Books

Frances Lucas - Author

Frances Lucas is a two-time Goldie award winner of sapphic romantic thrillers set against the rugged backdrop of Alaska, where she previously taught high school technology and filmmaking. During her years in education, she co-founded the annual Black Bear Film Festival with a colleague from a neighboring school, creating opportunities for young filmmakers to showcase their work. Her novels feature strong/messy/flawed female characters who fall in love while facing extraordinary danger. When she isn't writing, Frances hosts trivia nights at local venues, donating the proceeds to animal rescue organizations.

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THE PERFECT VACATION

For small-town attorney Keeley Creswick an invitation to cruise Alaska’s Inside Passage on a 90-foot super yacht with Hannah Granger, the woman she’s secretly loved since her arrival into Portland society is a dream come true. A shared stateroom, champagne nights, and the tantalizing hope that Hannah will finally see her as more than a companion is an opportunity too good to miss. The fact that some of Hannah’s other friends are going doesn’t seem important.

Then the nightmare begins. Someone on board the yacht plans to steal a priceless painting bound for Anchorage. At the same time a violent storm barrels toward them.

Caught between the rising sea and a dangerous criminal in their midst, Keeley must uncover who is lying and who is willing to kill before the storm swallows them whole. Because on open water where there’s nowhere to run, the woman she loves may be the most treacherous one of all.

Available November 13, 2026 on Amazon

THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY

A 64-year-old comedian - Her 24-year-old wife - A disgraced television producer - A magazine photographer with a dark past

Former movie actress Darby Decker's anniversary party promises luxury and exclusivity, but Hank Morris wants nothing to do with it. She doesn't trust Darby's impulsive marriage to a woman she met on a sugar dating app, and she's sure it won't last. Then she hears a name she can't ignore: Emily Clark, the girlfriend she never got over.

Emily hasn't forgotten Hank either, or what Hank did to her twenty-seven years ago.

Reunited in the remote wilderness of a national park, old wounds and buried feelings resurface alongside free-flowing liquor and macabre party games. Every detail has been perfectly planned out - including the announcement of Darby's new will.

When guests start to vanish, Hank and Emily must figure out what's going on before it's too late. Because in an isolated place everyone is a suspect, and no one is coming to save them.

Available on Amazon

THE GARDEN BELOW

In 1989, four-year-old Sabine Arnot survived the unthinkable: a brutal FBI raid on a doomsday cult deep in the Alaskan wilderness. Sabine’s sister vanished, and the site was sealed off, left to rot under snow and ice.

Thirty-six years later, the place has been reborn as Eden in the Wilderness, a reform school run by a disgraced military officer. When true-crime podcaster Rachel Kirk begins investigating, she hears uncanny echoes of the cult's buried past. Eager for answers, she turns to the only living witness: Sabine.

Against every instinct, Sabine returns to the place that nearly claimed her life. Together, the women find a strange garden humming beneath the surface. As Sabine and Rachel grow closer, they uncover a deadly conspiracy.

To stop it, they’ll have to dig up the truth—and survive it.

Available on Amazon

THE SLEEPER CAR

Goldie award winner 2026 mystery/thriller/crime

Bestselling suspense novelist Kendall Lamb boards the Aleut Queen, a vintage luxury sleeper train cutting through the stark beauty of the Alaska Peninsula. Reeling from a devastating breakup, Kendall hopes the remote journey will soothe her bruised heart. But solitude isn't in the cards, and when she finds enigmatic Harper Lambert, a striking woman with a haunted gaze, accidentally booked into her private roomette, sparks fly. Despite the red flags Harper waves like warning flares, Kendall spends the night with her.

By morning, Harper is gone. And Kendall is the prime suspect in the brutal murder of another passenger. To complicate things further, the Aleut Queen's inaugural journey includes an elaborate murder mystery game involving passengers. Each guest has been assigned a secret role: killer, victim, saboteur, witness.

The first clue reads: Take a look around you. Someone you may have already met intends to prevent this train from reaching its destination. This person is putting everyone at risk, including you. You will receive additional clues throughout your journey. Each will bring you closer to the truth, but be aware that the closer you get, the greater danger you will face. Talk to everyone. Trust no one. Remember this is only a game.

Except it isn't. As the train snakes its way through the wilderness and the line between reality and fiction blurs, Kendall must untangle the truth about Harper, the murder, and a shadowy saboteur before another life is lost that may well be her own.

Available on Amazon

LAKE OF SECRETS

Eight years ago, camp counselor Bella Estes stormed out of a late night party, angry and intoxicated. By morning she was dead—her bunkmate Mackenzie Reed the main suspect.

Lake Eklutna keeps a cold grip on its secrets. Who really killed Bella and why did Mack’s girlfriend refuse to alibi her the night Bella drowned?

New evidence casts doubt on everything Mack and Celeste thought they knew about Bella, their shared past, and the summer retreat now known as Camp Murder.

With the killer still free, can Mack and Celeste mend their fractured relationship? Or will the secrets of the lake draw them into further danger?

Available on Amazon

And Bella Books

WHAT HAPPENED AT LEE HOUSE

In 1964, young Alaska Native Jenny Adjuk mysteriously fell to her death from the roof of the infamous Elmer Lee House, a boarding school in Silver Lake, Alaska. The school was shut down soon after, left abandoned along with its secrets.

Sixty years later, journalism student Mare Mason discovers Jenny’s forgotten story. When the abandoned school reopens as a "haunted hotel," Mare takes a job there, determined to expose the owners for exploiting Jenny’s death.

Former social media star Kat Howard also joins the staff, hoping the hotel's eerie past can help her escape her own.

Mare and Kat clash from the moment they meet. But strange things start happening—unexplained noises echo through the walls, Kat begins seeing visions of Jenny’s ghost, and a murder rocks the nearby Denali National Park. As the town whispers that Jenny’s restless spirit is responsible, Mare and Kat are forced to confront their growing attraction—and the reality that something far more sinister may be at play.

Available on Amazon

And Bella Books

Young Adult Novels

TEXT ME WHEN YOU GET THIS

At seventeen, introvert Nora Thomas has had a rough life, having survived an attempted kidnapping as a child and then losing both her parents on a hiking expedition nine years later. To make matters worse, she holds herself responsible for the death of her twin brother Nick at birth.

A school trip introduces Nora to Claire Tucker who is everything Nora’s not: optimistic, outgoing, self-confident, a magnet to others, including the mysterious Ethan St. James, Claire’s best friend.

When Nora and Claire begin an unlikely romance in another city, Ethan, absent for weeks, suddenly reappears. A brutal murder follows in his wake and the girls soon discover that some secrets are best left unexplored.

Available on Amazon

And Bella Books

CAN I TRUST HER?

Goldie award winner Young Adult Fiction 2023

High school students, Virginia and Katie, uncover dark secrets about each other as they solve the mystery of another student's death. Can they trust each other to tell the truth in this lesbian romantic thriller set in Alaska?

*Book 1 of Virginia and Katie duology

Available on Amazon

And Bella Books

IS SHE LYING?

High school sweethearts, Virginia and Katie, come face to face with another murder in this standalone sequel to CAN I TRUST HER? No one is quite what they seem and more than one person may be lying. Can Virgina's and Katie's romance withstand the death of a friend?

*Book 2 of the Virginia and Katie duology

Available on Amazon

And Bella Books

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