cobie LaJeanne writes palpable psychological fiction exploring themes of grief, religious trauma, mental illness, and adoptee trauma. As an autistic author with PTSD and MDD, she strives to include characters from all walks of life while shining a pointed light on deeper, darker topics. She is the author of The Halpin River Homicides series, with the first book—her debut, Blood in the Cradle—releasing July 23, 2025, from Tule Publishing.

You can follow Cobie on Instagram: @cobielajeanne.

BOOKS

Blood in the Cradle

Official Synopsis

It’s a case every detective dreads—the one that forces them to confront their traumatic past.

When decorated detective Chloe Van Belle receives a call about a severed limb in a fountain, she dreads returning to Encounters, a renowned angel-worshipping church tied to her dark childhood wounds. She’s further shocked to learn six-year-old Lillian vanished [from the congregation] without being reported.

Chloe’s half-sister Rosie, a devout believer engaged to the reverend’s son, remains unwavering that everything unfolds according to divine will, refusing to see the evil in front of her.

An eerie search leads to Lillian’s body tucked in a cradle with a vintage watch, linking the crime to a similar murder twenty years ago. The gruesome scene triggers Chloe’s morbid fascination with death, making her visual-gustatory synesthesia, which gives murder a literal sweet taste, harder to hide. With Chloe’s nightmares and half-memories resurfacing, she engages in a macabre game of cat and mouse with the killer.

As casualties grow and evidence points to the highest levels of the church leadership, Chloe must protect Rosie and her team—but is it from a monster or herself?

A must-read for fans of Alex Marwood’s The Poison Garden and Tana French’s In the Woods!

BOOK INFORMATION

Genre: Adult Psychological Crime Thriller with Horror Elements, Romance, Family Drama

Publisher: Tule Publishing

Release Date: July 23, 2025